Telos Karma Meta Gacha

[Hajime POV]

The last week of training has been productive.

Firstly, Tsubaki and Kimiko's progress has been outstanding. They have been coordinating far better. I've had to use more strength during our sparring matches to keep up the pressure on them. They still lose, but the fact that I have to fight harder is good for all of us.

With my abilities, I'll carry my team and organization on my back, so having competent allies is essential for me to relax. After all, anyone who can't enjoy the fruits of their labor is wasting them.

Tsubaki didn't just use her naginata, though. She also practiced with the family magic she had learned.

After all her training, she is now advanced-stage low-class and peak low-class with Mirror Alice.

It might not sound impressive since I'm cheating my way to the top, and other supernatural beings reach mid-class faster, but for a regular human with a mid-tier sacred gear, reaching mid-class before 10 is impressive, and at this rate, she'll hit it.

Kimiko is initiate-stage low-class, but as she was a typical macaque, her magic talent wasn't that great to begin with.

Despite that, the three of us used one of the magic books I had on me to learn reinforcement magic. Though Laxus already knew a type of it, it used his lightning magic as a base.

While it was hard to learn, we had practiced enough to be able to use it, though not in combat. We're too inefficient with it for it to be practical. Kimiko, though, had taken to it like, well, monkeys to trees. Though not as talented as a human magic-wise, she was on par with us in terms of using it.

Since she had no other magic to learn and this particular magic fit her fighting style, she practiced with it as much as possible. I'll easily surpass her, but her growth is impressive. If she keeps it up, I'm sure she might reach intermediate-stage in a few months at most.

Aside from them, I've also reached 100% assimilation with Hekiji Tengai. With how often I used his Barrier to block their attacks, I could now use his full abilities. I was sure I was considered high-class at the moment, but I didn't know to what degree, with my only reference being Yasaka, who was far above it.

I had also been practicing moving his Barrier around while inside it.

His Barrier uses himself as a center point, which, while practical, also makes things difficult.

Barriers are most valuable when they can change as needed, working more like a moving wall. Steven Universe, for example, relied on his shield and bubble for defense in the original series, occasionally using the shield like Captain America. In the movie and sequel series, he actively fought using his Barrier and even shattered Jasper with them.

That is how I want to use Barrier. Obviously, it was not exactly like that, but how he used it was versatile, changing how he needed it. My main plan was to be able to use it like a foothold so I could run in the air. Even if I could fly eventually, more variety would never hurt.

Most people would likely be surprised since either you fly or you don't. Unlike regular sky fighting, using barriers would allow me to use my feet to fight.

After completing the assimilation, I immediately slotted Slade Wilson into it, reaching 15%.

While I had more powerful cards on hand, right now, I needed skill. Power was something that could easily come with time, but skill was something that took years for even a slight improvement.

In math terms, if magic power was an integer, skill was a variable. Anyone with a high enough skill could easily punch above their weight class because they knew how to fight.

People like Batman and Slade could easily fight alongside the heavy hitters of DC because they were just that good at what they did. Even if they rely on preparation, that's not a bad thing when fighting literal gods.

Assimilating Slade also allowed me to improve Tsubaki and Kimiko's fighting skills. Tsubaki knew how to use her naginata, but she was still training before she was exiled, so she was missing some knowledge.

On the other hand, Kimiko didn't know how to fight. Her old master just forced her to try to distract her opponents and allow him to finish them off. She was learning to fight both with her fists and the wind staff, so she needed to know how to use both.

I'd also finished stacking rolls for the week and finally used them.

{ Rolling }

{ . . . }

{ You have obtained Danny Fenton. }

Not bad at all.

Danny is a strong character with an extensive moveset.

Though I'm unsure how his ghost part will be affected by magic, his other abilities will be beneficial. Intangibility, invisibility, flight, duplication, and possession are easily his best abilities. And if you can combine them? You might even be unstoppable. Again, it's hard to say since I'm unaware of any ghosts, with the closest thing being a few types of yokai, but they aren't the same thing as Danny.

I'll eventually test it, but I don't need to think about it now.

-----

[Third Person POV]

While Hajime, Tsubaki, and Kimiko were training, they didn't realize that two individuals had been watching them.

One of the individuals was a shorter, slightly portly man, Shinra Osamu. His short black hair was in the style of a buzz cut. He was wearing a black wool tunic with wide sleeves reaching slightly below his hips, with cuts up both sides of it. His black trousers were designed to allow as much movement as they could. His boots were brown and were enchanted to be as comfortable as possible. He bought them, knowing he'd wear them on many missions.

On his hips was a badge with an emblem on it, showing he was a member of the Shinra clan.

He had followed Tsubaki shortly after the clan discovered she left the city.

While she may have been exiled, that didn't mean they would ignore her. They were uniquely aware of the dangers that banishing their clan members posed. He remembers one of their briefings. One topic was an organization they had heard some rumors about. This organization comprised exiled members from all the clans, though this was the only information they got.

Even asking the other clans failed to get answers.

That's why he was following her now. While part of him was curious about her new associate, he wasn't concerned. He was familiar with the traits of the other clans, so he was sure the kid wasn't another exile or the child of one.

The elders, however, believed that the organization would likely contact Tsubakion soon, so Osamu was sent to confirm whether that would happen.

If it didn't, his goal was mainly to ensure that Tsubaki was alright.

The Shinra clan cared more about strength than anything else, so it was more willing to interact with its exiles than the other clans. It didn't do much; it would give them money and food so they wouldn't die, but nothing else.

They were too weak if they couldn't survive without the clan's help.

After watching last week's fight, he was sure she would be fine. As for her friend, he had already planned to report on the entire situation when the month was over, so he went back.

Further back, behind Osamu, was a figure hiding in the shadows, Doumon Hisao.

A member of the Doumon clan, he was exiled at 15 for dating a yokai in disguise. When he found out her secret, he killed her, but the clan still banished him for his actions.

Five years ago, he was invited to join the Utsusemi agency to get revenge against the clans. Already a violent individual, he gladly joined in hopes of inflicting pain on the family that snubbed him.

When the agency heard that a member of the Shinra clan had been exiled, they immediately wanted to recruit her. Unfortunately, she never left Kobe. Since they couldn't risk entering the city and alerting the Shinra to their existence, they decided to wait in hopes of finding an opportunity.

It took several months, but a few weeks ago, she finally left with a strange child.

Though he wanted to recruit her immediately, his common sense said to wait and get more information first. He didn't know who the child was or what they could do, so he waited.

Over time, he was surprised. Not only did he see the two slowly grow stronger, but he also saw how they won their fight last week. He wasn't sure if they could win, but they did, not only taking the artifacts the two held but also gaining a familiar.

Even if the kid wasn't a clan member, having him join the agency wouldn't be a bad idea. He was competent, and she liked being around him, so killing him might dissuade her from joining.

Before anything, though, he needed to deal with the problem before him.

If he recruited them with the observer here, the clans would find out and investigate. He couldn't have that.

Quietly moving towards the Shinra observer, he drew his sword and charged forward. Unfortunately, his target was an experienced fighter.

Sensing the attack about to hit him, he dodged to the side, with the blade only grazing his arm.

"Who?!"

As he turned around and saw his assailant, his eyes widened in shock.

"Hisao? What are you doing here?"

"A corpse doesn't need to know that."

He kept the pressure on Osamu by enhancing his legs to increase his speed.

Osamu hadn't fought in years and had let himself go a bit. Compared to the highly active Hisao, the match was decided before it began.

Burying his sword into Osamu's chest, Hisao quickly left the scene to wait for a good time to approach the two kids.

----------

Omake: Excalibur Thief 7

[Francisco POV]

Sand. Sand as far as the eye can see.

How did I get here, you might ask?

Well, it all started a few hours ago.

-----

[A Few Hours Ago]

I had just joined a group of nomadic mages to cross the desert.

I figured it was the safest option since the church was likely looking for me in all nearby countries. Not only had they already sentenced me for 'stealing' Excalibur Blessing, but they knew that I stole the Shroud of Turin. There's no way they'll let me be after that.

While Tunisia is a Muslim country, that doesn't mean I should assume it's safe.

So, I figured I should explore Africa a bit. While Christianity exists on the continent, it's different due to Africa's culture and past. Even if they see me, they might not recognize me. They wouldn't even know I joined this group, much less when and where they'll stop. Even if they sent one person in advance to each village on the other side of the desert to find me, I could hide with my shroud.

That leads back to why I joined this group: to cross the desert. It typically takes two or three months to cross the Sahara. When I leave, I'll have been walking through the desert long enough for my appearance to change naturally.

The perfect disguise.

Plus, by the time I'm out, the heat will have died down a bit, enough to have any Christians in Africa forget about me.

After all, despite being Christian, they don't have much contact or involvement with affairs from Europe, so I need some time for them to forget.

We were moving through the desert when a storm suddenly hit us. We tried to bunker down, but I got separated in the process.

By the time the storm was over, my travel companions were gone.

-----

Now, I was starving. The food I ate had come from the caravan, so I had nothing.

There was only sand everywhere. Maybe something like a scorpion or snake was underneath, but I didn't have time to look for one.

As I stared at the sand, I thought about how it looked like quinoa and how I wanted to eat it when I got an idea.

I took as much sand as possible and put it into my sacred gear. Though I wasn't sure if this would work, I had no other options.

As the blender turned on, I saw the sand change from its grainy form into a smoothie.

I don't even know how this happened. It's not like there was anything else inside the blender. Would adding anything else change how it works or tastes?

I'll test it later, but for now, bottoms up!

{ Can move as fast as a sandstorm while in the desert for 3 hours. }

Awesome! Now I can get out of the desert; and I didn't have to taste sand!

__________

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading; I'll see you next time.