Chapter 256: Information Extraction
Earth land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Hidden Leaf Ravine.
November, x784.
"What the hell was that?" Bacchus shouted from the entrance of the shelter.
Somehow, Bacchus had managed to get himself a break from tended to the wounded and traumatized victims of Mayuri and Orochimaru's experiments. And just as he opened the cork on his wine gourd, he saw a purple ray of light rise from one side of the ravine and disappear into the sky.
"What the hell was what?" Mirajane, who was working near the front of the shelter, asked after rushing outside to see if someone was attacking the shelter once again.
"Huh?" Bacchus exclaimed after he was startled by Mirajane's voice. After glancing behind him for a moment, he returned his sight to the area where the ray of light one connected the ground and sky. "Just now, I saw a purple beam of light from the distance."
"Was it near the hideout?" Mirajane asked, her expression turning serious. "Alfonzo, Marin, and Yoruichi are still in there."
"Actually, it's just Alfonzo that's still in there." Yoruichi said, appearing next to the two wizards with Marin and Nemu slung over her shoulders. "But I have no idea which side launched that beam."
As she spoke, Yoruichi put Marin down on her feet.
*Sigh* I can't be completely sure about it either." Marin said after taking a deep breath to deal with the uncomfortable feeling such high speed movement gave her. "But I think Alfonzo used UV radiation in that last attack. But since he almost never uses it, I'm not totally sure."
"I hope you're right." Mirajane said. "Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the attack, so I couldn't tell you, either."
"Well, I'll be going back to see if he needs any help." Yoruichi said. "Just give me a second to put her with the other criminal, Kabuto, and I'll head on over."
The other three wizards nodded in agreement. Then, Yoruichi vanished from where she stood with Nemu in tow. When Bacchus finally raised his gourd to take that swig that was interrupted by the light column that rose to the sky.
"Okay, break time is over, Bacchus." Mirajane said with a smile while catching Bacchus' wrist just before the gourd could reach his lips.
"Huh? What the hell are you--- Hey, Let me go, Woman!" Bacchus shouted as he struggled to free himself. "How can you call that a break, damn it? This is a violation of my human rights~~~~!"
Meanwhile, Alfonzo was currently making his way out of the hideout with Orochimaru's snake prison in his left hand and dragging Mayuri across the floor by the ankle he was holding with his right.
"*Sigh* rifling through all that research data is going to be a pain.
"Hmph! As if a barbarian such as you would ever understand my research." Mayuri shouted indignantly.
*Zap!*
"Gahh~~~~~!"
Without even turning his head or slowing his steps, Alfonzo released an electrical current into Mayuri's leg. At this point, he hadn't even realized he was doing it. It had turned into an instinctive response whenever his subconscious heard any of the insults he was consciously tuning out. As a result, Mayuri's shouts echoed through the nearby corridors of the hideout.
"I should be able to recreate the metal or alloy that was used to make the asauchi with no issue since I've touched the blade and run my magic power through it." Alfonzo continued to muse to himself as he did not even notice the fact that he just shocked Mayuri. "The real issue is the fact that I don't know how to connect it with the wielder's soul."
Hearing how much Alfonzo knew about his Zanpakuto, Mayuri was thoroughly flabbergasted and he wanted to question the much younger man about how he knew all that he did. Unfortunately, due to the most recent electric shock, his body was not following the instructions his brain was giving it. So, all he could do was convulse violently while being dragged along.
"Well, it looks like we didn't have to worry at all." Yoruichi said as she appeared next to Alfonzo in a burst of speed. "I guess Marin was right about that column of light that connected the ground and the sky."
"Huh? Column of light?" Alfonzo asked, Yoruichi's voice bringing him out of his internal musings.
"Yeah, a purple column of light that rose from somewhere around here and disappeared in the sky." Yoruichi explained.
"Oh, that must have been my [Galick Gun]." Alfonzo replied with a smile. "But I didn't think it reached all the way to the surface. I mean, I did put a lot of power into it to make sure that… thing… Kurotsuchi's sword summoned was destroyed. But… damn, I kinda wish I could have seen it from a distance."
"Apparently, it freaked out Bacchus so much that he forgot to take a drink." Yoruichi replied with a smile.
"Damn, now I really wish I had been there to see it." Alfonzo grumbled. "Anyway, since you're here, I guess Marin is fine, right?"
"Yeah, she's fine." Yoruichi replied with a nod. "She's just mentally exhausted. According to her, she had to use a technique that she hasn't fully mastered yet. She said something about that Nemu girl having an insane healing factor and needing the extra support."
'She's probably talking about [Growl].' Alfonzo thought to himself while nodding at Yoruichi's explanation. "[I should probably stop giving out Bleach technique names now that I know there are some Bleach characters in this weird fucking world.'
"Yeah, I can imagine that using [Telekinesis] while fighting could be a mental drain if you're not used to doing so at a high level." Alfonzo replied. Then, he smiled warmly as he continued. "Still, I'm proud of her."
While Alfonzo and Yoruichi continued to chat, Mayuri finally got his body back under his control.
"Hey, you cretin!" Mayuri bellowed in anger. "How do you know so much about my Zanpakuto project?"
Though Alfonzo's subconscious wanted to shock him once again, he managed to cancel that order when he heard Mayuri mention his Zanpakuto.
Glancing over his shoulder, Alfonzo made eye contact with Mayuri for a brief moment before returning his sight to the path in front of him.
"I know a lot more about more things than you can imagine." Alfonzo replied coldly.
"Impossible!" Mayuri shouted angrily. "You're nothing but a guild wizard. And from that band of misfits, Fairy Tail, no less. There is no way you could know anything about the work a genius such as my self does."
"Are you naturally that stupid? Or is that part of your so-called genius, as well." Yoruichi cut in with a sneer. "Calling the publicly recognized, best magic item crafter on the continent a cretin makes me think it's the latter."
"What was that?" Mayuri hissed. "Wait…. What did you say? I knew the young wizard from Fairy Tail and the genius item creator shared the same name, but they are the same person?"
At that moment, Alfonzo, Yoruichi, and even Orochimaru from inside his little cell, could not help but roll their eyes. It seems Mayuri is the type of genius mad scientist that only focuses on the parts of a conversation that interest him while discarding the rest.
"Anyway, you've got two choices, Kurotsuchi." Alfonzo said, shaking his head at the mad scientist in disappointment. "First, you can tell me everything I need to know to create my own Zanpakuto, willingly. Or, second, I can force it out of you. And trust me when I say this, you won't like that option very much."
"Hmph!" You think I fear torture?" Mayuri replied disdainfully.
"Well, it's your choice whether you believe me or not." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "But for your sake, you'd better hope I didn't destroy that research data by accident."
Though he was not sure why, Mayuri felt a chill run up his spine from Alfonzo's words.
'Am I… frightened?' Mayuri thought to himself after realizing that his body was shivering. 'Preposterous! I, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, fear nothing.'
An hour and a half later, after finding that he had destroyed the research data on Zanpakuto, Alfonzo left Orochimaru in Yoruichi's care for forty-five minutes. By the time he returned, Alfonzo was smiling happily while Mayuri had a lifeless gaze. On top of that, Alfonzo had gotten all the information he could possibly need to make his own asauchi, as well as the steps needed to transform it into a Zanpakuto.
"I'm curious to know what you did to him." Yoruichi said with a wry smile on her face. "But something is telling me that it would be better for my mental health if I didn't know."
"Yeah, you should probably trust your instincts on this one." Alfonzo replied with a shrug.
Actually, Alfonzo's interrogation metho was not as brutal as one would expect. All he did was introduce the Techno Organic metal into Mayuri's body and let it encroach on his heart. Then, just before things got too dangerous, he would extract it. And every time Mayuri refused to answer his questions, Alfonzo would push the limit a little further.
By the end, there were even three occasions where Alfonzo had to shock Mayuri's heart to get it beating again.
After another hour spent searching the hideout, Alfonzo and Yoruichi, while dragging along the two mad scientists, finally exited the cave system and made their way to the shelter. And when they arrived, the first thing they saw was Guy, doing push-ups just outside the shelter's entrance.
"Oh, the two of you are back!" Guy shouted energetically as he pushed himself off the ground with such force that he performed a full summersault before landing on his feet. "I knew your youth would carry you through."
"Yeah, it's good to see you too, Guy." Alfonzo replied with a wry smile. "And from what Yoruichi told me, your battle with Kabuto went well, too."
"Indeed." Guy replied. "My muscles are still burning from the youthful exertion."
"Something about that sounds wrong." Yoruichi muttered as she continued walking towards the shelter.
"That's… good?" Alfonzo replied as he followed behind Yoruichi. "Anyway, how are all the rescued civilians?"
"Though the mental trauma will take a while to heal… If it ever does…" Guy said, his expression turning solemn. "… Most of them should recover physically."
"I guess that's better than nothing." Alfonzo replied in an equally solemn tone. "Well, I'll go drop off the main culprits of this little episode. Then, I'll contact the kingdom's representatives. After that, we'll do all we can for these people while waiting for the knights to arrive."
"That sounds like a great, youthful, idea." Guy replied, his usual energy returning. "I'll just finish my set before I go back in and join everyone in their efforts."
Earth Land, Ishgar, Era.
As soon as Alfonzo reported the successful completion of the quest to the kingdom's representatives, the word was passed on to the new Magic Council. And less than an hour later, the counselors were gathered in their meeting hall for the second time in as many days.
"It seems that asking the guilds to ally like this has been a spectacular idea." Gram Doma said, placing the report from the Mad Scientist Subjugation Quest back on his desk. "And other than a few craters and a hole that led to the cave system that acted as the criminals' hideout, there was no collateral damage."
"Hmph!" Org snorted in reply. "Of course it was a Fairy Tail wizard who left such a gaping hole in the top of the Hidden Leaf Ravine. I knew that group of ruffians would cause trouble for the people around them."
"As much as I'd like to agree with you, Org." Belno, a tall, elderly woman with sandy blond hair tied into a pony tail that fans out into spiky tear drop-shaped tufts and along nose who wore a cloak over a purple turtle neck, replied reluctantly. "And believe me, I really would like to agree with you on this. But expecting a battle between several S-Class wizards to end without collateral damage is a bit much, isn't it?"
"Are you being drawn into a false sense of security by that band of ruffians' act as well, Belno?" Org replied with a scowl. "We definitely need to have that guild disbanded before anyone else false into their trap!"
"enough." Gran Doma said in a commanding tone. "It would seem your prejudice has truly blinded you, Org."
Though he wanted to continue with his arguments, Org could tell that Gran Doma was growing tired of his unjust behavior. So, he wisely chose to shut his mouth, opting to sulk as visibly as he possibly could to show his discontent.
In fact, Gran Doma's prejudice had not blinded him in the slightest. He knew he was being unreasonable. But just moving past a decades long impression of a group of people is not as simple as it would appear. Still, he was partially convinced that Fairy Tail really was putting on an act. Though, he had no proof to substantiate his claim. Not that he would go looking for it, either.
"Anyway, with this quest completed, two of the most pressing threats to the continent have been thwarted." Gran Doma said, drawing the attention of everyone in the meeting hall upon himself. "Now, I believe the time has come."
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