Two days before Christmas, inside the spell training room, Kyle—having made every possible preparation—was ready to begin his first attempt.
After a light warm-up to stretch out his body and open up his meridians, Kyle sat cross-legged on the floor and pressed his palms together.
Beside him, both Catherine and Alfred stood guard, their faces tense with nervousness.
Emptying his mind of all distracting thoughts, Kyle poured his entire consciousness toward the location of that specific gate within his brain.
Mobilizing the magic power within his body, Kyle launched an assault on the First Gate.
Even probing with the lowest possible intensity, the impact against the checkpoint in his brain made Kyle feel a wave of dizziness.
Phew, this is much harder than I imagined.
Kyle cast a pleading look at Alfred.
Alfred immediately stepped forward, moving behind Kyle. The wand in his hand lit up with a vibrant green glow, enveloping Kyle's head in its light.
The scene of a head emitting green light was a bit bizarre, but for the sake of the Eight Inner Gates, Kyle put up with it.
Kyle began his second attempt. This time, he mobilized a far greater amount of magic power than before, surging toward the gate with turbulent force.
The moment the magic power slammed into the gate, Kyle's vision instantly went black.
It was almost a total loss.
Fortunately, Alfred's healing magic was continuously taking effect, allowing Kyle to quickly recover from his near-fainting state.
He carefully sensed the condition of the gate. There's a chance!
Under the impact of the magic power, the originally tightly locked First Gate had cracked open a small fissure.
Now, to finish it in one go!
Kyle mobilized his magic power once more and launched a third wave of impact against the gate.
The gate, already torn by a fissure, faced a shockwave even more ferocious than the previous two. Like paper, it was crushed and swept away by the striking magic power.
Kyle's spirit was instantly invigorated.
Slowly opening his eyes, Kyle felt that the world in his eyes was completely different.
Aside from the objects before him becoming clearer than usual, he could now precisely capture much of the information he usually ignored, thanks to the removal of his brain's restrictions.
The extremely faint sound of breathing Catherine made despite holding her breath; the slight airflow caused by the trembling of the old butler's hand holding the wand; the tiny dust motes floating in the air, illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the window ten meters away...
All of these things...
He couldn't capture any of them.
What were you thinking? He only opened the First Gate; he didn't turn into a Super Saiyan.
The effect brought by the First Gate was, at most, allowing him to completely master his own body and think at a faster speed, ensuring he wouldn't face the issue of being unable to stop when using the Chidori again.
"Kyle, are you alright?" Catherine's tone held a hint of worry.
Kyle stood up and slowly shook his head. "I'm fine. I succeeded."
Hearing Kyle's words, Alfred instantly breathed a sigh of relief and put away his wand.
In the old butler's eyes, Kyle's attempt to open the gate was actually incredibly crazy. The brain is the most precise organ in the human body; a single slip-up could result in irreversible damage.
But since it succeeded, all was well.
Kyle pulled a kunai from the ninja tool pouch at his waist and looked at Catherine with a touch of excitement. "Want to exchange a few moves now to test it out?"
Kyle had sought out Catherine for sparring quite often recently.
After being tricked a few times by Kyle's eerie fighting style—which differed from ordinary wizards—Catherine had gained experience. In their subsequent battles, she had completely crushed Kyle in a one-sided fashion.
Of course, that was when she used her wand.
She had learned to cast spells through hand seals, but her casting speed... well, that was a bit touching.
Kyle could perform six seals a second. Catherine wasn't as exaggerated as one seal every six seconds, but it took her about two or three seconds per seal.
Catherine drew her wand. "Come on."
Alfred stood by with a beaming smile, proactively taking on the responsibility of the referee.
"Now, both sides bow."
Although Kyle wasn't using a wand, he still took his out and held it across his chest like a sword. The two faced each other and bowed.
Only after Kyle had put his wand away did the old butler announce the start of the duel.
Catherine raised her hand and immediately flung out a Reducto.
Generally, a curse like Reducto—the Reductor Curse—would not be used directly against a wizard, as it could easily turn a wizard's body into something that fits in a small box.
The fact that Catherine used such a spell in a duel clearly showed she had enough confidence in Kyle.
Kyle slammed his hands together heavily. An Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall suddenly rose from the ground, blocking the smashing curse.
The chirping of a thousand birds resonated through the training room. Kyle's figure burst through the pulverized Earth-Style Wall, transforming into a streak of lightning as he shot straight for Catherine.
Facing the menacingly approaching Kyle, Catherine calmly flicked her wand upward.
Third Uncle comes to fix the door! Catherine chanted silently in her heart.
She didn't understand why Kyle liked to shout that every time he continuously summoned three earth walls, or why it changed to "Fifth Uncle comes to fix the door" when it was five walls.
And even though simply summoning an earth wall would suffice, Kyle insisted on painstakingly using Transfiguration to carve a dog's head onto the wall.
However, this didn't stop her from imitating Kyle's move.
She knew very well that when Kyle was charging at high speed using the Chidori, it was difficult for him to change the direction of his attack.
Therefore, using Transfiguration to conjure several earth walls to block Kyle's attack route was the most effective method of defense.
But this time, the situation was different.
Kyle's figure suddenly darted out from the side of the earth walls.
Executing a high-difficulty acute-angle turn, Kyle sped toward Catherine from her rear flank to strike.
Catherine flicked her wand, and a stream of thick, oil-like substance poured from the tip, splashing onto the floor between her and Kyle.
If Kyle stepped on it, he would absolutely slip and face-plant onto the ground.
Unexpectedly, just a moment before stepping onto it, Kyle suddenly exerted force with both legs and leaped high into the air, successfully avoiding the oil on the floor.
Catherine had released this spell almost exactly at the limit of Kyle's neural reaction speed.
In the past, Kyle would never have been able to avoid it; he would have been unable to brake, stepped right into it, and fallen flat on his back.
She had used this move to counter Kyle's close-quarters surprise attacks repeatedly, and it had never failed.
Every time, she had successfully forced Kyle to the point where he had to draw his wand and engage in a long-range bombardment with conventional spells.
This was the first time this spell—specifically developed to deal with Kyle—had failed.
Fortunately, Catherine's reaction was not slow. She raised her hand and fired a Disarming Charm, knocking the airborne Kyle, who had no leverage, flying away.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
While in the air, Kyle spat out a massive, scorching fireball, then followed up with a wind release that greatly amplified the fireball's might.
Kyle's current hand speed allowed him to release a combination of Ninjutsu within a single second. This forced Catherine to use Protego to defend herself, interrupting her intention to press the attack.
Kyle landed steadily, the seal-forming movements of his hands not pausing for a moment. His flying hands danced so fast they left afterimages.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
Lightning Release: Earth Flash!
A ferocious water dragon, wrapped in flashing lightning, lunged straight at Catherine in the distance.
The might of the lightning-infused water dragon was astonishing, but Alfred had absolutely no intention of intervening to stop it.
He had great confidence in his granddaughter; an attack of this level was not enough to defeat her.
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