After Kensei Muguruma had a short rest, the final match of the live blade competition began.
"Big brother Kensei, you have to win!"
Kensei, who was about to walk to the stage, heard the shout and couldn't help but turn to look at the spectator stands.
It was a young boy, who must have come to watch the competition with his family.
Kensei's performance on the stage had been dazzling, leaving a deep impression on the audience.
"I already have fans cheering for me? Then I can't possibly lose. Sorry, Shinji, but I'm going to win this match!" Kensei thought to himself.
He waved at the boy. "Don't worry, I'll definitely win. That guy Shinji Hirako's swordsmanship isn't all there yet. It won't take long to beat him."
The boy who got a response from Kensei was also very happy. "Go, big brother Kensei!"
Kensei gave him a thumbs-up and turned to walk to the stage.
"Tsk—dilly-dallying. I thought you were scared and didn't dare to come up," Shinji Hirako sneered.
"I'm not a loner like you. I was greeting my fans," Kensei couldn't wait to show off to Shinji.
"Who cares about that," Shinji curled his lip and drew his sword directly. "Collapse, Sakanade!"
He hooked his index finger through the large ring on the hilt, and the Zanpakutō spun continuously around his finger.
Kensei also hurriedly released his Zanpakutō. "Be reduced to ash, Tachikaze!"
He swung the dagger, and the green wind coalesced into two wind threads that shot swiftly towards Shinji.
However, Shinji just stood there without moving, and the two wind threads began to reverse course repeatedly, as if they were twitching.
"Your Zanpakutō ability is really tricky," Kensei frowned. He had already anticipated Shinji's ability to some extent. He had used not only his eyes but also his spiritual sense to track Shinji's position, yet his sense of direction was still inverted.
When he realized his direction was inverted, he tried to control the wind threads in the opposite way, but Shinji quickly reversed the inversion back again.
As they went back and forth, the wind threads in the air were constantly reversing course.
"It is, isn't it? So how do you plan to deal with it?"
Shinji suddenly appeared behind Kensei and swung his sword down.
Kensei reacted quickly and immediately dodged, but he found his direction was inverted again, causing him to crash right into Shinji's blade instead.
Pfft—
A cut was opened on Kensei's chest.
"Damn it, this ability of yours gives no time to react!" Kensei had a bad feeling. If he hadn't changed his direction again at the last second, that single blow could have seriously injured him.
Kensei knew he couldn't drag this out. Spiritual pressure surged within him. "Then have a taste of this!"
A bright green light flared from his dagger as he simultaneously unleashed six wind threads.
"It's useless. To me, it doesn't matter if you make ten wind threads," Shinji grinned, continuing to invert Kensei's perception.
The six wind threads constantly reversed and twitched in the air.
Shinji had already gained a preliminary mastery of Sakanade's ability. Even six wind threads couldn't harm him.
"It's over," Shinji smiled faintly and placed his Zanpakutō against Kensei's back. From this position, a single thrust would pierce his heart.
"What!" Only then did Kensei realize that Shinji had him in checkmate.
He had been concentrating so hard on controlling the six wind threads that he hadn't even noticed Shinji get close.
With a blade placed at his vital point, Kensei had no choice but to surrender. "I lose... this ability of yours is impossible to fight against!"
He felt that at a similar spiritual pressure level, not many people could beat Shinji.
"Shinji Hirako is the winner, and congratulations to Shinji Hirako for taking first place!" Sora announced the result of the match.
The outcome of this match was within Sora's expectations.
Sakanade's ability was very strong. Against an opponent of the same level, it was very difficult to escape its influence.
If one's reaction speed could surpass Shinji's, allowing one to keep up with the rhythm of his inversion ability, then the effect of Sakanade could be broken.
Alternatively, using a large-scale area-of-effect attack also gave a chance to injure him.
However, Kensei's reaction speed was similar to Shinji's, so he couldn't escape the interference. He also had no area-of-effect moves. His defeat was inevitable.
Kensei and Shinji walked off the stage together.
Kensei saw the boy who had been cheering for him run over from the spectator stands.
"Ah... sorry about that. I still couldn't get first place..." Kensei said, scratching the back of his head, feeling as though he had let the little boy down.
However, the boy ran past him and up to Shinji Hirako, pulling a handful of candy from his pocket. "Big brother Shinji, you're so amazing! Please accept my gift!"
Kensei froze on the spot.
"Thanks... I'll gladly accept," Shinji said with a huge smile, encouraging the boy, "Train hard, and in the future, you can become as strong as me."
"When I grow up, I want to study at the Spiritual Arts Academy and be as strong as big brother Shinji~" the little boy nodded vigorously, then ran off.
"You rotten little brat, so fickle!" Veins bulged on Kensei's forehead. He turned to Shinji. "Weren't you acting all disdainful just now? Look how happy you are smiling now!"
"If you want some, I don't mind sharing," Shinji said, pretending to be generous, and offered him a few pieces of candy.
"Just you wait! I will definitely defeat you!"
After the competition ended, Sora also received a series of reward settlement notifications:
[Swordsmanship Assessment has ended. The class's overall performance has greatly improved. Reward settlement.]
[Received: 30,000 General Experience for basic abilities.]
[Swordsmanship Assessment has ended. Disciple Kana Azashiro has reached the semifinals. Reward settlement.]
[Received: 5,000 General Experience for basic abilities.]
[Random Skill Proficiency Level +1.]
[Swordsmanship Assessment has ended. Disciple Jin'emon Tsubaki has reached the semifinals. Reward settlement.]
[Received: 5,000 General Experience for basic abilities.]
[Random Skill Proficiency Level +1.]
[Swordsmanship Assessment has ended. Disciple Kensei Muguruma has reached the finals. Reward settlement.]
[Received: 10,000 General Experience for basic abilities.]
[Random Skill Proficiency Level +1] X2
[Swordsmanship Assessment has ended. Disciple Shinji Hirako has taken first place. Reward settlement.]
[Received: 20,000 General Experience for basic abilities.]
[Random Skill Proficiency Level +1] X3
[Received: 1 Disciple Binding Slot (can only be obtained once per student generation).]
After his disciple took first place, he received a disciple binding slot as a reward!
His disciple slots had been full after taking in Sōya Azashiro and Sōsuke Aizen.
He had been temporarily unable to bind any new disciples.
This was the first time he had obtained a disciple binding slot through a method other than the initial reward for teaching the advanced class.
Moreover, it was a repeatable method.
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