So after copying the Ten Shadows Technique, Rowan did not hesitate to modify Mahoraga's appearance.
Technique: Soul Manipulation.
Under Rowan's patient modifications, Mahoraga's appearance quickly underwent a tremendous change.
His body exceeded two meters in height, and his appearance became like that of a military general clad in full armor. A wheel-like pattern was branded on his chest.
Only his eyes were exposed. He held a great sword of exorcism, looking burly and divine.
No matter who saw him, they would never associate him with Mahoraga. Even if Megumi Fushiguro, who possessed the Ten Shadows Technique, came over, he would only think this was some armored warrior who had appeared from some battlefield.
Not his family's abstract Mahoraga.
Another thing worth mentioning was that although Rowan had changed Mahoraga's appearance, he had not modified Mahoraga's core.
The reason Rowan had taken an interest in Mahoraga was precisely because this shikigami's ability was very strong.
The Sword of Exorcism in Mahoraga's hand was wrapped in a layer of positive cursed energy similar to Reverse Cursed Technique. Therefore, just as its name implied, any cursed spirit struck by it would be reduced to ashes.
Aside from that, Mahoraga possessed an extremely powerful physical body, as well as very strong recovery and learning abilities. Through the rotation of its wheel, it could adapt to almost any technique. Once it had adapted to a technique, that technique would have difficulty taking effect again.
Because what it represented was harmony, it could adapt to all phenomena in the world. When it was attacked by something it encountered for the first time, Mahoraga would begin analyzing it. If it was attacked again during the analysis, the analysis process would accelerate. When the wheel turned once, it represented that adaptation had entered a new stage.
After adapting to the same attack several times in succession, it would become completely immune. After completing adaptation, if it analyzed the attack again, it would begin adapting from another angle, thereby producing a further method of adaptation.
For example, in the original plot, Sukuna used the slashing attack "Dismantle" against Mahoraga. After Mahoraga fully adapted to it, it made the very concept of slashing completely ineffective. As a result, inside the Malevolent Shrine domain, even while being crazily cut apart by a storm of slashes composed of Dismantle and Cleave, Mahoraga remained unharmed.
The only way to deal with Mahoraga was to use a move it had never seen before and instantly kill it before it could adapt. Therefore, a fight against Mahoraga could not be dragged into a prolonged battle.
Rowan had far too many methods on hand to adjust Mahoraga, so Mahoraga posed no danger to him at all.
Another thing worth mentioning was that aside from modifying Mahoraga, Rowan also modified the other shikigami in the Ten Shadows Technique.
The main reason was that the remaining Ten Shadows shikigami were simply too terrible.
Nue, Max Elephant, Rabbit Escape, Toad—each one was more trash than the last. Rowan simply could not stand them.
They had to be modified.
His Soul Manipulation was perfectly suited to modifying these shikigami.
So Rowan spent an entire night capturing many evil spirits and cursed spirits, fusing them into the shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique and giving the remaining shikigami brand-new upgrades.
The two Divine Dogs, one black and one white—Rowan modified the white one into the Mythical Zoan Okuchi-no-Makami, and the black one into the Mythical Zoan Kato.
One could control the power of ice, while the other could control the power of flames. Their strength rose by more than one level.
The other shikigami also did not escape Rowan's demonic modifications. Each one was modified more outrageously than the last.
No matter who came, they would be unable to connect them to the Ten Shadows Technique.
Because these were basically two completely different species now.
Rowan was very satisfied with this.
The next day, to celebrate his great success, Rowan went to Shunka-tei and rewarded himself with delicious food.
The head chef of Shunka-tei was a graduate of Totsuki Academy, and she had even been the First Seat of the 89th generation, Sonoka Kikuchi.
How should one describe this woman? Her cooking skill was quite good, but her personality was far too timid. Her entire body gave off an aura of, "I'm easy to bully, so hurry and bully me."
Even Rowan could not help having the thought of whether he should bully her a little.
Fortunately, he considered his own moral integrity to be decent, so he did not do that.
After enjoying Shunka-tei's cuisine, Rowan did not hesitate to praise Sonoka Kikuchi. Although this woman's cooking skill was still inferior to Gin Dojima's, it was not much different from Hinako Inui's.
The two of them each had their own style, and Rowan ate very satisfactorily.
This made Sonoka Kikuchi let out a heavy sigh of relief.
She had originally thought that the guest arranged by the Academy Director would definitely be a very difficult person to deal with. She had not expected him to be so easy to talk to.
That was truly wonderful.
After leaving Shunka-tei, Rowan asked Nero and Medea which restaurant they wanted to visit tonight. As for Asuna, because she was a student, she was at school today and had not come out with Rowan.
Medea smiled and replied, "I'm quite interested in Italian cuisine."
Rowan gave an "oh." This answer was rather unexpected, but it also piqued his interest. So he snapped his fingers and said, "Then tonight, we'll go eat Italian food. Speaking of which, I've never eaten Italian cuisine before. I wonder what it tastes like and whether it suits our tastes."
"How would we know without trying?"
Hearing this, Rowan could not help laughing loudly.
"You're right. How would we know without trying?"
"Umu."
At that moment, Nero suddenly spoke.
"It seems we are being watched."
Just now, she had felt a hidden gaze circling over her body again and again. Perhaps the owner of that gaze thought they were hiding very well, but in Nero's eyes, it was far too obvious.
"I noticed long ago."
Rowan was extremely calm. How could he possibly fail to notice something Nero could notice?
In fact, the instant they walked out of Shunka-tei, Rowan discovered that someone was watching him. He had even found the other party's distance and location.
They were inside a restaurant on one of the upper floors of a building three hundred meters away.
The other party seemed to think Rowan could not detect them, so they were acting quite brazenly.
"Shall I capture that person?" Nero was eager to try. As long as Rowan gave the order, she would rush over, beat the person spying on them half to death, and bring them back.
Rowan calmly waved his hand and said, "No need, no need. Let them watch. We'll do what we want. As long as they don't interfere with us, just pretend they don't exist."
Nero looked very regretful. Even her mouth drooped.
"Very well. I shall listen to Praetor."
Seeing this, Rowan brought Nero to an amusement park to compensate her.
Although Nero was an emperor, she was ultimately still a young girl. Where had she ever seen or played with such fun things before? After entering the amusement park, she let herself go completely. No matter what attraction it was, she had to drag Rowan along to play.
From pirate ships to roller coasters, from giant pendulum rides to merry-go-rounds, from rafting to bumper cars, an entire day was wasted in that place.
As for the people watching them? Nero had long since thrown them beyond the highest clouds.
"So fun, Praetor! Truly so fun! That roller coaster, I want to experience it again!"
"No problem."
"Praetor, I want more."
"Sure."
"Praetor, one more time, one more time!"
"Fine."
And so, on the roller coaster attraction, Rowan was dragged by Nero to experience it again and again. Only after riding it a full ten times did Nero finally get off the roller coaster in satisfaction and go experience other attractions.
In the blink of an eye, it was already evening.
Nero was reluctantly dragged out of the amusement park by Rowan and stepped onto the road toward the Italian restaurant.
Looking at the amusement park gradually shrinking in her sight, Nero's eyes were full of reluctance. She turned her head and looked pitifully at Rowan, hugging Rowan's arm and shaking it hard.
"Praetor, can we come here again tomorrow?"
"Alright, alright. No problem."
Rowan truly had not expected Nero to be this interested in amusement parks, so he simply agreed.
In any case, they had nothing major to do these next few days. Coming back for a few more nights would not hurt.
"Wonderful, Praetor!"
Seeing Rowan agree, Nero cheered, hugged Rowan tightly, and pressed his head firmly against her chest, generously expressing her gratitude.
Rowan accepted everything. Since the other party was being this proactive, pushing her away would be bad. It would only hurt Nero's feelings. How could someone as tender and considerate as him do something so unromantic?
Medea: "…"
However, just as the group was lively, chatting and laughing, a group of blind fools appeared.
Jogo.
A Special Grade cursed spirit with intelligence, formed from humanity's fear of the earth.
His appearance was bizarre. His head looked like a miniature volcano, and he had only one eye.
Mahito.
A Special Grade cursed spirit born from humanity's hatred and fear toward their fellow humans.
Compared to the strangely shaped Jogo, this guy was actually not very different from a human. He appeared to be a man around twenty years old, tall and slender, often wearing a black robe, with medium-length blue-gray hair and heterochromatic eyes.
But his face and body were covered in black stitches, because his body was formed from stitched-together parts of different human bodies.
Disgusting. Truly disgusting. Rowan glanced at the two cursed spirits with a face full of disdain.
The two cursed spirits openly blocked Rowan and the others' path on a broad street, their sinister killing intent completely undisguised.
The surrounding passersby directly ignored the existence of the two.
Cursed spirits, like evil spirits, could not be seen by most people.
Only special people could see such ugly things.
However, unlike evil spirits, evil spirits could not actively attack humans who could not see them, while cursed spirits could. Whether you could see them or not, they could kill you all the same.
That was why Rowan found this kind of existence so disgusting.
"You bastard…"
Seeing Rowan's disgusted gaze, Jogo somewhat lost his composure. A flame immediately rose from the top of his head, expressing his anger.
"Hand it over."
"What thing? I don't remember owing you two anything."
"Stop playing dumb. Hand over the Paper from the notebook."