Chapter 171: My Turn, My Turn, and Still My Turn
Calling forth ordinary shikigami actually only requires hand signs and doesn't necessitate shouting out loud. However, on one hand, since Emiya already knows his technique's effects so well, Megumi figured he might as well give up on the idea of concealment; sharing information makes it easier to trigger the effects of a Binding Vow.
The other reason was...
After countless Yu-Gi-Oh! duels against Romm and Emiya (who occasionally joined in), Megumi Fushiguro found that he seemingly couldn't fix the bad habit of shouting out loud when using a "card."
Why was it like this? Wasn't this sort of thing a bit too strange?
But it didn't matter. Since it had already come to this, he might as well carry out the battle with hot-blooded intensity to the very end! Under his passionate shouting, the shadow shikigami would surely be even more full of fighting spirit!
"Awoooo—!"
Once Megumi completed the summoning steps, the black and white Divine Dogs naturally stood in attendance on either side of him. This happened to include Divine Dog: White, which had been killed by the Finger Bearer cursed spirit long ago.
It turned out that Emiya's initial guess was correct: these shadow shikigami inherently possess the trait of being reconstructed; it's just that ordinary shadow users cannot correctly perceive or utilize it.
This white Divine Dog even still recognized its master, Megumi; it had never truly died, it was simply that Megumi lacked the ability to re-summon it.
After the power of the Binding Vow granted him the ability to summon "destroyed" shikigami, the inherent traits of the shadow technique were still not stripped away. Just like right now—nominally, it was just a single Normal Summon, yet both Divine Dogs appeared simultaneously during this summon, acting just like a monster's "On-Summon" effect.
Otherwise, why would one say that Megumi Fushiguro has such excellent compatibility with this card game?
"It's been a long time, partners... Well then, Emiya-sensei, I'm going to begin my assault!"
"Divine Dog!!"
For these shadow shikigami, Megumi actually had two command schemes. One was to issue orders directly by voice, and the other was to perform mimetic manipulation through hand signs. Obviously, the latter offered higher maneuverability in actual combat, and as long as his proficiency was high enough, he could free his hands immediately after completing a command gesture—
Just like now: directing the Divine Dogs to charge ahead, Megumi followed closely behind them. He made a hollow gripping motion with his palm, connecting directly to the shadow space through the darkness between his fingers, and pulled out a pitch-black blade.
"Decent momentum... Trace on."
Facing the charging Megumi, Emiya naturally didn't hesitate to project Kanshou and Bakuya into his hands, preparing to meet the attack in this state. Since the shadow shikigami now had the room to be repeatedly summoned and utilized, it didn't matter even if he destroyed them.
Clang—!
Emiya was just about to slash down at the lunging black dog when the white dog immediately leaped from the side, clamping its jaws directly onto the blade of Kanshou with a crisp metallic sound.
The trajectory of the blade was suddenly disrupted, but Emiya didn't panic in the slightest. He simply swung the blade in the direction the white dog was biting and twisted his body, kicking the black dog—which had its jaws wide open—dozens of meters away.
The white dog, still biting the blade deathly hard, was slammed violently into the ground beneath him, followed by a swift and clean finishing blow—
Puchi—!
No blood sprayed out, as it merely returned to its original shadow state, bursting apart and forming a pitch-black curtain that obscured Emiya's vision.
Megumi's black blade happened to thrust through the black screen. An average opponent might truly have been unable to react, but Emiya easily parried the blade with his dual swords, still maintaining an air of effortless composure.
"Compared to before, the power of the Divine Dogs seems to have decreased by about a third, hasn't it? This kind of battle plan doesn't have much of a highlight."
He had Megumi improve his technique to defeat stronger opponents, not to use numbers to bully weaklings who couldn't beat him anyway.
"Of course it won't just be this, Emiya-sensei... The special effect of the Divine Dogs now is: When one of the black or white pair is destroyed, the other automatically undergoes a 'Fusion Evolution' into [Divine Dog: Totality]."
"This is now their inherent trait, not an action that requires my active input..."
The moment Megumi's words fell, a wide, sharp claw suddenly lunged from behind Emiya. It was only by relying on his keen intuition that he dodged this silent back-attack. After Emiya killed the white dog, the shadows that formed it did not directly dissipate; instead, they rapidly converged onto the other black dog, allowing them to complete the fusion in an instant—no longer requiring the irreversible fusion of their powers like before.
"Is that so? That sounds much more useful."
While parrying the attacks from both sides, Emiya still had the leisure to praise the change. After all, no one would expect that their act of killing an enemy shikigami was actually helping the opponent consolidate power.
"But just this is obviously not enough to cause trouble for Emiya-sensei, so next... it is still my turn!"
"Normal Summon: Max Elephant!"
Emiya's previous action of defending and then counter-attacking was counted as completing one turn under the judgment of the Binding Vow. Megumi could naturally follow up immediately by summoning a new shikigami. When that massive shikigami fell from the sky, even Emiya could only choose to dodge to the side; presumably, no one would be so arrogant as to try and catch a move that was purely designed to maximize physical crushing damage.
The moment Max Elephant landed, it raised its head high and then suddenly blasted a massive deluge of floodwater from its trunk, easily toppling trees several meters tall and washing them toward the nearby Emiya.
Relying only on Kanshou and Bakuya, Emiya truly had no technique to face such a level of flooding head-on—or rather, very few sorcerers would be proficient in dealing with something like that.
"Dodging also counts as time, Emiya-sensei!"
"Normal Summon: Nue!"
The very next second after Emiya leapt up to avoid the flood, Nue, with wings wreathed in lightning, followed closely behind, diving straight toward Emiya who had nowhere to dodge in mid-air.
"Fast, but the attack intensity is still too weak!"
Emiya simply threw the sword in his hand toward Nue with force. The firelight of the explosion easily swallowed Nue's figure, annihilating it into nothingness.
Landing steadily on the ground a moment later, Emiya was about to ask Megumi if he had any other special tricks when he realized the youth's face was full of a "just as planned" smile.
"That's exactly right, Emiya-sensei... Most enemies fall into a similar cognitive trap, which is thinking that as long as they kill the shikigami, they can directly weaken my power as a shadow user.
But the current shadow shikigami only grow stronger the more they die!
When more than one shadow shikigami is destroyed, I can Special Summon [Escape Rabbits]!
My turn... Come forth, ESCAPE RABBITS!!!"
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