Chapter 5: The Hollow!

"Oh hey, glad to see you're back. I know, I know. You're probably wondering what is going on here, right? Well, allow me to give you a recap.

First I died... Yeah, wasn't my greatest moment I'll admit. The next thing I knew, I'm getting chased by monsters known as hollows, only to end up in the rukongai district with this voice in my head that calls itself the system.

I've already had two fights, been given a so-called cursed Asauchi and now I have to use to it kill a rampaging hollow that keeps interfering with one of the largest gangsters business, who I'm pretty sure is a bad guy... Anyway, that's enough of my rambling, so how about we get back to the story!"

"Who are you talking to?" The system asked.

Grayson was currently sat on the floor with his legs crossed as he leaned against the wooden wall of a large warehouse deep in thought.

"I'm not talking to anyone!" Grayson shouted out loud, getting a strange look from the others.

Hogi, Koga, Stump and Bonsai had all followed him from the underground fight arena, offering to accompany him on his new quest.

"Who you talking to boss?" Stump asked with a funny look on his face.

Grayson realised he had shouted out randomly and must look like a weirdo.

"Oh, it's nothing." He said as he rubbed the back of his head with a nervous smile on his face.

"And I already told you to stop calling me that!" He then added.

After Grayson had defeated Jujo. Koga and the others had declared him as their new boss and declared their loyalty to him. Something he hadn't seen coming and tried to reject many times already.

"Whatever you say, boss!" Stump said as he scratched his head.

Grayson simply sighed as he let his head fall back so he could look up at the sky.

"Strength is something that is respected around here. You are the only one of us that defeated Jujo, making you our leader." Hogi said as he shuffled the deck of cards he seemed to take everywhere with him.

"Besides! I've always wanted to go up against a hollow!" Koga shouted as he flexed his bicep.

Grayson watched as the strange bunch got excited about the prospect of fighting against the hollow, with a smile coming to their face.

"Whatever, just make sure you dont die," Grayson said trying to play the cool card. However, Hogi could see right through him.

While the others were busy wrestling amongst themselves, Grayson pulled his stats screen up to take a quick look.

Name: Grayson.

Level 6. (1700/1800).

Class: Human Plus.

Health: 125/125

Stamina: 125/125

Reiatsu: 125/125

Skills-

Strength: 35/100 (0/10)

Speed: 25/100 (0/10)

Intelligence: 35/100 (0/10)

Enhanced skills -

Zanjutsu: 1/10 (0/10)

Hakuda: 2/10 (0/10)

Kidō: 0/10 (0/10)

Skill points available: 2.

After the others had pledged their loyalty to him he had received more exp and was now only 100 points away from gaining another level. He also had two skill points he was yet to spend, trying to decide where he should put them.

"So when is this hollow supposed to show up anyway?" Koga asked as he held Stump in a headlock.

Grayson closed his stat screen and looked over to Koga.

"I'm not sure." He said while crossing his arms.

"Boss said it shows up around about every two weeks or so. He also said that it should be any day now." Grayson said as he remembered the gangster's words.

"And you're sure you can kill it?" Hogi asked as he shuffled his cards.

"Of course he can! He beat Jujo with ease, and he wields an Asauchi!" Bonsai said in his defence.

Stump slipped out of Koga's headlock and climbed up his back before sitting on his shoulders.

"And we are here to help! I bet with all of us this hollow won't stand a chance!" He shouted.

Koga pulled him off his shoulder and placed him back onto the ground.

"That's right. I'm looking forwards to testing my strength against this thing." He said.

"You may have beaten Jujo before I got another shot at him, but I'm eager to see how far I have come since then." He then said as looked Grayson in the eye.

Grayson felt thankful to have met this bunch of misfits in the short time he had been here.

"Thank you, everyone. Together we will defeat this hollow and after that, live like kings!" Grayson shouted as he stood up, raising his sword into the air, getting a cheer from the others.

More and more time passed as the group did their best to wait for the hollow to show up. Night had fallen now and Koga had gotten a fire going as the rest of them sat around it to keep warm.

They each told stories about their life before and during the rukongai district before they had met up with each other. Grayson found it interesting as he listened to each one of them, finding out where each of them had come from before they had died, and how they had ended up here.

Koga was a warrior from the middle ages and had been killed in battle before being sent to the soul society. Stump had been here for fifty years now and had already forgotten most of his life in the human world, he blamed the blow to his head he had received fighting here in the rukon district.

Bonsai was from Japan and had drowned as a child, growing up here in the soul society for most of his life. Hogi, on the other hand, had been here the longest and had forgotten where he had come from before, saying he had already spent 500 years here.

It turns out the world of bleach wasn't must different to his world, other than the hollows and soul reaper part, it seemed like life on earth was pretty much the same as it had been for him, even following the same history.

"What about you, Grayson?" Bonsai asked as all of them had finished talking.

Everyone looked over to him waiting to hear his story as they sat by the fire.

"Yeah, let's hear it, boss!" Stump shouted getting excited.

"You must have been a great warrior back on earth to be so strong," Koga said, having a guess, as he crossed his large arms.

Grayson scratched his chin nervously as the others agreed with Koga, still waiting for him to tell them.

"Yes, please do tell," Hogi said, also interested in hearing his story.

Grayson leaned back, placing both hands on the ground as he used them to hold his weight.

"Alright, but it's not as interesting as you think." He said.

"Truth is, I was a manager for a video game company living in London." He said over the sound of the crackling fire.

The others gave him a questioning look as they didnt understand what that was at all.

"I was on my way to work and I got run over... Next thing I knew I was here with you guys." He said as he looked at the flames.

"I told you it wasn't that interesting." Grayson then added as the others remained quiet.

"What's a video game?" Hogi then asked breaking the silence.

Grayson couldn't help but laugh as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Maybe I'll explain another day."

The others all nodded, quickly losing interest as they didnt understand.

"All of us come from a different time, yet here we are together in the afterlife," Hogi said as he poked the fire with a stick.

"One truly will never know what life will bring." He then said getting a nod from the others.

Grayson realized how deep his words went as he thought about them. It really was mind-blowing as he thought about what had happened to him and where he had ended up.

"Well, we had better get some sleep to keep our strength up in case this hollow shows up tomorrow," Koga said as he yawned.

The others agreed and went about their own business, getting comfy around the fire as they settled in for the night.

Grayson also agreed and leaned back against his spot on the wall in an attempt to get comfy. As he did his hand touched the Asauchi that was next to him on the ground.

Grayson took a good look at the sword, examining it for a moment. The blade was a standard katana with a black scabbard, the handguard was also black with a basic square pattern, nothing special. The handle was also black in colour matching the rest of the colour.

Grayson remembered that this blade was supposed to be cursed, yet he couldn't help wonder if that was really the case. Grayson led down on the ground as the warmth from the fire helped put his mind at ease, allowing him to drift off into the night, falling asleep.

Morning soon came and Grayson was woken up to the sounds of birds chirping, the gentle breeze of the morning wind, and of course, Stump's ridiculous snoring.

"You feel well-rested. You have earnt 200 exp." The system said as he opened his eyes fully, sitting up to stretch.

"You have levelled up." The system then added as the notification popped up in the corner of his eyes.

Grayson could see that the others were still asleep and decided to open his stats menu.

Name: Grayson.

Level 7. (100/2100).

Class: Human Plus.

Health: 130/130

Stamina: 130/130

Reiatsu: 130/130

Skills-

Strength: 40/100 (0/10)

Speed: 30/100 (0/10)

Intelligence: 40/100 (0/10)

Enhanced skills -

Zanjutsu: 1/10 (0/10)

Hakuda: 2/10 (0/10)

Kidō: 0/10 (0/10)

Skill points available: 3.

"Well, that's looking good," Grayson said as he studied his new stats.

"Three skill points too, I wonder what I should spend them on." He said to himself as he looked at the screen.

Grayson's attention was suddenly taken away as the scream of a hollow sounded in the distance.

The birds in the trees suddenly flew off at the sound of the beast and the others all woke up, jumping to their feet at the noise.

"What was that?" Bonsai asked as he took a look around.

"That was a hollow," Hogi said with a serious look on his face.

"Alright! Let's have at it!" Koga said as he grabbed his weapon.

Grayson had already grabbed his sword, standing to his feet as he looked into the distance, trying to see where the sound had come from.

"It's not far," Hogi said as he too got ready for battle.

The hollow roared again, this time sounding closer.

"That way!" Koga shouted as he suddenly ran off, giving chase to the monster.

"Wait!" Grayson shouted. However, it was no use as Koga and the others had already started to runoff.

"Shit," Grayson said as he chased after them.

Grayson ran around the corner of the warehouse and came across a wide-open field with a dirt track road running through the middle of it.

People were running and screaming as they fled the area, shouting for help at the top of their lungs. Grayson ran over and was able to stop one of the men who was running away.

"Where is it? Where is the hollow!" He shouted

"I-Its huge. Over that way, it came out of nowhere!" The man said before he pushed past Grayson, running for his life.

Grayson turned around and ran towards where the man had pointed, trying to catch up with the others.

"How are they so fast!" He thought as he ran, picking his speed up more and more until he caught up with them.

The others had stopped on top of a hill that overlooked a small camp that belonged to the boss that had hired Grayson to kill the hollow in the first place.

There was a massive crash as dust from the ground kicked up all around the area, blinding their vision to what was happening for the moment.

Screams could be heard from the camp, but soon enough they were silenced as the roar of the hollow outweighed anything else.

"It's coming!" Hogi shouted as he drew his knife, alerting the others.

Grayson put his weight onto his back leg and drew his Asauchi taking a ready stance as the monster suddenly jumped out of the debris and landed in front of them, howling at the top of its lungs.

Grayson looked at the hollow, taking in the details of the monster as it roared. It was huge, standing at over 5 meters in height. Its mask blended into two large horns that zigzagged and had red markings on it. Its body was well built with solid muscles outlined with greenish-blue skin colour and a large cross-shaped scar over its chest.

The hollowed took a good look at the group and then suddenly zoned into Grayson and his sword.

"Looks like the boss wasn't lying!" Grayson thought as he took a defensive position.

"Look out!" Hogi shouted as the hollow took a swipe at them with its huge fist.

Everyone jumped back as they avoided the attack trying to think how they could try and deal some damage to the beast.

The hollow wasn't playing around as it charged directly for Grayson, roaring in anger as it raised its fists and slammed them down, trying to crush him with a powerful blow.

Grayson dived and rolled out of the way, landing back onto his feet as he took another stance.

"Damn this thing is strong!" He thought as he clenched his teeth.

"Take this!" Koga shouted as he charged in from behind the hollow, raising his large sword in an attempt to slash the thing in half.

But to his horror, his attack stopped as his blade hit the skin of the hollow.

"W-What in the..." He said in shock, not expecting his attack to have such little effect.

The hollow turned around to look at him and waved its huge arm, smashing Koga through the air like a fly.

"Koga!" Stump shouted as he jumped in to attack, blinded by rage.

"No Stump dont!" Hogi shouted too late.

The hollow snatched Stump out of the air with its large hands and slammed the little man into the ground hard.

"Stump, no!" Bonsai shouted as he too charged in, trying to save his friend.

"I have to do something!" Grayson shouted as he also charged in for the attack.

The hollow turned its attention to Bonsai and reached forwards to snatch him from the ground.

"Look out!" Grayson shouted as he jumped in and slashed at the hollow's hand, cutting the back of it with a quick swipe of his sword.

The hollow howled in pain as Grayson pushed Bonsai out of the way of its counterattack with its other hand.

Grayson was knocked flying by the attack before he crashed into the ground, rolling like a ragdoll before he came to a halt. The hollow didnt stop there as it stepped on Stump, crushing him on its way to attack Bonsai.

"S-Stay back!" The little fat man shouted as he waved his sword at the monster to no avail.

The hollow picked him up and opened its jaws before it took a huge bite, ripping Bonsai in half letting his blood spray all over its white mask.

"Bonsai no!!!" Hogi shouted as he jumped into the air and stuck his knife into the hollows back.

The knife snapped as it made contact with the skin of the hollow, rendering Hogi's attack useless as he fell back to the ground before the hollow kicked him, breaking his neck from the impact.

Grayson slowly sat back up to see the carnage the hollow had caused, taking in the sight of the others.

"No... This can't be happening." He thought just before Hogi's body landed next to him, rolling before it came to a stop, his cards scattered over the ground as they fell out of his robe.

"Hogi!" He shouted as he ran over to check on him, only to see that his neck had been snapped.

"You bastard..." Grayson said as he slowly looked away from Hogi to the others.

"Open stats." He then said to himself as he stood to his feet.

Name: Grayson.

Level 7. (100/2100).

Class: Human Plus.

Health: 100/130

Stamina: 120/130

Reiatsu: 130/130

Skills-

Strength: 40/100 (0/10)

Speed: 30/100 (0/10)

Intelligence: 40/100 (0/10)

Enhanced skills -

Zanjutsu: 1/10 (0/10)

Hakuda: 2/10 (0/10)

Kidō: 0/10 (0/10)

Skill points available: 3.

Grayson hit the plus icon next to his Zanjutsu twice and then used his remaining skill point, putting it into his strength.

Name: Grayson.

Level 7. (100/2100).

Class: Human Plus.

Health: 110/140

Stamina: 130/140

Reiatsu: 130/130

Skills-

Strength: 50/100 (0/10)

Speed: 30/100 (0/10)

Intelligence: 40/100 (0/10)

Enhanced skills -

Zanjutsu: 3/10 (0/10)

Hakuda: 2/10 (0/10)

Kidō: 0/10 (0/10)

Skill points available: 0.

"Alright, you fucker!" He shouted as he could feel the extra power and knowledge of zanjutsu flowing through him.

Grayson gripped his sword tightly in his right hand before grasping the handle with his left hand also, taking a ready stance.

"System, use my reiatsu to boost my abilities!" He shouted.

The system did as he asked, allowing him to feel the power of his spiritual energy flow out of him as it burst to life, getting the attention of the hollow as it looked at him and his sword.

"Here I come!" Grayson yelled as he burst forth from the ground, flying into the air.

The hollow also roared as it watched him charge towards it, raising its hands as it readied its own attack.

"Take this!!!" Grayson screamed as he cut down with his sword at the hollows arm as the hollow attacked him at the same time.

Grayson landed on the ground with his sword raised, not moving as the hollow turned around to look at him before its arm fell off and dropped to the ground.

The hollow howled in pain as blood sprayed from its wound onto the ground.

"Curse that blade!" It roared while it squirmed around in pain.

Grayson was so surprised he let his concentration lapse for a second, as his spiritual pressure dropped.

"Curse you!" The hollow then roared, charging at him, raising its remaining arm ready to attack.

Grayson wasn't so naive to let his guard down completely and quickly sidestepped avoiding the massive hand that slammed into the ground. However, the shockwave from the attack had knocked his footing off balance and he was unable to completely block the next attack from the hollow as it dragged its arm across the ground, slamming it into Grayson.

Grayson flipped in the air and tried to regain his control over his spiritual energy, letting it flare back to life as he used it to power up.

Health: 95/140

Stamina: 100/140

Reiatsu: 90/130

Skills-

Strength: 50-80/100 (0/10)

Speed: 30-60/100 (0/10)

Intelligence: 40/100 (0/10)

Grayson could see his stats in the corner of his eyes and kept a close eye on them as he could see his reiatsu draining the more he used it to boost his abilities.

"I have to finish this and quickly!" Grayson said as he let his spiritual pressure burst to life once more, his red aura flaring up as he held his sword.

The hollow roared as he charged towards him, slamming its fist into the ground and sending large boulders flying his way.

Grayson cut straight through the first one before jumping over the second.

"Your mine hollow!" He yelled as he dashed forwards off the ground right towards the hollow.

"Diiieee!!!" He roared as he stabbed his Asauchi right into the centre of the scar on its chest.

The hollow screeched in pain as it stumbled back. A bright light started to shine where Grayson had stabbed it and it burst out of the hollows chest.

Grayson dropped back to the ground and left the sword in the hollows chest, watching as it dropped to its knees in pain before it pulled the sword free.

"I won't forget this!" It roared, looking dead at Grayson's eyes.

Although he felt exhausted now, Grayson ran over to his Asauchi and pulled it from the ground, jumping into the air in an attempt to finish the hollow off before it could get away.

However, the hollow swung its arm, blocking his attack and knocking him back down to the ground.

A small black hole opened in the sky as the hollow stumbled back into it, turning around at the last second to look at Grayson one last time before it vanished from view.

Grayson's legs wobbled a little before he fell onto one knee, using his sword to hold him upright.

"Quest complete. Defeat the hollow for the boss. You have been awarded 2500 exp and two skill points." The system said in his head.

"Over here!" A voice suddenly shouted, getting Grayson's attention.

"Who is that?" He thought as he looked into the distance, seeing men dressed in black kimonos surround the area.

"You!" A voice coming from behind him said.

Grayson turned around to look who it was.

"What happened here?" A man with short dark hair, bushy eyebrows and stubble around his mouth and chin said.

Grayson could clearly see that he was a soul reaper and he slowly stood to his feet, using his sword to pull him up.

The soul reaper noticed the sword and his eyes widened in anger.

"I am the seventh seat of squad ten. I demand to know what a civilian is doing with an Asauchi." He shouted giving Grayson a hard stare.

Grayson didnt say anything and the man was starting to grow impatient.

"Why you!" He said as he gripped the handle of his sword.

"Hold it Kōkichirō!" A female voice said, causing him to flinch.

Grayson turned his head to see who it was.

"L-Lieutenant Rangiku?" The man shouted as he suddenly stood to attention.

"Rangiku..? Im sure I have heard that name before." He thought as he turned around to confirm it.

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Thank you for reading, please also check out my new story. Kobold's ascension to dragon lord!