Chapter 7

His name was Sōsuke Aizen.

Just then.

Ding!

Along with the bell, a Reiatsu both of them knew well reached the auditorium.

"Hm?"

"Live-Blade Match."

A Soul Reaper's lifespan would continue to lengthen as their Reiatsu grew stronger. Once their Reiatsu passed a certain threshold, the aging of their appearance and body would also slow dramatically.

Ika and Shinji Hirako might not have looked old, but both were already close to a hundred. Unless they came from noble families, Soul Reapers were almost all students taught at Shin'ō Academy, so it was only natural for them to be familiar with Live-Blade Matches.

"This Reiatsu..."

"It's Komatsuzuru."

While Ika was still sensing it with her eyes closed, Shinji Hirako had already blurted out the name.

The Fifth Division's primary duty was rescue, and its average skill at sensing Reiatsu was second only to the Eighth Division's. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Ika, who mainly handled internal affairs and rarely went out on assignments, was not very good at sensing it—

That assignment was also a way for her younger brother, the captain, to protect her.

Soul Reapers generally had long natural lifespans, and Shin'ō Academy graduated far more than a hundred students every year. Yet even after a full thousand years of development, the Gotei 13 had only a meager six thousand Soul Reapers. Its casualty rate was easy to imagine.

"Looks like she's presiding over the Live-Blade Match."

Shinji Hirako knew Mutsuki Shōkaku, a fellow member and Seated Officer of the Fifth Division, quite well... He had even personally shared plenty of his experience with her.

"We're taking a break anyway, Shinji. Why don't you find time to go take a look?"

Without realizing it, Ika had switched back to the way she used to address him.

"...All right."

He had nothing else to do anyway.

Compared with facing graduates with endless questions, Shinji Hirako also thought a Live-Blade Match, which he hadn't seen in a long time, sounded more interesting.

Upper volume: 005, I haven't even tried yet

"I'll ask one last time."

At the central judge's stand in the Shin'ō Grand Training Ground, Mutsuki Shōkaku looked at Haruto and Munechika, who had already taken their places on opposite sides of the platform, and called out:

"In a Live-Blade Match, life and death are your own responsibility... Are you sure you want to begin?"

This was a required part of the procedure for a Live-Blade Match, as well as a rule Shigekuni Yamamoto had established when he first founded Shin'ō Academy. It wasn't that students were required to risk their lives, but that they should understand the price of acting on impulse.

"Do you even need to ask?"

Munechika gripped his sword hilt with one hand and answered without turning his head, his eyes fixed on Haruto.

"I'm sure."

Haruto's response was much calmer.

That was just his nature. The more a situation called for him to be serious, the calmer he became.

He was the type who excelled in exams.

"Then."

Mutsuki Shōkaku's gaze lingered on each of them for a moment. Once she had confirmed that both were ready to fight—

"A Live-Blade Match—"

Mutsuki's arm sliced downward like a blade.

"Begin!!"

As her voice rang out, Mitarai, standing directly opposite the judge's stand, likewise began chanting loudly:

"Bakudō #39: Enkōsen!"

A nearly transparent circular shield silently spread outward from Mitarai, quickly separating the entire training ground's inner arena from the outside.

"Phew."

Mitarai wiped the sweat from his brow and rose from one knee.

His Enkōsen was nothing like the basic version taught in textbooks. For the modified version to cover such a large area, he had undoubtedly drawn on experience with Bakudō #73, Tōzanshō. Mitarai's Kidō ability was indeed worthy of his seat.

Besides, a defensive Bakudō was not a strict requirement for a Live-Blade Match. However, because it had been so long since the last public contest, far more students had come to observe, and far more squad members had come to watch the show, than originally expected.

He had no choice but to take the precaution.

Mitarai didn't think a fight between two students could cause much of a commotion, but quite a few first-years who had only just enrolled were seated close to the arena. Even a stray Shakkahō could cause casualties if someone was careless.

So Mitarai provided as much protection as he could. After all, he was the person primarily responsible for the Shin'ō Grand Training Ground.

On top of that, he had happened to spot several lieutenants and high-ranking Seated Officers, so this was also a chance to show his face in front of his colleagues (and superior: specifically, Shinji Hirako).

In any case.

The preparations for the fight were complete. Next came—

"O sovereign!"

Munechika, whose hand had just been pressed tightly against his sword hilt, did not draw his sword and charge straight at Haruto. Instead, he dropped his body low in a charging stance, his right arm stretched straight out and aimed at Haruto in the distance.

"Kidō?"

Haruto didn't draw his sword either.

His Zanjutsu skills were inferior to Munechika's in the first place, so of course there was no need to fight him using that.

But Haruto hadn't expected Munechika to start chanting a Hadō on the spot instead of closing the distance. The two knew each other fairly well, and while Munechika was capable of earning an A in Kidō, the gap between him and Haruto in that field was even greater than the gap between their Zanjutsu skills.

That was right.

He was the one who had questioned Haruto during the earlier assessment, and he was also the one being cautious in their actual fight... This wasn't some noble's scheming, but a basic quality every warrior should possess.

"Mask of flesh and blood, all creation, flutter of wings, that which bears the name of humanity!"

Munechika pressed his left palm against the inside of his right elbow.

The light and heat of flames began to illuminate one side of the training ground.

"Shakkahō."

Haruto made the judgment immediately.

Munechika's fundamentals in Kidō were solid. In less than two seconds, he had completed the first half of the chant.

"...No threat."

As the standard Kidō used in the assessment, the effect an A-grade Shakkahō could produce was something Haruto already knew perfectly well.

He didn't even need to wait for Munechika to finish chanting. He could use a Byakurai with the chant omitted to pierce straight through the spherical flame formed by Shakkahō and punch a hole in Munechika while he was at it... The location would depend on how prepared his opponent was.

However.

Haruto didn't use Byakurai as planned.

Munechika can't be unaware of that. Even if he only suspected it before, he must know by now after seeing my Byakurai.

Then...

Haruto stared at the flames rapidly gathering in Munechika's palm.

It's a trap.

The fingers of his naturally lowered right hand curled in one after another, leaving only the index finger extended on the outside. Reiatsu silently gathered at its tip.

At the same time.

Seeing that Haruto hadn't drawn his sword and charged, Munechika paused his chant for a brief instant before suddenly speeding up further:

"Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams, stand but slightly!"

"!!"

The chant had changed.

Just as I thought.

It wasn't Shakkahō.

Hadō numbers thirty-one, thirty-two, and thirty-three had consecutive numbers and exactly the same first half to their chants. Compared to the balanced Shakkahō, number thirty-two, Ōkasen, had the greatest destructive power of the three, while number thirty-three, Sōkatsui, was the fastest.

Shakkahō was relatively easy to dodge, but if it were Sōkatsui instead, Haruto would definitely have fallen for Munechika's plan if he had rashly closed the distance.

"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"

Whoosh!

His joined palms suddenly came apart, his fingers pointing at his opponent in an irregular fan as though reaching for something.

Immediately afterward.

A pillar of blue-white fire erupted from Munechika's palm, speeding toward Haruto!

If Shakkahō's fireball was Greymon's Mega Flame, then Sōkatsui was Charizard's Flamethrower: the pillar of fire, a dozen centimeters across, crossed half the training ground in just one second and would strike its target squarely in the second that remained.

Haruto made his judgment the instant Sōkatsui was fired:

He couldn't stop this with one finger alone. His middle finger, which he had just curled in, swiftly joined his index finger; the Reiatsu at their tips devoured and fused with each other, while his whisper-quiet chant was completely drowned out by the roar of the flames:

"Hadō #1."

He swept his two extended fingers diagonally from left to right, "slashing" across Sōkatsui's path just in time—

"Shō!"

Bang!

The intersecting Reiatsu kicked up a gust that blew Haruto's neat hair into disarray.

The blue-white pillar of fire created by Sōkatsui was deflected by Haruto's finger at an angle of nearly ninety degrees, then slammed straight into the Enkōsen Mitarai had set up in advance!

Boom!!

Firelight burst outward.

The numbers thirty-three and thirty-nine were not far apart, but Munechika's skill could not compare with that of a high-ranking Seated Officer like Mitarai.

The shockwave and intense heat unleashed by the Hadō were entirely contained within the arena by Enkōsen.

But the brilliant light of Sōkatsui still left a deep impression on the lower-year students watching the fight.

And...

So did Haruto's graceful, effortless movement of his finger.

"Hey, hey!"

"What was that move just now?"

For prospective students who were about to enter Shin'ō Academy, coming to campus early to watch the graduates' exams was very important for broadening their horizons.

But.

For the students in the stands who had found their seats well in advance, their horizons had been broadened rather a lot this year.

There might well be a few more people with lofty ambitions and little ability in the future.

"Let me see..."

"Found it, Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"

A student with thick glasses immediately opened a brand-new textbook he had only recently received, hoping to identify the corresponding Hadō from Munechika's rather unclear chant... using the hand-drawn illustrations alone. For safety's sake, the stands were quite some distance from the inner arena, and the roaring flames had drowned out some of the sound. For prospective students who had yet to formally study Kidō, hearing the last part of Munechika's chant clearly was no easy task.

"Of course I know what Sōkatsui is!"

The student who had asked the question spoke in dissatisfaction.