Yami moved through the bamboo grove with a clear goal in mind.
Water splashed out of a wooden bucket, making the soil darker in wide, purposeful arcs. He walked around the outside, soaking every inch of ground until the earth sparkled and the air smelled like wet iron.
After that, he looked at the rebars.
A lot of them. Iron rods that have rusted and been driven deep into the ground, spaced a meter apart, stick up like the bones of something that has been buried and forgotten. He kicked each one hard to see if they would hold.
He stepped back and looked at what he had done when he was done.
The bamboo stalks around him grew tall and swayed gently. Hundreds of monofilament wires crossed at random heights between them, but you couldn't see them unless you knew where to look.
Some at the level of the ankle, some at the height of the chest, some higher still, almost touching the canopy.
A clearing in the woods that looks like a killing field.
Yami's mouth turned into something that wasn't quite a smile.
"That owl is cooked."
---
He got into the stance for summoning with his feet on the ground, hands making the seal. Shadow pooling around him like spilled ink.
"It all begins with lightning."
His voice came out meekly and reverent.
"Ionized marrow."
The shadow rippled in response.
"The shroud of friction."
Something stirred in the dark beneath his feet.
"Plummet through the ink-soaked heavens."
The shadow split open.
"Thunderbird Nue!"
A huge owl with storm-gray feathers and a face hidden behind a scary mask came out of the dark behind him. The smell of ozone filled the air as electricity crackled along its wingspan, arcing between feathers.
Nue flew around in a circle above, its yellow eyes locked on Yami with a hungry look.
Yami watched it go up, his tongue brushing against his lower lip for a moment.
'Nue, I want everything you have.'
'Your lightning. Your wings.'
'Everything.'
---
Nue dove.
It came down quickly, faster than any bird should have been able to move. Its talons were out, and electricity was building up along its body for a killing blow.
The first wire hit its wing.
It was not visible and very thin. The monofilament cut through feathers and into flesh, not deep enough to to slice Nue, but enough to jerk it sideways and make its flight path stutter.
The owl screeched and changed course, diving again.
More wires.
They got hold of its other wing, it's legs, it's edge of its mask. Each one pulled in a different direction, tearing Nue's path apart like puppet strings in the hands of a mean child.
The owl's flight became a mess, with it jerking left, dropping right, and climbing when it should have been going down, every move made it more stuck in the web.
Yami stood still in the middle of everything, watching.
"You're the owner of the sky, Nue."
He spoke in a calm voice, his tone kind.
"But I own the trees."
---
Nue yelled.
Not in pain this time, but in rage. It twisted violently to get free from the wires, sending feathers flying and blood dripping from a dozen shallow cuts.
After that, it stayed still.
Electricity gathered along its body, crackling and building until it formed a single, blinding point in the middle of its chest.
The discharge came like a thunderclap.
A column of raw voltage lanced straight at Yami's heart-
And missed.
Not because Nue's aim was bad. The bolt flew straight to where Yami was standing.
But electricity goes where it has the least resistance.
Instead, the current hit the closest iron rebar, then the next thing, then the next thing. It broke up on the grid of metal rods that Yami had driven into the wet ground. It raced through the iron and water, spreading everywhere except to the boy who was standing still in the middle.
Yami opened his arms wide.
"Shikigami can't tell physics what to do."
Nue screamed and shot again.
This time it changed. It flew lower, aimed directly at Yami's chest from a cleaner angle, and angled its shot to miss the rebars.
The bolt broke anyway.
Instead, it hit the monofilament wires, which are the hundreds of thin metal lines that are strung between the bamboo stalks. The current raced along them like veins lighting up, then it plunged into the wet ground and spread out in a thousand different directions.
None of them touched Yami.
But Nue was still linked.
The owl's talons touched the ground as it dove, finishing the circuit. The electricity it shot out didn't go away; it came back. It sped back through the water, the wires, and the air, hitting Nue's body like a fist.
The shikigami shook.
"Did you forget, Nue?"
Yami's voice was now soft, feeling sorry for them.
"You are also a conductor."
---
Nue hung in the air, twitching, with smoke coming out of the gaps in its feathers.
It was stuck in its own trap. Every bolt it fired went into the system below, which included the wet ground, the iron rods, and the wires.
Every path led back to the owl, A loop that is closed, A cage made of its own lightning.
It went off again due to reflex and desperation.
This time, the voltage looped back faster.
Nue yelled.
Yami stood there with his hands in his pockets.
"What's the matter?"
The owl's wings were twitching and couldn't stay still.
"Why aren't you fighting back?"
The edges of its feathers were getting blacker and curling from the heat of the shocks.
"Where did your electricity go?"
Nue stopped firing.
Its wings gave out.
The owl dropped from the sky like a stone, crashing through monofilament wires that sliced fresh wounds into its body, and hit the wet ground with a heavy thud.
It lay there, chest heaving, yellow eyes staring up at the bamboo canopy with acceptance.
Two dogs emerged from Yami's shadow.
They moved quietly, with their teeth showing and their eyes on the fallen shikigami on both sides.
A pincer attack!
Nue didn't have any problems and the dogs jumped on it.
The grove was quiet once more. The wind made the bamboo move. Somewhere nearby, water was dripping.
Yami stood over the place where Nue had fallen and looked down at nothing.
"The sky is mine now,"
He raised his hand and made the seal.
Nue came out of his shadow again, fully healed, with clean feathers and electricity crackling along its wingspan.
Yami looked at it for a long time.
'That's interesting. Subjugation gives you full restoration the next time you summon. But only once, after the first time they were tamed.'
He put the information away.
He turned to the pond nearby, where the water was dark and still.
"Okay, Nue, new plan."
The owl turned its masked face toward him.
"I'm going to get into that water and call Great Serpent, Divine Dogs your job is to keep it in the pond, don't let it come to the surface; don't let it run away."
The two dogs appeared at his sides, tongues hanging out, ready to go.
"Nue." Yami looked the owl in the eye. "When the snake is caught, shock the water."
The shikigami got it.
Yami cracked his neck and walked into the shallow water until it reached his knees.
"Okay."
His smile grew bigger.
"Let's cook a snake."