Takako, freshly out of the sea, saw a rain of arrows falling from the sky.
She stepped forward, grabbed the space in front of her with both hands, then twisted it forcefully.
The rain of arrows, formed from shadows, was pulled off its original trajectory by the distorted space.
Takako turned and aimed the twisted space toward Eichi. The arrow rain immediately redirected toward him.
A helpless Eichi could only cancel the arrow rain.
A large number of shadow arrows fell to the ground like ink, merging back into the shadows.
"Rabbit Escape!"
With Eichi's full summoning, thousands of Rabbit Escape surged forward like a white tide.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak."
Kuroi Bokusatsu moved.
Countless black cockroaches were summoned, forming a dark wave that clashed against the white tide.
Seeing that Rabbit Escape had drawn the attention of one enemy, Eichi immediately made his next move.
The rotating shadow orb behind him was suddenly thrown at Dhruv's Great Fish Shikigami.
The orb exploded upon landing, revealing the Piercing Ox, which had been charging within it for a long time.
Ever since Eichi mastered his Maximum Technique and could freely control shadows, he had grown fond of putting the Piercing Ox on a treadmill.
The Piercing Ox charged out at high speed, and the shadows covering its body blocked several of Dhruv's attacks.
The next moment, it heavily wounded the Great Fish Shikigami again.
"Damn you, brat, I'll kill you!"
Seeing a hole torn in the Shikigami's body, threatening its very existence, Dhruv was forced to cancel the summoning once more.
This was easily his most frustrating experience, having his Shikigami beaten into a pulp the moment they appeared.
He summoned another type of Shikigami to attack Eichi.
Boom.
A cannon blast pierced through the seawater, shooting toward Eichi.
Eichi clapped his hands on the shadow-covered ground.
Shadow Array Wall.
Shadows shot skyward like a reverse waterfall, and both the cannon blast and the Shikigami's attack were deflected by the shadow's force.
Above Eichi, Takako flew past the Shadow Array Wall and appeared beside him.
They had realized how troublesome Mahoraga was, so they decided to eliminate Eichi, the summoner, first.
In fact, this was the correct strategy against a Shikigami user.
However, due to Ryu Ishigori's presence, the others hadn't acted against Eichi sooner.
Ryu was similar to Kashimo Hajime, a martial arts fanatic.
Anyone who dared to interfere with his fight would be blasted indiscriminately.
In the original timeline, when Takako attacked Yuta, Ryu shot her without hesitation along with Yuta.
That one shot left Takako grounded for quite a while.
Though they weren't teammates at the time, forming a temporary alliance to deal with a greater threat wasn't uncommon.
Takako believed this, though she didn't know that Ryu simply wanted to blow both her and Yuta up.
There was another reason for the coordinated attack on Eichi.
Mahoraga was far stronger than they had anticipated.
Instead of fighting that monster, the Eichi beside them, whom Ryu could fight evenly, was an easier target.
Still, this aligned with Eichi's own intentions.
After all, Mahoraga's adaptation was progressing steadily.
Ding.
"Why are you chasing me!"
Dhruv, just about to vent his frustration on Eichi, suddenly noticed Mahoraga behind him.
He dodged the incoming iron fist in a panic, escaping with movements that would put parkour professionals to shame.
Takako flew around in the sky, slippery and hard to catch.
Ootengu and Kuroi Bokusatsu also stayed airborne and wouldn't come down.
Ryu was worth punching, but he was too far away.
The easiest target was the old man in front, whose Shikigami kept getting destroyed and who lacked solid close-combat ability.
At this moment, Dhruv truly wanted to curse Eichi for not playing fair, letting Mahoraga bully an old war buddy like this.
"Truly useless."
Seeing Dhruv's sorry state, Tamamo-no-Mae still had Ootengu rescue him.
Even if he was a bit pathetic, he was still a Special Grade combatant.
The Chimera, Tiger Hawk, was now surrounded by Tamamo-no-Mae's fire foxes.
"Max Elephant!"
The Ten Shadows Treasure Wheel rotated, and Max Elephant emerged from the sea, blocking Ryu Ishigori, who was swimming toward the shore.
The watery environment was ideal for Max Elephant, who could manipulate water.
For a time, even Ryu, who was far stronger than Max Elephant, was blocked.
On the other side, Eichi, under assault from multiple enemies, fully activated his shadow defenses.
Shadows gathered around him, forming a massive egg that encased his entire body.
"Hmph, what a coward."
Takako snorted and stepped forward, grabbing the giant shadow egg.
Ugyo Rodan.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Cracks quickly spread across the surface of the egg.
Kuroi Bokusatsu's cockroaches immediately crawled into the cracks.
The next moment, the pitch-black giant egg exploded.
Takako was sent flying by the blast but managed to glide a distance through the air using her Technique.
She wasn't badly injured.
Kuroi Bokusatsu's cockroaches, however, were scattered by the blast.
A panting Eichi appeared before them.
Kuroi Bokusatsu suddenly rushed at him, raising the Rotten Life Blade and slashing down.
The blade truly lived up to its name.
It resembled a rotten, fleshy cleaver.
Where the edge should have been, there was only a blunt weapon, with grotesque eyes embedded in it.
Shadows transformed into gauntlets, and Eichi met the blow.
In the next moment, the blunt edge of the Rotten Life Blade exploded, launching eyeball-like insect eggs into Eichi's body.
Several revolting cockroaches burst out from Eichi's skin.
Eichi transformed into a pool of shadows and vanished.
It turned out that back when he was encased in the shadow egg, he had already slipped into the shadows, leaving behind only a Clone made from condensed shadows.
After all, he was just buying time for Mahoraga, not planning to take on multiple Special Grades and get beaten senseless.
Kuroi Bokusatsu stared blankly, his insect brain struggling to process the situation.
Suddenly, a chilling aura appeared behind him.
Mahoraga.
Swish.
The Sword of Exorcism slashed down.
Kuroi Bokusatsu, caught off guard, was instantly exorcised.
"Damn it!"
Tamamo-no-Mae and the others were furious. Despite their five-on-one advantage, not only was the enemy still unscathed, they had lost one of their own first.
Tamamo-no-Mae, who had just cleared out Rabbit Escape, Max Elephant, and Tiger Hawk, finally chose to engage directly.
On the other side, Ootengu, whose longbow had been shattered by Mahoraga, condensed a new one using Cursed Energy.
Several arrows shot toward Mahoraga.
But this time, they barely left a scratch.
Takako floated behind Mahoraga and grabbed with both hands, trying to immobilize him.
"What's going on?"
She suddenly felt as if she were trying to move a mountain.
Mahoraga was completely immovable.
Ding.
Mahoraga's Wheel of Dharma rotated once more.
The adaptation was still ongoing.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)