“You can use your sword to speed up the circulation of spiritual energy, so you get used to it always moving in you. Once you get used to that, get rid of the sword and you’ll practice using magic for real.” Toda placed his jacket at the side of the courtyard, then stretched his arms. “Come at me anytime.”

Swallowing, I yanked Kenji off my belt and charged towards the shikigami with a katana in my hand.

I can feel it. The way spiritual energy is moving within me- I can use it now!

Even though I could already somewhat manipulate my spiritual energy when I touched Kenji, I was never able to use it, and I’d assumed that I could hit Kenji’s human form with it because he technically was the sword as well, and by hitting his human form, I really was just hitting the sword, which was what caused my spiritual energy to move, thereby completing a circuit that ended up backfiring on Kenji himself.

Now, I was able to let spiritual energy complement my movements, reinforcing my body and heightening my abilities.

“That’s real shoddy usage of spiritual energy. It’s inefficient; you’re wasting more spiritual energy than you need.” Toda merely watched me as I approached.

Anchoring my foot in front of him, I let spiritual energy pool in my forearms as I brought Kenji around in an upward slice. The blade went along with my every whim, as light as a feather.

With hardly any resistance, the steel of my sword sliced right into Toda’s chest. Or so I’d thought. My blade went through nothing but air, Toda already having stepped back a precise distance to evade the sword’s tip.

As I pressed on with swing after swing, he dodged them the same way, my slashes and cuts all falling without making contact. He’s almost… casual with it. It’s like I’m not even a threat.

That irritated me. While I didn’t have much combat experience, I didn’t train for over ten years just to be unable to land even a single hit on one shikigami. Protect the legacy of the Tsuchimikado and Abe no Seimei? Who the hell am I?

On the downward path of my next swing, I loosened the grip with my main hand, letting Kenji’s momentum take the sword downward even more as I spun on the balls of my feet.

Please work.

Spiritual energy was already swirling within my arms as I used it to lighten the load of the sword, and now as I pivoted forward, I lunged forward, throwing a punch towards Toda’s gut.

My fist made contact, and suddenly a deep calmness washed over me, almost like a single drop of water that sent a ripple over a puddle of water and silenced it.

A flash of yellow and white, and I was stumbling back, breathing heavily.

Toda was standing a fair distance back, his arms raised in a guard, but the sleeves of his shirt where he had blocked my punch were torn and ragged.

“Sheesh. I didn’t expect that. Thought you would go on swinging that sword forever.” He muttered. “Waste of a shirt.

“I’ll be coming now.” He smirked at me.

I’ve got a bad feeling about this. When did this go from training to a duel session?

Before I could ready myself, Toda seemed to shimmer and vanish.

Shit-

A sharp pressure cut into my senses, and I spun around, raising Kenji horizontally to receive Toda’s hit. He hadn’t used any spiritual energy, but the force itself still sent me staggering backwards, my arms tingling as though they’d been shocked.

My fingers, wrapped around Kenji’s hilt, were numb. Any more of those punches and I’ll drop the sword.

Toda was walking towards me now, shoulders hunched and slightly tilted to the side, his right arm drawn back.

“Hey. Be sure to guard this one, okay? I can’t be sure it doesn’t kill you if you don’t.”

“Oi, what the hell? This is just supposed to be training-”

“If you don’t train like you’re going to die, then how’re you going to fight when you actually are?” He asked.

That shut me up.

As exhausting as Kia’s training had been, it had never pushed me as much as just a single duel did with Toda.

As I mulled over it, he was in front of me now.

Crap, I got distracted- I brought Kenji up again, the flat of the blade directly in the path of Toda’s fist.

The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, weightless. My fingers burned, as though they had been put into an open flame, and Kenji wasn’t held within them.

I hit something hard, white-hot pain erupting across my back, and I fell to the ground in a heap, my legs tingling. I could taste blood, and my vision was blurry.

Why? Why has it become like this? Why am I so weak?

I can’t stand. I swallowed blood back down my throat, groaning in pain as I tried to move my legs, but they refused to gather enough strength to lift my body up.

Toda was approaching again, walking slowly towards me.

If you don’t train like you’re going to die, then how’re you going to fight when you actually are?

No way. Is he actually trying to kill me? My eyes widened with the realisation.

I scrambled backwards, my hands clawing at the ground and pulling myself back until I hit the pillar again.

“Come on, Ren-sama. Is that all you have?” The Heavenly General drawled.

A glint on the ground a distance away alerted me to where Kenji was, but there was no way I was going to be able to get there.

Shit. Is this seriously going to be the end of me?

I grit my teeth.

It might as well. If I can’t even beat this guy, there’s no way I’m beating a shinigami or going against uncle Joman.

Toda was in front of me now, and he raised a foot in the air.

Time seemed to slow as he swung it down, and I threw my arms out in an attempt to uselessly shield myself.

In the moment that passed, a yellow blip of light came into view, slowly coming to rest on my arms.

A butterfly.

My thoughts cleared.

I put my hands together in the most convenient seal I could, the zai hand seal, forming a triangle with the index fingers and thumbs of both hands. The seal of the ring of the sun.

“ON CHIRICHI IBA ROTAYA SOWAKA!” The mantra left my mouth before I could think of anything else.

Immediately, a swarm of butterflies started to revolve around my arms, forming a cocoon so thick I couldn’t see my fingers through their luminescence.

The air in front of my hands exploded in a brilliant orange flame as the magic hit Toda at blank point range.

My arms were still outstretched, and I stared at them blankly as Toda flew backwards and landed hard on the ground, smoke wisping up from his body.

Huh? Did I just… cast magic…?

I just did, didn’t I?

My arms were tingling, though it wasn’t the same pain-induced one as the tingle in my legs; rather it felt more like a warm, comfortable buzz. The butterflies that had been swarming around my arms had dispersed with the spell, and only a small handful were still fluttering around me.

“Man. If I were a normal human I’d be dead. If we’d managed to fully undo your seal I’d be dead too.” Toda muttered from where he lay on the ground.

He got up after a while and started walking towards me. There was a massive hole burned into his shirt, showing an unscarred body under it. “I think that’s enough training for one day. Actually, that’s enough training from me.”

He offered a hand to me, which I accepted, and he pulled me up, wrapping my arm over his shoulder and supporting me as we picked Kenji up, then headed away from the wrecked courtyard.

“I’ve given you plenty of lessons from that one duel today, Ren-sama. As long as you take note of them, you’ll do fine until you meet the shinigami.”

“Lessons?” I asked in between wheezes. “You didn’t tell me anything.”

“If I were to babysit you like that, you wouldn’t learn anything, would you?”

Another wave of pain surged through my body as the adrenaline started to fade. “-shit!”

I’d definitely broken bones in more places than one, and the palms of both my hands were bruised from the punches I took while holding Kenji. My lower lip was crusted over with dried blood.

“Tenko.” Toda called out.

With the fluttering of fabric, the shikigami appeared in front of us, and took one glance at me before frowning.

“You look bad, Ren-sama.”

“... I… can tell…”

“Hey, if he can crack jokes like that, he’s fine!” Toda exclaimed, slapping my back.

I screamed as bolts of lightning shot down both my legs again, and my knees buckled, almost pulling Toda down with me. Tenko surged forward, catching me.

“I’ve got you, Ren-sama. You’ll be fine.” She smiled warmly.

Finally, one of the Heavenly Generals who’s really nice.

My eyelids began to grow heavy, and I lost all the strength in my body.

I woke up in my room.

I’m home…?

No, it’s Shinshonohara. I sighed a little as I remembered what had happened. I fell asleep after duelling Toda, huh.

I sat up, bracing for the pain, but my body didn’t react in any way, rather I felt strangely like I’d never been injured before. The bruises on my palms were faded as well.

“What the hell…?”

“You shouldn’t be moving like that, Ren-sama.” A woman spoke, her voice instilling warmth that spread through my body like flowers blooming in spring. “I’ve healed you, but your body’s still recovering and you aren’t used to using spiritual energy yet.”

I turned to see Tenko sitting in a chair beside my bed. She was smiling. “I have to say, Ren-sama, you’re the first reincarnation to ever manage to put Toda on the ground in a duel.”

First one to do it…?

“Wait, does that mean he fights all the reincarnations of Abe no Seimei…? I thought he only did it for my training-”

Tenko shook her head and laughed. “That’s one reason, yes, but… Toda’s actually the most violent out of all twelve of us. Having duels with our masters when they appear… that’s his way of deciding whether or not he’s willing to accept a name from them.”

“And…? Did he say anything?” I asked, eager to find out if I had at least one guaranteed ally on the board out of the twelve.

“I’m afraid not.” Tenko quietened. “By the way, time started passing normally after you fell unconscious. It’s been two days; I figured you would want to know.”

“Two days?” I exclaimed. “That’s way too long. I need to get back to the others now.”

I leapt off the bed and towards the shoji screen without another word, Tenko merely looking after me.

“Oi. Aren’t you forgetting something?” This new voice was a male’s.

It was familiar, with a sardonic tone as if he were mocking me.

I snapped my head to the side to see a boy in jeans and a white t-shirt leaning against the desk, hair bleached blond and a single keychain dangling from his left ear.

“Kenji!” My eyes widened. “You’re awake!”

“Yo.” He raised a hand in greeting. “I guess we’re going back, then?”

He pushed himself off the desk, propping his sheathed sword against his shoulder and walking after me.