5 The Evolved Ten Shadows.
As Victor hung from the tree with just his legs, he circulated his mana carefully through his veins, nerves, tendons, and bones. He wanted to test whether mana could improve his entire body through his marrow and blood.
He had only started doing this a month ago, but he had begun to notice a few benefits. By constantly circulating his mana through his skeleton, he hoped that the blood produced by his marrow would be more entuned with magic.
His theory was successful, as he could feel mana in his bloodstream. It improved his recovery after training, and he felt smarter when his brain began receiving this mana-rich blood. He hoped he would gain a Zenin Innate Technique in the brain. Specifically the prefrontal cortex of the brain.
He had to thank his advanced Instincts and Senses from his Restriction, which gave him far better control over mana than was expected. Through that, he did his experiments on himself, which were bearing fruit.
If this final test worked, he would gain another power because it was never enough in DC. With beings like The World Forger, Superboy-Prime, Cosmic Armor Superman, Doctor Manhattan, Darkseid, The Anti-Monitor, and so many more running around, more power was needed.
He had already been doing this for over five hours but had not called it quits yet. Just as five hours would become six, he felt something different. His Zenin blood flowed in his brain where the Ten Shadows Technique resided began to burn.
His mana began to plummet as a Jujutsu Innate Technique, which Toji was never supposed to have activated in his brain. His gambit had worked, and the technique started changing from its source to operate on mana rather than Cursed Energy.
The two energies were so different that the technique was reworked from the ground up, but it would work much the same at its source. This process took another 30 minutes, and most of his mana was gone.
"YES!"
Victor, at this moment, felt like he had struck gold. Not only did he have Canis Lykaon, one of the strongest Sacred Gears of the DxD universe, which, at its mastered form, could Cut Through All Concepts.
He would one day be able to call on Mahoraga, The Divine General. While his adaptation wasn't the best, it was still a treasured ability, as Doomsday was dangerous because of it.
Victor untangled his feet, and he let himself fall to the ground. He spun around in the air and landed on his feet in the middle of his four dogs. All this time, Yami believed he would succeed because effort was best.
As for Samantha, Mark, and Raze, his three pet dogs didn't get why he was in the tree. Unlike Yami, they were normal dogs just contracted to Victor, giving them access to mana. They couldn't control it yet, so he didn't push them yet because he wouldn't involve them in his activities just yet.
"You 4 have no idea how happy this makes me. While I would have gotten on just fine with you, Yami, now I have strong magical Shikigami that can fight with me. Let's test it out, shall we?"
Like all users of the Ten Shadows, he received two Divine Dogs who were, in reality, wolves. He would call them Divine Wolves, so he formed the hand sign and called their name. When he did so, his shadow surged out before forming the two Divine Wolves.
Unlike Megumi's Divine Dogs, which were the size of regular wolves, his were even bigger than Yami. From the look of it, they were twice the size. One White, One Black, but from the look of it, they had some upgrades because of Lykaon.
Their teeth were made of metal, and so were their claws. The two Shikigami Wolves formed at his sides, and they instantly turned their heads to regard him. He smiled happily as he reached out to pet their fluffy heads.
The Shikigami Woves panted happily as they began to lick his face.
"Now, I am never letting anything happen to any of you. That would hurt."
Just then, the two Wolves moved away from him and approached Yami. They sat down before him, causing the black dog to raise a paw like he was their leader. Victor didn't speak dog, but since Yami's being was formed of a Divine Blade and the Cursed King of Arcadia, they saw him as the best Alpha.
Yami held his head high, but Samantha, Raze, and Mark jumped in and began to cover his face with drool, ruining his moment. To make it worse, a familiar, fearless cat jumped from the tree to land on his head.
Jack the cat sat himself down in his favorite place to sleep.
"HAHAHAHA! Look at you Yami. You got a cat for a hat now."
Yami frowned but didn't try to remove Jack from his head because the cat was just a cat. As for Victor, he wanted to ensure he didn't lose any of his pets because he had always liked animals more than people.
However, he knew that the chance of himself never losing one was zero, so he made it his goal to ensure they were as robust as possible. He walked toward the two Divine Wolves and placed his hands on their sides before analyzing them with his mana.
He wanted to learn more about how the Ten Shadows Technique changed, but he felt something familiar fused with their essence.
'Power from Lykaon?'
"Yami, did they absorb some of your power?"
Yami walked over and began to sniff the black Divine Wolf. He confirmed this to Victor, who smiled to himself. Much like a normal living creature, Yami recovered his energy by resting, so there was no limit to what they could take.
'This means that my Shikigami can grow stronger, can't they? Cursed Energy can go fuck itself; mana is where it is at. Now, it is time for me to start putting my power to work.'
He had nine more Shikigami to tame, but the rest would be much stronger if these two were anything to go off. That also meant Mahoraga would be that much harder to tame, but once he was subdued, the power he could use would be far more worth it.
He was pretty excited to see it, but he placed his hands behind his back for now.
"Yami, you are the smartest, without question, so what do we do? Get active, or wait longer while we tame more of the Shikigami?"
Yami whined and rolled his eyes. He was bored of just training, and he wanted to fight now.
"BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!"
Victor scoffed at the insult as Yami said he was chicken.
"I am not a coward; I am just not rash. Some would say that I am smart, too."
Yami didn't respond but hung his head low and shuffled his feet as he walked to the door. His tail tucked between his legs, showing how 'sad' he was. He loudly sighed as he continued to stroll toward the door. The White and Black Divine Wolves turned to Victor with curious eyes.
Was their master scared to fight? Seeing the thought coursing through his pet's head made Victor roll his eyes.
"Fine, we can go out tonight."
Yami started to wag his tail, and he panted happily at the news that they could finally have fun. Victor didn't mind it because he, too, was getting bored of all this isolation and training. He wanted to break some skulls, but before then, he walked over to Yami.
"Alright, if we are going out, I am not going out like this. You can make weapons that I know; how about some armor?"
Yami tilted his head as he looked Victor up and down. He walked around him a few times before he nodded to himself. Much like the weapons he had formed, the armor he was creating was made of solid shadows. It also contained the power of Lykaon, making it a genuinely mighty armor set.
Rather than being able to cut like his blades, this armor was imbued with some of the energy of Ame-No-Ohabari, the Divine Blade that made up half of Lykaon's essence, to be even more durable than normal.
Once Victor had his armor, he moved around to see if the armor weighed him down. From the look, it had been modeled after the Armor of Igris from Solo Leveling, as the Shadow Armor was durable and light.
"Perfect."
Even his voice came out distorted, making him even more intimidating. With a thought, he dispersed the armor as now he could call upon it anytime. Once his outfit settled, he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time.
"6:30 PM. We will go out at midnight."
Samantha, Mark, and Raze perked up at the web, but he crushed those ideas.
"Me, Yami, and the Divine Wolves. No, I better name you two. White, your name is Gram, and Black, your name is Garm. The twin Divine Wolves, eh?"
The two wolves looked at each other before they nodded, accepting the names. Once named, they waited for further instruction.
"We will prepare for nightfall; let's start."
---
Midnight was only 5 hours and 30 minutes away, so what he could do to prepare for it was limited. However, he did three things with the first, almost making the entire neighborhood aware of his magic.
He had cast the Exorcism Rituals for Nue. Much like Gram and Garm, when he summoned Nue, the former masked bird with human teeth had emerged as a terrifying creature that resembled more of a griffin crow than Nue.
It had feathers made from black knives, fought with black lightning, and could easily tear metal with its claws and beak. It could release a storm of shadow knives, which Yami easily used against the creature to show who the boss was.
Victor, Yami, Garm, and Gram defeated Nue before things got too out of hand. Like Gram and Garm, he gave the tamed Shikigami a new name: Balerion, just like the Black Dread from Song of Ice and Fire.
The last Shikigami he did the Exorcism Ritual was The Great Serpent, the one Megumi lost to Sukuna. However, rather than cast it in his backyard, Victor ran from Dallas south to Mexico in an uninhabited area.
He used the ritual to summon the Serpent, and a huge snake that was longer than an 18-wheeler truck emerged with scales made of black metal blades, a mouth full of metal fangs, and venom so acidic that it easily melted through trees, dirt, and stone.
Despite the serpent's great power, Victor didn't play fair. Like the tradition of JJk, he used the secret art of Jumpjutsu. With five against one, the poor serpent was defeated in less than 15 minutes.
Because of Yami's power, its defenses were easy to pierce, and Victor was way faster than the poor snake. Like Jin Woo, he beat the snake with his bare hands, taming it. As for the name, he named her something pretty.
Her name was Ramsa, which he thought up on the spot. Once tamed, he summoned her and learned that as creatures made of mana and shadows, they could change their sizes. He had Ramsa shrink down and wrap around him, so now he had a replacement for Toji's worm.
Though, to him, her face looked more draconic than snake-like, he returned to Dallas with two more Shikigami tamed. The original Nue and The Great Serpent were on the weaker scale of Shikigami, meaning the rest would be harder to tame.
He wanted to get a feel for his new pets' abilities. One hour before it became midnight, he made a pitstop at a gun store where he stole plenty of guns and ammo. Not all of them, but at least a big chunk of them.
If Spawn could use magic and guns, he could, too. He even left a nice note saying: Russia did it. Once he stole all those guns, he returned to his home and placed his ill-gotten loot in his shadow storage.
The past 5 hours were hectic, but he felt they had been worth it. Just 20 minutes before midnight, he was in his living room, already wearing his Igris armor. On his back, he had a large greatsword Yami made for him.
Wrapped around him was Ramsa, the Snake, while a shrunk Balerion, Garm, and Gram sat in the living room. With telekinesis, he was checking out the guns he got because they were to have fun. Once they were ready and loaded, he turned to his dogs and cat.
They were not ready to go into danger yet, but he would start training them soon.
"I got everything I needed. Putting this off won't do us any favors. Garm, Gram, Balerion, stick to the shadows. Yami and I will be moving in the open."
The three Shikigami did as he instructed, turning into shadows and entering Victor's shadow.
"That works. Yami, let's go."
With excitement, Yami conjured a shadow hand to open the door. When Victor walked out with Ramsa still wrapped around him, he took a deep breath as he put on his helmet.
'Let's fucking go.'
In a burst of speed, Yami and Victor lept over the house fence before they ran into the air. It was time for the gangs of Dallas, who thought they could have their own Gotham City, to learn they didn't just have the League to fear. They had him.
(A better name for his secret identity? Cain, Igris, Nox, Punisher, or Vengence.)
