"Good thing I made it in time."
Mukuro tightened his fists and tested the sensation carefully, making sure Onshin's body had suffered no harm before releasing a quiet breath of relief.
To prevent the tragedy from the original story from repeating itself, he had given his sister-in-law a protective charm right after her marriage to Toji. It wasn't an ordinary charm, but something he'd crafted himself using the power of the Naraka Path, bound to his own spiritual sense.
When the charm shattered, he would immediately sense it.
So the moment Onshin broke it, he didn't hesitate. He activated his ability, the sixth of the Six Paths: the Deva Path.
Anyone who had been touched or damaged by his power, even slightly, could be temporarily controlled through this ability, or even possessed, as long as they were much weaker than him or unconscious.
But that alone wasn't enough. Control or possession through the Deva Path didn't change the vessel's power or strength. So, Mukuro used the Naraka Path again, forcing his true self to manifest through Onshin's body.
He wrapped her body with his spirit, then solidified it, turning her into him.
When the smoke cleared, the woman who had been there was gone. In her place stood Mukuro.
Hiss!
The cursed spirits that had surrounded Onshin trembled, backing away. They couldn't understand what had just happened, why the woman had suddenly turned into a young man.
And by instinct, they knew something was wrong. They shouldn't have feared someone without cursed energy. But the presence before them felt all too familiar.
They saw in him the same terror they'd once seen more than ten years ago. The man who, despite having no cursed energy at all, had crushed them effortlessly.
"You trash can't run away."
Mukuro could sense their fear, see the tremor in their steps as they tried to retreat. He raised his right hand, and a trident appeared, gleaming faintly.
He planted it gently into the ground. The already broken floor cracked further, waves spreading from his feet like ripples on water. The spiderweb-like fractures widened until the entire ground began to collapse.
The cursed spirits stumbled, unable to stand. Only the small patch of floor beneath Mukuro's feet remained whole.
"Even though there's no affection between us, you gave me this life. I'll repay that debt." He looked at the woman's crushed remains, now buried under rubble and corpses. For a brief moment, a flicker of emotion crossed his eyes.
From the fragments of Onshin's memories, he'd seen what had happened.
In this rotten family bound by pride, even a woman like Toji's mother, who'd borne two children, one of them a "failure," couldn't live with the shame and took her own life.
So for someone like Sai, who had given birth to a "failure" and nothing else, her fate was already sealed.
Her husband, once a man hungry for status, had fallen into disgrace, and she had suffered endlessly for it. Her final plan had been to die with Onshin, using her death to ignite the brothers' wrath and turn it against the Zenin clan.
She wanted that cold-hearted husband to die with her.
Mukuro didn't like being used, but this time, he'd grant her wish.
Boom!
A deafening sound echoed and the upper wall exploded, sending rubble down as Toji leapt through the opening, landing among the group of cursed spirits.
"Is Onshin alright?"
He ignored the monsters, eyes fixed only on Mukuro. Beneath the tight black shirt, his muscles strained, almost tearing the fabric.
Each step he took forward made the spirits stumble back. They remembered the fear from back then.
Mukuro raised his hand slightly and waved. "Relax. You came just in time. I'll keep control of this body for now. It's the safest way, and she won't remember any of this."
He started walking toward his brother, speaking as he moved, explaining everything he had learned from Onshin's memory. The cursed spirits stepped aside one after another, parting to clear a path for him.
"Now it's time to settle this." Toji's face was filled with killing intent.
He'd already guessed that the dead woman must have invited Onshin here under their father's orders. Whatever that man's true goal was, he no longer cared.
He was going to kill him.
From his pocket, Inventory Curse sensed his anger and crawled out, wrapping itself around his arm. The handle of the Split Soul Katana slowly emerged from its mouth.
"Good," Mukuro said, his tone cold. "I was thinking the same thing."
The killing intent between them grew so dense it seemed to take shape. The cursed spirits couldn't bear it; they scattered, screaming, trying to crawl back into the dark holes where they had originally been.
But they couldn't escape.
Bang!
The brothers moved, their feet hitting the ground with such force that the air split apart in a sharp sonic boom.
The cursed spirits never even saw it happen. In the instant they tried to flee, their bodies froze. Their vision, their lives, ended together at the moment Mukuro and Toji took their first step.
The next second, a downpour of dark green blood rained through the underground space. Severed limbs and broken remains splattered in every direction.
Through the blood rain, the two of them climbed the stairs, step by step. The cursed blood turned to ash when it hit the ground, fading into nothing, just like the lives that had been snuffed out.
The vast room was now silent, holding only the mangled corpse of a woman and a floor that had completely collapsed.
* * *
"Toji Zenin! Mukuro Zenin! What have you done?!"
At the entrance, a group of masked men in black kimonos surrounded the brothers.
"I'll say this once. This has nothing to do with you. If you don't want to die, then get lost."
Staring at the Zenin clan's combat squad, the Kukuru Unit, Toji was already growing impatient. But he still decided to give them one chance.
After all, spending time with Onshin had changed him. He didn't want to be the kind of man who killed without reason. His target was Naoki Zenin, the man responsible for all this.
"Before the members of Hei arrive, we absolutely won't—"
The squad leader standing at the front tried to continue, but his words were cut off mid-sentence.
"..."
His mouth opened and closed, yet no sound came out. At the same time, even though his eyes were still open, he felt the world losing its light.
Thud.
"Captain Ranshu!"
As the dull sound of something heavy hitting the ground rang out, the rest of the squad cried out in alarm. The strongest among them hadn't even finished his words before he was beheaded.
"Too noisy," Mukuro muttered as he stepped forward, spinning the trident in his hand. The weapon swept through the air, its movement precise and effortless.
Each time the blade passed, a spray of blood blossomed like red petals.
Within moments, the Kukuru Unit members that came to besiege the brothers were wiped out.
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