A few minutes ago:
Inside the car that was following Leon, a woman with dark hair tied up in a ponytail, who was driving, spoke to the two guys sitting behind.
"Remember, no guns. We need him alive. And don't give him the chance to use his abilities, whatever they are. You've seen that clip, I assume.
If things go wrong, Sportsmaster will have your back." She gave them a look. The greyish-blonde-haired guy spoke. "It's just a kid with powers. Literally a child's play compared to the other things that we've dealt with."
"But yeah, sure. We'll take this seriously," he said after a pause. His partner added, "As seriously as we can." And they both chuckled.
When the two men approached him, Leon noticed something; the park was suddenly getting empty, people retreating away for some reason.
He focused, and the reason for that came into his peripheral sight: a muscular guy with a hockey mask, stationed a bit far from where he was, was aiming a gun at him.
Crock was trying to contact his guy, whom he'd sent to Katlyn Blade's apartment, as he observed the two others approaching the boy. But the guy wasn't responding back.
'Did something happen to him?' He thought. 'If my intel is correct, Katlyn Blade should just be a regular nurse. And this kid's here, in front of my eyes.'
Back in Kate's apartment, Divine Dog: Black was dragging the unconscious body of a man in a black combat suit. Night threw the man into the elevator and pressed the down button with his paws.
He then turned into a shadow that went inside Kate's flat through the crevice under the door. (A/N: Now that's a good doggo.)
"Tsk," Sportsmaster clicked his tongue. 'Change of plans,' he thought and aimed at Leon's neck, who was talking to the two.
He pulled the trigger, and a tranquilizer filled with green liquid shot out of its barrel. Leon, who seemed unassuming, just tilted his head and grabbed the syringe-like dart with two of his fingers.
"Not even a bullet? Isn't that a bit insulting?" he mumbled, and the two suited guys jumped back, making a distance.
The tranquilizer in Leon's hand erupted with a greyish-green smoke, completely enveloping him in it. The two guys watched, confused, as Sportsmaster came forward.
"We had it in control, boss," the blonde guy said.
"Jamie stopped responding. I just sped things up," Crock replied.
The dark-haired guy chuckled, "He probably just forgot to turn on his transmission again—" but couldn't finish when he saw Sportsmaster staring at him.
"I'll have a word with him later. Let's take this brat to Cadmus for now." They looked back and saw Leon slumped on the ground.
'Strong and fast, but clearly not smart,' Crock commented in his head as he stared down at Leon.
They quickly carried him to their car and took him from there in the middle of the day, almost no one seeing or probably not caring enough about it.
After a while, their car was now going along an isolated road through a forest somewhere between Cadmus Labs and downtown Washington.
Sportsmaster was seated in the front seat, and Leon was asleep on the back seat with the other two. After a bit of silence, without opening his eyes, Leon suddenly spoke, startling them. "Front seaters should wear seatbelts, you know."
"Huh?" Crock was confused when suddenly a giant white wolf jumped in front of their car on the road. "Look out!!!" the others cried at the top of their lungs, but it was already too late.
Frost, standing in front of the incoming car, just snarled at it and casually stopped it with her paw. The car got crushed from the front, its momentum coming to a halt, and the two in the front seat were thrown out of the windshield, getting dragged on the road.
While Leon just comfortably sat in the middle of the back seat, the two beside him didn't have a good time. They were now unconscious, one's arms and one's legs broken.
"When you can't be damaged with conventional methods, turns out you can improvise a lot of batshit insane things," Leon chuckled to himself, crawling forward and getting out of the car from where the windshield previously was.
Frost lowered her head, and Leon ruffled her fur, saying, "Good job, Frost." He then walked towards the unconscious Sportsmaster.
Leon knew who he was. Sportsmaster was a famous criminal, after all. 'I don't remember doing anything against him, though.
He said he wanted to take me to Cadmus, didn't he?' Leon thought about it for a bit and spoke, "Turn around. I know you're awake. You're breathing like an obese monkey."
Seeing him unmoving, Frost came ahead and, lowering her head, let out a small growl that sent shivers down Crock's spine.
"Okay, okay… Man, give me a break… Ugh," he grumbled and turned around, lying on his back. His combat suit had protected his skin and his mask his face, but the exposed parts of his arms had their skin scraped off on the road.
Leon was about to ask a question when Sportsmaster's phone rang. "That works," Leon shrugged and stepped on Crock's hand with which he was about to grab his phone.
"AHH FUCK!!! I was about to give that to you, kid," Crock grumbled in pain.
Leon replied in a sarcastic tone, "Oh, I'm sorry. Should have probably asked your permission before stepping on you." He pressed harder.
"ARGHH!!!"
"Frost, if he makes a single sound, bite his head off." Frost brought her head down, staring directly into his soul. Her head alone was larger than Crock himself. Crock bit his lips, swallowing all the pain.
Leon took the phone; it was a handheld translucent rectangular piece of fiberglass that was glowing with the name of someone else whom Leon recognized.
Dr. Mark Desmond, a renowned scientist from Cadmus Labs. 'Now this is intriguing.'
Leon answered the call, and Dr. Mark spoke first. "Hey, Lawrence. What's the update on that job? Did you get the kid? How long are you going to just observe him and waste my time?"
After hearing that, a long shadow quickly escaped from Leon's shadow and went towards the direction of the lab.
With a sinister smile on his face, Leon replied. "Oh, hello, Mr. Desmond. Leon over here, yes, the kid you sent these bums to kidnap.
And by Lawrence, if you meant this clown who got his ass handed to him by a twelve-year-old, then I'm very disheartened to inform you that he will be respectfully out of commission for a while."
There was a few seconds of silence after that, and Desmond replied, "Listen here, kid, I don't know-" Leon didn't let him finish, though; he knew what kind of man Desmond was, a scientist who took pride in his research.
So, he interjected, saying, "Oh, by the way, I'm a big fan of your research on metahuman genes. But, oof, you missed by a long shot on that hypothesis about every human having the possibility of unlocking abilities, by genetically modifying them.
The first few lines were actually commendable, you know. But if someone read it a bit longer, even with a monkey brain, they'd know it's a bunch of horse shit.
You must be desperate for separate funding. I mean, come on, trying to prove that forced evolution is the key to the future? You really don't want yourself to be proven wrong, huh."
There was another silence, and then came the reply, "Who are you?"
"Who am I? Did you shut your brain off or something? You literally wanted me under your laboratory equipment.
Now that I think about it, I guess you guys saw me in that clothing store, didn't you? But since you're actively going out of your way to get me, even when there's an uncountable number of metahumans out there,
I guess you already know that I'm not one of them, huh." Leon replied, piecing things together.
Mark wasn't replying now. Leon then added, "Ah, well, that was it for the chitchat. You'll soon have a guest in your lab, just a heads-up. Don't try to fight him; he gets a bit moody sometimes."
'What? What does he-' Mark was thinking, still seething in anger. Suddenly, all the lights went out in the facility, and when the emergency lights went on, the floor sank beneath his feet.
Just figuratively, as he stood completely still, seeing what was in front of him: an absurdly thick and long white snake, standing tall in front of him, raising its giant head. It slithered towards him.
Mark couldn't move; he was stricken with fear, something that stemmed from his soul itself. The snake radiated an ominous presence, almost suffocating, even.
He didn't know when its tail had slithered around him, but once it tightened, he finally realized that he was fucked.
The snake lowered its head; its golden eyes were a menacing contrast against his light brown. He was still holding the phone in his hand. Leon spoke again.
"You see, Dr. Desmond, I've specially instructed my summon to not kill you 'this time,' you know, since no one got hurt, especially my aunt."
"Summon?" he mumbled in confusion.
"Yeah, I am a sorcerer, you know. Anyway, next time- scratch that. If I even smell you or your pesky bugs around me and my family, one more time.
I won't stop the serpent from having a great meal. I hope you put that as respectfully in your head as you can. The rest is up to you.
Come on, say something. Where's that enthusiasm of a 'great' scientist?"
"I… Can't… Breathe…" Desmond managed to utter the words.
"Loosen up a bit, will you, Orochi?" Leon's voice echoed from the phone, and with a hiss, the snake loosened his tail.
Desmond took in a long breath. "Haah, haah, haah… Cough! Cough! Cough! I didn't know you were a wizard. I can assure you that we can put this behind us."
"Meh, don't worry. Happens to the best of us. We're humans, after all. You, me… all the same. Oh, by the way, not a wizard, just a sorcerer."
Leon continued, "Oh, and these guys are still alive. You might wanna come and get them. Or do you want me to call an ambulance? I'm not that much of a jerk."
"No, that won't be needed… I'll send a team."
"Alright, you have a wonderful day ahead of you, Dr. Desmond. Hope we never see each other again. And remember, the serpent is always watching." Leon cut the call, and Orochi slowly disappeared into the shadow, right in front of Mark's eyes.
Mark gripped his phone tighter, gritting his teeth in anger. This was not just a warning; it was a humiliation.
Sportsmaster had failed many times, but never this abysmally. And it was their damned luck that they had to cross a magic user.
'Isn't sorcerer and wizard the same thing?' he thought in frustration, then mumbled, "What am I even thinking of? Sigh…" He answered the call his team from the lower floor was giving him.
"Yes, I'm okay. It was just a technical malfunction. Oh, and bring that fool Sportsmaster back; I'll send you his location. And try to bring in the dashcam from their car."
'Tsk… Leon Blade…' He kept staring at the place where that giant snake was before. "Sigh…" He now had a lot of explaining to do.
At least their main project was safe. He looked to the side, a small glass window peeking into another room full of big cylindrical tubes and identical males wearing white full-body suits with a red S symbol on their chests, suspended in the liquid inside the tubes.
'That was all very risky… Did that boy see this?' Only the snake was here, after all. And it followed his commands. Anything could be possible.
'Not now, I need to clean up this mess. I'll just report it to them. They'll handle it,' He thought and walked towards his table.
Around early evening:
When Leon returned to the building where Kate's apartment was, people were talking about a guy they found unconscious in the elevator.
Since he was strapped with guns and weapons, the police had taken him in. Night was resting in Kate's shadow, so there wasn't anything for him to worry about.
Unless some insanely strong metahuman or some crazy aliens attacked, Night would hold himself well. As of right now, both the Divine Dogs were stronger than him, after all.
When he entered the apartment, Kate was still asleep, but now in her room instead of the couch. It seems she saw the note he left and just went to sleep again.
He then tried to cook something, but for some unknown reason, whatever he tried automatically turned dubious.
"Huh? How can I mess up boiling an egg?" he grumbled, confused as to how the whole deep pan he used to boil the egg was all white now.
He then tried to fry some chicken, which he had to immediately abort before the smoke alarm went off or, worse, the fire department came up to their block.
Kate woke up to a burnt-smelling kitchen and her nephew in a bad mood since he had to eat the burnt mess that he made, not wanting to waste the food.
"So, you tried to cook?" she asked; a smirk tugged at her lips.
"And failed miserably," he grumbled.
She spoke, sarcasm full in her voice, "Oh, my sweet boy. While you're still small and shouldn't be doing this at all, seeing how you failed to even boil an egg, I, your aunt Katlyn Blade, officially ban you from our kitchen," She sounded a bit dramatic at the end.
Leon was blushing redder than a tomato; he knew his aunt was just messing with him right now. "No, I'm being serious," came her reply, as if she could read his mind.
"Oh, come on."
"Nope, you're not allowed anywhere near the stove," she replied with a chuckle, her tone was very firm though.
In about another hour, Kate prepared a lavish dinner: a Japanese-style curry with some chicken cutlets and rice.
After the dinner, she handed him a few bars of dark chocolates. "I was wondering where all the sugar kept disappearing. You should have just told me, you know."
"I, ah—"
"If you need to eat something sweet, why not something that actually benefits you?" she spoke with a smile, pointing at one of the drawers near the fridge.
"I've gotten a stock for you. But you're brushing your teeth three times a day, and that's not arguable."
"As you command, my lady," he replied with a salute that got a giggle out of her.
And then, while he slept, his training with the two masters of his continued from before. Satoru praised him for what he did today: the showing off of his powers.
But Sukuna grumbled, "Showing off will only put more targets on you. Unless, of course, that's what you were aiming for."
"Ah, well, I just rolled with whatever came to my mind," Leon shrugged.
"Good, good, that's my student… See, this is what I call being a good student," Satoru pointed at Leon while looking at Sukuna with a smug.
For today's training, Satoru wanted to start teaching him new martial arts. Their practical session started with Muay Thai and ended with Kung Fu.
Every step and form cleanly memorized by the application of Leon's Six Eyes. Then there was also a deeper lecture on RCT by Sukuna, Satoru chiming in sometimes to share what he understood about it.
Sukuna then explained several complex barriers and binding vows and how the vows gave him an edge against the fight against Satoru back in their world.
But Satoru interjected, saying, "Binding vows are more of a restraint than anything. Anything complex requires you to give up something of the same level.
So, I say, why rely on something that just pulls you down? But yeah, maybe no harm in learning them; might just come in clutch in a pinch, who knows" He shrugged.
'True, no harm in learning about them,' Leon thought and asked them another question that had been bugging him. "You know, I've just been doing this for just about a week now. But why am I so strong already?"
Satoru smirked. "Wow, it's already getting to your head, huh? Tsk, tsk, tsk, that's bad, you know. Maybe I ought to teach my overconfident student a lesson."
"I didn't mean it like that!" Leon raised his hand and continued, "It's just, both my physical strength and speed, each day, I feel like it's either doubled or tripled from the day before. I'm just wondering if that's normal." He didn't seem worried, just curious.
"Well, in your context, it's normal, I guess," Satoru replied, confusing him more.
Sukuna added, "Your world is much different from ours. While Negative Energy or Cursed Energy still exists here, there are no cursed spirits, none at all."
Satoru interjected, "Thus, there are no rules binding your growth. Remember what I first told you about the limit of a sorcerer back in our world."
Leon replied, "Yes, the fact that no matter how much a sorcerer tries, there comes a point where they can't push themselves any further."
"And that doesn't apply to you, nor your abilities. That's the reason why the shadows are so inherently stronger than the original ones.
Your vast Cursed Energy itself affects their overall capabilities. Not to mention that they grow stronger with you," Satoru said, Leon contemplating this a bit more.
He was now more aware and sure of what he needed to do. "I- I want to grow even stronger. Teach me, masters," he bowed his head a little.
Both of them had a faint smirk on their faces, Satoru saying, "Of course, that's what we're here for, after all."
The rest of the training session was a one-sided massacre. Or, two against one, to be exact. At one point, both Sukuna and Satoru started jumping him, telling him to dodge and avoid as much as he could.
He forgot the number of times he'd already been turned into a red slushy. The pain got so much worse each time that he almost, almost felt himself growing numb to it.
But alas, those two sadistic masters of his always found some new and ridiculous ways to end his misery, making it more painful.
The next morning, Leon lay flat on his back on the bed, staring at the ceiling with empty eyes. "Ugh… I still hate this…" He mumbled in pain.
'Come on, Leon. Gotta get up; you have school today.'
He got up after a few more minutes, his body aching with the same sore pain that he went through every morning.
...… To be continued!
A/N: Alright, eighth chapter also out of the way. It was kind of hard finding the best way to take the interaction between the Villains and the MC. Tell me how you felt about this. Your response will make it easier for me to write better in the Future. Thank you all for showing so much support until now, let's keep going and see where this story takes us. See you next chapter... Bye!