Gods and Demons

Ganju was still worried that Dōsan would ask for help. His body, as stocky as a young boar's, huddled in a corner, and he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

To make it convincing, Ganju even let out a soft snore.

From where Ganju could see, Dōsan had only tried chanting once. After failing, he stood there stiffly, lost in thought.

Dōsan happened to have his back to Ganju, so Ganju couldn't see his expression.

He made no move at all, and didn't even seem inclined to ask Ganju for help.

Ganju began to wonder, and gradually felt a little ashamed.

Was he putting too much pressure on Dōsan?

He himself had studied Kidō for decades without mastering it, and now he was expecting a brat like Dōsan to figure it out for himself without being taught a single trick?

Ganju apologized inwardly and thought that, after a little longer, he would ask his sister to come teach Dōsan personally, as long as Dōsan asked.

"Who are you?"

Still, there was no answer.

Dōsan, still searching for the source of the voice in the otherworldly space, called out loudly when he sensed no danger.

There was no reply.

Dōsan didn't let down his guard. He reached out and grasped at the white mist, but it slipped through his fingers.

[Calling...]

There it was again. The voice was neither male nor female, and it sounded like a call from far away.

This time, however, the voice began to grow indistinct. Dōsan shook his head, and soon afterward, the world suddenly began to spin.

Dōsan cried out, one white eyebrow lifting. When he looked again, he found himself back at the training ground, and some kind of aura was rising around him.

"Gray mist?"

Dōsan knitted his white brows. He felt terrible mentally and couldn't be sure whether it had been an illusion.

But in the instant he came to, he really had seen a thin layer of gray mist around him—or rather, his own distinctive Spiritual Pressure.

Dōsan shook his head, trying to get to the truth.

He really had been in a strange world just now, and he had heard someone calling him.

What on earth was that...

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Dōsan raised a finger and held it level before his eyes. He had a peculiar feeling.

Acting on the impulse, Dōsan extended his finger. Without even chanting, he could feel a low-level Kidō spell ready to burst from his fingertip.

"Bakudō #1: Sai."

Dōsan released the Kidō without an incantation. When he saw its target, he cried out inwardly, This is bad!

Without realizing it, he had cast Kidō at Ganju.

Little did he know, Ganju was even more surprised.

Lying there pretending to sleep, Ganju had watched Dōsan Hanyū struggle in frustration, then suddenly go still as if deep in thought.

He had been like that for several minutes!

Ganju had thought Dōsan had given up and wanted to ask him for help. Unable to come up with an excuse to brush him off, Ganju could only pretend to sleep. But who could have imagined that Dōsan would actually cast Sai?

And the strength of this Kidō?

Lying bound in the corner, Ganju was somewhat shaken. He struggled repeatedly, but simply couldn't break free of this mere Bakudō #1!

The Kidō Dōsan Hanyū had cast without an incantation was actually of higher quality than his own.

Earlier, Dōsan had learned the basics of the Shiba Clan's secret technique in thirty minutes.

That was actually all right. His eldest sister, Kūkaku, had managed it as soon as she began training her Spiritual Pressure.

There was also precedent for learning the basics of Shunpo in twenty minutes.

Yoruichi Shihōin, the Shihoin family's Shunpo genius, had grasped Shunpo on her own without any foundation. She had become famous throughout Soul Society for it and was known as the Flash Goddess.

But it had been less than ten minutes at most since he had started teaching Dōsan Kidō.

He had grasped Kidō in ten minutes?

Was it possible that he himself wasn't the abnormal one?

Watching Dōsan bow repeatedly and apologize before him, Ganju struggled a couple more times and broke free of Sai.

Looking at Dōsan's "harmless" appearance, Ganju probed uncertainly, "Have you really never had any Spiritual Power training?"

Ganju's pride had been trampled to pieces, but easygoing as he usually was, he felt no envy or jealousy. He had simply become interested in this brat he had been teaching for less than an hour.

Of course he had to tell the truth.

Honesty was part of a person's character, and the same went for their soul.

Dōsan nodded lightly. As far as training time went, he really had only learned from Aunt Rangiku for less than ten minutes before this.

"Next is the turning cycle that obliterates dust, Hadō #1: Shō!"

As before, Ganju unleashed an attack of Spiritual Pressure.

But this time, Dōsan Hanyū's eyes seemed able to analyze it on their own.

Dōsan hesitated a little as he raised his hand. Unlike with Shō last time, he got the feeling just from seeing Ganju raise his hand.

I can cast it, and very easily.

Dōsan Hanyū cautiously extended a finger, copying Isshin Shiba's stance, and likewise called out softly without the release phrase, "Hadō #1: Shō."

Others, before learning to walk, would at most want to run. But Dōsan Hanyū had flown into the sky just as he was about to learn to crawl.

And fly he did.

I've always used the fullest extent of my imagination to gauge those monsters, but even I never expected, or believed, they could be this brutal.

This time, Ganju didn't pull any more faces. It's all good. I can take it. Give me everything you've got!

With no more hopes of getting lucky, Ganju numbly taught him one spell after another.

"Hadō #4: Byakurai."

"Hadō #11: Tsuzuri Raiden."

"Hadō #21: Red Flame Sai!"

One Hadō and Bakudō after another—whenever Ganju cast one, Dōsan cast it just as easily, as though reproducing it.

No, reproducing it would mean it was exactly the same.

Dōsan Hanyū could even dispense with the incantations, and his Kidō was more refined and powerful than Ganju's.

Even when they reached intermediate Kidō capable of killing a Seated Officer, Dōsan learned it at a glance, and its quality was still far above Ganju's.

Ganju couldn't take it anymore.

His eyes were vacant and the corners of his mouth twitched constantly. "That's the highest-level Hadō I know. After this, there's nothing more I can teach you."

"O sovereign! Mask of flesh and blood, all things, flutter of wings, you who bear the name of man! Scorching heat and strife, the sea barrier surges southward—march forward!"

Ganju cast Hadō #31: Shakkahō, a classic spell commonly used among Soul Reapers, neither high nor low in the Kidō sequence.

For Seated Officers without a talent for Kidō, it was the intermediate spell they had mastered most proficiently.

More importantly, Shakkahō was extremely powerful. Even a Seated Officer couldn't withstand a direct hit.

Ganju had never been good at Kidō, and now, with his mind unsettled, the fiery red sphere in his hand trembled and swelled, gradually showing signs of slipping out of his control.

"This is bad!"

With a boom, the training ground's sliding door shuddered violently from the blast, and a tremendous Spiritual Pressure began to rage outward.

Dōsan used Shunpo to dodge into a corner.

As the explosion cleared, before Dōsan could react, a flash of fiery red burst through the door and slammed into him, ball and all, sending Dōsan Hanyū flying.

"Brat! Are you trying to blow this place up on your very first day?"