Cultivator in a World of Angels, Demons, and Super Heroes

"There you go, buddy." Fumio pats the shoulder of Osamu. +

He was just done applying massage to the parts where the pose Osamu trained today, benefitted.

"Thank you, nii-san…" Osamu softly expresses his gratitude as he dazedly gets off the massage table.

Osamu is about to leave the massage room to have his medicinal bath when *thunk* he bumps into someone at the door.

He looks up and sees the man he has been very thankful for.

"Kichirou-san!" He greets, his usually soft voice is replaced by an excited tone.

"How was training today?" Red asks.

"V-very good! I can do pose 9 now!" Osamu reports.

"Good. Have you completed a breath cycle in any of the poses yet?" Red asks. "Y-yeah. I finished a breath cycle from pose 1 to 5." Osamu embarrassingly reports, but Red sees a glint of pride in the kid's eyes.

"According to Kotone, he's the second fastest after the daydreamer kid." Fumio reports.

"Very good. Keep it up, yes?" Red pats Osamu's head.

"I will work hard! I'll catch up to Konan!" Osamu straightens his back and promises with conviction.

"Very good." Red nods in satisfaction.

"Damn boss. It's only been two months since they started and most of them are already half-way completing the task." Fumio says as he washes his hands.

"I mean. They didn't train as intensely as I did, so they are obviously slower than me, but they only train two or three hours a day!" He continues to lament.

"Haha. That's why I told you and Kotone before. I wish I found you two as little children." Red consoles.

"Yeah. I can only wish." Fumio shakes his head.

"Same here. Anyways. What are you doing after this?" Red asks.

"I'll practice making the solutions boss. Then strength training after that. Then cultivate after the moon shows." Fumio lists.

"I see. I was about to invite you  for a walk." Red says.

Fumio's eyes widen in surprise. Every time Red 'invites' him to something, it has always resulted to him seeing something cool, or learning something new from Red.  It has been two months since Red invited him to somewhere, and he would definitely want to see it.

"I can do them tomorrow. I haven't stretched my legs in a while." He gladly accepts the invitation.

Red smirks in return.

<<<<<>>>>>

A few minutes later.

"Ohhh…. Shit shit shit shit shit." Fumio can barely stand, his legs weak after him and Red landed on some random seaside.

"You okay?" Red asks.

"What?... Oh. Yeah. I'm okay." Fumio gets his bearings.

"What the hell.... I can't even… everything was zooming past!"

"Okay, yeah. You look lively." Red pats Fumio's back.

"So, where are we boss?" Fumio asks as he realizes that him and Red are below a cliff before some sea shore.

"We're somewhere in the southern coast of Chiba." Red says.

"Chiba? We were in Hinohara not even five minutes ago!…" Fumio processes before his eyes widen in surprise.

"Just how fast were we traveling?" He asks.

"Mach 2. You handled it quite well." Red reveals.

"M-mach 2… twice the speed of sound." Fumio is baffled.

"Okay… Now let's see your progress with the water walking." Red orders as he jumps high up in the air, and lands in the chaotic waters of the seashore.

Fumio figures that Red wants him to stop acting shocked.

"Wha-.. You don't expect me to… So this is what you meant by going for a walk?" His shock is replaced by a feeling of defeat.

"What the… Walking on a calm lake is already hard…!" He cannot help but grumble, but seeing Red already waiting for him on top of the water, he can only follow.

After storing his phone and wallet on his storage ring, he too jumps high in the air, before landing a few meters from Red, and manages to stand on the water.

Soon however, a gentle wave goes his way making him lose his balance.

"AH!" *splash*, he falls face flat on water before sinking quickly.

He then dives a bit deeper, puts his legs together, and kicks them at the same time to mimic how dolphins swim.

A few seconds later, *swoosh* he shoots out of the water.

While on the air, he focuses once again and applies repelling force under his feet before landing on the surface of the water.

He manages to stand a few seconds before *Splash* losing his balance once again.

This time, he can only take a break and keeps himself afloat for now, to think about what he has done wrong, to make his spiritual energy usage more efficient.

He then finds Red still watching him, still standing on the surface of the water, bobbing up and down with the movement of the water. He looks closer at Red's feet and studies them.

A few moments later, he realizes that what Red is doing is not as simple as it looks.

Red, seeing that Fumio is getting closer and closer to figuring out the trick, nods.

Seen enough?" Red asks.

"Yeah. Thanks boss." Fumio smiles in satisfaction.

"Good. I'm going somewhere nearby." Red starts to leave.

Fumio is no longer surprised by Red always leaving after teaching him something.

"How long will it take?" He asks.

"An hour in the least, four hours at most." Red says.

"Alright. I'll keep practicing while I wait." Fumio knows what Red wants him to do.

Compared to the 'lizard', the 'water strider' consumes much less spiritual energy but takes a lot more mental concentration to perform. While he does not have to worry about running out of spiritual energy, he knows that he will be just as exhausted, just mentally. 

<<<<>>>

At the center of a certain private island, lies a square-shaped, two basketball courts sized, one-story building.

That building is surrounded by four walls ten meters high and two meters thick.

On top of the walls are superiori guards who are all equipped with cutting edge optical devices and are armed with automatic rifles as their main weapon, handguns as their secondary, and a bolo for their melee weapon.

They are also wearing Kevlar armor vests.

Civilians who would not know any better would simply mistake these guards as a part of the military or armed police.

"I see you're back."

"Yeah." On top of one of the walls where the huge gate to the compound is, are two guards of the many guards chatting, having nothing else to do.

They are after all forbidden to use their phones, much more the internet.

"So, any news from the outside world?" The shorter guard asks.

"Nothing much really. Except Kaoru-sama." The taller guard reports.

"Oh yeah. I returned from my break a few days after the incident. I heard it was pretty bad." The shorter guard's interest is piqued.

"Yeah. I heard that Kaoru-sama basically had a death sentence. The doctors gave her two days." The taller guard reports.

"Oh… from the way you talk about her, she's still alive?" The shorter guard is pleased with the news.

"Yeah. It was like a miracle. The day after her admission, she suddenly didn't need the breathing machines." The taller guard says.

"But here's something strange." He then looks around for eavesdroppers, and finding none, continues.

"I know one of the guys guarding her room. One moment he was listening to the elders about what to do with Kaoru-sama, the next moment, they find themselves waking up all at the same time, as if they were knocked out." He whispers.

"Hah… Right…" The shorter guard scoffs in skepticism.

"Yeah. And when they looked at Kaoru-sama, her breathing machine was unhooked, and she was fine! Except for the burns, she was sure to live." The taller guard reports further.

"Huh…" The shorter guard knows that his acquaintance is not the type to joke around the important clan members, so he is getting convinced.

"Anyways. You're on your break again starting next week, right? You can confirm the rumors yourself." The taller guard no longer bothers to explain.

"Alright." The shorter guard simply shrugs as he does a once over the surrounding areas.

"Hey. That manga you love, by the way. I brought you the new volume." The taller guard says.

"Oh. Thanks! I'll give you the cash later." The shorter guard is pleased.

"Nah. Don't bother. I'm lending you, my copy. I also brought the earlier volumes." The taller guard refuses.

"Huh… Well, thank you." The shorter guard is pleased.

"Wait…" He realizes something.

"Your copy? You started reading it?" He asks in surprise.

"Hell yeah. I was wondering why someone like you would suddenly get interested in a manga. SO I checked it out. Turns out, man… it's like a glimpse at an alternate world." The taller guard reviews the manga.

"I know, right?" The shorter guard is happy to meet a fellow K.IWAI fanboy.

"Shit. The author claimed that Japan would have continued to wage war against the world with barely any allies. The people would still see the emperor as a god..." He starts rattling off.

"I know. It's crazy, but if all those small events before The Great Harvest, continued, what K.IWAI-san claimed would really have happened." The taller guy supports. 

"Ohoho.. You'd love the next volume." He cannot wait to discuss with his friend more.

"Can you tell me somethin' bout it?" The shorter guard asks.

"Yeah. It's about World War 1." The two suddenly hear a voice behind them.

But before they can turn around, they suddenly feel sluggish and sleepy, and the next moment, *thud**thud* they both fall to the floor.

"Sleep tight, my dear fans." Red chuckles as he takes the taller guard's access card.

Red, under his invisibility illusion, enters the building.

After descending to the first sub-level floor, *beep**beep* he hears a beep as he passes by a sensor.

"Huh… They have thermo sensors too?" Red is impressed, and he controls his spirit energy to blend his detectable temperature to the room temperature, before proceeding to walk the hallways.

During the past month after saving Kaoru's life, and finding out that the Nagano Clan has been keeping demons as livestock, Red has been busy with his own cultivation instead of bothering himself with the demons.

After all, he has progressed with his Celestial Breathing and he can now cultivate all the hours of the daylight except for the three hours when the sun is at its highest in the sky, and the feeling of devouring spiritual energy gives him great satisfaction.

But while casually scouring East Kanto during the previous evening, he felt the aura of tens of demons all gathered in once place.

The auras are what led him to this island he is currently infiltrating; the same private island that Kaoru was talking about.

From what he can feel with his guts and his spirit sense, the first sublevel contains the weakest of the demons imprisoned in the facility. The deeper the floors go, the more powerful the demons that are trapped are.

*Tap* Red stops at the door of the first room of the hallway and caresses the door and the door frame.

The door frames are all engraved with runes.

*Clack* He then slides open the small slit on the door and peeks inside.

Soon, he spots a figure of a naked female human chained up the wall. As he looks closely, he realizes that the chains are engraved with runes.

"Nice… But overkill." Red nods at the level security the Nagano is placing on what looks like a weak Scamp level demon.

"Hmmm." He stops peeking and ponders.

Soon, his eyes glisten.

"Hmmm… experiment sounds like a great idea."