Zen'in Ranta's voice stopped, the final syllable sounding like a bird's cry—sharp and piercing.
Mahito held Kirigiri in one hand and raised the other to return his half-severed neck to its original position.
Idle Transfiguration activated silently, and the wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He moved his neck slightly; there was no longer any hitch.
He shouldered Kirigiri again and faced everyone in the Hei squad.
"Next," he said.
"Lord Naoya—!"
Zen'in Ranta wailed loudly and used his Innate Technique again without hesitation.
"Cursed Spirit... I want you dead—!"
—Divine Might!
Lightning flashed in the sky, and the curtain of rain obscured everyone's vision. Only a silver arc of light appeared in the darkness.
Before Divine Might could activate, Mahito threw Mirokuji Kirigiri in his hand, as if Odin had hurled Gungnir itself.
Zen'in Ranta activated Divine Might and stared at Mahito, but in an instant, his vision was covered by the blade light of Kirigiri.
"Ranta!"
A squad member pulled Zen'in Ranta back. Kirigiri's blade light brushed past Ranta's ear, and the Cursed Technique he had just released was interrupted.
Mahito suddenly leaped, arriving at Ranta's side in an instant.
No one reacted to this movement because Mahito's neck had just been half-severed; everyone thought he was dead, and no one expected him to survive such a situation.
Mahito raised one hand, his palm covering Zen'in Ranta's entire face.
At that moment, Ranta's entire field of vision consisted only of the lines on that palm: he felt like a monkey in the palm of the Buddha.
"Don't even think about it!"
A muffled voice boomed as a massive force smashed into Mahito's forearm.
Mahito's forearm snapped instantly, the explosive sound scattering the curtain of rain, like a massive whale letting out an abyssal cry in the deep sea.
The person pulling Ranta had struck at the critical moment.
He didn't use a Cursed Technique release, but simply used his own fist to smash Mahito's outstretched forearm.
Mahito's speed was unquestionable, yet he was able to accurately grasp this timing to punch, his sharp eyesight like an eagle preying on a wild rabbit from high above.
Mahito's eyes shifted, his heterochromatic eyes glowing faintly beneath his bamboo hat in the rain.
A sturdy middle-aged man appeared before Mahito's eyes.
He had wild long hair that reached down to his lower back, draped across his back like the bristles of a wild boar standing on end.
He stood over two meters tall, his body as sturdy as a brown bear, with muscles as tense as rock.
On his forehead was a prominent cross-shaped scar, and beneath his thick eyebrows were eyes filled with immense majesty.
These eyes looked directly into Mahito's demon-like heterochromatic eyes, without flinching or dodging.
"Hei" squad member.
Special Grade 1 Sorcerer.
Zen'in Jinichi.
"Cursed Spirit, I will not give you another chance. Face the Zen'in's wrath!"
Zen'in Jinichi reached out and grabbed his kimono, tearing it apart with just the strength of his fingers.
He did not discard the torn kimono; instead, he wrapped it around his waist and tied a dead knot with the sleeves.
His exposed upper body had thick chest hair and knotted muscles.
The heavy rain poured over him as if wind and rain were striking a rocky mountain.
He stood upright, looking down at Mahito like a massive mountain looking down at a tiny ant.
A second Special Grade 1 Sorcerer!
The Zen'in Family had a total of four Special Grade 1 Sorcerers, and now they were finally appearing before Mahito one by one.
This showed that Mahito had almost torn through the Zen'in Family single-handedly.
Mahito raised his hand, and Idle Transfiguration healed his broken forearm.
He extended his five fingers, clenching and opening them; the healed hand felt no discomfort at all.
"I'm looking forward to it," Mahito said.
Zen'in Jinichi let out a wild roar.
The massive roar scattered the surrounding rain, and sound waves continuously rippled outward, swallowing Mahito in an instant.
Zen'in Jinichi raised his fist amidst the roar.
In the heavy rain, his muscles rippled; all the muscles in his body had already activated as he raised his hand.
Mahito could see the muscle patterns on Zen'in Jinichi's body rushing forward like a roaring river, finally converging into Zen'in Jinichi's fist.
Then, Zen'in Jinichi swung this fist fiercely, smashing it toward Mahito.
One strike.
Mahito immediately wanted to dodge.
Just seeing Zen'in Jinichi's rippling muscles, he knew he couldn't take this powerful punch head-on.
But just as he lifted his foot, his body froze.
—Divine Might!
Ranta, who had been saved, actually didn't flee out of cowardice.
He stared directly at Mahito, using all his strength to maintain his Cursed Technique, causing Mahito to freeze in place at the critical moment.
Zen'in Jinichi's fist smashed into Mahito's face, sending the bamboo hat flying.
Mahito's facial features were almost entirely caved in, and the massive force pierced through his brain, turning it into mush.
His body flew backward uncontrollably; the massive impact made it impossible for him to stay in place, and he was about to be blasted back like a cannonball.
But Zen'in Jinichi wouldn't allow it.
The range of the Divine Might Cursed Technique was within Zen'in Ranta's line of sight.
If Mahito flew backward due to the impact, he would leave Zen'in Ranta's sight in that instant, and the Divine Might on Mahito would be immediately released.
Having finally caught this opportunity, how could Zen'in Jinichi let Mahito escape so easily?
He grabbed Mahito just as his feet left the ground from the impact.
He grabbed Mahito's collar with one hand and smashed down again with the other.
One hit.
Two hits.
Ten hits.
Twenty hits.
A flurry of punches.
Zen'in Jinichi continued to strike amidst his roars.
His fists fell upon Mahito's body like the torrential rain from the sky.
Mahito was beaten by Zen'in Jinichi's fists like a lifeless wooden stake.
Each time he was hit, his body let out a massive explosive sound.
In the end, the cumulative sounds of flesh exploding were continuous, like a rushing ocean tide.
But it was the attacker, Zen'in Jinichi, whose expression changed.
At this moment, Mahito actually maintained his human form.
Even though he was a bloody mess and his originally neat kimono and haori were torn into rags fluttering in the wind—and the bamboo hat had flown off to who knows where—his flesh always returned to its original state after exploding, bitterly waiting for the moment of recovery amidst Zen'in Jinichi's barrage.
Mahito's body vibrated violently.
Bloodshot veins suddenly appeared in Ranta's eyes, and his hands reached out instinctively.
This was not his hand-seal gesture but an unconscious action.
His Cursed Technique, Divine Might, was a rare technique that could be maintained continuously without hand seals.
There was only one reason he made this movement instinctively.
Zen'in Ranta shouted loudly,
"Jinichi-sama! Don't stop the barrage! This Cursed Spirit is still struggling... he's still struggling!"
The surrounding squad members were stunned.
One couldn't help but shout,
"Are you joking? Even a Special Grade Cursed Spirit with incredible recovery abilities would surely die in this situation!"
Only Zen'in Jinichi, who was currently throwing punches, knew that Ranta was right.
Mahito was not dead.
Not only was he not dead, but his recovery speed was actually increasing.
This Cursed Spirit, who had almost slaughtered the Zen'in Family, had not yet grown into his complete form; he was still adapting, still growing.
One of Zen'in Ranta's eyes suddenly burst, blood flowing from the corner of his eye.
But he let out a scream and did not move his gaze away from Mahito.
Divine Might was still being maintained.
Zen'in Jinichi couldn't help but look back at Zen'in Ranta.
Zen'in Ranta's Divine Might Cursed Technique was indeed excellent, practical, and easy to activate.
It had great potential whether as support or as a main attacker.
But even such an excellent technique was not invincible; his Divine Might could not cope with opponents with too large a rank difference.
In the original work...
When facing an enemy on the level of a Heavenly Restriction user, his final result was both eyes bursting, dying from the backlash of his Cursed Technique after using all his strength.
Now, Zen'in Ranta was meeting the same fate as in the original work.
He had used all his strength to restrict Mahito's movements, but because Mahito's struggle intensity had increased, his eyes were already overburdened.
His eyes first became bloodshot, then burst.
If he didn't release the technique now, his only fate would be dying from the technique's backlash just like in the original work.
But having come this far, how could he release the technique?
Zen'in Ranta roared with all his might,
"Jinichi-sama, don't worry about me! Now, just kill this Cursed Spirit! It's still growing... at a rate visible to the naked eye! Before it continues to grow... you must...!"
Zen'in Ranta's other eye also bulged, almost about to burst.
But at this moment, Zen'in Jinichi had already turned back and swung his fist again.
The flurry of punches had not stopped.
Within the time Zen'in Ranta had bought with his life, he would kill the Cursed Spirit before him.
Zen'in Jinichi had made his resolution.
A Cursed Spirit's recovery power has a limit, even for a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
The King of Curses before him was of a rank that surpassed all Cursed Spirits recorded in history, yet even so, he still had his limits.
Zen'in Jinichi firmly believed this.
Therefore, what he had to do was simple.
Use violence.
Blast him into nothingness.
Zen'in Jinichi roared loudly.
Within his roar, his Cursed Energy boiled to the limit, even surpassing it.
Although it was currently raining heavily and thunder flashed in the sky, at this moment, he actually couldn't hear the sound of the rain or the thunder.
He was clearly roaring loudly, yet the lake of his heart was as calm as a mirror.
In the moment when his comrades had died one after another and the junior he most admired was using his life to buy time, he finally entered the realm he had dreamed of.
He sensed the Cursed Energy core within his body throbbing like a heart.
With each throb, fluctuations of Cursed Energy would spread through his entire body.
Every bone, every drop of blood, and every inch of muscle was undergoing a higher level of evolution within the Cursed Energy fluctuations, just like a seed sprouting after spring rain and transforming into a new plant.
In just a momentary pause, he had an epiphany.
He actually saw the Cursed Energy flowing within Mahito's body without any visual-type Cursed Technique.
He saw that although the Cursed Spirit before him looked as miserable as minced meat from the outside, the internal Cursed Energy flow was as stable as ever.
He immediately realized that for this Cursed Spirit, no matter how broken its body was, it was meaningless.
Zen'in Jinichi didn't know how this was happening, but he knew what to do.
Cut off its Cursed Energy flow, and the victory would be decided.
Come, this will be my final strike!
Zen'in Jinichi suddenly paused for a moment.
One of his hands gripped Mahito's body, his fingertips piercing forcefully into Mahito's muscles.
The other hand did not attack immediately but was bent at his waist.
His muscles relaxed to the extreme in that instant, then tightened to the extreme in the next.
Between that relaxation and tightening, he stepped into awakening.
—Black Flash!
This is a legendary technique of Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Theoretically, every Jujutsu Sorcerer can pull it off, and once used, it can be called a certain kill.
Due to the error between physical impact and Cursed Energy impact, space distortion is generated within 0.000001 seconds, with power averaging 2.5 times the usual power.
Zen'in Jinichi didn't even aim for Mahito's face.
His Black Flash struck Mahito's heart directly.
Even before the Black Flash completely hit, Mahito's Cursed Energy flow had already broken, and chunks of flesh scattered uncontrollably.
When Zen'in Jinichi's Black Flash landed, Mahito's entire body exploded.
Blood, flesh, and bone burst apart, like fireworks dissipating in the night sky.
Exploded and scattered.
Amidst the blood and flesh, Zen'in Jinichi slowly exhaled.
But he didn't immediately lower his guard.
Zen'in Ogi had also thought it was over back then and had closed his eyes defenselessly to feel his insights on the iaijutsu slash, only to be caught off guard by the "resurrected" Mahito.
Zen'in Jinichi would never make the same mistake.
He stood in place, cautiously watching the flesh on the ground.
Zen'in Ranta also didn't dare to be careless.
He maintained his Divine Might technique and stared fixedly at the flesh beneath his feet, unmoving.
One of his eyes was already ruined, and he watched the flesh on the ground with the resolution to ruin the other eye as well.
The remaining Hei squad members were also not careless, coldly observing the surroundings in a state of zanshin.
The rain in the night sky continued to fall, unceasing.
Thunder and lightning flashed in the sky.
The members of the Hei squad remained like this for a full thirty seconds before slowly lowering their guard.
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