The Next Day(Month 5, Year 2):
Dining Room, Buddha's Palace:
Isaiah's POV:
"So, your Concept is basically a more, advanced version of your Sacred Gears put together." I nodded at Okita's words, not missing Buddha's frown as he stared at me.
"More on the level of being able to create any blade or rune, but yeah, that's basically it." I explained as Okita hummed before Buddha spoke.
"So, he just gave you access to your Concept, but said that you're currently far too weak to handle your True Form?" I nodded at his question as he went back to frowning silently.
"Wasn't that what was supposed to happen?" I asked with a frown, which grew as Buddha shook his head.
"No, the journey to unlock your Concept and True Form is something that's supposed to be an introspective spiritual journey of who you truly are. The fact that both your Concept and True Form were fused into one being that was also given sentience…something happened." He muttered as he glanced at me knowingly and my eyes widened.
"…I see." I muttered as Okita just looked confused.
Could it be that some part of Kiba's subconsciousness had survived during the reincarnation process and then fused with my Concept and True Form, giving life to a new being that now exists in my Mind Scape? If so…this could be a bit of a problem, since I don't know if a part of Mel resents me for taking over Kiba's body.
"Don't worry. I've had three years to work through my anger issues. You won't have those sort of problems with me." Mel's voice nearly made me jump, drawing Okita and Buddha's attention as I stared aimlessly into the air.
'Wait, how can you speak to me?' I asked, to which he just sighed.
"Lycaon was able to speak to you through your mindscape. Did you not expect me, your Concept given form, to be able to do the same?" He asked, to which I gave a mental sheepish chuckle.
"Sometimes, I forgot how much of an imbecile we are." Were his muttered words before his presence disappeared, leaving me alone once again.
"Were you speaking with him?" Buddha asked as soon as I woke up, to which I nodded.
"Yeah, seems like we have the same connection Lycaon and I had." Buddha just looked confused at my words.
"He was the previous wielder of Canis Lykaon, but their bond was actually detrimental to him, so they severed it." Okita explained, to which Buddha just nodded before standing up from his chair.
"From tomorrow, you'll only be training with Okita, Wukong and MacGregor in your Concept and Sacred Gear training. Once I feel that you are ready, I'll give you a final test and if you pass it, your training with Wukong and I will be finished." I nodded and Buddha nodded before he disappeared, leaving Okita and I alone before he grinned.
My head leaned back as a hand tried to pierce it just as my left leg flashed out and sent his chair skidding across the ground, Okita chuckling as he sat on the chair to my right.
"Good! Your senses haven't dulled! Looks like we'll be able to take it to the next level." I just sighed at his words as he cackled, though that didn't stop the smirk on my face.
Yep, looks like nothing has changed at all.
Five Months Later(Month 10, Year 2):
Shakya Training Ground, Buddha's Palace:
"Are you ready for your final test?" Buddha asked, to which I nodded.
Today was possibly the final day of my training. We were standing once again in the Shakya Training Ground, with both of us in our training clothes as I waited for him to begin. Wukong, MacGregor, Okita, Bardou and Buddha's staff were off to the side, watching us intently before Buddha spoke.
"Your test is simple. A life-or-death battle. I'll be trying to kill you. It's your job to try and make me bleed." My eyes widened at his explanation before he blurred and I jumped, Air Current Sense and Electroception blasting at full force.
It was not even a split second later that the ground under me was obliterated, Buddha kneeling on the ground with his fist buried into the ground before his head snapped up to me. He was smirking nonchalantly as usual, but there was a manic glint in his eyes as he glared up at me before disappearing.
With but a thought, my wings unfolded and I was gone, blitzing and zigzagging through the air as Buddha was hot on my heels. His fists and legs were blurring as they sent shock wave after shock wave flying after me, with me doing all I could do to dodge and move around his attack. I've gotten hit with one of his shock waves once. It nearly ruptured all of my organs.
Never again.
"If you're just going to run, then what was that declaration about?! Show me that prideful bastard!" I came to a stop before I blitzed towards him at full speed, Storm King's Aura wrapping around me before my Touki exploded into existence. My body soon began to form into nothing but a blurry visage before I spoke.
"Balance Break: Tensa Zangetsu." A black daito appeared in my right hand and a katana with a green hilt appeared in my left hand, its darkness absorbing the ambient light before I disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, Buddha was surrounded by dozens of my afterimages, grinning as all of them rocketed towards him. I was blitzing between each of the afterimages, attacking him from all angles and yet, he was blocking each of my blows, perfectly keeping track of me with a smirk.
"Balance Break: Kamishiri no Yari." Tensa Zangetsu and the katana disappeared and was replaced by the silver wakizashi that was Kamishiri no Yari. Buddha's eyes widened and he disappeared right before I activated my Balance Breaker.
In a flash of silver, the ground, forest and clouds behind Buddha was split in half, stretching for kilometers as I deactivated Kamishiri no Yari.
"Balance Break: Ryujin Jakka." The temperature went from a tropical warm to nearly scorching hot, a burnt katana with a charred and rusted blade appearing in my grasp as I rocketed towards where I sensed Buddha. He was leisurely on the ground as I smirked before swinging my blade.
Flames spewed from it and coated the sky in nothing but a blanket of fire. My vision of Buddha was obscured by the flames before he appeared right in front of me, grinning as the blanket of flames behind him disappeared with a poof.
"Good! Show me what you truly are!" He exclaimed as he spun, with me barely lifting the blade to block his kick, though that didn't stop me form being sent flying into the ground. A second later, I jumped out of my crater as Buddha smashed knee-first into the ground.
"Balance Break: Nozarashi."Ryujin Jakka disappeared as a cleaver-like blade appeared in my grasp, with me grinning as I blasted towards Buddha. I didn't know if it was my grin or the blade's aura, but Buddha frowned before he dodged it as the blade flew past him and smashed into the ground.
The ground didn't even stand a chance as Nozarashi carved into it like a hot knife through butter, a bladed shock wave sent flying out of it and gouging a chunk out of the mountain. Buddha's hands flashed forward before Nozarashi disintegrated in my eyes, with me gasping for air as a leg smashed into my sternum and sent me flying backwards.
Skidding across the ground, I didn't get a chance to orient myself before I gave a silent scream and coughed up blood, Buddha standing above me as his leg was almost crushing my ribcage.
"I assume that last one was your full power?" He asked stoically, to which he just frowned in confusion as I gave a bloody smirk.
"Balance Break: Kyoka Suigetsu."
There was the sound of cracking glass before I shattered, reappearing behind Buddha with a golden glove on my right hand. A bladed stinger was on my right finger and I was holding it against the back of his neck as a slight bit of blood dripped down his neck. I tried to push it deeper, but it felt as if the stinger was in an iron grip before I stumbled as I was forcibly pushed out by his neck muscles.
Dear Satans, how strong is this guy?
"When?" Was all he asked as I dismissed the stinger-glove.
"When I created Tensa Zangetsu. The other blade was to create an illusion on all five of your major senses and your Touki sensing as well as hide my presence completely." I said as Kyoka Suigetsu appeared in my grasp before I deactivated it.
Unlike Aizen's, I knew that just creating the illusion wouldn't be enough against beings like the Gods, so I also created another set of runes that hid every bit of my presence from the world itself, making it seem as if my illusion was the only one there.
"Hahaha! Good work! If power does not work, use technique!" He exclaimed with a happy smirk as he clapped me on the shoulder, to which I just grinned as I nodded.
"Well, boy, as of today, you are officially a graduate of Buddha's Boot Camp. Well done." And with that, a wide grin appeared on my face before I gave a happy cheer, Buddha chuckling as the others walked closer.
"Told you he would pass the test." MacGregor said to Okita, to which he just rolled his eyes. "Nice work, gaki. You earned it." Okita said, to which MacGregor just chuckled amusedly as I grinned.
"So, where are we going next?" I asked excitedly, to which they just glanced at each other and sighed.
"We're going back to the Underworld. You and your hound, however, still have a year of training left, so you're free to do whatever you want for the following year. Travel the world, travel the realm. See what's out there in the world for you to do." He said with a smirk, shocking both Bardou and I as MacGregor chuckled.
"You can stay here and train with them for a bit longer or you can go back to the Underworld or you can do whatever you want. The choice is yours. You can even come back with us." He said, to which I just stared at him before turning to Bardou.
"What do you say, Bardy? Want to head home?" Bardou shook his head, to which I grinned.
"Yeah, I would've said the same. Hey, send us back to the Satan Familiar's territory. I have a few people I want to say hello to." I said with a grin, which Bardou mirrored as Okita and MacGregor sighed.
"Take care of yourselves, okay? And look out for each other. We won't be there to protect you two anymore, so I want you both to be safe." Okita said with a concerned frown, to which both Bardou and I nodded seriously. He kept staring at us for a few seconds before he sighed.
"Fine. MacGregor, send them." MacGregor was frowning, yet he did as asked as he created a teleportation crest under Bardou and I.
"Wukong, Buddha, thanks for everything." I said with a bow, which Wukong reciprocated as Buddha chuckled as he took out a golden peach before tossing it at me. I caught it and held it gingerly in my grasp.
"There is no seed inside of it, so you won't be able to grow any more. Use it sparingly and keep each other safe. I don't want to lose my favourite student." I grinned as I put the Heavenly Peach in my pocket dimension and nodded, turning back to MacGregor with a serious look on my face as I nodded. He nodded back before my vision was dyed white and I disappeared.
Time to get back my boy.
One Year and Two Months Later(Month 1, Year 4):
Unknown Location:
'Time to to get back my hound, Agrukk! Balance Break: Fushi no Kōjō!'
Take Master and run, Bardy! I'll hold them off! Asmodeus' Rage!
'W-Wait, Bardou! G-Get him back! W-we…we can still all make it out!'
Sorry Master! Someone needs to stay back to cover the others!
'W-Wait! J-Joker, no!' I gasped as I woke, drenched in sweat as my hair was matted to my forehead.
"Hah…hah…hah…hah…" I was heaving for air as I stared against the wall. A picture of two grinning hounds and a smirking young boy hung in front of me, reminding me of my foolish mistake and what it cost me.
"Again, nya~?" A soft voice asked and I turned to see a beautiful black-haired woman rising from her sleep on the bed next to me, with not a shred of clothing on as I just smiled.
"It's nothing, Kuroka. Sorry for disturbing your sleep." The black ears on top of her head twitched and her tails swayed softly in the air as she just gave a soft smile.
"I've nyown you for more than than a year, Isa. I know when you've had another nightmare. Joker again?" She asked and I just nodded, letting out a shaky sigh as I laid back down on the bed. She just smiled as she laid down on top of me, humming a soft tune as I stared up at the ceiling. Air Current Sense showed me Bardou sleeping peacefully in his room on the floor below us, making me let out a soft sigh of relief.
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" She asked softly and I hummed.
"I just hope Neko-chan and Akeno don't try and kill me." I said with a sigh, to which she giggled.
"I do hope you keep up your end of the promise, nya~. I didn't become your Queen for you to not keep your word." She said, to which I just chuckled as I nodded.
"Don't worry. You'll be reunited with your sister and we'll talk with Akeno about the other thing." I said, to which she nodded before I heard her let out a soft sigh, trying to snuggle deeper into me with a purr as I chuckled.
"Let's get some sleep, nya~You have a big day ahead of yourself tomorrow." She said, to which I just chuckled as I nodded.
"Yeah, let's get some sleep." I muttered as I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as I felt myself slip back into slumber once again.
The Next Day: Unknown Location:
"Everyone ready?" I asked, to which my Peerage, plus Bardou, nodded.
"I missed Mistress so much!" Bardou said with a happy smile, drawing chuckles from everyone as I just sighed with a smile.
It took me a few tries, but I've managed to create a translation runic pattern that I placed on Bardou that he can activate on his own. It allows his barks to be translated into the mother language of those that hear it, which is the reason it took so long as I had to take every language that exists and create a translator for each of them to what we like to call, Barkian.
"Let us see this woman that captured our King's heart!" A deep voice exclaimed boisterously, making me sigh. I turned towards the origin of the voice.
A man in his early 20's, dressed in nothing but a pair of dark cargo pants and combat boots. Two large and jagged cleaver-like blades hung on his back, with chains coming from the back of the blades that wrapped around his wrists. and black bandages were wrapped around his eyes.
"Don't worry, Samson. You'll see her soon." I said, to which he grinned as he nodded.
"I just want to see Gaspy." A female voice spoke in a monotone, to which I grinned. A silver-haired beauty was staring with a dull gaze into thin air, her crimson eyes having a small glint of excitement as her canines poke out from under her upper lip.
"Gasper will be excited to see you too, Valerie." I said and the glint in her eyes grew ever so slightly bigger as she nodded.
"Maybe I shouldn't go with. Neko-chan might still hate me." Kuroka said with a worried look, to which I just rolled my eyes.
"Don't worry, Kuroka. You've already made it this far, so you might as well take that final step." I calmed her with a smile, to which she smiled as she nodded. I grinned before my personal Azathoth teleportation crest appeared under us.
"We'll be seeing you, Joker." I said with a smile at the shrine in the living room, a picture of a grinning Joker on it as Bardou barked happily at it before we disappeared.
A/N: And with that, we begin a new arc.
Also…this was the hardest thing for me to do as I never planned to…remove Joker from the competition. However, I needed Isaiah to realise this was not the anime/ light novel he knew, so I needed something that would give him that jolt.
However, after writing up to chapter 30(On Pa. Tre. On), I realised that it was a bit of a rushed move on my part, but unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20 as I can't go back now and change it.
Another also, I know most would be angry that he has so many Balance Breakers...hehe, I never said that they were his True Balance Breaker. That will come far later in the story.
As always, leave your reviews, enjoy the chapter and I'll see you all in the next one. Until then… Ba-Bye~!