"Hmm…"
"Sir."
"Hmm…"
"Sir?"
"Hmm…"
"Sir, someone is stealing your butter-cookies."
"Who the hell is it?!" My attention was instantly focused on Nakamura, blinking at the deadpan stare he gave me before giving a sheepish smile as I remembered that I was carrying the plate of butter-cookies in my grasp.
"Were you calling for too long?"
"Just a couple of seconds, sir."
"Ah, sorry for that, then. So, what's up?"
"Nothing serious, sir. Just wanted to know why we're exorcising a spirit here after you said that it was not one to be worried about." He said with a frown and I smirked as I took off my jacket with a smirk.
"Of course, it's simply to impress a young man and perhaps his beautiful mother."
"…Are you really doing this to get laid, sir?"
"You're damn right!" I said with a nod, to which he gave me an incredulous stare before taking a deep breath and letting out with a sigh and a shake of his head.
"Should have known. I'm guessing I'm on guard duty, then?"
"With a bonus waiting for you if you do a good job, which is ridiculous to even say considering you've been doing a great job so far." I said as I patted the man on his shoulder right as I turned when I heard Kaoru's voice.
"Hi, Mr. Kanonji~!" He waved as the guards let him and his mom pass when I nodded, the young boy dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, a pair of light blue sneakers with white accents and a long-sleeved blue shirt with the "Unagi" logo on the front of it.
His mom, however, surprised me as she had her hair done up in a bun with the same purple scrunchy as before, wearing a similar pair of dark blue jeans that looked to be form-fitting, a dark grey shirt with the same "Unagi" logo on the front as well as a pair of black boots and a small black purse over her shoulders.
"Hello, Kaoru! I see you're excited for the exorcism." I said with a grin before chuckling as he nodded, looking at Ikumi and making her smile as I softly grasped her hand and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles.
"Ms. Unagiya, as radiant as usual."
"Mr. Kanonji, love the black on gold." She said as she gestured to my outfit, which was just a black button-up shirt with a golden dragon embroidered around the abdomen with the head over the left shoulder, a pair of black slacks with gold edges and simple black dress shoes along with my signature cane and glasses.
"Thank you. I didn't think to dress up for the occasion, but decided to do so since I would be showing off to one of my fans."
"Your biggest fan." Kaoru corrected me with a smug grin and I nodded with a smirk as his mother just gave me an amused smile.
"Ah, my apologies. My number one fan. Now, do you wish to dine first or watch me exorcise a spirit first?"
"It's not…violent, right?" Ikumi asked first with a slightly concerned smile before letting out a relieved sigh while Kaoru groaned as I shook my head.
"A bit, but not too much at all. It's mostly just me removing the impure energy from the soul and then letting them move on."
"I see. I don't need to ask you which one you want to do, huh?" She said while looking at her son, who simply looked excited while I smirked and nodded before gesturing for Nakamura to come closer.
"This is Nakamura, my best friend and assistant. He's in charge of making sure you guys don't get too close and that you are taking away the moment I ask just in case the spirit is more dangerous than I realize."
"Pleased to meet you both." Nakamura said with a smile and a bow, which Ikumi and Kaoru reciprocated before she frowned at the last part of my answer and turned towards me.
"How often does that last part happen?"
"Every one in twenty cases." I answered and Nakamura nodded in agreement, Ikumi looking between us before taking a deep breath and nodding.
"Okay, then! Onwards!" I exclaimed as I spun around and began walking deeper into the graveyard, hearing Nakamura's audible footsteps behind me as well as the excited and nervous steps of Kaoru and Ikumi respectively.
'Hopefully, nothing goes wrong.' I thought with a frown as we made our way towards the spot where the mayor had said he'd seen the Hollow walking towards while smiling and nodding at the Pluses that watched us walk past, surprising them before they smiled and waved back.
However, as we walked closer to the spot, I frowned at the soft and melodic whistling tune echoing through the air as we continued walking, feeling the temperature around us slowly dropping while the Pluses I waved at simply ignored me and continued shuffling towards the origin of the tune like zombies.
"Nakamura, five meter distance." I said as I picked up my walking speed, knowing that he along with the two guards I brought along were going to keep them away the safe distance while I frowned as I watched the Pluses walk into a specific section before swiftly fading away as if they never existed.
'No, as if they were absorbed by something.'
"Hado #4: Byakurai!" I chanted as I pointed my cane and pulled on the reishi around me and the Reiryoku inside me before unleashing a disastrous bolt of lightning that carved through the air.
The bolt crashed into solid air with a beautiful bright blue flash and I frowned as something leapt out of the smoke, staring down the large armadillo-like Hollow with brown fur covering its back and arms while while its legs were a light purple with brown near the feet.
Its mask looked to be extending over its spine with spike protrusions every few dozen or so centimeters and also having long protrusions coming out the side of its mask with three orange tufts arising from the top.
However, there were two things about this Hollow that surprised me, the first being that it was standing on its hind legs with its forelegs being more like arms with long claws.
The second however was the face that was staring at me from behind the mask with a glare, a loincloth with a rope belt around his waist and a dark brown/ grey katana strapped inside the belt.
'That's an Arrancar.' I thought in shock as I calmed myself, raising a fist with only the index finger pointed up right before I curled it slightly, a signal that only Nakamura would decipher as it was one we practised extensively.
Run right now!
It appears that he remembered our training as I heard their footsteps quickly rushing away, able to finally focus all of my attention on the Arrancar as it stood up straight with its glare still on me.
"You ruined my feeding time." It growled and my frown deepened as I held my cane like I was aiming with a cue stick, the beast glaring at me as it grasped the hilt of its sword before vanishing from my eyesight.
"Bakudo #8: Seki!" However, I didn't need to see him as I quickly created a disk of blue light behind me right as I felt his Reiatsu and heard the sound of static appearing behind me, spinning around while leaping away right as he slashed at the disk only to be repelled backwards.
"Bakudo #9: Geki!" Quickly tracing the kanji for 'Bind' the moment I landed, I pushed it with the butt of my cane before frowning as he flipped over it and vanished once more, gathering Reiryoku on my index and middle fingers and pulling on the reishi while spinning in a wide circle.
"Bakudo #9: Hōrin!" With a simple chant, a tendril of orange spiritual energy shout out from my fingers right as I swung it around like a whip, grinning as the Arrancar appeared right as the whip wrapped around one of its legs.
"Hado #11: Tsuzuri Raiden!" I enjoyed the shock that appeared in the Arrancar's eyes as I placed my sparking cane atop the whip, electricity racing down the whip at a blistering pace and hitting it with a powerful current that made it roar in pain.
However, it was not enough and I grunted in surprise as the Arrancar gripped the whip before ripping me off of my feet and pulling me towards him, quickly firing a non-verbal Shobelow me right as the Arrancar swung at my flying form and barely missed cutting me with its katana.
However, I wheezed as it spun with its swing and connected to my side with a powerful heel kick, gritting my teeth to stifle the pained shout echoing in my throat as I ragdolled across the ground.
Unfortunately, I had to force myself to roll over as the Arrancar followed up on his attack, pushing myself off of the ground with a grunt and flipping over right as it slammed a fist down.
Pulling on the Hollow Reiroyku around my neck, I fuelled it through my body while blasting out a Cero at its form, the Arrancar's surprise messing up his timing as he got hit in the chest with the blast and sent rolling head over heels across the ground.
Frowning as I now focused on the Hollow Reiryoku I pulled into my body, I hissed as I felt a burning sensation overtaking the pain I felt from the large bruise on my side, watching in shock as it faded slightly while the pain also dimmed significantly.
It wasn't to the point that I was fully healed, but now I could fight without keeling over in pain every single time I moved.
"Bakudo #4: Hainawa!" And I didn't miss a single moment as I created a sparking ball of golden light in my free hand before grasping it firmly and swinging my hand out at the Hollow, a golden rope of light shooting from my hand and wrapping around the Hollow right as it landed while glaring at me.
"Carriage of Thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six. Bakudo #61: Rikujōkōrō!" Immediately, I could feel my Reiryoku plummeting to near-empty as I fell to a knee, gasping for air as the light in my hands was ripped away before grinning tiredly as six thin and wide beams of light were formed from Hainawa and slammed hard into the Arrancar's abdomen to keep him in place.
I could see it struggling to break free, but this spell was fuelled with every bit of Reishi I could pull from the world around us as well as my own Reiryoku, meaning it was overpowered to the max as I watched it desperately trying to destroy it.
However, I could not let it end there as the Hollow could simply escape once again and run away, which mean that it had to be taken care of here and now.
Nearly all of the Hollow Reiryoku inside my makeshift Hogyoku was pulled out and towards my finger, the Arrancar's eyes widening as I held up the end of my cane towards it right before a gigantic and chaotic orb of energy the size of my upper body appeared in front of it.
"Cero!" The beam was monstrous as it cleaved through the air like a powerful chainsaw, with me staring in awe as it erased the Arrancar along with everything spiritual behind it with a beautiful scarlet explosion.
However, I forced myself to stay awake as I grasped onto the reishi around the explosion and contained it completely in a cube of solid air, my limbs shaking as I knew that if I let this keep expanding, the entire graveyard along with everything inside it would be eradicated.
It felt like hours before the explosion finally shrank down and I pulled out the orb from my necklace, funnelling all the energy from it into the orb and making sure none escaped before gasping as it snapped shut and left only me lying on the ground with my cane at my side.
'Everything…everything hurts.' Compared to this, the struggle I had with the energy of the Gillian was a walk in the park as I didn't have to struggle that much, but then again, this might have either been a powerful Gillian or a very weak Adjuchas that stopped its transformation into an Arrancar so there must have been more souls.
'I'm just glad it didn't take me enough to go all-out from the start or I'd be dead. Still, considering the energy in this orb is nearly triple that of what the Gillian gave me, it was most definitely stronger. Also, this serves as a valuable lesson to me. I'm still very weak.' I thought with a frown before grunting as I stood up, looking down at the large rip in the side of my shirt from where the Hollow had hit me before shaking my head as I slowly stumbled my way towards the crater that was left by the explosion.
"I know your souls' energies are trapped inside of this and I don't know if you all can pass on without it, but I wish you the best of luck in your next life and may you thrive in paradise. Namu Amida Butsu." I prayed with a smile and a bow to the souls that I trapped, using a sliver of the Hollow Reiryoku to heal mostly the cuts around my body as well as the large bruise on my side.
The organ damage was still there, but I took a deep breath and smiled as it was only a slight sting I felt, turning around before making my way to where I could feel the others near the entrance of the graveyard.
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"Sir!" Nakamura exclaimed the moment he caught sight of me, a panicked look on his face at my sight while Ikumi looked shocked and Kaoru looked pale.
"Don't worry, buddy. This is just because I underestimated how powerful the evil spirit was. Thanks for following my hand signal."
"I was going to move us away anyway since you tend to rarely have a nervous look on your face."
"Uh, you two talk like he doesn't have a dark bruise on his side and that it looks as if you went five rounds with a bear." Ikumi's voice drew us from our discussion and I smiled as I shook my head.
"No need to worry. These will heal overnight as hospitals cannot exactly heal wounds made by a spiritual monster like a spirit." I answered and she frowned slightly before I blinked as Kaoru spoke up from the side.
"Did you beat it?! Is it gone?! How tough was it?!"
"Yes, it's gone to the afterlife and it was probably my toughest exorcism to date." I answered and he shook in place with an excited grin before calming down as his mom placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Sweetheart, that's enough bothering Mr. Kanonji. Why don't you go eat for a bit before we have to leave?"
"I'll take him." Nakamura said and I smirked amusedly while Ikumi rolled her eyes as Kaoru gave me a pointed stare with a frown, my assistant looking at me in confusion before shrugging as I shook my head.
"So, I know what you're doing." Ikumi said and it didn't surprise me as I smiled and nodded.
"I kind of expected that."
"And?"
"And I would like to go out with you." I answered directly as I looked at her, to which she raised an eyebrow at me while crossing her arms under her voluptuous bosom.
"Listen, I really appreciate you wanting little old me, but…I just can't right now. My relationship with Kaoru's dad just ended a few days ago, which is why we were wandering the library area 'cause he heard from some friends you were there and I wanted to do something that took his mind off of it. That and I really can't do a relationship right now."
"…Truthfully, I am a bit disappointed, but that's not your fault. I completely understand." I spoke with a smile and she gave me a thankful one before we turned just in time to see Kaoru walking towards us.
However, I smirked and Ikumi groaned at the sight of the young boy carrying a covered platter filled with all sorts of food, Nakamura walking sides him with two more before I patted her on the shoulder as she looked at me.
"Don't worry, it's all free."
"…Everything?" She asked and I nodded before blinking as the woman smirked and walked right past her son before I burst out with laughter as she took out a couple of tubberware containers.
I guess if it's free, she doesn't mind at all, then.
'Hah, you win some, you lose some. Such is the circle of life.'
A/N: Surprise upload~ Yeah, I couldn't sit still for today and since The Unholy Wolf might be ending, it needs a new story to take its place.
The Don now knows how strong he is compared to most people in the verse. Also, just wanted to show that while he can use/ imitate high-levels spells, it's still very draining for him to use something above the thirties.
Something to add, the Arrancar was a filler one that could create immeasurable miniature clones of itself, but it not only underestimated the Don, but thought that it could beat him with just its base abilities, hence the easy kill and why it didn't.
Also, like I said, still stuck on whether it should be Ikumi or Jackie which I might just do a poll for.
Actually, that sounds like the best option here.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next chapter,
Ba-Bye~!