Chapter 33: Hunted

" I'll give you a minute. Run as far as you can north. After that one minute, I'll hunt you down like the filth you are. "

Wasting not a single second. Maki dashes back, sprinting north. Mute's sister stares at the fleeing Maki with an insane grin on her face until she suddenly starts counting. 

" 1,2,3,4... "

The sound of Mute's sister counting down enters Maki's ears. Her heart beats rapidly as she powerfully slams her feet on the soil indenting it. Maki's body dashes past hundreds of trees with the quiet sound of counting still entering her ears. 

" 56, 57, 58, 59... "

The counting has become insanely quiet. Maki can barely make out the numbers she is making. She listens keenly trying to hear the number 60. Until a gust of wind blows past Maki's face as she hears a noise.

" 60 "

The number 60 was said far louder than the other numbers. Maki's heart dropped as her legs started to wobble making her barely able to walk forward. The massive killing intent that disappeared once again engulfed her body. Maki stopped moving out of fear and started to look through the dense forest paranoid. 

While Maki's eyes tracked through the dense forest, a voice once again spoke to her. 

" After that one minute, I'll hunt you down like the filth you are. "

Maki's eyes widen. It sounded like Mute's sister was right next to her. Maki snapped her head to the left but she was nowhere to be seen. Maki kept looking for the source of the voice but the sentence just repeated. 

" After that one minute, I'll hunt you down like the filth you are. "

Maki snapped her head to the right. As hundreds of thoughts ran through her head... 

S-She clearly using her cursed technique to repeat the sentence in my ears. But why does it feel like she's actually right next to me? My eyes tracked through the forest until the sound of footsteps entered my ears. Wasting no time I started sprinting north again as the sentence was once again repeated. Expect this time it was slightly louder. 

" After that one minute, I'll hunt you down like the filth you are. "

It's best I ignore that sentence for now. She must want to make my mind foggy in fear, making me unable to think straight. I start to dash through the forest. After taking twenty steps, I see Gen's sister standing next to a tree, leaning on it with a grin on her face. I stare at her with widened eyes as I pivot my right foot and start sprinting left. 

I take only a single step until Gen's sister suddenly appears twenty feet in front of me again leaning on a tree, except this time I can see her more clearly. I-Is she making my eyes repeat seeing her? I stare spinning my head around as ten of her appear all leaning on trees surrounding me. I feel my eyes start to strain until I suddenly close my eyes.

Her cursed technique makes everything she causes to repeat stronger. Then if she repeats my eyes seeing her body 15 times that'll cause my eyes to strain until blindness. I tightly hold my eyes closed until I hear footsteps approaching to my right. I listen to the footsteps approaching me until the sentence once again repeats.

"After that one minute, I'll hunt you down like the filth you are. "

The sentence gets louder as my eardrums start ringing. Then it dawned on me that if she kept on repeating that sentence my eardrums would rupture. I dash away from the approaching footsteps and start to run through the forest blind. The footsteps approaching me don't stop, as I hold my right arm forward making sure I don't run into the trees. 

I keep on running until I hear footsteps approaching me on my left. I listen to footsteps approaching my left until I hear another set of footsteps walking directly behind me. 

I-I get her plan now. She's slowly removing all of my senses. She made it so I couldn't use my sight. Now she's working on removing my hearing. I start to step back until I feel something hit my back. I quickly dash forward while spinning. My feet slide across the ground. Until my momentum suddenly stops as a palm slams onto my back. 

I feel my legs shake rapidly as I feel the palm on my back. I'm waiting for my death. My body is frozen, I can't move. B-But why isn't she doing anything? I start to think of reasons before I realize something. When I first dashed back away from her, she appeared behind me and stopped my movement using her palm. Is she just repeating this action or is she actually there? 

I think to myself until I hear a voice talk that certifies my demise. 

"You're wrong darling. I'm actually here. I didn't repeat this action but it was a good guess. The reason I'm taking so long to kill you is because I'm trying to find a way that'll be the most painful. " 

I swallow my saliva as I hear the woman humming playfully above me. She keeps on humming until I snap my eyes open. And sprint forward before spinning around, staring at her. She looks at me surprised until my body momentum stops as I feel a palm slam into my back. 

"It's not nice to run away from someone trying to plan something for you. "

She says to me with a grin on her face. She slowly walks towards me. My body is frozen, I can't move. She reaches into her kimono and pulls out a knife. I stare at the blade as she raises the knife above my head before slashing down. I stare at the knife inching closer to me until a sharp pain engulfs my jaw and my vision goes black...

Maki's body flops to the ground unconscious shocking Mute's sister, she stops slashing her knife and looks to the right and sees Naobito standing next to her with his fist extended to his right, he clearly punched Maki in the chin knocking her out cold. 

Naobito looks over at her before drunkenly talking.

" You can't kill her. I sprinted over here as fast as I could after seeing Maki following Mute. I knew you would try to kill her. Gojo has chosen Maki to be one of the students he personally trains. Most likely to spare her life from assassins. You might be one of the strongest sorcerers around Null, but even you can't beat Gojo. "

Null looks at Naobito before nodding her head in agreement before talking, asking for a request.

" If I can't kill her, then tell the Zenin clan that Mute has been killed. Maki knows I'm the one training him. She also knows that he lives somewhere in this forest. She'll probably tell Gojo to come rescue him. We need to change locations and if everyone thinks Mute is dead, that'll make everything easier. "

Naobito stares at Null pondering before eventually nodding his head and talking. 

" Fine, I'll make the announcement tomorrow morning. We'll relocate you to a dungeon in one of the mountain ranges in Kyoto. You will intensify Mute's training. Gojo is stupid, he'll know something was planned. But before you leave, do you really think Mute can kill Gojo? "

Null smiles before responding.

" It all depends on one thing. "...