Taming Ritual, Divergent Fist

Smack!

Mo Bai stood on the grassland and slowly formed a hand sign.

He needed to tame a new Shikigami.

After the Remnant Star Society's invasion had nearly led to a Voidworm attack on the Academy, the school would surely be on alert. His life at the Academy shouldn't be in much danger from now on.

Lynae had turned over a new leaf. The greatest danger he might face at the Academy from now on was probably crashing during one of her high-speed drives.

But Mo Bai thought of Rover.

Rover was a Threnodian of the Black Shores. Mo Bai suspected his friend had come to Lahai Luo for something important.

Not that Rover had told him what it was.

Still, with a friend planning something big, Mo Bai wanted to be of some use.

He touched the tips of his index fingers, middle fingers, and thumbs to form a frog's mouth. He curled his ring fingers slightly for its nose and bent his little fingers to leave gaps for its eyes, then spread the webbing between his thumbs and index fingers to complete the sign.

"Toad!"

Whoosh!

As Mo Bai finished the summons, an enormous green toad emerged from the shadows ahead of him.

"Ribbit, ribbit."

Apart from the intricate Runes carved into its underside, the Shikigami looked like any other enormous toad.

Mo Bai knew that summoning it had begun the taming ritual.

It was a utility Shikigami, not a fighter. Even without outside help, the Divine Dogs alone could easily subdue it.

But Mo Bai wanted to use the Shikigami before him to test something else.

"The Toad's attacks are weak. I could try..."

Thud!

Muttering to himself, Mo Bai summoned no other Shikigami. He charged at his opponent himself.

The Toad Shikigami wasted no time attacking.

"Ribbit."

It opened its mouth and shot out its long tongue.

It wasn't an offensive Shikigami, but that swift tongue would still hurt if it landed.

Mo Bai had no intention of letting it.

Smack!

He caught the slippery tongue in his hand and pulled hard.

"Come here!"

Whoosh!

The Toad couldn't match Mo Bai's Cursed Energy-enhanced strength. He yanked it off the ground and through the air toward him.

"Ribbit, ribbit!"

Mo Bai could tell that an untamed Toad Shikigami, with no supply of Cursed Energy, was extremely weak.

It would do as a training dummy.

He was confident he could learn a Jujutsu Sorcerer's ultimate move, so it was time to train his hand-to-hand combat skills.

Whoosh!

As the Toad reached him, Mo Bai released its tongue and channeled Cursed Energy into his right hand.

Jujutsu Sorcerers could enhance their physical combat abilities by channeling Cursed Energy through their entire bodies or concentrating it at a single point. Mo Bai had known that for some time.

With Cursed Energy behind his blows, he was sure it wouldn't take long to defeat the Toad Shikigami.

But the instant his fist struck it, his Cursed Energy lagged a beat.

"Ribbit! Guh!"

That brief delay meant the Toad Shikigami took two impacts from a single punch.

The first came from Mo Bai's fist. The second came from the Cursed Energy that followed.

"Was I forcing it too much...?"

Mo Bai flexed his fist and frowned.

Divergent Fist was a technique born from a habit some Jujutsu Sorcerers had: when they reinforced their bodies, their Cursed Energy instinctively arrived a beat late.

That delay let one punch deliver two impacts, just as Mo Bai's had, catching an enemy off guard.

But Mo Bai didn't naturally have that delay. He had forced it into the punch to try to master another skill through Divergent Fist.

Instead, forcing the technique had only weakened his punch.

"Ribbit..."

The Toad Shikigami twitched on the ground. Mo Bai stopped dragging things out, stepped forward, and dealt the finishing blow.

Smack!

Once tamed, these Shikigami would become his own shadows. Watching one suffer now felt strangely uncomfortable.

"Next..."

After taming the Toad Shikigami, Mo Bai remembered the Great Serpent Shikigami he had summoned to hold off the Voidworm.

A Shikigami destroyed after he tamed it would indeed be gone for good. But the Voidworm had destroyed the Great Serpent before he had tamed it, so that loss didn't count. He could summon it again now.

Mo Bai looked around. Once he was sure no one nearby could be caught up in the taming ritual, he began forming the hand sign.

He curled his left hand like a claw and wound his right around it, fingers twisting like a real snake. His thumb and index finger opened and closed to mimic its jaws.

"Great Serpent!"

With the preparations for the taming ritual complete, the shadow beneath Mo Bai's feet spread forward.

The vast darkness seemed to give birth to the Shikigami. Moments later, the enormous Great Serpent emerged from it and fixed Mo Bai with a predatory stare.

Another one-on-one taming ritual was about to begin.