Chapter 24: Becoming a Leader!

Grayson left Momo's office with the paperwork, seeing the list of men and women that he would be leading on this mission.

Looks like I'm the only seated officer. Grayson thought, seeing that non of the 20 officers had been listed, meaning he would only have normal soul reapers whose levels would most likely be low.

Grayson could also see that they were going to District 50 in South Rukon, seeing that the report stated that a large number of hollows kept showing up there and eating people.

Shouldn't be too difficult to sort this mess out. Grayson said to himself, seeing that he had been given a full unit of ten to take with him, hoping at least some of them would be able to fight.

Grayson turned the corner taking him toward the barracks before walling over toward the large square courtyard where he had been told to meet his squad for 13:00 hours.

Upon arriving, Grayson could see the group of soul reapers standing in the meeting spot minding their own business as they chatted between themselves, not seeing that Grayson was walking over toward them.

Looks like they haven't noticed me yet. Grayson thought, also deciding this was a good time to check their levels to see where they sat in terms of strength.

Grayson used his system to scan the group, not taking a moment before he could see their levels displayed above their heads.

Well, that's disappointing... Grayson said to himself, seeing that their levels were only between 10 and 15, with only two of them having a level of 15 and the rest all being lower.

"Oh, 5th seat Grayson, sir." One of the soul reapers suddenly said, only just having noticed him.

Quickly the others all stopped what they were doing and stood together in formation coming to attention as they greeted him.

"Good afternoon, sir." They all said, showing their respect.

I still can't get used to this. Grayson said to himself, trying to be serious.

"Hello everyone." He said, not really sure of what else to say.

"Well, I guess you have all been assigned to my care for the day." Grayson then said after a moment, trying not to let it get awkward, receiving a strange look from the others.

"In any case, I want you all to be at your best, after all, we shouldn't take hollows lightly." Grayson then said with a more serious expression, causing all of them to remain silent.

"Now, how about an introduction? I will go first. My name is Grayson, and I am the new 5th seat of squad five, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Grayson said, starting the introduction off.

The others all listen to his words, still standing in a row before him before Grayson looked to the first man furthest on the left.

"And you are?" Grayson asked, trying to get the ball rolling.

"Y-yes... My name is, Hyose Tohari." The man said, introducing himself, being one of the two with a level of 15

"My name is Obune Emiho, sir." The girl next to him then said, only having a level of 13.

"My name is Saikida Ketsu." The man next to her then said, being the second to have a level of 15.

The group carried on with the introductions one after the other until they had all had their turn, finally getting Grayson acquainted with all of them.

"Excellent, shall we move out then?" Grayson said quickly changing back to his happy carefree attitude, getting a nod from the others.

"Ready when you are sir." They said.

With that Grayson and his new unit made the final preparations to leave, heading toward the outer limits of the soul society before passing through the south gate that led into the Rukon district, passing right through a Senkaimon that was used for travelling around the soul society, something that Grayson had used when he was taken to the soul reaper academy for the first time.

Grayson and the group stepped out of the gate, landing in the heart of District 50, being met with a rather mixed reaction from the locals in the town.

"You think they would be more pleased to see us." One of the men in Grayson's squad said, crossing his arms over his chest while he scoffed.

"Lowly peasants." Another said, agreeing with the first.

Grayson couldn't help but overhear them, not liking what they had to say but deciding to keep quiet for the time being.

"Alright, I want everyone to split up into pairs and go and survey the area," Grayson said, deciding that would be the best way to find out what was going on.

"Yes sir." They all said quickly heading off in small groups leaving Grayson alone for the time being.

I can't sense any hollows close by..." Grayson thought as he looked around, seeing that most of the people here were smart enough to stay out of the way of him and the others.

"This brings back memories," Grayson said out loud as he looked around, noticing that this place looked much better off than where he had been staying during his time in the Rukon district.

"Excuse me, sir?" A frail voice said coming from behind Grayson.

Grayson turned around to see who it was, seeing an elderly man standing before him.

"Yes, can I help you?" Grayson asked with a friendly response.

The old man looked Grayson up and down, seeing that he wasn't like the usual soul reaper.

"I take it you are here to help with the concerning number of attacks by the hollows?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We are," Grayson said, seeing the worry on his face.

"Thank goodness." The old man then said, seeming to take relief in Grayson's answer.

"They have already taken so many, please you have to stop them."

"We will just point me in the right direction," Grayson said.

Meanwhile, two of the groups that Grayson had sent off had gone to the outskirts to investigate the smaller parts of the villages, seeing that it was less populated and more at risk of attack.

"Any sign of anything?" Hyose Tohari asked, meeting up with the other team.

"Nothing yet." Obune Emiho, one of the women on the squad said as she took another look around.

"Look at them, they won't even look at us, yet they expect us to help them," Tohari said, looking over at some of the locals who made sure to keep away from them.

"You know, we were all part of the Rukon district once too," Emiho said, disagreeing with him.

"Whatever," Tohari said not really caring what she had to say.

"Howl!"

The sudden unmistakable roar of a hollow's shriek sounded from not far away, alerting the group to the noise and putting them on guard.

"Was that what I think it was?" Emiho yelled, reaching for the hilt of her sword.

"Yeah... Come on, let's go!" Tohari said before he ran off, leading the charge toward the direction of the howl, getting the others to follow him.

"Look over there!" He shouted, pointing toward five small hollows that were attacking a small farm ripping through the farm house as they tried to get to the people there.

"This is Emiho, we have located the hollows on the southwest outskirts of the district, I repeat," Emiho said over the earpiece she had on, giving the others their current location.

"We need to help them!" Tohari yelled running toward where he could see the group of hollows.

"Look out!" One of the other soul reapers yelled, watching as a large hollow suddenly dived down from above Tohari with its jaws opened wide.

"Shit!" Tohari yelled, drawing his sword to block its advance, only just being able to stop it from biting his head off.

"HA!" The other man who was with him yelled, slashing through the hollow's body with one clean swipe of his sword.

Tohari sighed as the hollow disappeared into ash.

"Man that was close." He said, looking at the others who looked a little more worried than he was.

"W-wait a second... When did they?" He then said, turning around to see that they had been surrounded by low-level hollows.

"We need backup!" Tohari yelled, turning around to look at Emiho who was holding her sword in her hands, shaking a little.

"I-I already asked..." She said.

"I'm not dying today!" He then roared, holding up his sword in a high stance and getting ready to defend himself before one of the hollows leapt at him, trying its luck.

"Argh!" He yelled, stepping to the side before he cut its head off, showing good skill.

"Take that you bastard!"

"Tohair, look out!" Emiho yelled, watching as he was suddenly swarmed by multiple hollows, unable to do anything about it before he was ripped to shreds like a piece of meat.

"Noo!" His friend yelled, trying to rush to his rescue, only to be smashed into the ground as a larger hollow landed on top of him, pinning his head into the ground before crushing it, causing his brains to splatter all over the place.

"What in the hell is happening here?" Emiho asked, feeling her legs shake as she watched another of their team get ripped apart before the hollows turned their attention toward her and the young man with her, who also seemed inexperienced.

"We're dead... We're really dead!" He yelled, feeling his fight or flight kick in, with the flight option winning before he turned around and ran for it.

"No don't!" Emiho yelled, watching as another larger than normal hollow with two horns on its head landed in front of him, cutting his escape off growling with hunger in its eyes.

"Arghhhh!" The man yelled, dropping his sword due to the fear coursing through his body.

The hollows got closer and closer to the last two remaining soul reapers. So close that they could feel the heat of their breath, knowing that this was the end for them.

"Hadō 31, Shakkahō!"

A large flaming red ball of fire suddenly slammed into a group of the hollows, exploding as it hit the ground completely destroying the hollows in the area of its blast.

The other hollows didn't waste time as they tried to attack the remaining soul reapers who had also been shocked by the blast of Kidō, with two of them launching at them in an attempt to eat them.

"Hadō 1, Shō!" Grayson said, landing in front of the two of them, using his kidō to blast both of the hollows back with a powerful thrust of force, being enough to knock them both over with ease before they crashed into others.

"Looks like I got here just in time," Grayson said, seeing that he had been able to save the two remaining soul reapers.

"F-fifth seat Grayson..." Emiho said in shock, almost certain that she was about to die.

Grayson had already scanned the hollows in the area, seeing that their levels were only between 12 and 17, making them easy work for him.

"Just stay back. This won't take long." Grayson said while he drew his Zanpakutō.

Grayson could see ten hollows surrounding him, deciding to make quick work of them so that he could get the other two to safety, taking a low stance with his sword.

"Sir look out there are too many!" Emiho yelled.

However, Grayson suddenly disappeared, moving so fast that she couldn't even see him, watching as the hollows fell one after the other to his sword.

"No way..." She said, watching as Grayson finished off the last one, cutting it clean in half from the head down.

"That's the last one," Grayson said, hearing the notification pop up from his system.

Yeah I know, quest complete. Grayson said to himself as he sheathed his blade, turning to Emiho and the other soul reaper.

"Are you two ok?" Grayson asked before looking at both the dead ones.

"Y-Yes sir..." Emiho said feeling embarrassed that she had to be saved.

"Good." Grayson said turning his attention to the others of his squad that arrived, seeing that they were too late.

"Man, you're fast." One of them said, trying to catch his breath by bending over and placing his hands on his knees.

"No, you're just slow." Another of the girls said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sir, are you alright?" Saikida Ketsu asked.

"Yes, we should scout the area to see if anyone else needs help here," Grayson said, taking a look around and being able to see some of the residents still hiding in the house, now trapped inside due to the destruction caused by the hollows.

"At once." One of the girls said, taking another before they rushed over to help them.

Grayson turned his attention back to the two men that had been killed under his command, feeling bad that he had not been able to save them.

"Make sure we retrieve their bodies," Grayson said, getting a nod from the others.

Suddenly a large black hole opened in the sky not far from where they were standing, getting all of their attention.

"What is that?" One of the soul reapers asked before hollows started to jump out of it, flocking toward Grayson and the others.

"No way... So many!" One of the others yelled.

"This isn't good." Grayson also said, quickly drawing his sword.

"There must be at least 50 of them..." Emiho said, doing a quick head count, holding her sword tight.

System, do a quick head count. Grayson said, watching as the hollows ran towards him and the others.

Scanning... The system said, taking a moment.

There are 52 hollows in front of you, would you like to see their levels? The system also asked as it answered him.

That would be helpful. Grayson said as he got ready to fight.

Grayson could see that his men were wavering, clearly never having faced such odds before in a battle.

"Alright men, keep your formation tight. This is going to get bumpy!" Grayson yelled, turning around to face them with a smile before taking a ready stance, trying to boost their morale.

"But sir, what can we do? There are too many of them!" One of the men shouted, clearly scared for his life.

"Get a grip man, we have to fight it's our only chance of survival!" Saikida Ketsu shouted, seeming to be the only other one who knew how to fight.

Grayson could see the difference in levels between them and the hollows, seeing that the average level of this group of hollows was 15, knowing that they didn't stand a chance alone. Leaving him with only one option.

"I think I'm going to need your help with this one." Grayson then said, looking at his Zanpakutō.

"I thought you would never ask." It said back not a moment later, glowing with Reiatsu around its blade.

"Let's do this then... Distort, Jūryoku no Megami!"

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Alright thats the end of this chapter, thanks for reading and I hope you have a good day.