[Third Person POV]
As Hajime stared into the distance at the giant skeleton looming over the Masshirona shrine, a feeling of dread came over him as he prepared to use all his abilities.
The aura emanating from the gashdokuro told him that it was like him, peak ultimate-class. The only difference between them was that the gashadokuro had been weakened thanks to a curse, and at any moment could become a supreme-class if it dealt with the curse.
Over the last few hours, Hajime had occasionally checked to see how strong the fighters of Itose were, but even the best of them was only a high-class fighter.
Monet was the strongest person after him, but even then, she was only an advanced high-class, though she could push herself to ultimate-class if she were to engulf the area in a large enough blizzard, it wouldn't help much in a fight like this.
With the gashadokuro's natural strength, anyone who wasn't at least an ultimate-class would be useless in damaging it.
Hajime rushed in the gashadokuro's direction, preparing to intercept it before it could reach the town.
Fighting something of that size would be harder with civilians in the way. Most of Hajime's strongest moves could destroy the city if he went all out.
Swinging from cloud to cloud, Hajime soon found himself floating about the gashadokuro, though he was still in its range.
Hanging from the clouds on a small platform of string, Hajime stands in the sky.
Seconds later, he starts moving like he's performing martial arts, and as he does, the clouds move with him.
Launching a waterbending attack at the gashadokuro, the water, which Hajime condensed into sharp needles, harmlessly bounced off the bones.
The attack was a diversion, though. With the water covering the front of the gashadokuro, Hajime froze it, creating a thin layer of ice all over the ribcage.
Hajime unleashed a large blast of concussive force from his eyes, slamming into the yokai from above, though the attack only stunned it for a moment before it continued going toward the town.
In a bid to stop it from moving, Hajime controlled his string clone to intercept the gashadokuro, while wrapping it in string to slow it as much as he could.
When the string clone arrived, Hajime immediately activated Birdcage, aiming to trap the skeleton long enough for him to find a way to kill it.
String shot out from the clone as its body unraveled, shooting to the sky before arcing down in a circle.
The gashadokuro pushed against the strings, but didn't break through. Unfortunately for Hajime, his strings didn't cut the yokai when they touched them.
That meant they were in a stalemate, neither able to stop the other.
Creating another string clone and a shadow clone, Hajime left them to guard the Birdcage. He was going to check out the shrine and needed something here to ensure any damage would keep the gashadokuro trapped.
Arriving at the shrine, Hajime was surprised to find the four perpetrators still there.
Three of them were trying to pry a fourth from the ground, but they seemed panicked.
For having unleashed a calamity onto such a small town, they seemed awfully distracted.
Sending out four strings for each of them, one string prying the Hisao from the ground, Hajime held them in front of him, finally looking at who caused this whole mess.
"Hey!" Jiro yelled. "Let us go!"
"Hmm, no."
"You don't want to mess with us! Our boss is the stro- He has control over that gashadokuro, and unless you want it to crush you, you'll leave right now!"
Hajime looked at the guy who looked as if he'd been hit by a bus. "Right..."
Separating the four of them, Hajime keeps the guy who spoke to him back.
Activating his Geass, he stared into the man's eyes. "Tell me everything necessary about your group, goals, and this plan."
Jiro spilled everything under the Geass' influence.
Once he finished speaking, Jiro looked at Hajime with horror. Jiro wasn't sure which was scarier, the gashadokuro they were trying to control, or the kid capable of forcing you to speak.
Having no more need for the others and making sure nobody at the shrine died, Hajime tied up Jiro's mouth and left a shadow clone to guard them so he could deal with them later.
Turning back to the gashadokuro, it had stretched the Birdcage, but had yet to break free.
Hajime opened a few strings in the back of the cage and shot another concussive beam at it, getting its attention. Seeing the large gaps, the gashadokuro shifted focus and tried to escape.
Sticking its tattooed arm through the gaps, it tried to claw at the strings from the outside, hoping they were weaker there; however, its arm got immobilized by another set of strings binding it to the ground.
*Raaauugh*
The skeletal yokai grew infuriated that this one insect was stopping it from growing stronger.
An ominous aura erupted from the giant, spreading across the strings. The nearby strings quickly turned black; a sharp, sizzling noise came from them before they broke.
The Birdcage fell apart now that a hole was torn through it, while the strings holding down the arm snapped shortly after.
Though the gashadokuro was enraged at the tiny being before it, it turned toward the town, determined to absorb enough negative energy to push itself back into supreme-class.
-----
Monet was still in Itose, dealing with the problems there.
The major issues had been resolved for the most part. Almost all of the invaders had been caught or killed in the fighting, while the biggest fires had been put out thanks to Monet.
At the moment, Monet was flying around the city, looking for injured people to bring to the field hospital.
For her, it was a strange thing to be helping others.
As a member of the Doflamingo Pirates, everyone listened to the captain with a reverence few crews seemed to have.
What Doffy said went, and anyone who stood against him was dealt with, quickly and painfully.
That was why, when Hajime told her to help others, she did so, though she was confused as to why.
She knew why others helped people, and she knew Hajime was kind, but as a pirate under Doflamingo, she would never do such a thing. Hell, before she died, she was working in a laboratory that experimented on children. Helping others wasn't something she did.
If her crewmates needed help or it furthered Doflamingo's goals, then sure, but that was the limit. However, she knew Hajime wouldn't ask these people for anything, nor would he use the incident to further his own agenda.
That was why she felt so strange. She was helping people because he asked. Monet didn't feel any different inside. She didn't care about these people and felt nothing as she saved them.
The only reason she was still here was that Hajime told her to be.
In the distance, Monet saw the familiar silhouette of the Birdcage envelop the gashadokuro, smiling at how her new boss was handling things just fine.
Seeing this spurred Monet on. If Hajime was willing to fight such a strong creature because of this town, then she should, at the very least, make sure the town is still standing by the time he beats it.
-----
At the shrine, Hanako woke up, pain shooting through her body.
As she tried to remember what happened, dread washed over her.
Someone attacked her. She didn't know who, but their goal was likely her and her brother.
It seemed even their own home wasn't safe anymore.
Hanako tried getting up, but she was completely immobilized, her arms and legs bound by a rope.
Rolling onto her side, she found a position to sit up, and what she saw horrified her.
All those family members she had lost over the last few years were here, tied up similarly to herself, though they looked way worse.
Their hair was long and tangled, and their bodies emaciated.
She didn't even want to know how much each of them suffered this whole time.
Everyone was lying around the courtyard, some bleeding, but all unconscious. Hanako even saw her brother lying a few feet away.
Hanako heard footsteps approaching. Tensing up, thinking it was her captors, she was surprised to see the kid who had visited the shrine earlier.
"What are you doing here?! You need to leave, now! It's dangerous!"
Hajime's shadow clone ignored her, his hand turning into a claw and cutting her loose, before moving on to the next person.
"Since you're awake, you should probably get some medical supplies to deal with their injuries. I'd do it myself, but I have no idea where you keep the supplies, and I'm currently on guard duty," the clone said, pointing to the cloaked men who were tied up.
"What about the gashadokuro?" Hanako asked, standing up to get the emergency supplies.
"It was moving toward the town, but it's currently stopped," he said, pointing in the distance.
Hearing that, Hanako breathed a sigh of relief.
Her family had been guarding the seal and town for centuries, even despite their cursed state, so even though there was little she could have done, she felt incredibly guilty.
She wasn't one of the clansmen who had been kidnapped, so Hanako knew she could've done something in the last few years. She could've hired an outsider to look into the disappearances; she could've had someone reinforce the seal or the shrine's wards. There were countless opportunities she felt she could've taken to prevent all these problems.
Grabbing the emergency medical bag, Hanako brought it outside and began to treat her clan members' wounds. While some had a few scrapes, others had been flung away when the seal broke, breaking a few bones.
None of them was near death, but she could tell each of them was in immense pain. Gritting her teeth and ignoring her feelings, Hanako focused on the task at hand, patching up what she could, but knew it'd take hours before any of them got proper medical attention.
-----
The gashadokuro's aura was slowly growing. The area the corrosion was affecting expanded outwards, creating a zone of death for anyone who entered. The plants within the zone all died, while trees with branches that entered the zone began to shrivel.
Before Hajime could do anything, the yokai's power exploded, like a shinigami unleashing a zanpakuto.
Though it hadn't reached the town, the gashadokuro had been able to feed off the negative emotions from this distance.
With the fires raging, magicians attacking, and eventually seeing a legendary monster looming in the distance, it was no wonder it could feed even at this distance. Hajime could tell just how potent they were thanks to his Grimm powers. They were practically demanding that he go back there, but Hajime ignored it.
The gashadokuro's power climbed and climbed until it finally settled in supreme-class. What's worse is that by breaking into supreme-class, it broke the curse that had been affecting it, pushing it up to the beginner stage.
Hajime, seeing it reach that power, activated his senjutsu. Without the risk of turning into a statue, Hajime pushed his senjutsu as hard as he could, causing his aura to rise too.
The gashadokuro took notice when it felt the negative emotions that fed it begin to diminish, thanks to the purification properties of senjutsu.
Swinging a giant skeletal claw at the ant ruining its feast, the gashadokuro roared in pain as it took a senjutsu-infused, silver-eyed, concussive beam, slamming into its ribs, the hand it attacked with failing to reach its target.
__________
Author's Note:
Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time!