Shadow Servant

On the forest path, Eiji and the White Divine Dog were sprinting at full speed. Above them, an owl with a bone-like face kept launching attacks at them.

Whoosh.

Nue folded its wings and shot toward Eiji like an arrow loosed from a bow.

"Woof woof!"

Keeping a constant watch on Nue, the White Divine Dog immediately barked a warning.

Hearing it, Eiji instantly rolled sideways into the trees, successfully dodging Nue's diving strike.

Seeing Nue draw close to the ground, Little White immediately pounced forward, trying to knock it down. Unfortunately, Nue had been prepared, and several bolts of lightning forced Little White back.

"What a pity."

Seeing that Little White had failed to bring Nue down, Eiji did not linger. Using the forest as cover, he continued toward his destination.

What greeted him was a barrage of Nue's lightning strikes.

As he watched the lightning continuously crash down, a question suddenly arose in Eiji's mind: why was it easier to get struck by lightning when hiding under a tree on a rainy day?

Before long, the relentless lightning strikes forced Eiji back onto the forest path, returning both sides to their original situation.

"Whew, finally here."

Seeing the clearing ahead, its ground covered in weeds, Eiji finally breathed a sigh of relief.

That mere hundred-meter stretch had been the most exhausting distance he had ever run.

Thud.

As if he had tripped over something, Eiji staggered and fell into the dry weeds. Nue, which had been waiting for an opening in the sky, immediately swooped down at him.

A second before Nue's talons could seize Eiji, Little White charged in from the side and knocked him away, then immediately dissolved into a pool of shadow and sank into the ground.

"Now!"

Little Black, who had been waiting nearby for a long time, immediately bit through the rope securing the trap. A large net sprang up from beneath the weeds, binding Nue as it frantically flapped its wings in an attempt to fly back into the sky.

As the net rose, a silver chess piece was also carried into the air.

It was a golden chess piece with only an upper body, two horns growing from its head like a beast.

Strike while it was down.

"Shikigami: Jade Dog, Imaginary Summon: Berserker!"

Little White, whose summoning had been dismissed earlier to evade the attacks, appeared once more. Little Black and Little White clamped down hard on Nue's wings together.

In order to escape, Nue unleashed lightning with all its strength, trying to break free from the Jade Dogs' Binding Vow. But before it could defeat them, a huge hand suddenly appeared, grabbed Nue by its talons, and viciously slammed it into the ground.

It was a figure entirely covered in shadows, radiating an ominous aura.

Imaginary Summon: Shadow Servant Berserker.

This was a method Eiji had developed over this period through the Holy Grail left behind by the system.

Within the Holy Grail the system had left him were chess pieces corresponding to the seven Classes. These seven pieces were the cores that would one day be used to summon Imaginary Heroic Spirits after enough Phantasm Force had been collected, serving the role of Heroic Spirit Cores in ordinary Heroic Spirit Summoning.

However, Eiji had not yet gathered enough Illusionary Power, so he could not summon Heroic Spirits.

But after carefully studying the information about the Holy Grail left behind by the system, Eiji had a bold idea.

If he used the flow of Cursed Energy from his Ten Shadows Technique to activate the Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces for summoning, could he summon the mass-produced Shadow Servants from the original work?

The Ten Shadows Technique was a Technique for summoning shadow Shikigami.

Heroic Spirit Summoning was likewise classified as a Technique for summoning familiars or Shikigami.

Therefore, it seemed feasible to use the Ten Shadows Technique to summon Shadow Servants through Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces as a medium.

After many attempts, Eiji successfully summoned Shadow Servants.

Unlike the Jade Dogs, which remained within Eiji's shadow after being summoned, Shadow Servants would vanish completely once dismissed, leaving only their chess pieces behind.

Every time he wanted to summon a Shadow Servant, he had to take out the chess piece and summon it again.

Eiji had also discovered another use for the chess pieces.

These seven chess pieces seemed to have been modified into Cursed Tools by the system.

After a Jade Dog swallowed a chess piece, it would receive corresponding enhancements.

For instance, Little Black had swallowed the Assassin chess piece, strengthening his stealth and attack power, making him even deadlier.

That was also why Nue had failed to notice Little Black before he acted.

Little White, meanwhile, had swallowed the Rider chess piece and gained greater mobility and endurance.

"Finish it in one go!"

After seeing Nue knocked to the ground, Eiji unleashed all his Cursed Energy without holding anything back, strengthening the Jade Dogs and the Shadow Servant.

The next moment, countless attacks rained down on Nue's body.

In only a few seconds, Nue gave up resisting, transforming into a pool of shadow and merging into Eiji's shadow.

"Whew, it finally worked."

Eiji happily wiped the sweat from his forehead. After dismissing the Shadow Servant, he rode Little White back to his small courtyard.

A white figure had been waiting there for quite some time.

"Satoru, you're here?"

Eiji was not surprised. Ever since he had moved into this small courtyard, Satoru Gojo had visited several times, and the two got along fairly well.

Although the current Satoru Gojo was already beginning to show signs of his future self, his personality had not yet become as outrageous as it was in the story.

Besides, Satoru Gojo before becoming 2.5 Gojo had still been very reliable.

Even after coming to the world of Jujutsu Kaisen, Eiji found the later developments of the plot absurd every time he thought about them.

Shouldn't a story where the hero challenged the Demon King involve the hero's side doing everything possible to figure out the Demon King's abilities before exhausting all their strength to defeat him?

Why had it become Sukuna, the Demon King, figuring out every one of hero Satoru Gojo's abilities in advance, then inexplicably cutting Satoru Gojo into 2.5 Gojo?

Even if Satoru Gojo had to lose, that would have been fine. People could have accepted it. The traditional route of losing for his students, or getting set up by Kenjaku, would have worked.

One moment he was shouting that he had won, and the next he was having a flashback?

And after that, without even a moment to mourn Satoru Gojo becoming 2.5 Gojo, Hajime Kashimo, the Thunder God, immediately arrived on the battlefield.

Without even a moment to mourn Kashimo's death, the genius acknowledged by Sukuna, Hiromi Higuruma, immediately arrived on the battlefield.

Without even a moment to mourn Higuruma's death, Yuta Okkotsu, who had just finished watching a comedian's show, immediately arrived on the battlefield.

Without even a moment to mourn Yuta Okkotsu being cut in half at the waist, Second Generation Calamity of Heaven Maki Zenin immediately arrived on the battlefield.

No, Yuta Okkotsu had only been cut. Whether he had become like Satoru Gojo was still unknown.

"Why have you been staring at me?"

"You're good-looking."

"Isn't that only natural?"

"..."

Eiji fell silent.

"Were you subjugating a Shikigami just now?"

"Yeah, a big bird that can fly. I'm planning to ride it around when I travel later."

What boy had not dreamed of being like The Return of the Condor Heroes when he was young?

"Interesting. Summon it and let me see."

"Nue."

Eiji did not refuse. He formed a hand sign, and then an owl-sized Nue appeared between them.

The Cursed Energy he had only just recovered rapidly dwindled, but Eiji did not care, because he wanted to see as well.