"You..."
Kyoko stared at Luo Zhen in utter astonishment, as if she couldn't believe what she had just heard.
Yet Luo Zhen's expression was colder than ever.
"What? You can't do it?" Luo Zhen asked. His tone was clearly indifferent, but somehow sounded almost mocking. "But that's what a shikigami is: an existence that obeys its master's orders and serves its master."
His meaning was perfectly clear.
"Once you become my shikigami, you'll have to accept my orders without question, just like this. Whether they're reasonable or not, you'll have to carry them out. That's what a shikigami is." Luo Zhen glanced at Kyoko. "If you can't do that, then don't talk about becoming my shikigami."
Kyoko understood what Luo Zhen was planning almost as soon as she heard those words.
He intended to make her back down by deliberately making an excessive demand.
No—considering the relationship between an onmyoji and a shikigami, this demand really wasn't excessive.
After all, ordinarily, no one would make such a demand of their own shikigami. Shikigami were spiritual beings. There were Servant Shikigami, naturally born from gods, Buddhas, demons, and ghosts, as well as Artificial Shikigami created by humans. Even if some looked human, they weren't actually human, and most did not even have human forms. It was practically impossible for anyone to want their shikigami to do such a thing.
But just as Luo Zhen had said, that was what a shikigami was: an existence that absolutely obeyed its master's orders, accompanied its master, and served its master.
Since that was the case, as his shikigami, she ought to fulfill even the most excessive demand Luo Zhen made.
Or rather, once she truly became his shikigami, it would be impossible for her not to obey.
After all, bound by a contract, a