Ten Shadows Technique, First Steps in Another World

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Mo Bai felt the sickening weightlessness around him, his nerves stretched to the limit.

Because when he forced his eyes open, he saw the landscape below.

The green rivers and mountains were beautiful, but Mo Bai had no time to admire them. He was plummeting from the sky at terrifying speed!

"That damn Goddess!"

After shouting into the wind, he instinctively crossed his hands above him, shaping them like a bird spreading its wings.

As Mo Bai fell, the power of the Ten Shadows Technique had already been etched into his mind.

He had to use shadows as a medium, then shape his hands like the Shikigami he wanted to summon, much like making shadow puppets as a child.

Finally, he had to call out the Shikigami's name.

"Nue!"

Whoosh!

As soon as Mo Bai called its name, a figure shot toward him at incredible speed.

It was a giant owl wearing a bone-white mask—the Shikigami Mo Bai had summoned.

If he could get it to grip his arm and carry him down like a glider, he would survive.

But...

"Screech!"

Judging by its cry and the speed at which it charged him, it did not seem friendly...

"Tch!"

Mo Bai knew why.

A sorcerer with the Ten Shadows Technique had to subdue a summoned Shikigami before he could command it.

But Mo Bai had no time for that now. He had to use it first.

"Come here, you beast!"

Shouting, Mo Bai stretched an arm toward the huge orange-red owl.

"Screech!"

Rip!

Nue's talons pierced straight through his hand and clamped down. Blood scattered through the air, but this was exactly what he wanted.

If he could cling to it at the cost of some pain, he might stay attached until they reached the ground. If his luck ran out...

Crackle—

Just as Mo Bai considered his next move, purple electricity surged across Nue's body.

A bead of cold sweat ran down Mo Bai's temple.

Nue could unleash electric shocks.

Mo Bai had no foothold in midair, and Nue's talons had his hand pinned. Even if he wanted to flee, he couldn't.

I'm going to die...

The thought sprang into Mo Bai's mind.

It struck him as absurd.

Some lucky winner picked from over a billion people. And all it had earned him was another dozen minutes before he died—electrocuted by his own summon?

He refused to accept it.

He wouldn't accept it.

Having died once, he understood the wonder of being alive better than ever, and wanted to live all the more.

Mo Bai had never been one to calmly accept death.

Once he died, everything would be gone. What did it matter if people praised him to the skies afterward? He wouldn't feel a thing.

No...

"I'm going to live!"

A desperate resolve blazed within Mo Bai. Energy like blue flame surged around his dangling left fist.

Cursed Energy—the power born from humanity's negative emotions.

Fear and indignation sent Mo Bai's Cursed Energy soaring. He gathered every bit of it in his uninjured left fist.

"Settle down!"

Bang!

Mo Bai slammed his Cursed Energy-coated fist into Nue's mask.

"Screech!"

Nue cried out in pain, and the purple electricity it had been building suddenly vanished.

"Not enough!"

Bang, bang, bang!

After landing that first blow, Mo Bai did not stop and leave them locked in a struggle in midair. He made his choice.

To survive this fall, he had to subdue Nue completely and make it his own.

He hammered his Cursed Energy-wreathed fist into Nue without mercy.

"Screech!"

At last, Nue gave out first. It released his hand, trying to let him fall to his death.

But that gave Mo Bai an opening.

With his right hand free, he could form hand signs again.

Clap!

Mo Bai brought his hands together in midair with a sharp clap. He shaped them like a dog's head and shouted:

"Divine Dogs!"

The Divine Dogs were the only shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique he could command without first subduing them. He summoned one onto Nue's back.

"Awooo!"

The large white dog lunged straight for Nue's throat the moment it appeared.

Nue had already taken a beating from Mo Bai. It had no strength left to shake the Divine Dogs off.

Rip! Whoosh!

The Divine Dogs tore through Nue's neck, and the owl dissolved into shadow. Mo Bai knew he had succeeded in subduing it.

He immediately recalled the Divine Dogs, then formed Nue's summoning sign again.

"Nue."

Whoosh!

This time, Nue did not ram into Mo Bai or slash at him. It carefully gripped his uninjured left arm and began a slow descent.

As they descended, Mo Bai glanced at the bloody holes puncturing his right arm.

Good thing I'd figured out how to use Cursed Energy to protect myself when my life was on the line. Otherwise, I'd probably be dead already...

Then he looked at his surroundings.

An endless green plain stretched below, with what looked like a huge city in the distance.

"At least there are people..."

Mo Bai let out a weary sigh.

Who would have thought his first act after crossing into another world would be a fight to the death—with his own summoned Shikigami, no less...

Once he landed, he would recover some strength, then head to that futuristic-looking city and find someone who could help. That should work.

From the air, Mo Bai also noticed that the animals here looked strange.

They were made entirely of mechanical parts.

What was this? Was Wuthering Waves some cheerful sci-fi game where humanity had made a technological leap and ascended into a cyber future?

Tch. That Goddess hadn't even told me the basics of this world.

Mo Bai cursed the Goddess under his breath.

Then again, she had tossed him into the sky without a word and nearly let him fall to his death. Compared with that, failing to explain the world was a minor offense.

"Whatever. One step at a—"

Hum—

Just as Mo Bai was about to land, he spotted something.

A portal-like opening had appeared out of nowhere nearby. A black-haired, golden-eyed woman emerged from it, hanging from a glider with one hand.

Their eyes met. Her pupils suddenly contracted, as though something terrible was right beside him.

"Look out!"

Vroom, vroom, vroom!

Bang!

The last thing Mo Bai heard was the roar of a motorcycle engine.