Chapter 34

"Let me at the strongest."

Satoru-sensei looked down at her with a raised brow. Times like this, it couldn't be clearer that he had picked up on some of Jiki's mannerisms. Or was it the other way around?

"Don't look at me like that, I'm serious. You once said you'll be my shield till I am ready. I'm going to take that first step today."

He quickly turned away from her to continue his masked stare down with the black man flying on a massive winged curse creature. Yet before he could turn completely, she saw the small smile that was blossoming on his face.

Without looking at her, he pointed northwest, and she turned her head to follow his hand before rechecking the strap on her back and gripping her Naginata hard. She gave him a bow. One that was more formal than she had done in a long time, for Satoru was more than just a teacher.

She held it for five long seconds, knowing that even without turning to face her, he could see it anyway. Finally, she straightened up and started marching away, brushing past the few still confused people who were watching the humongous tide of cursed creatures charging their way.

Already, the sounds of combat were echoing further out. Triangulating the sound with the echoes spread by the buildings let her know it was somewhere northeast of their position. Somebody had started a slaughter, and it didn't take two guesses to figure out who.

"Wait up, Maki, we're coming with you." Panda interrupted her march, seeking to catch up to her pace before Satoru's voice rang out.

"No. I have something else for the both of you."

She gave a sharp nod to her classmates before continuing her march forward. She could not fail at her goals. Not here.

It took her ten minutes to get to where Satoru had pointed out to her, and the full battle was already in full swing. She could hear clashes everywhere, accompanied by the screech of dying curses and the more human screams of unfortunate sorcerers.

When she got to her destination, she was greeted with the sight of four men and women, their bodies pulped and plastered to the ground, forming craters in buildings.

Appendages ripped apart and flung carelessly. Whatever Satoru had pointed her at was not one of the few rogue curse users that seemed a part of this army, Nor was it a weak curse used to placate her. Good.

"Help, stop, please—" The plea ended with a squelch as something heavy slammed hard on the owner of the voice, silencing the cries for help with a heavy thud.

The heady smell of so much blood and bile almost made her nauseous, yet she was made of harder stuff. This was something she had seen before, in an underground bunker where a friend had torn through people she used to know with well-calculated blows.

The only difference was in the mindlessness of this particular scene. There was none of the cold precision that came with Jiki's strikes; this was done with mindless brute force.

She continued her walk, slowed from the previous jog she had started with. The moment she turned the corner, she was greeted with the sight of a girl her age hiding behind a half-destroyed car, along with a younger girl with her hand over her mouth. While the curse guilty of the destruction used massive spiked tentacles to pull its latest victim to its eye level, before ripping off a leg and tossing it down its gullet.

It savored the taste before flinging the body to the side in frustration and anger, its jaws moving as if to speak but no words coming out. It grew frustrated, expressing its feelings by lashing out at the surrounding buildings with thunderous blows that cracked and sundered.

Her eyes narrowed at the observation and the conclusion she was coming to. This was not the mad rambling and erstwhile repeated speech of random curses. It was trying to communicate and growing frustrated and angry at Its inability to do so.

Without taking her eyes off the monstrosity, she spoke to the two girls hidden behind the car, "You should run."

With those words, she unfurled the cloth that covered the purple blade of her Naginata and took a step forward, drawing the monstrosity's attention to her.

It focused on her with multiple black eyes, and she gave it just as much attention. Staring it down from the tip of her glasses.

It was big. The biggest curse she had ever faced, with a girth to match, taking up almost all the space on the road. Yet they were at a roundabout, and the four intersections gave it the space to maneuver easily.

She called out to the curse with a sharp grin, one that was all teeth as she slowly sank into a stance. "Come!" This would be the beginning of a new life for her. All she had to do was survive this night.

It charged.

…

It took nearly everything she had to deflect the first tentacle strike. The force of the blow nearly sent her reeling as she fought for balance. She was more prepared for the second, deflecting it at an angle and sending its bulk through the windows of the building behind.

She saw an opportunity, a chance, a gap in its waving tentacles, and charged at it, ducking past slow and clumsy limbs, sliding past debris as she ran towards the main body at full tilt. There were two shorter limbed tentacles in between her and the bulbous head of the curse.

This had proven easier than she thought, that was what rang in her head, before the two tentacles that were supposed to be guarding the curse snapped out wide to the side, exposing Its face. Her eyes widened behind her glasses as she realized she had fallen for a trap.

She could see a cruel glint in its black orbs just before an Inky black substance shot out of its mouth and splattered on her and everything within five meters of her. It took her a second to wipe the gunk off her glasses. That second was all it needed to blindside her with a tentacle that slammed into her so hard, that the sound of her ribs splintering in her chest rang out, just before she was propelled like a fly and lost consciousness.

…

She came too with a gasp but a hand over her mouth stopped her from screaming for all she was worth. The left side of her chest was a furnace of heat and a cauldron of pain and It took all she had to strangle the sensation and instead focus on her savior. The two girls she had sent away.

The youngest one continued to wrap a bandage around her naked breast and upper frame gently, while the older one slowly removed her hand from her mouth, before gently applying a paste on the bandage, before another set was wrapped over it.

"What happened?" She questioned. Her brain was a mess and only the soothing relief from the paste stopped her from forcing herself to her feet.

"We were on our way to meet Ierie-san at the medical outpost before the curse appeared, killing our guards and-"

"After that?" she interjected briskly. The younger girl flinched back with wide eyes at her tone, and she felt her heartache at the scene. "I'm sorry," She continued her tone milder.

"It's alright," the older one replied with a smile, "After you told us to run, we left but Asami's shinigami", She pointed at the younger girl and at the empty space on the girl's shoulder. "spotted you flying through a wall, and we rushed towards you to help."

She continued to stare at the younger girl's shoulder for a few seconds before she realized the reason she could not see the supposed shinigami. "Where are my glasses?" She questioned as she forced herself to her feet.

The younger girl pointed behind her to where her Naginata lay right beside the Soul-split Katana and her glasses. It was cracked with one lens nearly destroyed completely, but it was still whole. "Thank you," she said as she moved to wear it.

"Asami was the one that spotted the fact that it was a cursed tool and made sure to carry It."

She turned to the smaller girl and ruffled her black locks the same way she had seen Satoru do to Jiki and was greeted with a wide smile and a soft glow in her heart. "Thank you, Asami." The girl replied with a nod and her still wide smile.

"She doesn't speak," The other girl said, but Maki had already moved on. Ignoring the warm glow that filled her heart, instead, she hardened it and took a sharp breath in.

It still hurt, like a knife was being scrapped over her lungs but she could work with it. She slid the Soul Split blade over her shoulder and turned to face her helpers once more. They had retreated a few steps from her and the smaller girl seemed to have lost her smile as she stared at her from behind the older girl.

Her gaze racked past the small crow-like creature she could see on her shoulder, before drifting up to the older girl who looked at her impassively. "Thank you, but you have to leave now."

"You have a remarkable body, but you are hurt. You can't go back out there," The older girl replied with a frown.

"Don't worry about me." She replied the girl as she pivoted to leave the building. She could hear the curse making a racket in the background. "I have a curse to kill."

…

"Octopus head!" She called out the moment she came within earshot of the curse. It spun around to face her with surprise in Its eyes. It had thought her dead, she grinned in response. She was too stubborn to be put down by a mere semi-grade one.

Fighting it here once again would be a losing game, she had learned from her mistake so she pivoted and started a slow jog away with the curse charging once more behind her.

Minutes into leading it away from the interaction she ducked underneath a spiked tentacle the size of a semi-truck that struck from behind her.

She swiftly spun on the spot before lashing out at an angle with her Naginata, hoping to shear it in half. The blade got stuck halfway, her eyes widened and the curse used that surprise to jerk back its appendage with force, dragging her surprised form closer to the bipedal octopus-like curse.

With a quick tap of her foot coupled with the pull from the curse, she launched herself mid-air past the six-eyed curse, leaving the cursed-empowered Naginata.

She had lured it down a narrow street, with multiple skyscrapers around. A twist of her hips like Jiki taught her, and she slammed into the high-rise building directly behind the curse with enough force that her foot sunk an inch into the concrete-reinforced wall, giving her a platform for the next jump at its unguarded back.

The curse was slow to turn, its bulk hampering it in such close quarters, its pitch-black eyes all forward-facing and proving ineffective against a threat that could move three-dimensionally with ease.

Ignoring the pain in her calves, she bunched up her feet, coiling the muscles to insane proportions. The sharp rip of her pantyhose showed their inability to keep up with the sudden and rapid expansion of her leg muscles, but she pressed on, undeterred.

She leaped.

Cratering that part of the building from the pressure of her feet kicking out and using the force to propel her toward the still unguarded back of the curse. Her hand snapped to the back as she unsheathed the fur-hilted blade in one quick motion.

She spun mid-air, and the swing that followed split the head of the curse horizontally with such force that the blood pressure from the wound rocketed out and splattered the high-rise like a purple paint gun, painting the surrounding walls in a three-sixty arc.

The moment she landed, she continued her spin, fully aware of the consequences of stopping abruptly at this juncture. She possessed strength, but not enough to withstand such a sudden halt. Her legs would shatter under the pressure, rendering her a cripple for the remainder of the battle. This was a risk she could not afford to take. There was so much at stake, so much to prove.

One dead.

Her legs tore furrows through the ground and down to the soft under-earth as she finally came to a stop opposite the dead curse monstrosity. Its head slid to the side slowly and dropped. The weight of Its fall sent a blast of force and sound that activated the alarms on the cars around.

"Ha! I did it. I killed a semi-grade 1 curse alone. In your face, you Zenin old fucks."

Despite the strain she put her body through, she laughed. The right hand that wielded the fur-hilted blade was slow to react, torn muscles and bruised tendons barely holding the hand together as she gripped the blade with a steel-like grip.

She was not ready for the blade yet. It worked perfectly, tearing apart anything she swung the blade through. Yet her physicality was not as powerful as the original owner.

Another wielder of the heavenly restriction just like her, so why wasn't she as strong as him? Jiki said he used the blade without any adverse effects, so why did a single swing almost rip her hand out of its socket?

…

"I have a theory, Maki-san." Those words drew her out of her contemplation. She was sitting beside Jiki under his favorite tree, sharing the shade with him. When she had gotten there, his eyes had been closed and his breath even, a sign he had sunk deep into his meditation.

"About what?" She asked as she turned to face him, but his eyes were still closed, and he spoke as if he was in a dream.

"Of you, of your heavenly restriction, the gates, and more curiously, your brain. Why you're different from Toji."

"Huh. Huh??" What the hell were the gates, and what does that have to do with her brain? Before she could vocalize her thoughts, Jiki continued.

"The eight inner gates are metaphysical pathways in the body that limit the flow of power in a body. It is an inbuilt limit, one meant to preserve the body yet one that can be exploited with the knowledge of it. I asked Satoru to take a deep look at your brain to confirm my hypothesis, as well as what my eyes could vaguely make out, and he agreed with me."

She was getting confused, but the way he continued to speak seemed to lure her into a sluggish trance-like state, and she allowed it, letting the voice lead and guide her.

"You've spoken of your sister once, and you mentioned she had a technique. A weak one, but a technique still. One that was inscribed on her brain like everyone else, everyone but you. I believe I know why."

"My heavenly restriction," she rebutted. It was a known thing; the sole reason for her lacking cursed energy.

"But is it?" Jiki questioned, and this time she could place something in his voice. Curiosity.

"I believe it's a matter of what comes first, the chicken or the egg. Your first two gates are unlocked, Maki. Right from the moment of your birth. Do you know where those two gates are located?"

"No."

This time she opened her eyes—when had she closed them?—and looked into the smiling face of Jiki. He raised his hand and poked the side of his head with his thumbs.

"The brain. The right and the left parts of the brain, more importantly. Those gates have been opened for years without closing, going at full power, which i believe makes it impossible for an innate technique to engrave itself during your formative years.

Nature abhors a vacuum and loves balance. Your Heavenly restriction is incomplete, you might have been able to manifest an innate technique due to that, but the first two gates deprived you of a that chance, yet you have survived something that should've killed you after hours for sixteen years."

He stilled for a heartbeat, letting the words sink in before continuing. "I believe you're an anomaly, a one-in-a-million anomaly Maki.

The formation of your heavenly restriction is heavily entwined with the presence of your gates. Without your heavenly restriction, you would not have had to open the gates, and without the little cursed energy present as a result of your incomplete Heavenly restriction, you would not have been able to use the gates either.

Yet like all things, balance is important. You would not have survived the opening of your first two gates without the physique gotten from your half-formed heavenly restriction which worked to harden you, and without the little cursed energy in you, you would have had a complete heavenly restriction like Toji."

Her mind was reeling, confused, and disoriented, yet the knowledge that Jiki was imparting, accompanied by his presence, steeled her.

"What now? Where does that leave me?" She asked.

His small smile turned into an uncharacteristic sharp grin as he continued to stare at her. For the first time, she realized his eyes were spinning rapidly as he stared down at her.

"I don't know how to rid you of your cursed energy completely; even if i could, that would lead you down a path similar to Toji; a well trodden one. But you have an alternative path of power open to you if only you reach for it."

"Tell me!?" She demanded/pleaded.

"Instead of ridding yourself of the little curse energy you have, you can make use of it. You've unlocked the gates of opening and the gate of healing by virtue of your birth, Maki. But those are just the first two gates. I mentioned eight."

Her eyes widened with surprise. She refused to believe what he was insinuating, what he was leading up to.

Like he could read her thoughts, the grin grew wider, and black tomoe in a sea of red continued its mad spin.

"Now we're going to see if you can unlock the third gate; the gate of life by the effort of your will."

…

The sudden roar of another curse forced her out of her memories. She blinked rapidly as she sought to ground herself in the now once more. Her right side still ached fiercely coupled with the stress her body had gone through to use the blade, and those were the things that helped her ground herself in the now.

She looked up as the new curse charged at her at full tilt, crushing cars and breaking off the sides of the buildings it came in contact with. Its body was a sinuous thing, lending it a mobility the octopus-like curse had lacked, Its scales showed slowly healing cracks and bled freely. It was running.

It snapped its lipless maw open, revealing three rows of teeth, with pale blue eyes that watched her with glee, plastered on its tongue.

A fully realized Grade One curse.

She attempted to shift her stance, aiming to counter its charge with her own. From sundering strikes to crushing blows, she sought to engage it in a deadlock and ultimately tear its head off. However, her efforts were rendered null when she realized her legs refused to obey her commands. She choked back a laugh as she tilted her head back to stare at the night sky.

Her inhuman regeneration was still overworking itself to repair her body from the numerous damages she had incurred and put it through. Was this where she was going to die? Facing a curse Jiki would've killed with a glance? A casualty of a rogue curse fleeing from a predator far mightier than herself.

She could feel her lips tear into a grin that was as agonizing as it was gratifying. No, this was not the place where she met her end. This was not where her tale concluded. She would defy their expectations. Prove them all mistaken and carve her name into this harsh world, standing shoulder to shoulder with the mightiest among them.

Jiki had once likened war to a furnace, and people to an unformed steel blade, tamahagane. Within it, you would be subjected to heat, purification, and transformation into something new.

She snapped her head down, standing resolute as the gaping maw of the curse drew nearer, its stumped feet crushing cars and cracking the asphalt with each thunderous step of its charge. Peering into the darkness of its maw, she found eyes staring back at her.

She had fought for everything she had gotten. Instead of meekly submitting to the whims of her clan like her sister did, she rebelled against the machinations of this cruel world.

This was her way of life, her creed. Unwavering, relentless, and unyielding. So she knew, even at the cost of her life, she would kill it. Like dying embers fanned, those thoughts ignited a fire in her heart. It felt as though a scorching path was being seared along her spine. The pain intensified to such a degree that she gritted her teeth, ignoring the cracks forming in her enamel as she stifled a scream. Her eyes rolled up, and she heard herself whispering the words, even from the depths of nothingness.

Third gate: Gate of Life. Open.

Then came clarity—more profound than any she had ever known, despite her already heightened senses.

The metallic, coppery stench of blood assaulted her nostrils, burning like acid against her senses.

Sulfur tainted the air, its acrid taste staining her tongue.

Despite a shattered glass lens and another cracked and pitted, her vision remained. She saw.

Blurs of movement, shadows converging from both sides of the curse at a low angle, slipping beneath its hanging tongue and slavering maw. With blistering accuracy, they sliced at its two foremost limbs, One cut was deeper than the other and forced the curse to careen to the side.

She recognized the opportunity for what it truly was: a moment of clarity and empowerment.

Despite the intense sensation of her body simultaneously mending and breaking, burning hot and turning red as it struggled to heal the tears, rips, and fatigue she had accumulated, she knew moving to the side now would be easy.

Dodge the curse, allow the people who hurt it to continue, and then find a chance to help. It was the right thing. The smart thing. She felt the mad grin widen on her face as she sunk low to the ground. Yet it was not her thing, not her way. She did not maneuver around the storm. She was the storm.

It took will more than strength to move. Her body had begun to heal, but she was pushing it continuously. It was will that forced her muscles to move, twisting to the side by an inch as the curse rocketed past her, its maw so close she could see its blood-speckled teeth and the blue-clothed remains of a student stuck between its incisors.

She spun on her feet and swapped the fur-hilted blade to her second hand, using the still-mending hand to brace while she swung at the curse.

The blow was executed flawlessly, the perfect execution stroke. An overhead swing aimed to sever the curse's head.

It happened in a split second.

Empowered by the inhuman strength bestowed upon her by the Gate of Life, the Soul Split Katana tore its way through the creature's neck, ripping through muscle, tendons, and bone. The force of the strike brought the monster's main body to an abrupt halt, its momentum forced to a stop as its head was propelled away like a projectile.

She let out a slow breath that left her lungs and manifested as steam. Ignoring the deluge of purple viscera, blood, and bile, the foul mixture was soaking into her hand, her clothes, and had splattered on her face.

Standing amidst the chaos, her body trembling from the exertion and exhilaration, white eyes watched as the headless curse struggled to rise and resume the fight. Unaware that it was dead in every way that truly mattered.

Her hair had gotten loose with the force of the blow, and the blood matted it down, pasting it to the sides of her face and down.

"Maki?"

She looked up as the voice called out. It was Emi, her savior, the girl she had never thought much about at first, the weakest of their bunch yet Jiki's favorite. That thought sent a pang through her, one she could not and did not have the time to decipher. Not with the fire burning inside her, begging to be let loose.

Behind Emi strode a woman, an axe casually slung over her shoulder, her hair so light it nearly matched Jiki's shade. She moved with the grace of a cat, each step deliberate and meticulous, a sharp grin playing on her lips as she eyed Maki, with hunger in her eyes.

"Are you alright?"Emi spoke, distracting her.

"Where's the next one?" Her voice came out low in response. Harsh and raspy, Emi took a step back in response. Surprised? She could still feel the power flowing through her. Her blood felt like it had been replaced with boiling magma.

She must have appeared like a demon straight from hell, her stance low, skin stained red and matted with the purple-green blood of the curse. Standing with the wickedly sharp cleaver resting on her shoulders, her white eyes remained fixed on her classmate and the woman. Even as reinforcements rushed up behind the duo, they halted meters away, their eyes widening in terror as they beheld her, uncertain of the entity they were facing.

She could recognize some of them, boys who had sneered at her as a child, doubting her abilities and believing she would never amount to anything. Girls who had laughed at her for not being feminine enough.

Zenin.

The other girl blinked and smiled in response to her question, then swiftly moved to support her, placing a firm hand beneath her armpit to steady her.

"Your body is burning up, plus you've done enough for today, Maki. Let's get you to the healing station; Shoko San should be there soon."

But it wasn't enough, not nearly enough. She hadn't dispatched enough curses yet. There were more to be slain, perhaps a Grade One or another Semi-Grade One. She still had plenty of strength left. Enough to—

A thunderous explosion rent through what felt like half of a city block, the force of it nearly knocking her to the ground if not for Emi's steady presence at her side.

The heat was suffocating even from this distance, and flames licked at the horizon.

"Great Flame Annihilation," Emi murmured beside her, peering at the distant inferno.

Jiki was exercising restraint, attempting to minimize casualties and collateral damage by holding back. The Gojo Scion was at the forefront of the battle. With Satoru preoccupied with the special-grade sorcerer, Jiki had taken charge as a one-man army. The rest of them faced only the remaining curses, too distant to capture his attention.

A genius, a prodigy of unprecedented talent.

So fucking what? She would make her way to that pinnacle and see what awaited her there. Perhaps then Mai—

"Your grin is scaring them off, Girl," The woman spoke up as she walked up to them, her voice a low and sluttery thing.

And she gazed into the terrified faces of the reserves. The fear etched on their features sent an unfamiliar sensation coursing up her spine and into her mind. Riding high on endorphins and adrenaline, she found herself elevated above all else and discovered something about herself.

She relished it.

The fear and horror were reflected in their expressions. If she couldn't earn their respect, she would command their fear. It was preferable to the disdain she had endured for so many years.

Yes, this was her opportunity to alter her destiny, and she struggled to contain the mad grin spreading across her face. If this was the offering of the third gate, she mused as her heavenly restriction worked tirelessly to mend the damage inflicted by its power, what wonders might the fourth and fifth gates hold for her?

"Good," she responded to Emi. "Now, where is the next curse?"