That day, Rayleigh called Alfia over.
Alfia watched as Rayleigh opened the floorboards on the first floor.
Looking at the entrance leading underground, she didn't hesitate. Lifting her skirt slightly, she walked down with perfect elegance.
But when she stepped onto the final stair, her view suddenly opened up.
She looked at the vast space before her, at least over a dozen square kilometers in size.
"How surprising. You really did create a space like this underground."
Even Alfia had to acknowledge it.
In less than ten hours, Rayleigh had actually created such a huge training ground beneath Orario—no, more accurately, beneath his own house.
If it was this large, then no matter what kind of disturbance they caused, it probably wouldn't matter.
No matter how loud the noise or how great the vibrations were, they likely wouldn't reach the surface.
"This is my first time trying it too. Succeeding was within expectations, but I didn't expect the result to turn out this well," Rayleigh said.
After returning from the Familia base yesterday, he had asked Alfia whether she could help train him.
And Alfia's answer had been: if the conditions allowed it, then yes.
The first thing he needed was a training ground.
She couldn't fight openly, so it had to be a place where no one could witness it.
And because her Magic caused tremendous commotion, the place not only had to be concealed, but also sufficiently soundproof.
Secondly, the place had to be large enough.
Otherwise, it simply wouldn't withstand her destruction.
In other words, she had agreed.
If it couldn't be done, then that would be because of objective conditions, not because she personally didn't want to.
After that, Rayleigh had buried himself underground for eight hours and finally produced this kind of "pocket space."
In truth, all he had done was dig out a basement first.
After that, he created a barrier through Kidō, then continuously expanded the space inside the barrier using more Kidō.
So although this place looked extremely vast, the room they had actually entered was only about the size of a wine cellar.
The power of Kidō was always easy to underestimate, but in reality, this was a high-level power capable of manipulating time and space.
Spatial transfer, spatial creation, spatial fixation, time stoppage, interference with the timeline—Kidō was a tremendously powerful force capable of even these things.
This training ground was something Rayleigh had created by unfolding and extending space.
"This sky looks pretty realistic."
"Thanks for the compliment."
"Then let's not waste time. Let's begin!"
"Alri—huh?!" Rayleigh had only just agreed.
Before he could even prepare himself or move into a proper position, Alfia's figure had already appeared in front of him as if by teleportation.
A knife-hand strike swept across horizontally!
Rayleigh didn't even have time to finish saying "alright" before he threw himself into a full backward lean.
In order to dodge that strike, he even used the acceleration technique of Shunpo with his upper body.
The result was that he flipped backward and landed face-first on the ground.
His face pressed against the floor, Rayleigh pushed himself up with both hands.
But a foot was already in front of his chin.
This time, he failed to dodge.
The sharp pain from his chin lasted only for an instant.
Because in the very next second, everything above his neck lost sensation from the vicious impact, leaving only numbness behind.
'It hurts. It really hurts!'
Rayleigh spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Cough."
That one kick had directly turned his whole mouth bloody.
When he opened his mouth, several teeth came out mixed together with the blood.
'So fast.'
Forget the naked eye—even none of the five senses could keep up with Alfia's speed.
'So this is a Level 7 strength.'
'No.'
'There's something else mixed into it too.'
Whoosh!
Alfia's figure vanished once again.
The moment Rayleigh saw her disappear from where she stood, he instinctively applied his own habits to the situation and judged that she would appear behind him.
So in an instant, he flung out a large mass of thick golden chains.
"Bakudō #63: Sajō Sabaku."
Several golden chains shot out.
But what they aimed at was apparently empty space and yet, in that very next instant, a figure appeared there.
A trace of surprise appeared on Alfia's face.
"Peace of the Soul."
Silentium Eden activated.
After the golden chains approached Alfia, they rapidly faded, and in the blink of an eye they could no longer be maintained.
They shattered into segment after segment and dispersed into the air.
Seeing Alfia appear in the very spot he predicted, Rayleigh didn't feel happy.
Instead, he was horrified.
Because that proved his guess was correct.
'That just now.... was Shunpo!'
For a moment, Rayleigh found it hard to believe.
'That's right.'
'It was Shunpo.'
Alfia had used the Hohō of the Zankensoki.
And not only that—her proficiency was already fully on par with his.
It didn't look like something she had only just learned!
After thinking about it, Rayleigh understood the reason.
'This is why Alfia is called the incarnation of talent...'
'She had only seen Zard's swordsmanship once, yet she could reproduce it perfectly.'
'Shunpo was the same.'
'In the final analysis, it's only a technique developed by someone.'
'Aside from the method of controlling Reiryoku, it's just a kind of movement art.'
'For a monster of talent like Alfia, seeing it once was enough.'
'And because the one she observed was me, the degree of completion of the Shunpo was reproduced directly.'
'If she were allowed to observe the Shunpo of Yoruichi Shihōin, the Flash Goddess, then she might surpass me on the spot.'
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Rayleigh gained an even deeper understanding of Alfia's ability.
'This is... a being judged to possess the potential to subjugate the One-Eyed Black Dragon alone.'
The power of Kaidō flowed through his whole body, and Rayleigh's injuries began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.
A full recovery would probably take one or two minutes.
"Take your stance."
Alfia gave a reminder.
Rayleigh's pupils instantly contracted, and his line of sight locked tightly onto Alfia.
But it was still futile.
'She's simply too fast!'
'She shouldn't know how to use a Zanpakutō to assist in controlling Reiatsu yet. In other words, she reached this level relying on physical ability alone!'
'Strong.'
'Incredibly strong!'
'So strong that it's almost unreasonable.'
'If she had shown this level of seriousness in the war a few months ago, then at most within three minutes, they would all have been wiped out.'
The instant the figure in his eyes disappeared, Rayleigh also used Shunpo at the same time.
There was no clear direction.
He was simply trying to escape.
However, in the middle of his high-speed movement, a slender hand suddenly came to rest on his shoulder.
Rayleigh could hardly believe it.
Because Alfia had learned this technique by imitating his own Shunpo, the level she should have been able to display ought to have been the same as his.
She shouldn't have been able to catch up to him.
And yet being caught up to meant that Alfia's speed surpassed his—
'so...?'
'In just that short amount of time, had she already mastered Shunpo to the point of surpassing me, the original user?'
Whoosh!
A force was applied to his body.
Rayleigh only felt the world in front of his eyes spin rapidly.
Then his entire body was slammed onto the ground.
Blankly, he looked up at the false sky he himself had created.
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