The two weeks passed in a flash. During these two weeks, Ray trained every day, from dawn to dusk, taking breaks in between only for the miscellaneous errands that Yami sent him on.
He also headed out to hunt Vacuans with Yhrael occasionally. At first, both were uncomfortable with trusting their backs with someone they had met only a few days ago, but the more time they spent fighting alongside each other, the more their trust grew. Eventually, they even discovered that Yhrael's archery skills could link up perfectly with Ray's swordsmanship with the Seele Schneider. His arrows kept up with the speed boost Ray received from using both the SS and Hirenkyaku.
This was extremely helpful for Ray particularly, as he spent most of his normal training time improving his aim and archery. Since he was still developing the techniques with Heilig Pfeil, they were not perfected and suitable for combat. Hence, using the Seele Schneider along with Hirenkyaku during his outings with Yhrael helped a lot.
And so, time passed in a flash and two weeks had gone by. On the second day after the two weeks were done, Magna announced the long-awaited mission during breakfast.
"And I'm going to give you guys your first mission!" Magna said, grinning wildly while addressing Asta, Noelle, and Ray.
"We're going to the village of Saussy… to hunt boar!" he stated, but Asta and Noelle deadpanned in dumbfoundment and disappointment. Ray didn't react; he was busy fiddling with his Kojaku. He was trying to find a way to evolve it into the Ginrei Kojaku used by Uryu Ishida during his fight against Cirucci Sanderwicci, the #105 Espada.
It was the perfect mid-tier bow for him. He had initially thought of getting the one-handed bow used by Ryuken Ishida during the Thousand-Year Blood War, but it proved to be extremely difficult. So, for him, he felt that since his close-range combat was already extremely refined, he wanted to extend his arsenal when it came to long range.
The Ginrei Kojaku is shaped like a spider's web and can launch up to 1,200 arrows (normal) simultaneously (60 Heilig Pfeils simultaneously).Ray kept fiddling with the Kojaku, trying to change its shape by applying Reishi, but it didn't change at all. The Kojaku, grimoire, and Seele Schneider were formed by solidifying the mana in the air. But Ray can't manipulate this mana since he has Reishi instead of mana within his body due to the curse of mana. Hence, he couldn't really do any modifications to these. But hey, worth the try!
By now, Yami had managed to "convince" both Noelle and Asta to go on the mission, and they were contemplating how to get there.
"I can't fly on a broom because I don't have any magic power!" Asta stated enthusiastically.
"I-I can't control my magic... so the broom never responds..." Noelle stated, looking away in embarrassment.
Magna looked absolutely baffled. He turned to look at Ray for help, but Ray shook his head and said,
"Even I can't ride brooms, Magna. I can only control the mana in the air through my grimoire. I don't have a drop of magic power in me either."
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!?" Magna yelled.
"ARGH! There's no helping it then. I'll take you on MY sweet ride! Her name is Crazy Cyclone!" Magna exclaimed, while pulling out a weird-looking broom from nowhere.
The broom had a goat skull on its front, wearing sunglasses. The horns served as handlebars. The body looked like a spine, and on the body sat a seat made of a mix of fur, leather, and ribcages. At the end, it had a set of thrusters on each side.
"Tha-That is so cool!!!" Asta exclaimed with stars in his eyes.
"Isn't she? Isn't she awesome!?"
"Tacky!" Noelle muttered.
"Whaaaaat!?!? Girls just can't see the artistic structural beauty here..." Magna said, shaking his head.
"Tacky!!!" Noelle said again, this time louder.
Magna chuckled and ran his hand through his hair as his demeanor changed suddenly.
"Alright, looks aside, this baby can lift up to two people at most. I'm already pushing her to the limit by carrying three. I can't carry four. One of us has to follow using some other means of transportation," Magna stated, eyeing Asta, Noelle, and Ray.
Ray spoke up. "You guys go using the ride. I'll follow on foot."
Asta turned to look at him. "But Ray, you won't be able to keep up with a broom. Also, you'll get tired that way," he said with a hint of concern.
Magna nodded in approval. "Yes, Asta's right. I think we should wait for Finral to get back and ask him to take us there."
Ray shook his head. "No, Mister Magna. I can keep up. And stamina-wise, if it's not a battle, my stamina can hold up pretty well," he insisted.
Magna scratched the back of his head and attempted to respond when he was cut off.
"Mister Magna, trust Ray. If he says he can do something, he WILL do it, by hook or crook. Ray is the type of guy who keeps his promises and someone who does what he says," Asta said, his face having a serious look that Magna hadn't seen in the time Asta was at the Black Bulls HQ. Even Noelle was a little startled at Asta's demeanor. Ray smiled softly, his lips curving a little, not too much though.
Magna sighed. "Alright then, kid. You're coming by foot. But remember, the moment you stray out of my sight, I'll personally fry you up," he said.
Ray nodded respectfully.
They headed outside, and the three took off on Crazy Cyclone. Ray activated Hirenkyaku and followed.
They traveled out of the capital boundaries and toward the Forsaken Realm — specifically, toward the southwest border of the Clover Kingdom.
While travelling, Ray opened his System, just to go through the things he has acheived in the last 2 weeks.
'System' Ray thought.
*DING!*
User Data –
Name: Ray
Age: 15 (+18)
Race: Human (Quincy)
Magic (Reishi): 1984 +75.6 = 2059.6
STR – 20 +5 = 25 (Affect's User's Natural Strength)
DEX – 23 +4 = 27 (Affect's User's Natura Speed)
DEF – 16 +6 = 22 (Affect's User's Natural Toughness)
INT – 143 IQ (Gifted)
Innate talents: [Archery (Unsealed) Lv. 1.5], …, [Hand-to-Hand Combat (Unsealed) Lv. 3]
Grimoire – Quincy Cross
Spells – [Seele Schneider (Strum (New!))], [Hirenkyaku Lv.2 (Air step {1} (Unlocked!))], [Kojaku], [Heilig Pfeil (Focused shot (New!)), (Explosion shot (New!)), (Slowing Shot (New!), (Volley (New!)))]
After about an hour of traveling, they reached the forest surrounding Saussy Village. The Crazy Cyclone shot over the woods, while Ray formed the Seele Schneider in his hands and ran straight into the forest, slashing away at plants and small trees in his way.
While moving, Ray felt a shiver run up his spine. He changed his direction immediately, stepping on air to do so.
*BOOM!*
A crater had formed where he had been a few milliseconds ago, with a boulder in it. He narrowed his eyes, checking his surroundings, but saw nothing. Puzzled, he let his stance drop for a second, when he felt the same shiver travel down his spine once again. He followed his instinct and dived away from the place he was standing.
*SMASH!*
*BOOM!*
He felt something graze his leg as he dodged, and then another crater formed.
"What the fuck," he muttered as he activated his Soul Sight. Then he saw it — a massive Vacuan, staring down at him, its fist lodged in the crater that had just formed.
It lifted the fist and brought it down on him again. Ray didn't dodge. Using Hirenkyaku, he closed the distance, getting within the Vacuan's arm's length, and struck upwards using his Seele Schneider in a deadly arc.
*SLASH!*
*SPLURT!*
*THUD!*
The Vacuan's extended arm was severed, but Ray didn't stop. He flowed the uppercut into a downswing, bringing it down onto the Vacuan's head in yet another savage arc.
*SLASH!*
*SPLURT!*
*THUD!*
The Vacuan fell, dead. But Ray wasn't done yet. He felt his instincts scream at him in one particular direction. He took off toward it, feeling unease creep up little by little.
He burst into a clearing and saw it — massive amounts of mist curled in the distance, with many Vacuans surrounding it. However, the Vacuans couldn't get into the mist no matter how much they tried. They wandered in from one side but exited out from the same place a few minutes later.
'I see... this instinct I'm feeling is probably the innate reaction of a Quincy towards the Hollows. Quincies don't have antibodies against Hollows. Coming in contact with Hollows will be very dangerous for us. However, both me and Yhrael have been hit, or at least grazed, by a Vacuan during the last two weeks, yet nothing serious happened... why could that be? Is it because the "Hollows" of this world — the Vacuans — don't have that kind of effect on us? But then why do I feel this urgency to kill them all as soon as possible?' Ray thought.
'ARGHHH! Damn it! Forget it. No point thinking too much, I'll ask Yhrael about this first thing after this mission.'
Ray dispelled the Seele Schneider he was clutching and raised his left hand, the Kojaku already forming on it. He drew and fired in rapid succession. A few minutes and 37 arrows later, Ray lowered his hand, watching as the last Vacuan around the mist-covered village died.
*VROOM!*
Just then, Ray heard the familiar sound of the thrusters on Crazy Cyclone. He turned to see it land and watched as Asta, Noelle, and Magna got off, rushing toward him.
"What happened here, Ray?!" Magna asked, eyeing the mist that was covering the village.
{A/N: Here, Magna obviously is asking about the situation of the village, not the dead Vacuan bodies lying around. They can't see souls. Duh.}
'Hidden Mist Village,' Ray thought jokingly, while externally he maintained his stoic face.
Ray shook his head and answered, "I also just got here. I have no idea what's going on."
Magna frowned deeply and approached the mist. He raised his hand and passed it through, his eyes slowly widening as he did so.
"It's a magic spell!" he said, thinking deeply.
Ray helped him. "Hey, Asta. Cut the mist with your sword."
"Huh? Don't be silly. Swords can't cut mist!" Asta said, chuckling.
Magna realized what Ray meant and snapped at Asta, "You're the idiot here! Your sword can cut any magic!"
Asta blinked, and then smashed his fist on his palm, "Oh yeah!"
Ray rolled his eyes. "Get to it."
*SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!*
"Alright!" Asta said enthusiastically, as he drew his Demon-Slayer Sword and swung it at the mist. The mist receded. Seeing success, he kept swinging, cutting deeper into the village with each swing.
Then, "There! The mist is clearing!" Noelle exclaimed.
Ray silently drew the Kojaku and readied a special Heilig Pfeil on it.
There, they saw it — many icicles looming over the heads of villagers gathered on the ground in the village center, about to be executed.
Nearby stood a group of people with a man who seemed to be their leader, sitting on a rock, looking at a stopwatch. He looked up momentarily at the arrival of Ray's group, then spoke in a cold, almost bored tone.
"Commence execution."
The icicles descended. Magna dashed forward with Asta on his tail. Ray fired the Heilig Pfeil right into the center of the falling icicles.
"Explode," Ray muttered.
"Flame Magic: Explosive Scatter Shot!" Magna yelled as he released multiple fireballs heading straight for the falling icicles.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
First, the Heilig Pfeil detonated in midair, vaporizing most of the icicles. Then Magna's fireballs took care of the remaining ones.
The man sitting on the rock stood up. That's when they saw him properly.
He was a slender man with slanted eyes and very skinny, which could be seen from the tone of his face. He also had a large chin. Additionally, he had short grey hair combed backward. One of his most prominent features was the scar on the right-hand side of his forehead, which was elongated across his face all the way to his left cheek.
"How dare you throw off the schedule?" he said, glancing at the stopwatch in his hand.
"In three seconds. Everyone dies," he stated.
As soon as he said so, the grimoire beside him flipped to a page and a massive ice-boulder-looking thing shot out at high speed. Magna couldn't react due to his low magic power.
*SLASH!*
*TWANG! TWANG!*
But Asta and Ray took over. Asta split the iceberg down the middle, and Ray fired two Heilig Pfeils to destroy the split ice and minimize the destruction caused.
Asta slowly stood up, facing the man and his followers.
"You're going down! Also, why would you do something so horrible?! Who the heck are you people?" Asta fired off, as if expecting the enemies to give out the answers on their own.
The robed men mumbled something to themselves, while the man set a timer on his stopwatch before speaking.
"Five minutes. The worthless villagers don't know anything. We'll finish them off quickly... and hunt for what we seek!" he stated.
Suddenly, Asta was in his face.
"Don't you ignore me!" he yelled as he slashed upwards.
A robed man raised his hand, grimoire flipping beside him.
"Mist Magic: Whirlpool of Illusory Mist!"
*WHOOOSH!*
"You fool. Don't think you can approach Lord Heath so easily. Wander in the mist—" He was cut off by Asta.
*SLASH!*
"Nobody's wandering!" Asta yelled as he cut through the spell and retaliated.
While all this was happening, Ray had sneaked away from the battle, and using Soul Sight, he approached the only church in the village.
Once inside, he climbed up to the attic and found what he was looking for — a red-colored gem, glowing slightly, even in sunlight. If looked at closely, one could see faint runic patterns on it.
Ray pocketed the gem and exited the church. By the time he had reached the center, the fight was over. Asta was sleeping on the ground, while the villagers surrounded him, Magna, and Noelle.
Ray walked over as he took in the damage caused during the fight.
Magna noticed him first.
"Oi! Where were you, you rascal! How dare you leave us to fight that guy on our own?" Magna yelled, grabbing Ray into a chokehold and grinding his fist into Ray's head.
"Ow..." Ray muttered. Then he pulled out the best excuse he could come up with.
"Sorry. I saw an old woman trying to cross the street. I had to help her. Can't leave the elderly waiting," Ray lied with a straight face.
Magna deadpanned. "Oh really?"
That got a smirk out of Ray. "Yeah, really."
They decided to stay there for a while, till Asta woke up. Right after the fight, Magna had informed Captain Yami of the situation, who then sent the report to the Wizard King's office. Most likely, the reinforcements would come within an hour or so.
Through the cheers of celebration from the villagers, Ray heard a shrill, almost disbelieving chirp. He smiled slightly before turning around and moving toward the sound of the chirp.
He reached the church and saw an anti-bird flying in and out, in a human way, looking for something.
"You know, in times like these, you really do look human," Ray said out loud, startling Nero.
The bird flew down to his shoulder and pecked him furiously.
"Ow ow ow! Ay! What's the big deal?!" Ray complained, trying to get her to stop. Nero took off from its "perch" and flew to the attic window, pecking at it.
Ray smirked. "Oh? You're saying something is there inside?" he asked, enjoying her reactions to him delaying.
Nero shook her head furiously (part 2). Ray smiled and pulled out the gem.
"Is it... this?" he asked, paying close attention to Nero's reaction — and she sure didn't let him down.
She went from surprise to disbelief to astonishment to realization and finally anger.
She flew down, pecking at his head as Ray burst out laughing while clutching his head and running around.
After some time, she calmed down and landed on his head, nestling comfortably in his hair. Asta had woken up by now.
Seeing everyone gathered, Magna turned to the captured Heath and his underlings. Heath was just coming around.
"Hey. Are you awake, you scumbag?" Magna asked, acting like a proper delinquent now.
"I'm gonna rest up a bit more, and as soon as my magic is back, I'm gonna be taking you all and turning you all in. You're gonna pay for what you did for the rest of your lives, losers. The Magic Knights are gonna make you talk — who the heck you are, what the heck you wanted, EVERYTHING," Magna threatened, his face being perfectly in sync with the delinquent hairstyle of his.
"No, they won't," Heath said, as light began to glow from all of their stomachs. Ray, knowing this would happen, was already ready with the Seele Schneider in hand. He slashed at Heath's stomach, taking out the light, while the others got impaled by Ice Magic: Ice Burial.
Heath looked at Ray in surprise, wondering how he had reacted so fast.
"Oi! What did you do?! How dare you try and kill yourselves!?" Magna yelled.
Before Heath could reply, a black portal appeared above his head, swallowing him up to his neck, then abruptly closed.
They stood there, watching in surprise — even Ray.
'What the heck. Nothing like this was shown in the manga OR the anime! Could this have been the Eye of the Midnight Sun's backup plan? In case they got caught, they'd either kill themselves using the magic artifact, or Valtos would kill them remotely before slipping away himself,' Ray thought to himself.
Here, he was once again reminded that this world was no longer the same as the manga or the anime. It was a real world, where his actions decided whether the story progressed smoothly or diverged from the path — which may or may not lead to unpredictable deaths and disasters.
Ray steeled himself. 'I have to get stronger. Strong enough that I can handle whatever goes haywire or off-script. And for that, I'll need to get my Schrift and Vollständig as soon as possible. But the thing is, I'm not sure if I can get it in this world. Schrifts and Vollständig were assigned to Quincies by Yhwach, who would split his soul to make them stronger. In other words, I'll have find a way to get a Schrift without a Yhwach.' Ray rubbed his forehead in mild annoyance...