In the night wind, the thick scent of blood hung heavy, almost tangible.
The Zenin family's underground corridor—once a gloomy place for imprisoning and punishing those who broke the rules—had now become a literal road to the afterlife.
"A monster... this monster!!!"
"Run! We can't stop her!"
Shrill screams echoed through the narrow passage, carrying endless despair and terror.
The Kukuru Unit.
This combat force of a hundred, meticulously trained by the Zenin family to handle their dirty work, was now falling in swathes like wheat before a scythe.
Their prized, high-quality cursed tools were as fragile as children's toys against the Pseudo-Soul Splitter Katana in Maki's hands.
"*Slash! Slash! Slash!*"
Maki brandished the twin blades in her hands, her face devoid of emotion.
The cursed tool Dragonbone in her left hand parried and shattered enemy bones, while the Soul Splitter Katana in her right acted as a reaper's scythe, ruthlessly harvesting lives.
She was too fast.
So fast that these battle-hardened guards couldn't even catch the afterimage of her strikes; they only felt a chill at their necks before warm blood began to spray.
"Don't be afraid! She's only one person! We'll wear her down!"
A squad leader of the Kukuru Unit, his eyes bloodshot, swung a large cleaver in a final attempt at resistance.
*Bang!*
Maki didn't use her blades.
She simply raised her foot and, at a speed invisible to the naked eye, kicked the squad leader squarely in the chest.
*Boom!*
With the sickening sound of bones crunching, the squad leader was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing through three thick stone walls before ending up as a smear of mangled flesh embedded in the masonry.
The scene fell into a deathly silence.
The remaining dozens of guards watched this scene, their hands trembling violently as they gripped their swords.
This wasn't human strength.
This was a prehistoric beast in human skin!
"Since you all say I am the stain on the Zenin family..."
Maki stepped through the thick sludge of blood, moving forward step by step.
Her voice was soft, yet it reached everyone's ears with chilling clarity.
"Then I will smear that stain across every single one of your faces."
The slaughter continued.
There was no mercy, no hesitation—only cold, ruthless strikes delivered with the precision of a machine.
In just five minutes.
The long underground corridor was completely filled with severed limbs and broken bodies.
Blood flowed down the stone steps, pooling into a grisly dark-red stream.
Maki stepped over the last corpse and pushed open the heavy wooden door leading to the surface.
*Bang!*
The wooden door shattered, and bright moonlight spilled down, illuminating her blood-spattered face, which remained as cold as ice.
This was the Zenin family's inner courtyard.
Rock gardens, flowing water, and precious pines appeared exceptionally serene under the moonlight.
But that serenity was quickly broken by a flurry of chaotic, hurried footsteps.
"She's out!"
"The Kukuru Unit has been wiped out! Quick! Form a formation!"
Dozens of sorcerers in traditional kimonos swarmed from all directions, surrounding Maki.
These were the true backbone of the Zenin family.
Semi-Grade 1 and Grade 2 sorcerers, each possessing a proud inherited technique, people who usually acted with absolute arrogance in the jujutsu world.
"Maki! You traitor to your own blood!"
An elderly man, appearing to be an elder, pointed at Maki with a trembling finger.
"To dare slaughter your own kin... even the gods themselves couldn't save you today!"
"Technique Disclosure! All Things Bloom!"
"Flame Curse: Fire Feathers!"
"Water Wall!"
Instantly, multicolored bursts of cursed energy lit up the inner courtyard.
Flames, water dragons, poisonous vines... all sorts of lethal techniques poured toward Maki in the center like a violent storm!
A combined attack of this level would have reduced even a Grade 1 cursed spirit to dust in an instant.
However.
Faced with this overwhelming barrage of techniques, Maki didn't even make a move to dodge.
She simply bent her knees slightly and pushed off with explosive force!
*Boom!!!*
The bluestone slabs beneath Maki's feet instantly shattered into powder, and a massive crater was carved into the ground.
She herself vanished from the spot like a missile breaking the sound barrier!
"What?!"
The sorcerers releasing their techniques felt their pupils shrink in shock.
Their prized attacks hit nothing but empty air.
"Too slow."
Maki's voice rang out behind a Semi-Grade 1 sorcerer like a phantom.
*Slash!*
The Soul Splitter Katana flashed, and before the sorcerer could even turn around, his head flew high into the air.
"Where is she?! Where did she go?!"
The remaining sorcerers panicked completely, their eyes darting wildly.
But without any residual dregs of cursed energy, the awakened Maki was like a completely invisible ghost to them.
*Bang!*
Dragonbone smashed through a sorcerer's chest.
*Slash!*
The Soul Splitter Katana cleaved the fleeing elder in half at the waist.
The slaughter spread from indoors to the open air.
It was a one-sided massacre without any suspense.
Maki wove through the crowd with absolute speed and power.
Those flashy techniques couldn't even touch the hem of her clothes, while her casual strikes easily demolished the sorcerers' fragile bodies.
*Boom!*
In a violent collision, Maki threw a massive sorcerer directly into a nearby side hall.
That wooden building with centuries of history and ornate carvings collapsed instantly under the terrifying impact.
Dust and wood splinters filled the air.
The prestigious Zenin clan, once unassailable and viewed by many as a sacred site, was beginning to crumble in a physical sense.
By the time the last sorcerer clutched his slit throat and collapsed in despair into a pool of blood.
The entire inner courtyard had become a veritable living hell.
Maki stood amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, flicking the blood off the Soul Splitter Katana.
She looked up toward the grand plaza at the very center and highest point of the Zenin estate.
That was the heart of the Zenin family's power.
"Finally decided to show yourselves?"
A bloodthirsty smirk curled on Maki's lips.
At the edge of the main plaza, dozens of figures emitting powerful cursed energy fluctuations watched her coldly.
The Zenin family's strongest combat unit—the Hei.
And standing at the very front was a Special Grade 1 Sorcerer whose expression was so grim it looked like it could drip ink.
Naoya Zenin.
"Maki..."
Naoya gritted his teeth, the jealousy and rage in his eyes nearly consuming him.
"You cursed-energy-less piece of trash, how dare you turn my home into this!"
Faced with the full might of the Zenin family's top fighters.
Maki said nothing.
She simply carried her blades, stepping through the blood that covered the ground, walking step by step toward the plaza that symbolized supreme power.
The true fight to the death had only just begun.