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Neon CityTokyo
The antique street was lit up brightly under the night sky. Jiro stood in front of an antique shop called Yakumo-sai.
Using his super vision, he saw right through the thick walls and locked onto a three-meter-tall bronze statue of the Yamata no Orochi inside.
The Rat Talisman was embedded right in the third eye of the central snake head, glowing faintly with an amber light.(In the original version, this took place at an auction house, but here it's been changed.)
"Well, this is interesting," Jiro muttered as he pushed open the door, causing the wind chime to let out a crisp ring.
The shop owner, an old man wearing round glasses, eagerly came forward the moment he saw a customer. "Are you interested in mythological sculptures, sir? This one's from the Edo period—"
"How much?" Jiro cut him off directly.
The old man squinted. "Thirty million yen. This piece is—"
A check slid across the counter.
The old man glanced down. His hands immediately started trembling.
The amount on the check? Three hundred million yen.
Jiro wasn't the least bit concerned—after all, it wasn't his money.
Turing had already handled that little detail a few minutes ago.
Ten minutes later, in the warehouse—
Jiro stood before the massive three-meter-tall bronze statue.
Its eight snake heads looked terrifying and lifelike, every scale carved with insane detail.
"The life-giving power of the Rat Talisman," he whispered, reaching out to touch it.
"Let's see just how far this can go."
The moment his fingers brushed the talisman—
BZZZZT!!!
A blinding light exploded outward! The entire statue shook violently, and glowing red patterns began to spread across its bronze surface.
ROAAAAAR!!!
A deafening roar echoed through the warehouse as the Yamata no Orochi's eyes lit up with blood-red light. Its body began to morph—no longer bronze, but flesh and blood!
ROAAAR!!!
All eight heads reared back at once, their cold, vertical pupils locking onto Jiro.
He looked up at the massive beast, amused.
"Well now, you've got some attitude."
But the Orochi didn't strike right away. It stared at him warily.
It could sense something terrifying from Jiro. Something that meant certain death.
Then suddenly—BOOM!
It smashed through the ceiling and slithered out toward the street!
Jiro moved like lightning, instantly appearing in the middle of the road.
Screams rang out all around. Terrified pedestrians fled from the monstrous creature that had appeared out of nowhere.
The Orochi flinched when it saw Jiro instantly block its path. The Rat Talisman flared again—this time, unleashing another burst of dazzling light.
RUMBLE RUMBLE—
The serpent's body began to grow at an insane rate, its scales clashing with metallic screeches.
Ten meters.Fifty meters.A hundred meters.
In the blink of an eye, it was as big as a skyscraper! All eight heads let out a thunderous roar.
Even Tokyo Tower looked puny in comparison.
Panic gripped the entire city. Air raid sirens screamed through the night.
"Now we're talkin'."
Jiro floated in front of the monster, deliberately holding back his strength. "Show me what you've got."
HISSSSS!!!
All eight heads attacked at once!
From the left came a cloud of corrosive poison mist. From the right, high-pressure water blades. Overhead, lightning crashed down. Behind him, a wall of flames surged forward.
Jiro dodged through the air with graceful ease, pretending to barely avoid each attack just in time.
He even let one bolt of lightning graze his shoulder to make it look like he was struggling.
BOOM!
One of the heads slammed him down, and Jiro pretended to get smashed into a building. Dust and debris flew everywhere.
"Help!""The hero's down!""Where's the JSDF? Somebody save him!"
On the ground, the crowd was panicking—until a black silhouette slowly stood up from the dust cloud.
The Orochi lunged forward, three heads striking together.
Jiro rolled aside, acting all beat up and barely dodging, while the building behind him got completely wrecked.
"Tsk. Still not good enough. Even Tony could've taken you apart."
While dodging, he scanned the beast with his super vision. "Tougher than usual. Decent power too."
Suddenly, the serpent's scales began to gleam like metal, and its speed shot up like crazy!
The Rat Talisman had clearly synced with its host's will and was pushing its limits.
"Now this is more like it." Jiro smiled, genuinely impressed.
The fight ramped up into full-blown chaos.
Each of the Orochi's attacks caused small earthquakes. Jiro kept dodging, looking like he was barely holding on.
He let a water blade slash his left arm, faking sluggish movements.
"Alright… time to end this."
Jiro saw his opening.
He shot hundreds of meters into the air, energy surging in both hands and forming a blinding orb of light.
This was a finishing move—its power compressed down to just one-millionth of his full strength.
BOOOOM!!!
The energy orb smashed into the Orochi's central head and exploded violently.
When the smoke cleared, the Yamata no Orochi collapsed, its massive body beginning to break apart.
As cheers erupted from the crowd, Jiro landed on the rubble and picked up the Rat Talisman that had fallen to the ground.
His super hearing caught the excited chatter from every direction:
"Is he a hero from some manga?""That was insane! He took down that monster all by himself!""Look! It's on the news—they're calling him the Black Knight!"
Jiro glanced around, then vanished into thin air.
Tokyo Bay
Jiro stood on the deck of an abandoned cargo ship. In his palm hovered the Rat Talisman, its faint glow flickering in the dark.
The surface of the talisman had a carved rat symbol.
Without hesitating, Jiro started the fusion process.
With a wave of his hand, a familiar magic circle bloomed beneath his feet.
But this time… something felt completely different.
The talisman wasn't just boosting his body—it was creating an entirely new source of life inside him.
"What the...?"
He could feel it—every cell in his body now had the ability to give life.
He picked up a rusty nail off the deck and poured a tiny bit of the talisman's energy into it.
Buzz!
The nail twisted and warped, turning into a tiny metallic snake that wrapped itself affectionately around his finger.
And it was getting stronger—visibly so, by the second!
Jiro had already noticed during the earlier fight that the talisman's power wasn't ordinary.
[Ding! Hidden ability of the Rat Talisman detected.][Combat Enhancement: Objects given life gain ongoing power boosts.][Energy Resonance: Boost cap is 10% of host's energy, and scales with system upgrades.][Legend Embodiment: May awaken mythological traits related to the object.]
A spark of excitement lit up in Jiro's eyes.
He raised his hand and aimed at the entire cargo ship. Rat Talisman energy poured out like a tidal wave!
BOOM!
The several-hundred-meter-long ship groaned and twisted, transforming into a mechanical mega-whale that rose into the air!
Its armor was reinforcing itself at a rate of 2% per second, soon reaching 10% of Jiro's power.
Not a perfect match in strength, but definitely strong enough.
"Interesting."
With a snap of his fingers, the metal whale reverted to a ship.
"This isn't just some cool trick… this is the power to mass-produce an army."
"Three talismans left."
Jiro's gaze pierced the clouds, locking onto a hidden village deep beneath the ocean.
The Monkey Talisman was there.
"Shape-shifting, huh? I wonder if it'll let me turn into Sun Wukong. And if it does… will he have the full 72 transformations?"
He rubbed his chin, thinking.