In another part of the city, a middle aged man in a suit stood below the bodies of three men who wore similar attire to him, all of them hanging dead on a sign.
Squinting his eyes and adjusting his glasses, the man turned around to see two teenage girls standing there, smirking as they looked at him.
It's clear that they were responsible.
"Sigh, how old are you kids? Go home, turn back and don't kill anymore. Please."
Gritting her teeth from anger, one of the girl stomped her feet and pointed her phone at him, saying, "You people don't know what it's like for us living outside of the city. What life is like for people who everyone else thinks is cursed. That's why we follow Geto-sama's vision. And no will stand in our way!"
WHOOSH!
Just as she was about to take a picture of the man, a figure appeared and kicked her sister away, swept her off her feet and cut her phone in half, placing the blade against her neck as she struggled to understand what had happened.
Of course, this figure was none other than Han Ze'nin.
Taking a closer look at the girls, Han shook his head and sighed as he said, "You two are barely teenagers and you can't even fight. You talk about following the vision of this Geto guy, yet you're nothing more than dead weight. Go home, worry about school and cartoons, things kids your age like. Leave the fighting to those who are capable."
Sheathing his blade, Han turned his back and walked towards the man in the suit, seemingly forgetting about the curse users existence.
Seething from anger, the girl grabbed a knife hidden in her waist and ran at Han, hoping that she could stab him.
"Shut up! Don't lecture me when you're barely older than us! Geto-sama is my life! Don't insult him!"
Getting closer to Han, he stopped and placed one hand on his sheathe and one on the hilt of his blade.
'Kid, please. Don't come closer…'
The louder her steps got, the tighter he gripped his blade. If she really insisted on fighting this much…
BOOM!
"Argh!"
An explosion happened nearby, blowing the girl away into a nearby wall, causing her to drop her knife.
Han inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as he turned his attention toward the figures in the smoke, especially the one standing above them.
When the smoke cleared, there was a dark skinned man laying in a pile of rubble below, a small smirk on his face.
Standing above him was a man with white hair and one blue eye exposed. His eyes went back and forth between everyone else there, nodding at the man in the suit as he did so.
When his eyes landed on Han, he squinted, looked at his earring, then his eyes went down to his sword, staying there for a few seconds.
"Interesting. Oi, Ze'nin kid. Let's hurry and clean this city up. I know you and that sword won't let me down."
Just as he said that, the dark-skinned man got up and whipped the man who spoke to Han, causing him to block on reflex. Seemingly surprised that he was hit, the two continued fighting in earnest, causing various explosions everywhere they landed as they left the immediate area.
Han, still struck by the power he felt coming from the white haired man, sighed as he looked back towards the man in the suit.
"Who was-"
"Satoru Gojo, the strongest sorcerer. He seems to think you're quite capable if someone as prideful as him praised you."
Satoru Gojo? Han had never heard the name before but it made sense. After all, he had little to no contact with the outside world for the past 10 years. So many things must have happened and changed in that time.
"Thank you, sir. I'll remember him."
Glancing back at the two knocked out girls on the ground, Han shook his head and jumped up from the ground to the top of a nearby building, ready to resume his extermination of the cursed spirits.
As Han disappeared into the distance, the man on the ground sighed as he muttered to himself, "The young ones are so lively these days. Ah! I should've introduced myself! Well, no matter. I have a feeling that we'll meet again soon enough."
[Sometime later]
SLASH!
A giant cursed spirit disintegrated into nothingness as Han bisected it cleanly with his blade, whipping off the purple blood before sheathing it.
"That should be the last one. I can't sense any more cursed spirits."
Wincing as he took a deep breath, Han touched his ribs and felt how brittle and broken they were. Pain had assailed his body throughout this entire battle but he had managed to stave it off with pure will.
But that could only last so long. His injuries only worsened as he fought, and now they had finally caught up to him, causing him to fall down on one knee.
Sitting down on the ground, Han laid his sword across his legs and ran his hand through his hair, shaking the sweat off of his body.
"I'll just rest here for a little bit. Even if I'm on the outskirts of the city, the other sorcerers should find me soon enough. Ah…it's good that this battle is-"
BOOM!
Han found himself flying through the air through several buildings as an overwhelming force assailed him out of nowhere, the power of it almost knocking him out completely.
Landing in an abandoned apartment building, Han found himself lodged in a crater in a wall, his eyes still in shock from what happened.
"Bleurghhh!!"
Falling out of the crater, Han landed on all fours and spat a large amount of blood, his vision blurry from the level of injuries he took.
When he looked up, Han saw a massive blue snake in front of him. This spirit wasn't as grotesque as the other ones.
No, it had a 'cleaner' almost more normal look to it, but its size and physical might couldn't be further away from normal.
It was a massive cobra like spirit with long serrated fangs complete with red eyes that shone brightly inside the building and even had a bit of intelligence hidden behind them. It's body was so massive that Han knew it probably encompassed several floors at once. But to be so fast, but yet so big was terrifying.
'How did I miss a cursed spirit like this that was so close by?'
Scrambling up to his feet, Han reached for Cloud Gouger…the sword wasn't there. It had gotten separated from him during the cursed spirits first surprise attack.
'Shit!'
Surging cursed energy into his fists, Han rushed at the spirit but a quick swipe of his tail, it sent him flying through the wall, into the sky. Blood trailed from his body as he flew, his body refusing to even move from the level of injuries he accrued.
This was the most troublesome enemy he had ever faced. Power, speed, agility. This enemy had it all.
But its most troublesome attribute was…
'I can't sense it at all!'
BANG!
The snake hit him with its tail once again before he could even defend, sending him flying across the city, lodging him in a crater in the ground.
Every part of his body screamed in pain. His nerves cried out to him to stop, his brain did all it could to hold him back from injuring his body anymore.
But, his spirit would not rest.
'Get up, Han! You'll die here if you don't move! Just find your sword and this battle will be over!'
Han shouted and raged at his body in his mind, forcing the damaged bundle of flesh to stand once again.
'Mei: Cloak.'
Lightning surged over Han's body as it pulled him toward Cloud Gouger. In the blink of an eye, he had crossed over half the city and instantly grabbed the blade that had been stuck in a wall.
The moment he did, his reinforcement and control over his cursed energy increased drastically, back to the level he was used to.
One had to know that when it came to swordsmanship or anything related to a sword, Han was a one in a million, no trillion, genius. Men like him were only born once in a millennium. His physical talent, comprehensive talent and aptitude for swordsmanship could only be described as heavenly.
But when it came to any other martial arts or jujutsu, Han could only be described as…well, for lack of a better term, absolutely retarded.
He had no talent for them. Without a sword, maybe at the peak of his life, he would be, at his absolute strongest, a grade four sorcerer. There was no way he could pass that level with pure jujutsu.
So one could imagine the boost in confidence he gained from regaining his blade.
Just as he was about to go find the snake…
BOOM!
It hit him again, although he managed to block at the last second this time.
Sticking his blade in the ground to slow his momentum down, Han started to realize something as he came to a stop.
There was no way the snake kept up with him this entire time through Mei. He would be able to sense that level of speed. Or at least hear a giant snake slithering at an insane speed through the city.
But there was nothing. So that could only mean one thing.
'It was waiting for me to grab my sword. It knew that I would use that ability to find it. This creature…had been watching me since I got here. Not watching, no…hunting. It waited for me to be weakened, off guard, sure of victory. Then it struck.'
This realization caused Han to feel a cold shiver running down his spine.
This enemy was supremely dangerous.
'Unfortunately for this creature though, I'm starting to get used to it's speed. Let's see how much longer it can keep this up.'
CLANG!
Han deflected a tail strike from the snake, sending the massive appendage of the creature careening backwards.
"Yeah…just like that. I've got a grasp on it. Try it aga-"
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The snake attacked multiple times from the shadows so fast it seemed like they were multiple. But Han didn't let himself lose. He pushed his body beyond the limit…
CLANG! CLANG!
Again.
CLANG!
And again.
How could Han stand against such opposition with his body in this state?
Watching the snake move through the shadows, Han could see its red eyes gleaming and shooting about. His vision was clear and focused as he watched…and waited.
Soon enough, he would…
'Now!'
It was time to go on the offensive.
Han rushed forward, deflecting every attack as he got closer to the snake. No matter how much it moved or what angle it attacked from, Han kept up with it, as if he could see every move it made before it could make it.
In no time, within milliseconds, Han closed the gap, appearing over the snake's head in a flash.
'Both me and Cloud Gouger are low on energy. I can only use my abilities once more before I completely run out. Maybe it would be better if i…'
Compressing his remaining cursed energy along the edge of the blade, Han used Yui, to form a small ice platform under one of his feet.
Using the momentum he gained from kicking off of it, Han spun rapidly mid-air, descending upon the neck of the creature like a buzzsaw.
When he got close, Han drew his blade and executed a self created technique of the [Shadowless Blade], aptly named, [Falling Destruction].
'Farewell, creature.'
CLANG!
Unfortunately, Han severely underestimated how cunning this snake was.
Concentrating its cursed energy in its neck causing its already metal like scales to become even more reinforced, the snake completely resisted Han's attack, leaving him exposed mid-air.
'Huh?'
In an instant, the snake disappeared, appearing again behind Han with its giant maws open.
With no way of defending himself, Han could only watch as the snake's fangs pierced through the left side of his torso and leg.
"Urgh!"
Pain and poison racked his body as he frantically slashed off the fangs of the snake, falling to the ground as he struggled to regained control of his destroyed body.
"Argghhhh!!"
Unable to control it anymore, Han let out a terrifying scream grabbing the poisoned part of his body in a futile attempt to stop the poison. But it was to no avail.
The snake, completely defanged let out a deranged scream as it backed off, forcing its cursed energy to its mouth to heal itself.
Once this was complete, Han would be dead.
For all intents and purposes, this would be the end of the saga of Han Ze'nin. Eaten and devoured by a massive snake like the legends of old.