Kura noticed the way the bishop defended against his attack, confirming his theory about the old man's true power.
— Well, I can deduce that my regular attacks won't work against that ability of yours.
The young man admitted it, preparing to launch another strike. He already had a plan in mind: the bishop would make one more move, altering the ground beneath the protagonist and creating a hole to drop him directly to the floor below. In response, the black-haired youth cloaked himself in electricity, using electromagnetism to "fly." He then used his electricity once more—not to strike the bishop, but to heat the air until it turned into plasma, allowing the soldier to control the gas.
— You should have died from that attack, Mr. Bishop!
At the same time, at the end of Arold's preparations for the plan, explosions could be heard that killed Mr. Uzai's subordinates who were attacking. It looked like a minefield.
— You're not getting to me… simply because I turned the entire ground you're walking on into a bomb!
This is the power of Arold's spirit: a reflection of his often explosive personality, which allowed him to transform the ground into a chemical compound that was extremely explosive upon contact. The long-haired youth was already finishing up the preparations to complete that mission.
— Hey, you miserable soldier!
The one who shouted was one of the priests following the bishop, Father Dantony. Arold just turned slightly toward him:
— Huh? Oh right, just one of the failed priests. If I were you, I'd just stay there and accept defeat already!
Some of the lower-ranking priests became furious and advanced, but as they stepped forward, a massive explosion occurred, killing most of them and leaving others without arms or legs. Since Arold hadn't made any move indicating an attack, no one understood what had happened. He just kept setting up the wires to finish the plan.
— I warned you, didn't I?!
Arold said this, but Father Dantony suddenly lunged at him at absurd speed. The only reaction Arold had was to put his hands up, which nobody there could understand. The priest continued confidently, seemingly ready to land a solid punch. However, as he struck the boy's hands, an explosion erupted, blasting him back. The force of the blast was so strong it tore off one of the man's hands.
— This is going to be fun, Father!
Meanwhile, Kura was engaged in a deadly battle with the bishop. That entire region of the temple's second floor was in terrible shape, as was the rest of the temple. Both were panting heavily, and the bishop showed numerous burn wounds across his body.
— I have to admit, kid, you really do have quite a skill!
The black-haired youth was also quite exhausted.
— Thanks... I'd say the same about you, if you weren't a dead man walking!
After speaking these words, Kura launched a gigantic electric punch at the old man, with a temperature reaching 30,000°C. The bishop repeated his iron pillar strategy, which would usually work.
— That's useless now!
The masked man quickly melted the steel pillars within seconds, then manipulated them using electromagnetism. He swiftly reshaped them into numerous blades and hurled them at the old man. The priest's only reaction was to take control of one of the statues behind him, using it as a shield and for support in his counterattack.
— You're getting clever, kid. But...
The bishop made the ground appear liquid, "diving" into it to reach the giant statue's shoulder faster, supporting himself on it.
— But it ends here!
He resumed controlling the statue, making it try to land multiple consecutive blows on the masked youth. However, they were useless, as the target was skillfully dodging every strike. After a few moments of dodging, the young man retaliated, transforming the air around him into plasma due to the heat of his lightning and manipulating it with electromagnetism to melt both of the statue's hands. He then used those few seconds to advance toward the bishop. Since he could move at lightning speed, in less than a second, he was in front of him. Kura performed a flip to deliver a high-speed kick directly to the bishop's head. The old man barely dodged and quickly reshaped a part of the statue's shoulder into a sword, aiming to cut off the future soldier's leg. Kura managed to activate his electricity to melt and shatter the bishop's sword, but still received a minor cut on his leg. As he tried to pull his leg back, the bishop attempted to punch him in the face, but the aspiring soldier dodged it. In response, the bishop caused Kura's mask—covering his nose and mouth—to start changing shape. The protagonist used the heat of his lightning to melt and snap the mask's elastic, pulling it away and barely dodging the "needles" it turned into, suffering some minor cuts on his forehead and cheeks.
"Tch... he may be old, but he's neither slow nor weak!"
Kura had these thoughts as he fell toward the ground. He avoided injury from a hard landing using his flight technique. Quickly, he raised his head to get a better view of the bishop. Upon seeing the young man's face, the bishop was shocked for a moment before speaking:
— Ooohhh... when I heard your name, I had doubts if you were telling the truth...
The bishop's shocked expression quickly changed to one of genuine joy, followed by a loud laugh:
— GYAHAHAHAHAHAH, who would've imagined?! The army sent to kill me the one and only vessel this country has!
At that very moment, in the temple's underground, Father Dantony and Arold were nearing the end of their fight: Arold had some bruises and was bleeding slightly from the mouth, while the priest was in worse shape, having lost an arm and suffering from several burns and bulging veins.
— Ever since this fight started... I've been a little dizzy and nauseous... and it doesn't seem to be just from the bleeding.
Upon hearing the priest's words, Arold just gave a relieved smile as he stretched—an act that confused everyone there, until he spoke the following:
— Well, my ability is to create explosive materials or turn things into some kind of explosive material through touch. What you're suffering from now is an effect of triiodide, a chemical variation of iodine that causes the same toxic effects... in short, you're a dead man now.
The priest prepared to launch another attack on the boy, propelling himself off the walls using his power. Seeing this, the explosive boy simply extended one arm with a thumbs-up gesture and declared:
— I touched your remaining arm during our physical contact!
He then lowered his thumb, as if pressing a detonator button, causing an explosion that not only destroyed the enemy's remaining arm but also detonated the triiodide injected through his wounds, exploding the priest's heart and brain veins, killing him mid-attack. The other low-ranking members tried to advance against Arold, and the response they received was nothing less than a massive explosion that killed them all and sent them flying out—landing right where Kura and the bishop were fighting. Young Kura immediately understood the message: it was his brother saying that his part of the plan was already complete.
"Finally!"
In those seconds of distraction, the bishop landed a kick on his chest and pressed a sword against his neck, saying:
— Finally, I'm going to kill you. After that, I'll kill the other one who came with you. Then, I'll begin my revolution against this country, using the people of this damned city as my pawns!
The bishop finished his speech, but then he heard it echoing and turned pale: the young man he was fighting had used his electrical control to send electricity through the speaker wire, just like transmitting messages through stadium loudspeakers.
The entire city had gathered in front of the temple, enraged. Everyone used their spiritual abilities to try to break down the door while shouting for the bishop to die for his crimes.
— Well, at their request, I'll do it myself, right here and now!
Kura continued transmitting his words, then, using the speed he could reach, landed a right punch to the old man's chest, his fist going straight through his body.
— I hope the gods have mercy on you during your judgment!
The young soldier said, before decapitating the bishop and taking his head. He promptly grabbed Arold and ran from the scene, ready to return to the school base.
— Hey, bro, our stuff at the hotel!
Arold said loudly, not wanting to leave his clothes behind.
— Shut up, Arold! Let's just get out of here and pass the test!
And so, they began their journey out of that city, facing two days of travel on foot to reach the base and complete the test.