CHAPTER 5: ASHES OF OUR BLOOD

The wind howled through the Zenin compound, thick with the scent of death.

Maki's blade trembled slightly in her hand—not out of weakness, but from the sheer strain. Her breath was heavy, face bloodied, her uniform torn, but she stood tall.

Across from her, Zenin Naoya staggered. His once-pristine ceremonial robe was shredded, his grotesque body flickering with failed cursed energy, barely held together by his rage and arrogance.

"You... you lowborn..." he muttered, coughing blood.

Maki raised her blade, silently.

"No cursed energy... no legacy... and yet—!" Naoya lunged, one final desperate blitz—

But she was faster.

Steel met flesh.

His form was cleaved in two.

Naoya's twisted body dropped to the ground in pieces, steam hissing from the severed halves as cursed energy leaked out and evaporated into the dry air.

Silence.

Not a single Zenin elder remained standing. The compound—once the towering pride of one of the three great clans—was now a graveyard of its own arrogance. Maki walked through the halls she had once feared, once loathed. Step by step, she set every scroll ablaze. Every statue crumbled under her blade. Every wall that whispered hatred—she made them scream.

The Zenin Clan… was gone.

Burned to the earth.

And when the fire began to eat the final remnants of the main hall, Maki walked past it all—toward the forested edge behind the estate.

There, she found her.

Mai.

Her sister sat under a gnarled tree, eyes distant, a ghost of her former self. Maki approached, slow, unsure.

"I'm not surprised," Mai said softly, looking up. "You did it."

Maki remained silent, her blade now resting at her side.

"I thought... maybe I'd be glad if you did. Or maybe I'd hate you for it." Mai's lips curved into a bitter smile. "But now I just feel... tired."

The silence stretched, heavy with things they never said.

"I didn't come here to fight," Maki finally spoke.

"Then why are you here?"

"To make sure... you're not alone."

Mai looked at her for a long time. "Even now, after everything...?"

"You're still my sister," Maki said. "Even if everything between us was burned away."

Mai's eyes welled with tears that didn't fall. "I don't know if we can ever be what we were supposed to be."

"We don't have to," Maki replied. "But we can fight together now. If you want."

Another pause.

And then, Mai stood up.

Wordless.

But side by side.

And for the first time in years, the Zenin sisters stood as allies—not enemies, not victims—but warriors of their own will.

The Zenin Clan was dead.

But something stronger had taken its place.