Saving a cat

<< Flashback >> < One year ago >

It was currently daytime and Zero was walking on the busy streets of Kuoh, frowning as he carried two large bags filled with groceries that he had recently bought at the local supermarket.

And it was just one of those days where the saiyan felt like going outside personally, rather than making his shadow clones do the job as per usual.

But the matter of grocery shopping wasn't what was causing his knitted brows; it was the quest that had suddenly popped up right after he was leaving the store.

<Quest>: A black cat in distress!

[Quest Requirements]: Find the wounded nekoshou before the devils get to her.

[Reward]: 1,000 system points

Now while Zero could roughly guess the black cat's identity from the quest details alone, how was he expected to find her? There weren't even any clues given to him from the System, so he didn't really know whether the cat was currently in the Underworld or Human world.

And assuming Zero did know, where would he even start looking? Both the area and population of the two worlds were just too vast and expanding his perception at great distances would produce a risk of alerting a powerful existence, due to the lack of strength he currently had.

The saiyan didn't exactly know the neko's ki signature either, making the task even harder to complete.

[Master, I remember telling you that a quest, with its corresponding reward, will only appear as Master either encounters something, or there is something within range that Master could possibly come across.]

A certain blonde fairy, who had been staring at her master's unchanging expression from the side for a while now, couldn't take it anymore and spoke up helplessly to remind him.

And no surprise, Zero's eyes had lit up in realization after hearing the hint.

"So you're saying that the cat could possibly be nearby?"

Gaia didn't reply as the saiyan had already started expanding the range of his Ki Sense searching for the target.

He had forgotten how receiving quests from the system normally worked, as all the quests he usually got was for slaughtering monsters within the dungeon; This was actually his first quest outside of that.

Anyway, it didn't take long for Zero's perception to pick up a weak signature within a deserted alleyway, roughly about 500m away from his current location.

Although he didn't recognize what type of race the aura belonged to initially, as the aura was different from a humans, but from the trace of devil energy that was present alongside it, the saiyan knew he had found his target.

At the same time, he also realized that the unfamiliar aura belonged to the yokai race.

So locking onto the specific ki signature, Zero quickly used Instant Transmission, but what the saiyan saw in front of him after he had teleported made his expression turn for the worse.

Appearing in his sight was an injured two-tailed black cat who seemed to be unconscious. No, it couldn't even be described with the word 'black' at this point. It's fur dyed in a blood-red color, describing the feline as just 'injured' could be said to be a huge understatement.

Zero frowned as he used his senses to further scan the nekoshou's status; the situation was far worse than he thought.

With a large number of broken bones, severe burns and even a few spear wounds throughout her body, the neko was in critical condition at the moment.

Her breathing was unsteady and the current rate of blood loss she had going for her could turn out to be fatal if left alone for too long without the proper treatment, so Zero made a quick decision to use one of his trump cards.

Though just as Zero was calling upon <Avalon>, a large green magic circle consisting of a raven over a gate appeared in front of him, before a group of three people, no, three devils walked out from under the saiyan's eyes.

Although each wore a different set of outfit, they all had a common characteristic which was their pair of black bat-like wings behind their backs, giving away their status.

Of course, another obvious indicator was the demonic energy that was radiating off of them, with Zero sensing their power-levels to be comprised of two mid-class and one high-class.

"Haha! At last, we have finally caught up."

"Yeah, it fucking took us over half a year to chase her this far. We sacrificed many low-class and even mid-class devils of the branch before the slippery bitch finally couldn't hold on anymore. Luckily she was injured while killing her Master and didn't have the chance to recover, or else who knows how long this hunt would take."

"Shut up you two. All of that doesn't matter right now. Once we kill her and hand over the corpse to the higher ups as evidence, we can claim our rewards and gain much more than what we've previously lost. Hahah! Money and status; the amount that comes with slaying this SS-Class Stray Devil, just thinking about it makes me tremble in excitement."

"You're right, Master. Hahahahahah!"

The trio's words full of arrogance and repugnant laughter entered Zero's ears as he sneered at them from the side with disgust.

Especially at the one in the middle, who seemed to be the leader of the three; The guy was staring at the blood-smeared cat, who was currently lying unconscious on the cold concrete floor, with unconcealed greed present in his eyes.

The three devils didn't even spare Zero, who was next to the nekoshou, a glance as they thought he was just an ordinary human and was only staying silent because he had been too shocked by the way they had initially appeared.

Zero naturally noticed this, and his sneer grew even further.

An important thing he had learnt over the year of dungeon runs was to never underestimate a potential threat, no matter how harmless they seemed.

The saiyan had almost paid his life as a price for thinking that a limbless and heavily injured ogre possessed absolutely no danger to him. Who would've known that the ogre was actually in possession of a trait that would allow his neck to stretch at rapid lengths?

Caught off guard, he allowed the ogre to rip off his arm with its sharp teeth as he narrowly avoided a fatal blow to his head.

Of course, he still had <Avalon> and resources from the system store that could patch him up, but that didn't mean he hadn't felt the pain that came from getting his arm physically, and quite literally, removed from him.

So yeah, while Zero himself had learned a valuable life lesson back then, the few devils in front of him were about to pay the price for their lack of caution.

As he saw the high-class devil approaching the neko, Zero moved his figure in between the two, blocking the devil's sight and making the guy raise an eyebrow in slight surprise that a weak, human boy actually dared to confront him.

"Hey human, do you know what you are up against?"

The devil's contemptuous gaze locked Zero's figure as he spoke with a bit of impatience. The devil leader was currently in a good mood as he was close to claiming his fruits of victory so in his opinion, not immediately killing the human boy in front of him for his disrespectful behavior was already a concession on his part.

[Master, you don't have much time.]

Gaia's voice suddenly resounded in Zero's mind.

"Mm, I already know. I'll make it quick."

The saiyan replied mentally. He still had a nekoshou to heal, otherwise, he didn't exactly mind messing around with these guys for a while. Maybe he could've had some fun riling them up but as they say, time waits for no one.

"Um, someone who's about to become a corpse?"

Zero spoke with indifference which irritated the devil but nothing more than the words that had been spoken from the saiyan's mouth.

"You! What did you sa- Cough! Wha?"

The high-class devil leader suddenly vomited a mouthful of blood and noticed that his vision started to blur. In confusion, he looked down, only to notice that his chest had been pierced by an arm encased in a white, transparent aura of energy.

"Human… how… when..."

The devil spoke while gasping for air as his eyes were now filled with the emotion of disbelief and despair. He didn't know when, but the 'human' that he initially disdained and hadn't place in his eyes had appeared directly in front of him without his knowledge and delivered him a lethal blow to his heart.

"Sorry, the cat's with me. Now, I don't exactly have time to deal with your nonsense, so please be on your way. Next time, don't underestimate your opponent."

Just this once and because this was the first existence aside from dungeon monsters that he was going to kill, Zero decided to solve the guy's doubts.

"Also, when did I ever say I was human? You were just too overconfident and your arrogance had blinded you from the truth. You thought I was shocked by your appearance when in reality, my expression had never changed from the beginning. All you have to blame here, is yourself. Sayonara."

Zero shook his head as took his spotless arm out of the devil's chest. His ki had prevented the blood from staining his skin, but that couldn't be said for his clothes on his upper body and face, which he hadn't bothered protecting. So at the moment, the saiyan's bloodied appearance was like a devil in each of their eyes. How ironic.

"You… the Naberius... Clan… won't... let you… go..."

Those were the final words that Zero heard from the high-class devil as the devil leader collapsed onto the ground without a single breath of life left in his body.

"Naberius Clan huh? Figured it was you guys."

The saiyan muttered aloud as he locked his vision onto the remaining two mid-class devils who obviously hadn't recovered from the shock in front of them yet. Everything just happened too fast for their brains to keep up.

It was only when Zero's recent words were spoken that they finally woke up from their daze and upon noticing the saiyan's attention on them, their complexions quickly changed into that of utmost horror before bolting away in the opposite direction.

Obviously, they came to the same conclusion that they weren't Zero's opponent. They may be arrogant, but that didn't mean they were stupid. When life was at stake, they could care less about the useless emotions such as pride and arrogance.

The teleportation spell had a cast time, so running was the only option; staying to fight would mean one thing: Death.

The two were actually betting on the main family of the Naberius Clan to save them. After all, a branch leader of the clan had just died and main family would obviously take notice and investigate the cause. If the mid-class devils could just stall the opponent for a while, maybe reinforcements would make it on time.

Zero didn't know what they were thinking but when he noticed them running, he went chasing after them. They were fast, but Zero was even faster as he quickly overtook them, leaving a couple of afterimages in his path before stopping them in their tracks, leaving the duo no chance to fly. The saiyan was about to go for the kill when one of the mid-class devils rapidly waved his hands at him while shouting.

"Wait, please don't kill us! It was all our master's idea! We just followed his orders!"

The devil trembled as he spoke.

"Yes; yes! Please have mercy Sir! We'll do anything you say if you spare us! We'll even act as your servants."

The other was quick to respond and nodded his head like a pecking chicken whilst begging for Zero to be merciful, even going so far as to offer his loyalty.

After realizing that they couldn't run away from their enemy, the devils had to resort to acting pitiful while having no hesitation towards betraying their already dead master at the same time, just so they could keep their lives.

'Disgusting.'

The saiyan thought. He only stared impassively at the two before opening his mouth, though the words that came out of it basically crushed the two devils' naive delusions and hopes.

"My apologies, but one, I wouldn't exactly trust you guys, and two, the both of you have already been deemed dead from the moment you saw my appearance."

Zero had forgotten to hide his appearance earlier and since these guys knew, they had to die. He didn't exactly want a Devil Clan or perhaps even a whole faction after his ass; he was too weak at the moment.

Another reason was that he didn't want to show himself to the world so soon. Again, it was because he lacked the ability.

Strength; Power; That was what he needed at the moment.

After one year of training, Zero had already passed the initial foundation stage and reached the second Mortal Realm, making him have the power of a high-class.

Although it wasn't enough to guarantee survival in the supernatural world, it was enough to deal with the devils in front of him.

The only problem, being the high-class devil, had already been solved earlier, otherwise, if the three devils from the Naberius branch worked together, the saiyan would've been in a bit of a pinch; he wouldn't lose of course, but he'd definitely leave the fight with some injuries and not to mention the time it would take.

He didn't exactly have the liberty to take his time at the moment.

"Dammit! No choice, let's team up and fight him together!"

The mid-class devils after hearing Zero's words turned desperate. Gritting their teeth, they proceeded to charge at the saiyan after giving each other a look of determination through eye contact.

"Come."

Zero didn't move from his position this time and instead circulated his ki around his whole body, ready to face the two devils head-on.

"Eat my fist!"

The devil at the forefront screamed, sending a straightforward punch toward the saiyan.

"Hmmph, you call that a punch?"

Zero snorted coldly, before blocking the incoming frontal punch with his left arm like it was nothing.

"How could it be?!"

Shouted the devil in disbelief. He had exhausted most of his power in that punch, but that didn't even manage to make the saiyan move an inch from his spot. The devil wasn't given any time to think about it though as his opponent's voice reached his ears.

"My turn; Experience it with your body; This, is what you call a punch."

Bang!

Clenching his right hand into a fist, Zero struck the devil directly on the chest, sending the guy crashing into the nearby wall before having to lower his head as he narrowly dodged a dark spear of demonic energy.

'One specializes in close combat, the other in range. How annoying. Gotta bring them together somehow and finish them off in one go.'

Zero thought as he surrounded his right hand in a white ki-flame. With a jump-spin, he caught the spear that had just been evaded in mid-air, before throwing it back at the spear-throwing devil in the distance at twice the initial speed and power.

Not expecting his opponent would do this, the devil panicked and quickly condensed a magic barrier in front of him in order to block the incoming attack, but failed to do so as the barrier only managed to hold off his own empowered attack for a mere second before ripping straight through, exploding on the devil's face.

"Ah!"

The devil screamed as he felt the burning sensation on his face. It made him flail about and due to the lack of vision, he eventually lost his balance and fell backwards, tripping over himself.

Boom!

The poor guy didn't have the chance to regain his footing though before he felt a heart-wrenching pain at his stomach, courtesy of Zero who had taken advantage of the situation to swiftly rush over and land a ki-infused punch. The attack slammed the devil into the ground, leaving a small crater from the amount of force it had generated.

"Oh no you don't."

As soon as he finished with his previous assault, Zero quickly turned around to grab a hold of the already recovered close-combat devil's leg, preventing the mid-class devil's sneak attack before slamming the guy on top of his fellow ally with an overhead smash.

Boom! A bigger crater was formed over the smaller one as both devils howled in pain.

'Perfect.'

The saiyan thought as he saw the devils lying next to each other.

Not giving the two time to recover and at the same time not letting his efforts go to waste, Zero swiftly appeared next to them in the crater and proceeded to grab their faces in each of his hands.

Immediately realizing what the saiyan was about to do, the two devils who hadn't been given a break became wide-eyed and began to struggle wildly, using all they could to get their enemy off themselves.

They utilized their arms, legs and even demonic energy to blast Zero away but the guy just wouldn't budge as he held their faces down with both his hands.

The devils were only mid-class, while Zero was as powerful as a high-class and has essentially acquired the perfect foundation set for him by the System. Adding in the white-transparent Ki that surrounded and protected his whole form, there was no way that the saiyan's current opponents could ever hurt him.

"Stay still."

And to make the already desperate situation worse, an immense gravitational force, courtesy of Zero's <Gravity Magic>, suddenly pressed down upon the devils, making them lose their final ability to struggle out of his grasp.

The saiyan didn't pay them any more attention when he realized that their movements were finally suppressed and proceeded to gather ki into his hands until a fluorescent blue glow appeared within them.

When both mid-class existences saw this, they realized that their end was set in stone and no longer had any desire to struggle. Their will to survive had basically collapsed as they submitted to their inevitable fate.

The previous desperation held within their eyes was replaced by the fear of death, regrets over their actions, the unwillingness at how powerless they were before this foe of theirs and the extreme hate they possessed for the one who put them in this situation.

Zero who noticed the intense emotion in their eyes didn't hold any sympathy for them as he whispered his last words to his opponents.

"You should've known this day would come sooner or later when you followed that arrogant master of yours. When you attempted to kill someone, you should've been prepared to be killed yourself.

Also, consider it bad luck that you met me in this situation. You almost got your prize, but you, along with your idiot master, had celebrated too early and unfortunately, underestimating me had led to your downfall.

Goodbye, little devils."

The fluorescent blue glow between Zero's hands and the devils' face started to become brighter and brighter before...

BOOM!

… two small explosions occurred, creating a mixture of dust and smoke as the compressed ki was finally detonated.

"Phew, quick and easy."

Receiving the white-transparent aura around him, Zero got up from the ground, waving away the remaining dust particles that were in the way after the surrounding returned to its calm. That was when he suddenly got a notification from the system.

(Ding! Host has completed the <Quest>: A black cat in distress! Reward: 1,000 system points.)

(Congratulations! Host has completed the <Hidden Quest>: Defeat the team of devil pursuers. Hidden Reward: 10,000 system points, +999 all stats.)

'Well? A hidden quest is a thing now? Even the rewards given are better compared to the standard system points. It actually gives experience! Sweeeet.'

Zero's eyes lit up as he saw the rewards.

'Now my stats at Level 2 have gone from the bottom of rank d to the bottom of rank c, making me a step closer to Level 3, where I can complete the foundation stages and finally unlock my Super Saiyan transformation.'

He thought mentally as he rubbed his chin.

'Three more ranks… Hmm, the monsters in the dungeon are getting harder and harder to kill so I'd probably guess that the process to Level 3 would take another year? Ah.. so long though.'

The saiyan lamented before he realized that he was too focused on the rewards that he had almost forgotten the situation he was currently in.

'Right, I don't have time to think about these things right now. Got some cleaning up to do and most importantly a neko to save.'

Zero snapped himself back to reality as he used his ki sense to check up on the nekoshou in the near distance and sighed in relief that her condition hasn't declined that much since the last time he examined her, giving him enough time do some cleanup.

After all, he didn't exactly want anyone, especially humans, to find the three devil corpses on the ground after he took down the magic barrier surrounding this place.

'Now, how should I dispose of them…'

Thought the saiyan as he looked at his masterpiece on the ground which was comprised of two small craters replacing the heads of the now headless bodies, all which was within a larger crater.

Fortunately though, he didn't have to think long as a familiar green magic circle made its appearance next to the lifeless body of the high-class devil leader.

'Shit! Reinforcements? I don't have time for this!'

As the thought came to his mind, he quickly reacted, teleporting to the nekoshou with <Instant Transmission> and holding her within his arms before calling out to his system fairy mentally.

"Gaia! Hurry and teleport us to my residence!"

[Understood, Master!]

Gaia's sweet voice was heard as she activated the <Recall> function of the System, which instantly teleported Zero to where he had previously set his 'Home' location.

{A/N: At this point in time, the MC didn't possess <Space Magic>, and <Instant Transmission> only teleports to Ki signatures so I added in a 'Home Teleport' function kind of thing. I couldn't exactly think of a name so… I decided to be unoriginal with the naming and took League's 'Recall' instead. ^-^}

Though a moment before he vanished from the scene, Zero was able to catch a glance at the many devil signatures that made an appearance from the magic circle which made him chuckle inwardly when he recalled how they had started flaring their demonic energy in anger.

"Heh, those guys must be fuming right about now. Well, at least I can give these guys the matter of processing the surrounding damages along with the disposal of the three lifeless bodies of their companions. Saves me the trouble in any case."

Zero thought aloud as he initiated the treatment for a certain black cat.

<< Flashback End >>

<< Back to the present >> < Zero's bedroom > < With Kuroka >

"... and yeah, you've basically been with me ever since."

Zero stated after he explained to the nekoshou what had occurred in the past as the cat was all curious about it.

Of course, he had retold the story without revealing any secrets relating to Gaia and the System. He also didn't tell her how he had healed her. After all, <Avalon> was his absolute trump card. The fewer people who knew, the better, and so far, no one aside from he himself possessed knowledge of it; Gaia obviously didn't count.

"Nya. Once again, thank you for saving me."

Kuroka gave a cheeky smile from across the bed.

"It's all good, no need to thank me. I just happened to be in the area at the time."

Zero shook his head.

"Mm. Hey, Zero-nya..."

Kuroka suddenly called, her smile disappearing and replaced with an expression of hesitation.

"Hmm? What's up?" The saiyan raised an eyebrow at her, curious as to what she wanted to say.

"I've been wondering about something for a while now, but never had the chance to ask…"

She paused for a bit before asking.

"Why did you decide to harbor me, knowing fully well that I am a criminal… and what I did to become one?"

The neko averted her gaze from Zero after she finished. After all, the question she had asked was basically suspecting her savior of having hidden motives.

"Well, the reason why I took you in was because it felt like the right thing to do at the time. You don't expect me to just leave a heavily wounded and homeless cat, with devils after her ass, on the streets, do you?

And criminal? For what, killing your master? I mean, you killed the abominable guy to protect your sister, no? I personally think that deserves some praise instead."

Zero answered calmly, his eyes flashing a hint of appreciation.

"You… how did you know?"

Kuroka lifted her head in shock.

The neko assumed that the saiyan only knew her identity and how she became a wanted SS-class stray devil. What she didn't expect though, was for him to know the real truth behind the whole incident.

"Let's just say… that I have my own sources for finding information."

Zero replied with an inexplicable smile.

"I see…"

Kuroka muttered. She didn't ask about those 'sources', not because she didn't want to, but because she had a feeling that the saiyan wouldn't tell her anyway.

And the neko was right; Zero didn't tell her the specifics because that was related to his biggest secret.

"So, I trust that answered your doubts?" He inquired.

"Nya, I'm sorry for suspecting your intentions."

Kuroka nodded, before lowering her head in shame.

"It's fine. I never thought of it that way, so don't worry about it."

Zero waved his hand to indicate it was no problem, before letting out a yawn.

"Ah, I guess it's pretty late, huh."

He spoke tiredly as he looked at the digital alarm clock on the side before turning back to Kuroka.

"Well, if you don't mind, I think I'm going to call it a night. It's already 5am in the morning and I'm someone who values my beauty sleep. Anything that you want to ask can be saved for after I've woken up. You should already know where the guest room is, so there's no need for me to take you there. Oh, one last thing, there's some leftovers in the fridge if you're ever feeling hungry. Wish you a good night."

Zero finished with a quick stretch of his arms before using a single thought to remove all of his clothes, leaving only his boxers left.

He then proceeded to lie down with his back against the bed, resting his head comfortably on one of the two pillows present, though before the saiyan could close his eyes, he heard the she-cat speak out again.

"Can I sleep with you, nya?"

Kuroka asked hesitantly, while trying her hardest not to take a peek at the saiyan's well-developed muscles.

"..."

Zero only glanced at the nekoshou in silence.

"Nyahaha… it's a habit I developed?"

The nekoshou chuckled awkwardly while scratching her cheek with her forefinger.

For the past year, the neko (in her cat form) had been sneaking into Zero's room everyday to sleep on his chest while he wasn't paying attention, or at least she thought he wasn't, and to be suddenly deprived of this made her heart feel strangely uncomfortable, hence she had asked the question in the first place.

"..."

The saiyan continued to stare at her eyes without speaking.

"Nya… I guess not huh…"

Kuroka smiled sadly as her ears drooped before slowly making her way out of the room. That was until her savior decided to speak up, making her ears perk up again.

"Sigh. Just don't move around too much."

Zero sighed. He couldn't bear to see her pitiful look. When did he become such a softy; he did not know.

"Nya! Does that mean…"

The saiyan nodded at the neko and was about to close his eyes when a black blur entered his vision before crash landing onto his bosom.

"Mmm thank you, nya."

Kuroka said joyfully as she rubbed her head into Zero's neck while wrapping her arms around him.

"Oi, didn't I say not to move around?"

Zero questioned with an exasperated tone but as he realized she wasn't paying attention to him, the saiyan bonked her head with a ki-infused hand-knife, just enough to make the neko feel some pain.

"...It huurrts, nya."

Kuroka immediately sat up on his chest whilst rubbing her head. She looked at the saiyan with her feline eyes full of grievances.

"That's what you get for not listening in the first place! And please..."

Zero reprimanded and facepalmed as he tried to look away from Kuroka's current state.

Calling it 'too revealing' would be an understatement; She was literally clad in her birthday suit!

The poor guy had been diverting his attention and was suppressing his hormonal desires for a while now and thanks to his <Protection of the Mind> Talent, he didn't need to chant Buddha verses in order to calm down.

He shuddered as he pictured himself singing praises of 'Amitabha' in his mind; It almost felt like he was turning into a monk, which scared the shit out of him. That was definitely not what he strove to be!

So quickly picking out a feminine outfit from the system store, he took it out of the Inventory after he had bought it, before chucking the set of clothing at the neko's face whilst yelling.

"... would it hurt for you to put on some clothes already?!"