Chapter #4 - Nightmare???

Kizuna opened his eyes on a white plate. The white plate was circular and of a size that only he could stand upright.

When he realised that he was standing, he was confused at first. He was not sure where he was.

But soon a pair of eyes appeared out of the seemingly bottomless darkness. These eyes, which looked like the eyes of a monster, were followed by many more.

The eyes that opened from the darkness were the eyes of different creatures. They were staring at him from the void.

Kizuna felt bewildered. He could clearly feel the jealousy radiating from those gazes. When he looked under his feet, he could see the white plate vibrating.

The eyes outside all seemed to be waiting for this.

"Give us your body."

"It should have been me. Not you."

"It's not fair... It's not fair!"

He could hear their agonised cries. Kizuna looked into each eye. Some were familiar, some he was seeing for the first time.

Fear was the first thing he felt. He pressed one of his silver claws against the white plate and the fear passed. He gathered his thoughts, and with that the white plate began to glow.

But the noises did not stop. They became stronger and more disturbing. They all wanted one thing. To get this cheating bastard off the plate!

Kizuna could feel it in his bones. He was alone here. He had no system or support. He was all alone and they were all looking at him.

Kizuna felt more in danger than he had in a long time. And with that feeling, a claw appeared on his licence plate from the black void he thought was the floor.

This claw had three fingers. Each finger was sharp like a sickle, and it was stabbed into the white plate!

Kizuna didn't know what would happen if this white plate disappeared, and he didn't want to know. He grabbed this three-fingered claw, which was one with the darkness outside, with all his strength, pulled it out and threw it away.

But it was too late. Even though it was inconspicuous, Kizuna could see its brightness fading. He swore aloud.

He didn't know what he could do. He had to get out of here, but neither up nor down gave hope. The darkness and cruelty of death was everywhere.

If there was no hope, he thought, he must create it himself, but he had no idea what he could do.

Something else was coming towards him. It was very difficult to make sense of what it was. It looked like a human hand with six fingers, but it was much too big for that. It had to be the hand of a giant rather than a man!

And the moment that hand covered his entire vision...

"Wake up, dog-head!"

A deer kick to the head and harsh words made him realize that he was inside the cave. When he could barely open his sluggish eyes, he looked at the single horned Apacci with his black eyes. He did not feel angry, frightened or confused.

The blank stare of Kizuna made Apacci angry. She raised her forelegs and spoke in an aggressive tone:

"What are you staring at!? We're going hunting."

A smile appeared on Kizuna's face. He nodded his head in agreement.

"Okay, thanks Apacci."

Seeing the others standing and ready, he stretched and stood up. Apacci's multicolored eyes looked at him in confusion. She took a few steps back. Such sincerity was weird.

After standing up, he looked at Harribel.

"Where will we hunt?"

Harribel's gaze turned outwards for a moment. Then she answered in a calm voice:

"As far away as possible."

***

"There they are." 

Franceska muttered as the excited Apacci nodded.

"We can see it."

Kizuna weighed their powers as he looked across and commented. 

"Hmm... They're weak."

He commented in a tone as low as he could, but naturally it could be heard by everyone.

Harribel nodded in agreement, but remained silent. Apacci straightened her neck arrogantly, as if challenging Kizuna.

"You think you're strong because you defeated the gorilla? If they're weak, why don't you go kill them alone?"

"Hey! Who are you calling a gorilla?" 

Kizuna just scratched his head as Franceska retorted irritably.

"I think we should all hunt it together. What's the point of me joining you if I'm hunting it alone?"

His eyes lit up as he replied.

"This is an opportunity."

As Kizuna said that, he pointed to the trees in the field that looked dried up.

"We can use these tree-shaped minerals against them."

Harribel shook her head.

"No. It's not easy to make them fall."

Kizuna changed his mind when he heard that.

"Then I'll distract them and you attack. What do you think?" 

Harribel nodded while looking at the group below.

"Fair enough. Go ahead and draw their attention to yourself. Apacci, Rose, and Sung-sun go ahead and finish them off."

"Understood." "Leave it to us." "Hihi, we'll handle it with grace."

As the responses came one by one, Kizuna felt a weird feeling rise inside him as he looked at the wandering Hollows.

'Interesting... Normally Adjuchas shouldn't be roaming around this area... I wonder if they're related to the Barragan that Harribel mentioned?'

During his stay, he had naturally investigated the area and realized that there were not many hollows here compared to other areas. Perhaps it could have been diluted because Harribel and others hunted them. But this was not important now.

It was strange to see so many Adjuchas. He was sure Harribel was aware of that. That's why it would be best to trust his leader right now.

Besides...

'None of them are powerful. I can destroy them all with one Cero if I want to. System, can you show me the mission?'

<Love Mission: Impress Harribel and Tres Bestias>

<They will all be beautiful women in the future. Now you have a time full of excellent opportunities to impress them. Impress them and make fall love with you.>

<Harribel's Reward: 6,000 Battle Points>

<Tres Bestias' Reward: 3,000 Battle Points>

<Penalty: Friendzone 👍>

He sighed lightly and a grin appeared on his face. He looked ahead at the four weird Adjuchas. His job was to lure them to the others. Nothing more. Anything more than that would probably scare the Adjuchas away and they would seek other prey due to Harribel's 'don't chase the runaway' principle.

For this reason, he tried to suppress his reiatsu as much as possible and make himself look extremely weak. With a smile on his face, he walked towards the four Adjuchas and spoke in a bullying tone:

"Hey! Look at me."

One of the four weird Adjuchas turned to him and said, "What? If you don't want to be food, get lost." To which Kizuna replied in a relaxed manner, "Unfortunately, you are the food here."

Of course, this response angered the others, but since none of them wanted to make the first move, there was a short silence. In the end it was the Adjuchas with tentacles sprouting from its back. Arrancar swung its tentacles at him. More than eight tentacles were coming towards him.

An ominous grin appeared on Kizuna's face when he saw the incoming tentacles. Just as the tentacles were about to touch his fur, Kizuna took a step back. Only a momentary muffled sound was heard as he did so.

The gaze of the gorilla Adjuchas and the other three instantly turned to him. Kizuna laughed mockingly and then shouted:

"You three freaks, you're all talk!"

This time the other three attacked. One of them dived into the ground and disappeared. But Kizuna could clearly hear it coming towards him from the sound of digging.

The other Adjuchas, which looked like a gorilla, formed a cero in its mouth and fired it. The last one started to run towards him quickly.

Using his Sonido to dodge the attacks coming towards him, Kizuna laughed in derision. He continued to taunt as he quickly dodged the cero.

As he continued his regular taunts, luring everyone towards the waiting trio, none of them, except one, even realized that Kizuna was completely toying with them. And the one who did realize was fallen into a dilemma between attacking and fleeing.

Either way, it was certain that all of them would be his and Tres Bestias' common prey. With the spotlight on him, he began to play clever footsies.

And when the trio became confused...

"Attack, girls! Cero!"

"I hate it when you shout like that!"

"Can't we attack quietly?"

With that, the single horned deer, golden masked lion, and the great snake that had fired Cero quickly attacked!

Under Cero's impact, the weird adjuchas with eight tentacles was wounded and thrown back. The gorilla angrily attacked Franceska Mila Rose! The third one fired Cero towards Cyan Sung-Sun, but she managed to dodge at the last moment and tightly embraced the third one!

As a huge stampede was rapidly forming, Kizuna took three steps as far away as possible and chose not to join the fray. Instead he stopped and made sure there was no third person in the immediate vicinity.

Harribel was busy keeping an eye on the other three. No one was interested in him at the moment, as he had defined his own mission. In an amused tone, he looked at a specific spot in the sand.

"I know you're here. It's impossible to defeat me. But I can give you a chance."

He glanced around to make sure if the others were after him before continuing, knowing it had heard him, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the battle raging there.

Then a large frog leg appeared in his hand. He took a bite of it.

"Mmm... Inventory is a fascinating thing, so here's my offer. Keep getting stronger. When the time comes in the future, be my subordinate and believe me, I treat my subordinates well. You will realize when time comes. If you promise to do that, I'll let you live."

Speaking with a relaxed demeanour, he naturally focused his reiatsu in one place and did not hesitate to make his power clear.

"If you agree, I suggest you go outside."

Having said that, he continued to wait and eat frog legs. What he wanted to do now was to have an assistant attached to him. Harribel's intention was to be strong together. Her behaviour was also very appropriate.

But for the future, Kizuna had a different goal. While it was nice to be on Harribel's team, things could change when became Vasto Lorde. He could fall into a situation like Friendzone, as the system mocked the penalty name. He felt that he had to take precautions in all this.

After a short silence, the mole-like Hollow appeared.

It had a mask with a star-shaped nose resembling a silver tone. The rest was brown. Its hands, sharp enough to dig into the ground, were covered in silver armour, just like its mask.

"Acceptable. But how would you know if I ignored that remark and minded my own business?"

Kizuna smiled.

"If you don't come when I say you will, I'll come looking for you anyway. If you can't keep your promise, I suggest you bury yourself in the deepest place."

Adjuchas the mole did not say anything more. It just silently nodded its head and muttered, "I understand...".

Then it disappeared by digging.