18 advance chapters in my Patreon.
Patreon.com/Saintbarbido.
::------------------------------------------::
(Davian's P.O.V)
"Stop or..." Artemis begun only for her trail off.
She swallowed, fear encroaching on her features as her hands trembled from the brief exposure to my Spiritual pressure.
She mewled, letting the arrow fly loose in blind panic.
I snatched it off the air as it headed for my neck, proceeding to pull on the Arrow's soul and crushing it.
The wood crumbled into fine gray ash on the inside of my palm.
I left it blow away into the night air while I approached Cheshire, passing over Artemis who fell to her knees, breathing heavily and staring at me with wide eyes.
"Ever since your control over Reiryoku got better, the rest of your skills show different results. Stronger results. You're quite handy with the Spiritual pressure, able to minimize or maximize it's effects on a target."
Chase observed.
He was right, my spirit skills had shot up in both power and ease of control. Especially the power part.
And adjusting it to different settings of lethality was easily doable.
With Falcone and Zsasz, I had exposed them to about 70%, which had been enough to instantly send them to the afterlife.
With Artemis on the other hand, I kept the intensity low and then slowly upped it once I was past her.
She passed out soon after, her body keeling over. It was impressive she held on longer than most would have.
Goes to show that with a lot of training, this world's benchmark for peak human was much higher than my previous world.
So better control equals more power. Now I knew what other facets of my abilities I could train, besides what I needed to learn from Bronze Tiger.
"I wonder what would happen if I released a Hado 1: Shu at Cheshire's smug face?"
I mentally directed at Chase, entertaining the idea that I was more and more leaning towards due to the fearless smirk on the assassin's face.
The smirk had only been momentarily broken by concern for Artemis, the Assassin's eyes sweeping over her sister's unconscious form briefly.
Mmmh. A possible weakness I could exploit.
She was also out of her mask but that did not deter me. The wild hair, green costume and Sais could only belong to one person. The assassin Cheshire.
'And she's beautiful too,' a traitorous part of my brain whispered.
"She must have one hell of a bargaining chip for her to not be trembling under your gaze. Your eyes are the usual purple whenever you get angry."
Chase pointed out.
I landed a punch right by her face, my fist cracking the wall.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't paint you across this wall?"
I growled out at her, establishing eye contact.
A flash of fear went through her eyes before she smoothed over her expression, the smile on her face dropping as she became serious.
"Because you need me."
Cheshire answered calmly.
I tilted my head, lifting the bag in my left hand.
"I have 10 million dollars in untraceable cash right here, in this duffel bag and I can get more."
I continued,
"All I need to do is contact the Calculator or any other information broker and they could connect me with whoever I'm looking for. Ergo..."
I pulled in closer.
"Care to rethink your statement?"
Cheshire gulped as the thread's around her body begun to squeeze into her.
"What makes you think the Calculator would want do business with you? Especially when you're running around Gotham Killing Supervillains?"
She was afraid. But not too much to not shoot back petulantly.
It was kind of impressive. Whenever my eyes turned Purple, the subject of my ire would shrink back in wariness if not outright fear.
Chase speculated some of my spirit energy when agitated, would leak through my optical organs.
Even with the fear she carefully hid within, her confidence remained. And while I borderline hated the false bravado, Chase was the opposite.
The Zanpakuto Spirit chuckled from within my inner world.
"Hahaha I like her. Give her a chance, I want to see how she'll get herself out of this."
Chase suggested.
"Are you serious? She tried to kill me."
I mentally replied, my tone incredulous.
Meanwhile Cheshire grew desperate the more I kept silent.
She couldn't know I was talking to the source of my powers so my silence could have easily been taken as hesitation.
"She's smart. She knows that if you could Kill Penguin and risk Batman's wrath, then you could easily do the same to her."
"Look."
Her voice held a not of desperation.
"The man you're looking for won't be easy to find. The Calculator is good but not that good. Lucky for you, I am."
She finished, craning her neck in a futile endeavor to stop the encroaching strings.
"I'm still not convinced. Why would I trust someone who has tried to kill me before? How do I know this is not a trick to get to me to your bosses?"
I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest.
"It's not!"
She gritted her teeth, anger marring her features.
"I risked showing my face to you. Even now, I'm risking not only my life but my sister's. Why would I go that far?! Why would I make myself vulnerable infront of a mad man!?"
She screamed out and with a click everything made sense.
"Because you don't have a choice, do you?"
I said in realization.
Chesha Neko's strings stopped squeezing into her, Cheshire fell to the floor while breathing heavily. The strings gathered around my left arm, seeping into the fabric of the jacket I wore.
I knelt next to her, tilting her head up by her chin.
One eye contact with her gray eyes and I knew I was right.
"Talk."
I growled out.
"There was a falling out with my 'bosses'. They gave me 2 chances to kill you and I failed on both accounts. Failure is not tolerated, repeated failure less so."
She explained, rubbing her neck from where the strings had left a few lacerations.
"You don't really care about the money do you?"
I chuckled in slight disbelief. And to think I'd gone to all that trouble just to secure it.
Cheshire shook her head.
"There's a hit out on me. I have managed to stay one step ahead of them so far, however sooner or later, they will catch up to me."
I got to my feet.
"Well good luck with that."
Yeah. I was officially done with this shit. This was clearly a bid by the powers that be, to include me in a stupid plot.
One day I'm gonna pull on the soul of whatever god governs fate and I'm going to do nasty things to it.
My decision to leave seemed to surprise not only Cheshire but also Chase, to the point both of them spoke out at the same time.
"I thought you wanted to kill her."
Chase said.
"I thought you would want revenge on the ones who sent me after you!"
Cheshire called out.
I sighed, deciding to answer my Zanpakuto spirit first.
"What's the point of Killing her when her 'bosses' will handle that for me?"
And then at Cheshire I snorted.
"So what, you thought of teaming up? This is the real world. An enemy of an enemy doesn't automatically make them a friend. Stay the fuck out of my way or next time we see each other will be your final day alive, assassin."
I told her, already regretting not snapping her neck when I had the chance.
Less annoyances that way.
"Wait! There's something else! I know how you can bring her back!"
She rattled off quickly.
I cut the activation of Shunpo. My back going ramrod stiff.
"What. Did. You. Say?"
My spirit pressure burst out, forcing Cheshire to open her eyes wide as cracks ran the entire length of the roof. Purple energy swirled around my body, making my hair dance in the air.
"I...I-I know...how to..."
She stammered, hands tightening on her knees, while trying to keep her head raised.
"Lower the aura before you crush her."
Chase advised.
I did so, pulling in my Reiatsu.
Cheshire turned to the side and immediately vomited.
"I hate that ability."
She vehemently decided.
"Talk or I promise you I'll do even worse."
I wasn't in the mood for her games anymore. Chesha Neko's bladed edge rested on her neck.
"Ok okay."
The assassin raised her hands.
"There's this thing called a Lazarus Pit. It can bring someone back to life. As long as you have the body, it's possible."
She answered.
"Chase, how much would you be willing to bet that she's referring to the corrupt pool of energy that had been below Gotham?"
I directed at my Zanpakuto.
"That or something similar. I don't like the implication. It feels... unnatural. Subverting. Death should be final. If she's right, then the person would come back insane or...different."
And he was right. Something within me harbored the same feelings about this 'Lazarus Pit.'
After what Trigon had achieved with the one in Gotham, I shudder to think what another mad man could do with something similar.
I guess that made the decision for me. I had to remember that I was now a soul reaper, a death god and if there were things out there trying to defy my core responsibilities then they had to go.
I stared down at Cheshire. Maybe she could be useful.
"Let's make a deal. Lead me to Bronze Tiger. Your safety will be in my hands until I'm prepared enough to deal with whoever is after you. Permanently. As payment for that, you will take me to this 'Lazarus Pit' so that I can destroy it."
I couldn't cancel my training to go after the Lazarus Pit. So destroying it and getting my revenge would have to wait.
"Why not deal with them now?! With your strength, we can do it!"
She suggested.
I shook my head, stepping away from her.
"Because I make the calls. Take it or leave it."
I told her bluntly.
Cheshire clenched her jaw.
"They won't stop coming after me. After us."
"Let them."
I threw over my shoulder turning to walk away. I needed a shower and some food in me. Oh and sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.
"You overlooked one small detail my wielder. She said they were after her. And they wouldn't stop coming."
Chase cut into my thoughts, stopping me in my tracks.
"Fuck. They're already here aren't they?"
And from the shadows, Ninjas clad in black outfits that let them blend in the darkness seemingly materialized.
How had I not felt them through Reikaku?
"The shadows. They seem to shield from all manners of detection."
Well. At least now I knew Reikaku's limitation.
In just a few seconds, we were entirely surrounded.
And I didn't need to wait to long to see the perpetrators of this whole thing. Or rather, the leaders of this excursion at least.
A dark portal manifested in front of us and out of it walked a woman I immediately tagged as bad news.
"Be careful."
Chase must have felt the same as he immediately warned me.
Cheshire stiffened from behind me at the sight of her.
She was tall, beautiful and held onto the handle of a sheathed Katana.
Behind her were a few Supervillains like the Black Spider, Hook and Shade, the last being a Villain who could manipulate darkness and create portals.
The shadows were his doing then.
"Jade, your 3 minute headstart is over."
The deadly woman said, not even sparing me a glance. Then in a smooth motion, she unsheathed her Katana.
I think I'm in love.
18 advance chapters in my Patreon.
Patreon.com/Saintbarbido.
::------------------------------------------::
(Davian's P.O.V)
"Stop or..." Artemis begun only for her trail off.
She swallowed, fear encroaching on her features as her hands trembled from the brief exposure to my Spiritual pressure.
She mewled, letting the arrow fly loose in blind panic.
I snatched it off the air as it headed for my neck, proceeding to pull on the Arrow's soul and crushing it.
The wood crumbled into fine gray ash on the inside of my palm.
I left it blow away into the night air while I approached Cheshire, passing over Artemis who fell to her knees, breathing heavily and staring at me with wide eyes.
"Ever since your control over Reiryoku got better, the rest of your skills show different results. Stronger results. You're quite handy with the Spiritual pressure, able to minimize or maximize it's effects on a target."
Chase observed.
He was right, my spirit skills had shot up in both power and ease of control. Especially the power part.
And adjusting it to different settings of lethality was easily doable.
With Falcone and Zsasz, I had exposed them to about 70%, which had been enough to instantly send them to the afterlife.
With Artemis on the other hand, I kept the intensity low and then slowly upped it once I was past her.
She passed out soon after, her body keeling over. It was impressive she held on longer than most would have.
Goes to show that with a lot of training, this world's benchmark for peak human was much higher than my previous world.
So better control equals more power. Now I knew what other facets of my abilities I could train, besides what I needed to learn from Bronze Tiger.
"I wonder what would happen if I released a Hado 1: Shu at Cheshire's smug face?"
I mentally directed at Chase, entertaining the idea that I was more and more leaning towards due to the fearless smirk on the assassin's face.
The smirk had only been momentarily broken by concern for Artemis, the Assassin's eyes sweeping over her sister's unconscious form briefly.
Mmmh. A possible weakness I could exploit.
She was also out of her mask but that did not deter me. The wild hair, green costume and Sais could only belong to one person. The assassin Cheshire.
'And she's beautiful too,' a traitorous part of my brain whispered.
"She must have one hell of a bargaining chip for her to not be trembling under your gaze. Your eyes are the usual purple whenever you get angry."
Chase pointed out.
I landed a punch right by her face, my fist cracking the wall.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't paint you across this wall?"
I growled out at her, establishing eye contact.
A flash of fear went through her eyes before she smoothed over her expression, the smile on her face dropping as she became serious.
"Because you need me."
Cheshire answered calmly.
I tilted my head, lifting the bag in my left hand.
"I have 10 million dollars in untraceable cash right here, in this duffel bag and I can get more."
I continued,
"All I need to do is contact the Calculator or any other information broker and they could connect me with whoever I'm looking for. Ergo..."
I pulled in closer.
"Care to rethink your statement?"
Cheshire gulped as the thread's around her body begun to squeeze into her.
"What makes you think the Calculator would want do business with you? Especially when you're running around Gotham Killing Supervillains?"
She was afraid. But not too much to not shoot back petulantly.
It was kind of impressive. Whenever my eyes turned Purple, the subject of my ire would shrink back in wariness if not outright fear.
Chase speculated some of my spirit energy when agitated, would leak through my optical organs.
Even with the fear she carefully hid within, her confidence remained. And while I borderline hated the false bravado, Chase was the opposite.
The Zanpakuto Spirit chuckled from within my inner world.
"Hahaha I like her. Give her a chance, I want to see how she'll get herself out of this."
Chase suggested.
"Are you serious? She tried to kill me."
I mentally replied, my tone incredulous.
Meanwhile Cheshire grew desperate the more I kept silent.
She couldn't know I was talking to the source of my powers so my silence could have easily been taken as hesitation.
"She's smart. She knows that if you could Kill Penguin and risk Batman's wrath, then you could easily do the same to her."
"Look."
Her voice held a not of desperation.
"The man you're looking for won't be easy to find. The Calculator is good but not that good. Lucky for you, I am."
She finished, craning her neck in a futile endeavor to stop the encroaching strings.
"I'm still not convinced. Why would I trust someone who has tried to kill me before? How do I know this is not a trick to get to me to your bosses?"
I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest.
"It's not!"
She gritted her teeth, anger marring her features.
"I risked showing my face to you. Even now, I'm risking not only my life but my sister's. Why would I go that far?! Why would I make myself vulnerable infront of a mad man!?"
She screamed out and with a click everything made sense.
"Because you don't have a choice, do you?"
I said in realization.
Chesha Neko's strings stopped squeezing into her, Cheshire fell to the floor while breathing heavily. The strings gathered around my left arm, seeping into the fabric of the jacket I wore.
I knelt next to her, tilting her head up by her chin.
One eye contact with her gray eyes and I knew I was right.
"Talk."
I growled out.
"There was a falling out with my 'bosses'. They gave me 2 chances to kill you and I failed on both accounts. Failure is not tolerated, repeated failure less so."
She explained, rubbing her neck from where the strings had left a few lacerations.
"You don't really care about the money do you?"
I chuckled in slight disbelief. And to think I'd gone to all that trouble just to secure it.
Cheshire shook her head.
"There's a hit out on me. I have managed to stay one step ahead of them so far, however sooner or later, they will catch up to me."
I got to my feet.
"Well good luck with that."
Yeah. I was officially done with this shit. This was clearly a bid by the powers that be, to include me in a stupid plot.
One day I'm gonna pull on the soul of whatever god governs fate and I'm going to do nasty things to it.
My decision to leave seemed to surprise not only Cheshire but also Chase, to the point both of them spoke out at the same time.
"I thought you wanted to kill her."
Chase said.
"I thought you would want revenge on the ones who sent me after you!"
Cheshire called out.
I sighed, deciding to answer my Zanpakuto spirit first.
"What's the point of Killing her when her 'bosses' will handle that for me?"
And then at Cheshire I snorted.
"So what, you thought of teaming up? This is the real world. An enemy of an enemy doesn't automatically make them a friend. Stay the fuck out of my way or next time we see each other will be your final day alive, assassin."
I told her, already regretting not snapping her neck when I had the chance.
Less annoyances that way.
"Wait! There's something else! I know how you can bring her back!"
She rattled off quickly.
I cut the activation of Shunpo. My back going ramrod stiff.
"What. Did. You. Say?"
My spirit pressure burst out, forcing Cheshire to open her eyes wide as cracks ran the entire length of the roof. Purple energy swirled around my body, making my hair dance in the air.
"I...I-I know...how to..."
She stammered, hands tightening on her knees, while trying to keep her head raised.
"Lower the aura before you crush her."
Chase advised.
I did so, pulling in my Reiatsu.
Cheshire turned to the side and immediately vomited.
"I hate that ability."
She vehemently decided.
"Talk or I promise you I'll do even worse."
I wasn't in the mood for her games anymore. Chesha Neko's bladed edge rested on her neck.
"Ok okay."
The assassin raised her hands.
"There's this thing called a Lazarus Pit. It can bring someone back to life. As long as you have the body, it's possible."
She answered.
"Chase, how much would you be willing to bet that she's referring to the corrupt pool of energy that had been below Gotham?"
I directed at my Zanpakuto.
"That or something similar. I don't like the implication. It feels... unnatural. Subverting. Death should be final. If she's right, then the person would come back insane or...different."
And he was right. Something within me harbored the same feelings about this 'Lazarus Pit.'
After what Trigon had achieved with the one in Gotham, I shudder to think what another mad man could do with something similar.
I guess that made the decision for me. I had to remember that I was now a soul reaper, a death god and if there were things out there trying to defy my core responsibilities then they had to go.
I stared down at Cheshire. Maybe she could be useful.
"Let's make a deal. Lead me to Bronze Tiger. Your safety will be in my hands until I'm prepared enough to deal with whoever is after you. Permanently. As payment for that, you will take me to this 'Lazarus Pit' so that I can destroy it."
I couldn't cancel my training to go after the Lazarus Pit. So destroying it and getting my revenge would have to wait.
"Why not deal with them now?! With your strength, we can do it!"
She suggested.
I shook my head, stepping away from her.
"Because I make the calls. Take it or leave it."
I told her bluntly.
Cheshire clenched her jaw.
"They won't stop coming after me. After us."
"Let them."
I threw over my shoulder turning to walk away. I needed a shower and some food in me. Oh and sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.
"You overlooked one small detail my wielder. She said they were after her. And they wouldn't stop coming."
Chase cut into my thoughts, stopping me in my tracks.
"Fuck. They're already here aren't they?"
And from the shadows, Ninjas clad in black outfits that let them blend in the darkness seemingly materialized.
How had I not felt them through Reikaku?
"The shadows. They seem to shield from all manners of detection."
Well. At least now I knew Reikaku's limitation.
In just a few seconds, we were entirely surrounded.
And I didn't need to wait to long to see the perpetrators of this whole thing. Or rather, the leaders of this excursion at least.
A dark portal manifested in front of us and out of it walked a woman I immediately tagged as bad news.
"Be careful."
Chase must have felt the same as he immediately warned me.
Cheshire stiffened from behind me at the sight of her.
She was tall, beautiful and held onto the handle of a sheathed Katana.
Behind her were a few Supervillains like the Black Spider, Hook and Shade, the last being a Villain who could manipulate darkness and create portals.
The shadows were his doing then.
"Jade, your 3 minute headstart is over."
The deadly woman said, not even sparing me a glance. Then in a smooth motion, she unsheathed her Katana.
I think I'm in love.
