Taming Mahoraga

Eiji spent the following days preparing to tame Mahoraga.

Another weekend arrived quickly. On the first day of his break, Eiji headed into the mountains far from the city.

Night fell swiftly, and Eiji rose to begin his operation.

Cursed Energy surged through his body as two Shikigami appeared at his side.

One was Qiongqi, which had appeared before. The other was the newly fused Giant Elephant.

Giant Elephant was the Shikigami Eiji had obtained by fusing Max Elephant, Great Serpent, and Round Deer.

Max Elephant had already been thick-skinned and tough. After fusing with Round Deer, its powerful healing ability turned it into a qualified tank.

Great Serpent had fused into a Snake Tail far longer than Giant Elephant's body.

Cursed Energy began radiating from the two Shikigami.

Before initiating the Taming Ritual, Eiji had not only accumulated a vast amount of Cursed Energy, but had also developed a method of strengthening Ten Shadows Technique Shikigami from his research into using Command Spells to empower Heroic Spirits.

The process was simpler than Eiji had expected, because the system had modified the Holy Grail before leaving. The Heroic Spirits summoned by the Holy Grail also existed in the form of Shikigami.

They were all Eiji's power.

The two Shikigami, strengthened to their peak state, began moving.

Qiongqi immediately flew high into the air, while Giant Elephant lumbered forward and positioned itself before Eiji.

"Now, let's invite tonight's leading man onto the stage."

Eiji held both hands out before him, fists clenched, and chanted the incantation to summon Mahoraga.

"Furube, Yurayura, Yatsuka Sword, Otherworldly Divine General, Mahoraga."

Mahoraga's figure slowly emerged ahead of him, the chains binding Mahoraga snapping one after another.

The strongest Shikigami appeared before Eiji once more.

"There's an old saying: there can be a first and second time, but not a third or fourth. The first time I summoned you was to save my life, so it doesn't count. This is the second time I'm taming you."

Eiji grew increasingly excited as he looked at Mahoraga before him.

"Become my power, Mahoraga!"

As if sensing Eiji's feverish gaze, Mahoraga grinned and thrust the Demon-Slaying Sword in his hand toward Eiji's head.

"Moo!"

Giant Elephant moved before Eiji. Its body, only slightly shorter than Mahoraga's, charged straight at Mahoraga.

Its trunk knocked the Demon-Slaying Sword off course, and Giant Elephant rammed directly into Mahoraga.

Mahoraga gripped the tusks tightly with both hands, seemingly intending to snap them off.

"Hiss."

The long Snake Tail shot out from behind Giant Elephant and bit down on Mahoraga's right arm.

Mahoraga's attempt to break the tusks failed, and he tried to pull free and retreat.

Qiongqi swooped down from behind Mahoraga, its sharp tiger claws tearing toward Mahoraga's back.

Mahoraga spun around and drove his left fist at Qiongqi, forcing back its attack, but he was unable to break free from Giant Elephant's entanglement.

Giant Elephant stepped forward, its trunk and Snake Tail striking at Mahoraga from the left and right.

Mahoraga was entangled by Giant Elephant once again.

The Demon-Slaying Sword was extremely lethal against Cursed Spirits, but Ten Shadows Technique Shikigami were different from Cursed Spirits. Round Deer's Reverse Cursed Technique could likewise heal Shikigami summoned by the Ten Shadows Technique.

Thus, before Giant Elephant, the Demon-Slaying Sword was merely a sharp arm blade.

Seeing Giant Elephant successfully hold Mahoraga down, Eiji nodded in satisfaction.

When he had first fused Giant Elephant, Eiji had run into a problem.

Giant Elephant possessed formidable defense, and neither its brute strength nor water attacks could be underestimated.

But Giant Elephant could not keep anyone pinned down.

That was right. Giant Elephant, a tank, could not hold enemies in place.

What was the difference between a tank that could not taunt or hold aggro and no tank at all?

Max Elephant was already clumsy and cumbersome. Giant Elephant, which was even larger than Max Elephant, was even more unwieldy.

Earlier, Eiji had sought out Suguru Geto to test Giant Elephant's durability.

After summoning several Grade 1 Cursed Spirits, Suguru Geto quickly discovered Giant Elephant's weakness.

The several Grade 1 Cursed Spirits kited Giant Elephant until it was completely disoriented.

Its water spray was of little use. At close range, Giant Elephant had no time to charge its attacks, and under Suguru Geto's command, the Cursed Spirits even used the impact of the water columns to escape Giant Elephant's restraining range.

Although its ranged attacks gained tremendous power through charging and compression, that also gave its opponents more time to prepare.

Its accuracy plummeted.

After noticing Giant Elephant's weakness, Eiji began considering a solution.

In Eiji's plan, a Shikigami capable of withstanding Mahoraga head-on was essential, so Giant Elephant could not be abandoned.

After extracting some Cursed Energy from several other Shikigami and fusing it with Giant Elephant's Cursed Energy, Eiji chose Great Serpent.

Great Serpent had a long body, far longer than Max Elephant's.

After fusing with Giant Elephant, it became even larger.

Great Serpent's unexpected yet deadly attack style made up for Giant Elephant's shortcomings in attacking and holding enemies down.

And with Round Deer's Reverse Cursed Technique healing it, Great Serpent did not have to worry about being completely destroyed.

With this Snake Tail, Giant Elephant had finally met Eiji's expectations.

In the Sky, Qiongqi began flying into the distance.

On the ground, Giant Elephant fought Mahoraga with all its strength.

Before long, Mahoraga gained the upper hand.

Eiji frowned. The gap between Giant Elephant and Mahoraga was obvious. If not for Giant Elephant's powerful recovery, it would likely have been killed by Mahoraga several times already.

At this rate, Mahoraga would not need much longer to break free of Giant Elephant's entanglement.

Most noticeably, the wound Mahoraga had just inflicted on Giant Elephant was healing very slowly.

Mahoraga had clearly found a way to break the current stalemate.

Eiji crouched down and reached into his shadow.

The Ten Shadows Technique's shadows were like an independent space. Not only could they store objects, but people could travel through them as well.

After first mastering the ability to store things in his shadow, Eiji had happily stuffed many items into it.

Then Eiji collapsed onto the ground.

Eiji had been crushed flat by the weight.

Realizing something was wrong, Eiji hurriedly took everything out of his shadow. Only then did the sensation of being pinned beneath Five Finger Mountain fade.

After several attempts, Eiji finally confirmed something.

His shadow was like a backpack. The weight of anything he put inside would press down on him in full.

Eiji's right hand sank into the ground, and he soon pulled two Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces from his shadow.

Berserker and Lancer.

He poured Cursed Energy into the two Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces without holding back, summoning Berserker, over two meters tall and wielding a stone axe, along with Lancer holding a spear.

Shadow Servant: Berserker.

Shadow Servant: Lancer.

Eiji moved forward to draw Mahoraga's attention. Upon seeing the initiator of the Taming Ritual, Mahoraga began attacking Eiji.

With Berserker and Lancer's assistance, Eiji began circling around Mahoraga.

Eiji did not let Giant Elephant, Berserker, or Lancer fight Mahoraga directly. After all, they were simply not strong enough to take Mahoraga on.

Besides, attacking Mahoraga too early would only make Mahoraga adapt to all their attacks.

That would make the later battle even harder.

Under Mahoraga's repeated attacks, the forest within a hundred-meter radius was soon completely destroyed.

Nothing remained between Eiji and Mahoraga. There was no longer anything that could provide cover or interference.