After Nue appeared, the two of them circled around it for a long time, sometimes touching its wings, sometimes its body, playing with great enjoyment. When they had enough, each grabbed one of Nue's claws and experienced a low-altitude flight.
"Interesting. Hey, Eichi, why don't you be my driver from now on?"
Eichi rolled his eyes at Satoru.
"Go cool off somewhere. If you want to fly, work hard and get stronger so you can do it yourself. Nue is mine."
Recalling how Satoru later used his Technique to blast himself around the world like a cannonball, Eichi couldn't help but twitch his mouth.
He could guarantee that Satoru chose that method of movement not just for speed, but because it was fun, thrilling, and dramatic.
"Speaking of which, what about the thing I asked you for earlier?"
"Ah, that? It's been done for a while."
With that, Satoru casually tossed over a briefcase.
Eichi took out the materials inside and examined them carefully.
Name: Azuma Eichi
Head of Family: Azuma Sho (Deceased)
Address: XX-X, XX-chome, XX-ku, Osaka City
Inside were the new identification documents Eichi had asked Satoru to prepare.
"How about it? If you're willing to call me 'Onii-sama,' I'll let you be my little brother."
Satoru slung an arm around Eichi's shoulder with a mischievous grin.
"Huh? If anyone's calling anyone big brother, it's you calling me. I'm two months older than you."
"Too bad, you're younger than me now."
Satoru pointed at the date of birth in the documents.
It read December 8, 1989, exactly one day after Satoru's own birthday.
A vein bulged on Eichi's forehead. Then it bulged again.
"You should have other Shikigami, right? Call them out, and I'll help you tame them."
Seeing Eichi stay silent, Satoru muttered, "How boring," and switched topics.
"I really don't get whether you actually understand the Ten Shadows Technique or not."
Eichi gave him a speechless look. Sometimes this guy spouted detailed information about the Ten Shadows Technique, including Mahoraga, like he knew more about it than Eichi himself. Other times, what he said made no sense at all.
"Wait, you didn't just read Mahoraga's data and come here to show off, did you?"
Recalling how Satoru used to show off new knowledge as a kid, Eichi suddenly understood.
"How could that be? I also looked at Max Elephant's."
Satoru spread his hands, not even slightly embarrassed.
"Don't even think about it. There are restrictions on taming Ten Shadows Technique Shikigami. You can't help."
"Oh? What are the conditions?"
Eichi didn't hide anything.
"There are quite a few, but they can be summed up in two points. First, no existence other than the Ten Shadows Technique user's Cursed Energy can interfere with the taming ritual. Second, the taming location must meet certain conditions to ensure fairness."
The essence of the Ten Shadows Technique's taming ritual was for the user to subdue all ten Shikigami. But so far, the most powerful user in history had only managed to subdue nine.
"Oh?"
Listening to Eichi's explanation, Satoru thought for a moment, but gave up less than a minute later.
Eichi wasn't surprised. Satoru wasn't exactly the type who liked to think things through. Back in high school, he often relied on Geto's judgment.
For instance, during the Time Vessel Association incident, he'd asked for Geto's opinion, and when Geto said it was meaningless, he'd given up on killing those pawns.
"Simply put, there are two points: only my Cursed Energy can be present during the taming, and the taming location—at least the summoning point—must be fair."
Eichi pointed toward a structure outside the yard, crudely cobbled together from various materials.
"See that?"
"I see it. You like this kind of junkyard aesthetic?"
Another vein popped on Eichi's forehead.
"That's an iron cage I made from whatever I could find nearby. I planned to summon Nue inside to keep it from flying, but I was told the location didn't meet the ritual's conditions. So I had to go outside and perform the taming in an open space."
"Is that so? What a shame."
Eichi didn't mention that, although the Ten Shadows Technique had many rules, it also had loopholes.
This time, he'd exploited the second rule concerning location. He had prepared traps in the forest outside the ritual's judgment range. Then, he summoned Nue in the clearing at the forest's edge and immediately used the trees to block its dives and lightning attacks, finally using himself as bait to lure it into the trap and subdue it in one go.
As for the first rule, Eichi had an idea. On one hand, there were firearms—non-Cursed Energy weapons with great lethality—but he had no access to them now. On the other hand, there were cursed tools.
He discovered that some cursed tools possessed their own Techniques and Cursed Energy and were not recognized by the ritual. However, cursed tools like the Heroic Spirit chess pieces, whose Cursed Energy matched perfectly with the user's, were recognized by the ritual.
This meant some cursed tools could still be used during taming.
"Hey, why don't you call out Max Elephant? I'll help you test its strength. That thing looks pretty tough."
Barely a few seconds after being quiet, Satoru's lips curved mischievously again as he poked Eichi's shoulder repeatedly.
It felt exactly like an oversized white cat being annoying.
Confirmed—he was only here to mess around.
"Don't even think about it. You can't beat it right now."
Eichi swatted away Satoru's hand.
"Huh? Are you looking down on me? If you can beat it, how could I not?"
Satoru placed a hand on Eichi's head and started ruffling his hair.
I'll endure. I'll endure. I… can't endure it anymore.
"Perfect, let me show you who's boss here."
With that, the two of them started wrestling.
"Do you surrender?"
"Is that all you've got?"
"Do you surr… Ouch, that hurts!"
"My turn. Do you surrender?"
"You're not playing fair, are you? You actually used Limitless!"
"You have the nerve to say that? That dog almost bit my leg!"
"Whose fault is it that you stepped on Divine Dog's tail? Apologize to Divine Dog!"
"Huh? You want me to apologize to a dog? No way."
"Divine Dogs, bite him!"
After a chaotic brawl, both boys and both dogs lay sprawled out in the yard.
Although Eichi's Cursed Energy hadn't fully recovered, the two Divine Dogs he had summoned still held a good amount of energy, and with a three-on-one advantage, he gained quite a bit.
What Eichi didn't know was that while they were playing in the yard, the two bodyguards outside were sweating bullets, terrified that if the Divine Child got hurt, they'd be severely punished by the Gojo Family Head.
Fortunately, although the Divine Dogs looked like they were biting hard, they only went for the clothes. After all, it was just a playful fight between boys. Neither Eichi nor Satoru had any intention of causing real harm.
Moreover, Satoru was only seven years old, and his control over Limitless wasn't yet refined. Several times, he lost balance and unconsciously disrupted his own technique. Eichi had also told the Divine Dogs not to bite too hard, just tear Satoru's clothes to shreds.
You can endure pain, but can you still act tough when your clothes are in tatters?
Facts proved that Satoru was truly stubborn. Even if he were burned to ashes, his mouth would still be running.
(To be continued.)
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