"I know all your abilities," the captain said to Hayama. "So, to keep this fair, I'll tell you mine. I can control weight—my body, my sword. I can shift their weight to anything I want, whenever I want, as naturally as if I was born with it, thanks to years of training. I can also change the weight of objects or people I touch, but only for a short time. If I touch you or your sword, the fight's over."
"Since you know mine, can I try this?" Hayama replied. Suddenly, a glowing blue cloud materialized in the air before him. He slashed at it, but his sword and hands passed through, swallowed by the cloud.
Another cloud appeared behind the captain, a mirror of the first. Hayama's sword emerged from it, aiming for the captain's back.
The captain smirked, twisting to dodge the strike with ease, then reached for Hayama's sword, likely to alter its weight. But the cloud vanished, taking the sword with it, leaving only a wisp of blue smoke.
The captain turned to Hayama, grinning. "If that cloud hadn't carried energy, I wouldn't have sensed it, and your attack would've landed. Too bad. Want to try my attack now?"
"It'd be an honor, sir," Hayama said, settling into a ready stance.
The captain smiled and charged with terrifying speed—close to Sensei or Saya's level. He reached Hayama in a blink, pausing for a fraction of a second before striking. The ground cracked beneath his feet, likely from increasing his weight. His sword, surely heavier too, descended toward Hayama with crushing force. My heart raced. That blow could split Hayama in half. What scared me more was knowing that, in his place, I couldn't dodge or block it.
A blue cloud formed above Hayama, intercepting the captain's sword as it plunged inside, along with the captain's hands and head gripping it.
Another cloud appeared behind the captain, and his own sword, hands, and head emerged, poised to cleave his own back. Yet he was still smirking.
At the same time, Hayama prepared to stab the captain's exposed stomach from the front, aiming to end the fight with a win. Both were smiling.
Suddenly, the captain dropped his sword, pulled his hands back through the cloud, and grabbed Hayama's blade with his bare hands. Simultaneously, his own sword fell against his back, but slowly, like a leaf drifting from a tree.
Both clouds vanished. The captain's head returned to face Hayama, still smiling. He released Hayama's sword unscathed, and it crashed to the ground, embedding itself and cracking the earth, dragging Hayama down with it.
The fight ended with the captain's stunning victory.
I leaped down to them immediately. The way the captain ended it, smiling, was incredible, though it didn't match the breathtaking fights I'd seen from Saya and Sensei.
"I forgot to mention," the captain said, glancing at Hayama's sword, "when I increase my body's weight, my durability and strength increase too. That's how I caught your blade. It weighs a thousand kilograms now."
Hayama released his sword, stood, scratched his head, and grinned. "I thought I'd last longer on my first night."
"Everyone thinks that," the captain said. "Alright, who's next?"
Kirishima landed in the street. "It'd be an honor, sir," she said.
Hayama and I jumped to the rooftop to watch.
"Your ability's wild," I said to Hayama as we stood side by side.
"Thanks. What're yours? I sensed you using multiple ones in your fight, but I couldn't pin them down."
"We'll spar soon. Guess them then."
"Fair enough," he said, laughing. "I can't believe you grabbed her cheeks. You're insane. Didn't you see that necklace?"
I scratched my head, chuckling. "I didn't think it through. I couldn't slap her—it felt wrong."
"Yeah, better than slapping her, at least."
The fight began below. Kirishima didn't dare attack first like she did with me—it'd be futile against the captain.
Suddenly, she tilted her head back, opened her mouth, and thrust her sword inside, swallowing it until only the hilt remained. She gripped the hilt and pulled it out, bladeless—she'd *swallowed* the blade!
A chill ran through me. Strangely, it wasn't just shocking—it sparked some perverse thoughts, though it didn't diminish her beauty one bit.
Hayama and I exchanged stunned looks before turning back to the street. Kirishima stood, holding the bladeless hilt.
"That ability wasn't in your file. Trying to surprise me, huh? I love surprises—go ahead," the captain said, smiling.
Kirishima raised her hand, aiming the hilt at him like a gun. Bullets fired from it, as fast as—or faster than—real gunfire, toward the captain.
The shots grazed his shoulder as he barely dodged. She kept firing, and he danced around them, the bullets hitting the ground behind him and exploding one after another.
After a while, she stopped, lowering the hilt and sighing. The captain seized the moment, charging with dazzling speed. She didn't move, letting him place his sword at her throat, ending the fight.
"Why not use your other abilities?" the captain asked as Hayama and I joined them in the street.
"I've been training that one and wanted to test it against you," Kirishima said. "It drains too much energy, and I haven't mastered it. I didn't surrender—my energy just ran out."
"Fair enough," the captain said. "Now, Hayama versus Kurasaki."
The captain and Kirishima leaped to the rooftop, leaving me and Hayama facing each other in the street.
"Ready?" Hayama asked.
"Yeah," I said.
The fight began. A blue cloud appeared before Hayama, and I sensed something to my left. I'd already activated *Probability Cut*, eliminating any chance of an attack from behind, so blocking his strike was easy since I focused only on my front and sides.
He kept attacking, and I started using *Time Cut* to dodge instead of just parrying.
Surprised by my defense, Hayama stopped attacking from a distance and charged toward me. When he reached me, he lunged, but I suspected a feint, expecting him to redirect at the last second. I was right. I sensed energy from my front and right—possibly a fake attack—but then energy surged from every direction except behind me. Swords emerged from clouds all around, all targeting my neck, even the one in his hand, but they stopped short of piercing.
"You thought I had one ability?" Hayama said. "I can copy an attack multiple times, store past attacks, and reuse them. If I'd used the captain's earlier move, you'd be in halves. So, what are your abilities? Why couldn't I attack from behind, no matter how I tried?"
"It's called *Probability Cut*," I said. "I removed the possibility of you attacking from behind entirely."
"What? How's that logical?"
"It's a complex ability I don't fully understand myself. Think of it as redirecting your attack to a random spot—anywhere but behind me. My ability counters yours well because you choose your attack's direction precisely."
The swords and clouds around me vanished. Hayama sheathed his blade and said, "That's a unique ability. First time I've heard of something like it. You should work on developing it."
"Yeah," I said.
---
After that, I faced the captain and lost quickly when he touched my sword, making it crash through the ground.
Then Hayama fought Kirishima, who lost just as fast, trying to win without using her abilities again and she paid the price.
But that wasn't what mattered. What mattered was my conversation with the captain on the rooftop as we watched the next fight.
"When you and Kirishima used *Shinkai*, we thought a Muma had appeared," the captain said. "Hayama used his portal to get us here fast. The energy from your *Shinkai* felt strange, almost like a Muma's. Your smoke, your sword turning black—what's with that? Care to explain?"