"Boom!"
Trapped in the illusion of the Mangekyō Sharingan, the Bloodbat King lost all of its aggressiveness.
Renji Takahashi grabbed its wings and slowly pulled them out of his body.
The pain was unbearable—so intense it nearly made him scream.
Gritting his teeth, he finally managed to pull the spike out of his body. Weakness instantly surged through him, and he staggered backward.
But instead of hitting the ground, he fell into something soft—Red Wind had caught him in her arms.
"Renji, you'll be fine. I promise, I'll save you."
Seeing the terrible wounds across his body, Red Wind's voice quivered with emotion. Her hands trembled as she concentrated her healing magic on his injuries.
"S-Senpai Red Wind… I'll be fine. Don't worry," Renji said weakly, activating the Healing Technique on his own. With Red Wind's help, his wounds began to close at a rate visible to the naked eye.
This was the true power of Healing: as long as the user wasn't killed instantly, and still had spiritual energy left, they could recover even from fatal wounds within moments.
If it weren't for this ability, Renji would've never dared to block the Bloodbat King's attack with his own body.
But still, the pain… was unbearable.
"I'm never doing that again," he thought bitterly.
"Are… are you okay?" Red Wind asked, watching in awe as his injuries vanished.
She'd never seen such incredible self-healing before.
"I told you… This isn't a big deal for me," Renji said with a tired smile, gently wiping the tears that had rolled beneath Red Wind's mask.
It was the first time anyone had cried for him.
He was resting in her arms now, his head against her chest. A strange softness…
"W-Why aren't you getting up?!" Red Wind exclaimed, suddenly aware of their position. She pushed him off in a flustered panic.
Thankfully, their masks concealed their faces—spared from the awkwardness of revealing expressions.
"How did you stop it?" Red Wind asked, looking over at the Bloodbat King, which was now completely still. "It's not dead, right?"
"It's caught in an illusion."
"Illusion? I thought you weren't an illusion-type?" she blinked, surprised.
This guy could use illusions, too?
"I'm not. But I can cast a few through... special means. Let's leave it at that."
He didn't want to reveal the power of the Sharingan just yet.
Red Wind could only marvel at him again.
"As expected of Ryoji's son…"
"Well, since it's trapped, let's finish it." She pulled out a dagger and started walking toward the Bloodbat King.
"Wait, Senpai, let me handle it," Renji said quickly.
He approached the creature, pulled out a kunai, and a summoning scroll. After drawing some of the Bloodbat King's blood and adding his own, the contract was sealed.
"Is that… a spirit summoning scroll?" Red Wind asked.
Beast Tamers used similar scrolls to form pacts with spirit beasts. But theirs required genuine bonds to work.
"No way that monster's gonna listen to you."
"I'm not taming it the usual way," Renji said. "Just trust me, Senpai. It won't cause trouble again."
Using his Sharingan, Renji controlled the creature and had it fly away—now his obedient summon.
Had he not planned to make it his spiritual beast, he would've simply used Amaterasu to destroy it.
But with the illusion power of the Sharingan, control was absolute.
"…Alright," Red Wind murmured, though she still had doubts.
Soon after, Kanji, Ren, and the others arrived.
"Are you two alright?!"
Kanji first scanned the surroundings, wary of an ambush, then turned to check on Renji and Red Wind.
"We're fine. The Bloodbat King retreated," Renji said.
"You call this fine?" Kanji raised an eyebrow. Renji's clothes were soaked in blood and torn apart.
"Just scratches—they're healed."
"Good. We've cleared out the rest of the Bloodbats, too. Now that the King is gone, our mission is done."
Their team had only been supporting Ren's squad. With the King gone, their objective was complete.
Before parting ways, Ren handed over half of the spirit cores they'd collected from the Bloodbat corpses—dozens of Level 3 demon cores—as thanks.
"If you ever need us, just say the word," he said.
"We were just helping each other out. See you around," Renji replied.
After some brief farewells, both teams departed.
"Renji, how did your first official field mission feel?" Kanji asked with a smile, driving the vehicle.
"Honestly? Pretty exciting."
"Nice. Looks like you've got a good head on your shoulders," Kanji grinned, earning laughs from the others.
Only Red Wind remained silent, her eyes behind the mask focused intently on Renji.
She didn't say a word about his performance—especially not about the illusion technique.
After all, if someone hadn't chosen to share their ability, it wasn't her place to reveal it.
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