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A few days had passed since Naoya formed a pact with Frieza, and things were going well for him at the clan.
And then he opened his mouth.
"Grandpa. Father told me that you were a Special Grade sorcerer and got demoted to a Special Grade-1 because of age," asked Naoya while having dinner with Naobito and Kagenori.
"Hmm? Yes," replied Kagenori, not thinking much of it.
"So you got weaker?" asked Naoya.
"..." "..."
Kagenori didn't say anything.
Naobito looked at his son with horror, evident in his eyes.
On Friday evening, during the clan meeting, Kagenori asked all the Hei members to assemble in the main training ground the following morning.
On Saturday morning, all 11 Hei members gathered, waiting for Kagenori to arrive.
"So does anyone know why the Clan Head called all of us here?" asked Chojuro.
Naobito didn't say anything, just looked towards Naoya, who looked away, making sure not to meet his eyes.
He had got a lot of smacks last night after the meeting ended, and he was not going to earn the ire of the others.
Soon, Kagenori arrived as well, but this time his get-up differed from his usual clothes.
He was in black from top to bottom, with black arm guards and was oozing even more authority than he usually did.
"Those clothes..."
"Don't tell me..."
Ogi and Chojuro, the oldest ones in the Hei, recognised Kagenori's outfit.
"Clan Head, are we at war with someone?" asked Chojuro with a frown.
Ogi got serious as well. If the situation required the Clan head to be involved, then it had to be war.
At the mention of war, the rest of the Hei, apart from Naoya and Naobito, got serious as well. They wanted to see who had the guts to challenge the Zenin clan.
Kagenori smiled, seeing the determination in their eyes. They were ready to stand tall to protect the honour of the clan.
"Nothing like that. I hadn't moved a lot for quite a while, so I just thought of doing some 'light exercise'. I will also see how good the Hei of this generation actually is while I am at it," said Kagenori and stretched his body.
The Hei members looked at the clan head in confusion, and then realisation dawned on them.
Chojuro's and Ogi's seriousness immediately changed into a look of fear.
The new members who had not seen Kagenori in action were not that affected, but they had heard tales of the old man's prowess.
'Light exercise? Go for a run outside!!!' thought Chojuro.
"All of you get in formation and come at me with seriousness. I will hold back just enough not to kill you. That's all."
All of them gulped at the declaration, but none of them could refuse the order from the Clan Head.
With a newfound seriousness, the Hei members surrounded Kagenori, who stood in the middle with a smirk on his face.
"What's going on in the clan head's mind?" asked Ranta.
"Who knows?" replied Naoya, who was closest to him and averted his eyes, but soon got serious.
"Ranta nii-san, activate your technique on my signal," muttered Naoya, and got ready to fight.
One of Kagenori's bodyguards stood on top of the nearest roof, quite a bit away from the field, to not get caught in the crossfire.
>5 Grade 1 sorcerers + Naoya, who was at least Grade 1
>4 Special Grade 1 sorcerers
>1 Special Grade Sorcerer demoted due to politics
The fight was going to be intense; there was no doubt about it.
"Everyone ready?" asked the bodyguard who doubled as an announcer.
Cursed energy gathered on every Hei member's body.
Kagenori simply opened his hand.
"Will of the Shadows" called Kagenori, and an amulet hidden behind his clothes fluttered out and changed into metallic black katana.
"Shadow Sabre!!!" yelled Kagenori, and cursed energy shot out of the sword.
"What's that?" asked Ranta in surprise.
"A Special Grade cursed tool," muttered Naoya and thought to take out his as well, but decided against it. There were many eyes here, and he didn't want to show one of his hidden aces to everyone.
Still, Naoya decided to take things more seriously than he had planned to. This was a good opportunity to gauge the strength of a special grade.
"START!!!"
The moment he yelled, Naoya, Naobito, and Taichi vanished from their spots.
Naoya, being the fastest of the three, appeared directly behind Kagenori.
[Max Mammoth- Piercing Jet]
Water gathered in his hands as a strong jet of boiling water launched from it.
Kagenori didn't move his shadow rose, forming a barrier before the water could hit him.
The water splashed everywhere, and the residual force from it disfigured the ground, and steam enveloped Kagenori.
Naobito was next to approach Kagenori and decided to use the steam cloud to plan a surprise attack.
However, before he could even approach him, multiple fists made of black shadows launched in every direction, striking Naobito and Taichi, sending the two of them flying.
Naoya saw the incoming fist and immediately used his [Projection Sorcery] to dodge the attack and jumped up in the sky to dodge any subsequent attacks.
[Nue]
The giant owl came out of its shadow, grabbed Naoya, and flew him away from the shadow hands.
The steam started to clear up, and finally, the figure of Kagenori came into view.
Naoya was hoping to see the steam causing some burns to the old man at the very least, but contrary to that, the man appeared covered in a jet black shadow armour with his sword resting on his shoulder.
"Hmm? A flying shadow? I have one as well," replied Kagenori as he effortlessly blocked Ogi's blazing sword with his own katana and followed that with an axe kick.
[Black Flash]
Black sparks erupted from Kagenori's kick, and Ogi, who blocked the kick with his sword, saw the kick breaking through the blade without any effort at all and was sent flying away.
[Solid Shadows: Shadow Dragon's Ascent]
Kagenori's shadow grew in size, and soon a giant dragon made of shadows launched from it towards Naoya.
Naoya's eyes widened in shock, seeing the shadow dragon.
"Sparkles!!!!" yelled Naoya and jumped from the owl's body.
Purple lightning crackled around Nue's body and launched towards the shadow dragon, engulfing him whole. The dragon persisted for a while before disintegrating into shadows.
Kagenori looked at the attack with mild surprise before raising his hand, causing the shadow around him to transform into a wall that blocked the incoming lightning attack.
Naoya, who was falling, whistled, making Sparkles stop its attack and grab Naoya away from Kagenori.
Kagenori looked towards Naoya, who was getting away from him and focused back on the remaining Hei members.
"You guys are going to try better than the kid at least, right?" asked Kagenori and pointed his katana towards them.
Chojuro, Juro, Taichi, and Kaito looked towards Kagenori with caution.
[Earth Manipulation]
Chujuro slammed his hands on the ground, and immediately the ground beneath Kagenori cracked up, making the old man fall.
Tacihi, being the fastest of the four, appeared near Kagenori instantaneously.
[Spectral Step: Fourfold Death]
Four Tachi's surrounded Kagenori and slashed him with cursed energy-enhanced katanas.
Kagenori formed a platform with his shadows, jumped up to avoid all the attacks and in quick succession attacked the real Taichi with the blunt side of his sword, smashing him to the ground and knocking him out in an instant.
"Too impulsive. Retreating after a failed attack is important as well," said Kagenori in a serious tone and with a flick of his hand, a larger hand made of shadows emerged and grabbed the unconscious Taichi before throwing him away towards one of Kagenori's bodyguards.
"One down, ten to go," said Kagenori and launched towards Chojuro.
Kaito and Juro stood in front of Chojuro and decided to intercept the incoming man.
[Recoil Burst]
A giant mass of kinetic energy mixed with cursed energy launched towards Kagenori.
The Earth around Kagenori transformed and grabbed a hold of Kagenori, making sure that the man couldn't move.
Juro ran and hid behind the Recoil Burst, and once he was in range activated his cursed technique.
[Still World]
Kagenori began to feel sluggish and noticed that his movements were slowed down.
The shadows around him morphed and formed a wall to block the attack.
Juro, however, appeared beside Kagenori and punched the old man, who was covered in shadowy armour.
Kagenori's body shook, but because of Chojuo's earth restraints, he was held in place.
Soon, Kaito appeared on Kagenori's other side, and both Juro and Kaito started to repeatedly attack the restrained man.
"Move away, idiots!!!" yelled Chojuro, making the two stop their assault and look behind them, only to spot giant shadow hands that squashed the two of them together like mosquitoes.
"Good teamwork. But a low sense of surroundings," said Kagenori and the two giant shadowy hands broke him free from the earthen restraints.
"Your technique has gotten stronger, Chojuro," complimented Kagenori as he tossed the two fallen Hei members out of the arena.
"I am still improving, Clan Head," replied Chojuro with a smile, though on the inside, he was sweating seeing the old man not even scratched up a bit from the multiple attacks.
"GO FRIEZA!!!!"
The ground around them began shaking, making both Chojuro and Kagenori look towards the source of the noise, only to spot Naoya riding on top of a mammoth that came running towards the old man.
"Now nii-san!!!" ordered Naoya, as Ranta emerged from behind him and activated his cursed technique.
[Paralysing Glare]
Chojuro didn't miss this chance and used his cursed technique to break the ground below the paralysed Kagenori and trap him there.
"Good job, Uncle!!!" exclaimed Naoya with a smile as Frieza charged ahead, ready to stop the old man.
Kagenori looked at the incoming elephant and the excited expression Naoya had.
'This rude brat is seriously trying to crush his grandpa....' thought Kagenori as a vein popped up on the old man's wrinkled face.
A giant arm, dwarfing even the mammoth, made of shadows, emerged from Kagenori's back. It grabbed the charging mammoth before slamming it along with the two brats on the ground.
Naoya was quick to respond, and unsummoned Frieza before he used his [Projection Soecery] to throw Ranta out of harm's way, before continuing forward on his own.
Thanks to the cursed technique's speed, Naoya appeared directly in front of his armour-clad grandpa and trapped him in a frame.
His shadow then shimmered as Mr.Hiss came out of it, striking the frozen shadow, breaking it and sending Kagenori flying.
"Agh!!!"
Kagenori's face scrunched in pain as some blood spilt out of his mouth.
He looked towards Naoya, who successfully landed an attack that caused him pain. He had not felt that for years.
"Good."
Naobito's voice came as his father ran past him, along with Ogi, Jinichi, Mako, and Haruto.
"Ow"
Noaya winced in pain as he felt someone pluck some of his hair and spotted that it was Haruto.
[Void Puppet]
Haruto activated his cursed technique as multiple spectral puppets, in the shape of all Hei members and an army of Haruto's own puppets.
[Missile Fists]
Massive fists made of cursed energy rained down on Kagenori from the skies.
[Blazing Courage: Flames of Bravery]
A long blade of scorching flames formed on top of Ogi's broken katana, which he used to attack the old man without hesitation.
[Paralysing Glare]
Ranta, who was saved by Naoya, joined in to restrain the old man.
[Earth Manipulation]
The ground split open as multiple massive earthen fists launched towards Kagenori from all sides.
Naobito appeared behind his father, ready to trap him in a frame to seal the deal.
"Ha Ha Hahaha!!!!"
Kagenori suddenly started to laugh like a maniac.
The shadows around him got chaotic and blew Naobito away.
"Yes! This is what a fight is like! Unless you all go this far! You won't know how much beneath me you all actually are!!!!" yelled Kagenori with a crazed expression on his face.
The old man easily overwhelmed Ranta's paralysis and started chanting.
"Let my shadow split and multiply.Let every limb become a blade.May the world drown beneath ten thousand killing arms."
[Maximum Technique: Ten Thousand Armed Murder]
A giant, grotesque figure made of shadows appeared behind Kagenori; on his back were rows of arms that launched in every direction, intercepting and destroying every attack that came towards him.
The Hei members looked towards the incoming attacks with horror as punches started to rain down on the entire training field around them.
The technique continued for 30 seconds straight, and once it stopped, the entire field was covered in dust clouds.
A giant, shadowy hand waved, blowing away the dust, displaying a scene of brutally beaten members of Hei, with all limbs broken and blood spilling out of their bodies. Still, all of them were alive since Kagenori held back a little.
"I have still got it in me. Take them away and heal them!!!" ordered Kagenori as his bodyguards and a medic unit came to the rescue of the fallen Zenins.
"I hope that rude grandson got to see how 'weak' his grandp-"
[Nue] [Max Mammoth: Piercing Jet]
Behind Kagenori Naoya emerged from a shadow totally unharmed and ready to attack the old man.
"Huh?" muttered the old man before the water jet struck him and sent him flying.
Naoya frowned. He hoped that the jet would pierce the armour, but apparently the shadow armour was stronger than it looked.
Nue appeared over Naoya and fired its lightning in conjunction with the boiling water jet.
*Crack!!!*
The two attacks combined, and finally, cracks started to appear on Kagenori's barrier.
Hearing the cracking noise, Naoya smirked, but he noticed the smirk on Kagenori's face.
[Domain Expansion: Nightmare Shadow Town]
Naoya and Kagenori got swallowed inside the domain, and immediately, Naoya's attack was intercepted by multiple shadow dragons that tore through it and launched towards Naoya and the shikigami.
Naoya decided to use his Projection Sorcery to dodge the attack, but before he could, multiple shadow blades pierced through his body.
The attacks missed the vitals, but all his limbs, along with his chest and abdomen, were pierced.
"Ah!!!!" screamed Naoya in pain as blood started trickling down.
"You scream too much," said Kagenori as he gave a neck chop to Naoya and knocked him out before using reversed cursed energy to heal the kid.
The domain around them disappeared as Kagenori grabbed his grandson and flung him over his shoulder.
"Be glad that you were my grandson; otherwise, I would have done worse to you than what I did to your father and the others for your rash comment," muttered Kagenori, though Naoya was unconscious and couldn't respond.
Kagenri shook his head and then looked down on his own body, only to see a cracked part in his armour and blistered and charred skin, along with some blood around the cracked area.
Naoya's attack did land and broke through his defences. If he were a bit slower, it would have even pierced through him.
"...Another Special Grade in the family, huh?" muttered Kagenori with a smirk and ruffled Naoya's head.