Chapter 38 — Concealing Her True Strength
Flash after flash, the blade whirled toward Ren.
The arcs of steel flowed like drifting clouds and running water—continuous, relentless, leaving no room to breathe.
Crack!
The edge skimmed past Ren's arched-back torso and cleaved a massive tree—thick enough for two people to wrap their arms around—clean in half.
Shhk—!
Maki twisted her body like a drawn bow, channeling force from her waist. The naginata swept upward from ground level toward Ren's lower body. The blade scraped stone, scattering sparks in its wake.
Ren flipped backward.
Boom!
Maki leapt high, gripping the naginata with both hands and bringing it down in a crushing arc. The blade grazed past Ren's body and carved a trench several meters long into the earth. Spiderweb cracks radiated outward.
Ren shifted, spun, evaded—constantly retreating through the storm of steel.
His eyes gleamed faintly.
Mai hadn't lied.
The woman before him was on an entirely different level from before. Her speed, strength, and reflexes ranked just below Todo's—making her the second-strongest opponent Ren had encountered so far.
And her mastery of cursed tools more than compensated for any slight inferiority in raw physical specs. Facing her, the pressure he felt wasn't much less than what he'd felt against Todo.
But—
There was one thing she had over Todo.
This wasn't even her full strength.
Ren's pupils narrowed.
He focused cursed energy into his eyes and observed her body in meticulous detail—every motion, every micro-adjustment.
He confirmed it.
From the very beginning—
Maki Zen'in had been holding back.
Because from the very beginning—
She hadn't used a single trace of cursed energy.
He couldn't sense even the slightest fluctuation from her.
There was only one explanation.
She was deliberately restraining herself.
Just like he had done against Todo—intentionally avoiding cursed energy to test her own limits.
Interesting.
Ren bit down slightly.
Was she using him as a measuring stick?
A thrill rose in his chest—the exhilaration of meeting an equal.
But…
At her current level?
She still wasn't quite enough.
Ren ducked under a sweeping blade, slipped inside her guard, and thrust his palm against the shaft of her naginata.
A surge of overwhelming force traveled through the handle.
Maki staggered backward several steps.
"Let me give you a piece of advice," Ren said evenly, watching the shock flicker across her face.
"At this rate, you can't beat me."
"Stop holding back. Show me your real strength."
He looked at the dark green–ponytailed girl with open anticipation.
Maki's breathing grew sharp.
She stared at him blankly for half a second—
Then her pale cheeks flushed red.
A flash of irritation crossed her face.
With a sharp shout, brows lifting fiercely, she swung the naginata again and charged him with full force.
But—
Ren stepped back, frowning.
He could tell.
She still wasn't using cursed energy.
There was no difference from before.
"I told you," Ren said as he avoided another strike, his voice ringing clearly—
"Fight me at full strength!"
Maki's fair, flushed face darkened with anger. She swung her naginata without pause, blade after blade crashing down toward Ren in an unbroken assault.
And yet—
Ren still couldn't detect even the faintest trace of cursed energy from her.
He was genuinely baffled.
What exactly was she trying to do?
At her current level, she couldn't shake him in the slightest. So why was she still refusing to draw out more of her strength?
Was this some kind of extreme pressure test? Weighted training?
Was she seriously using him as a practice dummy?
That was almost insulting.
He wasn't the sort of opponent you could casually treat as a sparring tool.
And yet…
The more she restrained herself, the more respect he felt.
Because he had sensed something else.
Maki Zen'in's control over cursed energy was extraordinary.
Cursed energy was born from negative emotion—resentment, regret, hostility, complaint, guilt, greed. To wield cursed energy, a sorcerer must, to some extent, stir those emotions. Conversely, when negative emotions surged, cursed energy would inevitably follow.
And yet—
Even now, her face flushed red with anger, brows raised sharply in irritation—
She still produced no cursed energy.
Not a single fluctuation.
That level of control was unheard of.
Even Ren, whose cursed energy precision exceeded that of an average sorcerer by more than an order of magnitude, couldn't replicate something like that.
In his mind, her threat assessment rose yet again.
Her raw physical prowess was already formidable.
Add to that this terrifying level of cursed energy mastery—
Ren's anticipation soared.
This woman's true strength might well surpass even Todo's.
She might be the strongest opponent he had ever faced.
He had chosen correctly.
Maki Zen'in was the perfect challenge.
The only problem was—
How to force out her real power?
After a brief moment of thought, Ren's eyes lit up.
Once again evading her strike, he flipped backward and created distance.
Then he brought his palms together.
Cursed energy gathered in his hands.
He pulled them apart—
And between them, a naginata formed.
A weapon forged entirely from condensed cursed energy.
Its shape and proportions closely mirrored the one in Maki's grasp.
…What?
Maki stared at the deep-blue, translucent blade that had materialized from pure cursed energy—down to the shaft itself—and her pupils trembled.
Ren's reasoning was simple.
She was deliberately suppressing cursed energy and relying solely on physical ability to hone her cursed tool techniques—her naginata art.
If that was the case—
He would defeat her head-on.
He would learn her naginata technique mid-battle—then surpass it.
He would force her to acknowledge that this training method had reached its limit.
And only then would she be compelled to unveil new strength.
"Practice," Ren said lightly, raising his blade toward her with a faint smile,
"begins now."
He leapt high.
The massive blade of pure cursed energy descended like a falling star.
Don't block that!
Every hair on Maki's body stood on end.
What kind of monster was this?
To manipulate raw cursed energy to that degree—
A weapon formed entirely of cursed energy possessed sharpness and durability far beyond her current cursed tool.
If she tried to block—
Her weapon—and possibly her body—could be cleaved in two.
She drove off the ground and retreated explosively.
BOOM!
The cursed-energy naginata smashed into the earth, carving a deep trench that tore straight toward her feet.
Maki stared at the horrifying fissure, heart pounding, breath coming in sharp pulls.
This wasn't sparring anymore.
This was something else entirely.