A four-meter-tall Giant Elephant appeared before everyone. Despite its size, its pink skin kept it from exerting much pressure.
Eichi placed his hand on the Giant Elephant's thick foreleg and began to inject Reverse Cursed Technique.
"Oh?"
Satoru seemed to notice something.
"Eichi, sit on the Giant Elephant's head."
"Why?"
The way Satoru's lips curled gave Eichi a bad feeling.
That smile was exactly like the one Eichi had just made when he thought about tricking Satoru.
Looking into those pale blue Six Eyes, now exposed after he removed his sunglasses, Eichi hesitated but still chose to trust him.
What if Satoru really saw something?
"Just sit there. Move a little forward. Yes, right there."
Under Satoru's guidance, Eichi sat on the Giant Elephant's head near its tusks.
The Giant Elephant cooperatively raised its head and even extended its trunk to help Eichi sit steadily.
"Alright, now start injecting Reverse Cursed Technique. Use maximum output."
Eichi placed his hand on the Giant Elephant's head and began injecting the positive energy generated by Reverse Cursed Technique.
In Satoru's eyes, the Giant Elephant's body began undergoing a subtle, strange change.
The Cursed Energy within the Giant Elephant, which had been calm like still water, began to stir.
"Too slow. Can you go faster?"
"Stop rushing me. External output of Reverse Cursed Technique is a pain, you know."
Eichi began outputting Reverse Cursed Technique at full power, while also having the Giant Elephant operate its own Reverse Cursed Technique.
He wanted to see what Satoru was up to.
"Hmm?"
Eichi noticed something moving on the Giant Elephant's head.
It wasn't a shake or sway.
The Giant Elephant had been keeping still to help Eichi maintain balance.
This movement felt more like the skin on its head was pulsing.
The next moment, Eichi realized it wasn't just his imagination.
The skin on the Giant Elephant's head suddenly bulged, and a deer head emerged from it.
Eichi, caught off guard, had an up-close encounter with the deer head.
Because he was sitting on the Giant Elephant's head, not its back, there wasn't much space. One person was fine, but once Round Deer appeared, it became impossible to stay seated.
The result was both of them tumbling off the Giant Elephant's head.
"Plan successful."
Satoru turned and flashed a victory sign at Suguru.
Suguru squinted in encouragement, then looked at Eichi, who was now pinned under Round Deer.
"Ouch, I hit my head. That hurt a bit."
Hearing this, Round Deer immediately began operating Reverse Cursed Technique.
"Thanks."
Eichi stroked Round Deer's chin, then turned his eyes to the Giant Elephant.
Its size had noticeably decreased.
So, injecting Reverse Cursed Technique into the Ten Shadows Technique undoes the Chimera state?
"Satoru, what did you see?"
Eichi asked, still thinking it over.
He felt that Satoru had seen something specific, which was why he made him inject Reverse Cursed Technique in that position.
"Hmm, I saw it very clearly."
"From the moment you injected Reverse Cursed Technique into the Giant Elephant, I noticed it."
"At first, the Cursed Energy inside was like a calm water surface, with just one area where the Cursed Energy was extremely dense."
One area with dense Cursed Energy?
That should be the core of the Chimera's main body, Max Elephant.
"When you injected Reverse Cursed Technique, two more dense Cursed Energy responses appeared. One in the head, one in the tail."
The head would be Round Deer. When Eichi fused Round Deer into Max Elephant, he placed it in the head to enhance Max Elephant's defense and offense.
That was why the tusks had thickened and the skull had hardened.
The tail was the Great Serpent.
"The more Reverse Cursed Technique you injected, the more the fluctuations in those two areas increased. Even the color of the Giant Elephant's Cursed Energy changed. Let me think..."
Satoru pinched his chin and looked up, deep in thought.
"It's like mixing a bunch of different colored drinks. Now, those drinks are starting to separate again."
"Is that so?"
Eichi began to reflect on Satoru's words.
In fact, he had thought about separating Shikigami after fusing them into Qiongqi and Giant Elephant using the Ten Shadows Technique.
However, Eichi found that fusing them was easy.
But separating Shikigami that had already become a Chimera was an entirely different matter.
Just like Satoru said.
Fusing Shikigami was like mixing drinks of different colors.
You can pour them together easily, but how do you separate them afterward?
The Great Serpent was relatively easier, since its head and most of its body were exposed. Separating it would only require some healing from Round Deer.
But Round Deer and Piercing Ox had been fully fused into the entire body.
Round Deer's main power was embedded in the head, while the rest had been distributed throughout the body to speed up activation of Reverse Cursed Technique.
Piercing Ox was even more dispersed, fused completely into Tiger Funeral's body. Aside from its horns, it had been used to enhance Tiger Funeral's physical durability.
However, Satoru's words made Eichi realize something.
Even though the Shikigami were completely fused, their cores still existed independently.
So, by injecting the positive energy from Reverse Cursed Technique, those cores could return to their original forms, reversing the fusion.
Eichi placed his hand on the Giant Elephant's body and carefully sensed its condition.
Sure enough, although some of Round Deer's Cursed Energy still lingered inside, the Giant Elephant could no longer use Reverse Cursed Technique after losing Round Deer's core.
"So the answer was that simple..."
Eichi was speechless.
A lot of things in life aren't difficult. You just haven't discovered them or thought them through yet.
"Hmm, as expected of me, the future strongest spicy teacher."
"Satoru, a teacher doesn't treat students like toys. You still have a long way to go."
Suguru interrupted Satoru's self-praise.
"But students are so cute. Isn't it normal to want to tease them a bit?"
Satoru looked innocent.
"Students will get mad."
"They won't. I'm the strongest."
"..."
I have a bad feeling Satoru's future students are going to be teased a lot, and the worst part is they won't even be able to fight back.
Suguru silently mourned for Satoru's future students for three seconds.
"Ah?"
Eichi suddenly let out a sound.
"What is it? Is it time for the strongest spicy teacher to shine again?"
"The Ten Shadows Technique usually only allows two Shikigami to be summoned at once. But right now, I have three out."
"Giant Elephant and Round Deer. Isn't that two?"
Suguru looked around and confirmed he didn't see a third Shikigami.
"It's this."
Eichi lowered his head, pulled out Mahoraga's Dharmachakra from his shadow, and gave it a shake.
"I usually keep Mahoraga in an incomplete manifestation and store it in my shadow."
"You too...?"
One constantly maintains Mahoraga's incomplete form, and the other constantly maintains Limitless. As expected of best friends, are their minds really this in sync?
Shoko was speechless.
"Don't worry. Once Shikigami are summoned, they no longer place a burden on the brain or body. You just need to replenish their Cursed Energy regularly."
(To be continued.)