Chapter 172: Domain Expansion—Chimera Shadow Garden
Up to this point, Megumi Fushiguro had not displayed particularly intense aggression in battle, but his control over the situation had been nothing short of brilliant.
First of all, an ordinary enemy would never expect that the act of destroying a shadow shikigami, rather than securing a victory, would actually help Megumi speed up his summons and stack his combat power, making the situation even more dire.
This information gap allowed Megumi to easily seize the advantage through step-by-step guidance—after all, even though Emiya knew full well that Megumi could use special Binding Vows to strengthen his technique, hadn't he still fallen into this trap?
As long as he wasn't completely suppressed by an enemy's raw strength, it was always possible for Megumi to find a way to keep stacking the number of his shikigami while simultaneously merging their powers.
When a combatant finds their strength suppressed to a certain degree and discovers that the more they deal with the shadow shikigami, the more troublesome the situation becomes, their first instinct is naturally to go directly for the summoner himself. Regardless of how special the shikigami or the technique may be, if the sorcerer themselves is severely injured or killed, the summons naturally lose their foundation for existence.
Just like the current Emiya, he had naturally realized this and was considering whether to shift the focus of the battle to target Megumi as the primary objective. However, Emiya was also certain of another fact—anything he could think of, Megumi and Romm had certainly thought of as well. Therefore, there must be some Binding Vows set by Megumi himself here; one careless move could lead to falling into a deep pit.
But... it didn't matter. Wasn't the purpose of this spar to test exactly what kind of strength the current Megumi could exert?
"Get ready, Fushiguro, I'm starting my offensive!"
From the look of the current environment, Megumi seemed to be the one controlling the flow of the game.
After all, the flood released by Max Elephant had not yet receded, and within it were mixed countless snow-white Escape Rabbits. They didn't have much offensive power, but you never knew when or where they would suddenly appear to interfere with your judgment.
No matter; even with just his basic combat strength, Emiya could still easily turn the tide.
"Trace on!"
After giving Megumi a shout as a warning, Emiya did not hesitate to project a bow and arrow into his hands, firing a single sword-shot toward Megumi. The sword-arrow turned into a streak of light, piercing and tearing through one Escape Rabbit after another that threw
themselves in front to block, and finally penetrating the white "ocean" that completely enveloped Megumi.
Theoretically, Megumi could definitely have dodged this attack under these circumstances. However, when Emiya, having switched back to his dual swords, charged into the receding swarm of Escape Rabbits, he found Megumi clutching a bleeding left arm—yet his face showed no embarrassment at being wounded.
'So, the new Binding Vow is applied in this kind of place? When one's side takes a certain amount of damage...'
"In exchange for taking a wound of 'light injury' or higher caused by the enemy, Madoka (Round Deer) can be Special Summoned, ignoring basic summoning rules!"
"I Special Summon the shikigami: Madoka!"
Megumi spoke very quickly, as he couldn't expect Emiya to wait for him to finish reciting the effect before attacking. Although it didn't actually matter if he recited the shadow shikigami's effects or not—because the moment the conditions were met, Madoka, whose physique was even taller than Max Elephant, was already standing behind him.
Introducing the effects to the enemy was merely another form of Binding Vow used to boost the shikigami's power.
Even as Megumi was disclosing the effect, Emiya's blade had already swung forward.
Bang! Bang—Bang—!
Similar to the previous attack that should have missed but hit, this attack, which should have landed, miraculously failed to connect. Instead, it fell upon the broad antlers of Madoka, as did the several subsequent attacks. Emiya himself would never make such a low-level mistake as ignoring the caster to focus on the shikigami at this range.
"Madoka originally had the strongest defense among the shadow shikigami and was the least aggressive. Its only ability is Reverse Cursed Technique; it is a purely defensive shikigami." As Megumi spoke, the wound on his shoulder was rapidly healing.
Originally, Madoka's utility wasn't that obvious. Since its only ability was Reverse Cursed Technique, for a sorcerer who could already heal themselves, summoning a shikigami was actually more mentally taxing than using the technique directly. Fortunately, after the "Vow" modifications, even this shikigami gained a unique role—
"The current Madoka is a shikigami that can only be Special Summoned after I sustain a certain amount of damage. The effect traded for this Binding Vow is: While Madoka is on the field, I cannot attack the opponent by any means other than my shikigami, but the opponent also cannot directly attack my physical body until Madoka is destroyed."
"What do you think, Emiya-sensei? It's a fairly useful shikigami, right?"
With this, the possibility of Megumi being directly defeated by an opponent before his shikigami's power could finish stacking had vanished.
Unless an enemy could completely knock him unconscious and strip him of his fighting capacity in the very first instant of contact, Megumi would never lack the opportunity to summon Madoka.
"It is indeed quite good... It feels like something that would be on the Forbidden List even in the official game rules."
Emiya hadn't exactly joined the ranks of Megumi and Romm's frantic card gaming, but the memories brought by "Shirou Emiya" ensured his understanding of the game surpassed them both. Even if a normal card had this kind of protective effect, it would usually only be effective while the card was in the hand—like the classic Kuriboh.
Yet Megumi's Madoka effect could be activated at any time—meaning this card could be Special Summoned directly from the "deck" (the shadow) when the effect triggered. It even came with a built-in "Taunt" after summoning and recovered the Duelist's LP every turn. If this card wasn't given a permanent ban, was one supposed to wait for him to stuff three copies into his deck?
"Right? but it's not over yet."
Having received praise, Megumi unconsciously let out a smile. Then, his hands formed a cursed seal once more, continuing the chain reaction that had not yet finished within the "turn."
"Since Emiya-sensei just completed another 'turn' of attacks, I can now summon yet another shikigami."
"Normal Summon: Piercing Bull!"
After a loud shout, the pure-offense shikigami Megumi had mentioned to Emiya not long ago—Piercing Bull—appeared before him in a convergence of shadows. Although its original attack trait allowed it to quickly build up a powerful linear charge, its clunky physique limited its hit rate. Emiya had reason to believe the current Megumi chose to summon it now because he had found a perfect way to increase that hit rate.
"Watch closely, Emiya-sensei. Next is the moment where quantity truly triggers a qualitative change!
The next effect is one I can only use when the number of shadow shikigami on the field reaches four or more. That is the power of the Domain—just like a Field Spell card with specific activation requirements.
The power of the Binding Vow allows the burden of the Domain to be reduced to a minimum. Although its form hasn't been upgraded yet and it's still that incomplete, ugly appearance..."
"Domain Expansion—"
Boom!
"CHIMERA SHADOW GARDEN!!!"
Pitch-black, thick shadows surged out from beneath Megumi's feet like a flood, covering Emiya and all shadow shikigami within moments. It blanketed the ground like a viscous swamp; while it didn't affect Megumi or his shikigami, it would firmly bind anyone else within the Domain.
Well, of course, the target could be freely selected by the caster.
"Quite capable, aren't you? Then I suppose I'll have to bring out some real skill to deal with this seriously..."
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