"Maki Zenin is innocent!"
Takanobu Kamo stared at Souma Gojo, waiting for the other shoe to drop. For some reason, he had the sinking feeling that Souma's sudden appearance boded ill for the Kamo family.
Souma nodded, his expression unreadable behind his dark glasses. "Very well. If that is settled, we can consider the matter of Maki Zenin closed."
Takanobu was about to let out a breath of relief when Souma suddenly shifted his gaze toward young Hikaru and the other children.
"However, I have a question. This 'Blood Manipulation' of theirs... is it truly their innate technique?"
Takanobu's eye twitched. "Lord Gojo, what are you implying?"
Souma smiled thinly and gestured toward the door. A tall, pale man with distinctive hair tied in upright tufts walked into the meeting room. The council elders looked at the stranger with confusion.
"His name is Choso," Souma explained. "He is the eldest of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings. When it comes to the mastery of Blood Manipulation, there is no one on this earth who surpasses him."
As the offspring of both human and cursed spirit, Choso possessed a unique, peerless talent for the Kamo legacy. Unlike Kamo Noritoshi, who could only manipulate his own finite supply of blood, Choso could convert his cursed energy directly into blood.
Under Takanobu's bewildered gaze, Choso suddenly blurred, appearing in front of Hikaru and hoisting the boy up by his collar.
Takanobu roared in fury and moved to strike, but Souma's hand clamped onto his shoulder like a mountain of lead, pinning him instantly.
"Don't be so dramatic," Souma said. "It's just a little experiment."
Choso looked at the trembling boy with eyes like frozen pools. "Blood Manipulation: Lineage Resonance."
Deep crimson veins flared simultaneously across both Choso and Hikaru. Suddenly, Hikaru felt the "Cursed Blood" within his system begin to churn violently. He tried to suppress it with his own cursed energy, but the gap between a child and a Death Painting was a canyon.
Visible to everyone in the room, streams of dark, "Cursed Blood" were forcibly drawn out through Hikaru's pores, coalescing into a sphere of swirling liquid in Choso's palm.
"There."
Souma let go of Takanobu with a cold chuckle and looked at the boy. "Little one, why don't you try using Blood Manipulation for us again?"
Facing the piercing, razor-sharp gaze of the strongest man in the jujutsu world, Hikaru trembled so hard his teeth rattled. He couldn't speak. As for Blood Manipulation... the moment the foreign blood had been extracted, the technique was gone.
"What's wrong? Can't do it? I thought it was your innate technique?" Souma turned his gaze back to Takanobu. "Or is it that you can only perform the technique as long as this specific blood is in your veins?"
Seeing his grand deception laid bare, Takanobu Kamo stopped pretending. He wrenched himself free and sneered.
"Fine! Yes! The Blood Manipulation they use was acquired through our clan's research. They have their own innate techniques, but by circulating 'Cursed Blood,' they can manifest the Kamo legacy for a limited time. Are you satisfied, Lord Gojo?"
Takanobu glared at Souma, his face twisting into a mocking grin. "But even if it's 'artificial,' so what? Aside from the time limit, the effects are identical to the real thing! This is the Kamo clan's proprietary research. It's no different from training or using a Cursed Tool—it's a path to power. And even if you've exposed it, it doesn't matter. No one outside the Kamo bloodline can use it anyway!"
"Heh." Souma rolled his eyes. "You think I covet that parlor trick? I'm more interested in the 'how.' Tell me, Takanobu... where did that 'Cursed Blood' come from?"
Takanobu's heart went cold, but he kept his face a mask of stubborn defiance. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Still playing dumb? Kokichi!"
"Understood!"
Kokichi Muta, operating Mechamaru, triggered a signal. The large screen in the meeting hall flickered to life, displaying a live video feed. Inside the Kamo clan's underground laboratory, a tiny, palm-sized Mechamaru had opened its camera.
The scene that followed caused the council elders to gasp in collective horror.
The massive lab was filled with rows upon rows of glass incubation vats. Inside each one was a human being. They were submerged in fluid, wearing oxygen masks, with tubes snaking into their bodies to provide nutrients to their comatose forms. Every single person had a needle in their arm, connected to a collection bag.
As the camera panned, Kokichi's voice echoed through the hall.
"The Kamo experiment requires 'Cursed Blood' to be sealed within a sorcerer's body. But the production of this blood is the true atrocity. It requires blood that hasn't been 'polluted' by foreign cursed energy, which must then be infused with the user's energy within seconds of leaving the donor's body."
"This means traditional blood banks are useless. You need a living, breathing supply of fresh blood on standby at all times."
"And 'blood unpolluted by cursed energy' means only one thing: non-sorcerers. These people are the 'Blood Bank' the Kamo family built through human trafficking and the abuse of their political influence."
As the words fell, Takanobu's face went ghostly white. He stumbled back, his legs finally giving out as he collapsed into his brother Hiroki's arms.
"How... how did you find it?"
Souma smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "You want to know? I'm not telling."
With Geto's Cursed Spirit Manipulation and Kokichi's Puppet Manipulation, the Kamo estate had been under total surveillance for weeks. As for the infiltration, Satoru Gojo's newly awakened Maximum Output: Space could open doors anywhere. But the final nail in the coffin had been the whistleblowing of Kamo Noritoshi. After discovering his father Oka's secret, the boy had chosen "righteousness over blood."
Souma stepped toward Takanobu. "Takanobu Kamo. Hiroki Kamo. And every Kamo elder in this room."
"As sorcerers, committing such atrocities against non-sorcerers is a betrayal of the entire jujutsu world. Even by secular laws, this is a capital crime."
"Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
Takanobu lowered his head, his body shaking. Suddenly, a flicker of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.
"Technique Release: Silent Tongue Rabbit!"
"Blood Manipulation: Flowing Red Scale!"
BOOM!
With a sonic crack, Takanobu launched himself like a cannonball toward the exit. He was immensely grateful he had topped off his "Cursed Blood" before the meeting. With the dual boost of his innate technique and the stolen blood, he was confident he could outrun anyone.
But his hope died an instant death.
Souma simply extended a hand. A terrifying gravitational pull seized Takanobu mid-air, dragging him backward with irresistible force.
CRASH!!!
Takanobu was slammed into the concrete wall with enough force to shatter the stone. He slumped to the floor, coughing up a mouthful of dark blood.
"How... how is the gap... so large...?"
The room fell into a deathly silence. The pampered council members were witnessing the true power of the "Six Eyes" for the first time. Both were heads of the Three Great Families. Yet Souma Gojo had neutralized Takanobu Kamo in a single, effortless move.
At that moment, they finally understood why the Gojo clan had become so terrifyingly efficient since Souma took over. They realized how childish their theories of "power balance" truly were.
"Hahahaha!"
"Lord Head, you finally got what was coming to you!"
On the screen, a man's deranged, mocking laughter suddenly cut through the tension.
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