Asakura touched his thumb, middle, and ring fingers together, with his index and pinky fingers raised, making a hand gesture representing a fox in shadow puppetry.
"Thump."
The huge Fox Shapeshifter emerged from the shadows.
Asakura then raised his hands, as if he had gathered the Dragon Balls, and loudly wished, "Grant my wish!"
The Fox Shapeshifter lay on the ground, exposing what was probably its belly.
This posture meant 'Sorry, I can't do it.'
"Useless."
Asakura evaluated expressionlessly.
The Fox Shapeshifter curled into a small ball.
"A roadside mongrel, a mob, worthless trash that can't do anything!"
Asakura continued to speak expressionlessly.
The Fox Shapeshifter humbly melted into a puddle of black substance.
"It's a monster, but I subtly feel a bit sorry for it, what's going on...?"
Fujiwara Chika mumbled quietly.
The Fox Shapeshifter poked its head out from the puddle on the ground, then its head split open to reveal its true mouth, letting out a crisp 'croak' sound.
"Is it expressing goodwill towards me?"
The girl asked curiously.
"'Eating the pink thing on master's back can fulfill some simple wishes,' that's what it said."
Asakura translated.
"What kind of ingratitude is this?!"
"No, you haven't really been kind to it, have you?"
While Asakura scoffed, he roughly understood the Fox Shapeshifter's situation.
This thing could only possess its full power when it was in the shrine, capable of fulfilling certain wishes to a certain extent, but once it left the shrine, it was just an ordinary anomaly, only able to gain power by consuming living sacrifices.
And at this moment, at Asakura's signal, after the Fox Shapeshifter released all the souls it had previously restrained for sacrifices, its own power plummeted to a considerable low.
He felt like he wouldn't need this thing in any sense.
Asakura looked back at the shrine not far away.
The torii gate, which had been crooked from the limousine crash and blackened by fire, had now returned to its original appearance, and even the wreckage of the limousine had disappeared, as if nothing had happened at first glance.
As a supernatural tale, the phrase 'Nonexistent Shrine' was actually problematic in itself.
This shrine truly existed and had been built a long, long time ago, with the history of the skull inside, which served as a divine body, traceable back hundreds of years.
It was just that there was a barrier-like object on the outskirts of the shrine to prevent people from breaking in, but people with strong enough life energy could ignore the barrier and see the shrine's existence.
This was probably one of the methods this shrine originally used to screen sacrifices.
Incidentally, 'strong life energy' seemed to be judged by eating a lot without getting particularly fat.
"Croak."
"Hmm?"
Asakura was stunned for a moment.
"What is it saying again?"
Fujiwara Chika asked nervously, afraid that the other party was again suggesting how to deal with her.
"'A terrifying monster is sealed beneath this mountain, and its duty is to guard it. After all the sacrifices are released, it might not be able to hold it down,' that's what it said."
Asakura translated.
"Why can one sound generate such a long sentence...?"
"Don't underestimate our bond!"
"I don't think that's something someone who was punching the other party with a flaming fist half an hour ago should say..." The girl mumbled, "And I think it's scary enough already."
Asakura tried to sense, but he didn't feel any Curse from the mountain beneath his feet.
It seemed that what was sealed in the mountain should be something similar to the Fox Shapeshifter.
Then there was nothing to fear. From the situation just now, as long as he could confirm the other party's existence and pull them into his perception, even a hundred Fox Shapeshifters tied together wouldn't be his match.
Moreover, his right eye was also gradually recovering. Once his Truth Vision recovered to a certain extent, those things would have nowhere to hide from his eyes.
Asakura kicked the Fox Shapeshifter, which continued to melt into a puddle (Fujiwara Chika: Do you two really have a bond?!), and said, "If anything really pops out, notify me. If you can't beat it, run away, and quietly follow it until I arrive."
"Croak."
"Ah, this time it must be saying 'I understand,' right!"
Fujiwara Chika said happily.
"'This woman's chest and butt are the only parts that look tasty,' that's what it said."
"Why did it suddenly talk about what parts of me are tasty?!"
Actually, the Fox Shapeshifter was indeed saying something like 'Yes, sir,' but Asakura inexplicably didn't want to see the girl's smug, conceited look.
Anyway, the Fox Shapeshifter would be his subordinate from now on, and it was only natural for a subordinate to take the blame for their superior...
"Alright, for now, let's reinforce the barrier here, so no one else breaks in and becomes this guy's meal."
Asakura paused, then patted the girl's thigh behind him: "If you don't mind, sit under that tree for a while."
"I understand, reinforcing the barrier must be a very difficult task!"
Fujiwara Chika said excitedly.
"No, it's just that I've been carrying you for too long, and my back is starting to give out."
"Don't make it sound like Chika is heavy!"
The girl's eyes welled up.
Even so, she obediently sat under the tree, watching Asakura not far away.
The puddle of shadow that the Fox Shapeshifter had transformed into flowed to his feet, then reverted to its original form, lifting Asakura high up.
The young man looked down from above, the inky night permeating his silhouette.
He spread his hands, his eyes gazing at the shrine like deep lakes, yet with starlight like crushed diamonds floating in his irises.
Immediately after, Asakura clapped his hands together with a 'clap,' and the insects in the mountain seemed to sense something, stopping their long night's chirping, plunging the entire mountain into a prolonged silence in an instant.
Then, a strange light ascended from the ground, starting from in front of Asakura and spreading outwards.
The iridescent arc of light enveloped the entire shrine in an instant.
[Scale]
In fact, even now, Asakura could activate this level of Curse with just a thought.
However, Curse itself is greatly influenced by the caster's subjective consciousness, so performing specific actions, or simply speaking incantations, are all very effective forms of self-suggestion, allowing the Curse to manifest in the desired form more effectively.
Against the backdrop of this splendid, wondrous light, invisible to ordinary people, Asakura in Fujiwara Chika's eyes appeared with the imposing and handsome aura unique to those possessing supernatural powers.
Looking at the young man in the night, the girl suddenly felt her breathing quicken considerably, and even her body temperature seemed to rise.
Ah, so that's it.
The self-proclaimed love detective immediately realized.
Me…