A Hunt

__________ POV Narration__________

Kanzai was not having a great time, he was almost crushed by the Land Lizard quite a few times.

There were very few things he could do now, dancing circles around it and hoping that it wasn't intelligent enough to spot such an obvious pattern of movement.

But, eventually, the inevitable happened. A stomp of the beast got too close, it grazed his hand and managed to rip apart a lot of his skin and shred his muscles.

The Aura that covered his body seemed to pop like a balloon in front of the beast's overwhelming power.

Kanzai was sent flying, a pained grunt coming out of his mouth as he twisted himself in the air and tried to land safely on the ground.

Just like that, in a split second, one of his hands became useless. Kanzai could handle the pain, but it still slowed him down a bit.

The beast seemed to extend its tongue, an attack that Kanzai had yet to see. He managed to jump backwards in time, the tongue crushed his previous position.

But it didn't stop there, it still rocketed towards him, coiling around him and slowly gripping him with more strength.

Kanzai struggled, he didn't scream, he didn't speak, but the panicked look on his face said everything.

He knew he was about to die, and he only had himself to blame for it.

Both of his hands were completely immobilized, he couldn't even slightly move them in any way. He had no way to free himself.

Well, all until he heard a series of explosions, each one got closer and closer to him and the beast.

The beast also heard them, it looked in the distance as its grip on Kanzai lessened slightly. The Tiger took that opportunity to shred apart the beast's tongue with his intact hand and jumped away.

At the side, a familiar figure appeared. Ashton carrying Pitou and looking at the battle with mild disinterest.

"What? Why are you here alone?" The old scientist asked with a raised eyebrow while looking at Kanzai.

The short-tempered member of the Zodiacs just sighed in relief.

He recognized the figure, even if he looked a bit different. He would have time to ask about that later though.

"I didn't think I'd ever be this happy to see you..." He said with a tired grin, as he held his broken and torn apart hand.

__________ POV Ashton__________

Ok, first of all, rude.

I looked at the land lizard, it's probably been fighting Kanzai for a while now. Its legs are filled with cuts and scratches.

Its head is mostly untouched, Kanzai was likely afraid to get too close to its mouth. Pretty smart for someone stupid enough to ignore my warning in the first place.

"It seems you are in quite a pickle. You're lucky I happened to want to see how things were faring on this continent." I said while looking at the man.

Pitou was already crouched down and prepared to pounce on the Land Lizard. She is also preparing to take out that Hatsu of hers.

Kanzai mustered the energy to dash to my side and sighed a bit.

"Thanks a lot... I really thought I was a goner." He said with a grimace.

"That thing is really strong. I thought you said we could defeat it?" It seems he wasn't paying complete attention to my warning.

"Well, I said that all of you grouped 'should' stand a chance against it. Facing it alone might be a bit much." His eyes widened a bit as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I-I see... So, how are we going to deal with this? You are strong, but it seems a bit much..." Well, fair enough, he's never seen me fight before.

"Don't worry, I can take care of a beast at this level. But I want my disciple over here to give it a try first." He raised an eyebrow at first.

He then looked at Pitou for a bit. The silly girl is already dashing towards the beast. With her 'Book' in hand.

"She looks pretty strong. But I doubt she has much of a chance. I don't think she's all that stronger than me right now." He said while looking at her.

I remember him being a bit more hot-headed. I didn't think he'd admit to someone being stronger than him.

But I guess his perception is pretty good. "Indeed, you could likely defeat her too, since you have a lot more experience than her. But I want her to learn from this experience."

He looked at me weirdly for a bit. I guess in his eyes I am sending her to a near-death experience to learn. I guess this method is a bit unorthodox?

I mean, I could've found a decently strong beast that wouldn't have the capability to kill her in one hit. But then she would still be this over-confident.

"You're a bit crazy... But you did save my life. I doubt reinforcements will be here any time soon either. Have fun, I guess?

He sat down and started ripping his clothes to bandage his wounds.

"No need to do that." I took out a basic first aid kit from my void space. I would obviously carry something like that with me.

It's somewhat essential for Pitou(in case she ever gets injured), I don't need it. And using a relic for healing at all times isn't all that good. I do want her to experience some pain if only to get used to it.

Like she is experiencing now. She dashed in carelessly and got blown away by a simple stomp of that beast.

She's lucky she wasn't closed enough to get crushed underneath it.

"By the way, do you age backwards or something?" This is a strange question, but I guess it's quite appropriate.

"Hmm, oh no, this is how I usually look. A lot of Nen users can change their appearance. I do this as to not let people guess my age." I said with a raised finger.

"Wait, so you're an old man?!" Said this little shit with a grin on his face.

"Don't be disrespectful! It's rude to laugh at others." My composed comment didn't seem to make it any better.

"Pfft, you even speak like an old man." Is it too late to feed this guy to the Land Lizard?

I heard a scream and I fixated my eyes back on the fight.

Pitou already got injured it seems. The Land Lizard smacked her into the ground using it's tongue.

Pitou seems to be throwing fireballs at it, but that's not really effective against the lizard. Since she got this spell to use, the book doesn't have anything good to counter the beast...

Or Pitou is far too panicked to analyze its weaknesses. The book makes the judgement itself, but it relies on the user's information and perception.

If Pitou realised that its weakness was, let's say water, she would've gotten a water 'spell'.

It's a bit funny to see her get slapped around like this. It reminds me of when my teacher did the same to me.

Well, he took me to a legendary beast for a spar, I was really overconfident back then. I think it was a Phoenix if I remember correctly.

It wiped the floor with me. I didn't even have Relics at the time, and I was trying to use the wind to cut a bird made out of flames.

Hah, good times.

"Shouldn't we help her?" Kanzai was already preparing to dash into the fray to help Pitou out. That's nice of him, but it's not really needed right now.

"I want her to fight a bit more. Don't worry, you can rest for now. I'll take care of everything." I said while waving his offer away.

It's nice to have allies willing to fight for you. This also shows that this guy isn't an ungrateful person.

"Sure? But she's getting a bit overwhelmed there..." He sat back down and started putting his broken arm in a makeshift sling.

Pitou seemed to be getting a bit desperate. She's probably broken a few bones, as much as I hate seeing her hurt, I know this is necessary.

She needs to learn fear in order to overcome it.

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