A few days later, the live blade competition organized by the Spiritual Arts Academy was held as scheduled.
There were many more spectators today. The captains of each division, as well as many noble families, had sent representatives to watch.
After several rounds of elimination, the top eight contestants had been decided.
In this tournament, apart from Sora's own disciples, many other students from his class also performed exceptionally well.
The sword techniques Sora had taught them shone brightly in this competition.
It was no longer like the last assessment, where they were completely crushed by the students of Class One.
During the last assessment, these students were still learning the fundamentals of swordsmanship and the gap with Class One was too large, leaving them at the bottom of the rankings.
But in this assessment, a good number of students made it into the top thirty-two, and several even reached the top sixteen.
Every spectator could see that the overall level of the class led by Katori Sora had improved immensely.
Kyōraku Shunsui flipped through the tournament results sheet on the table and remarked, "Lord Katori's teaching ability is quite outstanding..."
Ayane Kotetsu couldn't help but agree. "Indeed. If it were only that Professor Katori's disciples are strong, it could be explained by their innate talent. If that were the case, one could only say he was lucky, at best praising his eye for talent."
"But he has led Class Two, whose foundation was weaker, to achieve such results. This proves that Professor Katori's skills as an educator are truly excellent."
Unohana joked, "I was originally thinking that if Lord Katori was wasting his talent at the academy, I would snatch him for the 4th Division no matter what. I didn't expect him to be so genuinely skilled at teaching and nurturing others."
Kyōraku Shunsui laughed. "Captain Unohana, you shouldn't try to steal people from Director Kotetsu. Leaving Lord Katori at the academy is the best way to cultivate more fresh blood for the Gotei 13."
Just then, a Shinigami delivered a list. "Director Kotetsu, this is the match-up list for the quarterfinals."
The quarterfinal pairings had been determined—
Kensei Muguruma vs. Tomoya Amanokado,
Jin'emon Tsubaki vs. Jirō Iba,
Shinji Hirako vs. Nozomishin Ōmaeda,
Kana Azashiro vs. Sōjun Kuchiki.
This time, all of Sora's disciples had made it to the quarterfinals!
Head Professor Yamada stroked his beard. "The quality of this year's quarterfinalists is truly high. Needless to say about Sōjun Kuchiki and Nozomishin Ōmaeda, but Professor Katori's disciples are also very impressive."
"Tomoya Amanokado... I believe he is a junior being heavily invested in by the Amanokado family."
"And Jirō Iba... he is Vice-Captain Iba's younger brother, is he not?"
Vice-Captain Iba was the second-in-command of the 3rd Division. Since the 3rd Division currently had no captain, she was temporarily handling captain's duties, so she had also come to watch today.
Vice-Captain Iba smiled and nodded, saying humbly, "Jirō is indeed my younger brother. However, he is not as skilled as the others and still has much room to grow."
Jūshirō Ukitake smiled. "Vice-Captain Iba, you are too modest. Everyone knows the Iba family places great importance on the way of the sword. Jirō is surely a fine swordsman."
Head Professor Nakano also laughed. "To see so many skilled juniors in one year's class... half of the credit must go to Vice-Director Tsunayashiro!"
The Vice-Director's face turned ashen. The fact that so many noble students chose to enroll this year was indeed the result of his lobbying.
The Tsunayashiro name was still very useful. Most of the families he visited gave him face and had their children enroll in this year's class.
But even after all his efforts, half of the quarterfinalists were not from Class One!
He couldn't help but feel annoyed. Why had he overlooked Kana Azashiro back then?
Of Katori Sora's disciples who made it to the quarterfinals, three had appeared out of nowhere. It was just his bad luck that Sora found them.
But he had a chance to get Kana Azashiro.
However, the Azashiro family had abandoned martial pursuits for many years. When assigning classes, he had looked down on the Azashiro heir and deliberately placed Kana and a few other lower nobles he disdained into Class Two. Now, Kana's performance was a slap in his face.
But it didn't matter now. Kana's next opponent was Sōjun Kuchiki.
Kana Azashiro had lost to Sōjun Kuchiki in the last assessment. The result would be the same this time.
Thinking of this, the Vice-Director couldn't help but reveal a cold sneer.
"Making it to the quarterfinals doesn't mean much. Only the students who reach the semifinals can secure a place in the Gotei 13 after graduation."
...
Kana Azashiro and the others also received their match-up list.
"We weren't paired together, but Kana got Sōjun Kuchiki," Shinji Hirako said.
"It's okay. I will definitely defeat him this time. As long as we all beat our opponents, we can meet in the semifinals~" Kana Azashiro waved her small fist.
"Just thinking about that scene is so exciting!" Jin'emon Tsubaki said with excitement.
"No problem. I'll start us off with a victory!" Kensei Muguruma said, cracking his knuckles.
"I've fought Tomoya Amanokado before. His strength isn't that great, and I was able to suppress him before he could do much. I watched his fights this year; he uses more tricks and has very fast footwork. It's possible he could dodge your Senmai Oroshi," Kana advised.
Kensei's opponent, Tomoya Amanokado, had a flexible and versatile fighting style.
"Got it. I won't have to put much thought into dealing with him," Kensei nodded confidently and walked towards the stage.
Tomoya Amanokado stepped onto the stage. He had a chonmage hairstyle, a short stature, and a sharp, monkey-like face, resembling a monkey holding a sword.
Tomoya cautiously stared at Kensei's hand, his entire body tense.
The moment Kensei placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, Tomoya immediately flipped away and began moving rapidly around the stage, never staying in one spot for more than a second.
Kensei's eye twitched. Tomoya's speed was too fast; it was impossible to lock onto his position and defeat him directly with Senmai Oroshi.
Kensei simply stood still, waiting for Tomoya to make the first move. He couldn't keep jumping around like that forever; such rapid movement consumed a lot of stamina.
As Kensei expected, seeing that he wasn't drawing his sword, Tomoya couldn't hold back any longer.
He quickly leaped behind Kensei and thrust his sword towards his waist.
Kensei had been tracking Tomoya's movements with his spiritual sense. The moment he appeared behind him, Kensei had already reacted, immediately leaping into the air to dodge the thrust and quickly drawing his sword.
Tomoya's thrust was a feint. Seeing Kensei react, he rolled on the ground with extreme speed.
After getting up, he looked back and was surprised to find that Kensei hadn't used that terrifying sword-drawing technique.
Kensei pressed his left hand on the back of his blade, channeling spiritual pressure into it, and grinned.
"Be reduced to ash, Tachikaze!"
The Zanpakutō in Kensei's hand glowed with a cyan light and transformed into a short dagger.
"He released his Shikai!" Tomoya was shocked. He had watched Kensei's later matches and saw that he hadn't used his Shikai. He had assumed Kensei wouldn't release it so quickly when facing an opponent who couldn't use Shikai.
"You're very agile, aren't you? Let's see how you compare to the speed of the wind," Kensei said. He swung the short dagger, and a fierce wind wrapped around it, forming line-like blades that he flung towards Tomoya.
Tomoya had no time to dodge. He felt a cold sensation in his abdomen, and a terrifying wound was instantly torn open.
"I surrender!" Tomoya was terrified. The speed and power were too horrifying. He couldn't dodge it at all; he had almost been sliced in half.
"Kensei Muguruma is the winner!" Sora announced the result of the match.
---
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