Some time had passed since the incident at the casino—
"What do you think? From today onward, this place is our new home."
Having acquired the Apollo Familia's massive estate as the prize for winning the War Game, Hestia, Tsuna, Bell, and Reborn stood before the newly renovated Hearth Manor, looking up at its grand facade.
"Hestia, we've finished everything according to your requests."
"Yeah, thanks a lot, Goibniu."
Hestia offered her gratitude to a slender but sharply muscled male deity. His name was Goibniu, the head of the Goibniu Familia and the God of Smithing and Architecture. Unlike his peers who chased endless entertainment, he was a deity of few words, known for his strict artisan temperament.
The Goibniu Familia was a unique faction that accepted construction and architectural requests. While they might not be as universally famous as the Hephaestus Familia, even renowned Familias sought them out for weapon forging. For instance, Lili's customized crossbow and Ais's beloved sword, Desperate, were both masterworks forged by the Goibniu Familia.
"As expected of Goibniu. Looks like they did a flawless job."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. He said they've built all the rooms and facilities exactly how everyone asked."
Once Goibniu and his dependents left Hearth Manor, Hestia began explaining the internal renovations. She had taken requests from all her Familia members and passed them directly to the smithing God. Welf had requested a dedicated forge, while Mikoto had specifically asked for a traditional bathhouse.
"So the training room is finally complete. Now we can train without holding anything back."
He's enjoying this way too much—!!M-My stomach… Seeing the sadistic, radiant grin stretching across Reborn's face, Tsuna screamed internally, while Bell gripped his stomach as the trauma of his previous training sessions flared up with a vengeance.
Reborn had demanded the construction of a reinforced, underground room where they could go all out without holding back. Naturally, his primary motivation was to ruthlessly beat—rather, train—Tsuna and Bell. While Hearth Manor boasted a massive courtyard, having Tsuna fight out in the open risked exposing his Dying Will Flames to the public. Thus, an underground facility was deemed an absolute necessity.
Although Reborn wasn't officially a member of the Familia, he was the shadow MVP who had brutally trained Bell to Level 3, securing their victory in the War Game. Hestia simply couldn't refuse his request.
"Alright, time to get started, you two."
"Eh!? Right now!?"
"Of course. Do you have any idea how long I've had to hold back from tortur—from training you while waiting for this room to be built?"
"You definitely almost said torturing us just now!!"
"Don't you dare use my Familia to take out your frustrations!!"
Tsuna and Hestia immediately yelled out their objections at Reborn, who was blatantly treating this as an excuse to unleash his pent-up sadism. Undeterred, Reborn led Tsuna and Bell down into the newly constructed basement facility.
"This is the place."
The three of them stepped into a wide, completely empty underground chamber. The room itself had existed prior to the renovations, but everything inside had been completely stripped out and the walls reinforced specifically for combat training.
"Yeah, we can go wild in here without holding back."
Reborn knocked sharply on the walls, checking their durability. Finding the density exactly to his liking, a deeply satisfied smirk appeared on his face.
"You're up first, Tsuna."
"Yeah, yeah, I know…"
Reborn was practically vibrating with excitement. He couldn't wait to test exactly how much Tsuna's physical specs had improved thanks to the Falna, and to see his newly manifested Skills in action. Tsuna, on the other hand, had zero motivation. But knowing resistance against Reborn was entirely futile, he obediently slipped on his mittens.
The two of them moved to the center of the room, putting a fair distance between them before squaring off. In a flash of light, Tsuna entered Hyper Dying Will Mode.
"Natsu. Cambio Forma."
W-What is that!? At Tsuna's command, Natsu's form shifted and warped, transforming into a sleek, armored gauntlet equipped with a powerful thruster. Seeing Cambio Forma for the very first time, Bell's eyes widened in awe.
"You've gotten stronger again, Tsuna."
Reborn-san is using a weapon!? Facing down the Hyper Mode Tsuna, Reborn realized his student had grown significantly since they last met in this world. A faint smile touched his lips as he smoothly drew his beloved handgun from his suit jacket. Tsuna immediately dropped into a combat stance.
Meanwhile, Bell was completely stunned. During his own hellish training, Reborn hadn't used a single weapon. The sight of the tiny infant leveling a gun sent a chill down his spine.
"Let's see just how much you've grown since then."
"!?"
Before the sentence was even finished, Reborn vanished.
Tsuna spun instantly, sweeping his right arm to unleash a horizontal wave of flames. Reborn materialized right behind him, crossing his arms to block the brunt of the fiery blast. As Reborn dropped his guard, Tsuna followed up with a blazing hand-chop to his back. But Reborn, without even turning his head, pointed his gun backward and pulled the trigger.
Tsuna violently twisted his upper body, narrowly dodging the Sun Flame bullet. Reborn used the gun's recoil to launch himself forward, creating distance.
"[X-Machine Gun]."
As Tsuna straightened up, the flame on his forehead and his eyes shifted to a vibrant purple. Crossing his arms, he fired a burst of soft flames from the rear thruster to stabilize his footing, then unleashed a torrential barrage of flame bullets from his palms. Fueled by the Cloud flame's Propagation trait, the bullets multiplied exponentially in mid-air, swarming toward Reborn like a plague of locusts.
Cloud attribute propagation, huh. Reborn spun around mid-air. Moving at speeds completely invisible to the naked eye, he emptied his magazine. Sun Flame bullets tore from the barrel, accelerating at a terrifying velocity and systematically obliterating every single Cloud bullet in their path. Unfazed by the collision, the Sun bullets continued their deadly trajectory straight toward Tsuna.
Standard bullets were propelled by the expanding gases from igniting gunpowder. Reborn was actively using the Sun Flame's Activation characteristic to supercharge that combustion, exponentially accelerating the bullets' velocity beyond their physical limits.
Anticipating this counterattack, Tsuna dropped low, letting the Sun bullets whistle harmlessly overhead. He planted both hands firmly on the reinforced floor, his flames shifting to an electric green.
"[X-Spark]."
Surging Lightning Flames erupted from Tsuna's palms, crashing forward like a tidal wave toward Reborn's landing zone. Lightning Flames possessed the exact properties of electricity, arcing and spreading rapidly across the entire floor.
Realizing that touching the ground meant instant electrocution, Reborn aimed his gun diagonally downward and fired. The recoil launched him sharply backward, keeping him airborne.
Now!! Tsuna's flames flared back to their original, brilliant orange. Utilizing the unmatched mobility of the Sky Flames, Tsuna blasted off, instantly reappearing directly behind the airborne Reborn.
If the floor was electrified, Reborn had no choice but to take to the air. Tsuna had predicted this perfectly, seizing the exact moment before Reborn could alter his trajectory a second time.
Or so he thought.
"Gah!?"
The moment Tsuna raised his fist to strike, a Sun bullet slammed directly into his chest. His body folded in mid-air, momentum entirely broken, and he began plummeting toward the ground.
T-That's impossible…!? Bell had seen the entire sequence. Reborn had used a method so absurd it defied common sense to land a direct hit.
When Tsuna electrified the floor, Reborn had fired a bullet diagonally downward. That single bullet ricocheted off the floor, bounded off the wall behind Tsuna, deflected off the ceiling, and, after a mathematically impossible series of ricochets, struck Tsuna precisely in the back.
Is this the kind of monster I was dealing with…!? Seeing Reborn flawlessly predict several moves ahead and execute a perfect ricochet shot mid-air, Bell was violently reminded of why this infant was feared as the world's strongest hitman.
"I'm not done yet."
"Gah—!?"
Before Tsuna even hit the ground, Reborn fanned the hammer, unleashing a rapid-fire volley. With no leverage to dodge in mid-air, the barrage of Sun bullets hammered mercilessly into Tsuna, slamming him brutally into the reinforced floor.
"Gah…"
Battered by the sheer concussive force of the bullets and the impact against the ground, Tsuna barely clung to consciousness.
"It's over."
"Guh!?"
Reborn fired a shot directly upward, using the recoil to accelerate his descent. He brought his heel down in a devastating axe kick straight into the downed Tsuna's stomach.
Paralyzed by the previous damage, Tsuna couldn't even twitch to evade. The kick landed with sickening force. Tsuna's eyes rolled back, the flame on his forehead extinguished, and his gauntlet reverted to its mundane mitten form as he completely blacked out.
"You've definitely gotten a lot stronger, but you're still a hundred years too early to beat me."
That Tsuna… got completely destroyed… Bell couldn't believe his eyes. Tsuna, who hadn't taken a single clean hit from the legendary Sword Princess, had been utterly and flawlessly dismantled without landing a single strike of his own. And Reborn had done it without even having a Falna.
"You're up next, Bell. I'm going to go slightly harder than last time, so brace yourself."
"Eh…"
"You were only Level 2 back then. Now that you're Level 3, there shouldn't be any issue if I up the intensity a bit."
"Hiiieeee!!"
Reborn cracked his knuckles with a chillingly cheerful smile. He had broken Bell's body and spirit during their last session, and now he was promising to go harder. Bell let out a soul-tearing shriek.
"Alright, let's get this fun, fun training session started."
"Somebody save meeeeeeeeee!!"
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