Chapter 23: A new mission!

Grayson was now face to face with the 7th seat, Semano Ashige who he had only just met not a moment ago. But, like things seemed to go around here, he was going to have to fight him, as he had already done with the 6th seat.

Alright, let's take a peek at you. Grayson thought, prompting his system to check his stats out, wondering how he held up.

Name: Semano Ashige.

Level 22

Class: Soul Reaper 7th seat.

Health: 200/200

Stamina: 205/205

Reiatsu: 200/200

Grayson took a quick look, realising that he had never actually looked at the other's stats properly, deciding to have a look at both the 6th and 4th seat to see how they compared.

Name: Yasusu Bosetsu.

Level 23

Class: Soul Reaper 6th seat.

Health: 210/210

Stamina: 205/205

Reiatsu: 205/205

Grayson could see that the 6th seat was not actually much stronger than the 7th at all, turning his attention toward the 4th seat to check out his stats.

Name: Kogawa Tesho.

Level 27

Class: Soul Reaper 4th seat.

Health: 225/225

Stamina: 225/225

Reiatsu: 235/235

Looks like Tesho is much stronger than the two of them... Grayson said to himself after seeing his stats, wondering why he was still letting his lackeys do the dirty work rather than fight himself.

Grayson quickly got his own stats up to compare them, taking a quick peek.

Name: Grayson.

Level 27. (12800/17000).

Class: Soul reaper of squad five. 5th seat.

Health: 225/255

Stamina: 240/255

Reiatsu/Reiryoku: 380/380

Skills- Hadō 31 Shakkahō level 3/10.

Hadō 1 Shō level 3/10.

Flash step 4/10

Strength: 35/100 (1/10)

Speed: 25/100 (1/10)

Intelligence: 65/100 (1/10)

Enhanced skills -

Zanjutsu: 4/10 (1/10)

Zanpakuto name: Jūryoku no Megami.

Hakuda: 5/10 (0/10)

Kidō: 3/10 (0/10)

Skill points available: 3.

Grayson was a little confused as to why his stats were so much higher than the 4th seats given the fact they were the same level, knowing he would have to do a full dive with his system to see his full statue screen, however, now was not the time for that seeing that he was face to face with the 7th seat.

Maybe one more skill point in Hakuda wouldn't hurt... Grayson thought, quickly pressing the increase icon with his mind, levelling up his hand-to-hand combat skill by another point, feeling the extra knowledge flow into his mind.

"Time to see what all the fuss is about." The 7th seat said, cracking his knuckles and then his long neck, trying to intimidate Grayson with the display.

"Okay, ladies first," Grayson said, seeing that his comment struck a nerve due to the expression on the 7th seat's face.

"Why you!" He yelled, dashing toward Grayson with his arms only at his hip, allowing them to drop before he used them like a whip, throwing a combination of loose punches at Grayson, trying to catch him off guard.

Grayson had to admit that the low punches were harder to track than normal ones, but still, he was able to slip them without much effort, using his footwork to step back and then sidestep and pivot around him before slapping a low roundhouse kick into the inside of his lead leg, knocking him off balance and onto his knees.

"Arg!" The 7th seat yelled, losing his balance and dropping to his knees in surprise before Grayson's same leg that he had just used to kick with came back to the floor, only for him to spin around and use the same leg again to slam a spinning heel kick into his face.

Everyone in the dojo gasped in surprise that Grayson had almost finished their fight right off the bat, watching in awe as the 7th seat had only just been able to block the attack by crossing his arms together to take the brunt of Grayson's heel, knocking him over onto his backside.

Grayson lowered his leg with good control before placing his foot onto the ground in a fighting stance, also surprised that the 7th seat had been able to block that attack.

Ashige slowly stood up and placed his arms by his side, feeling the burning sensation in his bones where he had blocked that last attack looking at the red mark that had already formed on his forearms before looking over at Grayson.

The new 5th seat... Clearly, he is no joke. He thought while he grit his teeth, letting his anger burn before he got ready to make another move.

"The next time won't be so easy." He said, causing Grayson to smile.

"I hope not," Grayson replied, making a joke of the situation as usual before he started bouncing on his toes.

"Come on, come at me!" Grayson yelled, feeling like Bruce lee.

"Argh!" Ashige roared, dashing forwards with a jumping front scissor kick to the chest, only to watch Grayson move to the side again, avoiding it with his footwork.

Ashige turned on his heels before throwing a barrage of punches, feeling his forearms collide with Grayson's as he blocked the attacks, using a wing chun style of blocking to trap and pull his arms.

Ashige pulled back and threw a stomp attack aimed at Grayson's knee, however, Grayson lifted his leg and moved it back dodging the kick before returning his own, kicking at Ashige's shin, knocking his leg off balance again.

"Got you," Grayson said, grabbing his wrist before twisting it to the left, using his free hand to strike into Ashige's shoulder and step forwards before he used his back leg to sweep both of Ashige's legs from under him, slamming him into the floor with a powerful Judo throw.

"Wow..." The other soul reapers said, watching in amazement at the fight.

However, both the 6th and 4th seats were not happy, scoffing at Ashige for losing his sparring match with Grayson as they watched with sour faces.

"I guess that's that," Grayson said as he dusted his hands off, seeing that Ashige was still led on the ground struggling to breathe after having the wind knocked out of him.

"Good match." Grayson then said before he turned to look at Tesho who was glaring dagger at him with his arms crossed across his chest.

"Now, would anyone care to tell me what 7th seat Ashige did wrong?" Grayson asked, continuing the lesson.

Nobody said anything, not daring too because of the look on both the 4th and 6th seats faces.

"Good match, 5th seat Grayson," Tesho suddenly said, clapping his hands together, pretending to be impressed while interrupting him.

However, before he could say anything else the sliding doors to the dojo opened revealing a messenger.

"5th seat Grayson, you have been summoned to Captain Aizens office." He said, not wasting any time, clearly seeing that he had interrupted something here.

Grayson nodded, looking at the class before he sighed.

"I guess that's the end of this lesson, remember to practice what you saw here today everyone," Grayson said, getting a nod from the others before they bowed.

"Yes sir." They all said, clearly having more respect for Grayson after the demonstration he had just given.

Quest complete, you have been rewarded with 3500 Exp and one skill point. The system said with a ping in the corner of Grayson's field of vision for the notification.

"If you will excuse me." Grayson then said, walking over to both the 6th and 4th seat, bidding them a good day before he took his leave with a smile on his face, barging past them with his shoulder, causing Bosetsu to almost blow his top before Tesho placed a hand on his shoulder for him to calm down.

Grayson felt like he had gotten one up on them, having not only defeated the 6th but now the 7th seat too, proving to them that he was no pushover.

With that Grayson headed from the dojo through into the barracks, crossing paths with other members of squad 5 who showed him the proper respect by greeting and bowing to him, something he was still getting used to.

Grayson pulled up his stat screen while he was walking through the hallways, making sure to keep an eye on where he was going at the same time as he looked over his numbers.

Name: Grayson.

Level 28. (200/21000).

Class: Soul reaper of squad five. 5th seat.

Health: 260/260

Stamina: 260/260

Reiatsu/Reiryoku: 385/385

Skills- Hadō 31 Shakkahō level 3/10.

Hadō 1 Shō level 3/10.

Flash step 4/10

Strength: 40/100 (1/10)

Speed: 30/100 (1/10)

Intelligence: 70/100 (1/10)

Enhanced skills -

Zanjutsu: 4/10 (1/10)

Zanpakuto name: Jūryoku no Megami.

Hakuda: 7/10 (0/10)

Kidō: 3/10 (0/10)

Skill points available: 4.

Grayson could see that his basic abilities had all increased thanks to the level-up, having also gained two skill points thanks to the quest and level increase too. Not only that, but his Hakuda skill had also gone up another rank, something he put down to using it so much today, having had it go up by two now thanks to the skill point too.

Two birds with one stone I guess. Grayson said to himself with a small chuckle, closing the display screen before he reached the outside of the captain's office.

Grayson was about to knock on the door before Aizen himself spoke up from inside, causing Grayson to hold off hearing his words.

"Come in," Aizen said.

Grayson gulped, not surprised that the captain knew he was there before he opened the door and entered the room, proceeding with the correct formalities.

"Captain Azien, sir. You asked to see me?" Grayson said.

"Ah yes, Grayson... Please stand up." Aizen said, waving his hand to dismiss the formalities that others would not.

Grayson did so, taking a quick peek around his office as he did, seeing that Aizen was sitting behind a large desk filled with paperwork stacked in neat piles, having everything organised just the way he liked it.

"I do hope you are settling alright?" Aizen asked, not looking up at him while he finished off writing whatever he was writing.

"I am sir," Grayson said, deciding it was best not to mention what was happening between him and some of the other officers.

"Good..." Aizen replied, finishing the final stroke before he finally looked up at Grayson with a penetrating stair through his glasses.

That gaze... Grayson thought, feeling a tiny pinch of Aizen's power for a split second feeling his throat go dry as it got hard to breathe, feeling the heavy aura around him.

Aizen noticed this and quickly put a stop to it, confused as to why it had happened in the first place, quickly changing the subject.

Grayson felt the pressure ease off of him and was able to catch his breath again, not sure what was going on but quickly put it to the back of his mind.

"I have a new task for you, your first mission as the 5th seat of squad 5," Aizen said, seeing that Grayson had been able to resist it, feeling interested indeed.

"Y-Yes sir," Grayson said.

"I want you to lead a squad of your own into the Rukon district, something about some Hollows killing and eating the souls there," Aizen said, not bothering with the details.

Grayson simply nodded, making sure he didn't act strange and pretending he hadn't noticed anything.

"Go and see Lieutenant Momo for more details," Aizen said as he interlocked his fingers, watching Grayson closely.

"Yes sir, anything else?" Grayson asked.

"No... You may go." Aizen said, smiling at him, getting a nod from Grayson as he showed the correct respect one last time before taking his leave.

Aizen watched as he closed the door behind him, feeling a devilish smirk form on his face.

"That boy... How intriguing." He then said to himself leaning back in his chair.

Grayson felt a little uneasy about the whole thing with Aizen, putting it down to the huge amount of power that a captain has, thinking that he must have let a little slip out or something.

If that was just a small taste of his strength then I would hate to see him use his full power... Grayson thought, remembering that even his system couldn't get a read on his power.

Grayson stopped by the barracks taking a moment to regain his wits about him, remembering that he was supposed to find the Lieutenant. The only question remaining was where she was.

"Excuse me, have you seen Lieutenant Momo?" Grayson asked two female soul reapers who were passing by to see if they knew where she was.

"Oh... 5th seat Grayson they both said, seeming surprised by him as they gave him a quick bow, with one of them blushing a little.

"Yes, she is currently in her office, sir." The other then said, seeming more on the ball than the other.

"Thanks," Grayson said, flashing them a smile.

With that Grayson headed off toward her office, knowing that it was located not far from his own.

Knock-knock.

"Yes, come in," Momo said, hearing the knocking on her door before answering.

"Hello lieutenant, I was told to come and see you," Grayson said, entering her office.

"Ah, Grayson, yes please come in." She said, standing up from her seat and rooting around some paperwork.

"Here she said, giving Grayson a list of the details, including the members he would be leading on this mission.

"It looks like a standard Hollow extermination mission," Momo said, reading the details quickly herself.

"But I think Captain Aizen wanted to see how you handled leading a squad on your own." She then said, passing it to him.

"Not a problem," Grayson said, taking a look at the names to see if he recognized any of them.

"He also said he wanted you to head out right away, so make sure you gather up your squad and head out at once. Something about it being a priority mission from central 46." She said, catching Grayson's attention.

"Central 46 you say?" Grayson asked, knowing that if it came from them it must be important.

"Yes, so no time to waste," Momo said, crossing her hands behind her back in a cute manner.

"Yes, of course, Lieutenant I will move out at once," Grayson said, bowing his head to her.

New quest... Gather your squad and kill the hollows!

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Thats the end of this chapter I hope you enjoyed it!