"Maki Zen'in is innocent."
The room went quiet the moment Shion said it.
Kamo Takanobu stared at him, waiting for him to continue. Something about Shion's sudden appearance today felt wrong, and that feeling kept getting stronger.
Shion nodded calmly. "Since that's settled, we can put Maki's matter aside."
Kamo Takanobu finally relaxed a little. But before he could breathe properly, Shion's gaze shifted toward Kamo Hiko and the others.
"But I have a question. Is their Blood Manipulation really an innate technique?"
Kamo Takanobu's eyelids twitched. "Gojo Family Head, what exactly are you implying?"
Shion only smiled and raised his hand, signaling someone outside to come in.
The moment the man entered the conference room, everyone frowned. None of them recognized him. He had long hair tied into a spiky ponytail and an indifferent expression.
"This is Choso," Shion said. "The eldest of the Cursed Womb Death Paintings. In terms of Blood Manipulation, no one in the world is better than him."
Choso was born from the experiments of the infamous Noritoshi Kamo and possessed an abnormal talent for Blood Manipulation. Unlike ordinary users, he could even convert cursed energy into blood itself.
Under Kamo Takanobu's shocked gaze, Choso suddenly walked forward, grabbed Kamo Hiko by the collar, and lifted him into the air.
Kamo Takanobu exploded in anger and tried to attack, but Shion casually raised one hand and stopped him completely. He could not move at all.
"Don't be so tense," Shion said lazily. "It's only a small test."
Choso looked down at Kamo Hiko with cold eyes.
"Blood Manipulation, Bloodline Pull."
Dark red stains appeared on both of their bodies at the same time.
The next second, Kamo Hiko's expression twisted in pain. The cursed blood inside his body began to move violently on its own. He tried to suppress it with cursed energy, but the difference in strength between a child and Choso was too large.
Everyone could clearly see strands of blood being pulled out of Kamo Hiko's body and gathering into a floating blood sphere in Choso's hand.
"That's enough."
Shion smiled coldly and finally released Kamo Takanobu. Then he looked at Kamo Hiko again.
"Try using Blood Manipulation now."
Under the gaze of the strongest sorcerer in the jujutsu world, the boy trembled so badly he could not even speak. As for Blood Manipulation, it was impossible. The moment the cursed blood inside his body had been removed, he could not use it anymore.
"What's wrong?" Shion asked lightly. "You can't use it anymore? Wasn't this supposed to be your innate technique?"
He turned toward Kamo Takanobu.
"Or maybe the only reason he could use it was because of that mass of blood?"
Kamo Takanobu's face turned stiff. After a few seconds of silence, he stopped pretending.
"Yes. That's right. Their Blood Manipulation comes from experiments conducted by the Kamo family. Their real techniques are something else entirely."
"We only seal cursed blood into their bodies. During battle, they activate it with cursed energy and temporarily use Blood Manipulation. Are you satisfied now, Gojo Family Head?"
His voice carried open hostility now.
"But even if it's fake, the power is real. Other than the time limit, it works exactly like the real thing. This is simply research by the Kamo family. It's no different from training or using cursed tools. It's just another way to become stronger."
He crossed his arms.
"And even if you expose it, it doesn't matter. No one outside the Kamo family can use it anyway."
Shion rolled his eyes. "Do you really think I care about something like that?"
Then his smile slowly faded.
"Should I remind you where the cursed blood actually comes from?"
Kamo Takanobu's heart froze, but he forced himself to stay calm. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Still pretending?"
Shion snapped his fingers. "Kōichi."
"Yes."
A large screen in the conference room suddenly lit up. Through Mechamaru's hidden camera, a live broadcast appeared.
The scene on the screen made everyone suck in a cold breath.
It was an underground laboratory.
Countless glass containers filled the room, and inside each one was a human body. They were submerged in liquid, wearing masks, and connected to tubes that supplied oxygen and nutrients while they slept.
Every single one of them had a needle inserted into their arm, connected to a blood collection bag.
As the camera slowly moved, Kōichi's voice echoed through the room.
"The Kamo family's method is simple. They seal cursed blood into a sorcerer's body and allow them to activate it with cursed energy during combat. That's how they imitate Blood Manipulation."
"But creating cursed blood requires something very specific. Blood that hasn't been contaminated by cursed energy must be injected with the user's cursed energy within seconds of leaving the body. Only then does it become usable cursed blood."
"That means normal blood donation methods won't work. A living human body is required to continuously supply fresh blood."
"And blood that isn't contaminated by cursed energy can only come from one source."
"Non-sorcerers."
Silence filled the entire room.
"These are the so-called blood banks created by the Kamo family," Kōichi continued. "They were built step by step through human trafficking, using the influence and connections of the clan."
Kamo Takanobu's face had already turned pale. He staggered backward until his legs gave out completely. His younger brother quickly caught him.
"H-how did you find out…?"
Shion smiled calmly. "You want to know? I won't tell you."
With Geto Suguru's cursed spirit manipulation and Kōichi's puppet technique, the Kamo family had been under surveillance for a long time already. There had never been a chance for them to hide anything.
Shion walked forward slowly and stopped right in front of Kamo Takanobu.
"Kamo Takanobu, Kamo Hiroki, and every elder of the Kamo family present here."
"As jujutsu sorcerers, what you've done to non-sorcerers is a betrayal of the entire jujutsu world. Even under normal law, it's a serious crime."
He looked down at him coldly.
"Do you have anything left to say?"
Kamo Takanobu trembled, then slowly lowered his head. A dark expression appeared in his eyes.
"Cursed Technique Release, Mute Rabbit."
"Blood Manipulation, Red Scale Leap."
A loud explosion echoed through the room.
Kamo Takanobu's body shot forward like a cannonball. Before coming here, he had already replenished his cursed blood. With the enhancement from both Blood Manipulation and his own technique, he believed he could escape.
But in the next second, his hope was crushed completely.
Shion simply raised one hand.
An overwhelming force dragged Kamo Takanobu straight back.
Boom.
His body slammed violently into the concrete wall, and he coughed out mouthfuls of blood.
"How… how can the difference be this big…"
The entire conference room fell silent.
For the first time, the higher-ups saw the true power of the Six Eyes user standing in front of them.
The heads of one of the Three Great Families had been defeated with a single move.
At that moment, they finally understood why the Gojo family had changed so drastically after Shion became the family head. They also realized just how meaningless their so-called balance of power had always been.
Then suddenly, a maniacal laugh echoed from the screen.
"Hahahahaha…"
"Family Head, so you finally got what you deserved."
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