Ten days later

Inside the Second Division barracks, Cilian sat at his desk with a thick stack of logs piled before him.

It was the tenth day since he had returned to the Seireitei.

Over those ten days, he had combed through every Training Corps activity log from the time he was ordered to recuperate onward. Page by page, line by line, he had reviewed every mission record, every piece of training feedback, and every squad member's evaluation.

Outside the window, sunlight had shone from morning until noon, then gradually tilted westward.

Cilian turned the final page, closed the log, and leaned back in his chair, his one eye narrowing slightly.

The Training Corps' operating guidelines and training policies were still being implemented according to the plan he had laid out before his recuperation. He had no complaints about that. Though the abilities of the people under him varied, at least they had not taken it upon themselves to change things.

But—

Cilian tapped his fingers lightly on the desk.

The training progress of the reserve forces for each division was more than a little slower than when he had personally led them.

The problem was not with the plan, but with the standards used to carry it out. The instructors who had taken over had lowered those standards without even realizing it.

"Phew—"

Cilian let out a breath, stood up, and left the barracks:

I'll make another round of the Training Ground. Those promising recruits still need more training.

Cilian walked down the path to the Training Ground.

Quite a few Second Division members were coming and going through the corridor, but everyone who saw him instantly stiffened at attention and saluted, as though struck by a binding spell.

"Sixth Seat Cilian!"

"Hello, Sixth Seat!"

"Instructor Cilian!"

Cilian nodded slightly without breaking stride.

Over the past ten days, he had put nearly every Second Division member with training assignments through the wringer. Some had even gone through it more than once.

Cilian's strictness and high standards were well known throughout the Second Division. But the ten days since he had returned with his body restored had taught everyone all over again what "strict" and "standards" meant.

A squad member who had been put through training just yesterday passed nearby. When he saw Cilian, he instinctively shrank back, then came to his senses and hurriedly saluted.

Cilian glanced at him.

The squad member's legs visibly trembled.

Cilian looked away and continued on.

Just then, heavy footsteps sounded ahead. A moment later, a round figure emerged from around the corner and came straight up to Cilian.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda.

Lieutenant of the Second Division.

In a unit like the Second Division, a fat man stood out, and an enormous fat man even more so. A build like his was ill-suited to Hakuda and Shunpo, and fell completely outside the Second Division's selection criteria. Yet such a man had become its lieutenant, so surely he must have had some exceptional quality...

"Sixth Seat Cilian!"

Marechiyo Ōmaeda straightened up, doing his best to assume the bearing of a lieutenant as he looked down at Cilian from his great height and bulk.

Cilian looked at him without speaking.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda grew a little uneasy under his gaze, but still puffed out his chest.

"Sixth Seat Cilian, in my capacity as lieutenant of the Second Division, I order you to—"

"Hmm?"

Cilian's voice was flat, betraying no emotion.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda's confidence immediately faltered, but he pressed on anyway. "I order you to... get some proper rest!"

Cilian's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"According to the message from the captain, Sixth Seat Cilian submitted a leave request to the captain and was allowed to return to the barracks while on leave. If you're on leave, you should be resting properly. What are you doing running off to the Training Ground every day?"

Cilian looked at him, a complicated emotion flashing through his eye.

"Marechiyo Ōmaeda?"

"Marechiyo Ōmaeda?"

Cilian took a step forward.

"What a coincidence, Lieutenant. I remember teaching a student with exactly the same name as you. That student had average Reiatsu, average stamina, and fighting skills that were downright painful to watch. I had just been ordered to become captain of the Training Corps back then, and I brought him along little by little. But I had only just started teaching full-time, and looking back now, I taught him many things rather crudely..." As he spoke, Cilian glanced at Marechiyo Ōmaeda's enormous belly, his eye like a knife ready to carve all that flesh away.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda's confidence weakened further. He rubbed his belly as sweat began to soak through his clothes. "How could that be? How could your teaching ever be crude, Instructor Cilian? Everyone you taught benefited tremendously, hahaha... It's just...

"Ah!... Ah!..."

Cilian took another step forward, seized a handful of Marechiyo Ōmaeda's belly, and pulled it up before his eyes, making him yelp and holler.

Cilian stared darkly at the lump of flesh in his hand. "I used to tell you that you could make up for your lack of talent in combat in other areas, but I never told you to make up for it with something like this. Ever since the captain promoted you to lieutenant, I've been wondering why it's become harder and harder to see you. I thought you were busy after your promotion, but it turns out you've been busy making up for it with this?"

Feeling Cilian's grip tighten, Marechiyo Ōmaeda hurried to explain. "N-no, Instructor, I really have been studying strategy and intelligence analysis seriously! And all these years, I've managed the logistics for the entire Second Division. I've never slacked off, Instructor!"

"Then what's this lump? I never told you to let yourself go this far!"

Marechiyo Ōmaeda's legs went weak. It was an instinctive reaction that rose from his very bones when facing his old instructor. At that moment, all the fear of being under Cilian's thumb came flooding back.

"I-Instructor... I-I was wrong..."

Cilian looked at him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

"I used to be proud that you were the only lieutenant to rise from the Rien Corps since the Second Division was founded." Cilian let go of the piece of fat that looked as though it could practically be squeezed for oil. "You're really making me proud now, aren't you? Hmm?"

Seeing Cilian's tone soften somewhat, Marechiyo Ōmaeda tried to make peace. "Instructor, don't worry. I'll definitely slim down, definitely..."

Considering that Marechiyo Ōmaeda had handled intelligence analysis and logistics for the entire division as its lieutenant for so many years, Cilian decided to let him off and asked, "I doubt you would have dared show yourself before me looking like this otherwise. Speak. What are the captain's orders?"

Seeing that Cilian intended to let the matter rest for now, Marechiyo Ōmaeda hurriedly spilled everything. "The captain told me to find a way to make you rest! You had fifteen days of leave in total, and you have five days left. Could you please just get some proper rest?"

Seeing that Cilian said nothing, Marechiyo Ōmaeda continued, "Besides, you've already worked the squad members half to death these past ten days! If they keep training, they'll be ruined! You should see the way they look at you now—it's like they've seen a ghost!"

Cilian's eyebrow rose slightly.

"You might not have noticed it yourself, but all of us under you have seen it. As soon as you came back, the entire Second Division's training intensity more than tripled! A few of the little brats in the reserves are even shouting 'spare me' in their sleep now!"

Cilian fell silent.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda pressed his advantage and resorted to pestering him outright. "Instructor, take pity on me. The captain said that if you don't rest, she'll punish me! Think about it: I'm a lieutenant, and if the captain punishes me in public, I'll lose so much face! How am I supposed to carry on in the division after that?"

As he spoke, he leaned closer. "And you need to pay some attention to the situation over there too. That kid called Yexing Hu—according to the captain's guess, his Zanpakuto's abilities seem to be deeply tied to Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō. The general training routines for the squad members here have already been established and won't change much, but that kid over there is different! I'll bring you the information the captain sent later. You can look it over when you have time. The captain is still teaching him Kidō, so by the time you go back in five days, he might be ready for you to train."

Cilian looked at him pestering away, a trace of helplessness flashing through his eye.

"All right."

Marechiyo Ōmaeda's eyes lit up.

"You agree?"

Cilian did not answer. He simply turned and walked back, saying as he went, "Marechiyo Ōmaeda."

"Yes!"

"Remember to bring the information over later."

Marechiyo Ōmaeda chuckled, and Cilian continued walking.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda's voice came from behind him. "Instructor Cilian, congratulations on your recovery."

Without turning around, Cilian waved and disappeared into the distance.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda and the Second Division members hiding throughout the passageway all let out long breaths. Cilian had really put them through a lot.

Bamboo Creek Plain.

Inside the Kidō Practice Room, Hu tilted his chair back toward the sunlight and stretched, the bones all over his body cracking.

"I finally memorized it all! It took this long even in Concentration. I really can't imagine how long it would have taken without it."

Fon Shaoling raised her head, a hint of a smile in her golden eyes.

"All right, Ye Xing, that's enough dry theory. Next, we'll focus on hands-on practice."

Fon Shaoling pulled Hu over to the lectern and pressed a button beside it. "Practical lessons start today."

All the wooden compartments that had folded out from the walls retracted, and the columns of books that had risen from the floor descended and disappeared. In their place, an open circular area flipped into view in the center of the room. Targets of various shapes rose and fell intermittently around its outer edge, while protrusions and depressions appeared in the surrounding walls from time to time, changing constantly with no pattern at all.

"The Training Room has two modes," Fon Shaoling said, walking to the center of the room. "Theory Mode and Practice Mode. What you just saw was Theory Mode."

She crouched and pressed a spot on the floor.

Click.

The circular area began to emit a faint blue glow.

"Now it's in Practice Mode."

Hu's eyes widened.

The Reishi concentration throughout the room increased noticeably in that instant. He could feel the flowing Reishi surging in from every direction and gathering in the open space.

Fon Shaoling stood up and looked at him.

"In ten days, you've memorized all the theory you needed to. Next—"

She raised her hand and extended her index finger.

"Let me see how much you can do, Ye Xing. I've just taught you all the incantations for Hadō and Bakudō up to Sequence Ten as well. Now, after I call out a number, use the corresponding Kidō immediately. Even if you can't get it to work, recite the corresponding incantation to help you remember it."

"Let's begin."

"Hadō #4."

Hu raised his right hand and extended his index finger.

Reishi began gathering at his fingertip.

He could feel the Reishi flowing, gathering, compressing, and spinning at his fingertip. It was a strange sensation, different from using Reishi in battle—finer, more controllable, more like weaving something.

"O sovereign—"

He began to chant.

"Mask of flesh and blood, wings of all creation, bearer of the name of man—"

The Reishi spun faster and faster at his fingertip, its blue light growing brighter.

"Truth and temperance, set your meager feet upon the swamp of lightning that grants no entry—"

A faint prickling sensation came from his fingertip.

"Hadō #4—"

He took a deep breath.

"Byakurai!"

The blue light at his fingertip erupted.

A slender bolt of blue lightning shot from his finger, tore through the air, and struck the wall five meters away.

"Crack!"

The sound was not loud, but it was crisp.

A thumb-sized scorch mark was left on the wall.

Hu looked at the scorch mark, then at the wisp of smoke rising from his finger.

Fon Shaoling walked over to the wall, examined the scorch mark, and nodded.

"I didn't expect you to succeed on your first try. Although the deviation was severe, being able to hit with it at all shows considerable talent. Well done."

"Deviation?" He looked up. "But I wasn't aiming at anything."

Fon Shaoling pointed to a blue spot of light beside the scorch mark. "The area Ye Xing is standing in has formulas engraved on it that can record the theoretical point of impact when Kidō is released. Basically, the energy constructs or plasma generated by most Kidō travel in a straight line, but since Kidō passes through the soul, there will inevitably be some deviation due to the limbs, vision, and the quality of one's Reiatsu. That spot of light is the point of impact the formulas beneath your feet inferred by recording where your finger and gaze were directed." After explaining, Fon Shaoling extended her arm. The distance between the blue spot and the scorch mark was more than enough for her to hold it straight out to the side. She looked at Hu with a broad smile.

The corner of Hu's eye twitched. He had a feeling Fon Shaoling was growing livelier and livelier, a far cry from the picture of traditional feminine grace she had presented when they first met, though she was still very cute...

"It looks like I still have a lot to learn, Instructor Shaoling."

Fon Shaoling ran over and shook her head. "No, Ye Xing, achieving this on your first try shows considerable talent. Of the four Soul Reaper arts, Kidō is the hardest to learn. The same Kidō can be completely different in the hands of different Soul Reapers. Constructing energy forms or plasma from Reishi requires extremely precise Reishi manipulation and an understanding of what you're constructing. I was prepared for you not to be able to cast a single Kidō today."

Hearing Fon Shaoling's reassurance, Hu felt much more at ease.

"Besides, Ye Xing, your assessment has no accuracy requirement at all, so it's perfectly fine that you aren't accurate right now."

"Then let's continue. For now, let's focus on whether you can successfully cast all twenty Kidō!"

Hu nodded.

Then Fon Shaoling's voice rang out in the Training Room.

"Next, Bakudō number one..."

Seireitei • Second Division barracks

When Cilian returned to his room, a document was already waiting on his desk.

Marechiyo Ōmaeda had certainly been quick.

He sat down, opened the document, and read through it page by page.

"Yexing Hu—analysis of Zanpakuto 'Jiku'a' abilities (as of D15)"

"Confirmed ability: a cutting ability capable of affecting space (note: the nature of its power has not been confirmed)"

"Combat techniques used:

Judgment Cut (self-named), Beowulf (self-named)"

"To be confirmed: Phantom Blade (temporarily difficult to confirm, as he has not completed Kidō training)"

Cilian began to recall what he had seen.

He had seen the so-called Judgment Cut and Beowulf. Both were combat techniques with distinctive styles. As for Phantom Blade, the document said it was still being learned; perhaps it was another special combat technique. He had seen combat techniques powered by Kidō before. Some wielders of Kidō-type Zanpakuto often possessed similar combat techniques, most of their abilities bizarre and exceptionally strange. As for the corresponding training method...

"As I thought, it's hard to decide without seeing it for myself..." He closed the document, leaned back in his chair, and looked out the window.