A month went by in the blink of an eye.
All twenty-six first-years from this year gathered together at the training grounds.
Gengoro Ounahara stood at the front, hands clasped behind his back, and called out loudly.
“Today’s the exam.
You’ll be tested on Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Kidō, Shunpo, and potential.
Only those who pass every category get into the Advanced Class.” “First up is Kidō,” Ounahara said, pointing at the row of targets.
“Use the highest-numbered Kidō spell you’ve mastered to attack.” There were fifteen targets set up, and Moriyasu’s group came up in the second round.
Without a word passing between them, none of them jumped to go first, and all eyes turned to Renji.
Renji took a deep breath, steadied himself, and fixed a determined gaze on the distant target.
He raised his right hand, pointed a finger at the target, gripped his right wrist with his left hand, settled into a horse stance, and began the incantation.
“Silver that rends the sky, refusal in an instant, reach the far shore!” “Hadō #4, Byakurai!” Kzzt!
A streak of silver light shot from his fingertip and struck the target instantly, black smoke billowing up.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t quite hit dead center.
He let out a heavy breath.
For him, just managing to trigger the spell and land it on the target at all was already a win.
Ounahara, clipboard in hand, wrote “Pass” next to Renji’s name.
Kira Izuru extended a finger too.
“Hadō #4, Byakurai.” He watched his own Byakurai punch clean through the center of his target and couldn’t help smiling.
Ounahara wrote “Excellent” next to his name.
Then it was Momo’s turn.
She unhooked a length of steel-forged rope from her waist, a throwing dart tied to one end.
She gripped the rope in her right hand and spun it around and around, like the blades of a fan.
The instant it reached top speed, she let go, and the dart shot toward the target, burying itself dead center.
“No way.
Don’t tell me Peach has already learned a higher-numbered Hadō spell?” Renji’s eyes went wide.
Kira said quietly with a smile, “Looks like she really has.” Momo extended two fingers and ran them along the chain at the end of the steel rope, reciting as she did.
“Coil, threads of formless flame, like a spider crawling through the void, at the instant of contact, bring down the curtain of ruinous fire.” “Race on, dragon vein, from fingertip to blade’s edge, coiling purple lightning, become chains that devour the enemy!” “Hadō #11, Chained Lightning.” Boom!
A bolt of golden-yellow lightning formed at her fingertip, climbing along the steel chain and quickly reaching the dart’s position, wrapping the entire target.
In a matter of moments, the whole target had burned down to ash.
Momo let out a heavy breath of relief.
“That’s amazing, Peach!” Rukia called out.
Ounahara let out an admiring remark of his own.
“Hadō number eleven.
Not bad at all.” He gave his brush a flourish and wrote “Excellent, mid-tier.” Rukia stood with her hands on her hips, waited until every eye in the group had turned to her, then finally reached both hands forward.
Her dark eyes locked onto the distant target, and she began the incantation.
“O sovereign, mask of flesh and blood, all creation, take wing, crowned in that which humankind has named.” “No way.
Since when could Rukia…” Renji’s eyes went wide.
The highest-numbered Kidō spell taught at the academy only went up to forty.
And the spell his friend Rukia had just started reciting was already past thirty.
This was…
“Scorching heat and strife, surging waves upon the sea, advance southward.” “Hadō #31, Shakkahō.” A dense, spherical mass of red Reishi formed in front of Rukia’s palm.
The moment she finished the incantation, it went off with a thunderous crack, the red projectile launching straight at the target ahead.
BOOM!
The target was obliterated outright by the Shakkahō, offering no resistance whatsoever.
After tearing through the target, the blast punched a massive hole clean through the surrounding wall, dust and debris flying everywhere.
“Rukia, that’s amazing!” Momo rushed over, clapping her hands over and over.
“Seriously impressive.” Kira added, smiling.
“How is that possible?” Ounahara hurried over, coming to stand beside Rukia, asking urgently: “When did you learn Hadō thirty-one, Shakkahō?” Rukia planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin.
“Just yesterday, actually.” “Not bad.
Very not bad.” Ounahara nodded happily and scrawled “Excellent, top-tier” in his notebook.
Then he turned to Moriyasu, brimming with anticipation.
Over the past month of teaching, Ounahara had, of course, noticed this small, exceptionally high-performing group, and Moriyasu Tokoyo at the center of it.
If a truly outstanding student turned up, his bonus for the month would at least double.
With that thought in mind, he stood there grinning, watching Moriyasu along with the others, waiting quietly.
Moriyasu raised his right hand level, finger pointed skyward, and began the incantation slowly.
“O sovereign, mask of flesh and blood, all creation takes wing, crowned in that which proves humanity.” “What?
Don’t tell me you know Hadō thirty-one too?
But your spiritual power rank is only fourteen!” Renji exclaimed.
Rukia being able to cast something as high-numbered as Shakkahō came entirely from her own peak-level rank eleven spiritual power.
If your Reishi reserves weren’t up to it, trying to cast a high-numbered Kidō spell was just asking to get yourself killed.
But Moriyasu only had rank fourteen spiritual power.
How could he possibly cast Shakkahō?
Just then, Moriyasu turned his head toward Renji with a smile.
“Who said I was casting Shakkahō?
Listen closely, Red Baboon.” “Huh?” Renji’s mouth fell open, and he froze on the spot.
“Wait, you can interrupt an incantation partway through?” Momo blurted out, stunned.
Kira’s mouth hung open, completely at a loss for words.
He turned to look at Ounahara beside him, only to find the teacher standing there just as slack-jawed and frozen.
Rukia crossed her arms, her expression turning serious.
“Moriyasu here can not only cut off an incantation and pick it back up, he’s got even stranger ways of using Kidō than that.” Momo was just about to ask what she meant by “stranger ways.” Moriyasu picked the incantation back up right where he’d left off.
“Truth and restraint, standing on the self-mending wall of dreams with claw and fang alone.” “Hadō #33, Sōkatsui.” A ball of pale blue flame no bigger than a ping-pong ball shot out with a sharp whoosh, striking the distant target and burning it down to nothing.
Everyone around them stood there slack-jawed, eyes bulging, unable to say a word.
A moment later, Ounahara let out a long sigh.
“Pulling off Hadō thirty-three through sheer, refined Reishi control alone, that’s already remarkable.
Even if it only came out to about a twentieth of Sōkatsui’s real power, that’s still not bad at all.” He wrote “Excellent, top-tier” in his notebook as he said it, shaking his head slightly, and walked off with a sigh.