Candice heard the voice behind her and turned around. Instructor Lucas had actually passed right through her lightning field using just his body.
"I remember your name now. Candice Catnipp, right? You took first place in the recruit training camp," Instructor Lucas said with a smile.
"Your strength has improved very quickly. You didn't show any ability to control lightning back in the training camp."
"I'm still looking for one more student. I can help you reach your full potential."
Candice's talent was excellent, and she was still just a recruit. This made him consider taking her on as a student.
"No thanks. I already have a Professor," Candice said, shaking her head.
"You have a Professor? Is it one of the instructors from the Military Police?"
"Your talent is excellent, don't let some mediocre professor waste it. With my guidance, you'll improve much faster."
Instructor Lucas frowned slightly. It was a shame she already had a professor, but he still wanted to try and convince her.
"My Professor is amazing, so you don't need to worry, Instructor Lucas..." Candice was halfway through her sentence when her expression suddenly lit up with surprise.
"Professor!" she shouted loudly.
"Uh..." Instructor Lucas froze for a second. Candice was shouting in his direction, so he thought she was about to change her mind and join him.
"I didn't expect someone to try and steal my disciple. Did you ask for my permission?"
The voice from behind made Instructor Lucas's expression change dramatically. He spun around and quickly put some distance between them.
"He actually managed to sneak past my senses..."
Instructor Lucas frowned.
He hadn't been focusing on his spiritual perception, but it still wasn't easy for just anyone to get close without him noticing.
"I don't recognize you. Did you just return from the World of the Living?"
Instructor Lucas glanced at the unfamiliar Quincy's bracelet. Its color was so red it was almost black.
This stranger's score was even higher than his!
"Professor, you got so many points!"
Candice moved to Katori Sora's side and also noticed his scoring bracelet was dark red, almost black.
"I started pretty far away. I just cleared out the Hollows I ran into on my way here," Sora said with a light laugh.
"Just... on your way?" Candice's light-green eyes grew brighter, as if imagining her Professor speeding along and casually destroying Hollows.
"That's amazing... My bracelet is so much lighter than yours!"
Just then, Meninas flew over from the distance.
Sora was much faster than Meninas. If he hadn't been slowing down for her, he would have arrived here much earlier.
But by slowing down, he had the extra energy to easily take care of the Hollows he sensed along the way.
He had gathered a lot of scoring tokens on the journey.
"Meninas is here too!" Candice said happily.
"Huff... huff... finally caught up. Professor, you're too fast!" Meninas panted heavily, bending over with her hands on her thighs, looking like she could barely stand.
Meninas had been chasing Sora with all her strength the entire time and was completely exhausted.
"I'm being ignored!"
Instructor Lucas's expression darkened.
But Sora had just snuck up on him, which made him cautious and unwilling to make a reckless move.
Instructor Lucas quietly began to back away, planning to leave the area.
Just then, Sora suddenly raised his hand.
"Just a warning. If you move carelessly, you'll die."
Sora pointed his finger like a gun, and a terrifying beam of Reishi shot out from his fingertip.
Bang—
The Reishi beam shot across the sky toward Instructor Lucas.
Instructor Lucas's expression changed. He could sense how dangerous this beam was.
He raised his saber, and the surrounding Reishi gathered, forming a Heilig Pfeil nearly a meter long on the blade.
Fwoosh—
The Heilig Pfeil instantly shot from the blade and collided with the incoming Reishi beam.
Crack—
The Reishi beam shattered the Heilig Pfeil instantly and continued straight toward Instructor Lucas.
Lucas's expression changed drastically. He used Hirenkyaku with all his might, but the beam still hit his shoulder.
The Reishi beam instantly pierced through his shoulder, leaving a large hole.
"Wha... what?!"
Instructor Lucas broke out in a cold sweat.
His Blut Vene had been like paper in front of that beam!
If it had hit a vital spot, that beam would have killed him instantly.
"Hiiiisss—!"
A roar echoed from behind Instructor Lucas.
He turned his head and saw a large, spider-like Hollow behind him, half of its face blown off.
It was an Adjuchas-class Menos, good at hiding. It had silently approached Instructor Lucas, treating him as prey.
"I told you not to move."
Sora's target hadn't been Instructor Lucas, but the Adjuchas behind him.
"Professor didn't even use a tool, but he broke through Instructor Lucas's Blut Vene!"
Candice looked shocked. Instructor Lucas had passed through her lightning field without a scratch.
His defense was that high, but it did almost nothing against the Professor's attack.
"Hiiiisss—!"
The Adjuchas was angered by Sora and lunged at him. But it was met by several more Reishi beams.
Sora fired several beams in a row. With Instructor Lucas out of the way, all of them hit the Hollow.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!—
The beams pierced through the spider Hollow's body, leaving several large holes.
"What a powerful attack!" This was the first time Candice had seen an Adjuchas.
She had learned about them in her classes—they were described in books as being extremely strong. But in front of her Professor, it couldn't even fight back.
The beams had strong penetration, but the spider Hollow was huge, so the holes weren't enough to kill it.
It realized these Quincy were bad news and quickly tried to flee.
However, Sora was faster.
The next second, several more beams shot out. One of them pierced the spider Hollow's head, killing it.
Level 95 Reishi Manipulation was on another level. It gave these seemingly normal beams the power to pierce the Hollow's tough hide.
The beams weren't very accurate against moving targets, making it hard to hit vital spots. But Sora could just win by overwhelming it with numbers.
"My basic Quincy abilities should at least be in the upper-middle range among the Sternritter," Sora thought to himself.
"Sir, this is my scoring bracelet." Lucas flew over and offered his bracelet. "I hope you can forgive my rudeness earlier. And thank you for killing that Hollow."
Sora was just too strong. Lucas couldn't even think about fighting him.
This test was still in its early stages. The fights between Quincy weren't that intense yet, not to the point of dying for points. So, he just handed over his token.
"These rules are for the weak." Sora glanced at the bracelet but didn't take it. "I didn't come here to follow rules."
"Besides, I don't think they made a rule against destroying the test area."
Sora raised his hand, and the silver ring on his middle finger quickly expanded into a Reishi bow.
"What are you doing?"
Instructor Lucas was startled when he saw Sora raise the bow, but he quickly realized Sora wasn't aiming at him.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to shoot right through this arena."
Sora smiled slightly as the surrounding Reishi quickly gathered toward him.
After his investigations, he believed Yhwach was reclaiming the Quincy's power. The more Quincy died in this arena, the faster Yhwach would revive.
To slow Yhwach's revival, he had to reduce the number of Quincy casualties.
But even if Sora saved everyone in this arena, more Quincy would just be sent in later.
That's why he had to destroy the arena, so the test couldn't continue.
Also, the shadow he'd left outside the arena allowed him to see Sōken Ishida fighting Gerard, one of Yhwach's personal guards.
The Sternritter didn't seem united. Sora needed to get out of here quickly and help Sōken Ishida's group fight Yhwach's elite guards.
The surrounding Reishi gathered, forming a Heilig Pfeil.
He nocked the arrow. A hurricane-force wind erupted from the bow and wrapped around the Heilig Pfeil.
The powerful airflow tore the air apart in front of him, creating a vacuum.
"I should be able to use my shadow materialization to increase the power of this Heilig Pfeil..."
As Sora had the thought, the dazzling blue arrow instantly turned black.
He drew the bow fully, then released the string.
The plain-looking black arrow vanished from the bow instantly.
A moment later, a massive explosion roared in the distance.
BOOM—!!!
At the edge of the arena, a sphere that looked like a black sun appeared.
The arena's Reishi barrier was swallowed by the black sun in an instant.
The stone forest was obliterated by the overwhelming shockwave.
The Quincy inside the arena desperately fled in the opposite direction.
The unlucky Quincy and Hollows caught in the blast were instantly torn to pieces by the terrifying power.
Rumble... Rumble...
The shockwave destroyed the stone pillars in more than half the area. These pillars were also supporting the second level.
With the pillars gone, the second level of the arena began to collapse.
"This place is coming down. Let's get out of here."
Sora looked at the others, who were completely stunned.
Instructor Lucas, Candice, and Meninas were shocked speechless.
To be honest, Sora was also a little surprised by the arrow's power.
A full-power attack using all his stacked Shinigami abilities was only about this strong.
"But the cost is pretty high... This is the first time I've realized the Quincy shadow power is limited."
Sora thought to himself.
He sensed that materializing the shadow didn't consume Spiritual Pressure or external Reishi. But whatever it did consume, it seemed to be recoverable.
He had a feeling this was one form of the Soul King's power.
"Maybe I'm already on the path to becoming a transcendent being... I just can't merge all these powers together and control them perfectly yet."
Sora now had so many different powers that he was fundamentally different from a normal Shinigami or Quincy.
"Is that... something a Quincy can even do?"
Candice and Meninas looked completely lost and confused.
They hadn't been recruits for long and didn't have much experience. This was the first time they had seen anything like this. It wasn't even in their textbooks.
"It's just a strong Heilig Pfeil. This place is collapsing, stop staring!" Sora snapped Candice and Meninas out of it and started pulling them toward the exit.
"Ah! Right!"
Candice and Meninas came to their senses and quickly flew after their Professor.
Instructor Lucas was knocked over by a falling rock, which also snapped him back to reality.
"I actually tried to fight someone like that..." Lucas felt lucky to be alive.
Rumble—
The arena's collapse was getting worse, with giant rocks falling from the ceiling. Instructor Lucas also hurried to escape.
On the second level of the arena, in the Hollow prison...
Bazz-B was lying on the ground, gasping for air.
Haschwalth stood nearby, quietly watching him.
"Your ability is so dirty!"
Bazz-B was exhausted, and his body was covered in burns.
He was good at using his power and wouldn't get burned by his own flames.
The burns on his body were all from Haschwalth reflecting his attacks.
Haschwalth's ability, 'The Balance', could transfer any misfortune that happened to him onto someone else.
"It's over. Attacking the Sternritter Grandmaster is a major crime. You'll be sentenced to 100 years in prison."
Haschwalth's expression remained calm. He didn't mention Bazz-B's attempt to destroy the arena.
Just then, a loud explosion echoed.
Then, the entire arena began to shake.
The violent shaking forced Haschwalth to lift off the ground, while Bazz-B, still on the floor, was thrown around by the tremor.
"Ha... Ha... Haha! Ishida must have done it!" Bazz-B was dizzy from the shaking, but he was still laughing.
Haschwalth frowned slightly. Things were not going as he had expected.
He wasn't Yhwach's only personal guard. It was useless for Bazz-B to just stall him. The other guards would stop Sōken Ishida's group.
That's why Haschwalth had told him they couldn't stop Yhwach's revival.
The shaking grew more violent, and the ground began to collapse.
Something unexpected had clearly happened.
Haschwalth grabbed Bazz-B by the collar and vanished.
Haschwalth appeared outside the arena, holding Bazz-B. He saw that half the arena had already collapsed, and the other half was ready to collapse.
Nearby, the fight between Gerard, Sōken Ishida, and Cang Du had also stopped. They were hovering in the air, watching the arena.
Sōken Ishida and Cang Du noticed Haschwalth and Bazz-B.
Sōken drew his bow, and a Reishi arrow shot instantly toward Haschwalth.
The moment Haschwalth moved to block the arrow, Cang Du snatched Bazz-B away.
"You guys actually did it! The whole arena collapsed!" Bazz-B was thrilled that Haschwalth's plan had failed.
"We didn't do it," Cang Du said, shaking his head.
"You didn't do it?" Bazz-B was stunned. "I didn't do it either... Then who did? It couldn't have been the elite guard, right?!"
Just then, Quincy began to fly out one after another from the collapsing arena.
"It's pretty lively here." Sora arrived in front of the group and chuckled.
"The rule for winning this selection was just to 'get out' of the arena. I blew up the arena and then got out. That should count as a success, right?"
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Note: I haven't been able to upload chapters because I didn't have internet
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