The struggle with the Special Grade Demon Cursed Spirit a few months ago was the first battle Eichi had won by risking his life, and he even lost his companion for the first time in that fight.
Although White Jade Hound was later re-summoned through the external Technique, Holy Grail, Eichi didn't want to experience that heart-wrenching feeling a second time.
Since then, Eichi had been working hard to become stronger.
From the Innate Technique Ten Shadows Technique to the external Technique, Holy Grail, Eichi had re-examined all his abilities over the past few months, constantly exploring ways to become stronger.
First was the Holy Grail; after several months, the broadcast of fate was already halfway through, with discs, novels, and games already on sale.
After the fate game went on sale, the game department wasn't idle; currently, they are developing Fate Extra.
Under a series of promotions, the imaginative power related to Heroic Spirits was continuously absorbed by the Holy Grail.
However, the speed was still too slow because information dissemination in this era was still too limited.
If it were the internet information age of later generations, Eichi might even be able to start summoning within a few months.
But this era wouldn't do; the main channels for spreading information in this era were still traditional methods like newspapers and television.
Sometimes, even if someone was captivated by a glimpse, they couldn't find the anime and could only wait for the next episode a week later.
Should he just endure for more than a decade?
Impossible, absolutely impossible.
Although a complete summoning of a Heroic Spirit would still take at least a year, Eichi had indeed researched some things.
Spirit Origin Shadow.
A more Advanced, incomplete manifestation of a Heroic Spirit than a Shadow Servant; although the time was short and the power incomplete, it was still a Heroic Spirit.
A brief introduction to Heroic Spirits:
Heroic Spirit: Elevated from beings such as humans and demigod heroes who achieved various great feats, their true body is recorded in the Throne of Heroes.
Servant: A Avatar of a Heroic Spirit summoned from the Throne of Heroes using the Heroic Spirit summoning System, a weakened version of a Heroic Spirit, which can be understood as Naruto and his Shadow Avatars.
Spirit Origin Shadow: A method used by Chaldea to incompletely manifest Heroic Spirits by collecting and recording information about Heroic Spirits who fought alongside Chaldea.
Servants are Avatars of Heroic Spirits; Spirit Origin Shadow is an incomplete Servant summoned by Chaldea through imitating Servants.
For example, if the information volume of a Heroic Spirit on the Throne of Heroes is 100GB, and the host of the Heroic Spirit summoning System can only accommodate 10GB, then a Servant weaker than a Heroic Spirit is summoned. Chaldea's host can only accommodate 1GB, so what is summoned through Spirit Origin Shadow is an even weaker Spirit Origin Shadow that can only appear for a short time.
However, there is no Throne of Heroes in this world, and the Holy Grail currently held by Eichi temporarily serves the function of the Throne of Heroes.
Although the specifications of the two differ greatly, this is not a place where world-destroying powers appear at every turn, so it is sufficient.
After realizing that he couldn't get stronger from the Holy Grail in a short time, Eichi turned his attention to the Ten Shadows Technique.
No other reason, the System gave detailed information about the Holy Grail, so he had a place to start, but the System didn't provide information about the Ten Shadows Technique.
Therefore, it was only natural that Eichi would research the Holy Grail first.
However, fortunately, there was a research direction for the Ten Shadows Technique.
Chimera.
In the original plot, the Chimera Agito, which Sukuna fused from the power of five Shikigami, was qualified to participate in the battle with Gojo .
According to Gojo , Agito was a Fusion of Nue, which inherited the powers of Orochi, Tiger Burial, and Enka, and Divine Dog: Totality.
Being able to participate in the battle between Gojo and Sukuna is enough to show how strong Agito's power is.
With a goal in mind, Eichi began to practice with Toad.
Toad is a winged frog synthesized from a Toad and a Nue.
Its function is similar to a Toad, capable of restricting enemy movement.
However, because it has wings, it is more agile.
It was when the Toad was successfully fused that Eichi discovered a new characteristic of the Ten Shadows Technique.
Partial Fusion and Complete Fusion.
Partial Fusion refers to taking a part of a Shikigami and fusing it to create a smaller Shikigami with more comprehensive functions.
As long as the main body of the Shikigami used for Fusion is still there, then even if the Shikigami is destroyed, there is no fear; just fuse a few more.
Relatively, Shikigami fused in this way are weaker and have less intelligence, requiring complete manual control.
It was also after fusing the Toad that Eichi realized why Megumi Fushiguro was able to summon so many Toads back then.
At that time, Eichi was still wondering, wasn't there only one Nue? Where did all those wings come from for these small frogs? Was it a new Shikigami?
This characteristic of the Ten Shadows Technique made Eichi understand that although the Shadow Technique is called by this name, the ultimate point of the Shadow Technique is definitely not just ten kinds; perhaps Eichi could expand it to a Hundred Shadows Technique in the future.
He relaxed during the subsequent Chimera experiments because he could first explore through Fusion experiments without worrying about accidentally fusing a Shikigami into a useless state and then having to spend a great deal of effort to separate it.
Eichi first extracted a portion of the Cursed Energy from 9 Shikigami, then fused them two by two, and three by three.
Through repeated attempts, Eichi obtained his first Chimera, Qiongqi.
It was also Eichi's first Special Grade Shikigami.
By the way, Black Divine Dog, which inherited the power of Xiao Bai, is a semi-Special Grade; Black Divine Dog possesses claws and fangs that can easily injure Special Grade Cursed Spirits, but its body is relatively fragile, a typical high-attack assassin.
Qiongqi, which fused 3 Shikigami, reached Special Grade level in both Cursed Energy and physical strength.
Tiger Burial's body was already strong, and after fusing Piercing Ox, its physical quality improved further; its explosive muscles made people tremble with fear.
In order to move this massive body, during the Chimera process, Eichi focused on strengthening Nue's flying ability, and with Tiger Burial's wind-riding, Qiongqi's flying speed was very fast.
The current Tiger Burial can be described as an all-rounder Shikigami; for close combat, it has a strong body, tiger fangs, sharp claws, and horns on its head.
For one-on-one, it has precise lightning strikes; even if it doesn't kill the opponent, the paralyzing ability of the lightning can make the enemy temporarily lose resistance, and Tiger Burial can go up and deliver a blow.
For area attacks, it has a storm that tears everything apart, capable of directly crushing and tearing everything within several hundred meters.
It also has the characteristics obtained from Piercing Ox as its ultimate move.
Looking at his new Shikigami, Eichi was very satisfied. After hearing that Geto planned to capture a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, he decided to bring it out to test.
After several kilometers of acceleration, the sharp horn on Qiongqi's head deeply pierced the Rainbow Dragon's body, and purple lightning erupted within the Rainbow Dragon. The Rainbow Dragon, which had just broken free from the Snow Woman's freezing, had no time to resist before it was shocked and trembled all over by the lightning exploding within its body.
Qiongqi continued to fly in a straight line, pushing the Rainbow Dragon with immense force all the way to the seaside.
Boom!
Qiongqi pushed the Rainbow Dragon and crashed onto the beach.
As the dust settled, a crater with a diameter of a hundred meters appeared before the three.
The scene in the middle of the giant pit gradually came into view of the three.
The Rainbow Dragon, split in half from the middle, and Qiongqi, shaking its head and looking a bit unsteady, nearby.
"Hey, Eichi, why does this winged tiger look a bit stupid?"
Gojo pointed to Qiongqi, who was seeing stars in the middle of the field, and asked.
"That's Qiongqi."
Eichi rolled his eyes, silently drawing some Cursed Energy from the Holy Grail to replenish himself.
Qiongqi's strike just now spanned several kilometers; the immense power not only made Qiongqi itself dizzy but also almost drained Eichi's Cursed Energy.
However, the power was very satisfying; that was the Rainbow Dragon, whose defense ranked high among Special Grades, yet it was split in half. Good, very good.
Moreover, knowing the amount of Cursed Energy consumed and the power at different distances this time, this move would be easier to use later.
Geto, however, felt a bit pained. What a handsome and cool Rainbow Dragon, and now it was in two pieces.
Fortunately, it was split horizontally from the middle, not vertically as in the original work by Toji, otherwise the Rainbow Dragon might have been completely gone.
Silently subduing and absorbing the Rainbow Dragon, Geto's confidence, which had swelled from obtaining a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, also subsided considerably.
At the same time, Gojo and Geto were both calculating Qiongqi's combat power in their minds.
Don't find it strange; even good brothers will have a sense of competition with each other.
Anyone who has lived in a university dorm basically knows this feeling; almost everyone wants to be the "dad" of the entire dorm.