The Hand in the Dark

"The Hundred Families agreement should be clearer to you than to me," Number One said. "One family may hold at most three Gates."

"Your Zenin clan already has four Gates as an exception. Do you truly intend to risk the world's condemnation by taking a fifth?"

"The affairs of the Zenin clan do not need your concern," Naobito replied.

"Good. Naobito Zenin, remember what you said today. I hope you do not regret it in the future."

"Sorry," Naobito said. "The word regret has never appeared in my dictionary."

Number One snorted coldly. Power suddenly gathered beneath his feet, and powerful cursed energy erupted.

Like a red meteor, he shot into the sky again and vanished from Ren's sight.

Ren had his own clear judgment.

Even if he could defeat Number One now, he would have to pay a considerable price.

So he did not say anything.

But he faintly had a premonition that he would see Number One again soon.

Very soon.

"Meddlesome," Ren said.

He picked up the stone Buddha and examined it carefully. Earlier, he had only glanced at it casually and had not seen much.

Now that he looked closely, he found a mysterious meaning within the cracks of the stone Buddha.

Even the broken body of the Buddha seemed natural and transparent, as if it had formed that way on its own.

Without careful perception, no one could sense what kind of terrifying curse was hidden behind the stone Buddha.

"I am just the errand runner. Nothing I can do about it." Naobito shrugged helplessly and did not care about Ren's attitude.

Ren also had no desire to say more to him.

He only played with the stone Buddha in his hand.

Toji had already vanished without a trace when Naobito appeared. It seemed he did not want to meet this Zenin clan head.

"The Gates are not only seals," Naobito said. "They are also the secret that allowed the Hundred Families to pass down their lineages until today."

"The curse sealed inside a Gate affects cursed energy. If a family gathers cursed energy within the range of a Gate for a long time, there is a chance that the curse's cursed technique will be engraved into the bloodline."

"For example, the Ryukawa family's inherited technique was engraved from this Stone Buddha Burial Gate."

Ren understood immediately.

Naoki's previous guess had not been wrong.

Even if a Gate had been sealed for a thousand years, its outer layer should not have retained cursed energy by itself.

But if people, generation after generation, gathered cursed energy around it, then the situation was completely different.

After being nourished for a thousand years, even the outer layer of the seal had taken on powerful cursed energy.

"Is this where all the cursed techniques of the Hundred Families came from?" Ren murmured.

It sounded as if he were asking Naobito, but also as if he were asking himself.

"Heh." Naobito smiled. "Human selfishness has never been more merciful than cursed spirits."

"You should understand that better than I do."

Before his voice had fully fallen, the ground shook violently.

Ren appeared in front of Naobito like a vicious dragon, carrying terrifying power. His left hand was clenched into a fist, stopped less than half an inch from the man's face.

Behind Naobito, the powerful fist wind caused a terrifying sonic boom. The space around them rippled, and black lightning exploded again and again.

"Do you want to die?"

His voice seemed to squeeze through his teeth. His eyes were completely submerged in scarlet. In that moment, he looked like a demon from hell returning to the world.

Frightening bloodlust condensed almost into substance, like a river of blood devouring everything.

Cursed energy twisted around his fist.

Naobito's face turned ashen for an instant, but the color quickly disappeared, as if that expression had never appeared.

"She would not want to see you like this."

"Get out."

With Ren's roar, an invisible impact burst outward from him.

The ground seemed to be swept by an incomparably sharp blade and was flattened completely.

Walls and doors collapsed into nothing at once.

Naobito looked at Ren, wanting to speak and then stopping himself. In the end, he shook his head helplessly with a trace of loneliness.

With a soft sound, his figure vanished from Ren's eyes.

Countless black resentful spirits roared behind Ren. A blood moon seemed to split the endless sky and devour everything.

Blue light bloomed. Tenbu rippled through all things.

In front of him, brilliance rose as if it could assimilate all power.

Three Absolute Techniques erupted without the slightest concealment.

For a moment, even the earth seemed to change color.

Ren's eyes were as red as blood.

Divine might was like prison. Divine grace was like the sea.

Space began to twist. Several black cracks appeared in the torn space.

In a daze, a little girl like a carved doll appeared before Ren.

She obediently hugged Ren's leg and looked up with watery eyes. Her cute face still carried a bit of baby fat. She wrinkled her little nose at him and stuck out her tongue playfully.

"Ren!"

The blood in Ren's eyes began to fade quickly.

The surrounding visions withdrew in sequence, as if they had never appeared.

Only the completely flattened estate told what kind of terror had once appeared here.

Ren exhaled.

"Zenin clan," he said softly, "you had better have truly done what you promised me."

"Otherwise..."

His voice grew weaker.

His body gradually became faint, like a phantom that did not exist in reality.

"Otherwise..."

A cold laugh came from his mouth.

Even the air seemed to stop for an instant.

A breeze passed through.

The former courtyard had become ruins, and Ren seemed to vanish with the wind.

After a long while, a black crow flapped its wings and appeared over this empty ground.

As if drawn by Kiba Ryukawa's corpse, it landed on the body and pecked down again and again.

Suddenly, Kiba, whose head had already fallen, grabbed the pitiful crow and crushed its body.

The crow did not even let out a cry before it was destroyed.

"What a fragile era."

A ferocious voice sounded faintly, as if a demon had awakened.

"Damn it! Damn it! They actually dared to treat me like this!"

In the highest meeting room of Jujutsu Headquarters, Number One vented his fury on the surrounding walls.

He did not use cursed energy, but with his physical body alone, he drove deep pits into stone said to be among the hardest in the world.

Terrifying power was hidden in that short, shriveled body.

This mission had been a complete failure for Jujutsu Headquarters.

They had not taken the Gate, and they had lost a major expert.

The Third Chairman's death had been within his expectations, but that was under the premise that the Gate would be seized.

The seat beneath him was watched by many people. The moment he loosened his grip, a group of greedy wolves would rush forward.

If he had successfully obtained the Gate this time, no one would have said much even if the Third Chairman, who always opposed him, had been cut into pieces.

But now, undercurrents moved through all of Jujutsu Headquarters.

It was not that he truly cared so much about the position of First Acting Chairman.

Some things, however, could only be done from this position. Some things could only be obtained from this position.

"Ren Zenin! Naobito Zenin!"

Number One's voice was full of resentment. His eyes were dyed red with blood vessels because of his anger.

If not for Ren Zenin, the Gate would certainly have been his.

He seemed to have forgotten that without Ren attacking the Ryukawa family, he might never have had the chance to see the Gate.

Now he was completely submerged by anger and shame.

If not for years of training his temper, he might have gone mad back at the Ryukawa estate.

"Hundred Families! Hundred Families! You dregs that should have left the stage of history long ago, why do you still exist?"

As Number One loudly vented his dissatisfaction, a cold voice sounded slowly behind him.

"You also think those people are in the way, right?"

"Who?"

Number One's face, twisted by anger a moment before, quickly returned to its usual calm.

Cursed energy wrapped around him, and his body shifted.

"Who are you?"

He looked at the man who had appeared in the room like a ghost.

He had some impression of this person. It seemed to be a small team captain from Jujutsu Headquarters. But the thing standing here now was clearly no longer that man.

Just the black cursed energy floating from him made Number One feel a strong sense of danger.

"Oh, I really cannot fool you." The bearded man scratched his head with a trace of boredom. "I thought I could tease you a little."

Under Number One's gaze, a blood-red hand tore out from the side of the bearded man's head with a ripping sound.

Blood immediately fell to the floor.

More strangely, before the blood could spread, it quickly coagulated into hard clots and rolled across the ground.

"Cursed spirit!"

Number One's heart trembled.

A cursed spirit with intelligence comparable to humans, and even the ability to hide, was undoubtedly special grade.

His hands quickly formed a sign in front of his chest. Waves of cursed energy emerged behind him.

Red instantly became the only color in the room, like a bright curtain covering everything.

The surroundings began to change like a canvas moving freely with Number One's gaze.

"Do not be nervous," the blood-red hand said. A mouth opened in its palm, its voice hoarse and weak. "I came to cooperate."

"Cooperate? You must be mistaken. A mere cursed spirit should not act arrogantly in front of me."

"I do not know why you dared to appear in Jujutsu Headquarters, but it does not matter. I am in a very bad mood right now."

"Quartering."

Number One did not waste words. His hands formed another sign.

Space shook, and cursed energy condensed.

A huge chariot appeared in front of him, carrying terrifying power as it crushed toward the bearded man.

Facing a chariot that seemed able to crush everything, the mouth on the blood-red hand showed a helpless smile.

"Human, why are you always so impatient?"

Just as the chariot was about to crush him completely, the blood-red hand waved casually.

A strange sound rang out.

The chariot twisted rapidly. In the end, it curled into a ball smaller than a palm and fell to the ground.

"Do you not want to kill Ren Zenin?"

The moment those words appeared, Number One's hands, still forming signs, paused slightly.

"What did you say?"

"It seems you finally understand. My target is the same as yours: Ren Zenin."

"So, do you want to cooperate?"

The blood-red hand swayed. The mouth instantly twisted and changed into an eye full of blood vessels, staring tightly at Number One.

"Speak. What do you want?"

Number One did not even think for long. His hatred for Ren had already surpassed his obsession with cursed spirits.

As long as he could achieve his goal, cooperating with a cursed spirit was not impossible.

"Hahaha! I knew you were different."

"You are completely different from those foolish people who speak of humanity and conviction with every breath."

The bearded man let out a hearty laugh, and then the voice returned to the blood-red hand beside his head.

"I want to know the whereabouts of the Miyamoto family, one of the Hundred Families."

"I have been looking for them for a long time. As long as I can find the Miyamoto family, I will help you deal with Ren Zenin."

Number One's eyes shook slightly.

Asking him to believe the words of a cursed spirit that had just appeared was ridiculous.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Why? Yes, why?"

The blood-red hand seemed to ask itself. Its tone was puzzled and innocent.

At last, the bearded man it possessed revealed a strange smile.

"Does cursed spirit flesh taste good?"

The words exploded beside Number One's ear like thunder.

His body trembled slightly. He raised one finger with difficulty.

"You are... you are..."

"Shh."

The bearded man had appeared in front of him at some point. He raised one finger and placed it against Number One's lips.

Darkness arrived as promised.

x

x

x

If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:

https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader