Leaden-gray reishi clouds hung low over the Seireitei, enveloping the fortress-like buildings of the Kidō Corps in an oppressive silence.
Hiroki stood on the towering observation deck, his fingertips unconsciously tapping against the cold basalt railing.
Below, on the open testing ground paved with gray flagstones, hundreds of members dressed in the white uniforms of the Kidō Corps gathered like scattered chess pieces, their apprehensive whispers weaving into a dull net of sound.
"Tch, it's worse than I expected." Hiroki's gaze swept across the crowd.
His spiritual pressure perception covered the entire field like an invisible tide, and the information it fed back made him frown.
As he had learned when taking over, the spiritual pressure of the vast majority of members fluctuated outside the tenth rank, thin and mixed; the few who barely reached the eighth rank were as rare as phoenix feathers.
The numbness and avoidance in their eyes confirmed Yamamoto-Genryūsai Shigekuni's helpless comment: "Since the rise of the Technology Development Bureau, the Kidō Corps has become a place to settle 'chicken ribs'—useless leftovers."
Footsteps sounded from behind him.
Uchiha Izumi appeared silently, handing over a thick stack of dossiers: "My Lord, the spell analysis diagrams and spiritual power resonance models have been simplified and broken down according to your requirements."
Her voice was cold and steady, forming a sharp contrast with the noisy crowd below.
Hiroki nodded, his fingertips touching the cold hardback cover as he took the dossiers, which were embossed with complex spell circuits.
That was the cornerstone he had spent nearly a month in seclusion to forcefully reverse-engineer and reconstruct from the fragments of the "Multi-person Combined Kido" left behind by Tsukabishi Tessai, using his SSS-rank Kido talent.
"Let's begin."
Hiroki's voice wasn't loud, but it was like a stone thrown into a still pond, instantly causing ripples to spread.
The messy whispers below came to an abrupt halt, and hundreds of gazes focused on him in unison, carrying confusion, awe, and a hint of imperceptible resistance.
Hiroki took a step forward, standing at the edge of the high platform.
He didn't intentionally raise his spiritual pressure, but the authority of a superior—tempered as the Head of one of the Four Great Noble Clans and further enhanced by his positions as Captain of the 6th Division and Grand Kido Master—pressed down heavily like a physical weight.
"I have gathered you all today," his voice clearly pierced the silence, "because I have achieved new results on the path of Kido."
He paused deliberately, ensuring every word was driven into their ears like a wedge.
"This result is—Combined Kidō!"
"Com... Combined Kidō?"
"What is that?"
"I've never heard of it before..."
"Does it mean several people casting Kido together? Won't the spiritual powers conflict and explode?"
Confused whispers quickly bred and spread through the crowd like mosquitoes.
Some veteran members exchanged skeptical glances; they had seen too many "grand blueprints" from newly appointed officials that eventually turned into nothing.
Could the subtle mysteries of Kido be stacked at will?
The conflict of spiritual pressure, the coordination of incantations, the fitting of spell structures... the slightest error would make the caster the first target of a backlash.
Wasn't Grand Kido Master Tsukabishi's original concept shelved because of these fatal problems?
"Silence!"
Hiroki's voice suddenly turned cold, like a biting winter wind sweeping across the testing ground.
Izumi understood and her figure turned into a blurry afterimage, the dossiers in her hand falling accurately into the hands of dozens of members in the front row like fluttering snowflakes.
The item they received wasn't the profound and obscure general outline they imagined, but a thin sheet of reishi rubbing paper.
The diagrams and text on the paper were extremely simplified, and the content was even more unexpected—
"Hado #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō"
[Spell Node: 73rd Tributary · Pale Thunder Attraction]
[Spiritual Power Model: Spiral Compression Type]
[Incantation Excerpt: The dragon's roar that tears the heavens, the eternal malevolent thunderlight!]
[Spiritual Power Output Threshold: Level 50 Hado Intensity]
"Eigh... Eighty-eighth Hado?!" a tall, thin member cried out in shock, his face turning pale instantly. "Are you kidding me! How could we possibly use such a high-level Hado of the Captain-level?"
"Yeah! I can barely release a complete number sixty-three 'Raikōhō'; every time it's either insufficient spiritual power or I can't control the lightning ball's explosion!" another bearded man pounded his head, his voice rough with despair.
"This is simply asking the impossible..."
"Does the Grand Kido Master want to see us blow ourselves up?"
The waves of doubt grew higher, and panic began to spread. In their eyes, this was no different from asking a child to swing a thousand-pound hammer.
A hint of impatience flashed in Hiroki's eyes, along with a fleeting sense of regret.
If the elites of the Uchiha Clan were here, they would have already taken a copy each and silently begun analysis and deduction, never wasting a second on pointless questioning.
The gap was rooted in the soul.
"All of you—shut up!" A shout exploded like thunder! This time, Hiroki no longer suppressed himself.
A majestic spiritual pressure erupted!
Although he didn't release Captain-level spiritual pressure, it still crushed the entire field like a ten-thousand-ton ocean tide!
The air suddenly solidified, and fine dust on the ground was pushed away by an invisible force, forming a visible ripple.
Everyone, including those few members with eighth-rank spiritual pressure, felt their hearts gripped by an invisible giant hand; their breathing stopped, their knees went weak, and they almost knelt on the spot!
Cold words smashed clearly into the depths of everyone's soul: "What was handed to you is not the complete Eighty-eighth Hado! It is merely a single node within its massive spell structure! Its difficulty is equivalent to a Kido below level fifty!
If anyone dares to question or interrupt again, it won't be as simple as being expelled from the Kidō Corps—" Hiroki's gaze swept the field like a cold blade, pausing on every word:
"I will personally blast them out beyond the Seireitei's protective walls! Never to step foot inside for all eternity!"
Silence. Absolute silence. One could hear a pin drop.
The threat of being "blasted out of the Seireitei" was more destructive than any disciplinary punishment.
It meant being stripped of one's Shinigami status and exiled to the depths of the lawless and cruel Rukongai, or even being devoured by a Hollow!
The color drained from the members' faces instantly, leaving only horror and submission in their eyes.
The bearded man who had been noisy just now was now breaking out in pea-sized beads of cold sweat, biting his lip hard, not daring to make a sound.
The man above wasn't just the Grand Kido Master; he also served as the Captain of the 6th Division, and most importantly, he was the Head of the Shihōin Clan, one of the Four Great Noble Clans.
As for the word 'Acting,' after Hiroki purged the retainers of the Kuchiki Clan, no one dared to mention it anymore.
"Hmph."
Hiroki withdrew his spiritual pressure, his cold voice breaking the frozen air:
"Follow the methods shown in the diagrams and master your respective parts. Incantations, spiritual power circulation, node models—not a single mistake is allowed!"
He held up three fingers. "Three days! I'm only giving you three days! Those who fail to master it by then will be immediately removed from the Kidō Corps! Do I make myself clear?!"
After a brief, dead silence, a ragged and trembling response erupted from below like a startled flock of birds:
"Ah... yes..."
"Clear... crystal clear!"
"As you command! My Lord!"
Hiroki turned and left expressionlessly, leaving behind a crowd driven by fear and pressure, scrambling to dive into the sheets of paper in their hands.
Izumi followed closely and whispered, "My Lord, is this too harsh? They are, after all..."
"A motley crew requires strong medicine."
Hiroki interrupted her, his tone devoid of emotion.
"The Kidō Corps has no need for useless trash who just idle their days away. Either transform or be eliminated."