An Arcanist in Karakura Town 14 (Patreon)

An Arcanist in Karakura Town
Chapter 14

-VB-

“Globe of Invulnerability!”

Funny thing about the Globe of Invulnerability came from its ability to block anything below its spell level. Those who didn’t know of it might throw a spell thinking they got the caster but nope! He’s perfectly fine, and just threw back a cantrip to trip you up.

It was a good spell for me because it worked against spiritual beings too for some reason. Perhaps the nature of spirits, good or evil, counted as a spell in this world. I don’t know. I haven’t researched into it too much. Perhaps it was the Mask that made Hollows kind of like enchantments, which were just another form of magic like spells.

I digressed.

Because I just learned that it wouldn’t do anything about a really fast fist.

“KUCK!” I gagged as Yoruichi’s fist slammed into my stomach and sent me flying.

I tumbled through the air for the seventh time today, and then found myself landing ass first onto the ground. I didn’t waste time groaning and grumbling. I scrambled up and held up my staff again. My hand reached into my belt pockets, and grabbed three nut shells. “Confusion!” I chanted.

The nut shells disappeared into motes of light and Yoruichi lit up with a dim and brief silhouette of purple.

She raised an eyebrow before she “hunkered” down on herself and exerted her spiritual pressure.

And just like that, my spell’s hold on her broke.

“Fucking hell!” I hissed.

It was how I learned that spells below a certain spell level did not work on captain-class shinigami or Hollows (I assumed).

“That’s all?” she asked me with a disappointed frown. “I expected more from someone who thinks he’s on the same level as Kisuke.”

I gritted my teeth not out of a misplaced pride but physical pain that still wrecked my body. Despite her words, I found myself grinning in response. “It’ll be a long time before I can honorably fight a captain-class shinigami on my own,” I said. “But I don’t fight fair!” I raised my staff above me, but my index finger was pointing right at her. “SUNBURST!”

Yoruichi flexed and then I lost sight of her as she and the area around her was consumed by the sudan right flash of light. I Blinked away, transitioning into the Ethereal Plane to avoid being damaged by my own attack, and then re-entered the physical world further away from Yoruichi and the Sunburst site.

“Ow!” As the light dimmed and disappeared, I saw Yoruichi stumbling forward a little, but I wasn’t sure if that was a trick or legitimate. “That actually hurt!” she replied with a grin but her eyes remained squinted and unopened. “And also blinded me!”

I grinned. Maybe I did have a-

And then she disappeared.

There was a smack, and I was eating dirt.

“But I can fight without opening my eyes,” she laughed from behind me.

I just groaned on the ground.

“You’re not bad. Not bad at all. Certainly better than the strawberry and the stuck-up,” she hummed as she picked me up by the back collar of my wizard robe. “And you certainly take less damage than them. I just decked you with enough power to put out a lieutenant and here you are still groaning.”

“Head hurts…”

“That’s the point. Deal with it.”

There was a shuffle above us. “Are you two done flirting yet?” Urahara asked from the rooftop entrance of the training ground.

Yoruichi just gave him the finger before jumping up and then jumping midair towards the entrance. I got dragged along for the ride.

Yes, I was weaker, but two points stuck out to me. First, I lost to the Flash Goddess. Everyone under a certain power level loses to the Flash Goddess. It wasn’t a big deal.

Second, I realized that my defense - which I relied heavily on static defenses provided by Hidemasa (Qin Shi Huang) - was nowhere near me when I decided to move (fancy that, eh?). As such, I needed to go back home ASAP and research proper defenses or at least make new spells and enchantments that would do it for me.

I also suspected that I might have been legitimately knocked out by Yoruichi’s last strike if it wasn’t for my wizard robe, which had an enchantment for granting its wearer passive defense boost kind of like an aura that suffused the entire body.

I grunted when Yoruichi dropped me on the raised lounge mat and sat down next to me. I slowly curled up and then sat up, glaring between the two of them.

And then decided to do away with the pretenses that Urahara and I have been playing with.

“Are you done testing me?” I asked with a growl.

Urahara snapped out a fan and fanned a little. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I know who you are, Urahara Kisuke. I’ve made that fact pretty clear,” I grumbled. “So the fact that you ‘conveniently’ forgot to tell Kurosaki Ichigo, your little pet, that you set me up to fight him was very much you being your famous manipulative self. That and how you riled up your missus here-” I said as I jerked a thumb at Yoruichi, who gagged at my perspective of their relationship. “-pretty much made things clear that you got me here to test me outside of my comfort zone and fort.”

“... Spot on,” he said as he pulled his fan away, revealing not the jovial yet fake smile he usually walked around with but a serious blank face. “You still played with it, though.”

“You would’ve gotten it one way or another.”

“... How exactly do you know about me? While I do not hide myself, I also don’t advertise who or what I am.”

This was true. Just like feudal Japan, Soul Society was not the type to interfere or oversee anyone else but themselves. Urahara might be a genius but he was still a soul born, raised, and rose to the top of Soul Society. While I did not personally know the fine details, I was sure that Urahara did still behave like most Soul Society’s elites would.

Besides, the man was fighting an underground war with Aizen. Advertising himself was not something he did.

… Whatever. Fuck it.

“I learned about you and your fight with Aizen from another dimension where this entire world, while similar to mine, is fictional.”

Yoruichi and Kisuke just stared at me with wide eyes.

I pulled out a camera and took a picture.

Gobsmacked Hat and Cat Pic get!