At the same time, the others participating in the combat training just like Kaiser weren't having it as easy as he was.
Clang!
In a dim alleyway, a simulated Hollow taller than a human swung its sharp claw downward, striking against a raised Asauchi, letting out a crisp clash that echoed through the moonlit night.
Renji Abarai gripped the hilt of his blade with one hand and braced the back of the blade with the other, holding it horizontally to block the simulated Hollow's claw, entering into a deadlock of strength.
"Damn it!"
After a moment, Renji began to lose strength and couldn't help but give a strong shove, pushing the Hollow's claw away.
"Roar!"
The pushed-back simulated Hollow let out a hollow roar, then suddenly climbed up the wall beside it, attempting to launch an aerial attack on Renji.
"Kira! It's coming your way!"
Renji didn't panic but shouted toward the top of the wall.
"I got it!"
Izuru Kira jumped down from above, raising his Asauchi high as he fell, slashing toward the simulated Hollow.
Clang!
The Hollow raised its claw to block the attack, but was struck hard enough to fall from the wall and crash to the ground.
"My turn!"
Renji rushed forward, taking advantage of the Hollow's fall, and struck two slashes at its claws.
Squelch! Squelch!
With the sound of two slashes, the simulated Hollow's two claws were severed.
"Roar!"
The Hollow let out a wail of pain, blood spraying from the stumps of its limbs.
"Now! Hinamori!"
Kira, who had landed steadily on the other side, shouted toward the direction he had jumped from.
There, Momo Hinamori still had her Asauchi strapped on her back and hadn't drawn it yet, but her slender hand was extended toward the Hollow, reiryoku gathering in her palm.
"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of man! Truth and temperance, upon the sea barrier, strike the southern sky and advance!"
With fluent and practiced cadence, Momo Hinamori chanted the spell.
"Hadō #31: Shakkahō!"
The reiryoku gathered in her palm instantly turned fiery red, flaring with scorching heat, transforming into a blazing fireball that shot toward the simulated Hollow.
Boom!
The high-speed fireball struck the Hollow directly and exploded on its body.
The scorching heat and blazing flames surged up, engulfing the simulated Hollow and burning it to ashes on the spot.
"We… we did it!"
Momo Hinamori shouted joyfully.
"Nice job!"
"That was amazing, Hinamori-san!"
Renji and Kira cheered together, then ran forward to high-five Momo as she landed.
"Finally took one down." Renji grinned. "It hasn't even been half an hour since the combat training started. We might be the fastest team."
"Not necessarily, other teams may have encountered enemies earlier," Kira replied with a soft smile, then turned to Momo with praise. "That Shakkahō just now was excellent. Hinamori, you should be able to cast without incantation by now, right?"
"Mm." Momo blushed slightly, nodded, and said a bit bashfully, "I can cast without chanting, but the power is less than a third of the full incantation version. I was worried it wouldn't be strong enough to finish it, so I used the full chant."
"Truly impressive." Kira seemed to enjoy praising Hinamori—or perhaps was simply charmed by her blushing expression—and said with a bit of cheer, "Among us first-years, you're probably the only one who can cast mid-level Hadō above #30 without chanting. The rest of us can only look up to you."
Hearing this, Renji wanted to retort, but thinking about his terrible performance in Kidō, he immediately shut his mouth.
Hadō #31—this level of Kidō—Renji could cast it, but not consistently.
Worse, sometimes when he cast it, it would just explode in his face—harming no one but himself.
Back when they were learning low-level Kidō, he could still keep up even if he lagged behind a bit. After a few extra tries, he could learn it. But ever since the class moved into teaching mid-level spells above #30, he'd fallen behind completely, unable to catch up—becoming the class's undisputed deadweight.
Even Rukia in Class 2 was more skilled with Kidō than him. As a supposed elite of Class 1, he had thoroughly fallen off…
This made Renji realize that maybe he really didn't have much talent for Kidō.
In contrast, Momo Hinamori—this gentle-looking girl—had a Kidō talent that could be said to outshine everyone else in Class 1.
So at this moment, Renji really couldn't find a reason to argue with Kira's praise.
"No worries. I'm still better than her in Kendō."
Renji consoled himself like that.
In Kendō class, Renji's performance was on par with Hinamori's in Kidō class—almost peerless.
As for Kira, while he was weaker than Renji in Zanjutsu and weaker than Hinamori in Kidō, he had solid skills in both areas, making him the best in terms of overall balance.
That's not even considering Hakuda and Shunpo.
In Hakuda, none of the three were particularly skilled, and as for Shunpo—well, none of them had even managed to use it successfully once.
"No, that's not true. I'm sure I'm not the only one who can do it."
At this point, Hinamori began to wave her hands and shake her head, denying Kira's words.
"Kai-san should be able to as well. His performance in Kidō class has always been better than mine. The Kidō teacher often seeks him out privately—I heard he's been taught a lot of material not even covered in class…"
Speaking of this, Hinamori actually felt quite envious.
That Kidō teacher was said to be from the Kidō Corps, extremely skilled in Kidō. It was said they could even use high-level spells with ease. Anything short of spells above #90 was supposedly within their capability.
To be tutored privately by such a teacher—who knows how many secrets one could learn?
So every time she heard people talking about this, Hinamori couldn't help but feel envy.
"Kai-kun, huh…"
Kira scratched his head and muttered weakly.
"He's probably an exception. Comparing ourselves to him is just too discouraging."
That comment made Renji think of his repeated defeats in Kendō again, and he suddenly felt a little depressed.
"Wonder how that guy's doing right now," Renji muttered subconsciously. "Acting alone—will he really be okay?"
Kira and Hinamori couldn't help but worry a little too.
The three of them had teamed up and only just managed to defeat one simulated Hollow. Kaiser was on his own—was he really going to be alright?
Hopefully, if he can't win, he'll just use Shunpo and escape instead of forcing a fight…
...
"Hadō #31: Shakkahō."
With a chantless cast, a high-speed fireball tore through the night sky, shooting straight toward a fleeing simulated Hollow.
That simulated Hollow looked like it had been terrified, running frantically—only to be struck from behind by the fireball and blown apart on the spot.
"Roar!"
"Waugh!"
Two more simulated Hollows were drawn by the commotion. They arrived and immediately froze in place when they saw what happened.
Shff!
A figure suddenly appeared behind them like a teleport, both hands extending to press against the backs of their necks.
Boom! Boom!
Two Shakkahō fired simultaneously, blasting both simulated Hollows' heads clean off.
With smoke rising from their neck stumps, the two simulated Hollows toppled to the ground—disappearing into ash before they could even hit the dirt, not even leaving behind corpses.
"…How many is that now?"
Kaiser shook off the smoke from his hands, muttering with boredom.
"Twenty-first?"
"Or twenty-third?"
"Eh, doesn't matter."
Unaware that others were still worrying and praying for his safety, Kaiser looked thoroughly uninterested.
"If I keep killing them like this, won't there be no targets left for the others to train on?"
He was already starting to worry about that, which showed just how bored he was.
"Guess I better stop wasting time on these toys."
Kaiser made a decision—he wouldn't kill any more simulated Hollows for now.
Shff!
With a flash of Shunpo, Kaiser disappeared from the spot and reappeared on top of a tall tower, taking up the high ground in the training zone.
"..."
Looking over the vast training field, Kaiser closed his eyes and began sensing the reiatsu of others.
"Renji, Kira, Hinamori… those three are together. They must be teamed up."
"Hisagi-senpai's reiatsu is over that way…"
"These must be the sixth-years who arrived ahead of us."
Kaiser sensed one by one, clearly detecting everyone's reiatsu.
Thanks to his exceptional reiatsu control, his originally lacking detection ability was now greatly enhanced. Even the faint reiatsu of a group of first-years couldn't escape his perception.
"Too bad, I can still only sense this much. I can't detect anything else."
Kaiser opened his eyes and frowned.
"If something unexpected does happen, I still won't be able to pick it up in time?"
What to do, then?
Kaiser pondered silently.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Kaiser sensed something abnormal.
"Just now… several reiatsu signatures suddenly weakened?"
He quickly turned his head and looked in a certain direction.
"Over there?"
His figure immediately vanished, flashing repeatedly as he dashed toward that direction.
Before long, Kaiser arrived at his destination—and caught a whiff of something in the air…
The scent of blood.