Devilish Gaming: Ch.35

“Hey, Cha-Damn, what the hell happened to you?”, Ichigo asked as Chad arrived at their usual hangout next to the Karasu River, the teen just wincing as he sat down after Diablo's Reiatsu had been pulled back by the Hollow.

“We got attacked by a race of vampiric beings called Bounts that suck out spiritual energy instead of blood.”

“…Seriously?”, The teen asked, shaking his head as Chad nodded while stretching his arms with a groan.

“Seriously. Their leader is the son of Kugo's foster father that got killed and they wanted to revive him, but they needed Kugo's soul to do so.”

“And a fight broke out?”

“Yeah. I had to fight off the second-in-command, which was a bit hard, but after having fought against Mr. Chojiro, it was far easier than I was expecting,” Chad answered and Ichigo hummed before the two got silent.

“…Hey, Chad?”

“Yeah?”

“How…how do you deal with your Hollow?”, The question made Chad frown as he looked to Ichigo, watching as his friend was looking out at the river with a frown of his own.

“Why do you ask?”

“You know, it's just something that's been bothering me. You have a being inside your soul that hungers to destroy stuff around you, but…you don't look like you're struggling with holding him back.

“Oh, that's because I'm not,” Chad answered, shrugging as Ichigo turned to look at him in surprise.

“Y-You're…not?”

“No, I'm not. Diablo is a handful to work with, but he usually helps even if he only talks about killing me and taking over my body.”

“A-And that doesn't unsettle you?”, The teen asked, to which Chad raised an eyebrow before nodding.

“It does, but Diablo helps me more than he annoys me. I think he just wants to work with me up until a point where we can fight for who gets control over my body.”

“So, I just need to talk to him?”

“Pardon?”, Chad asked, narrowing his eyes as Ichigo blinked before shaking his head.

“Nah, it's nothing.”

“No, you don't usually care to ask if it's nothing. Come on, what's up?”, Chad pushed and Ichigo looked at him before shaking his head.

“Well, you know how I fought against Byakuya, right?”

“You mean when you and I were shown just how much we still need to work to get strong enough to fight with them?”, Chad asked, smirking as Ichigo nodded with a soft chuckle.

“Yeah, that.”

“What about it?”

“Well, during my fight with Byakuya, he was about to hit a fatal blow when…part of a Hollow mask formed around the right side of my face,” Ichigo said with a sigh, Chad furrowing his brow as he heard that.

“You sure it was a Hollow mask? It could have been a hidden part of your Zanpakuto, right?”

“I thought so to…but I also have to tell you that a Hollow mask had formed on my face when Hats 'n Clogs helped me get my powers back.”

“Are you saying that you have both Shinigami abilities and Hollow abilities?”, Chad asked, his eyes widening slightly as Ichigo nodded with a frown.

“Yeah. Unfortunately, my Hollow doesn't know what it means to work together as he's constantly hounding me about how he's going to be the king and how I'm going to die because I can't accept myself for who you are.”

“Sounds more like he's trying to form more of a rough bond with him,” Chad was a bit surprised and startled as Diablo spoke up before he processed the Hollow's words, frowning a bit as he saw Ichigo staring out.

“According to Diablo, it seems like the Hollow wants to form some kind of a bond with you.”

“Wait, he can hear us?”, Ichigo asked, surprised as Chad smiled and nodded.

“Like you said, they're constantly hearing our every thought and discussion.”

“Huh…Wait, did you just say that my Hollow wants to form a bond?”

“I'm just repeating what Diablo said, but it doesn't sound far-fetched to be honest. How would you say your Hollow acts towards you?”

“He's disrespectful, sarcastic, dismissive, invasive and very self-centered,” Ichigo grumbled, but Chad just gave his best friend a deadpan stare before he answered.

“Ichigo, that's you.”

“N-No, it is not!”

“You're stubborn, short-tempered, strong-willed, impulsive and also, you are disrespectful to those of authority because 'you don't like how they're look'.”

“W-Well, he's also sadistic and a maniac and that is not me!”

“Have you seen the smiles on your face when you get to beat up the gangs around here?”, Chad asked with a raised eyebrow, smiling as Ichigo just huffed while crossing his arms.

“You know, I need friends that can agree with what you said.”

“Those are fake friends who are called 'yes men' because they want to suck up. As your best friend, I'm the one that tells you when you're being an idiot.”

“…Right. Thanks for answering my stupid questions at least.”

“It's fine. I'm used to it.”

“What does that mean?”

“That you ask stupid questions most of the time,” Chad answered, smirking as Ichigo punched his arm softly before the two teenagers looked out at the river.

“So, wanna tell me more about these vampire beings?”

“Depends. You paying for lunch?”, Chad asked, smirking as Ichigo rolled his eyes with smirk while the two stood up.

“Yeah, I got some cash. Now, let's go and tell me all about them.”

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Chad grunted as a punch impacted his side, shifting to the side and ducking under Kugo's sword swing while punching the inside of the man's thigh to make his leg buckle.

Noting the brief stagger in the man's stance, Chad aimed a hook punch at Kugo's ribs, but the man blocked the attack, letting it slide along the flat of his blade before pushing Chad to the side.

“Good. You're starting to flow between offence and defence more easily,” Kugo spoke as he rolled his shoulder and Chad simply stayed silent as he offered a small nod before going back into his opening stance.

The Brazo Derecha el Gigante around his right arm shifted back into defensive form as the two stared at each other, the simulated cityscape around them shimmering before Kugo went into his own stance.

The moment he got ready, the man lunged forward at a faster speed this time, Chad meeting him head on as he blocked the strike before countering with a heavy shot aimed towards Kugo's gut that forced the man to parry it.

Stepping to the side, Kugo darted around him before aiming a slash at his back, Chad spinning around and elasticizing the air in between them to make the man bounce back abruptly.

Kugo just grinned as he did the same to the air below him, bouncing into the air with a flip and dodging Chad's spiritual energy blast before landing a few meters away with his blade to the side.

“Raging Currents,” With a flurry of slashes, Chad fuelled more spiritual energy to his shield while holding it in front of him, the air around the shield shimmering and forming a barrier that made the slashes ricochet to the side.

However, Chad's eyes widened as he felt a very strong impact against the centre of the shield, his arm knocked upwards right as he leaned back to dodge the stab at his head.

“Nice! Hahaha! Real nice!”, Kugo spoke with a grin as he hopped back, Chad catching himself before standing up straight with a frown.

“However, you're still thinking too much. Stop thinking with every punch and follow the rhythm your body wants you to follow. Instead of throwing a straight when you think it's the right time, let your body throw that left hook.”

“Understood,” Chad nodded and Kugo smiled before the two looked up to the sky as a projection of Yukio appeared.

“Yo, Kugo. Time's almost up so you better get out unless you want to fight against Jin and the others.”

“Right, got it. You can bring us back,” Kugo spoke before the world around them shimmered and shattered, both Chad and Kugo blinking to get the bright light out of their vision as they found themselves back in the secondary base that Kugo had made ahead of time.

While it was not as giant and large as the first one, it was still in the industrial district of Naruki City and was more than spacious enough for a new bar as well as a few sofas and tables.

“So, how did he do?”, Jackie asked as she walked up to them, to which Kugo and Chad looked at each other before Kugo nodded.

“Far better than he was before.”

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Name: Yasutora Sado/ Chad
Race: Fullbringer
Reiryoku Levels: Immense
Reiatsu: Spirit Class Rank 3

SKILLS:
*Fullbring: Expert(MAXED)
*Hand-to-Hand Combat(Boxing): Master(MAXED)

HOLLOW:
*Bala: Expert
*Cero: Expert
*Descorrer: Advanced (MAXED)
*High-Speed Regeneration: Expert(MAXED)
*Hierro: Expert(MAXED)
*Pesquisa: Advanced (MAXED)
*Sonido: Advanced
*Hollowfication: Advanced
*Brazo Derecha el Gigante (Right Arm of the Giant): Expert
*Brazo Izquierda del Diablo (Left Arm of the Devil): Expert

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'Far better is an understatement,' Chad thought with a subtle smirk as he let Kugo and Jackie talk about how far he's gotten.

So many of his skills had achieved their MAXED rankings, but as he feared, it appears that some of his skills had a cap to how far he could push them.

That was only in terms of output and power, which made sense to him since not every soul had limitless power. However, what he had found out was that the system only showed how powerful those skills were.

The skill and duration that he could use them never stopped growing as he continued training, which meant that he could control his range of Pesquisa, the duration of Hierro, the efficiency of High-Speed Regeneration and the skill he had with Fullbring.

'That's good because with this new knowledge, I can just focus on pushing each skill to its MAXED point while also focusing entirely on increasing the duration that I could use them.'

“So, Chad, what do you want in the new hideout?”, Riruka asked up from where she was sitting at a sofa and Chad raised an eyebrow before looking to Kugo who shrugged.

“Since the old hideout was mostly built before everyone joined, it was missing a few things that we added after. Now, we can make some of our own adjustment to the hideout that would fit better.”

“A karaoke machine,” Chad answered instantly, making everyone raise an eyebrow while Yukio smirked.

“You have a love for it?”

“One could say that.”

“Huh, did not know that. Do you want a regular machine or the best one money can buy?”, The boy asked and Chad narrowed his eyes before shaking his head.

“A regular one would work just as good as the best one money can buy.”

“…I'm getting you the best one money can buy.”

“Wait, why do you only do that for that and not for us?!”, Riruka exclaimed, Moe looking just as disgruntled as Yukio rolled his eyes.

“Firstly, it's my money so I can buy for who I want to buy. Secondly, Chad didn't want the state-of-the-art stuff like you goofballs so I'm buying it for him because he's such a good friend.”

“Okay,” Chad didn't seem to mind as he just shrugged and sat down next to Riruka, who huffed as she did the same before raising an eyebrow as she glared at him.

“What did I do?”

“Nothing, but I need someone to be angry at and being angry at Yukio gets boring.”

“…Okay,” Chad decided it was better to just accept what she said instead of talking about it and it seemed to work as Riruka just nodded before leaning against his arm.

Chad just looked at her before looking at the rst of the group, smiling as he saw everyone just going about their daily business before looking down to his phone as it vibrated.

“Huh, that's strange. You don't usually get calls at this hour?”

“Damn, already checking his phone calls, Riruka?”, Jackie teased with a grin, Chad ignoring the blushing girl as he flipped it over to accept the call.

“Yo, Chad! You there?!”, Tatsuki asked and Chad raised an eyebrow as he wondered where she got his number from.

'The only people to have my number are Kugo, Riruka and Ichigo so it was most likely one of the latter two.'

“I'm here, Tatsuki. What's wrong?”

“Nothing, but…I'm standing in Karakura Park and there's something happening here. I've already called Hime, Uryu and Ichigo, but some back-up might be nice.”

“Got it. I'll be there in a few. Bye.”

“Need to leave?”, Tsukishima asked as he glanced up from his book and Chad frowned before nodding.

“Yeah, something is happening in Karakura and Tatsuki seems to think that my help might be needed.”

“Hmm, Jackie, Riruka, go with him.”

“Really?/ Seriously?”, Riruka and Jackie asked with raised eyebrow and Chad just smiled as Kugo shrugged.

“Hey, since the Shinigami already know that Chad is allied with us, we might as well show them that we're here to help him.”

“…Fine, but we're getting this over with quickly. Chad, keep up 'cause I'm racing.”

“Of course, you are,” Chad muttered as he watched Riruka leave before turning to Jackie as she smirked.

“Like she said, we're racing through this.”

“Good luck~”

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Tatsuki frowned as she stood at the edge of the park, having already called the rest of the team a few minutes ago when a crater had exploded into existence.

Usually, she would have ignored it and kept on with training her katas since that was what usually happened before a Hollow shows up, but considering how the reishi in the air was growing more and more malevolent by the second, it wasn't a stupid idea to say that she might start paying more attention to it.

'Now then, hopefully this is a Hollow I can handle,' She thought with a frown as she adjusted her sash, the familiar golden energy of her Dragon's Cloak wrapping around her entire body while she watched a void be opened in space.

She would have tried to get the regular people out of the park, but most of them would just ignore her to see what was in the crater.

As the dust began to settle, Tatsuki began to creep closer, keeper her body low and muscles tense as she watched two figures slowly walking out of the crater.

One of them was massive, towering over everyone with wild spiky hair and a white mask fragment over his jaw with a large grin like he was looking for a fight.

The second was much smaller, wearing the same white clothing that the first guy was wearing, but it was the dead look in his green eyes that made her skin crawl.

His gaze barely stayed on her for a brief second before he continued, but she had felt the world itself pressing down on her shoulders when he had looked at her.

'These guys are too strong. I need back-up now!'

“Damn, the reishi in the air is shit, ain't it Ulquiorra?”, The giant asked while stretching his arms, popping his joins audibly as the smaller one just continued to stare.

All of a sudden, her instincts screamed at her to move and she did, her Dragon's Cloak wrapping around her arms as she rushed in to dodge the emerald-green energy gathering at the man's fingertips.

“Huh?”, The giant just raised an eyebrow as he saw Tatsuki rushing at them, blinking as she launched herself forward and delivered a powerful punch that he caught with a grunt.

However, the force behind it was enough to crack the ground and the giant blinked at the force behind it before grinning.

“You're pretty strong for a weakling,” Tatsuki struggled to release her wrist from his grip as he lifted her up, gathering red spiritual energy to his free fist before pulling it back.

“It's too bad you're about to die now.”

“Yammy, cease your pitiful display of arrogance and let the trash go. It's not worth our trouble,” Tatsuki was surprised as Ulquiorra spoke up and even more surprised and angered at the Hollow's words, the look of disinterest in his eyes angering her as Yammy raised an eyebrow.

“You sure? I think she could be good food,”

“She would barely fill a portion of your belly. Now, drop her.”

“The guy's right. Let her go,” Tatsuki was relieved as a blue arrow sliced through the air and against Yammy's wrist, making the Hollow wince as an orange barrier picked her up and pulled her out of the way.

“Are you okay, Tatsuki?”, Orihime asked with a concerned look, to which the girl just nodded while Uryu kept his bow aimed on the two Hollows.

“Hey, Ulquiorra. Are these guys the targets?”

“None of them are.”

“So, can I eat them?”, Yammy asked, grinning as Ulquiorra just stayed silent before walking forward with hunger dancing in his eyes.

“Well, trash, looks like you're about to become my-!”

“El Directo,” A voice cut off Yami before he could speak, the Hollow to the side just in time to catch a fully armoured fist to the face that sent him careening through the sky and through a tree.

That also finally sent the people in a panic as the civilians quickly rushed away, Ulquiorra glancing at Chad who landed with both the Brazo Derecha el Gigante and the Brazo Izquierda del Diablo already activated.

“W-What the hell?!”, Yammy looked surprised as he pulled himself up from the ground, reaching for his mouth before his eyes widened in anger at the few droplets of blood on his lips.

“You! I'm going to kill you!”, The giant growled and Chad readied himself before both behemoths shot forward and threw a punch.

A/N: And we kick off the Arrancar arc~!! We did a bit of bonding, some best friend stuff with Ichigo and Chad and next chapter, the arc is in full swing.

Next chapter: The Rage to Destroy vs The Rage to Protect

As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one….

Ba-Bye~!!