They couldn't win. There was absolutely no way they could win.
Maki and Inumaki had come to terms with it completely — they could not beat the Cursed Spirit standing before them. They weren't even sure they could hold out long enough for Yuji and Nanami to arrive.
If Yuji and Nanami were coming, they should have been here by now. Mahiko had clearly done something to cut off their allies' path. It seemed like they would have to break the Curtain themselves if they wanted to escape.
"Hey. Inumaki." Maki Zenin spoke through clenched teeth, eyes locked like iron onto the blue-haired Cursed Spirit in front of her, while she slowly extended the cursed tool in her hand back toward him. "Run. Take this blade and break the Curtain. Get out."
Inumaki Toge, who had been clutching his own throat, blinked at her words. He turned to look at her profile.
"Meow?"
A sound of confusion.
As second-years who had been through everything together, they knew each other well. Inumaki wasn't failing to understand what Maki meant — he was simply confused about why she was making this choice right now.
Mahiko's target was Inumaki.
Killing Inumaki was how she planned to escape.
And right now, Inumaki's Cursed Speech had been sealed by the flesh-tumor Mahiko had pressed against his throat — he couldn't produce a proper incantation. Without his Cursed Speech, he was no different from an ordinary person in front of Mahiko.
On top of that, the Curtain Mahiko had used to trap them was considerably more solid than a standard sound-blocking or vision-blocking barrier.
To break through it, they needed either Maki's cursed tool or Inumaki's Cursed Speech.
Inumaki's Cursed Speech had been taken off the table.
The only thing that could shatter the Curtain was Maki's cursed tool.
But if Maki went to slash at the Curtain, Inumaki would be left exposed to Mahiko's attacks. That was absolutely not an option. And if she tried to protect Inumaki while simultaneously breaking the Curtain, they'd both die — there was no negotiating with that math.
They couldn't afford to drag this out.
They had no means of hurting her. That made Mahiko an unkillable monster from where they stood. And on their side — one had lost his voice, and the other simply couldn't match her in a fight.
Stalling meant death.
So Maki had chosen the path with the highest chance of success.
Send Inumaki out with the cursed tool to break the Curtain and escape.
And she herself — alone, with her bare body — would stall the Cursed Spirit.
"Go. No matter what, we can't let her escape. We can't let her keep killing people." Maki ground her teeth, glaring daggers at the blue-haired figure. "This is a sorcerer's duty. Inumaki — I know you understand that."
Maki Zenin was a half-formed bearer of Heavenly Restriction — her physical abilities were extraordinary. But she had no Cursed Energy. And without Cursed Energy, there was no way to deal meaningful damage to a Cursed Spirit.
The moment she handed over the cursed tool, standing before Mahiko, she would be — to put it kindly — buying time with her body. To put it plainly: she'd be a punching bag.
Essentially, there was only one ending waiting for her: death.
But Maki Zenin was not afraid of dying.
She still had desires she hadn't fulfilled, still had dreams she wanted to see through someday — but if she couldn't protect the ally right beside her, couldn't defeat the enemy right in front of her, then those distant ideals were nothing but empty words. You can't win tomorrow if you can't win today.
So she could die here.
But Inumaki could not.
"You understand, right? Inumaki?" Maki kept her gaze fixed on the Cursed Spirit, who had taken on what looked like a bored expression. "This is... our only way out."
Then she felt it. The blade she'd extended behind her was touched.
It seemed Inumaki had grabbed the flat of the blade and taken it from her hand.
Understanding settled in her chest — he had accepted the plan. Maki let her eyelids fall slightly, turning her mind to the question of how to stall Mahiko for as long as possible so Inumaki could escape through the Curtain.
But it was right at that moment.
Shlk—
The blue-haired Cursed Spirit's eyes went wide with shock.
Maki froze — then her pupils shook violently as she wrenched her head around.
Behind her, Inumaki Toge had taken the blade — and driven its tip into his own throat.
Splsh—
Blood erupted. His face twisted into something barely human, teeth grinding with an audible clench, but his hand never stopped moving. Inumaki endured the blinding pain and drew the blade in a line across his own throat, then shoved his fingers inside, digging through his own torn flesh.
"Meooow—!!"
A raw, wretched scream — nothing like a human voice. More like a cornered animal howling with nowhere left to run.
Tearing.
Enduring.
And then, with sheer brute force, he wrenched a white lump of flesh out from the gash he'd cut in his own throat.
The flesh-tumor that had been sealing his Cursed Speech.
The instant the lump came free, Inumaki lurched forward a step, blood pouring out, soaking half his body red.
"Good grief..." Mahiko's eye twitched at the sight, struck by a phantom twinge of pain. That had to hurt beyond all reason. This guy was actually insane — he'd just slashed open his own throat and ripped the tumor out with his bare fingers? These sorcerers were all absolutely suicidal.
"You..." Maki watched what Inumaki had done, her pupils trembling — and then she smiled. "That's exactly what I'd expect from you."
She turned back to face Mahiko, planting her feet, tightening her grip on the blade. "Then we fight to the last — together."
Inumaki pressed a hand against his throat, blood seeping between his fingers, his whole body wracked with agony. But he raised his head, and through that blood-soaked face, he forced out a grin.
Then he sucked in a sharp breath.
Even with his vocal cords shredded by the wound. Even with his voice coming out hoarse as a busted speaker.
The boy's shout still struck like a hammer blow.
"Blast away!!—"
A storm erupted.
The Cursed Speech became a curse, and the curse locked onto Mahiko as its target — a solid, tangible hurricane tore through the space, debris and dust churned inside it, and the entire floor trembled. Mahiko took it dead-on. Her body flew like a kite with a snapped string, slamming hard into the wall.
BOOM.
The wall cracked apart. Smoke and dust exploded outward.
That was every last scrap of Cursed Energy Inumaki had, compressed into a single strike.
His throat wound was too severe — he probably couldn't manage more than a few words after this. So he'd poured everything he had into one shot.
And Maki did not waste it.
The very instant the Cursed Speech detonated, she spun on her heel and sprinted toward the Curtain. Every last bit of physical ability her half-formed Heavenly Restriction had given her was unleashed in that moment — the rubble underfoot scattered in all directions with each footfall, and the distance between her and the Curtain vanished in an instant.
The blade in her hand came down on the Curtain in a single decisive slash.
"OPEN!" —
Crack!
She'd cut through it!
The black Curtain was forced apart by the cursed tool and sheer physical force — a fissure split open in its surface. The crack spread like shattering glass, racing outward in every direction, and the entire Curtain began to collapse, dissolving into drifting particles of Cursed Energy.
Maki's face lit up with relief.
Then the particles cleared — and revealed what lay beyond the Curtain—
"?"
Maki's eyes went tight.
Because what she saw on the other side was — another Curtain.
Pak.
A sound that barely registered — barely louder than a light slap across the face.
Maki stood rooted to the spot.
Then, with a hollow, dazed slowness, she turned around.
The blue-haired girl was already standing beside Inumaki.
And Inumaki — grabbed by the hair like a ragdoll, his entire body limp, collapsed to the ground, the wound on his throat still bleeding freely.
He had completely lost consciousness.
"You..." Maki Zenin's pupils trembled.
...…
The abandoned building complex.
Nanami, Panda, and the others who had been rushing in every direction all stopped at once.
They all looked toward the same direction.
Crack... Crack—
A corner of the massive Curtain blanketing the entire abandoned complex began to crumble. Fractures spread across the black barrier walls, pieces breaking away one by one, and through the gaps, the real sky was revealed.
"No..." Yuji's voice was shaking.
The boy's voice was almost a wail.
The Curtain breaking — what it meant needed no explanation.
The one maintaining the Curtain had been defeated.
Inumaki had been taken down.
____
👻🔥Here: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Group chat of the Dead
We have set new community milestones:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for all readers
👻 P - Walnut-chan