14 Chapter 14 Commissioned by Kriegan

I had already read about Onmoyodo especially in terms of their reliance on familiars to do everything from supporting them magically and providing them with both power and being a conduit to use magic. So Onmoyodo across the world was viewed with both respect and disdain as the mage using that system of magic would be capped at their familiar's power level and potential.

Changing Familiars was a painful process as the process to make the familiar one with you and forge the connection to the mage was one of a soul-binding contract. Not dissimilar to how a Sacred Gear was attached to a human's soul. This is why so many Eastern mages absolutely loved having a reasonably distant monster/supernatural creature heritage as that bloodline would make the bloodline stronger and capable of contracting with stronger concepts or beings to make the Onmoyoji mage stronger.

Of course, the supernatural addition to the bloodline had to be in the distant past and with no notable mutations to the human form lest the children be banished or killed to preserve the sanctity of the bloodline.

There were many steps in Onmyoji to turn your Familiar into a proper Shikigami and becoming a powerful conduit of yourself but to start, you needed a base five elements seal that called upon the pure elements of Wind, Earth, Fire, Water, and Metal/Wood to call upon the elemental plane to connect to elemental spirit if that's what you wanted. Which is what I wanted.

"You sure, you don't want to just have a Shikigami bound to one of your weapons? They are Celestial Bronze after all." Senko asked slowly as she made sure my five elements ritual glyph was coming along correctly.

I shook my head with a wry smile as I responded. "I got decent speed and strength now that I can manhandle three and even four-tailed Gumiho which is a decent start, then I have my archery to deal with people from a long distance... Having some elemental magic or a shinigami to call upon to harass an enemy from a medium distance would be a potent tool." I explained and Senko hummed before nodding in thought.

"Then will you be using a catalyst for the alignment of the elemental spirit you wish to contract?" Senko continued and I froze before shaking my head and I smiled confidently.

"No... I am going without a ritual to help with the gatcha as they are a lie Haha." I laughed to myself and the sigil burned with light as my mana connected to the 'elemental planes' which were hellscape dimensions that were at least fifty percent purely that element's self, like the fire domain/realm was... The sun basically, the Water realm was an ocean that could be studied a good bit, and likewise, the Earth's elemental plane is a seemingly endless mountain range.

But as I connected to the ritual and the many glyphs came to life my face twitched as Senko spoke blandly at the sight before us as the five-pointed arrow twisted and became a wreath of shadows that seemingly swirled into the air. "And that's why you use a catalyst Jake Barriss... Otherwise, your natural suitabilities to weird concepts like gravity, soul, or even something like Dreams will connect you to stuff like shadows instead of the well-studied five pure elements." She said as I took a deep breath and closed my eyes to explore my connection to the concept of shadow.

Then a mental dinging noise went off and with my eyes still closed I mentally read the pop-up within my mind. [Ten Shadows Technique gained!] [User may bind spiritual beings after killing them and absorbing their essence. Forming a shinigami within the user, that may control the Shikigami at will, or allowing the Shikigami autonomy.]

[Warning! The user must kill and devour the spiritual entities on their own in a Geass-bound ritual of a fight to the death, with only other Shikigami bound to the user able to assist the user in the battle.]

The warning bit at the end was a kicker, especially with it being a Geass-bound contract of my power and soul plus the possible Shikigami's that would prevent me from fleeing a battle should it be too much and I accidentally summoned something too powerful.

Mentally toggling the Ten Shadows Technique that I knew my system ripped off of JJK, I read what its functions were and my face twitched at the contents within.

[User may at any time call upon the elemental planes to summon spiritual entities that will seek to kill you and take over your body once you die, and in recompense should the user kill and absorb the essence of the summoned entity, they may distribute the essence to other priorly captured Shikigami to strengthen them or use the essence to form a new Shikigami.]

Then with a flicker of the solid-looking shadow, the ritual ground swirled into brighter life as I pulled at the elemental realms to summon a spiritual entity. And with a mental flex of will I called upon the domain or realm of Water as I felt more confident with my blessings to deal with ice attacks.

And from the ritual site that shined with a deceptively strong yet gentle blue light. From the swirling formation of mana came the spiritual entity from the realm of water. It wasn't a monster girl or a possible waifu. It was the manifestation of semi-sentient water-attributed energy.

The water elemental took the form of a large crab the size of a hippo, with the exo skeleton being shining and pure ice while the joints were clear and pure water that glistened under the light with unnatural clarity.

Senko was silent as I and the overly large crab eyed one another. A contract of blood born of our own lives tied the two of us. Just as I came to accept my slaughter of Gumiho to become stronger, richer, and of course to earn access to powerful tomes within the Continental to learn powerful martial arts and spells. I had accepted this battle and so did the spirit accept the battle and its possible consequences.

There was no word spoken between the crab and myself, no pre-battle banter as likely the water spirit couldn't communicate either way, but there was an animalistic understanding between predators that for a split second we shared as beings that understood we were going to do the best we could, to murder the other.

With a split second, the crab's ice pincers snapped toward around me with a shrieking noise of displaced air but instead of trying to dodge, I stabbed a celestial bronze sword into the pit of the pincer and the ice of the claw shattered loudly with the sword sinking seemingly harmlessly through the water that made up its flesh.

I stepped back to avoid another snapping pincer that sought to cut me in half with the large pincers but even as I stepped back I idly threw an observe at the water spirit. [Unnamed Water Spirit Level 23] It was a good deal lower level than even a three-tailed Gumiho and its speed reflected that truly.

As it stepped forward on its multiple legs to make another attempt at snipping me with its still-working claw I activated both the Giant's Blade Technique along with the Martial Intent skill I dipped and stabbed forward crushing its claw that sought to block my blow under a punishing blow of precise pressure as I used the growing head and length of the spear to carve into the head of the water elemental.

"Jake you are going to kill the elemental?" Senko called out frowning slightly and I didnt answer at that moment as I took a breath and with a violent twist of the spear, I channeled a great deal of mana into the spear to create a mana burst, blowing up the water innards of the water elemental sending the glowing water across the room and a mental ding ringing through my head.

[User, has successfully slain low-tier Water Elemental. - Reward, low-tier Water elemental]

[Low-Tier Water Elemental gained, User may summon the elemental to fight for or otherwise serve him. Aquistion and incorporation of a Water Elemental and first elemental in general has unlocked elemental alignment information for User.]

I looked over to Senko and to assure her everything was alright I clapped my hands together and my shadow darkened with the same large water crab crawling out of the shadow coming out. "Sorry, to confuse you but I got a different Familiar contracting method that requires me to duel the spiritual entity first. Which means I cannot contract non-spiritual entities in exchange." I explained and she nodded in understanding and visibly took a breath of relief.

"I see..." She muttered with a small smile before she shook her head and continued. "In either case, what are your plans now for us in the short time if you don't mind me asking?" Senko asked conversationally but there was no disguising the tension in her frame from the question.

I blinked before shrugging as I spoke wryly. "I am not going to be sending you all out on missions just yet," I said blandly before popping my neck and frowning as I dismissed the away my new shikigami and mentally filed away to look at my elemental affinities chart and what it was about.

But right now I focused on Senko, one of the most interesting Gumiho I captured honestly with her somehow inheriting some of Inari's essence which made her sickly. I walked over and offered Senko an arm so I could help her from the ritual area we made in the little foxhole the Sakura family used to avoid the purge. After escorting Senko back to the living room I went into the kitchen with Yuki following me and glaring the other kitsune into not following me as well.

"I can feel your magic flowing through your body easier," Yuki stated softly before she pushed herself into my back with her large soft breasts pushing my back like she was hugging me with a whole pile of pillows separating us. Either way, I enjoyed her hug as her arms wrapped around the front of my chest while she got on her tippy toes to gently lay her chin on my shoulder.

I hummed in agreement before speaking softly. "I got a water elemental summon... Either way, Yuki I need your help and opinion." I said holding her hands with my other hand as I began to speak softly even though Yuki had sealed the kitchen from allowing sounds from escaping. "I removed the Gumiho curse from them, the kitsune I have taken on. But the vestiges remain with a sin of gluttony that will help them grow more powerful should they keep to their old diet though their curse wouldn't resurface... Should I allow them to all consume sentient flesh to grow and possibly encourage prior habits?" I asked softly.

Yuki paused after hearing my explanation and after half a minute of her clearly thinking out my scenario and realizing that realization could make the once Gumiho backslide and would even be a mark against me due to the Gumiho being a monster that was pretty much universally hated across the realms and universe... Having me connected to a bunch of flesh-eaters wasn't good.

Having a harem of Kitsune was one thing... The supernatural world would think I was just a Gigachad bigus dickus able to seduce the beauties and may just be having me as a boy toy or something. especially as they grow stronger and acquire more tails. But a guy having a harem/collection of flesh-eating monsters who explicitly go after sentients to eat? Yeah, not a good look.

Finally, though Yuki spoke flatly. "I believe... They should not find out what you are feeding them. They won't be leaving this realm anytime soon even should we leave, so we can use modern Earth spices to drown out the native flavors of their... Typical diets."

I couldn't help but snort at what she was meaning. Just imagine a peasant from long ago trying to eat a Dorito... They would literally choke and die from the excessive flavor and processed foods.

I nodded and then got to work. Using a bit of the stored hearts and livers we picked up from the storehouse for the city we looted, I took her suggestion... And fucking drowned the meat in excessive flavors that I had no doubt would make it taste horrible and painful to eat.

As Japan and I are sure this Gumiho realm has never had the glory of trying a Carolina Reaper. So while I chuckled evilly and my eyes freely cried tears of pain as the stupidly hot peppers I added to the minced into basically paste hearts and livers all but drowned out any native flavor as I then added red and green salsa to the mix to cook the meat and peppers down.

"Jake... I am not eating that." Yuki said deeply muffled and I looked over my shoulder and couldn't help but gawk seeing how she was literally wearing a gas mask to cover her face. "I adore you a good bit and accept you as my husband... But I refuse to eat that." She said with regret clear in her voice and I smiled wryly and then took out another pan that matched the other one and then placed some normal ground beef and mild green sauce.

"Yuki... It's human/sentient meat in this." I said dryly to her nudging the containment spatula for that pan as I continued. "Of fucking course we aren't eating that Haha," I said with being unable to keep the chuckle from escaping me at the clear droop in her shoulders in relief.

I shook my head with a small smile stuck to my face as I continued cooking a non-nuclear spicy level of chili for us to eat. Along with, of course, the meat being simple ground beef in contrast to sentient mystery meat.

Yuki relaxed against me and my smile deepened with contentment as she wrapped an arm around my waist and leaned her head against my shoulder as she watched me cook. "Our mission only has a couple of days left." She mused before leaving a moment of silence before she continued more seriously. "Jake, as per usual with each purge, we will be assaulting the Gumiho realm's capital and their wards. Even with Kiyohime and our preparation, casualties are inevitable as they have strong members, and traps like the inverse barrier we used to purge the last city won't work at all." She spoke before sighing and taking a breath.

My arm wrapped around her waist to pull her tighter against me, and then I spoke softly. "I get it, Yuki... I don't plan on going too deep and messing with the stronger Gumiho." I said reassuringly and she nodded with some relief making her tense form relax. And with that, we simply shared a gentle silence with the other as I finished cooking up the food.

Then we took out the food into the living room. And as we plated up the food I set out some vanilla ice cream and some jars of milk in front of all the girls. "Alright girls..." I said solemnly. "This food is a secret family recipe that relies on magical herbs and other things that through internal heat, will increase your strength and magical storage," I explained and the girls shared a look of confusion before nodding.

And then in unison they used their large Asian soup spoons to take a good bite and sip of the chili, with its meat, sauce, veggies, and some noodles I added for texture. The moment the 'flavor' and spice of the Carolina Reaper hit their tongues would be one I would never forget.

As Kaga and Akagi gagged and held their throats as their faces became bright red, the other girls also had a strong reaction... All of them, except for Senko who smiled at my dumbfounded expression as she spoke with a slight lisp. "I used Omnyodo to seal away my tastebuds." She said simply and I blinked at that cheat. And honestly, that was fine, if their taste buds were sealed away they wouldn't be able to tell the source of the meat.

"Jake... It burns!" Kaga cried out pitifully while her mother Amagi looked at me with dissatisfaction in her eyes which had tears starting to fall down slightly at the pain.

I could only nod with a wry smile as I said softly. "I am sorry girls but getting stronger isn't something so easily done... You should learn how to seal your own tastebuds from Senko as well, also that's what the milk and ice cream is for." I explained gently although it clearly hurt them.

They ate everything, even shuddering while drinking the broth of the 'tonic' to get all the nutrients they could.

And then with that done, I called a meeting between all the girls. "Alright, so tomorrow and likely the day after that, Yuki and I will be finishing up our missions stay in the realm as the rest of the other parties come back from their raids and then we will be making an attempt at raiding the Capital," I explained with the girls nodding in understanding then I continued. "Now, even though I will be leaving with the group back to Earth, I will be coming back here after a couple of days afterward to let things relax, and whoever may be watching the realm get bored. Then once I return I will be giving you all, very intensive training to get you three-tailed kitsune to at least five tails, and the one-tails up to three or four tails." I said with steel in my voice.

Yukikaze folded her arms under her chest as she spoke up. "And how will you be training us into the ground when you are only a bit stronger than us?" She asked with honest curiosity and no derision in how she basically was calling me weak sorta.

And in return, I answered blandly. "I have been a part of the supernatural world for all of less than a month without a Sacred Gear or a magical inheritance or being a reincarnation... Either way, I have my methods and I will be growing a great deal in power once my plans for this realm come to fruition." I said and then reiterated how I grew in strength with servant's territory and of course treasures I owned.

After that, I coughed and took a drink before I swallowed and went silent before speaking again. "Then after I train you girls for a bit and before we go straight into my plan on breaking this Realm into petty kingdoms for us to take over and add to my territory, I will be bringing you girls to Earth as I have a large mission I have need of you all in," I said remembering my mission to force the demi-god children of Detroit to return to Camp Halfblood who were supposedly mostly children of Ares.

And dear gods I realized that almost assuredly the majority of those kids were going to be gang kids or something with their connection and heritage to the brutish Ares. Either way I tapped on the table to continue. "There is a cabal of Demi-god children of the Greek faction in the cities of both Chicago and Detroit, our mission is to for one, save their lives and break the monster groups forming around them that seek to devour them, and secondly the most important part of the mission will be in trafficking the kids to New York to send them to Camp Halfblood where the Greek's keep their spawn," I explained quickly making the girls share looks in thought.

As I priorly assumed, Senko definitely had an eye for details as she spoke wryly. "I assume the children even should we save them, will probably not desire to go to New York will they?"

To that I could only frown and nod as the kids weren't stupid, they had been hunted by monsters for god knows how long, and most importantly they knew the gods were fucking assholes. So I honestly thought getting the kids to the Camp was going to be the biggest issue.

Amagi then spoke up softly as she folded her arms under her large breasts in the most simple of answers. "Then we simply capture the children with sedatives or use Youjutsu to curse them into a temporary deep sleep." She said giving me a blunt option to consider.

After a bit more talking around Shinano then said lightly. "We could always take them to the East Coast and then while saying we were heading South go North until we hit the hidden part of the Camp which borders the ocean."

I blinked before nodding as all the plans were honestly decent and unless there was a hidden child of a sea god or something with them, let's be honest few people know how to find out which direction they were heading in by keeping track of the sun.

Either way, I clapped my hands as I took in a breath. "Alright, glad we are all on the same page. Now, I suggest we all get some rest so Yuki and I can finish up the mission in the next couple of days... Also in the morning, I will make sure to make plenty of the tonic for you girls to have for lunch and dinner each day." I finished with a smile as the girls one and all even Yuki whined about how painful the food was.

After that bit of whining was over with and the girls washed out their mouths and hands to get rid of any leftover oils from the dinner we settled in for bed... And I already was feeling like an emperor as I had Yuki lying on my chest, and the rest of the kitsune laying around my body in a circle on the massive Sakura family bed, and Yuki was the lynchpin in making my harem life possible in sharing a bed.

Eight people and even more kitsune tails in one bed made a lot of body heat after all... But Yuki being a Yuki-Onna made it comfortable as she passively radiated a small chill that kept the bed comfortable.

All in all... I was snuggling with literally fourteen fantastic tits pressing against me at various points. I was truly a blessed man already.

-

The next morning was a quick and easy eggs and rice breakfast, while I fixed up a literal small barrel of the stupidly spicy soup for them to eat and cover up to the flavor and texture of the sentient meat. Then after making their food, I got a quick shower with Shinano and Amagi 'helping' me and making sure I left the house with my balls drained so I wouldn't be distracted for the days we were going to be separated.

While we made our way toward the main encampment, Yuki said quietly. "Try to keep out of view of Kiyohime, and stick with my clan while the priestess and her discuss with the rest of the remaining mercenary company leaders on prioritizing targets."

I nodded in understanding with an equally almost silent "Alright." Being the confirmation to her advice and thus we entered the large house that was acting as the main base for our purge and seeing everyone I recalled what she said before about the 'remaining' mercenaries.

As out of the odd couple hundred that first came onto the mission, there were less than fifty left or reporting for this major meeting that would decide the outcome of this whole mission.

After we walked in, and I took Yuki's advice and sat close to the center of the Yuki-Onna clan's group, we could already hear the mercenary leader speaking to the priestess in a brusque tone though that could have just been his massive frame-making his voice sound that way.

"The freelancers don't have the numbers and strength to assail an entire cardinal direction of the city frankly, we are better suited going about our own designs and causing havoc once you and Lady Kiyohime crack open the wards and allow us entry." The large man stated.

In response Kanna the priestess tittered elegantly as she pulled up a fan that screamed of potent enchantments upon its form as she spoke cooly. "The Kannui clan will not be your siege breakers' to allow you jackels to pillage the city without paying the price to break into the city... I have an idea!" Kanna said with some cold delight entering their voice as she looked over to the side where a paper wall was obscuring our view of the last leader who seemingly didn't care to be seen right now.

"Lady Kiyohime," Kanna said with a more natural respect in her voice. "May these fine gentlemen follow you into battle so they may do their duties without interfering with our more delicate means of breaking into the city." She said diplomatically and the mercenary leader paled as the temperature of the room went up a few degrees as I heard a paper fan snap shut.

A bored and dull voice answered seemingly without care. 'Very well, Kaira you and your men will follow behind me and focus on killing the Gumiho that seek to escape my flames." Kiyohime ordered and for a moment the mercenary leader chewed on his thoughts before nodding reluctantly though.

Then with that all said, the priestess began going over battle plans and the information the Shinto had on the Gumiho capital which has stood the test of several purges without being utterly destroyed. The city itself was a walled-in city with the walls forming a perfect square with the city being built over the Realm's core and all its branching 'Dragon Veins's or leylines. So the wards were truly unbreakable or inexhaustible in reality.

As to break the wards would need the realm itself to be broken. "So with the wards being utterly unbreakable and tied into the realm's whole existence, we cannot drain or even shut it off temporarily beyond for bit a few seconds... "What we can and will be doing however is altering the wards themselves and making them work slightly to our favor by forcing it to instead target not Gumiho, and instead forcing it to attack all people flying above a couple meters off the ground. Preventing the Gumiho from escaping so that all we need to do is kill all that which stands in front of us." The priestess finished explaining and then took a breath.

"The debrief is now over, we will be all moving into the city as soon as we arrive to not give the Gumiho time to react," Kanna said with finality.