Ch 54: Hagun Island.

[User asked to be reminded of the time. User has four hours left to reach the location provided by the quest.]

[Thank you, system.]

The day Noah had prepared for came at last, and Noah stopped his game of tag with Yoruichi.

Both used Shunpo to chase each other all over the training room, moving so fast they were almost teleporting each half-second.

He bowed formally in thanks.

“Yoruichi-san, thank you for your help.”

“You’re a monster, you know that?” sighed Yoruichi. “Normal Shinigamis normally take years to learn Shunpo at a usable level, and after a mere eight days, you can already use it like better than most Lieutenants.”

Noah grinned at her. “I did learn from the Flash Queen, after all. And you have shown me I still have a lot of room for improvement.”

“At this rate, in another month or two, you might take that title from me. I’ll need to train more seriously.” smiled Yoruichi.

“I won’t be able to train as intensely in the future as I did this week. I have responsibilities with many people, and will need to spend a lot of time socializing.”

By socializing, what Noah really meant was seducing girls and making them his slaves, for Yang Points or to have potent subordinates. Or just because he wanted them. But Yoruichi didn’t need to know that.

Walking toward the stairs of the training room, he nodded to the two people who had been watching.

Ururu Tsumugiya was a cute young girl with black hairs style in twin tails and long bangs that seemed to cover most of her face, but parted to expose her eyes. She had a pleasant and quiet personality, but Noah knew from the Bleach fiction that she was a badass character. That little human girl, if recognizing a threat, could enter some kind of trance state, letting her subconscious control her body, and would fight using a mix of Shunpo and her monstruous strength. She would stomp on Gilians like they were practice targtes, and it would take above-average Adjuchas or equivalent foes to defeat her.

The second watcher, Tessai Tsukabishi, was a tall, muscular, middle-aged man with long black hairs divided in small braids sticking close to his scalp, thin rectangular-shaped glasses hiding his eyes, and a big handlebar mustache. He had only introduced himself as the shop’s assistant and wore the corresponding apron, but Noah knew he was the former captain of the Kido corps, that group of Shinigamis that specialized in Shinigami magic and possessed nearly three hundred different offensive, defensive, sealing, and utility spells.

“The Boss is away on business.” Said Tessai.

“Ururu-chan, Tsukabishi-san, I’ll be going now. Thank you for everything. Please convey my gratitude to Urahara-san as well.” Smiled Noah as he nodded to them.

“I will. I look forward to seeing the height you might reach, Noah-kun.” Said Tessai as he nodded back.

Noah turned to Yoruichi.

“You and Urahara-san have my phone number, feel free to inform me once things start moving.”

“I will. You better come back alive, Noah. Don’t make me taking the time to train you a waste.” smiled Yoruichi.

Noah nodded, and teleported home.

Yoruichi and Tessai blinked and looked at each other.

“Did you feel any reiatsu? I feel no residual trace.”

Tessai shrugged.

“I don’t think whatever he used any Reiatsu at all.”

…

Noah returned to his home and took a long shower. The last week of training had been intense, but quite profitable.

Once he was done grooming himself, Noah changed his appearance to appear in his late forties, put on fake glasses, and dressed in a dark blue business suit. He took his invitation to Hagun Island from his inventory, examining it again, and put it in one of his inner pockets.

Noah then sent a few messages to Suzu, Rias and Kyouka. Suzu and Rias wished him good luck, while Kyouka answered by saying she would go to the Anti-demon corps HQ to confer with the Commander and a few other Chiefs, and would be ready to act if he called.

Noah left his home and used a taxi to go near the rendezvous point, a luxury hotel.

He entered the lobby, and following the instructions written in the invitation, walked to a pair of bulky men in black business suits and sunglasses standing guard near one of the doors. He presented the invitation to them.

“Hello, Sir. Please follow me.”

Noah nodded without a word and followed one of them to another large reception room. Several dozen people were present, obviously very wealthy by their appearances, discussing in small groups. A lot of them turned to him, and he could see the appreciative glances of the women and the slightly jealous glares of the men. Noah suddenly thought that maybe he should have made himself appear in his sixties. This was one crowd of people he didn’t want to get close to.

Noah accepted a glass of champagne from one of the half-dozen pretty waitresses who nervously served everyone. It seemed that they could feel there was something wrong with the people in this room.

It didn’t take long for some of the women to walk to him and try to chat him up, but Noah kept answering with only a few words each time, clearly not willing to engage in conversation. He only told them he was into stock trading, a convenient and relatively anonymous cover to explain being wealthy enough to have been selected.

The women, as well as the few men who wanted to probe him for information, gave up one by one, and Noah simply sipped his champagne in a corner, as he focused on memorizing the faces of each of the people present and listened to their conversations, occasionally tasting some of the appetizers. Some were pretty good, and he would be able to replicate them with his Cooking skill.

After almost half an hour, two members of the hotel’s staff entered, signaled to the waitresses, and they all left the room. The guest noticed and fell silent, waiting. Moments later, another door opened and four people entered. Two were obviously hired muscle, one was dressed in a white suit, and the last wore a gilded crimson robe. Noah could sense faint power emanating from the robed old man, like a subtle feeling of pressure.

“Hello, dear sponsors, and thank you for accepting my invitation.” Said the man with the white suit, a tall man with short dark hairs and brown eyes with glasses.

“For the few of you who I never had the pleasure to meet personally and were referred to by other sponsors, I am Taro Aoyama, the owner of this modest endeavor. I wish you welcome to Hagun Island. Before we go, my companion here, Lord Marchosias, will check your invitations, to make certain they are all legitimate, as a simple precaution. I hope you can understand. We do not want any unwelcome visitor to mingle is such distinguished company.”

Taro grinned, and the guest chuckled quietly. Noah smiled as he slowly got closer to the other guests, to avoid standing out.

Marchosias started walking among the guests, touching with a finger each of their invitations and nodding once each time before going to the next.

Noah confidently extended his own, utterly confident that the old man, who Noah was pretty sure was a devil, wouldn’t have any issue with it, and Marchosias barely glanced at him for a second as he touched the invitation before he nodded again, and moved to the next guest.

When he was done, the devil walked back to Taro Aoyama.

“Everything is in order.” He said simply, and a large blood-red magic formation appeared around his feet.

“Dear sponsors, please enter the formation by groups of ten, and Lord Marchosias will send you to Hagun island. It will only take a few minutes to transport everyone.”

Noah watched quietly as the first group disappeared with the devil. A minute later, the formation reappeared on the group, and Marchosias teleported back. He started the teleportation magic again, and Noah was part of the group.

Marchosias teleported them in a plaza paved with white square stone, surround by large modern buildings. The tallest of them seemed to have around thirty floors.

In the plaza’s center was a huge clock, showing that the local hour was identical to Japan's. The island seemed to be on the same time zone.

What interested Noah the most, however, was the large map displayed under the clock. It was also the focus of attention of many of the ‘sponsors’.

According to this map, Hagun island was somewhat roughly oval-shaped, being about five kilometers in its greatest dimension, and was divided into five large areas. They were in Paradise City, the only city of the island, in the middle of the northern area. The other four were of equivalent size and simply named Residential Area A through D.

Noah kept studying the map and listened to the excited conversations between the sponsors as the other sponsors were teleported in, Taro Aoyama accompanying the last batch.

“Thank you for your patience, dear sponsors. If a few moments, each of you will be free to explore Paradise city. They are plenty of luxury hotels and restaurants along the main streets to cater to your every need, and they are all free of charge. You only need to gather in this plaza in three days at noon, for the return trip. Try not to be late, or there will be a hefty penalty fee. And please, do not try to leave the city and go into the residential areas indicated on the map. They are patrolled by the guards, but we wouldn’t be able to guarantee your safety.”

“Speaking of safety.” Asked one of the sponsors, a middle-aged man. “Aoyama-san, Are your guards really enough to keep those guys docile? If they have sacred gears and have experience fighting...”

“You do not have to worry.” smiled Aoyama. “There are over a thousand Gehenna guards on Hagun Island, and the elites among them have experience fighting against supernatural opponents. They can face a mid-class devil one on one. In addition, the leader of the Gehenna guard, master Hayashi Namikaze, is easily equal to a high-class devil. Several high-class devils like Lord Marchosias also agreed to give a hand, should a situation occur that would require us to call them. A number of competitors are also honorary guards, offering their loyalty in exchange of being allowed to reside in the city, where the living conditions are much better than in the residential areas.”

Several of the sponsors nodded in understanding. Noah did, too. He didn’t have the whole context yet, but the words “competitors” meant that was some kind of tournament going on, and that some of the sacred gear users had chosen to side with their captors for better treatment. That was only to be expected.

”In addition, all the competitors wear a cursed bracelet. Thanks to it, I can restrain them from a distance and cause them great pain, and they cannot remove the bracelet without suffering a terrible death. They know it, and there has almost never been an attack against a sponsor. Still, it is better not to tempt fate, which is why I recommend you all stay in Paradise city. My assistants will give you a detailed map.”

He gestured with a hand, and several people wearing a gray uniform circulated among them, distributing pamphlets. Noah got one and opened it. The pamphlet was made of three sections. A bunch of advice and regulations for the sponsors, a map of Paradise city, and a schedule. Without surprise, the main feature of Paradise city was a huge arena.

“The main event will start at 14:00 in the arena, ladies and gentlemen. Meanwhile, feel free to do as you wish, and you can ask any staff member or guard for anything.” Called out Aoyama.

The sponsors nodded and started spreading around, discussing among themselves or looking at the pamphlet. Noah had started doing the same when he heard one of the guests ask something to Aoyama.

“Aoyama-san, the person who granted me my invitation, Victor Viblis, told me that he had bought a slave who had caught his eye…”

“And you wish to ask if you could do the same? It is possible, yes, for the right price. Please understand that finding and capturing promising sacred gear users isn’t cheap, nor is the construction and running of this island. But yes, as long as we can reach an agreement, anything is possible on Hagun Island. You could even kill one of them, or have one share your bed.” Smiled Taro.

Deciding he had heard enough, and not wanting to risk anyone detecting his irritation, Noah walked away, looking at the schedule on the pamphlet. It looked like there would be ten ‘matches’ this afternoon, and not all the ‘competitors’ were human. Three of them in particular caught his attention.

“Alice Evangelista. Sacred Gear: Annihilation Maker. VS Honorary guard Mason. Sacred Gear: Arbor Field.”

“Hisui Aozaki, Nekomata. VS 3 Onis.”

“Maria Lancelot. Sacred Gear: Blade Blacksmith. VS Cerberus and 5 Shadow Puppets.”

Noah remembered the Annihilation Maker as being one of the 13 Longinus, though he had forgotten its ability. This match being the last also seemed to indicate that it would be the most anticipated one.

This Hisui being a Nekomata was also very interesting. Noah had thought that Koneko and Kuroka were the only surviving ones.

As for Maria Lancelot, Noah remembered from the DxD fiction one of the antagonists calling herself Jeanne d’Arc, claiming to be a descendant of the Saintess and using a sacred gear allowing her to create holy swords. She had been the polar opposite of Yuuto Kiba, who could create demonic swords. Maybe Maria was a similar case.

Pocketing the pamphlet, Noah headed to one of the many hotels and asked for a room. The staff gave him one without hesitation, and once inside, Noah spent a few minutes searching for hidden cameras. Not finding any, he took out his smartphone.

There was no signal.

Noah took from his inventory the satellite smartphone Kyouka had provided him.

Still no signal.

Assuming the satellite phone was working as intended, the island was either in the underworld, or something blocked the signal.

Noah sighed, and decided to go with the alternative. He focused on Kyouka’s mental image and teleported.

…

The scenery around him abruptly changed, and Noah looked around quickly for a second, ignoring Kyouka’s startled reaction as well as the pointed gazes of the other four women present.

“Hey, Kyouka. Sorry, am I interrupting?” Noah smiled as he looked at her first, then paid attention to the other four women, all dressed in the black and red uniform of the anti-demon corps. They all had been drinking tea, from what he could see.

“Noah? Aren’t you supposed to be on that island?” asked Kyouka.

“Oh, I was. I can’t stay for long, a few minutes at most. The satellite phone didn’t work, so I came in person.”

“I see. I’ll quickly introduce you, then. Noah, this is Chief Tenka Izumo, leading the sixth’s squad. The is the one who can manipulate space and will teleport us.”

Kyouka gestured toward a young woman with short blonde hairs in a boyish cut and blue eyes. Tenka and Noah nodded at each other. The Anti-demon corps was a paramilitary organization funded by the government, but it wasn’t an army, and saluting a superior officer wasn’t necessary.

“This is Chief Mira Kamiunten, of the second squad.” continued Kyouka

Mira was a tall, well-endowed girl with long dark yellow hair reaching her back. Dyed strands of hairs formed three black lightning bolts near her left temple. Mira’s orange eyes stared at Noah doubtfully.

“Nice to meet’cha.” Said Mira with a smile that seemed to be a challenge. Her appearance and voice reminded Noah of a stereotypical delinquent straight from a manga.

“Nice to meet you too.” Replied Noah with a polite smile.

“This is Fubuki Azuma, Chief of the ninth’s squad.” Said Kyouka, pointing to the oldest of the five women present, although she only looked like she was in her late twenties.

Fubuki Azuma was a beautiful and buxom woman with dark blue eyes and long, straight dark blue hairs, the same color as Himari’s. Some of those hairs were braided above her ears and around her head similar to Asuna, but she also had long bangs hiding the left side of her face.

Noah remembered what Kyouka had told him once. Fubuki was Himari’s mother, and she looked at him with a somewhat cold, evaluating gaze. Noah could feel that she was significantly stronger than Kyouka, Mira and Tenka.

“A pleasure to meet you, Chief Azuma.” Said Noah as he nodded.

“Likewise.” Replied Fubuki.

“And this is our Commander, and the leader of tenth’s squad, Ren Yamashiro.”

Noah didn’t need to be told that the last young woman was the Commander, as the feeling of pressure Noah felt from her exceeded what he had felt from Marchosias by maybe two orders of magnitude.

Ren Yamashiro was a gorgeous girl with long, black, straight hairs. Her bangs covered most of her forehead, excepted on the left side where her hairs were tied up on her temple with a thin red rope forming a four leafed clover knot. Her violet eyes were quietly gazing at Noah. She displayed a slight, polite smile, but Noah felt like this was an illusion. Her smile wasn’t a sign of goodwill and greeting. It was a declaration of her absolute confidence in her ability to crush any obstacle on her path, and a half-challenge for Noah to give her a reason to see him as one.

“A pleasure to meet you, Commander.” Noah bowed to her, his survival instincts triggered like they had not been since his first meeting with Lilith.

This was the young woman Kyouka wanted to dethrone? Just signing a soul contract with him wouldn’t be nearly enough, at least not with Noah’s current strength.

Ren nodded slightly in answer, her smile unwavering as she seemed to stare directly into his soul.

“Did you manage to infiltrate Hagun Island?” asked Ren.

“Yes, Commander. I do not know if it is on Earth or in the Underworld, but the local time right now is about 11AM. I took a hotel room, checked for hidden cameras or microphones and tried to contact Kyouka. It failed, so I came directly.”

Noah took his pamphlet out and spread it on the table.

“Kyouka, can you take a photo of it? That’s the map of the only city of Hagun island, named Paradise City, on the island’s northern part. Those scums are kidnapping sacred gear users and forcing them to fight each other or demonic creatures in that arena, for bets and sponsorships, and their leader, someone named Taro Aoyama, boasted about their security. A thousand guards, their elites being apparently comparable to mid-class devils, with a small number of sacred gear users joining the captors’ side for preferential treatment. The guard’s leader apparently can face high-class devils, and they can call in a few high-class devils as reinforcement if needed. Their principal means of enforcing their will on the captives relies on cursed bracelets that will kill their wearers if they attempt to remove it, and can cause them paralysis and severe pain.”

“I see. That’s good to know. Can you bring us there with your teleportation?” asked Kyouka as she took a few photos of the map and the rest of the pamphlet.

Noah winced slightly.

“I could, but my goddess told me she will give me greater rewards if I deal with this alone. I am confident I can.”

The chiefs reacted differently at his unwillingness to bring them here. Kyouka and Mira both seemed disappointed at missing a good fight, Tenka raised an eyebrow in doubt, Fubiki’s evaluating gaze became more intense, as if he was a piece of meat she was considering for her next meal, and Ren’s smile disappeared as she became devoid of expression.

“…Then bring at least Tenka to Hagun Island. She will return here immediately using her own spatial manipulation and will be able to bring us there if you fail.” ordered Ren, in a tone that made it clear he had better accept her concession, or else...

Noah considered for a second, but there were no demerits to her ‘suggestion’, even if he didn't like the tone she had used, and what was happening on that island was much more important than his pride, so he simply nodded.

“Understood. I’ll first spend some time collecting information before I start making a ruckus, so it might take a few days. I’ll keep you updated when I can.” Noah extended his hand to Tenka, who stood and gripped it firmly, and teleported with her back in his hotel room.

…

“Immediate teleportation without any perceptible wind-up? That’s interesting…” commented Tenka as she looked at the luxurious hotel room.

“Please don’t go near the window, you might be seen.” Said Noah. Tenka nodded and moved to a spot where there would be no chance for her to be seen from the outside.

“You did quite well, Noah-kun. Almost everyone who meet our Commander for the first time end up frozen into incoherent babbling. Some even end up fainting. And yet, in her presence, you spoke as if you were a fellow Chief, considering only her as being above you.” grinned Tenka.

Noah froze as he remembered what he had said previously.

“It seems I did, though it wasn’t deliberate. I hope I haven’t offended anyone. As for the Commander, well, she is scary. I felt like she was looking for an excuse to do something terrible to me.”

“Commander Yamashiro is something of a battle junkie.” laughed Tenka. “She would love nothing more than an opponent able to offer her a good fight before she would pound him into submission. But I don’t think any exist. You better hope you haven’t caught her interest. Or she might decide to take you away from Kyouka. She loves pets, but she demands absolute obedience from them.”

“…Are you speaking about human pets?” asked Noah as he blinked.

“What? No. At least not so far, and certainly not in a sexual meaning... But if she finds you interesting enough, she might end up making you her butler or something. Be careful not to defy her, or she will see you as a challenge to be beaten into submission. I’ll go now. Good luck, we’ll be ready to act if you need help, or if we don’t hear from you after a few days.”

“Thank you for the tip, Izumo-san.”

“Call me Tenka.” She smiled, as space distorted around her. One second later, she was gone.

Noah rubbed his chin in though. He would have to be careful never to let Tenka into his home, or she might teleport on him at any time, and that might be… inconvenient. He suspected that she found him interesting herself, but she wasn’t really his type, and between his teleportation ability and Hole, he didn’t feel like her spatial manipulation would really be useful for him.

Still, the Commander… Noah started laughing at the idea of arranging a meeting between her and Zaraki Kenpachi, Soul Society’s biggest battle junkie. A big guy full of scars who deliberately gave himself handicaps to make fights more interesting. If those two ever met, he wasn’t sure they would both walk away. He was confident that the land around them would be devastated, though.

Taking a look outside the window, Noah sobered, thinking about what was happening on the island.

He left the hotel and headed toward one of the theaters, since he had some free time before lunch. He needed to act like a good little sponsor for now. Noah had decided to watch the matches of the afternoon and would wait for nightfall before exploring the residential areas.

How long had it been, since he last went to see a movie? The last time was in his original world, and it felt like an eternity had passed since then.