8 Nine Shikigami
(Disclaimer: I have finished rewriting Chapters 1 and 2 and made minor edits to the story. This way, Barry doesn't know about Victor, Yami, and the League has no clue who Victor is.
I also changed why Victor can move at Mach 50 since Toji's max is about Mach 3 to 5. I said it was an upgrade given to him by the god who sent him. Also, Cursed Techniques are engraved in the Brain, not blood. Fixed that too.)
While Dallas was the center of League attention, Victor began to make the most of his retreat from the City. He still had Shadows guarding his house, so he didn't have to worry about other squatters since he was technically one.
Now that he was here in the rainforest, he took this time as a training retreat. He didn't want to cause any significant damage to the forest, so rather than fighting his Shikigami out in the open, he took a step back from training his destruction and began to train in Bounded Fields.
They went by many names: Separate Space, Boundry, Sealed Space, or Bounded Field. They all did the same thing in that they could not just seal an area of space; they could even temporarily create an exact copy of it or a false realm.
Victor wanted to get it down so he could have a private place to train his more destructive abilities, like his Balance Breaker. He could use it at any time, but using it would paint a giant target on his back.
However, if he wanted to improve, he needed to master his Balance Breaker to upgrade it to the Abyss Side, the most perfected state of the Balance Breaker. As for going beyond even that, Victor had ideas.
He had said it before, but the sword Ame-No-Ohabari in Japanese myth could be considered a god of its own, much less after it had absorbed power from Kagutsuchi after the infant god was born.
If he wanted to master his Sacred Gear, he drew power from the Divine Sword itself, which was currently cursed. Though, from what he could tell, his Restriction had limited effect on that type of curse.
Cursed Energy from JJk would be eliminated in his body, but the curse from Lycaon was weakened rather than limited outright. This was both a downside and a good thing because if he could gain Divinity.
He had once read a story where Devils, or ArchDevils, in a way, were almost gods, with their tainted Divinity. The essence of Hell, which was called Infernity, was opposed to Divinity used by gods.
This was not the case in DxD, as all gods just used Divine Energy. While becoming a god had its advantages, it also came with downsides. As such, he wished to become an Immortal with god powers rather than an immortal god.
To reach that goal, he had to master his current abilities, meaning the Bounded Field was necessary. He and Yami sat under a large tree in the rainforest while the Shikigami were nearby.
Hannibal, though, was browsing on the trees, munching away. Victor, though, let them do as he wanted as long as they kept his dogs and cat safe. They were doing just that so he and Yami could focus on this.
The idea of a bounded field was simple: creating a sealed space area to prevent outside interference. All factions in DxD used them, and they were one of the most necessary skills to avoid the existence of Supernatural hidden.
The most common was to take an area of natural space and create an alternative space where battles could be fought without causing massive devastation to the world. Even mediocre mages could cast them easily since they were made to be simple to cast, even by inexperienced magic users.
'How isolating a space in a copy of it is supposed to be simple is beyond me. It is like this is a mold you pour magic into that does the work for you.'
Once he had the know-how, he stood up and focused on the magic in his mind. He held his hand out with an open palm, and a bright blue magic circle formed. Once he channeled his mana into the circle, it spread out into the rainforest.
With the amount of mana he used to fuel the Field, he created a separate space around 1,200 yards or 10 Football Fields.
"Fall in."
At his words, his Shikigami gathered around him and Yami, including his three familiar pets. He began to count off their names.
"Gram, Garm, Balerion, Ramsa, Froggy, Rumi, Hannibal, Samantha, Mark, Raze, Jack, that is a lot of you. However, it is okay. In this Bounded Field, there are only plants and no animals; even if we cause a mess, it won't carry over into the real world.
Here, I am going to begin some more extreme training. We all will, but we will finish the taming of Round Deer, Piercing Ox, and Tiger Funeral. That is the first order of business, and then I will begin to train my Balance Breaker with Yami. Let's get this done first, shall we?"
He got sounds of confirmation from the 7 Shikigami and his 4 Familiars. This was a good chance to train his cat and dogs to use the magic they were getting from being his familiars.
Now, he had three new Shikigami to tame. With his Shikigami all around him, he focused on the next one, Round Deer. He began to activate the Exorcism Ritual for the deer, which didn't look any different than the one Sukuna summoned.
The horns were larger and made of metal, but other than a darker coat and a size increase, it looked like a round Deer. At first, he and his Shikigami got ready to fight, but the Deer walked toward Victor and lowered its head.
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It began to nuzzle his face with its snout, which made him chuckle. The Shikigami didn't want to fight, and they agreed to join him peacefully. Rather than kill it and have it reform, he tamed it right off the bat.
That made him turn to the other Shikigami other than Gram and Garm.
"Why couldn't you all be more like him, huh?"
Nue, Ramsa, Froggy, Rumi, and Hannibal looked away from him as they still remembered being killed. It was funny, but they didn't mind, as that was how the Ten Shadows Technique worked.
They shot bitter glares at the Deer, who, from the look of it, didn't even take their insults to heart. Victor was curious as he ran his hand down the four-eyed deer's snout.
"Do you still know RCT?"
The Deer shook its head but placed its snout on his face. Rather than using positive energy from multiplying cursed energy, it healed using pure divine energy from Ame-No-Ohabari.
The Deer even produced it on its own, which was insanely impressive. None of his Shikigami used Divine Energy, and they all relied on Mana.
"Can you fight?"
He got a nod in response, meaning that, in theory, Round Deer could become one of his strongest Shikigami by using its higher energy level.
"Amazing. Let us keep going. Like the rest, you are getting your name; I am naming you Orion."
Once Round Deer was tamed, he moved on to the next Shikigami of the Ten Shadows Piercing Ox. This one also didn't change much either, but it was certainly bigger.
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Victor got ready because Piercing Ox could do severe damage if allowed to charge. It could only run in a straight line, but it could gain momentum indefinitely if allowed to keep running.
However, Round Deer walked forward before he did anything, standing behind Victor. The Shikigami began to speak to the Ox, explaining that if it fought, it would die. Powerful Shikigami outnumbered it, and it had no chance of victory.
The Ox looked behind Victor at the rest of the Shikigami before gazing at Victor. It could be seen that Victor was not a weakling who required his Shikigami to fight for him.
"Just ask any of the others how I treat them. I always let them be summoned and treat them more like treasured partners. You can get stronger with us."
Everyone waited for a moment to see what the Ox would pick. With a snort, the Ox lowered his head and agreed not to fight. Once the ritual ended, Victor could call on the power of the Piercing Ox.
With a smile, he walked toward the giant bull that made the 8th Shikigami, 9th if counting Gram and Garm as separate.
"Welcome to the family; I am naming you Lancelot since you give off the Berserker vibe."
With a snort, the Ox accepted the name. It wasn't unhappy with the name, just disappointed it didn't win a glorious battle. Fighting the other Shikigami, Victor, and Yami simultaneously was useless and foolish.
Rather than die once, it accepted the offer to join peacefully. Once he was with the other Shikigami, Victor knew it was time to move on to the last ones he would tame now.
"Tiger Funeral. Second to last one."
Victor felt this one would be tricky, so he got himself ready. He activated the next Exorcism Ritual, causing his mana and shadow to surge in front of him to form the next Shikigami.
However, based on the amount of shadows gathering, he knew it would be huge. He got ready as the Shikigami formed, showing a monstrous tiger 65 feet long(20 meters). It had a pair of horns and large black wings.
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It was almost the size of Ramsa, but the size was relative as the Shikigami could shrink or grow depending on how much mana he gave them. They all started at a specific size, meaning Tiger Funeral was one of the biggest Shikigami.
The large tiger looked down at him with squinted eyes. Unlike Orion and Lancelot, this one was not going to go down. It issued a challenge with a roar that shook the trees in this separate space.
It wanted a duel with Victor and him alone. Victor grinned, wanting a foe to test himself out.
"I accept your challenge, but if you are going all out, so am I. Do you think you can handle me at my strongest?"
The Shikigami slammed its giant clawed hands down while extending its claws. It tensed its wings while Victor leaned forward.
"Balance Breaker: Night Celestial Slash Dogs."
For the first time since he came to this world, he used the strongest ability of Sacred Gears. The Balance Breaker as they made the impossible possible. As raw power from Lykaon flowed into his body, the darkness solidified around him, forming him into a 10-foot werewolf with nine tails rather than 6.
He extended his hand to his shadow as his armor and blade formed around him. The helmet and armor warped around him to a more ominous suit of armor. As for the blade in his hand, the shadows surged into the sword, forming it into a gigantic blade that surged with power.
In this state, his weapons became imitations of Ame-No-Ohabari, meaning some Divine Energy was released.
"Are you ready?"
A distorted voice emerged from him, but Funeral Tiger didn't feel fear. With a roar, the giant beast charged with claws surging with lightning. Victor rushed forward at speeds that he had never reached.
If he was not wrong, in this state, he was off the bat in this unstable Balance Breaker 5 times stronger than his base state. That included his speed, meaning he was approaching speeds few could compare to.
Funeral Tiger's eyes opened wide as Victor swung his sword twice faster than the Shikigami could see. He closed his eyes in fear, expecting pain, but after a few seconds of not feeling anything, he opened them again.
Still in his Balance Breaker, Victor stood in front of him with his sword on his shoulder. The Shikigami looked at his sides and saw massive gouges carved into the ground. If Victor wanted, he would have been split down the middle.
"How about it? Keep fighting?"
The giant Shikigami went slack and flipped over to show his belly. He surrendered. Seeing that made Victor chuckle as he began to undo his Balance Breaker. This time, he felt that he was running on fumes as he had used the exorcism ritual three times, used his Balance Breaker for the first time, and still mantinging the summon of all his Shikigami.
Rather than send them away, he used this as training to train his magic recovery. He wiped his forehead as he patted the tiger Shikigami.
"Your name is Siegfried; live up to it."
Once Tiger Funeral was tamed and named, all 9 Shikigami aside from Mahoraga were tamed. All he needed to do now was master their powers, train his abilities further, and prepare for the day he challenged the Divine General.
Knowing him, Mahoraga would be a beast, and he would die if he took it too easy. Good thing he had plenty of powerful friends.
