The Naberius Clan estate was heavily fortified, but physical walls meant nothing to a ghost.
Jin materialized from the Shunshin no Jutsu in the deep shadows of the outer courtyard. The eternal twilight of the Underworld provided the perfect cover. He drew his sword, ready to ignite the blade with his chakra. He moved with the absolute, terrifying efficiency of an elite shinobi.
His Sharingan spun lazily, its crimson light cutting through the gloom. Ahead, two low-class Devil guards were patrolling a stone walkway. Jin flickered. He appeared directly behind them. With a sharp slash of his arm, he cut their necks cleanly. Before their heads and bodies could even hit the cobblestone, Jin caught them, dragging their corpses into the thick bushes lining the path.
He moved on.
Jin sheathed his sword, noting the extra effort required to catch their heads and to make sure the blood didn't spray.
As he navigated the outer perimeter, Jin encountered a complication. A guard was leaning against a pillar, chatting idly with a female civilian servant who was carrying a basket of linens.
Jin possessed a ruthless pragmatism, but he had rules. He wouldn't touch civilians, and he certainly wouldn't kill women or children who weren't active combatants.
He stepped out of the shadow just enough to catch the maid's eye. The three tomoe in his eyes locked onto hers. Demonic Illusion. The maid's eyes rolled back, and she slumped forward in a deep, peaceful sleep. As the guard panicked and reached out to catch her, Jin drove a kunai straight through the base of the Devil's skull. Jin carefully lowered them both to the ground and dragged them to a corner, leaving the civilian unharmed and oblivious beside the dead guard.
The greatest threat to Jin's stealth wasn't the guards' eyesight; it was their familiars. The Naberius Clan were renowned beast tamers.
They were not originally beast tamers, but when the clan leader tamed Cerberus, the rest of the family followed suit.
Jin deliberately mapped his route to avoid the massive kennel complexes on the eastern wing. However, as he rounded a corner, he ran straight into a patrol: a guard walking alongside a massive, heavily muscled shadow-wolf.
The wolf's nose twitched. Its head snapped toward Jin's shadow, its jaw opening to release a warning howl.
Jin didn't hesitate. He surged forward, his speed shortening the distance before they could mount a reaction. With a single, fluid motion, he drew his sword laced with chakra, decapitating the beast before a single sound could escape its throat. The guard reached for his weapon, but Jin's palm struck his chest, sending a vibration that shattered the Devil's heart instantly.
Jin made a mental note to keep the direction of the wind in mind, and quickly started to cover the bodies and the spilled blood.
Now that blood had spilled in the open, it was time to pick up the pace.
To maintain total control over the battlefield, Jin brought his hands together. Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Three silent copies of himself materialized in the dark. With a series of tactical hand signs, he dispatched them into the sprawling estate. The clones acted as his reconnaissance network, keeping an eye out for approaching patrols and assessing the enemy density.
More importantly, the clones helped him dismantle the estate's magical security. Through the Sharingan, Jin and his clones could physically see the dense concentrations of demonic mana flowing through the walls—magical tripwires, alarm runes, and proximity wards in guard posts. Moving like a surgeon, Jin bypassed the triggers entirely, slicing the mana flows with precise strikes, ensuring that not a single alarm was triggered.
With information continuously flowing from his shadow clones, Jin focused solely on killing. If he could kill them before they noticed, it would remain a perfect silent assassination.
Whether Jin was simply too skilled, or the Naberius Clan had grown arrogant enough to believe their home was untouchable, the outer defenses were completely eradicated without a single soul realizing it.
Leaving a trail of bodies behind him, Jin finally crossed the threshold into the inner estate.
The architecture immediately shifted, becoming far more opulent and heavily reinforced. The air here felt thicker. The magical signatures of the guards spiked significantly—these were no longer low-class grunts, but seasoned, mid-class Devils.
Jin continued his lethal advance, slipping a kunai under a guard's armor and dropping him silently into a decorative fountain. He wasn't facing any serious problems yet, but the reality was setting in.
The clock has officially started to run, Jin thought.
Patrols ran on schedules. Even without alarms, someone was bound to notice that the outer guards weren't reporting in. He had minutes, maybe less, before the estate went into full lockdown.
As he moved deeper into the stronghold, Jin brought up his mental dossier on the Naberius Clan. If he was going to fight the upper echelon, he needed to remember exactly what they were capable of.
Tactical Assessment: The Naberius Clan
Rank & Status: Marquis-class. One of the remaining 34 Clans of the 72 Pillars.
Physical Traits: They were easily identifiable by their lime green hair and eyes. The clan had a notoriously high fertility rate among its male members, leading to a massive internal membership expansion.
Leadership & Politics: The current head was Lord Taito Naberius. His daughter, Ruri Naberius, was the official heir—she notably refused to marry to avoid the old tradition of women being cut from the succession line. Politically, the clan was heavily entrenched in the Old Satan/Great King Faction.
The Hereditary Magic: Spell of Triskelion.
This was their signature demonic magic. Everything they did revolved around the rule of three.
He had to watch out for combined, triple-layered attacks. Akane Naberius could fire Ice, Fire, and Lightning simultaneously (Elemental Barrage). Ruri could launch a three-pronged psychic assault (Mind Crush) that paralyzed the body, shut down the senses, and shocked the soul. Taito could summon three elemental hounds of smoke, mist, and shadow (Hunting Season).
The Beast Tamers: This was the most dangerous variable. The clan head was the sole tamer of Cerberus, the three-headed hellhound that formerly guarded the Greek Underworld. Ruri commanded Orthrus, the two-headed younger brother.
Jin tightened his grip on his kunai and sword, his Sharingan spinning as he approached the inner keep.