(Third Challenge Bonus Chapter)
Adam returned to his team after he awakened his Zanpakuto Spirit. As much as he wants to return to Seireitei immediately, he still has to complete this mission first.
Which made him wonder. What is even happening? He doesn't remember something like this happening in Bleach. Perhaps it's from the DxD side?
"You. The team leader." Someone suddenly called and when Adam turned his head to the direction of the voice, it's the man in white hair similar to Cleria Belial.
"Hmn?" Adam grunted in acknowledgement and wondered what he wanted.
But suddenly he bowed much to Adam's surprise, his team members' surprise and the Devils' surprise.
"Thank you for protecting my sister. I am Diehauser Belial from the 72 Pillar Devils clan, House Belial. If there is anything that you need help with, please do not hesitate to ask. As I owe you a favor."
Adam briefly recalled something about Belial House being quite similar with Gremory House in regard to how they loved their people. So, Diehauser showing gratitude for helping his sister isn't something strange.
"No, you are mistaken. My mission is only to protect the humans in this town. The Devils are merely a coincidence." Adam corrected the Devil who simply smiled understandingly and said nothing more of it.
"However, if you do want to help. I wonder if you know what is the cause of this incident?" Adam asked because as the Devil of a noble house surely he had information that someone like Adam couldn't access.
"Well, I am willing to explain even without using the favor." Diehauser said with a chuckle before he explained. "Something happened in the Underworld. We do not have any news yet but the Olympian God of Death, Hades is involved and that caused quite the mess with the Cycle of Reincarnation that many souls are ejected from the underworld and stuck on Earth, unable to enter the afterlife and roam free."
After hearing this explanation everything makes sense since Hollows are attracted to the soul. But why didn't Seireitei know about this? If they did, they could send Shinigami down to manage those souls right?
Anyway, Adam thanked Diehauser and returned to his team to catch some rest while he pondered over the questions in his head.
———
Half an hour later, Adam received a sudden transmission from Captain Aikawa which informed him about the sighting of an Adjuchas had escaped in his direction and they were occupied fighting several Adjuchas. Thus unable to help.
Adam cursed the stupid rule about Captain needing to seal 80% of their power because if Captain Aikawa had his full strength, killing those Adjuchas would be like trampling insects.
"Attention, everyone. Captain informed us that an Adjuchas is coming in our direction. Be prepared for battle." Adam informed his team who immediately went pale when they heard they would be fighting Adjuchas.
"Fighting an Adjuchas? That suicide, Boss. We are just normal Shinigami. No way we can win against it." One of Adam's friends said in a panic.
"Have some faith will you?" Michiru chopped his head with his straightened palm.
"What he said is true. I'm not planning to lose anyone in this mission." Adam nods his head before he explain how he would use Bakudo to restrain the Adjuchas nd then annihilate it with Hado
Actually, Adam could use his Zanpakuto. But he wants to keep it a secret until he is done with Aizen. One cannot be too sure with Aizen. What if his plan fell into ruin because he revealed his Zanpakuto too early. Who knows if his friend has already been affected by Kyoka Suigetsu or not and is spying on him for Aizen. He knew he was overthinking but when his opponent is Aizen, no amount of overthinking is overthinking.
"Anyway, I will try to seal its movement with Bakudo. I should be able to restrain it with Rikujokoro. After that, we throw everything we have at it." Adam briefly explained his plan. His team all nodded and think Adam's plan is very solid and they have no better suggestion.
After briefing his team about the plan. Everyone is preparing for the Adjuchas' arrival.
Cleria Belial was interested and also curious about Adam. She also developed a budding feeling after being saved by him. Devils naturally gravitate toward the stronger person and she is no different after seeing how easy he kills the Hollows she struggled against.
Seeing Adam and his team moved to the edge of the town. She noticed some of the Shinigami are very nervous like they are about to fight an impossible battle. However, Adam remains calm and still as if nothing could affect him as he glances over to the horizon.
"Sister…" Diehauser mutters as he easily understands what is going on in his younger sister's mind. "Soul Reaper are a very isolated faction. It would be very difficult for you to meet him again unless he is dispatched like this incident."
Cleria sighed and nodded. "I know. That's why I hadn't approached him." She mutters silently like she was sulking and Diehauser easily picked up what she said.
"Besides, I think a dangerous enemy is coming toward us. They look nervous and anticipating a battle." Cleria point out that most of the Shinigami are holding the handle of their Asauchi, ready to draw at any moment.
"What? Do you want me to go help them?" Diehauser looked at Cleria with an eye and his eyebrow raised. He then crossed his arm and sighed. "Unfortunately, Devil Magic isn't as effective as the Soul Reaper's weapon and technique in slaying Hollows. The Hollows are a different category of ghost that not even holy weapons have much effectiveness."
"Then what should we do? They helped us. We can't just sit still and watch." Cleria argued.
"Unfortunately, that is what we are going to do. We can't do much in a fight against the Hollows. Besides, I'm sure your hero had the situation under control." Diehauser said, trying to cheer Cleria up and noticed she didn't even make a fuss about the 'hero' part as he expected.
———
(Adam PoV)
After a few minutes of waiting, Adam could sense the Hollow's Reiatsu. Much stronger than his own but very wild and uncontrolled as typical Hollow does.
"Get ready. It is approaching us." Adam ordered before she pre cast a spell.
Then a brief moment later, something flew out the treeline of the forest. A humanoid looking creature with a pair of green wings as an arm. Its body is also mostly green and a bird-like head with a white mask as a face
"Bakudō 9: Geki"
Adam finished the pre-castered spell chant and a red light quickly enveloped the Adjuchas before it suddenly fell from the sky, paralyzed by the spell.
The other Shinigamis immediately stood guard before Adam as he was going to chant the planned spell in hope the current paralyzing spell could buy him some time and his team wouldn't need to fight the Adjuchas.
"Carriage of Thunder.
Bridge of a spinning wheel.
With light, divide this into six!"
Adam poured extra Reiryoku into the spell because the opponents were rather strong. He pointed his finger at the bird-like Adjuchas and a yellow spark form an orb before his finger and shoot out a beam of energy which divide into six thin and wide solid yellow beam that slam together on its waist, locking the Adjuchas in place as it struggles and flail around to break free after the paralysis wore off.
"What is this? Let go of me!" The Adjuchas continue to resist and try to break free unfortunately the Bakudo completely restrained it's movement and sealed it in place.
Adam contemplates finishing the Adjuchas with his blade but the difference in Reishi is great and the Adjuchas can also use Hierro. So, finishing the Adjuchas with Asauchi alone is out of the question. Naturally, Adam resorts to Kido again. He cast one of his favorite Hado spell
"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast!"
Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring.
Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm.
The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!
Hadō 63: Raikōhō!"
Yellow light appeared around Adam before they condensed into a swirling yellow orb of frenzied lightning. Then he pointed it at the panicked Adjuchas in the distance and fired a giant wave of yellow lightning beams at the Adjuchas.
Once the beam hits, it explodes into a yellow nova that consumes everything in its vicinity.
"Boss, did your power just increase again? I don't remember the beam being this big last time I saw it."
Adam didn't answer and instead vanished after using Shunpo. He went to verify if the Adjuchas were killed or not and found out that it barely survived since it was still being picked up by his minimap. So, Adam unsheathed his Asauchi and granted the Adjuchas mercy.
Diehauser and Cleria were observing the Shinigami's power in general because Shinigami rarely appear in public and their strength remains relatively unknown. However, from what they can observe. Even a '14th Seat' like Adam is already as strong as most top High-Class Devils. One can only wonder how strong the mentioned 'Captain' would be.
They concluded the Soul Society and Shinigami is quite the mighty force to be reckoned with.
———
After reporting his team's success to kill the Adjuchas to his Captain, Adam and his team resume their defense of the town for another week before the Hollows stop pouring out from Hueco Mundo.
Because of the high human casualties from Hollows and similar beings in the other nations, the soul becomes imbalanced again between the realms.
Adam thought the quota for the expedition would be increased but turns out they will make some souls in Rukongai to be reincarnated back into the Human world.
Anyway, the incident is resolved and Adam falls back into his normal routine except this time he is secretly hatching his scheme to catch Aizen and steal his Zanpakuto.
Unfortunately, Aizen is no longer his sparring opponent in his training. But that didn't matter, he can't steal his Zanpakuto that openly anyway.
A few days after the mission on the human world. Adam followed his usual routine and today he has no patrol duty so he would be training in the dojo as usual.
Normally, Shinigami are not allowed to be outside their barrack after curfew time unless they are on patrol duty or have permission. Adam is the latter as he has permission to train even at night at the dojo. He always trains here alone and because he had been doing it for over a year, training very earnestly. Not even the Onmitsukido hidden spies bother to check on him anymore because they do not suspect him of doing anything suspicious.
So, during this evening's training. Adam replaced himself with a training mech to imitate the training sound he usually does. Meanwhile, Adam is in his armor and using Cloaking mode to sneak around.
Adam remembers that Aizen's hidden lab where he researched Hogyoku is within the lower Rukon district since he needed souls and the lower district being literal slums make 'acquiring' his material easy. Adam used his patrol duty to investigate and located it in 74th District. Most of the people there are under the influence of Kyoka Suigetsu to help Aizen hide his activities in plain sight while the people are being abducted from neighboring districts.
So, Adam sneaks out of Seireitei. Which is very difficult and only possible because he is using the backdoor used by Aizen himself, the sewers under the Seireitei. Aizen has his own secret tunnel built down there that leads to Rukongai.
Then using Shunpo, Adam heads to 74th District under the veil of darkness. Even if the travel is easier, it doesn't mean it is safe because there is patrolling Shinigami even at night.
Around 8 PM, Adam reached the 74th District and stealthily sneaked into the place undetectable. It helps that most of the residents are sleeping due to the lack of nightlife here.
Aizen's labs were hidden underneath this village and the entrance can be found in one of these houses. However, entering it would probably alert Aizen as would obviously place something to alert him of intruders. His intuition told him that much.
Adam already reached here. There's no way he would turn back. He coated his fist in Armament Haki before he smashed the fake floor and revealed an entrance underneath it.
The set of stone stairs look like they were newly made. This made Adam a little disappointed since it means the lab is rather new and Hogyoku is still in the early development stage or something. Basically, it is still incomplete or not even exist yet.
"Well, Hogyoku is just the side goal. Not the main one." Adam mutters as he descends down the flight of stairs.
After a few minutes, he arrived at the bottom and it's a large empty cavern basically with barriers and seals to conceal this place and the experiment conducted.
Adam sweeps his eyes through the cavern and locks his eyes with Aizen, wearing his black shihakusho and the arm badge that signify his position as the Lieutenant of 5th Division.
Adam made a quick check and confirmed that Aizen is here alone with him without Gin or Tosen that are supposed to be his lackey.
Aizen looked unhurried with a smile as he stood there and waited for Adam to finish checking to his heart's content.
Seeing how confident Aizen was, made Adam hesitate for a moment. Wondering what made Aizen confident to handle him when Aizen should know by now, his Hypnosis does not work on Adam.
"Shiro… or should I address you as Adam?" Aizen suddenly talked. What he said made Adam's heart stop for a moment as dread spread through his mind.
"You wonder how I know about your real name?" Aizen asked with his face still smiling with his eyes closed before he suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Adam. He pointed his finger at Adam's forehead. "Well, what made you think you are not affected by Kyoka Suigetsu? After all…" He vanished again and reappeared back at his previous location.
"... you are not immune to Kyoka Suigetsu. Just more resistant to anything that affects your body, right?" Aizen said before his eyes finally opened and looked at Adam's terrified face. His amiable smile morphed into a grin.
—————
(Well, I don't plan to ✍️ much about DxD. This is just something I did out of a spur of whim. But it does make me wonder. How strong would Seireitei and Wandenreich be if they exist in the DxD world. Then there's Yhwach which is basically a bootleg Walmart Biblical God. Also how Aizen would change his Keikaku if he is in the DxD world. I'd imagine Aizen took over the Khaos Brigade with Kyoka Suigetsu and caused untold chaos and havoc that made Rizevim look tame. Or maybe they partner up only to betray one another in the future.
Maybe I'll write it in the future or in another fic. Anyway, what I'm saying is I will not be writing much about the DxD world so don't expect more. Sorry.)