Chapter 1121 ‘Sparring’
The reason why Ichigo, Uryu, and Chad came to Tessai and asked him for permission to use the training ground was to refresh themselves. After all, it's been a long while since the last large conflict and it's inevitable that they'll be rusty just from living their day-to-day lives as Humans.
There's a training ground constructed by Ryuuken Ishida inside the Karakura Hospital, but it's really only suitable for one or two people. The training ground under the Visored's warehouse, on the other hand, is being used by the Quincies. Although they didn't really have any intention of joining this new problem, they also didn't want to be stuck hiding behind their backs and be helpless about it.
The moment Ichigo's group came down to the training ground, a wave of nostalgia hit them, and that reminded them of a certain man that isn't here anymore. Though the next thing they felt is a worry, thinking that there was a chance that they'll be facing him if he was able to reach Hell.
After looking around, they immediately saw something very out of place and something they definitely don't remember existing, "...A mansion?" Muttered Chad after catching a glimpse of it in the distance.
Tessai became slightly nervous and feigned another cough, "Ehem... I built it to take some time off my hand. It's surprisingly enjoyable."
Claire knew that it was not a good topic for Tessai so she approached Ichigo, asking, "Ne, Kurosaki-niisan, how will you go with your training? If it's possible, we'd like a larger area."
"It's alright." Ichigo nodded at her, "We'll only do some Reiatsu training and some light sparring to get our senses back."
Claire immediately turned around and shouted towards the already distant Kunou, "He said it's okay~!"
Claire's actions pointed Ichigo's group and Tessai's attention to the distant blonde-haired girl. However, the moment their eyes landed on her, all of them froze for the reason that her appearance seems to have undergone a weird change.
Kunou released her transformation technique and now showed her fox ears and six tails swaying behind her.
"W-what is she?" Uryu muttered to himself.
"From the ancient lineage of the Nine-tailed Fox." Claire briefly answered before taking off, not explaining anything any further.
Kunou closed her eyes and the wind started swirling strongly around her, picking up dust and Kunou herself into the air.
Ichigo's group could tell that something is changing in their surroundings, but couldn't tell what it is.
From Kunou's bag, the same talisman that she took out earlier began rushing out, but this time, in hundreds or maybe even a thousand in number. They briefly covered Kunou from everyone's view as they formed a sphere around her. The next second, they all shoot out plastering themselves to the walls, floor, ceiling, and the invisible wall that divided the whole training ground into two.
And just like the previous ones, they all melded into what they stuck into and disappeared, including the ones with the invisible wall.
Tessai approached the one who was nearest, Tanis, and asked, "What did she do?"
"Spatial Reinforcement." Tanis answered while taking a look at the state of the barrier, "Basically it's a barrier that protects whatever's outside and slowly repairs what's inside."
And without any other word, a pair of dark blue reptilian wings suddenly sprouted behind her back before flying up and only stopping at the boundary of the barrier to check its integrity.
Ichigo's group and Tessai all froze in their place again at her sudden transformation, "Tsukabishi-san, what's all of this?" Uryuu asked the latter while fixing his glasses, making sure that he was not seeing anything wrong.
"Please don't ask me. I also want to know the answer to that.", replied Tessai while thinking, 'I knew what sort of world Kisuke came from but he didn't tell me anything about these girls. And actually seeing other races than Soul, Hollow, Quincy, and Human is very surprising.'
Meanwhile, the girls carefully checked the barrier that Kunou formed, not minding everyone else's stare. Since they are going to reveal a bit of themselves to them, there's no point in hiding their true appearances.
"I think this is really good." Claire muttered after touching a few spots of the barrier, "You said you created this barrier with Rossweisse-sensei and Riveria-sensei's help?"
Kunou shook her head with a wry smile, "It's more like they walked me through it."
"Don't sell yourself short, Kunou. I heard that Rossweisse-sensei and Riveria-sensei aren't really that good with Youkai techniques, but this is clearly mainly a Youjutsu." Tanis flew towards Kunou and patted her back, "I also heard about this from those two and they're also saying that your ingenuity made this possible."
A small cute smile emerged from Kunou's face as she turned to Tanis, "Thanks."
At that moment, they suddenly felt a mix of Demonic Power and Holy Power erupted and when the two of them turned towards its source, they saw Claire grinning at them, "Shall we start?"
Kunou and Tanis looked at each other again before grinning and jumping away from each other.
As the one who is better at long-range engagement, Kunou started by forming fox signs on both of her hands. The next second two golden balls of fire with a tint of red a yard in diameter formed in front of her hands and she sent them flying towards Claire and Tanis.
A shallow light immediately covered Tanis' body as she took a stance in mid-air. The moment the fireball came near her, she launched her right fist at it while letting out a small breath, "Huuppp!"
The fireball instantly exploded away from Tanis, creating a shockwave that rocked the whole training ground. But thanks to the barrier, it was immediately mitigated without any problem.
On Claire's side, she only had to look at it for a second before it fizzled out of existence. Not as flashy as the former, but definitely more terrifying. In fact, Tanis and Kunou would often team up against Claire because she has a clear 'sight' of what they can do.
Naturally, Kunou also knew that this would be the result after sending out those 'greetings' but she didn't stop there and created another 8 fireballs, 2 from her hands and 6 from her tails. Kunou then sent them flying toward Claire and Tanis once again.
Tanis was about to receive them as she usually does, but the 4 fireballs heading her direction suddenly started going off a weird trajectory they were about to reach her, completely throwing off her timing, and ended up receiving the two of them with her bare body, causing a huge explosion on her spot.
Claire, on the other hand, tried erasing the fox fires with her 'Worthless' ability but only one of them fizzled out, "Wait, Huh? Those aren't Fox Fire!?"
Kunou smirked and removed the illusion she placed on the fireballs. In an instant, two of the three remaining golden fireballs heading toward Claire suddenly turned crimson and the last one turned blue.
"Dragon Fire and Magic Fire!?"
While Claire's [Worthless] is very oppressive, especially to those she knew very well, there were weaknesses to it. First, it can't disable two or more spells at the same time, and second, there's a very small cooldown before each use. Claire could circumvent a bit of the first weakness if the spells she's disabling came from the same system, but there's nothing she can do about the second one no matter how fast she tries to analyze the spell.
"It's the result of my secret training~!" Kunou proudly proclaims.
Before impact, Claire was able to take care of the two Dragon Fire fireballs but she had to take Magic Fire that chased her even after dodging it and also causing a huge explosion and shockwave.
Meanwhile, those who were watching them couldn't stop the corners of their mouths from twitching, "...They said this is just sparring, or did I remember it wrongly?" Chad asked.
"More importantly, can this place hold up?" Asked Ichigo, "It feels like it'll collapse from the constant earthquake."
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