Curse Reply: After choosing Nawa, the cursed spirit cursed me for being cruel.

The opponent is the strongest in the world of sorcery, she's going to go all out from the start!

Maki took a deep breath, and the stone slab beneath her feet suddenly cracked open, propelling her towards Duanmu Yan like a cannonball.

Duanmu Yan neither dodged nor evaded, but met her fist head-on with his right fist.

Two disproportionate figures collided in the center of the training field, the dull thud of their fists hitting each other making the entire field tremble.

Maki was jolted back several meters, shook her numb wrist, and shouted, "Again!"

She lunged forward again, unleashing a flurry of punches from both sides.

Duanmu Yan caught her fist with one hand, parried it from both sides, and then grabbed her ankle with one palm, sending her flying.

Maki flipped in the air, and after her feet landed, she slid several meters away on the stone slabs, the screeching sound of her shoes scraping against the slabs echoing across the training ground.

"Not bad. The explosive power is even better than I expected. Even a quasi-special-grade curse spirit would not be in good shape if it took that punch just now."

Duanmu Yan assessed Maki's current strength. If he gave her a suitable incantation, removing a quasi-special-grade cursed spirit without special abilities shouldn't be too difficult, and even a special-grade cursed spirit wouldn't be out of the question.

The Heavenly Curse is still too much. I don't understand what kind of idiots are in the Zen family. Their physiques are terrifyingly strong.

Moreover, Maki's current strength is what he has shown without specifically teaching her.

After all, his intention wasn't particularly to want the two young girls to fight the cursed spirit to the death. They had already suffered enough in the past; they should live happily from now on.

Duanmu Yan exhaled a breath of stale air, stretched his wrists, and beckoned to her, "But the transition after retracting your fist is still too slow. Once you launch an attack, it must be as fierce as a flood, giving the enemy no chance to react."

Maki rubbed the tip of her nose with the back of her hand, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up.

I'm so glad I was praised by Lord Duanmu!

But she wanted to fight on; she wanted to see just how far she had come.

Seeing her eager posture, Duanmu Yan decided not to wait for her to attack and took the initiative to snatch it away.

The two men exchanged blows in the center of the training field.

Maki's moves don't have a fixed style; she relies entirely on talent and intuition. Occasionally, she'll suddenly change her moves while throwing a punch, striking from a tricky angle that even she herself didn't expect.

The unconventional fighting style forced Duanmu Yan to expend more effort. He dodged a jab that grazed his earlobe and smiled with some surprise.

"Not bad, you came up with this yourself?"

"I suddenly felt like I should fight like this while we were fighting! I don't know why myself!" Maki replied, her hands still moving, delivering another low kick to the outside of his knee.

Duanmu Yan raised his leg to block, and then threw a punch at her shoulder.

Maki crossed her arms to take the punch head-on, and was so shocked that she slid half a step back, breaking two of the stone slabs beneath her feet.

At halftime, Shoko and Natsuyuki walked over from the infirmary, with Mako following behind Natsuyuki.

She stood on the sidelines, her gaze fixed on the figure in the center of the training field who was exchanging blows with a Grandmaster.

With each punch her sister threw, her shoulder would tremble.

Zhenyi murmured, "So handsome."

Xia Youjie glanced down at her, then looked up at the field.

He had never directly fought against the tyrant, but he was well aware of Maki's fighting strength before the curse was lifted.

Haibara's physical skills were a solid foundation, not bad, but she's a completely different species from the little girl who's now relentlessly attacking a Special Grade Mage on the training field.

Previously, it was estimated to be only at the upper-level three level, but now it is preliminarily estimated to have reached the first level.

He jumped from a level 3 with slightly better physical fitness to a level that even he, a special grader, found impressive.

He couldn't help but clasp his hands together in front of his chest, his tone tinged with emotion: "The Heavenly Curse, what a terrifying talent."

Zhenyi's gaze still followed her sister's figure on the training field.

Her technique is a constructive technique.

This technique is generally considered useless in the world of sorcery, not that it's weak.

The construction technique is theoretically extremely powerful, capable of constructing matter from nothing. Ancient sorcerers once used this technique to rise to the top ranks.

However, it has a fatal flaw: it consumes an extreme amount of magical energy. When one has little magical energy, even constructing a decent weapon becomes difficult; but when one has enough magical energy, every spell becomes powerful.

Those with little magical power cannot use it.

Those with abundant magical power have no use for it.

Therefore, this technique is stuck in an awkward position, neither useful nor worth abandoning.

Maya knew that her curse power was not much.

When she was at the Zen temple, no one had any expectations for her magic.

All she could do was follow behind her sister and try to make herself useful with that small pistol that might not even be able to fire a few bullets in a month.

But now my sister is different. After the curse was lifted, there was no longer any shackle of the curse in her body, and she was bursting with pure power.

She... didn't want to become a coward who only hid behind her sister and adults.

Returning to the field, under Duanmu Yan's Armstrong Golden Roundhouse Kick, Maki was sent back dozens of meters, her feet carving two deep furrows into the stone slab.

The once smooth training ground is now full of potholes and cracks in the stone slabs.

She was breathing heavily, her hands were numb, but she didn't care.

Her eyes remained fixed on the composed figure standing opposite her.

She's so strong; that's exactly what she's always wanted to be.

Chapter 168 I can wait as long as it takes

Maki felt genuinely grateful to and respected Duanmu Yan.

Because Lord Duanmu had provided her and her sister with generous conditions, and had even patted their heads and said that he hoped they could live happily.

But she didn't want to be a hothouse flower.

As the older sister, she has a duty to protect her younger sister.

So over the years, she has been secretly seeking special training from Haibara-sensei and Natsume-sama without interruption.

She straightened up, her eyes showing no sign of retreat, only a pure desire for battle.

"Lord Duanmu, please fight me seriously this time."

As soon as she finished speaking, her figure disappeared, and a gray dust storm began to rise over the training ground. A blurry shadow sped around the edge of the field, its speed constantly increasing.

Duanmu Yan looked at the figure running wildly around the field and remembered the first time he saw her at the Zen Temple six years ago. She was a thin and small little girl.

Now she is so eager to fight him.

He let out a soft sigh of relief.

Although it can only be considered an appetizer, it is still barely edible.

"Just this once." He increased his spell power output again, raising the spell power enhancement to about 0.8%.

This is pretty much the limit that Maki's body can withstand.

Xia Youjie frowned slightly on the sidelines: "Don't go too far, Duanmu."

"I know what I'm doing." Duanmu Yan stood still, his feet slightly apart.

At this moment, Maki has reached 340 meters per second through continuous acceleration, which is what people often refer to as the speed of sound.

This was her current limit. The air in front of her was compressed into an invisible wall, but she forcefully smashed through that wall with pure physical strength, charging towards Duanmu Yan head-on with a sonic boom.

Duanmu Yan's fist met the attack head-on.

Two disproportionate figures collided in the middle of the training field.

Maki's fist, imbued with the force of breaking the sound barrier, slammed into Duanmu Yan's fist. The shockwave from the impact sent rubble and dust flying in a circular pattern in all directions.

Maki was thrown back by the force of the rebound, tumbling several times in the air before crashing heavily to the ground.

Duanmu Yan's body swayed slightly as well.

Maki lay in the pile of rubble, staring at the sky above, her chest heaving violently.

The collision of those punches had left her arm numb, but Lord Duanmu was moved by her, even if it only made him sway slightly.

She actually... really moved him.

From the sidelines, Zhenyi was the first to rush forward, kneeling beside her sister, her fingers hovering over her sister's bruised arm, afraid to touch it. "Sister, are you alright?!"

Shoko quickly walked over, squatted down to examine Maki's arm, and her palm shone with a bright white light. Under her reversal technique, the bruises began to return to their original positions and heal.

She raised her eyes and looked at Duanmu Yan with displeasure: "Duanmu, what were you thinking, using such great magical power to hit a child?"

Xia Youjie, standing to the side, also shifted his gaze from Zhenxi to Duanmu Yan, "I also want to ask, she's only twelve years old this year, how can you treat a minor like this?"

Duanmu Yan stood still and withdrew his hand. He had already stopped using his strength, hadn't he?

It was Maki who demanded that she be serious, so why does she have to bear all the blame?

But caught between two accusing gazes, he couldn't utter a single word. He just stood there, looking as helpless as Gojo Satoru when he was scolded by Moth-sensei for getting into trouble.

Maki slowly stood up and patted the pebbles off her clothes.

She turned to Shoko and Natsuyu and said, "Please don't blame Lord Duanmu, Sister Shoko and Lord Natsuyu. Lord Duanmu just agreed to my request and took it a little more seriously."

After saying that, she looked down at her palms, then looked up and said, "I will definitely become stronger in the future, strong enough to protect everyone."

Duanmu Yan put his hands in his pockets, tilted his head to look at her, and joked, "Does that include me too?"

Maki nodded solemnly, "Of course."

Duanmu Yan laughed. Had he actually become someone who needed protection?

It feels a bit awkward...

He reached out and placed his palm on Maki's head, gently rubbing it: "Okay. I'll wait for that day."

Xia Youjie stood to the side, looking at Maki's straight figure, a trace of reminiscence rising in his eyes.

He's still just a kid, but now he's saying he wants to protect others with such a serious face.

“You’ve grown up, Maki. Here’s what we’ll do: when you officially enter junior college, I’ll give you a gift.”

Maki shook her head: "No need, Natsuyu-sama. I don't need any gifts."