— — — — — —
"Relax, old man. I'm not learning for free. First, we'll call that whole school-destroying incident even. And I'll pay you back properly. If there's one thing I'm never short on, it's money."
Kazuma spoke with the confidence of a walking treasure vault. With the GOB's entire stock at his disposal, he could back up every word.
"The reward can wait. I'm helping you because I'm curious to see how far your talent goes." Ittosai waved it off. "Come with me. I'll show you the true secret of the Shingetsu style."
He stepped out into the courtyard, leading Kazuma to the small pond in the middle.
"Watch carefully, kid. This is the real ultimate technique."
Ittosai set a wooden tray on the water, then placed a stone dead center atop it.
He laid his hand over the stone. The next moment, his muscles tensed and—
The stone disintegrated into fine powder.
The tray was untouched. The water didn't ripple at all.
"The Shingetsu style starts with gathering your strength like a bladeless technique. Then you refine it until even your smallest movements are precise. Eventually you reach this. Every bit of power goes into the target without wasting a fraction."
"Control and concentration. That's the essence of Shingetsu. The rest of the techniques are useless for you."
"For someone like you, they're just flashy moves. Learn this, and you've mastered the true heart of the style."
Ittosai held nothing back this time. He knew ordinary martial forms wouldn't help Kazuma.
The only thing that mattered was learning how to compress power perfectly.
"I get it." Kazuma nodded and immediately started practicing. Compared to before, it was only a tiny shift in technique… but the difficulty shot up a hundredfold.
Before, he needed complete control of every muscle. Now he needed that same precision, then apply it outward, shaping the force he released to absolute accuracy.
Internal control and external control. Same principle, infinitely harder.
"Keep at it." With the essentials explained, Ittosai left. The rest was up to Kazuma.
Kazuma spent the next days in full focus. Eating by the pond. Resting by the pond. Practicing nonstop.
Whenever he ran out of stones, he'd have Yolda fetch more.
...
Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the pile of shattered rocks had grown into a little artificial hill.
"Again!"
Kazuma struck again. The tray had been replaced countless times. The stone exploded instantly, turning to dust.
The tray survived. But the water rippled.
Just a little. But still a leak in his force.
"Not enough. Time for a break."
After three days and nights straight, his body could keep going, but his mind needed rest. Training wasn't just blind grind; proper rest mattered too.
"Yolda, go buy food. I want hot pot. Make it stupidly spicy."
Eating was his way of relaxing. Sitting inside with a bubbling hot pot was the perfect mental reset.
"Yes."
Yolda was beside him. But just standing close was suffocating. Kazuma's power had become more focused, yet his presence felt even more overwhelming, like the air itself pressed down on you.
She opened a portal, then paused. Space itself trembled ever so slightly.
"Just with your aura you're disrupting spatial stability… terrifying."
She remembered what Hilda had warned her before. At the time, she thought Hilda was exaggerating.
Now she knew Hilda had been dead serious. If Kazuma ever went after En…
Even hiding in the demon world wouldn't save him.
---
After a moment—
"There were only vegetables left in the house, so eat these first. When Yolda gets back, we'll add more ingredients." Hilda emerged carrying a steaming, brutally spicy hot pot and set it all up for Kazuma.
He blinked. "You're unusually thoughtful today. Need a favor?"
Hilda rarely acted this attentive.
"You're Master Beel's adoptive father, and also my master, technically. Serving you is normal for a demon maid." She paused, then sighed. "If I had to say I want something… I want you to not die."
She already knew Tohru's father, the Emperor of Demise, was coming. She'd heard his name before.
A world-ending dragon. A creature of destruction.
She'd been stunned for a long time.
Who would've thought cheerful little Tohru was a royal dragon? You'd never guess it from how she acted.
"Relax. I'm pretty hard to kill," Kazuma said while chewing on the leftover vegetables.
Not long after, Yolda returned. She stood quietly at his side, dropping ingredients into the bubbling pot every time he finished a bite.
...
"Kazuma… are you really going to fight the Emperor of Demise?"
Kanna had wandered out of her room. She'd been feeling lonely these past few days with no one to play with. Kazuma had been completely absorbed in training. Tohru had left to figure out how to deal with her father. The mansion still had plenty of maids to keep Kanna company, but it wasn't the same. She wanted to play with Kazuma and Tohru, not with strangers.
"It depends. If that old guy is willing to talk like a normal person, then we won't have to fight. If he isn't, then yeah… it'll come down to a fight."
Kazuma reached out and ruffled her hair.
"The Emperor of Demise is really strong. My dad loves fighting more than anything, but in front of him, even he won't put up a struggle. There's just… no desire to resist."
Kanna buried her face into Kazuma's chest as she explained what she knew, hoping she could convince him to give up the idea completely.
"That so? Guess I need to train even harder then."
Kazuma nodded. Just practicing pure control over his strength obviously wasn't enough. He needed more preparations.
After finishing his meal and catching up on sleep, he finally felt fully recharged. He opened his system panel. His missions these past few days had piled up a nice stash of points — perfect timing for upgrades.
"Alright. First thing: max out the backup hidden energy core. Doesn't matter what kind of fight it is… running out of juice is always the worst."
He dumped points into the Backup Hidden Energy module, boosting it from level seven to ten in one go. It cost him two thousand seven hundred points.
But the effect was insane.
[Perpetual Energy: Continuously absorbs power from the world. Recovers ten percent of total energy per second and can store up to 1000% of the user's normal energy capacity.]
"Good lord, that was expensive."
The ability was amazing, sure — but the price tag hurt. Three worlds' worth of accumulated mission points, almost all gone in an instant.
"So I can store ten bars of energy now… and regenerate one full bar per second. Basically bottomless."
He then checked the rest of his abilities, thought carefully, then dumped the last nine hundred and thirteen points into Energy Penetration.
[Energy Penetration 30%: Your energy attacks now bypass 30% of defenses.]
He was completely broke again.
"Whew… back to training."
Kazuma returned to the courtyard and resumed the pool-side stone-breaking drills.
After another full day of practice, he finally managed it — not a single ripple left on the water's surface. He'd mastered the core of Shingetsu.
Right then, Ittosai walked in with a familiar face.
"Principal? Don't tell me you're here to drag me back to school." Kazuma looked at Genma in surprise.
"No. I already know your situation. Honestly, I didn't plan to get involved. But this old bastard Ittosai wouldn't stop pestering me, so here I am."
"Just to be clear, I'm not fighting anyone. I'm only here to teach you what I know."
Genma sighed. Fight the Emperor of Demise? No normal person would even dream of that. Then again, Kazuma wasn't normal.
"Oh? The principal has hidden techniques?"
Kazuma eyed the thin, frail-looking old man. He honestly had no idea what skills the principal possessed. But anyone who could be Ittosai's buddy had to be pretty strong.
"My technique is simple. I draw out every last drop of physical potential and unleash strength far beyond normal limits... Dragons have ridiculous bodies. If you want to fight one, yours has to be just as tough."
Genma's eyes sharpened. His suit tore apart in an instant as his skinny frame swelled into a massive muscular build. That was his secret technique.
Kazuma immediately switched gears and began learning the method for reinforcing his body.
"Come on. Training starts now."
These old guys were full of surprises. So many hidden trump cards. Once he returned to the Fairy Tail world, he really needed to dig into what Makarov was hiding. That old man definitely had more tricks up his sleeve.
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