CH22

We were on a bus to the human world for a bit of sleuthing and summer vacation, and we deserved it. Moka and Kurumu leaned against my chest in the back of the bus, with Yukari playing with her tarot cards. The teacher was busy pestering the creepy bus driver, and I enjoyed the swirling curlers of dimensional travel. Soon enough, we would be in the human world where cellphones with cameras were everywhere.

My last week had been spent grinding away at my qi enhancement, aura cloak, aura manifestation, and qi control. While they might seem basic, they were my foundation. Ascension wasn't something I couldn't use with my weak human body without paying a heavy price. It would flood my body with destructive force and tear everything apart. It was only the first skill in the Monk of Destruction job, and it was a heavy hitter. However, with the hogyoku, I was on my way to use it relatively safely.

Arakan PL250 Weighted and Suppressed.

Enhancement: Hogyoku: Merged

Equipment: Zanpakuto: Unreleased

Skills

Air Slash: Intermediate 35%

Ascension: Beginner 0%

Aura Cloak: Beginner 4.9%

Aura Manifestation: Intermediate 20%

Aura Sphere: Intermediate 4%

Oversoul: Intermediate 85%

Sexcraft: Intermediate 5%

Qi Control: Master 33.97%

Qi Enhancement: Master 5%

Qi Gardening: Master 1.4%

Moka was a great sparring partner, and Yukari was a doll. She enchanted some body weights for me, which surprisingly didn't ruin the bus's suspensions. Each arm had a 2ton wrist band, my boots were each 5tons, and my chest armor weighed 15tons. That's what I wore daily, and my qi enhancement thanked me for it. I had the qi to burn and hadn't hit anywhere close to burnout since my fight with Kuyo. However, I had a limit; if I used my aura cloak, I would quickly find it. That was my next milestone, aura Cloak intermediate.

The dark presence took up all my attention the second we left the tunnel. I measured my qi against it and held back a growl. Even after surpassing the 100PL milestone, it was still way out of my league. I needed a full year of training under high gravity with no distractions to approach it.

That got me thinking. I had an elemental skill ticket and 11 Gotcha; maybe adding an element to my list of skills would help me out. All I had to do was keep adding skills on top of skills, and eventually, once my foundation settled, I would start really making gains. The hogyoku boosted my healing and multiplied my qi without compromising my control. It also helped me build resistance from burnout, but even it could only do so much with a mortal body.

I might need to risk surgery and add the Sharingan eyes and Siegfried heart to raise my level. Moka's father might appreciate the red eyes even if they weren't the correct ones. Of course, looking more like a vampire couldn't hurt. Moka had made suggestions about my aura cloak to make it a little more fashionable. Unfortunately, my green glowing aura cloak could only look so fashionable. Vampires preferred shades of red or black for men.

Through my reflection in the bus's window, I could see my deep green eyes. They used to be brown like my brothers, but I reached a breaking point. So much qi flowed through my body that my eyes turned green.

"Oh, wow, there are so many humans," Yukari said with trepidation.

I nodded. "We are near a city; they are to humans as hives are to bees. But don't feel nervous humans don't believe monsters exist. At most, they will think you're a kid pretending to be a witch, at least in Japan." I said.

We stopped at a shady-looking hotel and found our room. We had four students, a teacher, and the bus driver in one room. We had a very nice table, but that was about it. I understood the headmaster was sore about me destroying the PSC building, but it had to be done.

"Hey, is there a local wizarding community around here? I heard witches have a few hidden places around bigger cities." I said.

Yukari perked up and opened her mouth to speak, but Kurumu interrupted her. "There is probably a succubus lounge around here too that might take us in. My sister owns one in Kuoh." I blinked, then nodded slowly. That was something to think about later.

"Sorry, I don't know, and my parents haven't gotten back to me about buying a lot of dragon dung. But, unfortunately, we don't own any farmland so it isn't something they would know."

The bus driver puffed on his cigar and spoke. "Well, if you're interested in witches, we could always check out the witches' knoll. There will be enough trouble for you there." The bus driver said.

Moka turned to me, looking grumpy. "It's going to be a fight if we go there. We never go anywhere without a fight." Moka said.

"It's the price of power." Inner Moka said through the Rosary.

I smirked down at the pink-haired girl. "Don't worry; I'm much stronger than I was against Kuyo, and I'm not tired from a prior fight," I said.

Moka looked away. "I'm sorry we shouldn't have encouraged you to fight when you weren't prepared."

"Rarely will you get rest before the next battle? It was good experience." Inner Moka said.

"It was, and if I hadn't fought when I did, something horrible would have happened. This city might not be standing for much longer either." I said.

"The drug, I don't know what would happen if even a thousand humans used it. They would all have the speed of a werewolf, the regeneration of a troll, and who knows what else." Inner Moka said.

We would see it very soon, trench coat got away, and I lost my only chance to stop him. He might not have gotten the perfected drug from Kuyo's corpse, but his drug was enough. It was a stable, super-soldier serum, and whoever got ahold of it would feel very confident in their ground forces. I hoped it wasn't the US. They had a habit of looking for trouble.

My real concern was how they infiltrated the academy without the headmaster stopping them? Or were they backed by a government capable of forcing the headmaster to sit on his hands? I was betting on the latter. If that was the case, then things really got interesting. Who really controlled the world? Fallen and devils could walk right into yokai academy, pretend to be clubs and snatch a student away.

With that in mind, the headmaster was probably a small fry in the grand scheme of things. I smiled; who would have thought that the scary headmaster of yokai academy, the dark governor wasn't a big fish. Or there could be deals and political concessions I didn't know jack about.

"Don't worry about it; they are hardly relevant against us at this point. Mere werewolf speed is trash." I said.

Kurumu snorted. "Don't let Gin hear you say that; it'll break his heart. Don't the two of you have a bromance going on."

"Oh, like Brokeback Mountain, my mother loves that movie," Yukari said

I knew that infamous title but decided to play it cool. "I'm not familiar with many westerns."

Yukari smirked. "You knew it was a western."

Hey kids, it isn't too late; why don't we take a trip to the witches' knoll, and you can look and report on it." The bus driver said.

We were on the bus and driving out there minutes later. Finally, after 17 red lights and narrowly escaping 5 o-clock traffic, we made it to a massive sunflower field. It blinded me with its yellow and lack of insects. I couldn't hear crickets or feel the tiny life force of one all through the field. But, on the other hand, hundreds of plant monsters were hiding beneath the soil.

With the numbers this place had, assaulting the city wasn't impossible. The witches couldn't win, but hundreds or thousands would die. If things went pear-shaped, billions could die in a war between monsters and humans. This situation could go nuclear with the right prodding.

"Hey, I have some fish back at the hotel if you want to check it out." The bus driver said before leaving with our teacher.

I activated the elemental skill ticket, and 5 elements appeared before me to choose from. Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, and metal were my choices, but at least it was something familiar. These were cultivation elements, so it was a safe bet that the elemental skill ticket would come out with something related to cultivation. I thought about what would best synergize with my current skill set and had to pick wood. Fire would be awesome for this situation, but wood was where my bread and butter. My qi naturally enhanced living things, so wood was the only real choice for my first elemental ticket.

Wood Skill Ticket used

Rolling randomizer to fool God's system…

Rolling D20 with +5 Enhancement from Hogyoku.

17 + 5 = 23

5 Star Fusion compatible skill found.

Retrieving skill disc from beyond the stars.

New Skill disc

World Tree Roots- Pitch black roots that can pierce even the flesh of gods and show them humility. This skill allows the user to shape and mold these roots into multiple forms.

Warning!!!

Cellular Body Modification: Time to complete 3yrs to speed up implementation, the user will go into stasis.

I tossed the at that moment useless skill disc into my inventory and took a step up the hill. One of the plant monsters attacked, and I grabbed its face.

The girls looked to be in different modes of warning me. So, I squeezed the monster's face feeling the pulpy matter come apart in my hand. I had nearly twice the weight of a car sitting on each wrist, and the plant monsters were a little weak. When more attacked, I pushed my hand forward and flexed my qi.

If there was one thing I was good at, it was plowing fields. 20 neat rows of upturned earth appeared in front of me and stretched out across the field for 30 meters. Everything hiding in the ground, whether it was a rock, a plant monster, or a goffer, was ripped apart as if an impossibly sharp tilling blade shot through them. Rows of sunflowers were destroyed in moments, along with the monsters hiding underneath them. A whole section of the witches' knoll looked no different than any other farmland.

Plant monsters burst up from around the knoll and charged me. There were hundreds of them, and compared to a normal human, they were incredibly powerful. But even a single human with the drug would decimate their number, so 10 humans with it would obliterate them.

"Air Slash," I said and swept my zanpakuto in a horizontal slash ripping through several rows of the monsters before slashing a second time, clearing out half their numbers. They hadn't stopped their charge when my third slash started on the ones at our six. From there, I raised my hand and delivered a punishing bombardment of aura spheres to the stragglers.

The entire army of plant monsters was gone in moments after they emerged. "You fiend," a dark-haired witch yelled as she attacked me with feathered crow wings of steel. Kurumu glanced at her, and the girl collapsed into unconsciousness.

I turned my attention to the bluenette. "Wow, your illusion abilities have really improved. Do you know what she's dreaming about?"

Kurumu smirked. "I have all the energy I need to do the tough stuff now, and of course; she thinks you've already captured her and are doing all sorts of naughty things to her."

Yukari looked a little troubled. "We aren't going to kill her, are we. I know she attacked us, but she isn't a threat to Arakan."

I thought about it for a second. There was another presence in the field, but she was laying low. Whatever plan the witches might have had was ruined by my intervention. The sunflower field looked more like a mix of a farm in planting season and an old minefield. Then, I heard a crack, and one of the last surviving trees fell.

Moka spoke up. "We still have a few days left of our summer vacation. I think we should go to an amusement park or maybe see some human movies. I found a flier for a play tonight called Vampire Knight."

"And if we don't have enough money, I can charm our way in," Kurumu said.

"Good because I think our teacher used all our extra cash on fish."

…

A stolen page from Yukari's diary rewritten

Yukari loved Moka, but the man she was with was no good. He was a dangerous being who wasn't a monster, but she wouldn't call him human either. Arakan liked to laugh and say he was merely superhuman, but Yukari didn't think there was anything mere about him. Kurumu was scary, and when Moka took off her Rosary, it was like she wasn't Moka. The cause of it had to be Arakan.

She heard of his burnout and his tendency to overwork himself. All Yukari needed for an example was the aftermath of the Kuyo fight and the end of the PSC. He had been weak as a kitten, but big boobs watched over him like a hawk. Moka wouldn't let him train and worsen his condition either. So, she enchanted some wristbands, boots, and chest weight to help him reach his limits faster. Only she couldn't find them. The goal post had been moved far beyond anything she could have predicted.

The result of her failure was all around her. Yukari watched the homes of two poor witches get obliterated. She should have snapped a picture before and after and then sent it to the Aurors.

They could have prepared a hit squad for a potential dark lord-level threat to the world. But all Yukari had were her memories, and she didn't want to let anyone mess around with her mind. Pensives were rare even for governments. Someone would have to enter her mind, view the memory, and report back to the ministry of Japan. That wasn't even going into the legality of housing so many dangerous monsters close to a human city with no anti-muggle wards up. The witch who owned this gnoll wanted muggles to stumble across it and feed themselves to the monsters.

"Come on, we need to drop her off at the hotel and get our tickets," Arakan said.

Yukari plastered a smile on her face and skipped along. "Of course, can you carry me," Yukari said.

Kurumu gave a displeased look, and Moka's indomitable smile twitched a little. Yukari felt her heart go out to Moka. This wouldn't be forever; the act only had to last until she found a definite way to deal with Arakan. She had to do it, or one day he might decide to start a war against the underworld or heaven to test his power. Yukari could see someone like Arakan doing something stupid like that.

Yukari felt a force grip her before pulling her off her feet and practically gluing her to his back. Arakan glanced at her and smiled. She nearly lost control of her bladder then. Those killing curse green eyes glowed with an unnatural light threatening to swallow her whole. She hugged his body but couldn't keep herself from shivering.

He was sticking her to his back with that power of his will alone. It wasn't quite magic, and no spells or even gestures were involved. She remembered weeks ago he had trouble moving a glass of water. How long before he could fly with the same power, he used to lift her? She had given him enchanted weights to help him destroy himself, but it hadn't worked. If anything, he grew stronger by leaps and bounds every day, and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

Kurumu watched her like a hawk, and Arakan refused to drink any of her potions. Even the ship was out of her reach. No one there, not even Moka, would let her have the time she needed to study it and figure out how to access the gravity generator. All she had to do was increase it to fatal levels while he trained alone.

Yukari looked over to the unconscious witch clutched under Arakan's arm. What Yukari needed was a coconspirator. Arakan didn't see Yukari as a viable mistress, but the other witch looked to be at the proper age.