-465- The ace among aces

"Clang..."

On Natsume's hand, the gradually depicted pattern began to emit a faint light, growing brighter with each stroke and line that Rozen drew.

At the same time, Rozen's magical power continuously flowed into Natsume, forming patterns on the back of her hand.

In this moment, Natsume could feel Rozen's magical power entering her body, causing the area on the back of her hand to heat up.

At this point, if Natsume had even a hint of resistance, the magical power entering her body would dissipate, and the contract would fail.

However, Natsume didn't resist even a bit, allowing Rozen's magical power to flow smoothly and spread throughout her body.

Gradually, after what seemed like a long time, Rozen stopped.

"Done."

With a sigh of relief, Rozen announced.

In that instant, Natsume clearly felt it.

She felt an invisible spiritual vein had appeared between her and Rozen.

This spiritual vein was very stable and powerful, tightly connecting the spiritual energy between Rozen and Natsume. Their spiritual powers intermingled rapidly and smoothly, as if merging with each other.

On her hand, a pattern formed by three interconnected rings was imprinted there, emitting a faint light.

"This is..."

Looking at the pattern on her hand, Natsume was astonished.

To this, Rozen smiled slightly.

"This is a custom-made shikigami contract by me."

Rozen explained.

The Tsuchimikado family emblem is a pentagram.

In Onmyoudou, the pentagram represents the fundamental pattern of the Yin and Yang Five Elements, which can be traced back to Abe no Seimei.

Therefore, it is often called the "Seimei Kikyo Seal" or "Seimei-mon." It is a well-known protective talisman that frequently appears in spells.

In the highest-level Shikigami contract granted by Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi to Rozen, the fundamental mark is the pentagram etched onto the Shikigami. This emblem serves as the source, elevating the spiritual connection between the practitioner and the Shikigami to its peak.

It enhances the flow of spiritual energy and synchronizes the spiritual senses of both parties. As long as they are not separated by a significant distance, they can generally sense each other's presence, allowing the practitioner to call upon the Shikigami.

However, Rozen modified this contract based on his own understanding.

Specifically, he changed the pentagram mark to a pattern of three interlocking rings.

It may sound simple, but in reality, it's not just a matter of tweaking the mark.

To accomplish this, Rozen made significant alterations to the contract ritual itself. Had he not possessed a deep understanding of contracts and extensive research on Chaldea's summoning system, this modification might not have been successful.

The moment he completed this modification, Rozen promptly replaced the contract between himself and Hokuto with this custom-made contract.

It made the spiritual connection between them incredibly robust, greatly enhancing the flow of spiritual energy. This enabled Hokuto to wield even greater power, and Rozen found it much easier to control Hokuto, making it highly effective.

Now, Rozen uses this custom-made Shikigami contract for Natsume.

Hence, Natsume felt the exceptionally strong and stable spiritual connection between her and Rozen, leading to signs of their spiritual energies gradually blending together.

Understanding this, Natsume was initially astonished, then voiced her confusion.

"But why this pattern?"

The pattern of three interlocking rings.

This pattern had never appeared in any of the traditions such as Onmyoudou, Mikkyo, Shinto, or Shugendou.

Naturally, Natsume had this question.

Rozen seemed to have anticipated Natsume's curiosity and explained straightforwardly.

"Because this pattern represents my fundamental nature."

That was the reason.

The pentagram represents the fundamental principles of Yin and Yang, as well as the Five Elements. It's also the Tsuchimikado family emblem, encompassing a wide range, diluting the precision of the contract.

It's akin to a weapon; anyone can use it. However, if it's a specially modified weapon tailored to a specific target, others might not be able to use it. But once used by that specific target, it can significantly enhance the weapon's power.

The Tsuchimikado family's Shikigami contract operates in a similar way. Anyone can use it, but with universality comes a certain level of smoothing in the effects.

Rozen, however, was not entirely satisfied with this. That's why he modified the ritual, replacing the pentagram, symbolizing the fundamentals of Yin and Yang, with the talismans representing his own essence.

In other words, Rozen turned this contract into a custom-made ritual for his own use, raising its precision to the maximum.

Thanks to this, due to the enhanced spiritual connection, it became nearly impossible for anyone to sever the link between Rozen and the Shikigami, unless Rozen willingly dissolved the contract. Even if the Shikigami itself tried to sever the contract, it would need to be significantly more powerful than Rozen to succeed.

One can imagine just how powerful the effects of this Shikigami contract are.

Of course, the conditions to use this contract have become quite stringent, demanding that the Shikigami does not resist Rozen's magical power in the slightest.

Otherwise, even a hint of resistance would not only cause the contract to fail but also prevent the mark from being engraved.

Rozen briefly explained, then raised his right hand.

"See, the same pattern is on my hand, right?"

Rozen showed the command seal on the back of his hand to Natsume.

The command seal had always been with Rozen, accompanying him wherever he went. Natsume, who grew up with Rozen, naturally knew about it.

However, including Natsume, everyone thought this was a birthmark of Rozen.

Although this birthmark was too distinct and realistic, aside from this, no one could think of a second possibility.

As for the ring worn on Rozen's hand, it was considered something very important to Rozen, and no one knew its origins.

Rozen mentioned that this "birthmark" represented his own essence, and Natsume could only nod in a somewhat understanding manner.

But...

"It seems like your left hand also has a similar birthmark."

Natsume pointed to Rozen's left hand and said these words.

Upon closer examination, on the back of Rozen's left hand, at some unknown time, the pattern of three interlocking rings had appeared.

In other words, a command seal had also appeared on Rozen's left hand.

If this were known to the people in Chaldea, they would be utterly astonished.

But Rozen touched the talisman on his left hand and smiled with a somewhat profound meaning.

"This is the ace among aces, you know?"

Rozen said with a smiling expression.

Then, he returned to the main point.

"Anyway, with this, Natsume, you have officially become my Shikigami," Rozen said to Natsume. "I'll rely on you for the days to come."

Upon hearing this, Natsume also touched the contract pattern on the back of her hand and felt a rush of happiness, joy, and the fulfillment of her wish.

"Yes."

Natsume nodded heavily.

And so, Natsume became Rozen's Shikigami, embarking on the path of jujutsu together.