"First do this, then do that, and finally this."
In the newly repaired dōjō, Naraku earnestly described the details of triggered Kidō and demonstrated again.
The "encrypted language" that most people would never understand somehow made Aizen look thoughtful.
As a Shinigami with real talent for Kidō, he'd mastered high-tier spells very early on—some even above Hadō #90.
On top of that, he was also extremely proficient in the various casting techniques taught at the Academy.
Double incantation, chantless casting, delayed incantation, and so on.
Triggered Kidō was clearly beyond the Academy's scope, mainly because of how hard it was to learn.
Just understanding how to construct the pattern was like relearning an entire high-tier Kidō from scratch.
And mastering it to the point of smooth use was even harder.
Fortunately, Naraku's explanations were surprisingly clear—he tended to point straight at the core of the technique, making it far less painful than expected.
At least, that was how it felt to Aizen.
Different people learned the same thing differently.
"Hadō #4: Byakurai."
Aizen raised his right hand. Reishi naturally gathered in his palm, and under near-perfect control, a simple mark gradually formed.
With a thread of Reiatsu injected, thunder cracked through the dōjō. Brilliant electricity surged out and blasted the target ahead into碎渣—shattered fragments.
When he was alone with Naraku, Aizen didn't bother hiding his strength.
After surviving life-and-death moments together, he no longer had many secrets in front of him.
And setting friendship aside, it seemed he'd already ended up standing on the same side as this guy anyway.
"The destructive power drops a little, but not by much," Aizen said calmly.
"But the setup time is too long. It's not practical mid-combat."
Naraku waved it off.
"Aizen, your thinking is way too conservative."
"Why would you build triggered Kidō right in front of your enemy? Can't you be a bit more 'upright and honest'?"
"Besides your hands, you've got feet, don't you?"
"And casting two Kidō at once should be basic operations for you, right?"
Aizen: "?"
Seeing the confusion on his face, Naraku had no choice but to demonstrate personally. He pushed himself upright and stood straight.
"Have a proper wizard duel and you'll understand."
"No Shunpo, no sword, no Hakuda—just Kidō."
"You'll experience what triggered Kidō is really good for."
Aizen nodded, intrigued.
In raw strength, Naraku was still a bit behind him.
But among their peers, there was no one stronger than this guy.
And his growth rate was frankly absurd—maybe even faster than Aizen's.
At graduation he'd been Grade 12. In the blink of an eye, he was already almost caught up.
Especially after learning Naraku had broken into Grade 4 Reiatsu—even a prodigy like Aizen felt an odd sense of urgency.
That ridiculous growth rate even made Aizen briefly suspect Naraku had been taking some taboo drug Shutara had invented.
"Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!!"
"Bakudō #9: Geki!"
With a finger-trace, a red pattern appeared in the air and instantly became a beam, dropping toward Aizen.
"…One write—burn away—spill out through self-slaughter."
"Hadō #14: Shōten!"
A crescent-shaped Hadō slash followed, like sword pressure, ripping through the dōjō with a cloth-tearing sound.
Cracks split the floor; a sharp edge rushed at him.
Aizen sidestepped and immediately threw up a chantless Enkōsen. The circular shield formed in midair and blocked the crescent slash, metal ringing against metal.
"Hadō #31: Shakkahō."
Aizen wasn't fond of this spell because it was too flashy and tended to draw attention.
But right now it was perfect.
It wouldn't wreck the dōjō too badly, and it let him seize the pacing of the duel.
He was also curious how Naraku would use triggered Kidō in an actual exchange.
"…Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws!"
"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"
One spell after another poured from Naraku's mouth. Surging Kidō Reiatsu interwove like threads, weaving an invisible net that covered Aizen.
Brilliant light flared. Explosions shook the room. Searing fire mixed with hopping lightning, striking everything in the area without discrimination.
Direct Kidō like this was hard to land on Aizen.
So if he couldn't hit him directly, he'd widen the blast zone.
Use the dōjō's limited space and force Aizen to take some damage.
Aizen's expression barely changed. Shunpo footwork let him slip through the falling spells with ease.
And when a spell couldn't be dodged, he simply countered with defensive Bakudō or canceling Hadō—
A kind of "spell versus spell" neutralization.
What surprised him, though, was that Naraku's Kidō skill didn't seem weaker than his at all.
Some spells even looked stronger.
Especially Shakkahō, which Naraku used most often.
Even with chantless casting, Naraku's Shakkahō didn't lose power—if anything, it hit harder than other people's fully chanted version.
That only happened if someone had completely mastered the spell.
If it were one or two spells, Aizen wouldn't be too shocked.
But from the start of this duel until now, every spell Naraku cast met that standard.
That was… unexpected.
Just as Aizen was processing that, he suddenly sensed something wrong under his feet. He instinctively looked down—
And at that moment, a pillar of fire shot straight upward. Thunder roared. Blazing light swallowed Aizen whole before he could react.
Color and brilliance fused into a spectacular bloom.
At the critical moment, Aizen instant-cast Dankū. A solid invisible wall appeared and cleanly blocked most of the roaring blast.
The few leftovers were erased by his own powerful Reiatsu.
When everything settled, Aizen frowned and looked at the point of ignition. Faint Kidō Reiatsu remained in the scorched floor.
From the trace pattern, it really was a freshly built triggered Kidō.
His mind replayed the duel frame by frame. Naraku's movements rewound, and Aizen finally caught it—
During one Shunpo dodge, Naraku's foot had left an unusual Reiatsu imprint.
"Aizen," Naraku said smugly, "Kidō isn't so inconvenient a thing."
"Besides using my feet, I can even cast with my head—just not very pretty."
"But we Shinigami aren't picky. Come on, come on—let's start from the beginning."
Aizen: "..."
For the first time, he hesitated over whether he should keep learning this at all.
~~~
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