Naomitsu felt completely at ease as he left the office.
Back in there, he had actually felt like a student being lectured by his homeroom teacher. Luckily, he had stood his ground, or Utahime Iori really would have put him in his place.
When he returned to the classroom, the three youngsters had finished warming up. After a period of targeted training, all three had improved.
"Come on! Follow me to the Back Mountain! Let's see what your training has accomplished! If you don't pass my test, you're staying behind to study at the end of the year!"
The Basketball Court they had used last time was no longer suitable for their fights. Of course, the more important reason was that Naomitsu couldn't afford to pay for the damage.
Leading the three up the mountain, Naomitsu deliberately picked a spot with a wide-open view. Nobody was around, so they could wreak havoc as they pleased.
"Teacher? Am I going first again?"
Nobara Kugisaki raised her hand to ask. She was eager to test her strength, too.
Naomitsu shook his head, rejecting Nobara Kugisaki's suggestion.
"This time, all three of you will fight together. As long as you work together to defeat all my shikigami, you pass."
The moment Naomitsu finished speaking, Fujiwara Sora voiced his dissatisfaction.
"Teacher, aren't you underestimating us a little? I'm enough on my own. Three of us seems a bit excessive."
Naomitsu wasted no more words and simply announced, "The test begins." A second later, shadows appeared behind him, one after another, taking the forms of various shikigami.
And these shikigami were completely different from the ones they had seen last time. Naomitsu had poured ten thousand points of cursed energy into each one.
"Hey, there are two we haven't seen before!"
"Seven? That really is enough to keep us busy!"
"Nobara! Inumaki! You each take two! Leave the other three to me!"
They split up the battlefield, but none of the three had an easy fight.
First were the Divine Dogs. The black and white dogs were each as large as a brown bear. Their teeth, claws, and speed had all been enhanced. Most importantly, the two shared a single mind, making them far harder to fight.
Toad's size and the toughness of its tongue had also increased. Once the size of a pet dog, it was now almost as large as Max Elephant had been.
Even the most useless one, Rabbit Escape, could now split into a thousand rabbits after receiving ten thousand points of cursed energy, with each rabbit costing ten points.
The remaining ones were even more outrageous.
First was Nue. What had once been a slightly oversized bird of prey was now as large as a passenger plane, with lightning glowing around its body.
The sight alone was breathtaking.
Great Serpent had also grown to resemble a Titanic Python. Its body was fifteen meters long, and it could burrow underground to launch sneak attacks, opening its huge mouth to swallow an adult whole.
But the most outrageous of all was still Max Elephant.
Its already enormous body was now comparable to a Tailed Beast. Its height had reached an absurd fifty meters.
Round Deer, on the other hand, hadn't changed much after receiving ten thousand points of cursed energy. Perhaps it was because it already consumed so much cursed energy that its size remained unchanged.
"Stay still!"
At the outset, Inumaki Yaki used Cursed Speech to immobilize the most troublesome opponents, Nue and Max Elephant. He intended to let Fujiwara Sora finish them off quickly with his Enhancement Cursed Technique.
"Leave it to me!"
While Inumaki Yaki and Fujiwara Sora made their moves, Nobara Kugisaki also sprang into action.
Her target was Rabbit Escape, which had split into a thousand rabbits.
"Hehe, my cursed technique is the perfect counter to little things like you. Stop being an eyesore and bow out quietly."
Catching one of the Rabbit Escape duplicates, Nobara Kugisaki used her Straw Doll Technique to drive a nail into its body.
Because the Straw Doll Technique struck the soul directly, every rabbit was hit at once. All thousand cursed spirits lost the ability to move and collapsed lifelessly on the ground.
"Rabbit Escape! Taken care of!"
Round Deer's Reverse Cursed Technique couldn't heal an attack that struck the soul directly. The only option was for Naomitsu to recall Rabbit Escape before it died.
"Six left. Keep going."
Naomitsu recalled Rabbit Escape, fairly pleased with the trio's division of labor and strategy. Combat intelligence was a precious quality, one that could often save a person's life in a crisis.
"Now let's see your teamwork!"
In the sky and on the ground, Nue and Max Elephant were held in place. Controlling two shikigami was already Inumaki Yaki's limit.
"Ten seconds!"
Fujiwara Sora had only ten seconds. Once those ten seconds passed, the three would be forced into an extremely unfavorable position.
"That's enough!"
Before Fujiwara Sora's words had even faded, he left an afterimage behind, moving faster than his own voice. His first target was Max Elephant.
Whoosh!
"Inumaki! Below you!"
Having finished off Rabbit Escape, Nobara Kugisaki shouted a warning. Great Serpent was already in position beneath Inumaki Yaki, its open jaws surrounding his body.
"Tch!"
"Aren't you ignoring me a little too much?"
Just as Great Serpent was about to swallow Inumaki Yaki, Fujiwara Sora had already returned and punched it back underground.
"Five seconds!"
Fujiwara Sora grinned. "Don't worry! Five seconds is enough to wipe out the rest!"
Turning around, Fujiwara Sora charged straight toward Nue in midair. Along the way, he also took care of the two remaining Divine Dogs.
"Got you!"
"Fujiwara! Watch your back!"
At the critical moment, Kugisaki shouted a warning.
"Damn! Too late!"
Behind him, Max Elephant had already been healed by Round Deer's Reverse Cursed Technique. Now, its trunk, more than ten meters long, swept down toward Fujiwara Sora.
Boom!
With a single blow, both Fujiwara Sora and Nue were slammed into the ground, leaving a crater two meters deep.
"This is for real? Fujiwara isn't dead, is he?"
Cold sweat broke out on Nobara Kugisaki's forehead. That blow had been utterly terrifying. The impact had even produced a sonic boom.
If she had taken that hit, she would definitely have been flattened into a meat pancake.
"That hit really packed a punch."
Amid the dust, Fujiwara Sora tore off his ruined clothes. His flippant grin vanished, and for the first time, a serious expression appeared on his face.
"He's fine after all that?"
Nobara Kugisaki was stunned. Max Elephant's blow hadn't even managed to injure Fujiwara Sora.
"This guy..."
Meanwhile, Nue and Max Elephant closed in again. At the same time, Round Deer healed Great Serpent's injuries, and it lurked out of sight, waiting for a chance to ambush him.
Now, the shikigami had Fujiwara Sora surrounded.
Crack, crack... crack, crack.
Fujiwara Sora rolled his neck and flexed his hands. There wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes, only a hunger for battle.
What followed, however, was a one-sided beating.
Like a ball, Fujiwara Sora was swatted into the sky by Max Elephant. Nue caught him in midair, pinned him to the ground, and dragged him for dozens of meters. Finally, Great Serpent swallowed him whole.
"Is he dead?" Nobara Kugisaki asked the all-important question again.
"Inumaki, hold all of them still for one second. Just one second. I'm going to punch every last one of them flying."
Fujiwara Sora burst out through Great Serpent's belly. He was a complete mess, his eyes bloodshot.
"Don't be ridiculous! Inumaki can only control two at most! How could he possibly control this many!"
Before you continue