Chapter 165 — The Ability of the Third Eye?
A soft green radiance bloomed atop Round Deer's antlers, flowing into Megumi's body.
In just a few breaths, every wound he had suffered moments earlier vanished completely.
"How many is that now?"
"Every summoned creature has a different ability… this technique is absurdly comprehensive."
By now, everyone had realized that each of Megumi's shikigami possessed a unique function.
Even Dex couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
"A technique like this… it's practically flawless."
Control, burst damage, aerial combat, healing—
each capability rotated seamlessly, leaving no apparent weakness.
Among the Shimlirian warriors, there was no one this well-rounded.
"Ha ha ha… Fushiguro Megumi, you truly are hiding quite a lot,"
Leo said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"Worthy of being one of Earth's Special Grade sorcerers."
A sharp glint flashed through his gaze.
If we want to defeat Earth's sorcerers, he thought,
then the Special Grades must be eliminated first.
But without the leader's cooperation, the forces he personally controlled wouldn't be enough to win a full-scale war.
I'll have to pull the leader over to my side.
"Your warriors are impressive as well,"
Hakari Kinji remarked as Boses rose once more on the battlefield, understanding dawning in his eyes.
So it really is pure stats…
Boses paid no attention to the gaping wound in his body where the ox's horn had pierced him.
He calmly activated Reverse Cursed Technique, repairing the damage as his gaze locked onto the Piercing Ox, which was preparing to charge again.
Without a word, cursed energy surged into his fist, and he punched forward.
But the immense cursed energy stopped short—as if blocked by an invisible barrier—unable to reach the ox.
This was Piercing Ox's technique.
For it, proximity did not mean power.
The farther the distance it covered, the more destructive its charge became.
As cursed energy continued to accumulate, the ox stomped the ground and lowered its head—
Then charged.
The cursed energy Boses had released rebounded back at him at multiple times its original strength.
Boses vanished in a blur, narrowly dodging as the reflected attack obliterated a metal wall behind him.
The ox pivoted instantly, locking onto him again and charging forward—
its speed leaving afterimages in its wake.
At the same time, Rabbit Escape erupted around Boses, dozens upon dozens piling up like a living mound, blocking his vision.
From within the chaos, long toad tongues shot out once more, wrapping toward him from every direction.
Boses clicked his tongue.
"…What an irritating fighting style."
Boses, buried beneath the swarm of Rabbit Escape, couldn't help but mutter in irritation.
At the same time, the vertical eye on his forehead erupted with terrifying power.
Vast amounts of cursed energy condensed around his body, forming an impregnable wall like forged steel, then exploded outward in all directions.
The surging barrier detonated with immense force, obliterating every rabbit around him and even halting the Piercing Ox's violent charge.
Seeing this, Fushiguro Megumi formed another hand seal.
The Piercing Ox dispersed, and Nue roared from above, unleashing torrents of lightning that pierced through the cursed-energy wall and struck Boses directly, scorching his body black.
Boses paid no mind to his injuries. Instead, he fixed his gaze on Megumi and raised his palm toward him.
"This time," he said calmly,
"you won't be creating any distance."
The moment his words fell, Megumi felt a terrifying pulling force latch onto his body.
In an instant, he lost control and was dragged straight toward Boses.
Megumi's expression shifted slightly. He immediately maneuvered Nue in front of himself, and the suction vanished at once—
but Nue's body was forcibly pulled toward Boses instead.
Snap!
Boses withdrew his left hand and raised his right. The eye on his forehead shifted subtly.
The suction acting on Nue disappeared—
replaced by overwhelming pressure.
Nue was slammed into the ground, completely immobilized.
Megumi instantly canceled the summoning, escaping the attack.
"…Attraction and compression?"
"This must be his technique."
Megumi narrowed his eyes.
It seemed that Boses' ability could only act on one target at a time.
But before Megumi could think further, an overwhelmingly tyrannical pressure descended upon him—
as if a mountain had been dropped onto his body.
He couldn't move.
The metal floor beneath his feet cracked into a spiderweb of fractures.
At that moment, Megumi understood—
This wasn't gravity manipulation at all.
It was pure cursed-energy pressure, compressed and weaponized.
Under normal circumstances, cursed-energy pressure was useless against competent sorcerers.
But Boses had used some unknown method to amplify it dozens of times, creating an effect nearly indistinguishable from a gravity technique.
Megumi circulated his cursed energy to resist the pressure, his gaze locking onto the furious vertical eye on Boses' forehead.
So that's it…
The ability of his third eye.
"You're a worthy opponent," Boses said, a trace of respect flashing through his eyes.
"But this sparring match ends here."
Against a powerful warrior, even an enemy deserved full respect.
Even in a mere spar, Boses intended to win at full strength.
As his voice fell, golden patterns lit up along the two horns atop his head.
Terrifying cursed energy gathered and compressed between them, transforming into a crimson sphere.
The surrounding environment was bathed in red.
Feeling the sheer danger radiating from it, Megumi steeled himself.
"So you've got ranged attacks too…"
It seemed Boses' abilities were just as well-rounded.
Enduring the crushing cursed-energy pressure, Megumi brought his hands together and formed a hand sign—
one that carried immense weight.
"Furube… Yura Yura…"
Facing Boses as the energy sphere continued to grow, Megumi recited the chant to summon the final shikigami.
In that instant, time itself seemed to freeze.
A wolf's howl echoed throughout the combat chamber, filling the space with an eerie, ominous presence.
Throughout history, no sorcerer had ever successfully subdued the final shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique.
There were only two ways to attempt the subjugation of Mahoraga:
One—summon it alone and defeat it personally.
Two—drag others into the ritual and attempt a group subjugation.
Failure meant death.
Every participant in the ritual would be slaughtered by Mahoraga.
Group subjugation had an abysmally low success rate.
Much like the legendary incident where the heads of the Zen'in and Gojo clans perished together—
most believed the Zen'in clan head, overwhelmed and desperate, had forcibly activated the ritual, dragging the Gojo clan head into it.
Both were likely killed by Mahoraga in the end.
And even worse—
Even if Mahoraga were defeated through group subjugation, it would never obey the caster afterward.
Thus, while two methods existed in theory, in practice there was only one.
That was why no Ten Shadows user in history had ever completed the technique.
Because defeating Mahoraga with the Ten Shadows alone was nearly impossible.
The other nine shikigami were on an entirely different level.
Even combined, they were nowhere near enough.
Yet Fushiguro Megumi was different.
Because Sukuna had used Megumi's body to subjugate Mahoraga—
Megumi became the first sorcerer in history to fully perfect the Ten Shadows Technique.