Chapter 82 — The True Essence of the Ten Shadows Technique
"The strength of a shikigami and the strength of its user are fundamentally independent," Ren said calmly. "As long as the conditions are met, powerful shikigami can be summoned. That's what sets shikigami users apart from other sorcerers."
"It's both their greatest advantage… and their greatest weakness."
At the moment a shikigami user awakens their technique, they already possess considerable combat power—because the shikigami they summon are usually stronger than most ordinary sorcerers.
But precisely because that power is fixed, as the user themselves grows stronger, the shikigami's strength does not scale accordingly.
This means that, in theory, a shikigami user's upper limit is slightly lower than that of other sorcerers.
These were things Ren had learned from books.
"Then…?" Megumi frowned, confused.
"I didn't kill either of the Divine Dogs," Ren explained. "Instead, I used an extension technique to fuse the two living shikigami together."
"As a result, the 'Divine Dog: Totality' I summoned possesses the complete techniques and power of both."
"Fushiguro," Ren said seriously, looking him in the eye, "your line of research is correct."
"Death inheritance is just the fallback mechanism of the Ten Shadows Technique."
"The real path… is to fuse living shikigami using extension techniques and unify all their power."
"The shikigami produced this way will be far stronger than those created through death inheritance."
Moreover, based on Megumi's research into his extended technique, this method had another key advantage.
When a fused shikigami created through extension techniques is destroyed, it does not damage the original shikigami's core.
In other words—so long as there is sufficient cursed energy, the fusion can be performed again.
"…Then," Megumi's eyes lit up with excitement, "if I can fully fuse Nue and the toad, my Chimera Shadow Garden's combinations would become much stronger than they are now?"
Ren nodded.
But in the very next moment, Megumi's expression dimmed.
"…But," he said quietly, looking at his hands, "doesn't that mean my 'Divine Dog: Totality' has permanently lost the chance to become even stronger?"
Ren's lips twitched slightly, feeling a trace of regret for him.
That was true.
Fortunately, Ren had already anticipated this reaction before sharing the insight.
"From a theoretical standpoint, yes," he said with a small smile. "But it's not a big issue."
"The Divine Dogs are just one of the Ten Shadows shikigami—and the most basic one at that."
"The power you've lost is only half of that single unit… and not even entirely, since part of it was preserved through death inheritance."
"Consider it the cost of trial and error."
"Now that you've found the correct path, as long as you continue to subjugate the remaining shikigami and properly integrate their abilities—"
"The power you ultimately obtain won't be much weaker than the 'complete' version anyway."
Megumi nodded. His expression had eased somewhat, but he still hadn't fully shaken off the disappointment of having "lost potential."
That was only natural. Anyone who learned that part of their strength was gone forever wouldn't be able to accept it so easily.
Watching his mixed expression of relief and regret, Ren sighed inwardly.
Honestly… this guy was something else.
Ren couldn't quite figure out how Megumi had managed it.
With just two ordinary Divine Dogs, there was no way he should've been able to subdue shikigami like Nue, which could fly and unleash lightning; or the massive Great Serpent; or Max Elephant, whose sheer weight could crush both dogs instantly upon landing. Even capturing the agile toad, with its projectile-like tongue and incredible jumping ability, should've been extremely difficult.
If Ren himself had to go through that process without relying on his own overwhelming strength, it would've been no easy task either.
And yet… Megumi had succeeded.
The path he had taken must have been full of twists and challenges—almost unbelievable.
Based on Ren's recent research, he believed the optimal training path for the Ten Shadows Technique should be as follows:
First, summon the Divine Dogs—the only shikigami that don't require subjugation—and fuse them.
With a fully realized "Divine Dog: Totality," whose strength increases exponentially to a level comparable to a special-grade curse, subjugating the remaining shikigami would then become a natural and manageable process.
This wasn't just speculation—there was solid reasoning behind it.
Among the Ten Shadows, the best template for practicing fusion through extension techniques wasn't Megumi's combination of Nue and the toad.
It was the Divine Dogs.
They were the only shikigami counted as one entity despite existing as a pair.
And aside from their fur color, the two Divine Dogs were identical in form, structure, and function.
Fusing two identical shikigami would obviously be far easier than fusing two completely different ones.
You could even say that the existence of the Divine Dogs themselves was a hint—a built-in guide to mastering the deeper applications of the Ten Shadows Technique.
…And yet, Megumi.
It would've been one thing if he hadn't realized the concept of shikigami fusion at all.
But he had.
And for some reason, he had chosen to start with two completely different shikigami—Nue and the toad—as his initial fusion template.
That kind of high-difficulty starting point led to an unstable fusion result, which in turn affected his overall evaluation of extension techniques.
He had clearly grasped the most critical skill of the Ten Shadows Technique—shikigami fusion—yet judging from how he'd almost forgotten to even mention it before, he obviously didn't place much importance on it.
Ren didn't know whether to call that lack of talent… or too much of it.
If you said Megumi lacked insight, that wouldn't be right—he had independently discovered extension techniques.
But if you said he had insight… he had practically sprinted down the wrong path the moment he found the right direction.
Now, however, Ren had used Divine Dog: Totality to point him toward the correct path.
All Megumi had to do now… was run forward along it.
In fact, Ren suspected that since the Ten Shadows Technique was a hereditary ability, the Zen'in clan's main house likely had detailed records of its core applications—perhaps even more advanced developments.
Unfortunately, Megumi had a strained relationship with the Zen'in clan and no contact with them, leaving him to figure everything out on his own.
Ren briefly considered—
Should he ask Maki Zen'in or Mai Zen'in for help? Maybe they could look for relevant records within the clan.
But then again…
Given their status, would they even have access to such core secrets?
And more importantly—would asking them to do this just bring them unnecessary trouble?