Last Reupload, I neglected the previous fan-fic too long. Now will try to pick the pace up once more.
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"My friend and I want to create our own guild rather than joining the Hunter's Guild. Is that acceptable?" Kurumi said after a brief pause, her gloved right hand still covering her mouth like an elegant lady as she spoke to Go.
It would be a lie to say Go hadn't anticipated this somehow. After all, Kurumi and Kuroka seemed far too prideful to work under someone else.
"Yes, of course. You're free to do as you see fit. You'll only need to sign a contract ensuring you won't leave the country. An Awakener will make the contract with a contract skill, so there's no need to worry about its security," Go replied quickly, not wanting to keep Kurumi waiting any longer, as she and Kuroka looked uninterested after his last words.
Kurumi found nothing wrong with this type of condition, given the current situation in Japan.
Yes, there were many supernatural beings here—some even related to Satan himself—but they were not known for their powers or any significant influence, at least in the eyes of humans.
The supernatural beings in Japan were the main reason other countries hadn't attacked in the first place.
For this very reason, Kurumi saw no issue with signing the contract. It wouldn't work on her anyway, thanks to the system. And as for Kuroka? She was far too strong for a contract made by a low-ranking Hunter to affect her. Either her power or her soul was simply beyond its reach.
After a short wait, a man with a mask walked in. His steps were light and carefree, as though he had no regard for worldly matters.
"Hello, my name is Renji Takeda. It's a pleasure to meet you both. I'm an A-Rank Hunter with a skill called 'Contractor,'" he introduced himself, offering his left hand for a handshake, which Kurumi gladly accepted with a small smile and a nod.
'His skill… if it works the way I think it does, it could be quite useful for future problems,' Kurumi thought, analyzing the young man in front of her. At first glance, the skill 'Contractor' seemed weak, but it had great potential. It affected souls, and although the boy himself was weak and unable to affect her soul to bind her, Kurumi was different. She could weaken a soul to a certain extent, binding them with a contract.
But she also knew she shouldn't act recklessly—not with so many quests from the system to complete and not while she was without her full power.
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"And with this, the contract is completed. It was nice to do business with you, Miss Kurumi, and Minister Go," Renji said after he completed the contract Go had given to him. He waved his hand to the two of them before leaving the Hunter Guild.
[Host got affected by Skill 'Contract' ... Result: The Skill nullified.]
As expected, the Skill 'Contract' Renji used actually affected the soul itself. This discovery doubled Kurumi's greed, as it's hard to find a skill that can affect the soul of any living being.
As a spirit, she had a far stronger soul than most, but even she felt some resistance from the skill 'Contract' Renji had used.
'I will make a mental note about him.' With this thought, Kurumi dismissed her greed and curiosity about Ryujin's skill and focused on more important matters.
...
"So... mind telling me why we went through so much hassle to register ourselves as human hunters and create our own guild?" Kuroka asked with a dramatic sigh as she lazed on a soft couch in her cat form. She simply couldn't understand why Kurumi, of all people, would bother with human registration and guild creation.
Kurumi responded with a giggle from the kitchen as her hands gracefully chopped vegetables on the cutting board.
"Who knows~ Maybe I just wanted to experience human life. Can't I~?" Kurumi said, giving a small wink as she set the knife down, finished with the vegetables.
At her response, Kuroka couldn't help but roll her eyes. Of course, it looked strange since she was in her cat form.
"Oh, spare me your jokes. Both of us know you don't care about such things," Kuroka said as she jumped from the couch and directly walked toward Kurumi in the kitchen. Her small cat legs made small sounds on the wooden floor as she stopped in front of Kurumi before jumping into her embrace.
Kurumi, of course, took her into her embrace. No matter what, Kurumi couldn't refuse to pat a cat.
"Very well then~ You are lucky, Kuroka-chan~ If I didn't trust you, then I wouldn't tell you this, you know~?" Kurumi said, caressing Kuroka's cat ears gently. While Kurumi did say she trusted Kuroka in her own words, in truth, she didn't trust Kuroka—not fully at least. If she did trust anyone, then she wouldn't have lived this long in this cruel world after all.
"But first of all, it's true that I wanted to know how humans live in this world. That's one of the many reasons I created the guild. Second, I'm searching for someone. I need 'them' quite a bit," Kurumi said with her usual signature smile as she continued to caress Kuroka's ears.
Kurumi didn't reveal the gender of the person she was searching for nor what type of person they were. She didn't trust Kuroka that much. Who knows? Maybe Kuroka would report to her higher-ups. After all, both of them had not been friends for long.
Kurumi also had a few other reasons to create a guild, but that was for another time.
Kuroka squeezed her cat eyes as her golden eyes narrowed with suspicion but in the end decided to dismiss it as she somewhat understood the personality of Kurumi. If she didn't tell it, then there was no way for her to take it forcefully.
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Next Day, At the Special Training Ground of Kurumi's Villa -
Kurumi was currently in her own training ground, made of a special material that mixed Cold Metal and Magical Stones, making the room durable enough to withstand even High-Class or Pre-Ultimate Class beings (those who still don't have any concept).
'I have power but don't know how to utilize it perfectly.' Kurumi couldn't help but admit this fact in her mind. She had a lot of skills and tricks up her sleeve, but all of them meant almost nothing in this new world she found herself in.
Don't get Kurumi wrong—she was strong, but not strong enough to get the things she wanted.
Because of this, Kurumi was currently in her training ground. It was not an all-powerful training ground, but for her, who needed control more than destruction, this training ground was perfect. It had vast empty space extended by {Space Magic} engraved on its walls.
'Hm... Then shall we see how much my body has grown stronger compared to my former self?' Kurumi said with a smile that didn't quite fit her usual act as she summoned her flintlock pistol before aiming at one of the clones she had created in the past while she still had her previous body.
"Bear with me, okay~?"
BANG~!
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"Is it done finally...??" one of the clones said with a tired sigh as she got healed with [Dalet] once more. The clone had lost count of how many times she had been healed in the past five hours.
Kurumi tested her body's durability, strength, dexterity, and many other attributes that came with her new body. She not only tested on her old clones but also on new ones created by her current body structure instead of her previous one.
In the end, she finally got a system status update for her body's skill.
[Supernatural Body - T3]
[Description: Your body has finally let go of the shackles of what humans call 'limits.' Your strength will grow with your soul; a strong soul means a strong body and mind.]
This was what she achieved after some effort. It was not that hard to obtain. She only needed to realize her new body's limits and how to use them to their fullest extent.
Speaking of abilities, Kurumi spent 12 months inside the training ground, while only three months had passed in the real world. This was another feature of the training room she discovered on the first day she stepped inside it. She was, after all, ruling over the concept of time itself.
If she couldn't figure out this much, then she couldn't call herself the Queen of Time.
[Last Restriction of the Zafkiel has been lifted. Host's aura is mixed with the Time Element. Please be careful.]
The last remark from the system put a small grin on Kurumi's lips. She knew her Zafkiel had been 'restricted' for a long time, ever since she arrived in this world. The reason was that her Zafkiel was far stronger and more powerful than before, so she couldn't control it like she used to. She had to familiarize herself with it once more before she could use it to its full extent.
The new Zafkiel gave her the ability to 'share' her abilities with her clones. Unlike before, her clones could now heal themselves with the 'time' she granted to them.
Her bullets from Zafkiel, already strong, had become even stronger. They were no longer normal bullets but instead carried a 'corruption' element.
Calling it corruption wouldn't be entirely accurate. When her bullets hit a target, time would reverse on the target's soul, causing harm by destroying its current form and regenerating old injuries simultaneously.
"Umu. This is enough for now... I should be able to take down a Low-Tier Ultimate-Class Being with my current powers. After taking that Sacred Gear from him, I will begin refining my time element to make it a concept later," Kurumi said as she recalled her clones back to her shadow with a satisfied smile on her face.
She still had a lot of power to test, but time was not on her side, as the moment Issei would be killed was drawing near.
Kurumi wanted to give an empty 'shell' to Rias. She planned to take the Sacred Gear from Issei but let him live so he could be taken by Rias, only to break her dreams later.
That thought put an even more perfect smile on Kurumi's face, and with that, she left the training room to head to the school.
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"You're out? Finally, nya~" Kuroka said as she saw Kurumi leaving the training room. But in the next second, her eyes widened as she felt the energy radiating from Kurumi.
Previously, Kurumi radiated nothing. She seemed like a normal human without any power or anything else. That was also the reason why Kuroka had become interested in Kurumi in the first place—because Kurumi's powers were rare, and even she, an Ultimate-Class being, couldn't sense them at all.
But now it was exactly the opposite. She felt the power radiating from Kurumi, and it was absurdly shocking. Because she 'felt' it rather than sensing it, Kuroka realized Kurumi could fight against her and likely win, judging by what she was feeling.
That thought worried Kuroka, as she still didn't fully trust Kurumi. But she didn't panic; she at least trusted Kurumi to some extent.
Kurumi, of course, sensed Kuroka's worry, and she couldn't help but start patting Kuroka's head and cat ears, which Kuroka happily accepted, erasing all her worry in an instant like a miracle.
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If there is any error please tell me. My grammar is shit as English is not my first language nor I'm proficient in it. So I had ChatGPT fix the grammar errors for me with minimal changes in the actual text I wrote myself.
Also, I forgot to add 'nya~' on Kuroka's text, did remember it when I was almost finished with the chapter so I will add it in the next chapter. I also forgot system spirit, will bring her back sooner