Final Preparations

A/N: I only just now realized that I got the order wrong for the last chapter, so, sorry about that.

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[Kunou POV]

Watching the fight between Hajime and Mother was amazing!

Mom avoided every single one of his attacks. Only someone as awesome as her could do something like that!

And Hajime was even cooler!

His lightning attacks were so fast I could barely see them.

That last one was the coolest, though. It exploded, just like in anime! I've got to get him to teach me that.

[Yasaka POV]

I brought Hajime inside to rest after the fight.

The minute he was inside, Kunou started bouncing around, talking about how awesome the fight was. While it might've looked good, it was far from the most interesting fight. As much as I loathe to admit it, the Devil's rating games have a unique interest to them that I can't deny, even though I only watch the season finals.

Hajime certainly surprised me, not just with his magic but his skill. It certainly impressed me since he'd trained for less than a week.

His final attack, he called it Lightning Dragon's Roar. It confirmed my theory that Hajime had gained some dragon magic. It would explain both the nature of his attack and his durability. Most sacred gears are well documented, and I don't remember reading about any lightning dragon gear. I doubt it's just that; otherwise, he couldn't have grown so quickly.

Even Satans Lucifer and Beelzebub took decades to reach their current strength, accelerated by their participation in the Great War.

(A/N: This is the biggest thing I found BS in DxD. If you remember, Issei started with an average human body and almost no magic reserves. Yet he became a Super Devil in less than 2 years. Even if you consider he's now a devil/dragon hybrid, he certainly doesn't train as hard as someone like Sairaorg does.)

If he plans on helping yokai-kind, attempting such a thing would require reaching Transcendant-class. He'd also need to contend with those with centuries of fighting experience, powerful abilities and bloodlines, and their factions to back them up. The only thing that makes it easier is that few have fought within the last century, so they are likely rusty.

Oh-

It seems he's waking up.

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[Hajime POV]

Everything was hurting.

I know this is what I deserve for fighting Yasaka and not staying down, but OW!

I'm just a child! I get it was a test, but I would've thought that meant holding back, at least so I don't get hospitalized.

I can remember our final attacks clashing.

Seriously, is she crazy?! That looked like it destroyed the entire field!

Finally waking up, I sat up to see Yasaka and Kunou in the room with me.

"Good mor-"

"Hajime! Can you teach me that attack? Pretty please?!"

Kunou was shaking me like a vending machine that stole her dollar.

"Ku... nou... stop... sha... king... me!"

"Oh, sorry."

"It's fine. As for teaching you, I can't."

"What! Why not?!"

"Because Kunou, it has to with his sacred gear." Yasaka interrupts.

"Yeah. I might be able to teach you something cool later, but I only awakened it on Monday. Plus, I'll be leaving soon to bounty hunt."

"What?!"

"That's why I was testing him, Kunou. I needed to see if he could protect himself. You don't want him to get hurt, do you?" She says with a teasing tone.

"Kunou, how could you!" I join her in teasing the little fox. "I thought you cared!"

"What- but,"

I throw my arm over my eyes, getting more dramatic. "I can't believe it. How am I supposed to go on if even Kunou hopes I get injured."

By now, it had finally clicked what we were doing to her. A pout spread across her face. "Meanies! I was concerned about you, and then you did this."

She crossed her arms and turned away.

"Kunou," I started. I needed to do the only thing I could to calm her down: bribe her. "How about I teach you some cool abilities when I return?"

"Like what?" Though it was muffled, I could still hear it.

"How about I teach you to be a ninja?" I didn't have any cards to learn that yet, but I was sure I'd be able to learn something ninja-like by then.

It took her a few seconds to process that, but she immediately turned around once she did.

"Fine, but you'd better promise. Or else I'll make you regret it."

"Alright, I promise. I don't want to face the wrath of the Princess of Kyoto." I said, smirking.

"Don't call me that!"

"Why not? That's what you are, right?"

"Hmph." And now she was pouty again.

"Hajime. Aren't you curious about how you did on your test?"

Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that.

"Did I last the full time?"

"You don't know, do you? You lasted 17 minutes. I thought even 10 minutes was pushing it, but you surprised me."

"Does that mean?"

"Yes, it does."

"Yeah!" I throw my fists in the air.

"However." Oh no.

"If you are going to be fighting, then I want you to only go after bounties with a lower ranking than you. Just because you can fight doesn't mean you have the experience to judge your abilities. I've seen several promising fighters die because they thought they were ready for a tougher challenge, only to realize just how weak they were."

"Alright, fine." While I had the thought of disobeying her, I ignored it. Regardless of whether I felt I was strong enough, she was looking out for me. Besides, she'd probably let me go after more dangerous opponents if I turned in enough bounties.

There were also tens of thousands of low-ranking bounties, with new ones coming out daily. Most of them were because they pissed off someone. They were people like rogue exorcists, stray devils, or uncontrollable vampire thralls. They wanted to do their own thing and felt being a criminal was worth it for that freedom. There were also people putting bounties on rivals and those they knew.

There was even a section for mundane humans, though the price was extremely low due to the taboo nature of bounty payments. These were essentially just people associated with those involved in the supernatural, like if someone put a bounty on Issei's parents.

Aside from bounties, there were also just regular jobs, though that was something different. All in all, the supernatural world kind of functioned in the same way the Naruto world did. People could survive without much strength, although everyone would seek more.

It was as comforting as it was terrifying. If you weren't careful, you would become just another bounty.

That makes me even happier to have my sacred gear. Most bounties are created based on the strength someone has shown before. However, with my sacred gear constantly adding new powers, the odds someone would go after me were low. Of the bounty hunters strong enough to go after me, the reward for doing so wouldn't be enough to make them move. Those weak enough to consider the bounty would never know all my abilities. It was the perfect way to protect myself.

The only issue would be a bounty worth the same as someone stronger than me. Luckily, I'm a kid, and even if it were worth it, few would put out such an expensive bounty for one. The only kids with high bounties are those related to faction leaders, such as Kunou, and even then, few are suicidal enough to try. An unknown kid like myself would make them seem incompetent if they couldn't handle me and needed to empty their bank accounts for a bounty.

There was also the risk that I was hiding my strength since I would be a known bounty hunter. It's not a risk the smarter ones are willing to take. Dying to a kid with their experience would tarnish their names.

I finally remembered what I was doing in my fight, specifically furthering my assimilation. I quickly opened the screen and was happy to see the progress.

{ Assimilation Progress : 65% }

That one fight with Yasaka did more for me than all my training.

It's not surprising since Laxus' abilities are for combat. Using the templates in fights likely raises the assimilation because they are fighters. That also means that for characters known for other skills, like chefs, I have to do the kind of work they would to increase progress.

As for Laxus' strongest abilities, I haven't gotten access to them yet. It makes sense. Fairy Law is arguably his strongest spell, so I doubt it'd be accessible until I've almost finished the assimilation.

Now that I have permission to be a bounty hunter, I don't plan on leaving immediately. I want to do several things in preparation.

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I've spent the last week preparing to leave. Since I didn't know when I'd see Kunou and Yasaka again, I spent quite a lot of time with them. While I could always call, it wasn't the same.

When I wasn't with either of them, I was training. I did train a bit with Yasaka, mentioning my rapid growth during our sparring, but she only allowed me to spar with her twice because she was so busy.

Unfortunately, those spars didn't help me make as much progress as the first one, only getting me up to 80% assimilation. It was probably a bottleneck since I hadn't used much of the new magic. By now, I had most of his lightning and dragon slayer magic, which I used most during training and my spars.

I still didn't have his most powerful dragon slayer attacks, dragon force, and fairy law. I also hadn't used the magic he was taught by Fried, Jutsu Shiki and Word Enchantment, although I wasn't rushing to use them. I didn't know how to explain that I could make the barriers when I'd only shown my lightning magic.

I was already packed and ready to leave, but Kunou insisted I wait so she and Yasaka could drop me off at the station.

Despite being packed, I had nothing on me, mostly due to my great luck over the last week.

I spun the gacha every day, which was beyond my wildest expectations. While I didn't get anything extremely powerful, there was a lot of useful stuff.

{ Weakness Removal Card }

{ Minecraft Inventory }

{ Mother Carmel (One Piece) }

{ Milano }

{ Power Upgrade Card }

{ Random Excalibur Fragment }

{ Hekiji Tengai }

Seeing all the new items, except the Power Upgrade Card, felt amazing.

The Weakness Removal Card removes one weakness of the user. Of course, I immediately used this on Laxus' motion sickness. I was getting on a train, and the last thing I wanted was to be unable to do anything. Dragon slayers were known for their bad motion sickness, and I didn't have any of Wendy's healing spells.

The Minecraft Inventory was the best thing I got. It allowed me 37 spaces to put things, the ability to equip armor instantly, and a place to craft stuff if I had the materials.

It worked differently from how it might in the game. There was no main or offhand, so I didn't need to hold something if my inventory was full. It wouldn't have been a big deal, but I could keep those slots empty, though the extra slots were more convenient. The armor slots functioned as an additional slot for clothing. It didn't show the armor on my person unless I wanted it to, but it would give me any buffs related to it.

The Milano was the ship of the Guardians of the Galaxy. A spaceship! I wasn't planning on visiting space, but I wouldn't say no. It also had who knows how much tech onboard. I'd investigate later once I have a base of my own.

Hekiji Tengai was a villain from My Hero Academia. His power allowed him to create a powerful shield. It was not as strong as the next two, but it was still beneficial and had potential.

Now, the good stuff.

Mother Carmel. She was the one who raised Big Mom, but in reality, she was a child trafficker. Before she could do anything, Big Mom went on one of her famous craving rampages, ate Carmel, and took her devil fruit powers. Her fruit was the Soul Soul fruit, one of the most powerful fruits if placed in any world, but in this one? It's god-like.

As a quick example, this fruit could absorb parts of others' souls without killing them. Why was this god-like? Well, in the first season of DxD, Asia died by having her sacred gear ripped out of her body. The wound was spiritual, but the gear was torn out, leaving a hole in her soul that ended up leaking her life force. Now, imagine if, rather than ripping it away, it was surgically removed.

Asia's sacred gear was strong, sure, but not the best. There were others, and many of them hadn't yet been awakened or were in the hands of psychopaths. If I were to use her devil fruit powers to remove sacred gears without killing the hosts, I could easily tip the balance of the world. However, all this was something for later. Before anything, I would need to find someone to practice on, so that was a goal for later.

Despite the value I could derive from assimilating Mother Carmel, the last one was more shocking, primarily because of what it meant.

When I activated the card, I randomly received one of the seven Excalibur fragments, specifically Excalibur Blessing. I was shocked to learn that I could obtain things from this world or at least another version.

It helped my mind a bit since there was the thought of 'Am I real?' after awakening Telos Karma. Learning about worlds beyond my own and how my world was seen as entertainment was scary. However, getting an Excalibur fragment was calming in a way. It meant that there were other worlds like my own, other 'canons'.

Aside from the existential crisis being resolved, it was a powerful weapon. I could enhance my abilities several times, have a holy aura, and, best of all, it was like Mjolnir. It and the Thanagarian Mace were only usable by those who had my permission. Nobody could steal it from me since nobody could pick it up.

Along with the Thanagarian Mace, I stored Excalibur Blessing in my inventory. They took up two slots, but it would be worth it to be able to pull them out whenever I needed to. I also stored my backpack and clothes, some stuff Yasaka gave me for my future adventures, and supplies for the next month.

I was ready to go.

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Yasaka and Kunou arrived soon before walking me over to the train station. Yasaka put us under an illusion similar to the notice-me-not charm from Harry Potter. Fueled by her magic, even other supernatural ignored us. Once we were on the platform, Kunou tried getting me to stay.

"Are you sure you have to go Hajime?"

"Yes, Kunou. I have things I want to do, and unfortunately, I won't be able to complete them if I stay in Kyoto."

"But-"

"Kunou, as much as I agree that he should stay, he wants to go. There won't be any changing his mind."

As the train pulled into the station, I got ready to get on the train.

I went in front of Kunou, hugged her, and said goodbye. Though she tried not to, eventually, some tears started to fall.

Eventually prying her daughter off me, Yasaka took her place, though she wasn't crying.

"Hajime, I just want you to know you'll always have a place here."

"I know. This is just something I have to do."

I see her cast a spell that envelops the two of us—a silencing barrier.

"You and I both know that isn't true. I don't care about whatever you're hiding; just be honest about why you're doing this to me."

"*Sigh* Fine, I hate how others treat you, okay? You raised me despite being the leader of Urakyoto. You work day and night to ensure all yokai have a future, and you've spent centuries trying to do that. But no matter how hard you work, all the other factions take advantage of you. I'm sick of it!"

I started crying, but I didn't care right now.

"I'm sick of you having to listen to their threats; I'm sick of them extorting our people, but more than anything, I'm sick of how they treat you like garbage. You're just as strong as any of their leaders, but because they gang up on you, you can't do anything or risk starting a war.

I want to do something about that, but I can't do anything from here, especially here.

They'd do anything to stop me if they knew what I wanted to do, even start a war."

Her face softened while her hug got tighter.

"Just be safe for me, okay? I've lost so many over the years while trying to keep our people safe; I don't want to lose you like I did your mother."

"I won't get myself killed. When I return, I'll be strong enough to help our people. I promise."

"That's all I could ask."

She stood as we separated from the hug while I wiped my face. She reached into her kimono sleeve, pulling out a book, before giving it to me.

"This is a supernatural bounty book. It was created with several different magics and specifically made to confirm bounty kills and give payment. Despite its appearance, it functions more like a computer and can store information on all ongoing supernatural bounties. I recommend using it on anyone you might deal with since you never know if they have a bounty. Just drop some blood on the book, and the magic inside will use a spell to detect the life force of a target. If someone wanted them dead, then whatever payment was offered would be teleported to you."

"Couldn't that just be used to avoid payment?"

"Maybe by a few people, but a few minor groups tried, and they were banned from adding bounties to the book afterward. The payments are processed through Grauzauberer, a completely neutral group, and all factions use the system. If someone tries to cheat the system, they risk provoking major factions. That means no avoiding payment, and in the case of devils, no resurrecting the target."

I nodded. At least this would allow me to avoid others for a while. I needed to build my strength before I started with politics.

I quickly gave her one last hug before hopping on the train. The doors closed shut while I sat down against the window.

Looking out at the station, I waved goodbye to the two kitsune as the train slowly pulled away.

Next stop, Kobe.

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Author's Note:

How do you think I did on the goodbyes? Too sappy? I watched a few One Piece episodes before writing it, so I took inspiration from the more emotional moments. I tried to make it an anime-esque scene.

I took inspiration from Azazyel's 'Space whales? Nope rather deal with devils.' story for the bounty system. I needed something practical, and a guild-type system was too stationary.

This was the longest chapter of the story so far, so I hope it was good. Thanks for reading; see you next time!