The second charge did not land on Megumi Fushiguro in the end. As her hands moved, his body moved as well, and while he was slower than Maki Zenin, he had already crossed into a superhuman range. The smile on his face matched Maki Zenin’s earlier expression, as if he were openly saying he had been waiting for this.

  The moment they brushed past the blade, Megumi Fushiguro exhaled sharply and shouted, “Divine Dogs!” A black wolf, half the height of a man, leapt out of the shadow at his feet, its claws flashing as it raked toward Maki Zenin’s abdomen. She swept her spear sideways and blocked the strike.

  Before she could relax, a white wolf burst out from the shadow behind her and slashed as well. Maki Zenin snorted, calm under pressure, and spun her weapon in a wide arc, her arms driving it like a heavy wheel. The force sent both wolves and their summoner, Megumi Fushiguro, sliding back together.

  “So this is the rumored Ten Shadows Technique,” she said. “Using shadows as a medium to summon ten shikigami. What you used should be the first one, Divine Dogs.” Megumi Fushiguro nodded in reply.

  “Then let me see the other nine,” she continued. “With this much Revealing One’s Hand, it should be about enough.” She reset her stance and crooked a finger at Megumi Fushiguro, inviting him forward.

  Revealing One’s Hand did not have to come from the user himself, since others could acknowledge it as well. As the signature technique of the Three Great Clans, its details had long been public knowledge, which saved Megumi Fushiguro the trouble. The twin dogs flanked her from both sides, then vanished back into the shadows the next instant.

  His hand signs shifted again, like membranes and crouching forms, calling forth the second shikigami. “Toad!” Four green toads sprang out from the shadows where Divine Dogs had faded, attacking Maki Zenin from all directions.

  A single Toad was far weaker than Divine Dogs, but they were smaller and lower to the ground, making it hard for her blade to cover them all. She lowered her center of gravity to sweep them aside, but one toad in her blind spot suddenly opened its mouth and shot out a long tongue, wrapping around her ankle. It failed to break her stance, yet it slowed her movement for a split second.

  In that narrow window, the other three toads lashed out as well, their tongues binding her limbs like thick ropes and pinning her to the ground. Now it was Megumi Fushiguro who pressed the attack, his hands crossing with thumbs locked, shaped like a bird taking flight. “Nue!”

  A massive bird-like beast dropped from above, its face like a tiger’s and its body crimson red. Its wings spread wide, blue-white lightning crackling along the feathers. With Ten Shadows Technique, each shikigami had its own use, physical power and elemental traits combined, offense and defense balanced, truly worthy of the signature technique of the elite Zenin Clan.

  Toads below and a flying beast above formed a pincer attack, yet Maki Zenin did not panic. Instead, her grin grew wilder. “Good. Now this is worth defeating.”

  She wrenched her arms apart and tore two tongues in an instant, then twisted her waist and kicked free, snapping the other bindings while flipping backward to gain space. Her weapon rose high and met Nue head-on in midair. In a flash, the bird shuddered and barely pulled itself higher.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Maki Zenin fared no better, baring her teeth as fine hairs stood up across her skin. “Looks like I’ll need better insulation work after this.” The new weapon had a metal grip that was sturdier, but it offered no protection against electricity, leaving her body numb from the shock.

  Across from her, Megumi Fushiguro was unscathed and had already completed new hand signs. Toad withdrew, replaced by another summon. The fourth shikigami emerged. “Great Serpent!”

  A massive white-scaled snake uncoiled, over ten meters long and a full meter thick. While Maki Zenin’s attention had been on Nue, the serpent had already circled her, sealing off her movement. Its tough body was not as easy to break as the toads, and once she was forced into a corner, victory would belong to Megumi Fushiguro.

  She did not swing blindly. With experience fighting large creatures, she used her blade as a pole, pushed off the ground, and leapt onto the serpent’s body. She ran along its coils, heading straight for its head.

  Seeing this, Megumi Fushiguro let out a cold laugh and lightly clapped his hands. The serpent’s huge body dispersed at once. No matter how real it looked, it was still a shadow formed by Cursed Energy, and without a supply of it, it was no different from air.

  Maki Zenin was already five meters above the ground when her footing vanished, and the result was obvious. “Knock her down, Nue!” The red bird dove like a fighter jet, the electrified kind.

  With no room to dodge, Maki Zenin chose not to avoid it at all. She raised her weapon and met the charge head-on with sheer force. She was slammed into the ground, sparks and lightning scraping across the rooftop, smashing tiles until she finally crashed into the railing at the edge.

  “Hey, that counts as my win, right?” Megumi Fushiguro asked Akira with a sour expression. Arms crossed, Akira did not even glance at Nue. “Not yet. Look, Maki Zenin.”

  A flash of steel cut upward, and a short blade sliced off part of Nue’s wing. The girl pulled herself up from the ground, hair hanging loose, blood seeping from broken skin on her face, yet her presence was fiercer than before. “Don’t get happy too soon, Megumi Fushiguro.”

  “It’s the same sooner or later,” he replied. “With your injured body, how long can you last?” As he spoke, his hand signs dispersed and Nue returned to the shadows.

  “I can fight all night,” Maki Zenin said as she picked up her main weapon with one hand and sheathed the short blade with the other. She took her stance in one smooth motion. The movements were sharp and clean, yet the more Megumi Fushiguro watched, the more uneasy he felt.

  “Stop staring. I don’t have Cursed Energy. That’s the price of having this body,” she said plainly. “Heavenly Restriction.”

  Understanding flickered in Megumi Fushiguro’s eyes. A restriction in Jujutsu traded one condition for an advantage, following a rough balance. Revealing One's Hand and barriers were both applications of such restrictions.

  Heavenly meant it was given at birth and could not be removed, like a basic trait. As a direct member of the Three Great Clans, Maki Zenin should at least have been able to see a Cursed Spirit, even without inheriting Jujutsu. Instead, the Heavenly Restriction had poured all of her Cursed Energy into physical enhancement, forging a body so strong that even Olympic champions were nothing in front of her.

  She had complained about this body before. What use was strength without Jujutsu in the Zenin Clan? That only made her a lower-class member. She soon learned that complaining was pointless, and it was better to figure out how to use her strengths to change those rotten old ideas.

  “My injuries are much lighter than you think, and my stamina loss too,” Maki Zenin said. “What about you? After summoning shikigami nonstop, how much longer can your Cursed Energy hold out?” At once, Megumi Fushiguro’s expression grew even darker.

  The system of Jujutsu roughly followed the rule of equal exchange. The stronger the technique, the greater the cost. Divine Dogs and Toad were manageable, but because of their size, Nue and Great Serpent had drained a lot of Megumi Fushiguro’s Cursed Energy.

  Maki Zenin was also spending stamina, but her stamina pool directly overlapped with part of a Cursed Energy pool and was far longer than that of a Jujutsu Sorcerer. Megumi Fushiguro carried both stamina and Cursed Energy, and the two could not be shared. Once his Cursed Energy was exhausted, no matter how much strength he had left, he would never be a match for Maki Zenin.