Chapter 12: The Sword He Drew
"Renyu."
The training ground changed in a single breath.
A moment ago there had been the usual noise of dismissal—laughter too loud to be sincere, arguments over footwork, the scrape of practice weapons against stone racks. Then Sun Ji spoke his name, and the air tightened. Students who had been pretending not to watch began watching openly. Instructors who had been pretending not to listen began listening very carefully.
Renyu turned.
Sun Ji stood in the open court with his shoulders squared and his pride arranged into something almost respectable.
"As a student of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy," Sun Ji said, voice carrying just far enough, "I request a duel with you."
Renyu looked at him for a moment, then beyond him, not long enough to seem suspicious, only long enough to confirm what instinct had already told him.
Xue Beng was gone from sight.
That itself was answer enough.
So this is his hand, Renyu thought.
Not unexpected. Only sooner than expected.
One week since entering the academy beneath Xue Qinghe banner, and already the first test had arrived. Not from a prince directly—Xue Beng was clever enough not to dirty himself so openly—but through a noble boy proud enough to mistake another man design for his own courage.
Renyu did not resent it.
Resentment was useless. Direct things were simpler, measure the opponent, measure the audience, measure the lesson that needed to be taught.
Sun Ji was not the real problem.
The real problem was what would be decided in the minds of everyone watching.
If he refused, they would say imperial favor had fattened a coward.
If he accepted and won too narrowly, they would smell weakness and come again.
If he accepted and revealed too much, the academy would stop seeing a talented commoner and begin seeing something that needed closer watching but if he show too much the higher up in the academy will be more to inclined to cultivate him.
But there lies the problem, he is not doing this for Heaven Dou, he do it to save the Spirit Hall. As a reincarnator, he know the novel Douluo Dalu.
The world got destroy under Tang San hand. Now he cannot do anything as Asura is protecting Tang San, so he need to become stronger as fast as possible.
That last possibility mattered most.
He lowered his gaze briefly, as though weighing the request with proper seriousness. In truth, his thoughts had already moved elsewhere.
What could he use?
Not Gungnir. Too violent.
Not Ichaival. Absolutely not.
Not any form that would make the wrong eyes linger after the duel was done.
This was a challenge between students. It should be answered with something elegant. Something controlled. Something that could win without making the ground itself remember his name too sharply.
'Ame no Habakiri,' he decided.
A sword was the cleanest answer.
More importantly, it was the one that fit the image he wanted to leave behind. Especially among the noble.
He lifted his head.
"If Instructor Han permits it," Renyu said, "then I accept."
A ripple passed through the gathered students.
Instructor Han clicked his tongue in visible annoyance at being placed at the center of the matter, but after establishing the rules of a formal spar and warning them both against excessive force, he stepped back and cleared the space.
The court widened.
Students gathered around the white stone boundary.
Sun Ji moved to one end.
Renyu moved to the other.
Across the distance between them, Sun Ji was trying to look confident. He had spirit power on his side, age on his side, noble backing on his side. Forty-first rank. Firebird martial spirit. Explosive offense. Strong initial pressure. Renyu had spent the week quietly observing his peers for this exact reason. He disliked surprises that could have been prevented by patience.
He likes to win the first exchange, Renyu thought. If the opening fails, he will force the next two harder.
'Good.'
'Very useful.'
Renyu exhaled once and touched the center of his chest. The smile on his face become wider when he thought about fighting.
The crystal presence of his martial spirit answered him immediately.
Seven forms slept within it, layered one over another like reflections in a flawless shard. The moment his will settled on one, the second ring responded.
At the same time, the first ring stirred.
Phonic Gain Resonance was not a skill he needed to consciously invoke. It was always listening. The instant it detected song, it woke. Breath, rhythm, intent—those were enough. His body sharpened before the first note even fully left his throat.
He sang softly.
Not loudly enough for spectacle.
Just enough for the relic in his soul to hear.
"Imyuteus Ame no Habakiri tron"
Blue light bloomed.
It spread from his chest in crystalline seams, flowing over his shoulders and arms in layered armor the color of moonlit steel. The air around him seemed to grow thinner, cleaner, as the form settled into place. At his side, light lengthened and condensed into a blade—slender, curved, and so precise in its shape that it looked less that it forge by hand but by more precise instruments.
A murmur rose from the watching students.
Renyu ignored it.
He could feel the first ring fully active now. Song became strength. Rhythm became clarity. His breathing, heartbeat, and footwork slipped into a single measured cadence. The world slowed just enough for the details to grow distinct, the weight in Sun Ji stance, the slight favoring of his right leg before forward bursts, the heat beginning to gather at his wrists.
Across from him, Sun Ji expression tightened.
'Damn, too showy"
Not because fear pleased Renyu, but because it stripped useless pride away.
Instructor Han dropped his hand.
"Begin."
Sun Ji lunged first, exactly as expected.
His martial spirit flared behind him in a wash of red-gold fire, avian and brilliant, and he crossed the distance fast, leading with a clawed strike wrapped in heat.
Then the song appear. Centering around Renyu.
(Ya-Haiya- Setsuna hibiku Ya-Haiya Mujou he)
(Ya-Haiya-Haiya-Haiya-ie Chikara yo kaeran)
(Ya-Haiya-Haiya-Haiya-ie Ameno Habakiri Yae-)
Renyu stepped aside.
Only that.
The blow passed where he had been a heartbeat earlier. Fire tore across empty air and scorched the court. Sun Ji pivoted at once and followed with a second strike, broader and heavier.
"What is this sound?"
The people surrounding the place begin to fall into confusion. Thinking that they fall into an illusion.
"There it center on that new student." One person realized that it came from Renyu.
Renyu raised Ame no Habakiri.
"Hayate wo iru gotoki yaiba uruwashiki wa sen no hana"
The blade met the attack with a bright, cutting note—not a clash, but a correction. He turned his wrist just enough to redirect the force away from his centerline, letting it bite the stone instead of him.
"Yoi ni kirameita zangetsu kanashimi yo joudo ni kaerinasai... Towa ni"
Strong, Renyu judged. But impatient.
Sun Ji came again.
"Doukoku ni hoetasu shura isso tsurezure to shizuku wo nuguutte"
A third strike.
A fourth.
"Omoide mo hokori mo hitofuri no raimei he to"
He was trying to trap Renyu in close range and force him to choose between yielding ground and taking the hit. A good instinct against most swordsmen. A poor one against a swordsman who had no need to contest strength with strength.
Renyu moved with the song under his breath.
The song coming from the depth of the symphogear itself.
Something he has made into his own in the space between one step and the next.
"Sarinasai! Musou ni takeru honoo kagura no kaze ni messhi sangese yo"
The longer the song sung and feed into his Symphogear Converter Crystal martial spirit, the stronger he become. Phonic gain threaded through his limbs, smooth and exact. His body felt lighter. His reactions cleaner. Each motion of Ame no Habakiri arrived with a precision that made Sun Ji aggression look increasingly wasteful.
The increase abilities enough for him to contain against Soul Ancestor even though he is just a Soul Elder.
The different between two rank can be said to be absolute and only beast soul martial spirit can cross rank.
The older boy noticed it too late.
"Yami wo sake suikyou no iro wa uta yo rin to ai wo kazashite"
He leaped back, drew in more soul power, and surged forward with greater force, fire streaming off him like wings. The gathered students cried out as the pressure spiked.
Renyu expression did not change.
Now, he thought, he believes force can correct embarrassment.
That was the moment most opponents truly became readable.
"Iza yukan kokoro ni michita ketsui shin naru yuuki mune ni toite"
Sun Ji attacked in a straight line, fierce and fast, aiming to crush through Renyu defense before technique could matter.
Renyu sang another line as he moved.
"Aa kizuna ni tsubete wo toshite senkou no ken yo"
He slid to the side and let Ame no Habakiri turn with him in a silver-blue arc.
The sword kissed the outside of Sun Ji's wrist.
Not enough to cut flesh deeply.
Just enough to cause slight harm.
Blue light rippled over the contact point. Sun Ji next strike faltered for the smallest instant, his flow broken.
Gasps rose around the court.
Renyu heard them, but only distantly.
This was the part he liked best—not victory itself, but the exact moment when an exchange stopped being chaos and became structure. When another person's movements revealed the order beneath them.
In that order, Sun Ji was already losing.
"Shi no go no iwazu ni ina, yo no shibuki to hate yo"
Still, Renyu did not rush the end.
A careful win was more convincing than a hurried one.
Sun Ji growled under his breath and attacked again, fire pressing harder now, pride making him reckless. Renyu gave ground twice, allowed the appearance of pressure, then turned it.
High strike.
Low follow.
Forward burst.
There.
That was the sequence.
"Waga yo tarezo tsune naramu to zenrei ni teiza hofuru"
Sun Ji lunged for the boundary, trying to force Renyu back and break his footing in one motion.
Instead, Renyu pivoted inside the angle and answered with a clean upward draw of Ame no Habakiri.
The sword flashed like cold lightning.
Sun Ji barely managed to stop himself from stumbling past him.
"Mayoi wo tachikiru sube nado kakugo wo kiba he to kaeru shika... Shiranai"
The crowd went still.
For a heartbeat, the whole duel balanced on that missed instant.
Renyu let the silence work.
Then he moved in.
Not even using the third ring. No extra skill among the repertoire skill that he had.
Only the first ring feeding his body through song, and the second ring giving shape to the sword in his hand.
That was enough.
"Sadame no higeki no kako wo tsyoku tsuyoku nareba itsuka kireru to"
He stepped once, cut once, turned once.
The first blow stripped Sun Ji balance.
The second knocked his guard wide.
The third stopped at his throat.
Ame no Habakiri rested there, light and absolute.
Sun Ji froze.
His chest heaved with anger and effort. Fire still flickered around him, but it was already too late. Another step, another twitch, and he would meet the edge before he is able to perform any counter attack.
Renyu own breathing remained steady, though he could not even feel the strain fighting against the Soul Ancestor even though he is a Soul Elder. Showing how strong he has become.
Instructor Han voice cracked across the court.
"Enough."
The duel broke.
Noise rushed back all at once—whispers, sharp intakes, hurried murmurs from students who had expected something louder and received something cleaner.
Renyu lowered the blade and stepped back.
Sun Ji stood where he was for a moment, too stiff to look defeated and too shaken to hide that he had been outplayed.
Renyu studied him briefly.
He understood humiliation.
Not from this life alone.
Not from this world alone.
That was why, when Sun Ji finally looked at him, he found no mockery there.
"Your first move was too eager," Renyu said quietly. "You should look calmly and maintain a clear head while fighting"
Sun Ji jaw tightened.
He probably hated that advice more than an insult.
Renyu did not mind.
He had not offered it to be kind.
He had offered it because it was true.
Instructor Han stepped between them and declared the duel finished. No one disputed him. They could not. The match had been decisive in the worst way possible for gossip, there was too little room to twist what they had seen.
That was good enough.
Renyu needed certainty more than applause.
He released Ame no Habakiri.
Blue light receded from the sword first, then from the armor around his body, folding inward in clean crystalline lines until only his academy uniform remained. A few of the students looked almost disappointed by how little spectacle he gave them at the end.
He understood that too.
People loved miracles.
They were less certain what to do with a boy who put one away as calmly as if sheathing an ordinary blade.
Renyu inclined his head to Instructor Han, then to Sun Ji, and turned from the court.
As he walked through the parting crowd, he could feel their eyes following him.
Some were impressed.
Some resentful.
Some has newly cautious attitude.
That was better than hatred, and better than adoration. Both of those burned too brightly and too fast.
This—this uncertain respect edged with discomfort—would last longer.
Near the edge of the training grounds, he let the last thread of song fade from his throat.
The first ring quieted with it.
His body settled back into itself.
Behind him, voices were already rising again, louder than before. Shock. Surprise. The strength of that new student stronger than expected.
The air academy had changed around him, if only a little.
One week ago, he had entered Heaven Dou Imperial Academy under imperial favor and the protection of Xue Qinghe's name.
Now he had given them something else to remember.
Not borrowed prestige.
Not court praise.
A sword drawn, a sword withheld, and a victory won without needing more than the first notes of his song.
That, Renyu thought, was enough for today.