Elegant.
So elegant!
A natural-born member of the Kido Corps!
Hikifune Tessai's eyes lit up as if he were admiring a peerless work of art.
In all his years teaching at the Spiritual Arts Academy, he had seen countless geniuses.
Some had extraordinary talent for Kido, some were born with exceptionally strong Reiatsu, and some advanced at incredible speed...
But few were like Aizen.
His observations of the battlefield were meticulous, and every Kido attack and defense was perfectly judged.
Even his Reiatsu output was controlled with exceptional precision. Any less, and his attacks would lack power; any more, and he would be wasting it.
With near-perfect Shunpo footwork, Aizen strolled through the thunderous explosions with effortless ease, showing no sign of strain.
Judging solely by his overall performance in this Kido spar, Aizen had reached perfection.
Even if Tessai himself took the field at the same Reiatsu level, he could not have done any better.
If there was one flaw to point out...
It was that his Reiatsu was too weak. Among the elite students in Class One, it was only average.
What a pity. What a pity.
If a genius like him had just a little more Reiatsu, he would truly have no shortcomings.
Behind his narrow lenses, regret showed in Hikifune Tessai's eyes.
However...
When he turned his attention to the other student, the corner of his mouth twitched, and his eye began to twitch violently.
The contrast with Aizen could not have been more striking.
Kisaragi Akira had tossed every lesson he had ever taught out the window. He had no concept of conserving Reiatsu; his sole strategy was to unleash everything he had.
His maniacal laughter mingled with the chanting of Kido incantations, turning the Kido Barrier into a spectacle unlike anything seen before.
Silver lightning surged violently, darting about at incredible speed like a ghost.
Red and yellow flames burst one after another, roaring deafeningly.
Howling gusts of wind blasted in every direction. Beneath the ceaseless rumble, wave after wave of air rippled outward.
As he watched Hado and Bakudo come hurtling toward him without pause, a helpless look flashed through Aizen's eyes.
Because he spent so much time with Kisaragi Akira, he knew the limits of Akira's Reiatsu and abilities very well.
But only when they began their spar did he realize how wildly wrong his earlier assumptions had been.
Kisaragi Akira simply could not be judged by appearances.
His Reiatsu might seem to be at the level of a Seated Officer, but his actual outburst was no weaker than that of an ordinary Shinigami lieutenant.
And there was something abnormal about the way he fought.
No, downright bizarre.
So bizarre that it defied all reason!
Not only was the power of his Kido extraordinary, but the sheer number of spells was absurd.
Even though they were all low-level Kido, the barrage was enough to make anyone's scalp tingle.
Aizen had meant to use this opportunity to humble Kisaragi Akira and teach him that there was always someone stronger, so he might be a little more low-key in the future, like Aizen himself.
But at this rate, after just a few more rounds of Kido bombardment, Aizen would be the first one forced to withdraw.
"Hahaha, Sosuke, have you grasped the soul of my mage yet?"
Kisaragi Akira laughed wildly. "A weakling like you could never understand the essence of being a mage."
"Try out my latest Hado!"
Kisaragi Akira brought his hands together. A huge cloud of scarlet smoke erupted beneath his feet, instantly filling the Kido Barrier and rapidly spreading across everything in sight.
With the smoke covering such a wide area, there was nowhere for Aizen to dodge. He could only watch as the red haze swallowed him whole.
Once the spectators' view was completely obscured, something unexpected happened.
A piercing chorus of birdlike cries rang out. Blinding white light flared within the smoke as brilliant bolts of lightning crisscrossed, weaving into a net that engulfed the barrier!
It was the ultimate fusion made possible by Aizen's research: the Kido patterns etched into the spells.
Using only the Reiatsu required for Red Smoke Escape, it could unleash the destructive power of a large-scale Hado.
Hikifune Tessai stared at the smoke that had suddenly engulfed the area, a puzzled look in his eyes.
But just as he prepared to stop the spar, crackling arcs of electricity reached him.
"Wait..."
The moment he realized what was happening, his heart skipped a beat. His already narrow pupils shrank to pinpricks.
In the next instant, dazzling light reached its zenith within the Kido Barrier.
In the dojo, the students witnessed how the sun was formed.
Boom!!
In a flash, wild thunder erupted. Like a storm cloud compressed to its very limit, it unleashed an endless torrent of white lightning.
As if plowing through the earth, Byakurai took on solid form amid the red haze, bursting from the mist and spreading to consume the entire barrier. Countless blackened scorch marks were left across the sturdy floor.
The students stared at the unfamiliar sight, dumbfounded.
They couldn't understand what made up this Kido spell, or why such fierce currents of lightning were mixed into Kisaragi Akira's Red Smoke Escape.
Crack—
A tearing sound rang out as the violent arcs of electricity ripped a hole in the outermost Kido Barrier.
A single Byakurai might not be very powerful, but when countless bolts piled together and were linked by a medium...
Their destructive power underwent a qualitative change.
Aizen stared in astonishment at the scene before him. The defensive barrier Hikifune Tessai had given him was now rapidly disintegrating.
This was not how he had expected things to go.
He had thought Kisaragi Akira would cast a higher-level Kido, or outright break the rules of the spar and resort to hand-to-hand combat to demonstrate his so-called mage's soul.
He had never imagined Akira had already perfectly fused the etched Kido patterns, producing an effect that shattered conventional understanding.
Akira, you really are something.
Aizen's lips curved into a slight smile. He released a little of his hidden Reiatsu, ready to withstand the flock of incoming Byakurai arcs as his defensive barrier shattered.
Just as he finished, Red Smoke Byakurai erupted violently, burning away all the Reiatsu within it. The outer Kido Barrier shattered in an instant.
An unimaginable pressure swept over the entire dojo.
When the red smoke cleared, three figures stood on the ruined, blackened floor.
Kisaragi Akira was completely unharmed, just as he had been at the start.
Aizen Sosuke had escaped without serious injury, but the defensive barrier around him had shattered and vanished. The outcome of the Kido spar was plain to see.
As for Hikifune Tessai, confident in his own abilities, he had taken no precautions and tanked the lightning with his bare body, taking the full brunt of the damage. He looked as though the thunder had crushed him from head to toe.
A tall lump of charcoal stood motionless in place, black smoke occasionally drifting from his mouth.
The sole victim of the entire Kido spar had been found...
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