Slumped against the wall, Takuma was utterly transfixed, paralyzed by the sheer intensity of the exchange unfolding before him. To a casual observer, it might have looked like a standard bout of martial arts—a flurry of fists and the occasional snap of a kick. But Takuma possessed the innate talent to see deeper. He could see the intricate webs of high-level magic woven into every single strike, and the realization of his own inadequacy hit him like a physical blow.
Every time Tomitsuka's foot struck the floor, the ground seemed to shudder under the weight of his power. Takuma knew that such a simple tremor wouldn't be enough to bypass Tomitsuka's "Gram Demolition" armor, yet it was sufficient to cause the slightest hiccup in his momentum. Tatsuya seized those microscopic openings instantly. Before Takuma could even perceive the activation of a sequence, a vibration-type spell would slam into Tomitsuka. It was a non-systematic technique designed to agitate Psions—a ghost of a spell that carried no lethal force but served as a sensory smokescreen, dulling Tomitsuka's reflexes.
Tatsuya lunged with a left palm strike. Takuma sensed a hidden spell lurking within the blow. Tomitsuka parried it, thrusting his left hand toward Tatsuya's midsection in a slow, deceptive strike that was notoriously difficult to block. Tatsuya barely managed to slide his right arm into position to intercept it.
Tomitsuka moved to trigger his "Explosion" acceleration magic, but midway through the process, Tatsuya's "Gram Dispersion" tore the sequence apart. Then, in a move that defied logic, Tatsuya leaped sideways. He used the residual distortion of the magic Tomitsuka had failed to cast as a literal springboard, piggybacking his own self-acceleration magic onto the dying embers of his opponent's spell.
(Is such a thing even possible?!)
Takuma was crushed by the sheer weight of the genius on display. He couldn't even find the breath to cry out. It was the same "magic" he used, yet it existed in a completely different dimension. The idea of hijacking another person's failed spell to chain into one's own movement was a concept Takuma had never even considered.
Inside the ring, Tomitsuka was reeling from a different kind of shock. The Psion field that was supposed to stay anchored to his body—the armor that should never dissipate—was starting to scatter under the pressure of Tatsuya's relentless assault. He wasn't afraid; rather, he felt as if he were staring into the very bottom of Pandora's Box.
To see his "immovable" field begin to spread... wasn't that a flicker of hope? A sign of a new horizon for his magic? He shook the thought away, hardening his resolve. Tatsuya was not an opponent one could defeat while distracted. It was time for his trump card.
The chaotic clouds of Psions swirling around Tomitsuka suddenly snapped into a rigid, disciplined formation. His movements became more precise than ever as he unleashed a middle kick, his leg glowing with the logic of a "Heating" enchantment. Tatsuya moved to block the thermal strike with a "Gram Demolition" focused on his elbow—but just before impact, Tomitsuka's leg froze in mid-air with unnatural stillness.
Still balanced on one leg from the aborted kick, Tomitsuka pivoted into a vicious right hook. Tatsuya, having lowered his center of gravity to block the low strike, was in no position to evade.
"Brother!"
"Tatsuya-san!"
A chorus of screams pierced the air as Tatsuya was sent spiraling across the floor. Tomitsuka stood on one leg, his fist still extended, but he blinked in confusion.
"Tomitsuka can be pretty ruthless when he wants to be," Kirihara remarked from the sidelines. "The guy went straight for the ear canal."
"Ho! So he let himself be blown away!" Sawaki added, sounding impressed. "To use that kind of body control to negate Tomitsuka's 'Self-Marionette'... Shiba-kun is the real deal."
The seniors had seen exactly what happened. Tomitsuka's confusion stemmed from the fact that while the impact felt solid, there had been no "weight" behind the hit. Usually, if an opponent tenses their neck to avoid a concussion, the resistance is hard and heavy. If they go limp to roll with the punch, it feels soft. But Tatsuya had achieved a paradoxical state—tensing and relaxing simultaneously—to shed the lethal momentum of the strike.
Tomitsuka pushed his surprise aside and reactivated "Self-Marionette." A singular, massive magic sequence enveloped his entire body. It was a formula so complex that even elite mages would struggle to replicate it. The chaotic Psions around him were brought to heel, organized into a perfect, structured informational body that rejected any other interfering spells.
Chaos had become Order. And Order meant Structure.
Tatsuya's "Decomposition" was the destruction of structure. He could not break that which had no form, but if an object possessed a defined structure—even if that structure was made of pure information—he could dismantle it.
Tatsuya flooded his CAD with Psions. This wasn't a feint; he was drawing on the full power of "Gram Dispersion." He pulled the trigger. The armor of Order protecting Tomitsuka vanished in an instant, stripped away like a leaf in a gale. Before the now-defenseless "Battle Doll" could react, Tatsuya drove a condensed mass of Psions into his chest with his left hand.
It was the "Penetrating Psion Bullet"—a high-pressure, high-density shockwave technique forged through training against non-human adversaries. The invisible blow struck Tomitsuka dead center.
"Winner: Shiba."
Hattori stepped in and declared the match over the moment he saw Tomitsuka lapse into a light concussion. Shizuku, Honoka, and Miyuki looked as though they were about to sprint into the ring, barely restraining themselves at the last second.
"Tomitsuka, can you stand?"
"...Thanks."
Tomitsuka, still on the floor, reached up and took Tatsuya's offered hand. Tatsuya pulled him to his feet.
"You're every bit as strong as I thought, Shiba-kun."
"You too," Tatsuya replied with a rare, genuine smile, gesturing to his own swollen, reddened cheek. "That one actually stung."
As the two shared a moment of mutual respect, a shadow darted past them.
"Hey! Shippou!"
Takuma didn't look back. He fled from the third training hall, unable to bear the weight of what he had just witnessed.
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