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

Aikawa, Kanagawa Prefecture 10 AM

"MMffff.." Gentarou wakes up, and after adjusting himself, he finds himself in his bedroom. His memories before he was knocked out also come back to him.

"Hello there. You were out bad..." Before he can get angry at what happened to him, he is greeted by a familiar face. A face that belongs to a friend his age.

While his friend is also in her 80s like him, she does not look like she is in her 50s like him, but in her late 30s due to the nature of her ability.

"Emi…" He greets back in relief knowing that he is out of danger in the presence of the best Superioris Doctor he knows personally.

Suddenly, "AH…", a severe headache assaults him and he cannot help but groan in pain.

"Compared to being paralyzed, that headache is nothing." Emi explains, noticing Gentarou's eyes starting to tear up from the pain.

"It was that bad, huh? How long was I out?" Gentarou asks, after the headache stops blaring.

"Around 26 hours." Emi grabs a syringe and an ampule from the pocket of her doctor's gown, and starts preparing for a shot.

"Well, damn." Gentarou shakes his head. 

"Anyway. Are you here as my friend, or the daughter of Yamada-dono?" He asks, helpless at the situation.

"While I would prefer to visit you simply as a friend, I have my responsibilities."

The honesty of her reply makes Gentarou feel relieved.

"Okay. Someone managed to infiltrate my facility. Must be the traitor's buddy." He starts to explain.

He has no problems sharing everything that happened, to Emi. After all, not only is Yamada Emi his childhood friend, she is also the bridge between the Oonishi Clan and the Yamada Clan.

He will not however, tell her about the Oonishi's demon ensl*ving activities. The Oonishi is subservient to the Yamada, and his clan's attempts of raising General-level demons, if found out by the Yamada, will cause his clan's destruction.

After all, the Yamada are not stupid and they will immediately see his actions as a threat to their rule over the Kanto Region.

"Look. The man who attacked me had the ability to turn invisible. That's just as rare, maybe even rarer than your biokinesis abilities. Of course, I wasn't ready."

"I'm not questioning your competence, Gen." Emi chuckles as she injects the painkiller on Gentarou's IV line.

"But I told you so. I told you to station more guards. A few more people being in on the secret is not that harmful."

"Yeah? Like that makes a difference. I'm sure you've heard what happened to Sora's prison? It's in a private island, with armed guards watching it 24/7. It was still wiped out." Gentarou argues.

"Well. Fair enough." Emi does not really care.

"Anyway." Gentarou wants to take this chance to prove to Emi that his clan is not that affected by the incident.

"As a sign of my thanks, I can give you our tributes this year early. I-"

"I'm afraid you can't." Emi cuts him off.

"I'll talk to my father. I'm pretty sure he will understand your situation enough to waive your tribute the second half of this year."

"T-that's g-great." Gentarou suppresses his excitement.

"But why can't I?" he asks.

"Ah. Of course, you haven't heard." Emi stops in realization.

"Well, just three hours after you were assaulted, there was a second wave of attacks. Your demons got killed, their cores were taken, and your sacrifices were rescued. And just like the first time, the culprits managed to enter and exit undetected." She relays.

This news stuns Gentarou.

"You can't exactly pay your tributes if you failed to harvest demon cores, can you?" Emi asks rhetorically.

"And money is not exactly what the Yamada need for tributes currently." She adds.

Gentarou feels his stomach sinks, before anger starts brewing in his heart. He wants to lash out, but suppresses it for now.

"You know… And I don't intend to offend you, but… Are you sure this is not your clan's…?" He regrets the words that just came out of his mouth.

"My clan's doing?" Emi is still offended however.

"Well, I don't intend to insult you, too Gen, but what you're suggesting is beneath us."

"Alright. I'm sorry." Gentarou is glad that Emi does not seem to be angered.

"But. You know… What you said, it might not be that off the mark…" Emi wears a pondering expression, her words confusing Gentarou.

"What if… A clan, or clans, outside our region are the culprit." She continues.

"Huh…" Gentarou feels it might be plausible.

."I don't think there are powerful enough terrorist groups that can do what they did, much less have the information network to know about the demon facilities."

"Yes. So, you need to investigate your men, as there might be other spies aside from that child you offed yesterday. I'll tell Sora to do the same to his. Attacks on each of the Yamada's arms, and only days apart? This is obviously not a coincidence." Emi's voice becomes serious.

<><><>

"Oh, what a coincidence. Good morning, Fumio-san, Kotone-san." Ichiki, the demon chef, greet Fumio and Kotone as soon as the two land in front of the bamboo gate they just jumped over.

"I was just about to bring your breakfast inside." He raises the breakfast tray on his hand to the two.

"U-uh.. Thank you. We want to join the children for breakfast." Kotone awkwardly nods at the demon.

She is still processing that the man who served her meals in the past ten days is a demon.

"Ah. That's perfect. Kichirou-san is also having breakfast with the children. Worry not, there's plenty of space for you two at the table." Ichiki leads the two inside the children's house.

<>

After having their breakfast, Red and his students arrive at the hilltop. "So, boss… I thought you went to seclusion?" Fumio asks, puzzled by Red's presence.

"Slight change of plans after visiting the Oonishi yesterday. You're still gonna be in-charge for a few days, buddy." Red smirks at Fumio.

"That's not…" Fumio is speechless.

"That reminds me. How did it go at the Oonishi, Kichirou-san?" Kotone asks.

"Done. Killed the demons, dropped off the humans to some shelters." Red summarizes.

"What about Gentarou?" Kotone asks.

While the anger in her voice is unrecognizable to most, "Hm?" Red feels a slight murderous intent in her question.

"Well. He wasn't exactly in the fighting mood after what Fumio did to him." He figures that Gentarou's actions must have twisted Kotone's sense of justice.

"Anyways. How are your reserves?" Red asks them as they sit on the grass.

"You two seemed to have been busy together the entire night…" He winks at them.

"W-we! We were just training, Kichirou-san." Kotone almost yelps at the insinuation.

"Your jokes again, boss…" Fumio scoffs, but his cheeks have turned slightly pink.

"What? I smell bit of lactic acid wafting off of your skins. Especially from you Kotone. Must have been intense training?" Red asks.

He then sees a conflicted expression on Fumio's face, and the Kotone seems to be hiding something.

'You will tell me about this later.' He sends a mental message to Fumio.

"…" Fumio can only nod in response.

"Never mind. Training is training." Red feigns losing interest in the matter.

"Here… Trinkets." He pulls out two leather watches from under his robe and hands them to his disciples.

"What's this, boss?" Fumio asks as he plays around with it. He knows that Red's gifts are not what they appear to be.

"Oh… What's this tiny thing?" Kotone sees a shiny, pellet-sized, black ball embedded at the back of the watch.

"That, my dears, is a demon core." Red tells them.

"Demon core? Why's it so small compared to the one that came out of the demon that possessed Hideki?" Fumio asks.

"The one inside Hideki was a General-ranked demon. Those on your hands belonged to Soldier-ranked demons." Red explains.

Seeing the two's understanding expressions, and questioning stares, he proceeds.

"Now, why don't you connect the meridian on your wrists to the demon core?" He instructs, and the two students immediately do as they  are told. 

The next moment, "T-this!" Fumio and Kotone are shocked.

They feel a huge supply of spiritual energy inside the cores. "T-this can fill up my elixir sea many times over." Fumio compares.

"Me too." Kotone feels the same.

"Yeah. Souls are very rich in spiritual energy." Red nods.

"T-that's right…"

"Eek!"

Fumio and Kotone suddenly recoil from the demon cores.

The demons explained to them yesterday how demon cores work, and remembering that demons absorb human souls to their cores, the two of them suddenly feel disgusted of the thing in their hands.

"Relax, you two." Red understands how the two are feeling.

"Once person's soul leaves its lifeless body, it's no longer a soul. It becomes pure energy, that's it." He explains.

"It doesn't make me feel better about it." Kotone grumbles.

Fumio frowns, feeling the same.

"Look. A person's memories, emotions, what makes them, them? They go back to the void… the universe, if you will. The vo-, the universe has its way of sending them to other places, giving them new lives." Red explains further to make them feel better.

He sees however that they do not entirely believe what he told them, which makes him nod at them in approval.

"I know, it's hard to swallow. Many lives, more innocent ones than not, are sacrificed for those cores. But would you rather have demons and the greedy clans use those for their less than savory purposes? Or use it yourselves for things you deem righteous? Use it to strengthen yourselves to stop any more demon cores from being made." He asks them.

The two however do not even know what to say, and are only looking at the demon cores, their minds stirring.

"Just have it with you for now. In case an emergency arises, and your reserves run dry, you have something that can save your lives." Red decides to drop the matter for now, to allow the two to process it.

While he wants them to use the demon cores, he does not want them to accept the use of the cores immediately and easily, as he does not want them to rely on exterior sources.

"For emergencies only…" Kotone puts on the watch with hesitation.

This prompts Fumio to do the same.

"Alright. That's it for now. Be careful training, Kotone." Red warns Kotone as he stands up.

"I will. Don't worry." Kotone nods.

"Okay. Piss off for now.." Red orders her.

Fumio is about to leave too but, "Fumio stay. I have some tasks for you." Red stops him.

Kotone gets worried for a bit and sends Fumio a look. Fumio simply returns a nod, assuring her.

After Kotone left, "So… What tasks do you have for me, boss?" Fumio asks.

"Nothing. Answer me this instead. Does Kotone want to kill Gentarou?" Red asks Fumio.

"T-that…" Fumio is taken aback by the very direct question, also stunned at how Red knew.

"Come on. I can feel her rage, just mentioning Gentarou's name. What happened?" Red asks.

"Boss…" Fumio feels trapped and he decides to be honest.

A minute later.

"… Oh… I see." Red now knows the relation between Gentarou and 'Rock Stampede', the villain whose rampage killed Kotone's parents.

"Please don't tell her I told you." Fumio pleads.

"Don't worry, I won't." Red assures him.

"So. What do we do now? Are we going to stop her?" Fumio asks in worry.

"I don't know." Red shrugs.

"You DON'T KNOW?!" Fumio is shocked at Red's dismissive reaction.

"There's a difference between intent, and actually doing the deed. For now. I'll let her use her anger to fuel her drive to get stronger. I'll decide on what to do when the time comes." Red explains.

Fumio can only accept the plan for now, finding it logical enough.

"Go. Help Kotone train."

<>

After parting with his students, Red is now inside a cave.

The cave, the size of a basketball court, is actually inside the hill itself.

It is not a natural cave, but a huge dwelling he himself made that took three months of work.

Had he used spiritual energy and earth nature energy techniques, he could have made the cave in a few hours.

Instead, he used it as a chance to train his body.

With his resistance seals that burdened him, suppressing his strength and speed to that of an ordinary man, he carved out the side of the hill using punches, kicks, palm attacks, claw attacks, or any other fighting techniques. 

Sitting at a workshop table made of stone, he pulls out the demon-summoning piece of wood.

Since the moment he was handed the piece of wood, he tried, with great self-control and discipline, his best to stop himself from studying it, and instead settled things that might interrupt his study of the object.

Now that he is ready, he cannot wait to occupy himself with quite possibly the most valuable object he has laid his hands on in this world so far. 

"Hello, baby.. I can finally take a closer look at you."