Outside the main gate of the Zenin clan, two figures stood side by side.
Fushiguro Toji had his hands in his pockets, his eyes cold enough to freeze ice.
“Let’s go.”
“I want to see who dares touch us brothers.”
Fushiguro Yukio gripped Golden Scale at his waist and said nothing, only stepping forward beside him.
The moment the two entered the Zenin estate, they drew countless stares.
Whispers immediately spread.
“Why are they back?”
“They probably couldn’t survive outside and came back begging for food.”
“Trash is still trash…”
Yukio ignored all of it.
The moment he was abandoned, he had completely stopped caring about what these people thought.
The news quickly reached Zenin Jinichi.
At the same time, Toji and Yukio had already arrived outside his room.
Inside, footsteps approached from far away.
Toji sensed the movement behind the door, a cold smile curling at his lips.
The next second…
BOOM!!!
The heavy wooden door, together with the person behind it, flew out like a cannonball.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Jinichi’s body smashed through three walls in a row before finally crashing heavily into a decorative rock in the courtyard.
The rock cracked apart, rubble flying everywhere.
The entire Zenin estate shook.
Figures rushed over from all directions, cursed energy surging, shikigami summoned, weapons drawn.
Then everyone froze at the same time.
What were they seeing?
Zenin Toji and that brat Yukio were…
beating Jinichi together?
That Jinichi, one of the top talents of the younger Zenin generation, praised as a genius sorcerer with a bright future.
Right now he was getting beaten like a dead dog, unable to even fight back.
“Stop!”
Zenin Naobito flashed over, about to step in and stop them.
Yukio raised a hand and pointed at him, his voice icy cold.
“This man sent assassins to kill me.”
“I want him dead.”
“Problem?”
Naobito frowned tightly as he looked at Jinichi, who had already been beaten beyond recognition.
“Could there…
be some misunderstanding here?”
Toji grabbed Jinichi by the collar like he was lifting a dead chicken.
“Talk.”
Jinichi spat out blood mixed with broken teeth and laughed miserably.
“So what if I did?”
He had completely given up.
Naobito fell silent.
Everything was clear now.
Jinichi really had sent people to kill Yukio.
But he was the clan head.
In front of all these clan members, he had to make a choice.
A painful choice, but one he had no way to avoid.
Grinding his teeth, he spoke with difficulty, “Can you…
give Jinichi a chance?”
Yukio smiled, “Give him a chance?”
“Who gave us a chance?”
He looked at Toji, “Brother, kill him.”
The corners of Toji’s mouth rose.
The hand gripping Jinichi’s neck suddenly tightened.
“I almost forgot, you’re a sorcerer.”
“Just snapping your neck might not kill you.”
He drew the Soul Release Blade.
Slash!
A head hit the ground and rolled all the way to Naobito’s feet.
“Now he can’t survive, right?”
Dead silence filled the area.
“You two animals!!!”
A sharp scream tore through the silence.
That so-called “mother” rushed out, pointing at the brothers while screaming curses.
“Jinichi was your brother!
Do you even have any humanity?!”
Once someone took the lead, everyone else immediately followed.
“Rebellion!
Rebellion!”
“Killing your own clan members is unforgivable!”
“Capture them!”
The crowd exploded with anger, curses filling the air.
Yukio expressionlessly looked at these people.
He remembered the looks of disgust and mockery on their faces when he was born, and again when he was six and declared to have no cursed energy.
He remembered the cold hatred in the eyes of that so-called “mother” whenever she looked at him.
He remembered the years he and Toji had spent depending on each other in that broken little courtyard.
He spoke, his voice not loud, yet clear enough for everyone to hear.
“So noisy.”
Two words.
Like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing some people’s anger while driving even more completely insane.
Yukio turned to Toji.
“Brother, let’s use this chance to completely cut ties with the Zenin clan.”
“What?!”
“He’s leaving the clan?!”
“How dare he say something so rebellious!”
“The Zenin clan raised you all these years, and not only are you ungrateful, you killed your own clan member, and now you want to betray the clan?!”
Toji rested the Soul Release Blade on his shoulder.
His posture looked lazy, but his eyes were frighteningly cold.
“Old man, you heard him, right?”
“From today onward, we brothers are leaving the Zenin clan.”, He paused.
“This isn’t a discussion.”
“It’s a notice.”
Naobito opened his mouth, not yet able to speak.
In the crowd, someone finally snapped.
“Kill them!!!”
Nobody knew who moved first.
But the next second, overwhelming attacks rushed toward the brothers.
Techniques.
Shikigami.
Weapons.
Naobito closed his eyes and turned away.
Before leaving, he glanced at Toji.
That look carried only one meaning: Hold back.
Not because he lacked confidence in himself.
But because he understood too clearly how terrifying that man was.
Toji gave no response.
He only looked at Yukio.
“I only have one family member.”
Yukio nodded, “My brother is my only family too.”
The moment those words fell.
The slaughter began.
Slash!
Blade light flashed, and the first three people charging forward dropped at the same time.
Blood sprayed out, staining the stone ground red.
Nobody saw how Toji moved.
They only saw a black shadow weaving through the crowd.
Every time it paused, another person fell.
On Yukio’s side, Golden Scale turned into streaks of golden light, every strike fatal.
His movements weren’t as fast as Toji’s, but they were more graceful and precise.
Like a waltz danced on blade edges.
“It’s not fair!!”
Someone screamed from the distance, voice trembling with tears.
“Why?!
Why are you two without cursed energy this strong?!”
Sorcerers should be the ones in charge!”
Yukio ignored him.
He simply kept swinging his blade.
The dense attacks gradually became sparse.
More and more corpses piled onto the ground.
The survivors began retreating.
They were afraid.
Truly afraid.
That so-called “mother” collapsed in the distance, her whole body trembling.
When she looked at Yukio now, there was no hatred left in her eyes, only fear.
Yukio glanced at his terrified “birth mother.” Neither of them killed her.
Not because they were soft-hearted, but because they wanted them to know that the two of them were different from the Zenin clan.
Yukio stopped moving, his mood low as he said to Toji, “Brother, let’s go.”
Toji originally still wanted to kill.
He wanted to slaughter everyone inside the Zenin clan and let them understand the price of sending people to kill Yukio.
He didn’t dare imagine it.
If Yukio had really died, then the only family he had left in this world would be gone.
Toji stared at Yukio silently for a long time before finally sighing.
“Then let’s go.”
“You’re still too soft-hearted.”
Behind them were corpses everywhere and cries filling the sky.
After only a few steps, Toji suddenly stopped.
“Zenin Naobito, we know you’re watching.”
Toji’s lazy voice drifted over, “Take us to the treasury.”
“We’ll pick a few good items as payment for sparing your lives.”
Naobito stepped out from the shadows.
He looked deeply at the two of them and said nothing before turning to lead the way.
The treasury doors opened.
All kinds of cursed tools were displayed inside.
The two split up to search.
Not long later, Yukio’s voice sounded out, “Brother!
Come look!”
Toji walked over and took the item Yukio handed him.
A strangely shaped dagger that looked like two twisted blades fused together.
Naobito did not hide anything.
“Inverted Spear of Heaven.”
“Special grade cursed tool.”
“Ability: Forcibly cancels active techniques.”
“As long as it touches cursed energy, the technique will be forcibly canceled.”
Yukio’s eyes lit up.
“Brother, with this, wouldn’t troublesome sorcerers be nothing to fear?”
Toji looked at Yukio fondly, “Then hurry up and get me something that can store weapons.”
After searching for a while longer and finding nothing good, they prepared to leave.
At that moment, Naobito looked at their backs and spoke.
“I had no way to stop those people’s thoughts.”
The two didn’t turn around.
Toji’s calm voice drifted back.
“We know.”
Their footsteps gradually faded away.
Naobito stood there, watching their backs disappear into the night.
After a long time, he muttered to himself, “So you knew…”
The night wind blew by, carrying a thick smell of blood.
Dark clouds covered the moon.
The moment they stepped out of the Zenin clan gates, Yukio suddenly looked up at the moon faintly visible among the clouds.
“Brother.”
“Hm?”
“Let’s change our surname.”
“Completely cut ties with Zenin.”
Toji paused slightly, “Change it to what?”
Yukio thought for a moment, “Fushiguro.”
“Lurking within darkness.”
Toji repeated the two words to himself, “Fushiguro Toji…”
“Fushiguro Yukio.”
He smiled, “Sounds pretty good.”
“Then we’ll change it to Fushiguro.”
The two figures walked side by side into the night.