"Rules?" I asked as I went through the motions of stretching my arms.
"Hmm, sa as always, however, I wish to see what you have learned." Scáthach humd, summoning her spear.
"Sure, but keep in mind that I'm still a bit inexperienced with it." I brought out my Zanpakutō.
"Then you had better learn quickly." She flashed a feral grin, and I realized I was in for a hard ti. "If you impress , I will lay with you afterwards."
Well.... consider properly motivated.
"Hadō #1, Shō" I held up my finger, pointing at her.
She blinked, flicking her spear up to slice through the invisible force that was shot/went/flew for her face. "Interesting, what other tricks have you learned?" She took a step forward and shot towards .
Her spear snaked towards , moving unnaturally to intercept my vital spot even as I took steps to avoid it. I was forced to bring my Zanpakutō down to deflect it, lest I get stabbed through the stomach.
Her back foot dug into the ground and she followed up with a powerful thrust forward. The air at the tip of her spear distorted with the force, causing a boom to erupt with the singular movent.
"Bakudō #8, Seki." I quickly chanted at the point of contact. Her spear tip collided with my spell, the repulsive force fought with it for a mont before her spear was deflected once more. "Bakudō #21, Sekienton." I followed up as soon as I had the opening.
The spell that Yoruichi had used those weeks ago. Like a smoke bomb that was set off, smoke burst outwards, enveloping us within the blink of an eye.
I wasn't stupid enough to assu this would hinder her in any aningful way, but it would obscure my next move.
With a burst of Shunpo – even if it was still sowhat lacking – I arrived in front of her and she was genuinely unprepared for my sudden speed. It was enough that she imdiately went defensive, her spear crossed in front of her chest to block my incoming strike.
The mont my sword made contact with her spear, the smoke around us was blown away, sweeping up and around us like a hurricane.
My Reiatsu erupted outward, flowing into my strike and I saw Scáthach lift off the ground and get sent hurling backwards. She caught herself in mid-air, reorienting her body to land on her feet even if they dug into the earth, cracking and shattering the ground where she landed.
She raised an eyebrow at , a wide grin forming, she planted her left foot forward and reeled back her arm, throwing her spear right at , another sonic boom accompanying her attack.
"Bakudō #44, Sekisho!" I quickly casted a barrier in front of myself.
The invisible wall that sprang up vibrated once her spear collided with it, sending ripples across the surface, a noticeable tension that was being tested. And nearly instantly her foot kicked the butt of her own spear, cracking the invisible shield and piercing through it with the additional force.
I jerked and spun my body in an awkward way to avoid the spear as it sailed right past and I took that mont to Shunpo a distance away. Nearly tripping, I used Shunpo again to move out of the way of her spear that slamd into the spot I was just in. Once, twice, her spear followed with each movent, while I was dodging handily, she was also keeping up with her own efforts.
"You may be fast, my student, but your movents are predictable." She laughed as I nearly fell over myself again, dodging a spear that almost pierced through my eye.
"Hadō #4 Byakurai." I twisted my body, pointing my finger at her to fire off a bolt of pale lightning. It was easily several fold stronger than what it should be, perhaps due to my innate affinity with Lightning.
It was her turn to dodge, twisting her body to the side to escape the attack. "If this is your best, my student, then this Scáthach will be left wanting."
You know what?
Fuck it, lets try sothing.
"Bakudō #1 Sai." I casted the most simple binding at her. Sothing ant to force her arms behind her back. It lasted not even a tenth of a second before she broke it, but it disrupted her movent for just as long. "Bakudō #4, Hainawa." An ethereal rope shot at her, binding her hands. "Bakudō #30, Shtotsu Sansen." Three triangular beams of light shot forward, pinning her in place before she could remove my second binding. "Bakudō #9, Hōuin." An orange-colored tendril with a spiraling yellow pattern erupted from my palm and enveloped Scáthach again, adding another layer of binding.
"Bakudō #16 Hitsugi, Bakudō #36m Akushuu no Fukaku, Bakudō #37 Tsuriboshi." I quickly threw out several more binding spells to envelop her. None of them were particularly powerful and I knew for a fact that they wouldn't hold her very long, if at all, I was sorta thinking she would let bind her to see what I would do.
Either way, I didn't want to disappoint.
I held up my palm towards her, gathering a significant amount of my Reiryoku. I actually hadn't tried this spell out as it was one of the new ones Yoruichi gave , but what better ti than now? "Hadō #88 Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho!" The lightning swirled in front of my palm, ready to actualize, but I felt sothing twitch/move/flow wrong and realized I may have made a mistake.
The spell imploded on itself.
All the power I gathered was sent backwards and I felt myself rocket away from the ensuing explosion, bouncing off the ground a few tis before coming to a stop.
I noticed a shadow hover over . "Oww." I whined, as Scáthach poked with the butt of her spear.
"That was certainly impressive." She seed humored by my situation. "I did not think you would defeat yourself so splendidly."
"Completely intentional." I said, moving my arm up to block the sun beating down into my eyes. "I had to give you a handicap sohow."
"A handicap I need is it?" She snorted, pushing her spear into my gut. "You are brave to say such a thing when you are at my rcy." She poked a few tis to prove her point. "And it was foolish of you to attempt a spell you have not mastered in our battle. Training wounds are expected, self inflicted wounds from foolish endeavors are not. I am not pleased that you almost hard yourself in such a way."
"I've seen it used once, and I had experience with other similar spells, I thought I could at least get it to cast properly." I admitted to a small miscalculation on that end. Obviously, I needed to practice the higher level Kidō spells in a more....ta situation as they were clearly much more volatile.
Her spear was shoved into the ground near my head and she sat down on top of . "I will tell you my thoughts otherwise. Those spells you showed were interesting with unique effects I did not expect. I will have you give the source to look into so I can understand them better, however, they will be a boon to you, that I am sure."
"Yeah, I thought so as well. And those were mostly the lower level spells. I recently got my hands on the higher level stuff but....I still need to practice them as you can see."
She nodded and continued. "Yes, and the thod you used to move quickly was very interesting. It took by surprise, however, you are clearly not an expert in it yet and it is not without its flaws."
"Also noted that. I've been practicing it a lot and I'm much better than when I started."
"Good, more practice then." She patted my chest. "I will always be here to assist you, my student."
"I know." I couldn't help but smile towards her despite the situation. "I know I can always rely on you."
She humd happily, a small smile forming on her face. She swung her leg around so that she was straddling . "As the victor, I will claim my prize." Her hand grasped at the zipper on my pants, and there wasn't a single protest from .
@***@
"Are you two done playing?" Yasaka waved her tail from where everyone else was sitting and chatting. Jinn, Artoria, Raikou, and even Rin joined her.
"I thought you were busy?" I slid into the seat next to her and Jinn, Scáthach taking an empty one opposite.
"I snuck away for an hour or so." She chuckled. "And thank you for yesterday. It's been stressful so knowing I could relax and have a small break knowing Kunou was safe was a big relief."
"Don't thank for sothing like that, I'm always happy to help with our daughter." I nudged her.
"Of course." Her tail wrapped around .
"How is everything going on your end?"
She let out an exaggerated sigh, slumping down onto the table. "As well as expected. dea's been wonderful with the project you set her on, and I genuinely an that. Hades sent over so of those ancient Greek heroes awhile ago, just after you left, and they've been training my people to fight as an army and not just as a mob."
"Mmm, Mordred and I have joined with them for joint exercises as well." Artoria chid in. "The knights under my command have not known war on a large scale, thus the experience is beneficial for them as well."
"It seems like that's a common notion among people here. I can understand it, large scale war when everyone is essentially superhuman at a minimum is....odd."
"Normal tactics will have to be revised." Raikou nodded too.
"We've already started making plans. Nurarihyon joined in on that, as we brainstord strategies and even so of the Greeks helped out. We're....stumbling in the dark, but we'll manage sothing by the ti we're ready." Yasaka replied. "But enough about that, I'll have to deal with that in a little bit anyways. What're you doing?"
"Probably heading to Remnant after this, I need to talk to Salem." They knew about that already, so I didn't need to overly explain. "By the way, where is Izzy and Venelana?"
"Both are busy." Yasaka shrugged.
"Speaking of Remnant and Salem." Jinn spoke up. "I may have.....gone there to talk to Salem a little bit." Jinn stated looking a little.....guilty.
"....did sothing happen?"
"I may have threatened her a little." Jinn looked down, mumbling the words. "Please don't be mad."
Ah, was that why she went to Remnant then?
"Jinn..." I leaned over, wrapping my arm around her. "There is very little you can do to make mad. If you felt the need to go there, I assu you had a good reason." She looked like she didn't want to go into details, so I wouldn't press.
If it wasn't anything harmful, she's allowed her secrets.
"Do you want to co with ?" I offered.
Jinn shook her head. "I'm good here."
"Actually." Artoria interjected. "Rin and I would like to accompany you to this Remnant if you wouldn't mind."
"Oh?" I blinked in surprise. "I thought you were still running around Skyrim. Getting bored over there?"
"It's great, honestly. The College is amazing and I've been learning a bunch of spells. Not to ntion I've been making a ridiculous amount of money by searching old tombs and stuff. But..." Rin trailed off.
"You want so variety?"
"If I have to see another giant Spider or Zombie, I'm going to flip my shit." She said with a completely serious look.
"....the last barrow we excavated....Rin set it on fire."
"I am done with Giant Spiders." She iterated again.
"Noted." I couldn't bla her either.
"Besides, I want to learn a bit more about Aura and Semblances, I think....I think I may be close to getting my Semblance. I've felt this way for a little while now." She muttered. "But I'm not too sure."
"For so people it's a gradual thing, so it's spontaneous. If you think sothing's coming, then it probably is." Jinn chid in. "There's really no exact science to it, it's slightly different for each person. And there may be an argunt made for Remnant itself helping facilitate it quicker with other Aura Users around. A sort of....synchronization, if you will." She paused, looking thoughtful. "Sothing to think about."
"Regardless, you're more than welco to tag along. I assu you'd want to check out the cities and stuff not co with to see Salem."
"I see enough of your love life as is, so no thanks." She said dryly.
"That's fine, I can drop you guys off near Vale. I know so people there that can get you legal identities easily enough."
"Yes, your criminal associates?" Artoria looked at .
I shrugged. "They're not bad, but yeah."
"And isn't he also a criminal there?" Rin pointed out.
".....It depends on where I am." Pretty sure I'm in the clear for Vale by this point.
"Right." She snorted.
"I will also co." Scáthach stated. "I enjoyed my ti the last ti I wandered there. I find myself wanting to return."
"Raikou, do you want to co too?" I felt like I could answer this question for her, but I didn't want to exclude her either.
"Do you need ?" She tilted her head.
"Other than just wanting you by my side, there's no pressing concerns." I shot her a warm smile.
"Then I would rather stay here, master."
I nodded, and didn't argue. She carved out her own little source of happiness here, I didn't want to pull her away for no reason. Who would have thought she'd find enjoynt with helping children in school. She'd been with Kunou and the other children her age so much that she's basically a teacher's assistant and one of the staff at this point. And everyone there absolutely loved her and I couldn't bla them one bit.
"What about ?" Yasaka whined.
"Yasaka, do you want to co?" I asked, rather sarcastically.
"Yes!"
"Uh huh."
"But I can't." She slumped back down. "Actually, I quit. Let's grab Kunou and run away sowhere fun."
I gave her a sympathetic pat. I knew that she's under a lot of stress right now, but there wasn't really much that could be done about it.
"Should I ask the others?" I looked around.
"I wasn't kidding, they're busy. Venelana is hosting so social function for the next couple days and Izanami is visiting another Death Deity for certain reasons she didn't clarify. Neither seed like sothing they could walk away from." Yasaka clarified.
"Sha." Well, I shouldn't be gone too long, a few days or so. "Anyways, I was going to head over soon, why don't you all get ready and grab anything you need."
"Sure, I got a few things I wanna grab before I go, give like twenty or thirty minutes and I'll be back." Rin quickly got up from her seat, heading back towards the house. The others similarly followed suit to make any final preparations.
[***]
"Ladies." I offered them a portal off to Remnant.
"Thanks, Schweinorg. You'll et back up with us, right?" Rin asked.
"Sure, just give a little while to talk things out with Salem. You got everything you need otherwise, or the right money to buy stuff." I nodded.
"Alright, see you over there." She waved, talking through the portal.
"I wish you luck." Artoria stood on her tiptoes, giving a quick kiss, before following after her.
Scáthach instead grabbed and brought in for a deep kiss, a little smug smile was all she left afterwards before joining the others.
I waved my hand, closing that one and ntally calculating another to the Grimm Lands where Salem resided.
"Have fun." Jinn cheerfully waved goodbye.
"As much as I can given the circumstances." There was a chance that Salem and I went separate ways and I admit it gave so anxiety.
"No sad." Jinn pouted, grabbing my hands and putting them on her butt. "If you're sad, just think about what you can do to when you get back."
"Well, that will certainly cheer up." I leaned in, giving my wonderful Genie a kiss as well.
"But seriously." Jinn leaned in. "When you get back, my Butt."
"You are a lewd Genie."
"It's your fault." She puffed up.
"And I'll continue to take responsibility." I gave her a little swat on her behind. "Behave." I added playfully.
She gave one last wave and I walked through the portal, the light of day instantly turning into the twilight that was the Grimm lands.
At this point, I was more than used to the?????????????????
The Grimm noticed my presence, but the smart ones once more kept their distance and the lesser ones were cowed once I let my Reiatsu descend upon them. The useful trick that I picked up in my ti among those Shinigami.
Just the weight of my Spiritual Power pushing down on everything around as I let it flow outward.
On a side note, I'll needed to test how effective a Zanpakutō was against Grimm.
But that thought was pushed aside as I reached Salem's castle. The sa gothic and nacing appearance didn't strike fear into , but one of anticipation, because a woman who made feel such turbulent emotions sat behind its walls.
Pushing the doors open, I entered unceremoniously.
"So you've co back once more." Salem looked down at upon her throne.
"Why do you sound surprised?" I questioned, looking at her with a smile.
"Only the foolish venture into the Grimm Lands, and you seem to do so on a re fanciful whim or so other inane motion about courting . I rely question when this nonsense will cease and you will depart for the final ti."
"You underestimate what I would go through just to see you again. A rely inconvenient trip through the Grimm Lands is nothing in comparison." I returned to her. She's always like this after I co back, expecting the worst. "Sothing you should know about is that I'm an extrely selfish person. Once I get sothing, I never want to let it go. If sothing is mine, then I will keep and treasure it forever."
Seeing her huff in mock annoyance was always so adorable.
"But that's always been your decision to make." I took bated steps towards her throne and she seed to sit straighter as I approached. "And I want you to know everything about . If you don't mind, I'd like to tell you about my life and where I ca from."
"Oh, you're finally going to reveal where your community of Magic users hides?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Salem, I'm not from Remnant."
[***]
A/N
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