“What is going on?” This was Sanya’s first reaction as she saw the supernatural game of tag. Talia immediately spotted her and Adel. Despite not knowing who the man was, she deduced that it was Akim’s father. While doing so, she did a somersault to avoid Ellen’s hand. She then blinked to appear a meter away from her girlfriend. The moment she appeared, she took a step back. The next second, Ellen popped up still trying to catch her playmate. However, it seemed it was time to stop for now.

Talia grabbed her by the scruff of the neck like a kitten. “Let’s stop now.”

The panting Ellen smiled and answered after taking a few deep breaths. “Fine! But next time, I will get you!”

Talia released Ellen who crawled away to spread on the ground like a starfish. Ashia arrived next to her, not knowing what to do exactly. So, she just sat down beside her. Her eyes were focused on the head of the family, her father.

Talia turned toward Adel and slightly bowed her head before speaking. “Nice to meet you. I assume you are Akim’s father, right?”

Adel took a step forward and examined Talia with a single glance. He smiled thinly and presented a hand. “Adel Aym. I heard a few things about you. You are the girl who accepted this son of mine’s request. You have my gratitude.”

Talia heaved her shoulders as if it was normal. “I had nothing to lose teaching him. Anyways, did both of you came to see him? He is currently training his mental fortitude right now.”

‘Both of you?’ Sanya looked between her girlfriend and Adel. From the flow of the conversation, she was not involved in the statement. What was then the meaning of these words then?

In response, Adel narrowed his eyes and touched his beard. He looked at Talia with a sharper gaze. “I see. what I heard was right, you are more than strange. No need to hide anymore, reveal yourself.”

As he said those words, his shadow began to expand and morph into a three-dimensional shape. It soon solidified to look like a human body. Then the skin of darkness was absorbed by the human that had just appeared. The one emerging from this cloak of darkness was Lionel. He grinned with a full-bloom smile while looking at Talia. The fact that he been detected didn’t seem to bother him so much. In fact, he looked like he was itching for some action.

Talia noticed it and pointed with her thumb at the sparing zone a few meters from there. “Wanna have a go?”

“Hahaha, I would have, and with pleasure. Trust me on that. Unfortunately, I’m on duty right now.” Lionel cooled down with a sweep of his black hair. He finally adjusted his glasses and stood beside Adel.

The master of the mansion observed the situation before asking his bodyguard a simple question. “Out of 100 fights against her, how many do you think you would win?”

“None.”

“Good.”

Sanya's head tilted more with a surprised face than anything else. '...How is this a good thing?'

Adel crossed his arms. “If my son is being trained by someone inferior to Lionel in regard to combat skills then there is no point. Speaking of him, what is he doing?”

He scanned the room, but only saw his daughter, the two girls next to him, and….a girl sitting at a table alone, eyes closed like she was in trance. Despite not seeing his son, Adel frowned. There was something strange in this room. Like something was invisible to his eyes.

“Wait….Akim?” He blinked several times before succeeding in locating his son. He was sitting in front of the girl at the table. His head was facing forward, no expression visible. nevertheless, Adel felt like he had to focus all his concentration to let his eyes remain on him. If he was to look elsewhere only a fraction of a second, he would lose track of him.

Akim’s body was as straight as a twig in the middle of a windless plain. The lack of movement was closely similar to a statue. An object there, easily forgettable.

“Where is Akim? He should be training with Zesty right?” Sanya turned toward Talia in confusion only to have her confusion amplify upon seeing the blue-haired girl's face. Talia’s eyebrows were furrowed to their limit. Her pupils were shaking as if she were seeing something abnormal.

Yes, something abnormal even for this girl.

“The State of Void….How?”

“The state of wha-” Before Sanya was able to ask her question, Talia disappeared only to appear next to the table. The wind generated by the instant displacement seemed to pass through Akim, just like he was not even there.

Talia began to observe an extraordinary situation. ‘The State of Void. No matter how good a person is it’s absolutely impossible for them to enter such a state with such ease. It’s the pinnacle of comprehension of oneself. It’s when you focus all your being on yourself. The world is you, nothing exists besides you. By creating this micro-cosmos, you separate your body from the fabric of space. You become invisible to normal humans. Akim’s version seems quite fragile and crude. Still, I can count on my hand the number of people who entered such a state on their first try. So, how?’

States. They were considered the peak of a concept. Only masters would have a chance to reach such a level. When one entered a State they would feel like they had become the concept itself. Such a mindset resulted in an impact on the world surrounding them.

Talia turned toward Zesty. The docile girl felt somehow different from usual. First of all, the air around her was calm, unlike her usual nervous personality. But more importantly, there was something else. Talia felt something strange acting inside of her. At this very moment, she was sure Zesty was using her ability. She could feel her presence clearly in the space surrounding her. Even if she closed her eyes, no even if she entered the State of Void herself (something she was not able to do) she was sure she could still feel this lighthouse in the middle of the sea called space.

‘Something linked to her ability had happened. Why am I reacting like this to it? What is the deal with abilities seriously? I never saw such a manifestation of a Surge of Power.’ Talia was unable to make head or tail of the situation now. At this moment, she was sure the system behind abilities was more complex than supposed.

“Talia...Are you alright? You keep staring at Zesty.”

“!...Ah, yes I’m fine. It’s nothing.” Talia snapped back to reality due to Sanya’s call. Her girlfriend and the rest of the people present in the room arrived next to her. Well, apart from Ellen, who was pretty much dragging her tired body.

Talia crossed her arms as she was deep in thought about the situation. Meanwhile, Adel looked blankly at his son and the unknown girl. “...What are they doing? Akim even seems a bit strange.”

“Let’s just ask the young master himself.” Lionel took a step forward under the doubtful eyes of Talia. The moment he was about to touch the shoulder of the son of the man he served-

“! Move!” Talia’s eyes opened wide in shock. She didn’t wait for a single instant. A fraction of second later, she had her hand on Lionel’s neck and moved him backward. However, she didn’t hear the complaints that resulted from her action.

“Talia?!” Sanya on the side exclaimed in response. Adel frowned as he watched the situation with sharp eyes.

Lionel who was now free adjusted his clothes and turned toward Talia. His mouth was still smiling, but his eyes were not. “Now, now. What is the mea-”

“Don’t talk to me. I need to focus.” Upon hearing those words from Talia, the temperature in the whole room seemed to have decreased by a dozen degrees. The others’ gazes were drawn to the blue-haired girl.

/----/

* w *

A tad earlier, inside Akim’s mind.

[ I see. So, I just have to focus on this sensation for now. This is what you call the mental link? ]

[ T-That’s right. You just have to focus on its form and remain aware of it. ]

Akim’s consciousness was solely focused on what was happening inside his mind. Strangely, he felt extremely calm and relaxed. His whole being was focused on the inside like he was not connected to the outside world anymore. In this emptiness and darkness, he could ‘see’ a vague purple-colored string going from his mind to the void. This string that seemed to fade if he was not paying attention was the link connecting himself and Zesty. His training right now was to focus on this string. By solely doing this, this would raise his understanding of the mind, resulting in an increase in his mental fortitude.

Or at least, this was what Zesty had told him. Yes, the same girl who had all her concentration taken by the task at hand.

‘This is hard, so hard…! But I got to do this!’ Inside Zesty’s mind, the total opposite of Akim’s was happening. To put it in different terms, it was a mess of multi-colored connections everywhere.

The reason lay in Zesty’s initiative of trying to change the way her ability worked.

Before, her perception, the way she viewed a mind was in layers. Meaning that there was no way to have a global view of the mind of the person she was connected to. It was like an office building where each floor had its respective department.

She then did one simple thing. She obliterated the separation between each layer. One by one. At the same time, she began to develop a new way to see her inner world. She needed a new visualization where she could monitor and exercise her power all over the mind.

‘...If I’m going to handle the flux of information, then how about strands?’ As she had this thought, her inner world flipped over and she began to virtually manifest all the connections inside Akim’s mind using strands. Literally hundreds of thousands of strands were dangling around. When she felt her brain boil under the pressure, she started to arrange the strands to lessen the burden. She felt like vomiting or straight up fainting multiple times.

“A-A-At last…!” However, she finally reached her goal. The strands were organized following colors representing their roles. For instance, purple was for all the virtual connections, red for the emotions, yellow for the memories and so on.

To put it in other words, Zesty had now a view on the entirety of Akim’s mind. She just needed to ‘touch’ those strands to have an impact on it. Like she was doing right now. She was momentarily routing the influx of information coming from his eyes, eardrums and olfactory sensors toward the void. Meaning Akim was right now temporarily blind, deaf and had other kinds of disabilities. However, this bore its fruits as Akim was already able to detect the connection between the two of them.

Zesty inwardly smiled with a tired sigh. She had used a lot of energy by doing what she had just done. Still, she could not totally relax. She was both monitoring Akim’s mind and the inputs of his body. Regardless she was proud of herself. After all, she was useful for her friend. This feeling far outclassed the extraordinary transformation of her ability.

/----/

* w *

Her stance was straight, her hands clenched. With her eyes fixed toward the girl who emitted an unusual presence, she exhaled a short breath. A shockwave as silent as a bell spread in all directions. Talia’s hair began to float like she was immersed in water or deep in a void.

The young girl there was the center of the world. A sun affirming its presence. Every single eye was glued on her...All except those of the two teenagers who were still sitting at the table. at least, it seemed to be the case as the girl with closed eyes started to twitch from her eyebrows to her fingertips.

Talia grinned with excitement. “You suddenly launch a mental attack, trying to forcefully connect to the other guy, now you are still trying to close yourself and Akim in your Imaginary Palace! Don’t think you can resist an Asura-level Aura of Dominance!”

Another inaudible ripple erupted from Talia. It seemed the pressure in the room increased several-fold. Lionel grabbed Adel and Ashia while enveloping themselves in a cloak of darkness. However, the surface was already shaking in the same way as glass before cracking.

On the other side, Sanya had to hold Ellen. The moment Talia started doing her strange thing, Ellen regained her lost energy and was ready to continue their confrontation, the game of tag. However, she could not teleport with Sanya clinging to her.

‘What is she doing, this idiot?!’ Sanya was powerless under such of the pressure. She searched for a way to counter it with her bell in a certain way, but her mind was unable to process calmly. It was already a miracle she had caught the troublesome kid.

Space started to undulate, making the eyes of the witnessers waver. Sanya brought Ellen closer to her and squinted her eyes. The formless force irritated her more and more. Her eyebrows frowned as she held her free hand toward Talia, bell shining around her neck. “You idiot! Getting excited all by yourse-”

However, as she was about to do something she was not even sure what it was, the pressure suddenly dissolved into nothingness. The storm calmed down, leaving the people present stuck in an awkward situation. Sanya looked suspiciously at Talia, while Talia’s eyes were drawn toward Zesty and Akim. She snorted once with a smirk. “Heh, at least sleeping beauty woke up.”

The previously immobile Zesty started to rub her eyes and open them. Same for Akim, who blinked and looked around, not sure what had happened. The cloak of darkness around the father, daughter, and bodyguard melted away. Adel took a step forward, making sure his daughter was behind him. Meanwhile, Lionel cracked his knuckles with half a smile.

Adel’s eyes were on Talia. “What's the meaning of what happened? I hope you have a reason”

Talia was still looking at the clueless Zesty with great interest. Nevertheless, she gave him a side look, her expression as calm as a free cat. “Yeah, sorry. It’s just your son did something he was not supposed to be able to do thanks to our friend here. Got a tad excited. Well, at least I saved your bodyguard from becoming an useless standing stick.”