Chris naturally had no reason to turn down Kiryuuin Fuka's invitation to spar.
But as he looked at Kiryuuin Fuka across from him—already active in her [Beast King Transformation · Lion King] state, fluffy white lion ears sprouting from the top of her head—
a nagging doubt bubbled up in Chris's mind.
If he wanted to make it a back-and-forth kind of fight, he'd inevitably have to hold back.
But if she caught him going easy on her...
With Kiryuuin's deep-rooted pride and arrogance, she would absolutely never accept that kind of charity.
To her, it would be nothing short of an insult.
After a brief moment of consideration, Chris made his decision.
He'd just display overwhelming strength head-on.
However, just as he started popping the pills that were basically feasting on Ayanokouji's misfortune—namely, his T-Virus and Super-Soldier Serum—Chris's thoughts couldn't help but drift.
His gear was piling up more and more; constantly swapping things around in actual combat inevitably made him feel a bit bloated.
And besides summoning armor, the Demon Possession short sword could at most transform into the spear 'Red-Backed Shrike' to serve as a throwing weapon—its compatibility with the Enma Blade wasn't exactly perfect.
It was different from the kind of instant-fusion buff stacking you got from popping serums.
He only had so many equipment slots—he couldn't exactly turn into Nezha with three heads and six arms and hang every single item off his body.
Maybe he'd have to unlock an [Item Fusion] function in the presiding god system later on?
Chris calculated inwardly.
But considering that even if he fused them, Demon Possession couldn't compare to the Enma Blade's later Demon-Man transformation, forcing a fusion would purely lower his power. So he simply decided he'd wait until some day when he could naturally trigger a berserk Dragon Transformation in the exam hall, play the hidden BOSS for once, and then slowly phase out Demon Possession.
On top of that, he could use the Enma Blade to break through the armor of his dragon form, indirectly proving the true worth of space-type weapons.
Simply perfect.
Just as Chris was busy multitasking—
"Hey, little junior."
Kiryuuin Fuka raised an eyebrow, the fluffy beast ears atop her head twitching once:
"Your eyes keep wandering... Could it be you're thinking about how to go easy on me?"
She curled her lips, revealing a hint of madness:
"Let me make this clear up front—I'm not someone who can't accept my own weakness. But I absolutely cannot accept someone deliberately handing me charity and pity. You get what I mean, right?"
Hearing this, Chris reined in his scattered thoughts and lifted his gaze to her:
"You're overthinking it, senpai."
"It's just that after downing those two vials of serum Ayanokouji left behind, I seem to have found the solution to the problem that's been plaguing my Ki training..."
"But that can wait for later. For now, let's have a match first, senpai."
With that, Chris drove the short sword in his hand hard into the pure white floor.
"Demon Possession!"
"ROAAAR—!"
As the phantom of Tyrande roared, silver-white heavy armor instantly crawled across his entire body.
Kiryuuin Fuka's pupils contracted; she was about to counter using the enhanced instincts of her beast form.
"Shff!"
Chris had already hurled the Red-Backed Shrike—now transformed into a spear—with one hand.
Like lightning tearing across the sky, it bore straight for Kiryuuin Fuka's face!
'So fast!'
Kiryuuin Fuka drove power through her waist, twisting sharply to the side and barely dodging the strike.
However, in the one-tenth of a second her attention was drawn away by the spear—
Chris had already drawn the [Enma Blade] at his waist.
"Shing—"
The crisp ring of the blade hadn't even reached Kiryuuin's eardrums yet.
Blue dimensional rifts had already bloomed in the void all around her.
And then.
There was no 'and then.'
"Dora!"
A pink-blue flurry of fists from [Crazy Diamond] flashed past.
Kiryuuin Fuka stood there in a daze, staring at her own perfectly intact body, momentarily unable to snap out of it.
Had Chris not summoned Crazy Diamond to save her fast enough—given the [Enma Blade]'s property of ignoring defense and slicing through space itself—she would have just dissipated amid a sky full of blade light, judged dead by the system and kicked out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
In that case, she would have missed the chance to join everyone's rehearsal for tackling the Darkness Devil afterward.
As for why getting killed by simulated monsters countless times inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber was fine, but being killed by a comrade even once would forcibly end the training...
That was purely because, when Chris was writing up these rules, he'd only been thinking about making a grinding room; everything else had just been decided on a whim, off the top of his head, without any real thought.
Of course, if someone really insisted on asking, he could easily explain it as:
The presiding god does not encourage infighting among the Qualified; this is a protective mechanism to promote harmony within the team.
Yeah, that made perfect sense.
After a moment of silence.
Kiryuuin Fuka blinked, looking at Chris, who had already sheathed his blade, her voice a little dry:
"...That's it? It's over?"
Chris nodded, his tone calm:
"You chose this. To show my respect for you, senpai, I naturally went all out."
"And didn't you see me dosing up just now? That was the T-Virus and Super-Soldier Serum Ayanokouji left behind—worth at least 80 S-Points all told."
Kiryuuin Fuka took a deep breath and said:
"I know. I just didn't expect... that I wouldn't even have time to react before losing outright."
Chris said helplessly:
"Senpai, my whole equipment loadout is worth a good few hundred S-Points, all counted up. If that still let you hold out against me for a while, I might as well go buy a block of tofu and smash my head against it right now..."
Kiryuuin Fuka couldn't help letting out a soft laugh.
But deep down she didn't entirely believe this line of reasoning.
Equipment did indeed grant its user tremendous power as its value increased.
But to wield it as naturally as an extension of one's own arm, the pilot's own skill and combat competence were the decisive factors.
What concerned her more was that, facing Chris just now, she'd inexplicably had a strong sense of déjà vu.
It was as if... even if they both stripped away their gear and sparred bare-handed, with her A+ grade physical ability, she still absolutely couldn't gain the upper hand against Chris.
That feeling was as though he had already dueled her countless times before, knowing every inch of her inside and out.
"I'd really love to see your tofu-suicide performance, but too bad—senpai here isn't quite capable enough yet."
Kiryuuin suppressed her probing thoughts, tossed out that jab to go with the flow, and steered the topic back on track:
"By the way, what was that bottleneck you mentioned earlier?"
Chris thought for a moment and didn't hold back on demonstrating.
He slowly raised his right hand.
Under the interested gazes of Kiryuuin Fuka and Horikita Suzune and the others, who had been drawn over by the commotion—
A ball of pure white light gathered in Chris's palm, finally forming a dazzling orb of light.
"This is it."
Chris dispersed the orb and explained: "Actually, I'd pretty much reached the threshold of Ki last night, but I always felt something was off with the conversion efficiency of the energy inside my body."
"It wasn't until I took the enhancement serum Ayanokouji left behind just now that I truly understood."
Kiryuuin Fuka arched her lovely eyebrows, her lion ears twitching slightly:
"So, the difficulty of cultivating "Ki" gets easier as your body's strength improves?"
At this point, Horikita Suzune, who had walked closer, furrowed her brow slightly and cut in with a puzzled look:
"Isn't this actually pretty much the same as Ripple Breathing? In essence, aren't they both methods of controlling the flow of life energy?"
"Not entirely the same."
Chris shook his head in denial: "Though they share the same origin, Ripple relies on a special breathing technique. The moment you lose your breath rhythm in combat, or can't breathe underwater or in a vacuum, Ripple immediately fails."
"But Ki is potential that naturally exists within the body, made manifest through cultivation. Even if your rhythm is broken in actual combat, it won't be affected—you can even use it to rapidly heal your own injuries."
Kiryuuin Fuka suddenly understood:
"So, to truly master Ki, aside from buying items to forcibly boost your physique, the only path is to spend time slowly honing your body bit by bit?"
Chris nodded:
"I suppose that's about right."
After all, on the Earth of "Dragon Ball", apart from the Saiyans with their alien bloodline, among pure Earthlings, only a mere handful—Master Roshi, Krillin, and the like—had managed to cultivate Ki to its peak over the span of several centuries.
An ordinary martial artist, trained to the absolute limit, could at most manage to fly through the air, barely muster a ki wave, and shrug off bullets with their body.
While that was nothing in the Infinite World, in this real world of the Advanced Nurturing school, it was more than enough to spark panic and unrest.
It was precisely for this reason that Chris had plans to drag those ordinary people who secretly trained in Ki—ones who weren't even from the Advanced Nurturing High School—into the Black Sphere exam as intruders in the future.
After all, strictly speaking, this technique was something everyone had risked their lives to earn.
Practicing a bit of Ripple for your health was about enough—and they still wanted to freeload their way to the extraordinary? In their dreams.
Chris looked at everyone and continued expanding on the idea:
"From the looks of it, you, senpai, and Student Council President Nagumo, who fused with the Spider-Man serum—both of you, with your exceptional physiques, are quite suited to training this technique..."
"Even..." Chris glanced at Ichinose Honami and Sakayanagi Arisu not far away, "even Ichinose and Sakayanagi—after becoming magical girls and gaining that boost—I feel like it's not impossible for them to give it a try. After all, being able to fly and self-regenerate through healing is extremely versatile."
Kiryuuin Fuka stroked her chin and nodded in understanding.
Horikita Suzune, however, held a different view.
"But it's only in the Time Chamber that we can fuse items and then practice Ki."
"And we enter the Time Chamber mostly to adapt to new equipment and rehearse team coordination... In reality, for most people, there simply isn't enough time to also juggle this kind of technique that requires long-term honing!"
Chris patiently explained:
"Not everyone needs to grind away in the direction I'm describing."
"Take Ryuuen and senpai Kiriyama—they've gone the mechanical ascension route; they barely have any original flesh and blood left inside them, so there's really no need for them to train Ki. They just need to spend more time getting familiar with operating their prosthetic bodies and accumulating combat experience."
"But for those brimming with vitality, this is currently the most cost-effective long-term investment there is."
Horikita Suzune fell silent for a moment.
As a textbook perfectionist, she understood full well the principle that biting off more than you can chew leaves you unable to swallow.
"In that case, since my energy is limited, I suppose I really should master one thing to the extreme first, and then consider the rest."
Horikita Suzune suddenly lifted her head, looking at Chris with sparkling eyes:
"Ichinose-san has a Devil Fruit now and has already given up learning swordsmanship from you... but I still want to keep learning."
Hearing this, Chris glanced at her with a bit of surprise.
Well now, so this was what she'd been waiting to spring on him.
But thinking it over carefully, having Horikita Suzune keep practicing the sword really was a solid way to differentiate her.
What's more, aside from her Combat Suit, she hadn't yet bought any other expensive tactic-binding items—her foundation was very clean, her potential extremely malleable.
So Chris nodded, going along with it:
"That's good. You know what you want—no need to let a few stray words from others sway your judgment."
Receiving Chris's affirmation, Horikita Suzune let out a slight breath of relief.
But right after, she bashfully lowered her head again, fingers restlessly twisting the hem of her clothes, her gaze wandering, not daring to look Chris in the eye:
"Then... since I've decided to keep using the sword."
"When I'm buying equipment from the presiding god shop later on... what direction should I go in? Do you have any suggestions?"
Chris stroked his chin and gave his answer with barely any thought:
"The [Two-Star Goku Uniform], I'd say... As I recall, that thing can be enhanced in a targeted way based on an individual's strengths."
"For you as you are now, the price isn't too steep, and you can spend points to upgrade it later—it's quite suitable as a transitional piece for your current stage."
Chris added a note inwardly. Even once she reached the later [Kamui] stage, whether perfectly fusing with the Life Fibers or absorbing them to trigger a Berserk power-up, it would be a broad and glorious road.
However...
Ryūko Matoi's blood-clad transformed state, the one that didn't quite fully cling to the Kamui...
Chris figured that a sight like that was best kept just for himself to enjoy in private.
Horikita Suzune had no idea about the naughty little musings in Chris's mind.
Hearing that Chris had tailored a growth path just for her, an unconcealable delight burst forth in the girl's eyes, and she nodded vigorously.
From her perspective, her true goal had actually been clear from the very start.
Ichinose Honami, with her Love-Love Fruit and magical girl setup, had already successfully transitioned and had no need whatsoever to keep practicing swordsmanship.
Which meant... that during this private time practicing swordsmanship going forward, Chris would belong completely and entirely to her alone!
Conveniently, she'd also been eyeing that 'Dimension Slash' move Chris had used against the Darkness Devil for quite a while now.
This could truly be called a double blessing—a double blessing indeed!
The Goku Uniform wasn't expensive anyway; as long as she could reach a combat level similar to the Leo Cavalry, Horikita Suzune figured this investment was a guaranteed win.
And Kiryuuin Fuka, who had witnessed all of this—
Though she didn't know exactly what fantasies were playing out in Horikita Suzune's head,
just watching the junior girl—usually as cold as an iceberg—burst with such lively excitement in her eyes right now, her feminine intuition was more than enough to let her guess most of what was going on.
Kiryuuin Fuka let out a soft sigh.
Looking at Chris, she teased him, half-serious, half-joking:
"Little junior, I didn't expect you to be... quite popular with the girls."
Chris shook his head in denial without changing his expression:
"It's really not that big a deal. When everyone gathers together, it's either the comradeship of sharing life and death, or, like with me and Horikita, simply the bond between master and student."
"If we're talking about someone who genuinely likes me for who I am... I haven't seen one yet."
At these words.
The several girls present each had their own thoughts.
Horikita Suzune pressed her lips together, secretly gloating inside:
'A master-student relationship isn't bad either—the terrace nearest the water gets the moonlight first. It's a perfect excuse to close the distance... And it's very useful at night, great fodder for daydreaming.'
Kiryuuin Fuka, on the other hand, was troubled by that inexplicable flutter in her heart from earlier.
She turned her face aside, deliberately letting her cascading silver hair veil half her cheek, not wanting Chris to clearly see the emotions in her eyes.
But her lion ears, twitching lightly every so often out of sensitivity, still betrayed that their owner's heart was not as calm as it appeared on the surface.
Of course.
Because this session of simulated sparring in the Time Chamber burned through two thousand class points each time, the price was truly steep.
And so this brief slice of warm, everyday life didn't leave them much time to linger.
At the same time Chris and Kiryuuin wrapped up their spar,
on the other side of the arena, Ryuuen, along with Kiriyama Ikuha, Kouenji, and the others, had also just finished a 'pressure-endurance run' simulation—one without Chris's participation.
Now, as several flashes of white light flickered, the group—having failed the challenge—returned to the rest area.
Ryuuen cursed under his breath, his face grim; clearly the result had been less than ideal.
Sakayanagi Arisu, however, wore hardly any trace of dejection on her face.
She strolled over leisurely, sidled up to Chris, and spread her hands with a hint of regret:
"Although Ryuuen-san, with the help of the [Soul-Release Blade], could indeed deal damage to the Darkness Devil,"
"by the final phase, we still couldn't crack the turtle shell it hides in—that absolute darkness."
The girl sighed: "By the looks of it... without you, Chris-kun, our team really just doesn't cut it after all."
She lifted her head, her purple eyes glinting with light:
"Hmm... shall we test how many people we need to pair with you before we can clear this un-nerfed Darkness Devil?"
Chris thought for a moment, then tossed the [The World] Stand capsule backhanded into Sakayanagi Arisu's hands.
"We can give it a shot."
"Either way, the core key to beating it is creating an absolute light source with no blind spots. As long as we can suppress its home-field advantage, we'll eventually find a solution by fine-tuning the rest of the coordination over a few runs."
Besides, the money for opening this session wasn't coming out of his own class's class points anyway—with someone else footing the bill, he could naturally splurge as he pleased.
In the time that followed,
everyone began round after round of almost self-torturing permutations and combinations.
Though after thoroughly familiarizing themselves with the Darkness Devil's attack patterns and weaknesses, the team did manage to scrape out a few narrow victories,
without exception, in the end they always needed Chris to slice open space with the Enma Blade to break through the Darkness Devil's absolute turtle shell.
This, too, served as indirect proof of the special and irreplaceable nature of space-type items.
...Time flew by.
In the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where hunger and fatigue could scarcely be felt, the scheduled training time quickly came to an end.
When everyone returned to the real world,
because they had proven through actual combat that the Darkness Devil at full power was not invincible, the vast majority felt a long wave of relief, their expressions no longer as grave as when they'd first entered.
However.
Just as everyone had composed themselves and was about to break up and head back to rest—
Before Chris could even turn around to banter with the few girls,
Hirata Yousuke pushed the door open and brought a piece of bad news.
"Everyone, hold on a second..."
"I just got word."
Hirata Yousuke's face was slightly flushed, his breathing a little rapid:
"Ayanokouji... he's back at school."
____
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