Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"It worked," I said happily as I opened my eyes.
"Wait, you did it?" Taylor asked, surprised. "I don't even know what happened," she admitted. I just laughed and quickly stood up.
"Don't worry your pretty little head, you did fantastic," I said happily as I gave Taylor a kiss before lightly pushing her. "Now, a little space, I want to summon it," I said excitedly.
"Do you know what you unlocked?" Aizawa asked, unfazed. I smiled slightly before placing my hands in the shape of a snake.
"Great Serpent!" I said firmly, my shadows bubbling slightly before the head of a massive snake burst out of the shadow. The head was easily larger than my entire body; it could swallow me whole without hesitation.
I forced the Great Serpent to extend as far into the sky as it could. The serpent was about 3 meters in diameter, a mass of flesh and muscle that began to rise into the sky.
3 meters, 5 meters, 10 meters, 20 meters, 30 meters, and it still didn't stop. I could feel the slight consumption of my aura as my snake continued to extend into the sky, and I understood. As long as I had the aura, I could grow the Great Serpent, Orochi, almost infinitely.
Orochi stopped when it reached 50 meters and somehow stayed upright for a few seconds, before its head turned in the air and it began to descend, its body forming a large arc as its head hissed and came closer to the ground.
With extreme swiftness, Orochi didn't even hit the ground, but instead landed his head and slid almost so smoothly across the ground that it didn't even crack the ground. The snake began to move across the open space, spreading out in all directions until it finally stopped.
All the students stopped once again as they stared in surprise at the giant snake that had just appeared.
"Impressive." Aizawa said, though he didn't sound impressed in the least. I ignored him and smiled widely. With a command, Orochi retreated and began to be absorbed by my shadow once more until only a few meters of his body length remained.
Orochi stood up once more and loomed over my head, looking terrifyingly intimidating. I finally got a proper look at Orochi. He was white with black markings all over his body, including the symbol on his forehead.
"How big is that snake?" Aizawa asked as he approached to examine the snake.
"I don't have any idea." I said with a wide smile.
"It doesn't have one!? That thing just extended almost 50 meters," Taylor said incredulously. I nodded happily.
"And it can spread even further, as long as I keep providing it aura, the snake can keep growing." I said honestly, I had no reason to lie.
"Me... none? Can it grow multiple kilometers?" Taylor asked incredulously, my eyes shining.
"Maybe, if I have enough aura," I said playfully.
"No, that's not necessary." Aizawa interrupted. "Anything else we should know? Is it poisonous? Can you control it? Can it abandon your shadows?" Aizawa asked.
"Of course I can control it, and it doesn't have any poison, I can use it to immobilize enemies, but I don't think much more, and I don't know? I think I could force it to stop and get out of my shadows, but I don't think it will be able to continue spreading once out of the shadows." I said honestly.
"Depending on how tough it is, it seems like a good way to restrain. Can you control its thickness? As terrifying as a massive snake is, it's almost safe to say it can swallow most people before immobilizing them," Aizawa said simply.
I frowned, dissolving Orochi into a pool of shadows, my hands moved again, and I focused. My shadows bubbled again, and this time, a much smaller snake, barely 30 cm in diameter, almost resembling a regular snake.
The snake lunged at me and easily coiled around my body before perching menacingly over my shoulder. I laughed lightly before raising my hand and petting it.
"The smaller the fuel, the lower the consumption." I told Aizawa, who nodded quickly.
"We'll be testing its endurance and its ability to restrain someone. You'll also have to learn to calculate how much force your snake can exert before breaking a bone or crushing an organ." Aizawa said without hesitation. I nodded.
With a thought, my snake returned to the shadows, still summoned, only hidden inside my shadows, along with my Escape rabbit.
"All right! Let's try it one more time, Cuddlebug!" I said excitedly as I looked at Taylor.
"Of course, because you need more lethal animals besides an infinite snake." Taylor complained, but she walked over anyway and placed her hands on my back. I felt her aura push my body rapidly, and once again I guided her to the rest of my shikigami.
To my surprise, absolutely nothing happened. The shikigami didn't move, didn't flinch, didn't budge, just as they had been for the past few weeks.
"I felt… hit a wall?" Taylor tried to say, confused.
"I can't unlock another summon," I said, frowning. Aizawa frowned. "Taylor's aura is useless. It's become the same as mine. It can't affect my summons anymore." I said, confused.
"Maybe you need to rest for a while between unlocks?" Taylor tried, and I frowned slightly.
"Or maybe... Taylor's aura is the problem." Aizawa said while thinking. "You said it acts like yours, you couldn't unlock the aura until you brought a different aura to attack them, maybe... they got too used to Hebert's aura, maybe you need another one." Aizawa said.
I considered it lightly before shrugging.
"I won't refuse to try, I've already made enough progress in getting a new summon." I said honestly, Aizawa nodded and looked at Taylor.
"Hebert, get back to your training. Tell Rose, Azula, and Dustiness to come over." Aizawa said without hesitation, before frowning and looking at me. "You're not sleeping with anyone else, are you?" Aizawa asked dryly. I snorted.
"Nope, just them at the moment. I'm starting to date Tanya and Visha, but we've only been on a few dates." I said honestly. Aizawa just nodded and looked at Taylor. Taylor just nodded. Before leaving, she looked at me and smiled slightly.
"Congratulations, Izumi. I know you were hoping for this." Taylor said as she kissed me lightly.
"Thanks for the help!" I said to Taylor with a wide smile, and she simply nodded before leaving to find the others.
"Why the snake?" Aizawa asked curiously. I looked at him, confused. "Why did you choose to unlock the snake?" he asked again.
"Oh no, I didn't choose any, it was completely random, just like my rabbits." I said immediately, and Aizawa nodded.
"How inconvenient." Aizawa said simply, and then we waited in silence.
Ruby was the first to arrive at almost full speed; unlike Taylor, she was sweating profusely with all the weights on her body as she tried to move. I laughed lightly.
"Izumi! Was that giant snake yours?! Was it amazing!? Were you able to unlock more summons with your shadows?! Congratulations!! " Ruby said happily.
"That's certainly good news. Well done, Izumi," Azula said as she approached. "But I'd like to know why we were called." Azula also looked tired. "Though I'll certainly appreciate the rest."
"Izumi, sensei? Taylor told me to come?" Darkness asked, confused as she approached with her shield, she was almost hugging it with the way she held it.
"Yes, we discovered that the way to unlock Miyamura's summons is by pushing the aura of people near him. Doing that with Hebert released the snake summon," Aizawa said concisely.
"Although it only worked for one, we want to see if using your aura helps free the others," I added quickly. The girls' eyes lit up with understanding.
"Oh?! I want to help!" Ruby said excitedly.
"I have no problem," Azula added.
"We just… need to push our aura into him?" Darkness asked more seriously. Aizawa nodded.
"Yes, Rose, you go first," Aizawa said, frowning at the others to back up. Ruby stood next to me, in fact, in front of me, placed her hands on my chest, and closed her eyes. I did the same.
I felt Ruby's aura enter me more carefully than Taylor's. I grabbed her aura and immediately directed it towards my shadow quirk. I almost wanted to smile maniacally when I felt the shikigami react once more.
Just like what happened with Taylor, one of the shikigami grabbed Ruby's entire aura and broke free. Without even waiting for Ruby to let go, I moved my hands and formed a bird with ease.
"Nue." I said firmly, my shadows stirred behind me, and a giant bird shot into the sky with a screech. I looked up with an excited smile. Nue was precisely as I expected, resembling an owl, with orange feathers and a white skull on its head.
It looked bigger than the version Megumi could summon in canon, almost twice as big, nothing as huge as what Sukuna summoned.
Once I got high enough, I gave Nue an order, and she released a massive electric current that shot purple lightning all around her. Once she finished, she quickly descended and landed behind me.
"An electric bird!" Ruby squealed excitedly. She disappeared and appeared above Nue with excitement. Nue was big enough to carry Ruby with ease. "Make it fly! Make it fly!" Ruby squealed happily, and I snorted but still gave the mental command.
Nue took off once more and began to fly slowly over the forest. I could hear Ruby's scream of joy.
"Nue? Why that name? The Nue is a yokai with the head of a monkey, the limbs of a tiger, the body of a tanuki, and a snake; you have a bird." Aizawa asked, ignoring Ruby's scream. I looked at him, slightly surprised.
"I really didn't expect anyone to recognize the name," I said, impressed. After all, while Nue is a Japanese mythological monster, it wasn't really as famous as many other myths. Not many Japanese people knew about it. "And it seemed appropriate," I shrugged.
"I read." Aizawa said dryly. "And it's your summoning, you name them." Aizawa said simply while nodding. "Now, next. Dustiness, do it." Aizawa said without hesitation.
Darkness squealed in surprise and took a step forward. She carefully placed a hand on my chest and smiled slightly before pushing her aura. I repeated the process, and smiled slightly.
A new summon trembled slightly before absorbing Darkness's aura and unlocking. I moved my hands and formed the following figure.
" Piercing Ox!" My shadows stretched, and with a savage bellow, a massive, two-meter-tall black ox emerged from them. The ox was enormous, almost two meters tall. He was a mass of muscle—literally, he had more muscle than anything else. He oozed power, impenetrable defense.
It had a pair of relatively short horns, but large, sharp fangs, along with a symbol on its forehead.
"Is that... an ox?" Darkness asked, looking at the ox in surprise. At the same time, Nue landed, and Ruby got off the bird, overflowing with excitement.
"Another summon?" Ruby asked excitedly. "What can it do? I remember you mentioned it once, something about charging, right?" Ruby asked as she approached the ox.
"Yes, just that, charging in a straight line. It's very resilient and strong, and the longer the charge, the more powerful its attack will be," I said simply.
"Oh? How loud?" Ruby asked curiously.
"We'll try it later, Rose, Dustiness. Go and continue with your training." Aizawa interrupted.
"Aaww." Ruby complained, but nodded. "Then you'll have to show me the summons!" Ruby said with a smile in my direction before disappearing.
"I'll go train too." Darkness said with a smile, I nodded.
"Thanks for the help," I said in her direction. I would have told Ruby that too, but she'd left as quickly as she'd arrived. She really had too much energy for someone being forced to run with three times her weight on her shoulders.
"I guess it's my turn." Azula said as she stepped forward. I extended my shadows and absorbed Ox and Nue into them, leaving them next to Escape Rabbit and Orochi.
Azula approached and placed a hand in the center of my chest. I took a deep breath before pushing her aura out. With practice, I pushed Azula's aura toward the shikigami.
Honestly, if I'd known other people's auras were the solution, I would have done it a long time ago. It would have solved huge problems and a lot of frustration. With the shikigami I just unlocked thanks to Azula, I'd get a 5 out of 10.
Exactly half, and it was a massive difference from just having my rabbits. I would just have to- wait, I would have to get 5 more pairs?
I mean… with Tanya and Visha, that makes two. Maybe three if Jinx wanted to make the whole charade she put on in front of her family real. I almost wanted to wince. Yes, my shikigami were strong, and I really wanted to unlock them, but I didn't want to think of girls, my girlfriends, my fiancées, as ways to make me stronger, as something to unlock my shikigami.
With a sigh, I put all that aside. I'd do what I knew best: let it all fall where it might. If I managed to get another five partners, then that would be great. If not, I wouldn't force it. Yes, having ten shikigami would be amazing, but I was already stupidly strong, and having five shikigami only increased my strength.
With a slight smile, I focused once more on my shikigami, saw a new one unlock, and froze.
"YES!" I couldn't help but celebrate with joy when I discovered which one I had just unlocked. Azula gave me a strange look, but I ignored it, moving my hands and forming a new shape. " Round Deer!" I exclaimed in excitement.
A massive, two-and-a-half-meter-long deer formed from my shadows. I smiled happily.
"The healer?" Aizawa asked, now sounding much more interested. I nodded.
"Yes, Round Deer is capable of healing wounds. From what I understand of its power, it should be able to heal even serious wounds, but I would have to run tests," I said honestly.
"Aren't there some courses with Recovery Girl?" Azula asked lightly as she admired the giant deer.
"There are, once the new semester starts, you'll join them, she'll be in charge of testing your deer's power and if it's suitable for use on civilians, even giving you a medical license for your quirk, to use it in public." Aizawa said without hesitation. I nodded.
"Sounds good," I said without hesitation.
"Although... it wouldn't hurt to try it now," Aizawa said sinisterly with a smile. "We have some very enthusiastic test subjects who would surely appreciate having their injuries treated so they can continue training," he added as he looked at the other students.
Almost as if it were a collective, everyone in our class shuddered and looked at Aizawa. More than one paled when they saw Aizawa's face.
"I'm blaming you for that," Azula said in a pained voice. I laughed lightly. Yes, Aizawa was a sadist.
"Go back to your training, Azula. I'll talk to Miyamura a little longer." Aizawa said without looking at her. Azula sighed and nodded, walking in Todoroki's direction. I smiled slightly.
"Thanks for the help!" I said to Azula as I watched her walk away. She just raised her hand in my direction.
This was perfect. Not only did I now have half of my shikigami, I even had Round Deer. It was perfect. Now I was fully prepared for tomorrow when the League of Villains attacked the camp during the night.
Author's Notes: Yes, I used the most boring way to unlock your shikigami, but on the other hand, I couldn't find anything suitable!
I mean, there must have been at least 10 ways I could have done it, but none of them really stuck with me, so I stopped thinking about it too much and just picked one of the easiest ones.
I wanted to focus on other things and not on his shikigami in more depth, and since I had already put aside the normal summoning ritual, well, this was the chosen way.
Leaving all that aside, believe it or not, they were chosen at random, leaving aside Mahoraga, I really wanted Max Elephant, but he didn't come up in the roulette.
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