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After dealing with the first group of curses, Naoya made his way towards the second group.
On his way, some mangled human parts were present along with blood stains.
Naoya, with Shisui in his hands, felt a bit disgusted and a bit nauseous. The foul smell of blood mixed with the smell of the rotting body parts made it almost unbearable for the young Zenin.
Still, Naoya decided to persevere through the problems. If he failed today, the Zenin clan might take a jab at him, and his father and that was not something he was willing to compromise. Naobito had warned him to make sure that the mission succeeds, now that the time is sensitive and the clan head selection is close by. Ogi was about to marry, and in probably a year, he will probably have his kids as well, meaning his position would be solidified to his and Naobito's level. The only saving grace was the Ten Shadows technique that he possesses. If his Uncle's kids were not up to his level, then the position goes to Naobito; otherwise, the situation at the clan would become dangerous, and for that reason, no smudge in the record could be afforded right now.
While still being deep in his thoughts, Naoya finally reached the second cluster of curses, and just like with the first cluster, the group of Grade-3 and Grade-2 curses attacked him on the spot, only to be diced apart by the young Zenin.
Following that, Naoya headed to the third and final curse cluster's location.
As he neared the final cluster, Naoya slowed.
Voices.
Human voices.
"Someone's still alive?" he muttered, quickening his pace. The possibility of someone dying because he was late dawned on him, and that was not a feeling he was fond of.
A minute later, Naoya arrived at the location of the cluster.
But the moment he got in the area, Naoya's eyes widened in surprise.
Instead of spotting some struggling and dying humans, Naoya was greeted by a group of humans with weapons in their hands that had just finished exorcising the curses.
"What do you know? The kid had the guts to come here all alone?"
"Well, he is the golden goose of the Zenin clan; he should be arrogant as hell."
"Wow, the child with a golden spoon. I so wanted to be born like that as well."
"Well, too bad for you, your mother was a wh*re. Still, with the money from this mission, you could buy a few dozen golden spoons."
The men started talking amongst themselves, with each of them sneering at Naoya.
Naoya had already made up an opinion seeing the men talk. He wasn't sure, but he was a firm believer of swing first, ask later.
Shadows swirled in Naoya's palm as a wooden spear came out of it.
Seeing the kid take out a weapon, the men decided that it was time to start the mission.
*THUD*
However, before they could even start, one of them was already lying lifelessly on the ground with the wooden spear piercing the man's heart.
"!!!"
This made them snap out of their humorous mood and take the situation a bit more seriously.
Naoya was already on the move and approached the nearest attacker.
"Hu-"
Taken aback by surprise, the man yelped and tried to counterattack. But by the time he could even make a move, Shisui was already thrust into the man's skull and after a swift kick on the blade hilt, made the short sword peek out of the man's skull from the other end as well.
The rest of the assassins were shocked by the brutal attack, which slowly turned into fear when Naoya stomped on the man's skull and yanked the short sword out of the dead man's skull.
"Consider that as a warning," said Naoya in a cold tone.
"I will ask you this once. Who are you people? What are you all here for? Who tipped you off about this location? Start answering within five seconds, after which I will do the same to one more of you," said Naoya and pointed at the dead man beneath his feet.
The men ground their teeth in anger, and being the kind that can't tolerate being taken lightly and that too by a little boy, the men expectedly decided to attack.
"1" Naoya started counting.
Naoya was not one to like violence and killing, but that was only for peaceful Naoya. Paranoid Naoya doesn't hesitate to end a life.
"What are you all waiting for!!! KILL HIM!!!" yelled one of the men.
"2" Naoya continued.
The men scattered, and a few of them rushed towards the young Zenin with cursed energy radiating off their blades.
"3"
One of the men reached Naoya and slashed Naoya with all his strength.
The blade sliced smoothly.....almost too smoothly.
The man was surprised since he didn't feel any resistance. However, an instant later, he realised that Naoya had vanished from his spot and in the next instant, pain surged in his body.
*KLANG* *THUD* *THUD*
The man noticed his sword fall on the ground....along with both of his hands fallen there as well.
"4"
"AHHHH!!!!"
Blood sprayed out from the man's now absent hands as he screamed like a b*tch from the pain.
"5"
Being the man of his word, Naoya swung his short sword in a smooth motion, chopping off the man's head, ending his suffering.
Naoya looked at the rolling head and snorted.
These rogue Grade-3 and Grade-2 sorcerers were obviously no match for him. If not for wanting to get some information from them, he would not hold back this much and end the things before something unexpected happened.
"Offer remains the same. Tell me what I want. Time starts now," said Naoya.
"1"
The sorcerers were now hesitant to attack Naoya. All of them earlier thought that killing one arrogant kid from a big-name clan would not be that much of a deal; after all, the kid was not named Satoru Gojo.
But who would have thought that even Naoya Zenin would turn out to be a monster as well?
The Grade-2 and Grade-3 sorcerers instinctively turned towards their leader, the only Grade-1 amongst them.
"Miyamoto. Nakamura," called the leader in a calm tone as he narrowed his eyes at Naoya.
"Yes, boss."
"The kid's strength lies in his speed and the cursed tool. Deal with those two, and he would be easy pickings."
"5" Naoya finished the countdown and got ready to go after his next target, and activated his Projection Sorcery.
[Cursed Technique: Land's Grasp]
One of the men slammed their hands on the ground as cursed energy flowed through it.
Naoya, who was already in motion by the [Projection Sorcery], felt his feet getting stuck, which made him stop.
"Wha-"
Because of failing to complete the set of motions, Naoya got trapped in a frame, and the leader, probably knowing about how Naoya's technique worked, rushed towards the frame.
[Cursed Technique: Remnant Harvest]
The man's fist glowed as flames swirled around it as he struck the frozen Naoya with the blazing fist, breaking him out of the frame while causing damage to the kid.
Naoya felt a bit of pain because of the added effect of his technique, which removed all defences, but the pain was still bearable.
He focused back on the situation once again and saw the man's flaming fist coming towards him once again.
Deciding to dodge it, Naoya tried to move, but his feet didn't follow his wish and remained stuck on the ground.
"What happened? Frozen still? Let me warm you up!!!" exclaimed the man and struck Naoya with his flaming fist, which ignited into a big ball of flames.
Naoya winced in pain but adapted quickly and made a hand sign. Shadows swirled around him as Cupcake and Frosting emerged from the shadows and pushed the man away from Naoya, and launched on the sorcerer who tried to attack their master.
Freed from the flames, Naoya's figure became visible as a slightly charred and bruised Naoya emerged out of the flames, though an instant later his bruise and charred skin started to heal rapidly.
[Reversed Cursed Technique]
Naoya narrowed his eyes in seriousness. He didn't know that he would be using RCT so soon after learning it.
He then proceeded to look at his feet, which were still refusing to move, and then scanned the room.
Someone's cursed technique was messing with him.
"Cupcake, Frosting," called Naoya as he noticed that even the wolves' feet were stuck in the ground and were unable to move.
"Phew, that was a close one. Oi Miyamoto!!! Use your technique faster!!! Almost had my balls chomped by those ugly mutts!!!" yelled the leader.
"Sorry, boss," called the man casually, which made Naoya lock onto the man. He was probably the one with the technique that made his feet stuck.
"I will deal with you later. Now then, let's get back to business. Kid, my technique is called [Remnant Harvest]. It allows me to acquire the properties of objects and people I have destroyed/killed," said the leader, completing the binding vow.
Following the leader's footsteps, the man with the movement locking technique decided to complete the binding vow as well.
"My Cursed Technique is called [Land's Grasp]. Once my cursed energy has flown through the assigned area, I can stop the movements of anyone who is touching the ground."
Naoya nodded in understanding and sent his short sword back into his shadows.
"Huh? Oi Oi. Giving up so easily? Make it a bit more fun. Beg fo-"
Naoya didn't wait for the man to finish and clasped his hands together as a shadow swirled inside them.
[PiercingJet]
A sharp and fierce jet of boiling water launched from his hands and sliced the man with the land stopping technique in half.
The leader and the rest of the men looked at the man who was cleanly split in two with shock, and a moment later, that shock turned into horror.
"You all wanted fun, right? Good. Let's have fun. Though don't bother begging now," replied Naoya in a cold tone. It had been a while since someone had struck him during a fight, and that left a bad taste in his mouth.
Naoya's cursed energy surged as his shadow turned darker.
[Toad] [Nue] [Great Serpent] [Max Mammoth] [Rabbit Escape]
Shikigami poured out their shadows one after the other, and all of the shikigami were as furious as Naoya.
The rabbits filled the room and surrounded the rogue sorcerers.
"W-W-Wait!!!! I will tell you what you wanted to know!!!!!" yelled one of the grade-3 sorcerers in panic.
"Hm? Really?" asked Naoya in an amused tone.
"Ye-"
The man opened his mouth to speak, but an instant later, Naoya was already in front of him and shoved something in his mouth.
"Too bad. The deal was already off once your leader struck me earlier," said Naoya in a cold tone, patted the Rabbit that he shoved inside the man's mouth.
"Hmmmmmm!!!!" The man tried to speak however the rabbit in his mouth started expanding, and a second later, the rabbit exploded along with the man's head.
The other sorcerers shivered at the sight of another brutal death and were struck in their spot because of the fear, and because of that were unable to focus on the shikigami that ganged up on them.
Twisted wrapped one of its tongues around one of the sorcerer's necks and snapped it without much effort.
The wolves pounced on a sorcerer each and tore them apart without mercy.
Sparkles grabbed two sorcerers in its talons and flew up where it electrocuted them to death.
Mr. Hiss crushed multiple sorcerers under its huge body, and so did Frieza.
The demon rabbit army swarmed the enemies and blew them away in a kamikaze attack.
In just a minute, the entire 20-sorcerer force made of rogue Grade-3 and Grade-2 sorcerers was dead.
Now only the leader remained, who, seeing all the death around him, was already shocked beyond belief.
In just a minute, his entire group was annihilated by a kid not even half his age.
The kid in question was now walking towards the leader with blood-covered hands and face like a reaper with no expression on his face.
Naoya stopped in front of the Grade-1 and smirked.
"Y-You bastard!!!" yelled the sorcerer and tried to attack Naoya.
However, Naoya had already learnt from his mistakes and was not willing to give any chance to his opponents.
A shadow swirled in his hands as the [Inverted Spear of Heaven] in the short sword form appeared in his hands.
With a quick set of moments. Naoya unsheathed the weapon, stabbed it in the man's abdomen and then punched the man's face, breaking his nose and a few teeth.
"Agh!!!"
Blood came out of the man's nose and mouth as he looked towards Naoya with hatred. He tried to fight back and tried to activate his cursed technique, but because of the spear stuck in his body, the technique didn't activate.
"You burned my face earlier....I should probably return the favour," muttered Naoya in a cold tone and glared at the man.
Naoya bent a bit forward and 'smiled'.
"Tell me what you would like? Steam burns? Electrocution? Ear-destroying screams? Highly lethal poison. Or being strangled to death?" asked Naoya.
At the mention of the methods, the shikigami growled at the enemy.
The Grade-1 looked at the shikigami and the kid with slight fear. He had seen quite a lot of gruesome scenes during his time as a sorcerer, and he didn't feel much of it. He himself has caused quite some gruesome deeds to others, and at that time, too, he didn't feel much.
But now, when it was his turn, he started to fear such cruelty. He wanted to question how someone can be so cruel, but the words didn't come out of his mouth.
The sight of the blood-soaked little grim reaper with ferocious shikigami made those complaints stop, and in its place, the words that came out of his mouth were-
"I-I-I am s-sorry. I am sorry. Let me live. Please let me live," cried the man.
"Huh? Are you crying? Why? You wanted to have fun, right? Crying ain't fun, you know? Where's the bad man that burned me with a smile?" asked Naoya.
Naoya was genuinely uninterested in any form of apology right now. He might seem like someone totally devoid of Zenin's cold behaviour, but he had noticed it himself that when it came to his own safety, he was somehow far colder than any Zenin that he had ever seen in the clan.
At first, he took the situation a bit lightly, not thinking much of the Grade-2 and the Grade-3 rogues, but because of that, he almost took an attack head-on.
Apart from Toji and Kagenori, no one had landed a solid hit on him since he got stronger, and yet this group of rogues almost achieved that.
"S-Spare me..." asked the man in pain.
Naoya stared at the man who kept begging like a broken machine, and soon pulled out the [Inverted Spear of Heaven] from the man's body.
"Huh? Th-"
Before the man could thank Naoya, Frieza's feet landed cleanly on the man, crushing his head in an instant.
Naoya stared at the lifeless body for a while before a sigh escaped his lips.
"Ugh! I got so dirty?! These blood and organ remains will start to stink by the time I reach back," muttered Naoya in a disgusted tone as if the earlier cold-blooded kid who killed all the rogues never existed.
"What to d-" muttered Naoya, but suddenly the ground shook, and a loud noise reached his ears.
"...What now?!"