___Black Tortoise Barracks___
Vaisravana walked ahead in silence, her black cloak swaying behind her. The mask she wore glinted faintly under the pale ghost light that illuminated the City of the Dead. Ray followed her towards the Northern Gate, through a causeway, expecting stone and steel.
He was not prepared for what he saw.
*DUN! DUNN! DUNNN!*
The Black Tortoise Barracks stretched across a suspended plateau of obsidian rock, like a massive, armoured shell. Each building resembled heavy bastions with rounded roofs, reinforced edges, and carved scale patterns.
The air was cold here, colder than the rest of the Underworld. Even Ray's breath, felt heavy, as if pressed upon by an incredibly ancient and large amount of Reishi.
In the centre of the complex stood the Shell Pavilion—a towering circular building shaped like a Shell. On its walls, constellations-like markings glowed with stored Reishi. Each constellation pulsed faintly, glowing brighter as squads of Grimm Reapers passed beneath them.
Training grounds filled the spaces between buildings, arranged in geometric patterns like tortoise-shell hexagons. Reapers in black trained in perfect synchrony: silent movement drills, coordinated assaults, barrier formation practice. Not a single shout or wasted motion—only the crisp thud of boots and the metallic clang of Soul brands could be heard.
{A/N: IMAGE HERE!}
At the entrance of the barracks, Vaisravana stopped and turned on her heels, facing Ray. She spread her arms, the monstrous structure seemed to loom behind her, and forcefully pulling his attention towards it.
"Welcome," Vaisravana said, her voice echoing behind the mask. "To the Northern Company. To the Black Tortoise Barracks. Be grateful. I Mold only those I find promising. If you weren't… I'd have already discarded you."
She slowly let her arms drop before continuing. "And remember—while you're under my command… your fate rests in my hands. Isn't that exciting?"
Her eyes held a glint of mania and craze in it. As if she was coming up with all kinds of Hellish ways to train him.
Ray swallowed hard. The mask did nothing to help his fear.
'Vaisravana... What a scary woman!' Ray muttered internally.
Vaisravana had already turned around and headed towards a secluded training ground on the right.
Although there were grimm reapers training nearby, they all made sure not to enter the boundary of that training ground, even by mistake.
Vaisravana strode straight in, walking towards the center before stopping and turning around.
Ray also stopped a little distance away.
"Before I plan your training out. I need to have a clear understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. Although I may have accepted your spirit... Just having that much isn't enough to survive my training"
*WHOOSH!*
Saying so, she raised her right hand. The smoke curling out of the edges of her mask suddenly multiplied. A large amount of reishi gathered, creating a crack in the air. She reached into the crack and pulled out her scythe type Soul brand.
She pulled it out with a flourish, spinning it in her hand as she brought it out with her left. Her right hand swiped the Crack, making it dissapear.
"Come." Vaisravana said, holding the scythe beside her in a casual pose.
*VMMMMMM....!!!!*
*TWANG!*
*WHOOSH!*
Ray didn't hesitate. Summoning His kojaku, He fired his strongest quickfire type Heilig Pfeil: Focused Shot.
It screamed through the air as it homed in on Vaisravana.
*CLANG!*
"Not bad. decisive. 24 out of 100. You could have pressured me in more ways." She said as she swung her scythe at the incoming arrow in a casual arc.
The arrow Shattered. Ray felt it instinctively. fighting with the Bow will put him at a disadvantage. A sick smile spread on his lips.
'No way man.... I'm a fucking Quincy, yet my Ranged attacks don't seem to have any effect on strong enemies. To think I'm being forced to go close combat in like, every fight.... I'm a fucking disgrace man....' Ray mused internally.
*WHOOSH!*
Using Hirenkyaku the sped towards Vaisravana, one more Heilig Pfeil: Focused shot already notched, ready to be fired.
As he closed the distance, she stayed in position not moving am inch. Ray fired the Heilig Pfeil.
*SLASH!*
But vaisravana was already moving. With yet another elegant twist of her scythe she severed the arrow before it left the bow and continued into a spinning slash.
*CLANG!*
Ray blocked with his kojaku. taking a step back to stabilize before using hirenkyaku to propel himself forwards and upwards. He flipped through the air above Vaisravana, kojaku's strong drawn taut once again. Heilig Pfeil: Focused Shot already notched. He felt her eyes on him, tracking every twitch of his muscles. He had been seen through by her the moment he thought of pulling this move off.
*WHOOSH!*
*BAM!*
Ray launched the Pfeil at close range. The speed was so high that Ray was sure Vaisravana couldn't dodge it. he was wrong. She vanished from her spot reappearing in air, above him. He had just managed to look up when he felt her scythe's rod slam into hir arm, sending him crashing to the ground.
His hand felt like it was about to fall off. but Gritting his teeth, he stood and clutched his fist, ready for more.
"Not bad. you've got endurance. 54 out of 100 for that. I'll give your persistence something similar. I'd say maybe 58 out of 100...? Your reflexes though... Those are the real deal. 72 out of 100. you've got crazy good instincts; put them to good use." Vaisravana commented, taking up her unbothered and unmoved posture from the start.
Ray sighed, now equipping the seele schneider.
"One more time vaisravana-sensei." Ray said.
"Just call me Ravana, kid! vaisravana is too lengthy and sounds formal." She replied before steadying her scythe and waiting for the attack. Ray moved.
*WHOOSH!*
Using hirenkyaku he closed the distance in an instant and slashed at Ravana. However, Ravana blocked it with ease with her scythe.
A small smile blossomed on his lips.
'Gotcha!' He thought internally.
"Seele Schneider!" He Yelled, his blade already buzzing with more energy.
"1st Form!!! Strum!" He yelled.
*BOOM!*
The seele schneider in his grip changed. The reishi blade elongated, thickened and he saw thrusters getting added to its bottom.
This was one of his original Spells that he created himself.
The boosters activated, and the added reach and weight made the weapon a lot more destructive and faster.
*CLANG!*
He swung his blade, the air currents caused by this simple movement became separate attacks themselves.
"Not bad. a 48 out of 100 power. good timing to use too. though, next time try to use someone as a distraction, coz that activation time was enough for me to kill you 5 times over." Ravana said as her Scythe spun faster, parrying everything.
Ray didn't stop. he hacked, slashed and stabbed at Ravana, causing air currents to form at the tiniest movement. He was truly a storm right now.
They clashed back and forth. But despite the number of attacks he used against Ravana, she just moved faster, dodging and countering every strike.
"Did you really think increasing the number of attacks would make it harder for me? Kid, your underestimating me. Big time." She said, her voice coming out with unrestrained smugness.
Ray didn't respond, but hacked away, steel meeting steel before both push away, distancing and then repeating. But slowly, Ray was adapting. He was getting used to her pattern. Ravana had a certain rhythm she maintained while fighting. Much like she was considering this a dance.
She twirled her scythe once more to block his attack, the air currents followed. She didn't bat an eye and swung, dispersing them, and momentarily letting the scythe's tip rest on the ground. She was about to say something, but Ray still attacked. He had figured it out. Her pattern.
Slowly, time slowed down, familiar grid-like patterns appeared in his vision, his instincts took over. He attacked quickly, first striking vertically downwards, then slashed back upwards. She blocked in that flourish of hers. But Ray caught her brief moment of distraction.
He positioned himself in a way such that, the Black tortoise barracks was directly behind him. He made sure her eyes were on him, before quickly glancing back, towards the Barracks. She followed his gaze. When it returned on him, he was nowhere to be found. he had... vanished...?
Ray got into her guard and slammed his elbow upwards, towards her hand that gripped the scythe. It didn't slip. Gritting his teeth, Ray spun around and arrived behind her, his hands clutching her waist tightly. He lifted.
"DONT YO-" She started.
Ravana was lifted off the ground and then promptly slammed back down in a powerful German Supplex.
Ray stubbled out from underneath her, panting from the effort of lifting and slamming. she was heavier than she looked. probably tried to prevent him from lifting her by using reishi as a means to lock herself to the ground. a pity it didn't work...
Ravana rolled on to her feet but said nothing. she was surprised and enthralled all at the same time. Her new student had surpassed her imagination there.
"Kid..." She began, her voice dark with rage.
She saw Ray stiffen. she smirked to herself under the mask.
'Cute boy. No one'll believe he managed to catch me off guard.' She thought, chuckling darkly.
"You did great!" She said, her voice filled with satisfaction. "Tell me. What was the move you pulled last?" She asked, curious about the move that lowered her guard.
"Uhhh... It's called misdirection. By momentarily distracting you by making you look at something else, then taking advantage of that split second to enter your guard, that's its true purpose." He said, lying.
'I mean, i can't exactly tell her that i just frigging copied Kuroko can i?'
"Interesting... It's essentially mainly serving to give you openings in the opponent's defences using momentary distraction. Good. Not bad. Not bad at all." She said, gazing at him and analyzing him once more, before turning around and clapping her hands once to get his attention.
"Alright. Enough fooling around Lets begin your training! First off! Endurance and Stamina building! Do 30 laps in 30 minutes! Go Go GO!" She yelled, enthusiasm apparent.
Ray stood there staring at her as his brain slowly sorted through all that nonsense and realized what she had said. He hurriedly started running.
"Every minute you go above the time limit will result in an addition of 75% laps to your lap routine for today." She added, with an audible devil's laugh.
Meanwhile, on a rooftop far away, in the city, stood a man, holding extremely advanced Binoculars.
"Nothing suspicious done yet sir." The man said, speaking into a medallion.
"Continue Keeping an eye on him." The voice said.
"Yes sir!" The man said, before turning the medallion off and observing again.
___Unknown Location___
The Cloaked figure was kneeling Infront of the mass of the mist.
"Master, everything is proceeding smoothly in the Underworld. No one suspects a thing. Not even HIM." The kneeling figure said.
"What about the foreigners? What are they doing?" The mist asks.
"Master, the Boy is training under Vaisravana of the Black Tortoise Company. However, none of my scouts of spotted the other man anywhere in the Underworld. He is probably doing secluded training" The figure said.
"The man doesn't matter, The boy does. if THE Vaisravana, the Queen of the north and the guardian of Rage took him as her student then he certainly has some qualities." The mist mused.
"But master, we have gone through all tests for him. turns out his reishi value is only at 3K, an absolute weaking." the cloaked figure spike.
"Low reishi huh... a weaking indeed." The mist said.
"Alright, ignore the pest. make sure everything is proceeding smoothly. on the day of my resurrection, the Underworld and the World of Living, Both Shall bleed! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
"All Hail -------" The figure yelled.
*_*_*_*_AUTHOR'S NOTES_*_*_*_*
I added minimal Sound effects in this chapter, limited to combat Scenes. If this is Ok pls let me know!
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I will try to change things within the next few chapters.
Thank you so much for reading! Have a great day!