AN: Part 2, let's keep it going. In case anyone was wondering, I'm putting a heavy focus on four specific characters of the Nekoshou village because they play large roles in Hei's life. While some things may be repetitive, it's for characters more than rushing ahead.

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Chapter 7: The Nekoshou Part 2

Hei's return to consciousness wasn't pleasant. That moment between unconsciousness and a trained mind was where the full brunt of pain smashed through mental conditioning.

A groan left his lips as he tried to sit up. "Anyone get the number of the truck that hit me?"

He wasn't expecting a response as a deep velvet feminine voice to ring out. "I wouldn't move if I were you~. And I already told you the name was Yoru."

Hei froze at the voice and paused his movements as he took in the space he was in. He was lying on a bed of soft animal leathers in a large room, wrapped from head to toe in bandages. 'My ribs are fractured.' He expertly deduced and scanned for the source of the voice.

"Over here, boy."

Red eyes snapped to the desk in the corner of the room, where a purple-haired tanned goddess of a woman grinned wide at him. "Sleep well, boy?"

Hei rolled his eyes and plopped back down without trying to get up. "You're a dick."

Yoru laughed openly and stood up to walk over. "I prefer pussy, but whatever you're into, boy."

"You're the second adult feline I met, and I think I dislike your race."

"Now, now, no need for talk like that. Leone and I just like having some fun."

"Is that why you're not wearing clothing?"

"…Oh, I forgot." Yoru chuckled sheepishly and walked over to a dresser to grab some clothes. "Being in an isolated village with all women makes clothing optional most of the time."

"My interest in your race has gone up."

"Ha! Nice one, boy." Yoru walked over with a chuckle, now wearing a form-fitting orange shirt with black leggings. "But you're a little young for that category, no?"

He shrugged at that. "Maybe in body."

"…whatever floats your boat, I guess." Yoru sweatdropped and pulled up a chair before sitting on it in reverse at the edge of the bed. "Anyway, how are you feeling?"

"Like I got my ass kicked by a house cat." Came Hei's deadpan response.

Yoru smirked and lightly flicked his head. "Oh, don't be a sour puss. You had fun, didn't you?"

Hei honestly considered that and realized that a part of him really did. He got his ass kicked, his prized guns were useless, and all the pride he gained from a year of combat contracts with a 100% success rate couldn't help him, but for once, he actually felt himself improve rapidly.

It made him pause and actually think about the last year of his life. 'Teacher was preparing me for fighting the supernatural. And yet I used that training to stand above regular humans and got used to it. Heh, that old wolf knew this would happen when I came here, didn't he?'

He looked over at Yoru and gave her a slight nod. "Yeah, I did." She pushed him to his limit faster than anyone had before, making his blood boil at a challenge and forcing him to bring everything he had to the fore.

Well, not everything.

"Leone said you had a sacred gear; why didn't you use it? I was waiting for it the whole time."

Hei stared at the ceiling above him in thought as he answered. "The point wasn't to win."

"And what did you think the point was?" Yoru asked in interest.

"To be allowed to stay here."

Yoru snorted at that. "Bullshit, I saw how you struggled back there. You weren't trying to show your worth. What was the real reason?"

Hei grumbled under the pointed stare. "That was my reason, at least at the start." He thought back to how his ammunition affected the woman before him. "I accepted the fight so I could stay, but as soon as you destroyed my faith in my weapons, I questioned how far I came and desired to see for myself what the results of seven years of brutal daily training brought me."

Yoru hummed at that. "I admit you did remarkably for a human. But I'm curious, how would you know I wouldn't kill you?"

"Because I trust my teacher."

"I didn't think Leone could garner such trust in such a short time."

"Not Leone, my real teacher." Hei responded with a slight heat, but his feelings toward such a thing were already moving on as he relaxed. "I believe in Mr. Lupa, the man who took me in when I thought I knew it all and showed me just how little I really did."

Back then, he thought that just because he had a few memories of the world's timeline and some of the big-shot character's personalities that he could take on the world like the main character of a story. It was only when he truly began to train and struggle, and then when he took the lives of others, that he realized how foolish such thoughts were. The world wasn't a game, and it didn't care about how much you wanted something. Without Mr. Lupa, Hei didn't know where he would have been by then. Perhaps forced to become a pawn in someone else's game, if not outright dead.

"Is it loyalty or fanaticism that makes you say that?"

Yoru's question snapped him back to focus as he narrowed his eyes. "There is a fine line between those two, Ms. Yoru."

When someone gave you everything when you had nothing, took your hand and showed you the way forward, taught you things you didn't think to learn in the first place, and helped make you what you were today, it could create the most fanatical soldiers who would charge into the pits of Tartarus on a word, especially in large organizations like the church.

But Hei wasn't fanatical; rather, he was insulted by the idea that someone would call his loyalty to the old man fanaticism.

He looked Yoru dead in the eye and said with utmost conviction. "Through the last seven years of my life, I watched a dying man give everything he had, from sunrise to sunset, to forge me into being better than I ever could have been on my own. He didn't ask for my trust; he showed me repeatedly that the more trust I gave him, the stronger he could make me. Never once did he betray that trust, and he sent me here to grow stronger, so I'll do what I have to do to make sure I stay."

Yoru hummed at the sheer will in the younger man's eyes. "Trust only goes so far. I never met your teacher, nor am I restrained by whatever his desires are. If I chose to kill you, that would be the end of things."

"Then that's as far I could have gone." Hei said simply and dropped his head back down. "I never had my hand held. I either rise or fall, and if I fall, I pick myself up again. That's all there is to it."

"You could have walked away. Why pursue this path in life? Why struggle? You went far past the point you had to if all you wanted was to learn from Leone. She told you that before our match."

Hei snorted. "We grow through challenge. I'm not here to take the easy path or some vacation. I told you already, I struggle because I want to be strong enough to be free."

"And what does that mean to you?" Yoru peered down at the young man before her with a growing pressure. "What is it about freedom that you value so highly? You stared me right in the eyes back there, without fear of death, and fought on. What are you seeking, boy?"

Her amber eyes locked onto his form, willing the answers from him like a command, and Hei looked right back and met her evenly. "I want to travel, see the world, have adventures, find love, to live without fear of where I go, that someone can just pluck what I have for themselves because I was too weak." He took a breath and wet his lips. "I seek to be free from the curse of being weak in a world where only the strong can decide who lives or dies."

A silence passed as his words sunk in, showing Yoru the depths that hid within the boy before her that had interested her so much in such a short time.

And now she had seen enough to make up her mind. "And have fun while you do it, eh?"

The severe mood broke at her response, and Hei rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and have fun while I'm at it. I like this shit; sue me."

Yoru laughed and leaned over. "I'd rather train you."

"Excuse me?" Hei looked at her strangely as she only grinned wider.

"You heard me, boy. I'm offering to train you to let you get that strength you so desire."

"Why? I already have Leone."

Yoru huffed and got up out of her chair. "Do you think Leone's a miracle worker or something? She's strong, I'll give her that, but every individual has their strong suits. Leone's the best sensor and undercover agent we have, but that doesn't mean she's the strongest."

"So you're the strongest?"

"In a manner of speaking." Yoru waved a hand lazily. "There are many factors that go into who's stronger than who. I doubt I need to go into the basics with you, but different people specialize in areas that counter others. Among the four leaders, I'm confident in beating two, and the last one would simply outlast me because she's a crazy stamina monster." She grumbled the last part and made Hei raise a brow.

"Ok…well, what are you offering to teach me? You already said Leone's the best sensor, and I came here to learn about energy sensing and suppression. And Touki, if I can." He almost forgot about Touki in his focus on how vital sensing was.

Yoru snapped her fingers with a grin. "So you want to learn Touki, boy? With that physique? Keep dreaming."

"Excuse me?"

Yoru laughed and flexed an arm. "How many people do you think use Touki in the wider world? Take your best guess."

"I don't know, a couple hundred?"

"Ha. You're lucky to find a single user among a thousand supernaturals. Do you know why that is?"

"I assume it's difficult to learn?"

Yoru shook a finger. "No, it's actually quite easy to learn once you reach the required benchmark. It's reaching those requirements that make it so difficult to achieve." She walked over to her desk and rifled around for something as she spoke. "Touki is using the energy of your personal life force to reinforce your body's strength, speed, and stamina to fight at higher levels. Once you have an understanding of how to use it, it's pretty simple, all things considered. Where the hell did I put that thing?"

Hei watched her throw stuff around in confusion as he questioned. "And it protects the body from damage, right? I saw Leone rip up the earth with it."

"It's not exactly for defense. And I doubt she was really trying if she used it. Leone focuses on pure strength, so if she used Touki to actually enhance herself, she wouldn't be ripping up the earth but rather leaving a crater a mile deep in her wake. Be glad she restrained herself."

"…She doesn't seem like the restraint type."

"Ha, she's got layers, boy. Not even I know what goes on in that head of hers sometimes. Ah! Found it." Yoru removed a folded-up board from a cabinet and blew off some dust. "Been a while since I broke this out."

She moved a stand over and hung it up for him to see. "If you want to learn Touki, you need to know a bit more about how physical might is graded in the world. This is the scale that's relevant for Low-Class, or Tier 2." She pointed to the board, and Hei took in its contents.

[Body Forging.

Toughness Grade:

50 = Iron-grade flesh.

100 = Steel Grade Flesh.

Tier 2 – Minimum 10 – Maximum 100.

Grading:

Strength: D C B A

Speed: D C B A

Stamina: D C B A

[D = 4] [C = 8] [B = 15] [A = 33.3] ]

"This is body forging?" Hei asked while analyzing the numbers.

"You're aware of the five main categories to distinguish strength, correct?"

"Power, Understanding, Tools, Skills, Other."

"Good, Body-Forging falls under 'Other.' It's a Sub-Category because of how rare it's followed.

"And what is it exactly?"

"At every Tier change, that is Low-Class, Mid-Class, High-Class, and so on, the potential ceiling that constrains an individual is raised. As the scale shows, you can see that the max potential for physical might at Low-Class is 100, also known as the benchmark for Steel-Grade flesh."

"Steel-Grade flesh?"

"It means when your physical body becomes strong enough that your very flesh, bones, muscles, and organs gain the toughness of Steel while also retaining the natural characteristics of soft and flexible qualities. Basically, you still have and feel smooth soft skin, but your natural toughness is as if you were made of solid steel."

Hei took in the new information with a great deal of interest. "Is that why my bullets didn't even graze you?"

"Correct, although I'm far above Steel, but that's not important right now. Kione, the Low-Class Nekomata you shot at, has Iron-Grade flesh. Shooting at her was as if you were shooting at solid iron that could move."

Hei looked over the numbers and did the math. "So, her physique was over 50? What's under Iron?"

"Nothing." Yoru shrugged at Hei's look. "You could say that 10 is the human limit, but supernatural races are born at Low-Class, so we don't really count anything below 50 on the scale."

"Just another example of humans being shafted."

"You're not wrong, but don't forget that every race has issues. Humans start at the very bottom, but they grow the fastest. If they don't die, that is." Hei twitched at the last line but understood her point.

"So how does the whole Strength, Speed, and Stamina thing work? It's added up?"

"Yup. Simple and to the point. If you had a D in all three areas, then…" She wrote on the board with a marker. [4+4+4 = 12 toughness.] "You would be just above the max human limit. Nekomata kids are born around that point."

Hei thought back to the triplets and realized she wasn't bullshitting him. "And where do I stand on this?"

Yoru hummed and drew out a new formula. "I got your stats when I smacked you around. Your strength needs a lot of work, but the fact that you can at least deflect a couple tons of weight at your age is very impressive. But the main reason you have my attention is your speed and stamina, both of which are massively impressive considering your starting point." [D + C + B = 27 toughness] "I would give you a few more points for speed, so you would sit at 30."

"I can't tell if that's impressive or not."

"For a human? I pity your youth. For a Nekomata? It's average for the non-combat-focused members."

"….That makes me feel better."

Yoru snorted at his sarcasm and pushed the board away. "It should. You did all that by eleven. Just thinking about what I could do with your potential makes my hands itchy."

A cold wind blew through the room, sending a shiver down Hei's spine as he hesitantly spoke. "You know, you never said what you specialized in."

"Didn't I?" Yoru cracked her knuckles with a chuckle. "I'm a close combat and speed specialist, boy. If you want to learn Touki, you need to forge a strong body. And no one in this village knows body forging better than I do."

"And you want to teach me because?"

Yoru huffed and dropped her hands to her hips. "Do you really care? An incredibly rare expert is offering to teach you here."

"I actually do care. Everyone has a motive."

"That's a sad way to live, boy."

"It's also the way to survive."

"Well, I can't deny you there." Yoru sighed and crossed her arms. "I want to train you because it seems fun. I wasn't kidding when I said Body Forging was rare. Most supernaturals prefer magic, racial benefits, and fancy weapons; no one wants to feel the burn of breaking their body repeatedly to reach its full potential."

'I wonder why.' Hei internally thought as the woman went off on a rant about how lazy people were.

"They live centuries at the minimum! Why not just…..what could a slow-ass fireball do when I can dance around it and punch you?!... I can run faster than most can fly….." She went on and on through various lines of thought until Hei eventually got tired of it and coughed.

"I think you got off track."

Yoru refocused on him with a flush. "Sorry about that." She pointed a thumb back at the board with the chart. "I was trying to make a point with you when I had Kione tank your bullets, but most Low-Class beings won't be above the 50-toughness line. Your bullets will still harm those below it plenty. I just wanted you to realize how pointless mundane weapons are for the bigger leagues."

"Hey, I already knew Low-Class was the limit. I plan to improve them; I'm just trying to figure things out. And no one warned me about all this body limit stuff. I just thought the body naturally improved when you go up the Tiers."

"Oh, it does."

"Excuse me?"

Yoru chuckled at his twitching expression. "A Low-Class can do nothing their whole life, and when they reach Tier 4, or Mid-Class, their body will automatically evolve to have a base 50 toughness, or Iron-Grade flesh."

"….then what's the point of all this?"

Yoru looked offended by the question. "What's the point? The point is that naturally evolving doesn't make one skilled. If you become capable of moving ten times your speed right now, would you know how to utilize it best?"

"No, I'd have to train to adjust to my new speed."

"Exactly. And not only that, but forging your body is the best way to become a monster within a Tier, capable of fighting those far above them, or at least being able to survive another day. As I said, most individuals choose other paths over improving their physical bodies. They could use magic to cast defensive spells or utilize the elements, but that requires conscious effort and time. Your body is always ready even if taken by surprise." Yoru pointed at the board. "And Low-Class rarely reach the halfway mark of their potential for Iron-Grade, let alone Steel-Grade. Mid-Class begins at Iron-Grade, and guess what? If you were Steel-Grade as a Low-Class, you're still a Steel-Grade at Mid-class, except now you have a new peak to reach. High-Class starts at Steel-Grade, and so on and so forth. This kind of scale exists on every Tier."

"So they would all just wait until they evolved up a tier instead of training their body?"

"The vast majority do, with exceptions."

Hei took in what she was saying with a contemplative expression. "I don't understand; even if other paths exist, it seems weird that body forging wouldn't be more common if the advantages are that high."

A dark evil chuckle left Yoru's lips. "How did you train your body so far? And how long did it take?"

"Extensive and torturous training almost daily for close to seven years."

"Now, recall how far along the scale you got so far."

Hei's pupils shrunk as he considered what she was saying. "You said I'm at 30 out of 100 for Low-Class."

"And now add in that it gets harder to improve the higher up you go."

"….so you're saying the main reason no one does it is because of the pain?"

"Yes." She nodded without hesitation. "It's really, really painful. Not only that, but you also need proper trainers, enough resources to heal your body every time it breaks, and a drive to push through it endlessly. Most would rather stick to other paths and let their body naturally become tougher without direct effort. Do you see now why I'm so interested in training you?" Yoru's eyes glowed with an unholy light as she looked at him like a prized stallion. "I haven't seen someone with the Will, potential, and sheer instincts you possess in a long while. At such a young age, no less." Her knuckles popped as she spoke. "So what do you say, boy, you willing to step up to the plate and jump into a hell within hell to achieve your goals in life?"

She held out a hand expectantly, and staring at it, Hei found himself at an impasse. 'Why is this giving me Deja vu all over again?' He looked up at her eager expression and found himself at an impasse. 'She's clearly insane, and yet why can't I find the will to say no? Why does the prospect of training under her excite me so much? I've become an adrenaline junkie, haven't I?'

"I can't dedicate more time than two weeks a month here. I have responsibilities in the human world."

"That's fine; Leone's lessons won't take up your whole day. And it gives you time to heal between sessions."

"I'm not calling you teacher."

"You can call me whatever you want; just be aware I'm literally the one kicking your ass."

"Prepare bribes for when I cuss you out, got it."

"Ha! Glad you get it. So, what do you say, boy?" Yoru's hand extended further, practically being shoved into his face with her eagerness. "You got the balls to play?"

Hei snorted at the question and ignored the pain in his limbs to lift an arm and clasp the hand before him. "Like I said earlier, bring it on."

"Great!" Yoru cheered and damn near crushed his hand as she shook it. "Oh, this is going to be fun~." A Cheshire grin split her face as she laughed cruelly. "Let's see if I can make a diamond out of coal or if you'll break under the pressure."

"Real pleasant starting words there, Ms. Yoru." Hei deadpanned and ripped out his swollen hand from her tungsten grip. "I feel so encouraged."

Yoru just laughed more and shook her head. "Call me Yoru, boy. I don't care for niceties."

"Then how about calling me by my name? It's Hei, not 'boy.'"

"If you want to see that kind of respect from me, earn it." She patted his head mockingly. "Boy."

Hei's eyes narrowed at the woman in annoyance. "Is every cat I meet going to try and get under my skin?"

"Only if they like you." Yoru winked and turned to head back to her desk. "Feel free to rest as long as you need. Although I hope you heal fast, we're having a welcome feast for you tonight."

"A feast?" Hei blinked. "Why?"

"Guest rights, of course! It's scarce we get visitors that aren't Nekomata or Nekoshou. The few that don't live in the village come by every now and then."

"Huh." Hei felt a little bashful inside. "Never had such a warm welcome before."

Yoru looked over with a sympathetic gaze before quickly changing to a smirk. "Well, get used to it, boy. In Sakura Village, we party every chance we get."

Hei smiled a bit at the first part before processing the second and feeling his bashfulness die an ignoble death. "Then how is my visit special?"

"Because we have a reason to get drunk."

"Gee, I feel so honored."

"You should~."

Hei rolled his eyes and pushed himself up with a groan. "As much fun as this is, I can't rest easily around others; thanks for bandaging me up, Yoru."

"Should you be moving right now? I applied some herbal paste to your wounds, but it's still going to take half a day for those ribs to settle."

"Not a problem." Hei summoned his grimoire under an inquisitive gaze and didn't bother using the standard method as he crushed Spell Card #11: Water of Life between his fingers. He had recently discovered his intent was what mattered most, meaning as long as he was touching the card, he could activate it as he pleased.

The card activated in a flash of light, summoning water that washed over his form, removing all traces of blood and healing everything back into its proper place before evaporating into a mist that quickly dissipated.

"Now isn't that convenient." Yoru appeared at his side in a flash, poking at his previous wounds with a great deal of interest. "So you can heal yourself?"

Hei pushed her hands away idly as he rolled his shoulder. "As if you didn't already know. Leone saw me use it days ago; what's the point in hiding it?"

Yoru paused her actions as she gave him a steady look. "You might be surprised to hear this, boy, but while I lead this village, I don't force anyone to tell me things that don't directly threaten the village. Leone is one of the most loyal and trustworthy friends I've ever known, and she hasn't said a thing about you besides having a Sacred Gear and being talented."

Hei paused at that, seeing the seriousness in Yoru's gaze and feeling slightly bad for jumping to conclusions. "I see. My apologies."

"You don't owe me an apology." Yoru waved a hand lazily and returned to her desk. "Just cut the woman some slack. She's got her own issues too."

The thought of that happy-go-lucky crater-forming blond having issues felt foreign to Hei's mind, and yet, he realized he was being slightly unfair to her.

"Mn." Hei nodded and headed for the door. "I'll make it up to her later."

"Best of luck with that." Yoru absently replied as she resumed working through some paperwork.

But just as he was leaving, Hei recalled something and asked over his shoulder. "Oh yeah, where do I drop off my gift? You're the leader and everything."

"Hm? Just leave it in the hall or something; I'll have someone collect it."

"Got anywhere cold to put it? Silvervine Wine is best kept chilled."

"Yeah, you can head down to the…..Silvervine?" Yoru's pen froze.

0000

Twenty minutes later, a frazzled-looking Hei walked out of the single two-story building in the village with a grumble. 'Damn woman, did she really have to get that excited?'

He jumped down to the ground level, landing in a silent crouch, and started walking down the village's main street, looking around as he noticed various villagers flashing around, putting up paper lanterns, and setting up street stalls with an excited air.

'I guess they really do like to party.'

A couple of the cats noticed him and waved friendly.

"Good match, new guy!"

"You looked really cool back there, all covered in blood!"

"Come check out my stall tonight, and I'll give you a free fish on the house!"

"Anyone who can take a beating from Yoru can share a drink with me! I'll tell you about the time she got so drunk she got stuck in cat form!"

'I might take up that last one on her offer.' He mused to himself while heading for the edge of the village. 'If I'm going to be here a while, it's best to set up a safehouse so I can sleep without getting paranoid. Plus, I've already used two healing spell cards in a short period when I could have just soaked in a hot spring for a couple hours. Good thing I didn't use the realtor card last year.'

After setting up six of them, he realized the mana drain was getting too high and stopped, but now that he finally had his first Oath Bound contractor, his mana cap was finally going up again.

He made it to the village border before remembering Leone's warning about leaving the village. '…I should have asked Yoru where I could set up. Oh well.' He shrugged and crossed the line, instantly feeling a change in the air as the sounds of the village vanished behind him. 'How hard could it be to find a quiet spot?'

00000

~Ten minutes later~

"What the fuck is wrong with this forest?!"

A behemoth-sized jaw snapped toward the rapidly fleeing form of Hei, forcing him to tuck and roll through thick foliage and narrowly dodge being eaten alive.

The fangs of his pursuer snapped on the bark of the ancient tree, immediately causing it to steam and rot under a venomous coating that made Hei sweat. 'This is the worst time not to have my guns on me.'

He wandered at a slow pace for barely five minutes before snapping the neck of some kind of raptor-like creature that tried to sneak up on him, only for a shadow to blot out the sun as the predator that had been stalking said raptor locked onto him instead.

The jaws unlocked as the ten-story tall snake reared back with a hiss, spewing out massive clouds of toxins while eyeing him with disdain as it slithered its way forward like a freight train.

"I'm not even a snack to you! Fuck off!" Hei tossed throwing weapons at the beast as he fled, watching as the sharpened high-grade metal bounced off its scales without leaving a mark with a frown. 'How about the eyes then?'

He flicked a throwing knife unerringly at the beast's large eye, only to see it bounce off the fucking unprotected film around its organ. 'Fuck, did Yoru's body forging scale go for magical creatures as well?!'

He fell back on dodging, dropping smoke bombs and scent erasers as he went, but none of it stopped the snake's charge for more than a few seconds as it stayed locked onto him.

And the worst part was, he couldn't find the village.

'I walked less than five minutes away; how the fuck can't I find it?!'

A globe of venom shot his way, narrowly missing him by inches as it smashed into a tree and exploded in a shower of drops that ate through his cloak in seconds.

Hei twitched at the ruined sight of his Greed Island stealth cloak and felt his annoyance rise. 'Alright, buddy, you want to go? Let's fucking go.'

He reached into his pouch and pulled out a chocolate candy, popping it into his mouth and flipping in the air as he kicked off a tree and launched right back at the charging snake.

Designated Card #2: Breathable Bon Bon – Taste the exquisite taste of rich chocolate and gain the strength to breathe in any environment for 6 hours. Box of ten. Warning: Time may fluctuate depending on the material being breathed in.

The snake was taken aback as Hei charged right into its venomous gas without fear, ignoring it to twist around the beast's head and land on its back behind its head as it writhed, trying to reach for him.

His grimoire was summoned as cards flashed into his hands at his mental commands.

Spell Card #14: Cling – Able to walk along any surface as if it were solid ground for two hours.

Spell Card #8: Clone – Create a single clone of the user with 50% of energy stores. Knowledge gained, and remaining energy will return to the original upon death. Two-hour time limit. One mile radius.

A clone of himself appeared in a puff of smoke to his side and nodded its head without a word, taking off into the foliage while waving its arms and shouting. "Oi! Overgrown garden snake! I saw your mother's skin in a belt shop!"

The snake stopped writhing to lock onto the clone and hissed loudly as it shot forward at double the speed it managed before.

The clone barely had time to react before it was on him, crushing him into a paste like so much powder beneath dozens of tons of weight, but the distraction was enough for his main body to get around the head and pull out a card from his Free Slots. 'I don't care what your scales are made of; eight sticks of C4 going off inside you is going to fuck up your day.'

The card puffed into a backpack with a detonator on it as he grabbed the device and tossed the bag through its open jaw and crushed another card as he saw its muscles twitch.

Spell Card #3: Endure - Protection against any offensive physical damage. 3-second duration.

The beast's head snapped to the side, smashing him off with all the strength of one of Yoru's cat punches, except magnified to his whole body at once.

The impact threw him away strong enough to implant him inside one of the ancient trees with damaging force.

A groan left his lips from inside the tree as he shook his head from the cobwebs. 'Protects against force, not sense impairments; gonna have to work on that.'

The snake looked between the place it thought it crushed him and his main body in confusion for a moment before locking onto him without care and opening its jaws sadistically, dripping venom that melted the forest floor as it prepared to lunge.

Hei looked out from his hole with cold eyes as the snake charged and raised a middle finger. 'This is for my cloak, you fuck.' His offhand pressed the detonator, and the snake's body, only a hundred feet from his position, inflated rapidly at a single point as it screeched.

The muffled sound of an explosion reached his ears as clouds of black smoke escaped its maw, and it collapsed with a death rattle.

Hei pushed himself out of the tree and tore off the remains of his cloak as he eyed the snake. 'I'm amazed the outer scales and skin didn't burst, but all that force contained inside its body like a closed box must have shredded its organs. I wonder what I could do with scales like that.'

He internally mused to himself as he eyed the corpse, only for a new shadow to block out the sun and freeze him in place.

'Oh, come on.' Hei dryly looked up at the new snake, twice the size of the previous one giving him a very unfriendly gaze.

"…."

"Hissss."

"I'm just passing by. Got nothing to do with that." He thumbed the corpse and crushed a new card in his hand the second he saw the great beast tense.

Spell Card #5: Magnetic Force - Allows the caster to fly to the location of someone previously met.

A bubble covered Hei's form and whisked him away at Mach 1 speeds just as his previous location was cratered by the towering behemoth in an explosion of earth that made the sticks of C4 look like a joke.

However, unknown to Hei, who was rapidly approaching Leone thanks to his card, the explosion wasn't solely due to the snake's attack but magnified by the spear that shot out of the foliage to pierce the great beast right through the roof of its mouth, nailing it to the earth in a massive explosion of force.

A sole slit red eye tracked Hei's fleeing form with a hum. "Sloppy."

The dust cleared as the figure stood from her crouch, revealing an eight-foot tall Amazonian woman with a chiseled set of abs and a white eyepatch over her right eye with a katana sheathed at her side. A mane of thick grey hair fell over her shoulders as a tail swished in the air in interest. "Very sloppy."

She flashed forward and ripped the spear from her prey in a shower of blood before whistling.

Figures appeared among the trees as she flicked the blood off her weapon and nudged it with a foot. "You know the drill, ladies, carve it up and bring it back. Red Serpent is good eating."

00000

Hei crashed down in a different corner of the village next to a cottage separated from the other homes by some distance with a thud on his back as his limbs grew numb. 'Fuck, that poison was stronger than I thought.'

He made himself immune to the damage of breathing it in but not to the venom that entered through his pores. It was slower but still effective.

"Having fun there, brat?" An amused voice called from the side, and Hei turned his head with his vision beginning to swim to see Leone reclined on a chair with her feet up and a beer in hand. "Went for a nature walk, did ya?"

Hei's response was to groan and ignore the smug woman to re-summon his grimoire and pull out a card.

Spell Card #18: Antidote – Remove any form of venom or poison.

He rarely had to use it, thanks to the old man's poison-resistance training, but this was beyond whatever he was used to.

Immediately, a soothing chill swept through his veins as the side effects of the venom cleared, and he sighed in relief. "What the fuck is wrong with this forest?"

Leone chuckled and sipped her drink. "You didn't think a nature hotspot was ours alone, did you? The beasts were here long before we formed the village."

"I met a train-sized snake not five minutes out of the barrier."

"Ah, one of the young. We usually let em grow bigger before hunting. Waste of good meat to kill them young."

"Anyone ever tell you you're insane?"

"All the time! Want a beer?"

"….yeah, thanks."

Hei dusted himself off and took the offered seat by the blond's side, popping open the bottle with a flick of his thumb.

"Better get used to it, brat. Once you get a foundation in energy sensing, I'll be tossing your ass out there to do some grinding."

Hei hummed and sipped his drink. "Trial by fire?"

"Got it in one."

"Sounds fun."

Leone chuckled and nudged his shoulder. "I knew you had a brass pair on you since we first sparred, but I'm glad you weren't just posturing back then. You put on a good showing back there, Hei."

Hei side-eyed the woman in slight surprise at the name drop and shrugged. "I wasn't trying to look impressive."

"That's what makes it even better! You treat each fight like it's to the death and don't fuck around. You got quite a few ladies in attendance excited." Leone teased with an elbow to his ribs. "You little Chad, you'll have quite a few propositions tonight at the banquet."

Hei's brow twitched at that. "Is attendance mandatory?"

"Do you really want a village of superpowered humanoid felines playing hide and seek with you? Yoru will let them loose for pure amusement."

Hei could only groan at that and down his drink under the amused gaze of the blond who handed him another. "I could teleport out."

"Yoru closed the barriers as soon as we were in. You're not going anywhere unless you can make it fifty miles from the village without dying to the wildlife or being caught by one of us."

"….fifty miles?" Hei asked incredulously. "What the fuck kind of barrier is that?"

"The best kind!" Leone cheered and downed her own drink. "Yokai know our barriers, and Nekomata have a talent for them and illusions. Even if the actual barrier stops way before that, the generated effect stops any teleport attempt in a fifty-mile radius."

"That's….impressive." Hei couldn't deny that kind of advantage. A lot could happen in fifty miles.

"Meh." Leone waved a hand. "We do better than most, but the big factions are another thing entirely. They can generate teleport-blocking zones for hundreds of miles. Cost them a fortune for it, but devil families, for example, can afford it and set them up around their homes and bases."

"And now yours doesn't seem so impressive."

"Hey! Ours might not be as big as theirs, but we know how to use it much better than most of them could."

"I know you're setting me up, but fuck you, it has to be said. That's what he said."

"Nyahaha, you're not too bad when you drop all that angst, brat."

Leone stretched out her bottle, and Hei silently clinked against it with a grumble.

"I'm not angsty…."

"Not anymore. Yoru is good at smashing that kind of stuff out of people."

"Hmph. Speaking of Yoru smashing stuff out of people, she took me on as a student."

Leone snorted and gave him a pitying look. "She said as much when she hauled your unconscious ass away, but you actually accepted. You poor fool."

"Something told me denying it wouldn't have helped."

"It wouldn't. But now you can't have the moral high ground."

"….I'm starting to think everyone here is a sadist."

"Brat, this is a village of cats."

"Point."

Hei downed another beer at the reminder while questioning his life choices like so many other men do once they hit the bar during post-nut clarity.

Leone eyed the holes and tears in his clothes curiously. "So, what did you go searching for? I'm pretty sure I said not to wander past the border earlier."

"A place to settle down." Hei summed his grimoire and let it float around his hand like a satellite. "I got ways to create my own place. And I can't sleep around others well. The old man ensured I was on guard even in my sleep."

Leone studied the floating grimoire in interest with a hum. "Ice bucket tied to a rope?"

"Yeah, when I was eight. It moved up to blunted and then sharpened weapons soon after."

Leone sweatdropped at that. 'Damn, that old fucker does screw around.' She poked a finger at the book and seemed amused as it moved away from her finger like a magnet. "Right, well, if you want to set up, try the southwestern corner. Beasts mostly stay away from that area."

"Mostly? Woman, I got jumped by a snake bigger than a double-decker bus walking at a casual pace within minutes! A little more details would be nice."

Leone spat some beer to the side in a laugh and rubbed her chin with her wrist. "I'm not getting that mental image out of my head anytime soon. I wish I caught it on camera."

"Leone…."

"Alright, alright." Leone wiped her eyes with a finger. "You don't have to worry about most creatures in that area cuz we killed an earth dragon a couple years ago over there."

"Earth dragon?"

"Yeah." Leone puffed out her chest. "It's not a real dragon, but it's still borderline Ultimate-class. The girls and I danced with it for a while and spilled a shit ton of blood over there. Nothing's gonna settle in the area for a few more years at least. Unless, of course, a stronger beast comes along." She added the last line like an afterthought, and Hei's bottle cracked beneath his grip.

"Is there a better option?"

"You could always stay within the village borders like any of the sane villagers do. And I'm comparing you to a village of cats, so let that sink in."

Hei sighed at that. 'It's better than nothing.' He downed his third drink and put the bottle down with a burp. "What the hell kind of piss water is this? It tastes gross."

"Says the guy who drank three in a row." Leone dryly responded. "If you don't like it, don't drink it. More for me."

This time it was Hei's turn to give the woman a pitying look.

"What?"

"You poor broke woman."

"Excuse me?" Leone's brow raised in the way all women managed to do that subtly said: {you better have a good response before I hurt you.}

Thankfully for his health, or at least his limited stock of healing spell cards, his response was to reach into his binder and check the Free Slot cards for what he wanted.

"Gain." A puff of smoke appeared as a small crate landed beside his chair. Hei popped the lid and pulled out a fancy-looking bottle, presenting it to Leone like it was made of solid gold. "I give you, quality."

Leone's ire cooled as she took in the bottle. "Sad Adams Utopias?"

"Mn." Hei casually broke the lid of two empty beer bottles and poured out the last drops onto the grass to make cups. "Their limited edition bottles sold very infrequently. Aged for 24 years in a variety of barrel types with Moscato. It's 28% and more on par with brandy but is still clearly a beer."

He popped the cork and poured the rich, viscous liquid into the makeshift cups under Leone's dazed gaze. "Aren't you eleven?"

"And I run a multimillion-dollar brand name. What's your point?"

Leone raised a finger, smelled the booze, and committed fingercide as she grabbed her cup. "Don't have one. Cheers~!" She sipped the beer and damn near moaned at the rich syrupy mouthfeel and deep malty flavors.

And before she knew it, her cup was empty, leaving her with a lost expression. "I don't think I can drink normal beer again…."

Hei snorted in humor and sipped his own drink. "Quality stuff has that effect. I can't drink much around the old man; he gets on my case in a literal way and increases the poison in our food enough to make hangovers stick with me for days afterward. Sadistic old bastard."

Leone winced like someone kicked her in the shin. "That's cold. Not even I would do that to someone."

"I know, right? And this other time…."

The conversation trailed off as Hei shared some stories of the old man's training, and Leone hopped in with her own tales of time spent with the guy until the sun started going down and the sounds of noise from the village began to increase.

Leone looked over and sighed as she realized the time. "Banquet's gonna start soon, Brat. Best to leave the home shopping for daylight."

"Why? Does the forest become three times as dangerous at night or something?" Hei asked with sarcastic quotation marks at the cliché and got a funny look from Leone.

"Nah, it's when a shit ton of drunk cats go looking for something to sink their claws into. Did I not mention that we're pretty bloodthirsty?"

"….Right, cats."

"Exactly."

Leone and Hei matched eyes and broke into a laugh as he stood.

A moment passed before they calmed, and a sense of awkwardness that had left while they were drinking settled back in.

Leone rubbed the back of her neck and looked away while Hei scratched his cheek in uncertainty before remembering what Yoru had said about Leone being trustworthy, and with his prejudice pushed aside, he realized that even the instincts he had honed under his brutal teacher for years weren't acting up around the woman. So he decided to man up, figuratively, and apologize.

"Leone, look, I'm sorry if I came off rough earlier. The old man's health has been stressing me out, and when he said a new teacher was coming to take over, I got a little aggravated."

A hand landed on his shoulder, and he found a sympathetic look on her face. "It's tough seeing those you care about age. Trust me, I get that. I'm a lot older than I look. You don't got to say anything."

Another moment passed, but this time it wasn't awkward, and it felt as if a barrier between the two had broken down with them being able to be more at ease and less guarded.

And then one of them had to ruin it, except it wasn't Leone that time.

"How old are we talking?"

The grip on his shoulder tightened painfully as a scary smile grew on her face. "Old enough that if you ask me that question again, you'll be seeing what really happens when I use Touki."

"So you were faking it back at the old man's place!"

Leone snorted in humor and let go in slight respect at seeing Hei not even flinch under the pressure of her grip. "Yoru said something, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she mentioned that if you really used Touki, there would have been a new meteoric crater where the old man's place used to be."

Leone chuckled and rubbed the back of her head. "She's not wrong. I try to limit myself so I don't destroy or kill things I don't want to. I was just trying to see what you were made of, not actually fight you."

Hei winced and held a hand over his heart. "That hurts, right here."

"Says the guy who I almost snapped in half and said 'ow' with a deadpan face. Seriously, you're fragile, but you have a higher pain tolerance than half the cats in this village. What the fuck did Lupa do to you?"

A thousand-yard stare entered Hei's eyes as he looked off into the sunset. "You really want to know?"

"Not with those eyes, I don't!"

The two cracked up all over again before Hei's eyes landed on the empty beer bottle of Utopias and the crate of half a dozen more. "Best to save the rest of these for a future time."

He reached for the crate's cover only for a dragon's claw to grip his wrist and freeze him in place as a demonic hiss echoed in his ears. "Touch my baby and die."

Hei sweatdropped at the possessiveness in the blonde's tone and eyed her floating hair in apprehension. "Easy, woman, I already gave you guys a case of Silvervine Wine; the beer is from my personal stock; I don't find it often."

"Dude, you ruined beer for me; I don't think I can…did you say Silvervine Wine?" Leone's hair froze and fell back under the power of gravity as she locked onto him far more than she had a moment before.

With the feeling of standing before a live bomb, Hei took hold of the many years of quoted wisdom his teacher had dropped in his ears and directed the threat to his life elsewhere. "Yeah, remember the gift I mentioned? I left it with Yoru. She damn near kicked me out the window as soon as she got her hands on the crate."

"….crate?" Leone's voice came out like a broken recorder, and Hei found the perfect moment to dislocate his wrist and slip it out of her empty grasp.

"Yup, a whole two dozen bottles. Left it in her office. She said something about a vault."

"Is that so?" Leone's eyes narrowed as a sheen of green energy started coating her skin, and Hei bore witness to what real Touki looked like for the first time. "Excuse me, I have to go have a chat with my dear leader."

The earth cratered beneath Hei's feet, and he just barely managed to save the remaining beer, but the wall of the cottage beside him wasn't so fortunate as it crumbled from the shockwave.

'Did I go too far?'

A crack of displaced air startled the crap out of him as Leone reappeared a second later. "Oh, and Hei, your guns are on the table inside; Banquet starts in an hour, don't be late, or it's your funeral. Got to go, bye." She shot off her words rapidly and vanished again in a shockwave that crumbled a second wall of the house.

"…." Hei looked over at the debris of the house that apparently contained his missing pistols and sighed. 'Yeah, too far.'

End.

AN: Thoughts? Reviews fuel me!

Part 3 coming in another hour. Editors have my utmost respect. The colors…they haunt me.