Chapter 81: (Future Timeline) The Rat Talisman's Magic! Belongs to Me!
Kazama Chiba recalled the lore from the original series.
In the setting, talismans were essentially just vessels for magical power.
Once the vessel was destroyed, the magic within the talisman would instinctively seek out the nearest living being as its new host.
And this could reference what happened in Jackie Chan Adventures when Jade accidentally absorbed the Twelve Talismans' magic in Section 13's underground vault early in the series.
Kazama had known about this for a long time. He hadn't done it before because he lacked confidence, lacking both the powerful means to destroy a talisman and the control methods to prevent the magic from escaping.
But now, the conditions were perfect.
"The Thunder card destroys the talisman vessel, The Windy card captures the talisman magic, The Shadow card blocks the magic from seeking out small animals."
Since everything was ready, there was no need to hesitate.
"Come on."
Kazama placed the Rat Talisman on the ground before him, then pulled out The Thunder card.
"Thunder, shatter it."
With the command issued, blue-purple lightning gathered at his fingertips. Dazzling electrical light instantly struck that ancient stone talisman.
Under the violent collision of electricity, fine cracks first appeared on the surface of that stone talisman that had endured thousands of years.
Then they spread madly like a spider's web—
"CRACK."
With a crisp shattering sound, the stone talisman crumbled into powder.
The instant the vessel shattered, a gray magical power roared out like a released dragon.
It had lost its restraints. Like a startled serpent, it instinctively searched everywhere for an exit, wanting to escape this cramped space and return to heaven and earth.
But Kazama Chiba had already prepared for this move by using The Windy and Shadow cards.
The wind barrier trapped it firmly. The shadow boundary sealed off all escape routes.
The magic's only destination could be flying into Kazama's body.
Seeing the magic still searching everywhere for a way out...
Kazama spread his arms and lunged forward. He didn't care how violent that magic was—he directly met it with his own flesh.
Simultaneously manipulating the surrounding wind pressure like a massive piston, he forcibly funneled that wandering magic into his own body.
"Come! Rat Talisman, become part of me!!"
When that gray magic touched Kazama Chiba's body, it was like floodwaters finding an outlet—it poured entirely into him.
The instant the magic entered his body, Kazama felt his internal organs burning.
Pain.
Heart-wrenching pain.
It was like someone had poured molten iron into his veins, like every cell in his body was being forcibly torn apart and reassembled.
That power rampaged through Kazama's body like a maddened beast, trying to tear apart this container that dared imprison it.
But he clenched his teeth and didn't release a single groan.
What was this bit of pain?
Back when punks beat him, when he was bullied by others at the orphanage—he'd endured far more suffering than this.
Settle... down...
Veins bulged on Kazama's forehead. Cold sweat instantly soaked through his clothes.
Through the tenacious willpower of two lifetimes, plus the magical foundation within his body that—while not as vast as Tiga's—was still abundant, he forcibly withstood this first wave of impact.
"Stillness into motion... bestowing life... you! Belong to me!!!"
He desperately circulated his body's magical pathways. Like taming a wild horse, bit by bit he suppressed, assimilated, and fused that external power.
Not sealing it.
Not expelling it.
But fusing it.
As if telling the Rat Talisman:
You are my power.
You will become part of me.
From now on, we are one entity.
Hisss—
After who knows how long...
That tearing pain finally slowly subsided, replaced by an unprecedented sense of fullness.
"Phew..."
Kazama released a long breath of stale air and slowly opened his eyes, looking down at his hands.
He could feel the Rat Talisman's magic flowing through his body.
And that "stillness into motion" and "bestowing life" seemed to have become part of Kazama Chiba's body.
Use it when he wanted. Stop it when he wanted. Complete freedom.
"Done."
Kazama nodded with satisfaction and raised his hand to disperse the shadow boundary.
Blinding sunlight instantly poured in, making him instinctively squint.
Outside...
Kerberos was lying on that black dome trying to peek through gaps, mouth still muttering "what the heck is this guy doing, hiding from me?"
Suddenly, that black shadow wall dispersed like mist.
Kazama's figure reappeared in the sunlight.
He looked somewhat disheveled—clothes soaked through, blood at the corner of his mouth—but his entire aura had undergone earth-shattering changes.
"Hey! Kazama! Are you okay? There was so much commotion inside just now!"
Seeing the barrier disappear, Kerberos immediately flew over curiously.
"What the heck were you doing in there? How come your aura feels different—"
It spoke while trying to fly over for inspection.
"Wait! Your eyes..."
Kerberos stopped mid-sentence.
Those beady eyes stared hard at Kazama Chiba's face—specifically, his eyes.
In the depths of those originally pitch-black eyes, the Rat Talisman's mark was flickering in and out of view.
Kazama pulled out his phone from his pocket, opened the front camera, and after seeing this, nodded.
"So this is proof of successful fusion?"
"Not bad."
"Pretty cool-looking."
Then Kazama Chiba ignored that thing beside him buzzing around like a fly.
All his attention was now focused on that newborn power within his body.
It was an extremely wonderful feeling.
If his previous magic was like stagnant water that needed external force to stir up ripples, then now—this magic fused with the Rat Talisman's characteristics—was alive.
It surged and cheered through his meridians, eager to create, to bestow.
Kazama raised his right hand and used The Illusion card.
In that hazy mist, two massive silhouettes began slowly coalescing.
Although Kazama deliberately compressed their size to about two meters to accommodate the limited space, that classic color scheme of red-blue-silver interweaving, along with those iconic streamlined bodies, still radiated heart-stopping oppressive force.
Two of the Heisei Trinity: Dyna and Gaia.
"Although they're fake now, I'm about to make them real."
Immediately after, Kazama looked at the two phantoms. In the depths of his pupils, the Rat Talisman mark suddenly blazed bright.
An invisible wave erupted from within him, bombarding those two phantom figures.
The next second, what had originally been mere light and shadow constructs suddenly possessed breathing, possessed heartbeats, even possessed that weighty sense of presence that made people feel their gravity.
Alive.
Completely and utterly alive.
"This... where is this?"
"Wasn't I just in the Land of Light? How could..."
Asuka Shin (Dyna) looked at his palms somewhat confusedly.
"Which parallel universe is this?"
Beside him, Takayama Gamu (Gaia) in red-silver coloring that appeared more solid and heavy, alertly surveyed the surroundings.
Because Gamu had experienced being summoned by people from other spacetimes before, he locked his gaze on Kazama Chiba—the only human present at the scene.