Chapter10: Fortune's Fickle Wheel
Hyuga Hizashi stumbled backward, fear stark in his wide, pale eyes. He tried to stand his ground, puffing out his chest and lifting his chin in a show of defiance, but the violent trembling in his legs betrayed his terror.
"Ah, forget it," Shinra sighed, lowering his fist. He couldn't be bothered to tangle with a child. Things could get messy if he accidentally hit too hard and left a mark. The boy's father would surely have questions.
Wait, why wouldn't his father recognize him? a cynical part of Shinra's mind quipped. If your face is swollen beyond recognition, even your own father wouldn't know you.
"Don't you dare look down on me!" Hizashi yelled at Shinra's retreating back, his voice cracking with a mix of fear and bravado. "When I learn the Gentle Fist, I'll make you pay for this!"
Shinra, who hadn't gone far, stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned around, an incredulous look on his face.
"You're going to get revenge on me?" he said, his voice dangerously calm. "You threw the first punch. I was being generous by letting it go, and now you're making threats?"
He started walking back, his demeanor shifting from dismissive to menacing.
"It seems I do need to teach you a lesson after all. A little reminder that pride has its price."
"W-What are you doing? Stay back!" Hizashi stammered, retreating until his back hit the wooden training post.
"I'm teaching you a valuable truth," Shinra stated, his expression cold. "Pride is worthless if you don't have the strength to back it up. Look at you now—about to get beaten up just to salvage a tiny bit of face. It's a terrible trade."
His fist shot out in a blur, far too fast for the four-year-old Hizashi to dodge.
THWACK! THUD! BAM!
A series of dull, meaty impacts echoed in the quiet training ground. A moment later, Shinra turned and walked away, not looking back, leaving a lesson learned the hard way.
Hizashi lay on the ground, clutching his stinging, bruised face, hot tears of pain and humiliation finally spilling over.
"Oh, one more thing," Shinra's voice called out, making Hizashi flinch. He hadn't even heard him return. Shinra looked down at the boy, now sporting a face that was rapidly swelling into a puffy mess. "If anyone asks, you tell them you fell. If I hear you said anything else, I'll give you a fresh beating every single time I see you. Understood?"
Terrified of another onslaught, Hizashi could only nod frantically, his sobs caught in his throat. "I-I understand!"
"Good." Satisfied, Shinra finally left for good.
Only when he was certain Shinra was truly gone did Hizashi let out a loud, wailing cry, his body shaking with the force of it. He had held it in to save face, but now, alone and in pain, he couldn't hold back any longer.
Shinra, already nearing his home, paused. His enhanced Observation Haki, even at its basic level, easily picked up the distant, muffled sobs.
Serves him right, he thought without an ounce of remorse. All that posturing just to get a beating. He brought it on himself.
Back in the solitude of his room, Shinra went through a familiar ritual: a hot bath and a moment of quiet focus. He was preparing for his annual lottery draw.
It probably doesn't matter, but a little superstition can't hurt, he reasoned, trying to calm the excited flutter in his chest. I may have a solid foundation now, but a truly world-breaking artifact or ability would seal my invincibility.
He sat cross-legged on his bed, rubbing his hands together. "With the right pull, not even Kaguya would be a threat. I could just tie her up and be done with it."
He closed his eyes, deliberately slowing his breathing, seeking a state of perfect calm. As his heart rate settled, his awareness began to expand. He felt the subtle shift of the air in his room, the faint scuttling of insects in the walls, the rhythm of his own blood. The sensation spread further, and further, until the entire Hyuga compound was a tapestry of living breaths in his mind—the slow, deep rhythms of adults, the restless energy of children, even the placid life force of the decorative koi in the ponds.
A long time later, he opened his eyes. A faint, brilliant light seemed to emanate from their starry-blue depths, illuminating the dark room.
"Unexpected," he murmured, a genuine smile gracing his lips. "My Observation Haki has improved. A pleasant surprise." True advancement usually came in the heat of battle, under extreme pressure. This quiet, meditative breakthrough was a welcome anomaly, though its practical use was still limited.
"Now, for the main event."
He willed himself into the system's void space. Without preamble, he navigated to the lottery page and initiated the draw. The colossal wheel materialized, its ten segments gleaming with prizes that made his mouth go dry.
Bloodline Limit: Wood Style
Gate of Babylon
Zoan Fruit, Model: Bear
Logia Fruit: Rumble-Rumble (Perfected Edition)
Excalibur
Millenniumon: Chrono Chaos
Bloodline Limit: Lava Style
Zanpakutō: Sode no Shirayuki
Armament Haki
Hōgyoku
Shinra was dumbstruck. There were a few duds—the Bear Fruit was useless to him, and the Gate of Babylon was just a fancy storage space without Gilgamesh's treasury to fill it. But the rest... The rest were game-ending.
His gaze was locked on two in particular. The Hōgyoku—the ultimate reality-warping orb from Bleach, a tool that could evolve its user based on their desires. And Millenniumon: Chrono Chaos—a digital abomination with the power to unravel time and space itself. With either of these, the very concept of a threat would become obsolete.
His carefully maintained calm shattered, replaced by raw, avaricious hunger. He pressed the button to spin the wheel.
The pointer became a blur of light. As it began to slow, Shinra's breath hitched. It crept past Wood Style, past the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, past Excalibur... and then, to his utter astonishment, it came to a stop directly on the thin black line separating Armament Haki and the Hōgyoku.
His heart hammered against his ribs. According to universal lottery rules, this meant he got both!
"YES!" he roared, leaping to his feet in the mental space, a wild, triumphant laugh tearing from his throat. "The Hōgyoku! With this, I can evolve beyond anything! There's no one left to fear! Hahahaha!"
He was at the pinnacle of euphoria, the king of the world.
And then, the system, silent and impassive for so long, delivered its verdict.
[Lottery malfunction detected. This draw is declared invalid. Host, please re-spin.]
The manic laughter died in Shinra's throat. The glorious, world-altering future that had been within his grasp vanished like a popped soap bubble. The plunge from the heavens back to the cold, hard ground was so violent it left him dizzy.
He stood frozen in the system void, his hands clenched into white-knuckled fists.
"System," he growled, his voice a low, dangerous tremor. "Come out here right now. I promise I won't kill you."