บท 6: Chapter 6 - Jellal
Author Note: Sorry to anyone who left paragraph comments shortly after I posted the last chapter. Apparently, editing a chapter deletes all paragraph comments in it, so me adding something about Jin packing his bokken into his inventory deleted all of those. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the chapter.
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The two glowing orbs that served as eyes for the large Hollow narrowed into slits as though the beast was squinting. Liquid, perhaps drool, slipped from the mouth part of the skull-mask as though it just encountered tasty pastries on display in front of a bakery. After a few seconds, though, it growled as though annoyed and shook its head. It then resumed chasing the small blur jumping across rooftops, albeit with visible reluctance.
Heart pounding, Jin watched the rippling black mass of the Hollow's body dash off into the distance. A few buildings fell apart in its wake. Once it was out of sight, he blinked a few times and sighed in relief.
'I'll be damned. Guess I was right to worry about Karakura. Hollows are way freakier in real life, too. Glad I didn't have to see if my Geass would work on it.'
Brows creased, he resumed walking toward the forested park. Unfortunately, one thing still bothered him.
'It's definitely been a while since I watched the show, but that Hollow reminds me of the one from the first episode.'
He groaned while thinking about how dangerous the world of Bleach could be for a normal person, especially in later conflicts. During his walk, he intermittently noticed some souls with chains attached to their chests, which only served to cement in his mind that he had been living in a super dangerous world without realizing it. He couldn't help wondering if he had never been able to see the spiritual aspects of the world before getting the Power Veins or if he simply didn't notice any of it due to his lack of interest in the world around him just because this was his second life.
Eyes narrowing as he thought more about the world of Bleach, he thought, 'If even a tiny thing goes wrong, Aizen or Yhwach might be able to come out on top, which could be especially bad in the case of Yhwach. Even me just seeing that hollow might cause a butterfly effect or something, which would suck. After these tutorials are over, I might have to involve myself with spiritual stuff just to save my own skin from all that insanity.'
Rubbing his hand through his hair, he sighed again, but then forced himself to focus on the tutorial missions for now. Since he could visit other worlds with strong powers, he thought learning magic or something might add extra defense against hollows or other dangers. At least, he hoped that would be the case.
'I'll be depending on you, Power Veins.'
Eventually, he found a remote location deep within the forested park and far from prying eyes. He checked his phone and saw that he still had a few minutes remaining, so he sat down cross-legged to relax a bit before heading off into another otherworldly experience. He even pulled his bokken out of his chat group inventory and rested it on his thighs since it brought him a sense of comfort.
When the countdown hit zero, two white circular lights appeared, one below him, and one above. The circles collapsed together and erased Jin's presence from the world in less than a second, leaving behind only a patch of burned grass. The circles didn't even give him time to process the method of teleportation.
* * *
"So, about the people you interacted with through that tablet, are you sure you can trust them?"
The blue-haired Wizard of Redemption and Regret glanced up at his black-haired companion from the boulder he was sitting on. Shrugging his shoulders, he answered, "For the most part, at least so far as I could tell through the artifact. We'll see what Sage is like in person soon, though, and I'm actually looking forward to it. He seems like an interesting person."
"If things go awry, we'll have your back," The woman replied while pulling her hood down to cover more of her face.
"Hopefully, that won't be necessary."
Shortly after he spoke, a ring of light appeared several meters ahead, startling him and his two companions. The ring of light split into two circles, one of which shot upward while the other shot down to the forest floor. Within the area where the cylinder of white light appeared, a person seated in a cross-legged position flashed into existence before their very eyes. Then, the light vanished, leaving the person behind. All three hooded figures raised their guards and prepared to cast magic just in case.
Taken aback by the instantaneous transfer, Jin looked around at his surroundings, including the three people who seemed wary of him. The sun also floated high in the sky, indicating some level of time difference between the two worlds. Breathing in a deep breath of fresh air within this new foreign world filled him with energy, and he felt a subtle warmth beneath his skin. He assumed his newly acquired Power Veins reacted to the magical environment of the Fairy Tail world.
"Expected a more uncomfortable ride than that, but it ended up pretty smooth," Jin mumbled. Then, focusing on the hooded man sitting on a nearby boulder, he smiled, waved, and said, "Nice to finally meet you in person, Wizard. Or should I call you Jellal?"
Both of the women at Jellal's side widened their eyes and started casting magic, but Jellal raised a hand to stop them and replied, "Nice to meet you in person, too, Sage-san. You can call me whatever you want. How about you? Do you prefer to be called Jin?"
"Definitely. Anyway, I'll just sit here for a bit until you guys aren't as wary of me. It's been a bit of a long day. Just found out my current homeworld is super dangerous, you see."
Jellal raised a brow, but then said, "Ultear, Meredy, don't you think I was right? You two don't need to be so on guard."
"If you say so," Ultear, the black-haired woman, replied.
On the other hand, the pink-haired woman simply nodded and crossed her arms. Her eyes focused sharply on Jin as she mumbled too quietly for anyone else to hear, "I thought a sage would be older, but he's actually kinda young and handsome."
Quiet alarms chirped around both Jin and Jellal, distracting them. The two women didn't react, causing Jin to wonder if they couldn't hear it. Then, when he reached into his pocket for his phone, he realized it wasn't there. Frowning, he checked all his pockets, but found nothing. Right when he really started to worry, his hand tingled. Glancing down, he saw light particles materialize into a rectangle in his hand, eventually forming into his phone.
"Well, ain't that fancy," Jin remarked with a raised brow.
"I didn't know the artifacts could do that," Jellal said. He also stared at the phone with a curious glint in his eyes. He then looked at his tablet, and as soon as he thought of making it vanish, it dispersed in several light particles. A moment later, it reformed at his mental command. Both Jin and Jellal made their phone and tablet vanish and reappear multiple times with silly grins on their faces.
"Men do the weirdest things sometimes…" Ultear whispered.
Meredy nodded in agreement, though she couldn't help giggling.
Scratching his temple, Jin pretended not to notice the two women judging them and instead focused on the alert on his phone.
{Tutorial Mission #1 will now begin. Mission requirements are as follows:}
{1. Subdue and disperse a Void Beast in the vicinity. Location: 512m Southwest}
{2. Admin must use his energy to close the Reality Crack it emerges from.}
{3. Mission Duration: 48 Hours}
{Mission Rewards: 100 RP, Bronze Lottery Ticket}
{Additional Notes: Admin must return to homeworld within 7 days after mission completion. Next Tutorial Mission will begin 24 hours after return.}
"Seems pretty simple, but what are Void Beasts or Reality Cracks?" Jellal asked after reading everything. Ultear and Meredy also displayed curiosity toward Jellal's question.
"Not sure, honestly, but I've seen and heard of worlds with similar concepts before. Also, how much do your companions know about all of this?"
"I've explained almost all of it to them aside from the extraneous conversations in the chat group. Should I not have?"
"Nah. Should be fine. More hands makes for lighter work, especially when they're as capable as Ultear or Meredy."
A relieved smile appeared on Jellal's face as he said, "Good."
Unbeknownst to Jellal, both Ultear and Meredy displayed shocked expressions under their hoods since Jellal had previously told them that he never mentioned anything about them to the people he spoke to through the tablet artifact.
Out of earshot from Jellal or Jin, Meredy whispered, "Maybe he really is a Sage? The way he said that made it seem like he knew us really well."
"I don't know. Let's ask him later."
"Agreed."
"Anyway," Jin continued while ignoring his curiosity toward the women's conversation, "to further answer your question, I'll have to see the beast or crack in person to understand more about them or find out if it's even something I have knowledge of."
"I see. Do you know how to close the Reality Crack, then?"
Jin frowned and answered, "Not yet, but I assume that's a major part of these tutorial missions. Although I didn't mention it in the chat earlier, I received an additional reward aside from the ticket, and it seems to be necessary for that."
"Interesting. I'm sure we'll figure it out. Also, I forgot about the ticket. What did you get from it?"
"...Honestly, it's a bit hard to explain since I still need to experiment with it, but it's an eye ability called Geass, if that answers your question. I'd actually like to do some tests with it before we start the mission if you're alright with that."
Raising a brow, Jellal asked, "What kind of tests?"
"All I know so far is that it can force somebody to watch important moments that happened in their past, so I'd like to test it on an animal or two to see if it does anything and then maybe test it on some death row prisoners or something just in case anything bad happens to the person I test it on."
"In that case, there was a Dark Guild we were planning to attack nearby after finishing the Chat Group mission. Perhaps you could test it on somebody there?"
"That should work if it's one you can take down in less than a day."
"If we go now, we should be done even before the sun sets."
Lips curling up ever so slightly, Jin stood up, rested his bokken on his shoulder, and replied, "Perfect. Lead the way."
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