An Arcanist in Karakura Town 16 (Patreon)

An Arcanist in Karakura Town
Chapter 16

-VB-

Everything was a mistake.

My “spar” with Yoruichi told me enough about my capabilities as a wizard. Yes, wizards could do all sorts of stuff that can break reality, but what use were my spells if I can’t take the fight to

I had to cheat.

“What happened?”

I stopped and looked at Orihime, who had been in the doorway. I almost ran into her.

“Ah. I ... got reminded of something unpleasant,” I replied earnestly with a half-hearted grin. “I’m just thinking about how I should go about fixing that.”

“Huh,” she muttered. “Can I help?”

I paused while looking at her. Despite the fact that I have treated her more or less as a personal cum dump, she’s constantly been nice, attentive, and tried to be helpful.

Honestly, I was feeling a little bit guilty at the moment.

“... Sure,” I said with a smile. “I think I should actually help you get prepared.”

She blinked rapidly. “Me?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “I’ve been so focused on getting only myself prepared that I left you more or less defenseless.”

The small quirk of her lips at the corners told me that she’s thought of that too.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

“I’m happy you’re coming around,” she replied with a huff. “I think it’s great that you are telling me more about this hidden world, but you have to continue. I don’t know when a giant alien space hawk will come and snatch me away without me knowing the signs to their ambushes!”

I stared at her blankly as her last statement registered in my mind. I scoffed. “Sure. Let’s do just that.”

Because honestly, in this world of demons, gods, and spirits, she wasn’t wrong.

Mayuri and Aizen might just make such a creature if it suited whatever purpose they had.

Which just meant that I had to try just as hard to … counter them.

Surprise them with a boom.

I smirked.

“Hey, Hime,” I asked her as I took off my shoes and got into the living room. “How do you feel about bombs?”

-VB-

While magic would always have a place in my heart, I had no doubt that the strongest power at my disposal was not it. Coupled with Spiritual Manipulation, it allowed me to do some overpowered shit like harvesting Hollow masks and powers, combining said masks, and even withstand one of Yoruichi’s punches.

Alas, there was a hard limit to what I could do with it, and if I can’t catch my enemies to put my spells on them, then what use were they?

No doubt, my strongest defense was -.

“So you gave up.”

I glared at Hidemasa, looking up from my second workbench that was not littered with magic stuff. This one had a lot of gears, wires, and illegally acquired explosives. “No, I’m not giving up,” I replied to the strongest defense I had up my sleeve. Hidemasa’s “Great Wall” was technically deployed already around this warehouse, and nothing short of an invasion that can destroy all of China could penetrate it.

There were, however, limitations in this as well. Supposed that Hime or someone else like myself got caught and got brainwashed into giving anyone an “open arm” welcome through its defenses. In such a case, I couldn’t do much. I, however, had no intention of brainwashed nor was I going to leave Orihime vulnerable like I have so far.

“But you gave up on your magic.”

“I hit a limit, and shit is going to come to this town fast. I don’t have time like most magicians, magi, wizards, and sorcerers do; I need to be ready within at least three months’ time.”

“And magic can’t help you?”

“No, I’m just going to apply it in ways that I haven’t because I was stupid and relied on only one aspect of my powers,” I grumbled. “Just like you told me not to.”

He smirked. “I never said you were stupid to rely on only one power. I believe my words were that magic was great … once you became a master.”

And I was certainly no master of any specific magic. I haven’t even 10th tier spells.

“So then, what exactly are you planning?” he asked as he walked around the workbench.

Orihime was on the other side of the workbench, handing me tools and materials as I requested.

“I’m not going to fight the grand masters of the spiritual realm with hundreds if not a thousand years of experience in their own field. I’m going to tell them to -!” I hissed towards the end as I tightened the last screw to the rudimentary device.  “- to use everything I have.”

“And that device is?”

“Well,” I mumbled before holding it up. It was a visor. “Technically speaking, it’ll be the central command device from which all of my devices will receive orders and report to.”

“Technically speaking, you said. Plainly speaking?”

“I’m going to build bombs with esoteric effects. This thing will let me detonate them without letting anyone else know what the hell is going on. I really wonder how well Hollows, Quincies, and Shinigamis will take to subdimensional phased singularity bombs detonating in their faces.”

“Hmm. Whatever happened over at the shop really made you upset, didn’t it?”

I bit the insides of my mouth in frustration. “Am I that easy to read?”

“No, you leave a lot of traces and talk too much. Also, the sudden change of direction in what you are doing was a big clue.”

“Hmm.”

“That and the fact that you want to use black hole bombs on people.”

“You understood my pseudo-technobabble?”

“I’m old, not dumb. What I don’t get is how it works. This device clearly lacks a source of power, and yet, it turned on the moment you touched it.”

I looked at the Command Visor, and what do you know? It actually was on.

I turned back and grinned.

“Because it runs on my mana.”

He looked surprised. “You got an electronic to work on magic?”

“Hey, everyone does it in this world. I just … put the logic of this world into my devices.”

“... But how does that work? You are spouting nonsense.”

I grinned maniacally, and Orihime sighed from across the table.

“It’s Tinker bullshit. Live with it.”

His deadpan glare was delicious.