Beyond Critical - Chapter 4.2 (Patreon)

Once he'd pilfered everything useful from the stray exorcist, and even stole the mans coat, because it was rather high quality and quite dapper looking-

Kaito left the alley way behind in a hurry and continued on his way to the gym, 'I should start working on stretching out properly and getting limber enough to use my Muay Thai properly.' he mused.

It would probably take a few weeks, if not months of conditioning usually, but he was already pretty flexible so it wouldn't take as long for him. On top of that, thanks to his little boosted recovery trick, he could shorten than time down even further.

He paused in the middle of the street and looked up. There, a few dozen feet in front of him, he saw a glimmering see through purple wall of something akin to energy.

People were outright avoiding it without noticing.

"Nope." Kaito decided right then and there. That was obvious one of those barriers used to ward off the mundane.

He wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on in there.

Looks like he was taking the long way around to the gym.

                                                   _________________

As always, after nopeing the hell away from whatever was inside that barrier, Kaito pushed himself hard at the gym and had a nice, relaxing back breaking work out.

By time he left the gym behind, it was already nearing midnight and his muscles ached, both from stretching them beyond and in ways they were not used to, and of course, pushing them to the limit with some good old fashion lifting.

He held the twin boosts from his pair of Twice Critical right up until he got home from the gym, had a nice and filling protein shake, water, not milk, because no way he could afford to use up that much milk constantly and then headed to bed.

He could his boost even his his sleep, or at least until he entered a deep sleep, then it was usually released.

As it was, he'd barely lay his head down before he was conking out for the night and falling asleep.

And promptly, awoke.

It was not a dream, he could tell that right away. Almost instinctually. Also, for one, his dreams usually involved him achieving his dreams, earning lots of money, becoming someone of note, being surrounded by hordes of fans, or of the more carnal nature, quite often featuring girls from his school.

It was not usually a roaring red void.

Nor did he usually find himself staring at a distinctly Asian man dressed in fine silks that could barely contain his bulging belly, with a bushy handlebar mustache and a balding head, casually reclining lazily on his side.

"…What the fuck?" Kaito uttered.

He was absolutely confused.

And lost.

A little bit bamboozled.

He knew one thing though. This was definitely some supernatural bullshit.

The fat silk clad man pushed himself up from his reclined position and casually made his way over to Kaito, "Hmm yes, good, good," the man hummed, stroking his chin and circling the teenager, eyeing him critically, "This will do nicely indeed."

"…Who the hell are you?" Kaito found himself asking on reflex, narrowing his eyes at the man.

The man paused and narrowed his eyes at the boy, "Did I give you permission to speak, clown?" the man clicked his tongue in annoyance and demanded.

"Who the fuck are you talking to fat ass?" Kaito growled, "I don't know what the hell is going on here, but you better watch your mouth."

He did have a vague idea as to what was happening though. Or rather, there could only be one answer that made sense when it regarded whatever the hell this…was.

"You dare speak like that to I? The great and powerful Cao Huan?" the arrogant man snarled, clenching his fists, "I am an Emperor boy, I command more than you could ever imagine, my power is that of the world itself and you believe you have the right to speak within my presence? If this was another time I would have you whipped until you called me grandfather and made any female you were close to my pleasure slave."

As expected, it was the spirit in the magatama making himself known to Kaito, for…whatever reason.

"Alas, I cannot do that, after all," Cao Huan gave him a nasty smirk, licking his lips, "It would not do to damage my new vessel."

Say what?

"The hell are you talking about?" Kaito's brows furrowed.

"Stupid dog," Cao Huan huffed, "It means simply that, this body of yours will be mine after I erase your soul. Your physical ability is impressive, not to mention those interesting gauntlets of yours you used to defeat my descendant. Once I take them for myself and use them with my power, I will be sure to get my revenge on that filthy Sima Yan, he will rue the day he looked down upon me, I shall bestow upon him all the humiliations this world has to offer a-"

The fat Chinese spirit never got a chance to finish.

Because Kaito punched him in the mouth.

The mans nose split and burst blood and he hit the…ground? It was hard to tell in this place.

Either way, he rolled about on the ground clutching his face, "My face, my divine royal face!" he shrieked.

"Oh shut up, that was a love tap!" Kaito growled. He was getting a headache.

Could he get a headache in his own…head? Soul? He had no idea where he was.

Also…this was the ancient Chinese king spirit inhabiting the magatama?How….how did this guy ever learn to use ki?

Speaking of-

A familiar green aura suffused the fat Chinese spirits body and he pushed himself up to his feet, a snarl on his flabby face, "Just for that you mangy mutt, I'm going to make sure to have fun with that fat chested bitch you seem to be so fond of earlier." he threatened.

Kaito stared at the man and blinked slowly, "You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but that bald fuck I took you from seems like a respectable guy in comparison to you," he shook his head and then his eyes narrowed, "You should watch what you say and to who, you never know just who you'll piss off."

Familiar gauntlets formed around his fists, and all of a sudden, the roaring red void around them?

It stilled.

It split into two.

And the red void formed into shapes.

Two distinct, familiar shapes.

A pair of winged beasts made up of crimson red roaring energy.

And then twin voices echoed from the energy dragons, booming and powerful, reverberating throughout his very soul.

"[BOOST!]"

"[BOOST!]"

Cao Huan clenched his hands against his ears as they burst from the sheer volume of the voices and a scream of terror erupted from his throat, "WHAT…..WHAT IS THIS!?" he trembled in horror, blood leaking through the fingers covering his ears.

….Kaito, wasn't sure.

They were the representations of the power within his Twice Critical, that was for sure. And weren't full on real dragons. More energy shaped like them, probably harvested from a dragon.

Possibly from Y Ddraig Goch, one of the two heavenly dragons and the Red Dragon Emperor.

But he couldn't be sure.

Either way though, none of that mattered right now.

He lashed out, his gauntlet clad hand grasping the obese Chinese Emperor of old by the throat and lifting him into the air.

"Y-you!?" his beady, piggy eyes bulged and his hands left his throat to desperate grab at Kaito's arm and attempt to pull him off, to no avail.

His green aura flared to life once more and he scrabbled with all his might. Only for Kaito to punch him in the face once more with his free hand, cutting his attempts off.

And then he punched him in the face again, and again, and again. The impact of his gauntlet clad hand smashing against the pigs face over and over echoed throughout his soul.

"You know," Kaito commented idly as he punched Cao Huan in the face over and over again, "If you weren't such a cunt, I wouldn't have been all that chuffed with keeping you around, I don't even care you're a fat piece of lard, I could help you lose that with some good proper cardio, but no, you just had to be this way didn't you? And you just had to mention Yanagi and threaten her like that, didn't you?"

Kaito wasn't close to many people. In fact, the only person he was close to was Yanagi. She, and her family, were really the only people currently in the world right now, that he could say he truly cared about.

And usually, Kaito wasn't really a very angry person. In fact, before he merged with his other self, he rarely ever lost his temper.

His other self had anger and violence problems. And if there was one sure fire way to ignite Kaito's temper initially, beyond screwing with all his efforts, was screwing what and who he cared about.

Together, they made a frightening combination.

"You shouldn't have did that." Kaito informed him and stopped punching him.

The man would have probably sighed in relief, if he could. He couldn't though since his face was currently an unrecognizable pulp of meat, swollen and purple and barely reminiscent of a human face after he worked it over with his face.

Not that it would have mattered.

Because the hand he was punching with previously, joined his other hand in wrapping around the Chinese mans throat.

And he squeezed with all his strength, fingers digging and gouging into the Chinese Emperor's throat.

The obese spirit trembled in his grip and began spasming, fighting tooth and nail with all his might even beaten as he was to escape Kaito's grip.

But it was not to be.

Before long, his struggles lessened, before dying down completely and the once Chinese Emperor, went completely limp in his grasp.

For a moment, nothing happened.

But then, the green energy around Cao Huan's body seemed to pull into his body, before the obese pig began to lose form and seemingly melt in his grasp, his body fading away into that same green energy and floating idly in a small cloud in front of him.

Within his soul.

Kaito stared at it for a moment, before reaching out to it, plunging his hand into it. As he did, he could…feel it?

It felt, almost like static for a moment, before he willed it inside him. And he felt that same rushing sensation from earlier in the alley rush through his body.

But now, he could feel it much more vividly.

Before, it was like he'd briefly dipped his finger in a pond felt water for the first time. Where as, now, it was like he'd submerged himself in a warm bath, and knew exactly where the tap was.

Moments later, the glowing green energy disappeared inside his body and disappeared from sight.

But that was fine.

That wasn't his after all.

Kaito clenched his gauntlet clad fists and focused. A moment later, he felt strength suffuse his being as a crimson red aura of power formed over his arms.

"So this is Touki, huh?" he grinned widely.

Who needed to be a Youkai when he could just devour the soul and power of an ancient Chinese Emperor.

It was the most basic of all uses when it came to Ki from what he knew. Something any Youkai could pretty much use instinctually if he was right. But, that did not at all mean it wasn't useful.

That fat bastard, had just provided the spark for him to feel his own and draw upon it. Nothing more and nothing less.

This would really go a long way. And he honestly wasn't expecting this to happen. Hell, Kaito could say, he simply got lucky.

If Cao Huan hadn't foolishly bitten off more than he could chew, it would probably be a long while before he could draw upon his Touki.

'Still, how the hell did a fat loser like that manage to learn how to use Touki at all?' he wondered, letting the aura around his arms fade.

There was no way that guy trained and learned it.

There were only two things that came to mind to be honest the more Kaito thought on it. Either the usage of Touki was a widespread thing in ancient China, which was unlikely…

Or whoever was behind the toshi and the sacred beads in the first place integrated the technique within the sacred beads themselves.

But who…or what had the kind of power necessary for something like that? And better yet, why?

Honestly, Kaito couldn't even figure out anything about the toshi beyond making wild speculations at this point.

"And not that it really matters anyway." he shrugged. Unless he planned on getting involved with them, which he didn't see the point of at this very moment, he didn't need to pay them any more thought.

There was much more pressing things to think about after all.

Like the elephant in the room.

Or rather the two energy dragons in his soul.

He stared at them for a moment, "Come." he commanded them, willing them to obey.

And they did.

Both twin dragons of crimson red energy descended to bow on the ground before him.

And with another thought, they reared right back up and spread their wings before taking to the air again.

It seemed, while within his soul at the very least, these energy dragons were completely under his control.

'Possibly because they have no consciousness or souls or anything like that?' he mused.

Interesting.

But not important right now.

What was important though-

"How the hell do I get out of here?" Kaito wondered, crossing his arms. This could be a real problem.

What if he missed school because of this and it went on his attendance record?

His sparkling personal record was pivotal to his future accomplishments. If that got messed up because of that fat fuck, he'd seriously hunt down any of spirits related to him like the real Cao Cao and exact vengeance upon them.

                                            __________________

Hours later, Kaito awoke with a groan, finally returning to consciousness, and feeling not at all rested since he went to sleep, "Fucking supernatural bullshit." he growled, before rolling over and going back to sleep.

Sleep was vital for recovery and gains after all.