[Shadowless Blade].
A sword style that focused on speed and agility, just like the [lai White Purity Style]. But this was different, as its goal was to allow the user to wield their swords in an efficient and direct style of combat that's meant solely for killing their opponent without regard for personal feelings.
The [Shadowless Blade] places a high emphasis on absolute speed and finesse, as the style seems to lack defensive techniques. As such, the user needs to use their superior speed to overwhelm or bypass their opponent's defenses while using their agility to evade and defend against counterattacks. Due to this, the user is likened to a "ferocious beast" that risks its life to hunt its prey.
It was a style that was meant to kill humans created by a man who's sole purpose was slaughter.
As one could imagine…
"Don't give him any chance to escape. He must be dealt with tonight!"
The men attacked with no hesitation, their eyes cold and lifeless as they locked onto Han.
Simply holding his sword to his side, Han calmly muttered, "Kou."
Dragon-shaped clouds made of cursed energy surrounded the sword as an enormous amount of mist emerged from it, effectively obscuring the vision of everyone present.
Moving in a flash, Han dodged every attack thrown at him and landed in between several enemies that were looking around in the mist, trying their best to find him.
'Shadowless Blade: Encroaching Light Of The Night.'
Using a quick-draw stance, Han slashed multiple times all around him, releasing large waves of cursed energy in all directions.
"ARGHH!"
"There he is! W-wait! URGH!"
Han killed several enemies with one technique, causing them to raise their guard immediately.
It seemed as if Jinichi's son wasn't just wasting his years in the clan.
As Han was about to move again, a man flashed past him, ensnared him with a chain and threw him off the building, seemingly stripping away his ability to swing his sword with this one maneuver.
"Tch."
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
As Han fell, he could see several shadows covered by the light of the full moon, all of them coming down towards him.
"He can't swing his sword wrapped up like that. Even if he could, he has no footing so his slashes will be weak. Now is the time to end him."
Using a strand of his hair as a medium, one of the men summoned a snake like shikigami that spewed a large swathe of fire at Han.
On his sides, assassins sprinted down the building, throwing shuriken and knives at him to finish him off as the fire burned him.
Seeing all of these attacks coming towards him, Han smiled. He was in genuine danger this time. These guys were professionals.
While not as strong as the creature he fought before, they were smarter and had no problem attacking in groups. They had no qualms about how they killed him.
"Then I will respond in kind. Mei."
Dragon like clouds emerged from the sword once again, this time, Han didn't even have to touch it. Cloud Gouger had a special connection with him that even he could barely understand after all this time.
It was like the weapon was a part of him.
The weapon had three base attacks.
Mei, Yui and Kou.
Yui summoned a cloud dragon that formed a variable amount of ice in the direction that the blade is pointing.
Kou called forth clouds that created an enormous amount of water in a specific form. The water could be released as a cloud of mist to disorient enemies and obscure the bearer, or simply released as liquid water, dousing the area around the user.
Mei on the other hand…
BZZT!!
The chain burst as lightning surrounded his body, freeing him from his bondage.
With one singular swipe, Han slashed the swathe of fire in half and twisted his body rapidly, using the enhanced speed granted by Mei to deflect the thrown weapons that were headed towards him.
"Dammit! How?!"
Locking eyes with the man who summoned the shikigami, Han cocked his arm back and threw his sword with incredible speed at the man, impaling him before he could even react.
"Get him now! He's defenseless!"
BZZT!
Just as Han was about to hit the ground, he gripped the air with his palm, causing him to turn into a bolt of lightning, teleporting him to his sword that was stuck in the man's body.
'Alright Han, light steps…'
Using his corpse as a foothold, Han pulled his sword out of the body, sheathed his blade and slashed twice, bisecting the two men who were close-by with incredible precision.
Jumping off the man's body, Han landed on the streets below, his eyes locked on the last two men who had thrown the weapons at him earlier. Walking slowly in a circle around him, the two men drew their katana's, their gaze cold and determined.
"Come."
The two men attacked at once, one from behind and one from up front. Han could tell that they were very skilled with their swords. The weapons weren't just for show.
With a quick slash from each of them, one aimed at Han's neck and the other at his knees. In less than a second, their blades had almost reached their target, the katanas mere centimeters away from his skin.
CLANG! CLANG!
Han swung his sword in the shape of a crescent moon with blinding speed, parrying both attacks, the two men reeling back from the impact.
'What's with this guy?! How could his sword technique be so refined?! Even Elder Ogi isn't this fast!'
Sheathing his sword in the next moment, Han built cursed energy into the sheathe, causing it to explode as he slashed the men in a reverse grip with immense speed. He repeated this motion eight times in less than a second, turning them into unrecognizable pieces of flesh by the time they hit the ground.
[Iai White Purity Style: Self-Created technique: Octaslash]
Whipping the blood off of his blade, Han sheathed his blade and looked at the scene around him, surprised that he could kill people so…easily. It's almost like he was used to doing this.
'I don't recall ever killing someone in this world though. Maybe…this mindset is something I gained back in my old world, wherever I came from. Even now I wonder, why was I sent here? Sigh.'
Looking at the palm of his hand, he could see it shaking slightly from all the fighting he did in such a short time.
'Using Cloaked Mei took too much cursed energy. I need to slow down on using these draining techniques too much before I leave myself defenseless. For now, I'll-'
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Several cursed spirits appeared around Han, drawn to the blood and large emissions of cursed energy in the area. Their nasty, grotesque mouths watered with cursed fluids as they stared at Han, ready to devour him at a moments notice.
They charged immediately, lunging at him like wild dogs hungry for their next meal.
"You gotta be faster than that, creatures."
Han was in a flow state as he slashed and killed every cursed spirit that attacked him. In no time, the number of cursed spirits killed had quickly passed 50.
Within the next ten seconds, 70.
Within the next five seconds, 90.
Han was running through the streets, cutting down any cursed spirit that crossed his path. In time, he had killed so many of them that he had learned to accurately sense their cursed energy from quite a far distance away.
Meeting another army of cursed spirits feasting on the bodies of sorcerers, Han jumped in, his gaze cold and the edge of his blade sharpened from the blood of the enemy.
His techniques were only getting faster, more precise, more deadly. He was starting to reach a different, higher level in sword proficiency at a shockingly fast rate.
Within 0.5 seconds, 95.
Within 0.3 seconds, 100.
BZZT!
"Huh? What was that feeling?"
Black lightning surged across his body and sword as he killed his 100th cursed spirit. Suddenly, he felt a sense of incredible power and the flow of his cursed energy increased drastically, his entire body feeling as if he had just drank from the fountain of life.
BZZT!!
With another slash, Han bisected a cursed spirit that was larger than a small building with ease, causing another surge of black lightning to emerge from his body.
'It feels like I could understand this energy within me now…I could manipulate it as easy as breathing. No, it's like it moves with my thoughts.'
BOOM!
Several more cursed spirits broke out of a nearby building, all of them aiming for him.
BZZT! BZZT!
Cloud Gouger shivered with excitement as Han swung the blade, slashing, cutting, stabbing and bisecting every cursed spirit that entered his path with extreme prejudice.
He was like a ferocious tiger hunting down prey in the streets of Shinjuku. The boy was so engrossed in battle that he didn't even realize that the black lightning had disappeared after its fourth appearance.
Unbeknownst to him though, a woman wearing the sorcerer uniform with a long white braid hanging down over the front of her face was watching him from the top of a nearby building, flipping her axe around as her eyes shone brightly.
"Oh? Whose cute kid is that? He's pretty skilled. Plus those four black flashes…I don't remember seeing a kid like that in the school. Maybe, he's from one of the big families?"
The woman continued watching him fight, her eyebrows raising in surprise as time went on.
"That boy…what a little monster."
The moment those words left her mouth, she lost sight of him. Bewildered for a second, she tried to sense him but…
WHOOSH! CLANG!
On instinct, she swung her axe behind her, the weapon clashing against Cloud Gouger, with Han standing calmly behind it.
A trail of blood ran down Han's mouth as his internal organs got even more injured from the heaviness of the woman's strike, but he didn't back down.
Locking eyes with her, he noticed her uniform and calmly lowered his blade, wiping the blood from his mouth.
"You must be one of those sorcerers. We're not enemies. So why were you monitoring me so closely?"
The woman squinted her eyes as she noticed the earring on Han's ear and listened to his words.
'The Ze'nin clan huh? Which one of those insufferable geezers managed to raise a talented kid like this in secret? Guess they're not one of the three big families for nothing.'
Removing her axe from his sword, the woman chuckled as she responded, "Mm, I was just curious. You're skilled, very skilled in fact. Why don't you join Jujutsu High? You're old enough by now aren't you?"
Sheathing his blade, Han looked at her, surprised. What was she even talking about?
"Jujutsu high? What's that?"
The woman was shocked once more, how could someone be from the three big families and not know about Jujutsu High?
BOOM!
A rat-like cursed spirit emerged from the building below them, rushing at the woman with incredible speed.
As the rat opened its mouth to eat her, she swiped her axe across its body with one hand, not even looking at the cursed spirit.
"SCRZAAA!"
The cursed spirit died immediately as the woman continued,"That's interesting. Didn't the Ze'nin ever tell you about jujutsu high? The level of your cursed energy reinforcement isn't too far off from mine, so attending won't be a problem for you."
Han laid his sword over his shoulder and started scratching his head with a small smile appearing on his face.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. Cursed energy? Reinforcement? Jujutsu High? I've never heard of those terms before. I'm self-taught so there's a lot I don't know about this society."
The woman went silent for a while, her thoughts running at an accelerated pace as the reality of the situation dawned upon her.
'He's this strong being a self-taught sorcerer? What the hell is going on in the Ze'nin Clan for them not to teach somone like this?'
Getting closer to Han, the woman laid her hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm Mei Mei. What's your name, kid?"
BOOM!
The fight in the background still continued intensely as the dwindling amount of sorcerers fought against the overwhelming amount of cursed spirits.
"Han Ze'nin."
Nodding, Mei Mei continued, "I'll keep that in mind. Try not to die. Well, I don't think there is much that can kill you here anyways.~"
Walking past him, Mei Mei jumped off the building and left, leaving Han stumped on the roof.
'Huh. Well, I guess I just made my first friend. And she's a beautiful one, too. I wonder when we'll meet again.'
Just like that, Han went on about Shinjuku, slaughtering any cursed spirits he could find.
That was until he eventually ran into a group of curse users. The same curse users responsible for the attack on the city.