Training people was weird, for a multitude of reasons Eian found, for starters human morals limited them, mostly possessed humans ran around and their humanity did not permit them to kill them, in any other circumstance Eian would be tempted to help free them, but he had priorities for now.

Animals were around sure, but any animal which would help Eian advance was far and few in between, mostly gigantic insects OR what looked like the evolved form of a pet, though he did see the occasional pigeon the size of a grown turkey, Eian wondered at their taste.

He killed a wolf monster with three layers of teeth, it was agile but lacked the strength to outmatch him, so far the most dangerous thing they had encountered was a swarm of fist-sized bees, they were crimson in color and their stingers particularly nasty.

Fleeing the bee's had been their only recourse, Eian could swat them down sure, but they lacked appropriate weapons to kill many of them, and now that they were away safely Eian looked at his trainee's.

Two things bothered Eian, first was the fact animals were growing slowly larger, bugs, in particular, seemed to grow especially quickly, but other animals were noticeably a margin larger.

Secondly, he wondered why everything was always so far away, apart from houses which tended to be closer, all stores seemed to be a long walk, a vehicle would have been a godsend, as is his team was out of breath relatively quickly, hampering progress.

Whoever designed America clearly never thought of the idea anyone would have had to WALK long distances.

Russ had given him a team of three, who was supposed to be moderately motivated to learn compared to others, they were each to focus on being Savants as Russel wanted to get them combat-ready yesterday.

Russel had at least the sense to not team him with people related to those kidnapped or dead, a recipe for disaster thankfully avioded.

The woman, Susan, was already a life user and a real bitch, she spoke little with Eian but eyed him constantly with an eyebrow raised and disapprovingly, it felt like she didn't think he was fit to be the leader.

The other two men were already earth Elementalists, elemenatlist being the going term for savants who focused solely on Spirit, thus neither focused on Body like Eian, one was scrawny, the other slightly chubby.

Savants were divided into Elementalist, Esper, and Martial Warrior or Warrior for short, each specialising in a single discipline Spirit, Psi, or Qi.

"Do you even know where to go?" Susan asked, leaning most of her weight on one leg, arms crossed and dissatisfaction clear.

"...I'm open to suggestions." Eian wanted to lash out at her tone, but truly he was indecisive on direction.

"That's it? So your completely lost?" Susan leaned forward, putting her breasts in full display, Eian wondered if she thought she could manipulate him.

"I'm not lost. I just can't find anything big enough to be a challenge and not accidentally kill you all." Eian explained.

"So you're saying we're so weak, and you're 'Oh' so strong? Please get over yourself, we can take care of ourselves." Susan rolled her eyes at him and whispered something about typical men which he only caught due to his enhanced senses.

Grinding his teeth, Eian almost left them right then and there, this bitch was full of shit and being an ass about it.

He restrained himself taking a deep breath and discarded the thought, the other two did not deserve that, not yet at least.

Instead, he would heed this bitches advice and damn the consequences, he was positive he could survive after all.

"Fine, let's do it your way." Eian shrugged, not showing emotion on his face.

'...Keep talking... I'll punch your teeth out and laugh as you regrow them.' Mentally, Eian wondered how old this bitch was.

"Oh? What a gentleman." Susan kept rolling her eyes, Eian let that last one slide, any more and he would do as he promised himself.

'Man what a bitch.' Eian wondered what she had up her ass, probably a giant thorny rod, along with the fact she had probably never had an orgasm.

As they walked, Eian ensured to ignore any more of her inane ramblings, thankfully she kept on harping only to the other two men, those two seemed lovestruck.

It was amazing how much she reminded him of Jessica, same superiority complex and bossy tone, she probably thought she could get by with just her looks alone or the promise of a lay, whichever.

The woman wore a blue-dress like she was going shopping, wearing a fancy slipper on each foot, Eian wondered if she expected to run in those, at least they were not high-heels.

As tempted as he was to just shove her into the first monster they encountered, hoping it would swallow her whole, inwardly he decided against it, she would likely give the poor animal indigestion.

Eian stopped worrying about the groups safety, he searched out the biggest threat he could find.

Following deep vibrations throughout the entire block Eian reached a two-story building absolutely crawling with random noise, the sounds of movement briefly made him wonder if people were inside.

Calling out to the house, there was no response, Eian warned any possible inhabitants he would be going in, in case there actually were aggressive people taking shelter inside.

The bitch, Susan, actually huffed at his warning, he briefly considered whether that counted towards his promise, in the end he ignored it, the other two men were a nervous wreck with make-shift weapons.

Kicking in the front door, Eian spotted blood, the foul stench of decay made him shudder, while Susan vomited, the other two men looked alarmed.

At the source of the blood was something resembling viscera, gore, and fur, the fur made Eian think some animal butchered here while the smell told him it was likely recent.

The door led straight to an open space with a kitchen and dining area, off to the side was the living room, not a door separating them, yet other doors led to three other directions.

There were bloody drag marks on the tiled floor, leading toward some noise behind a door by the far-right corner which lead to a room.

"Stay behind me, you two keep her safe and in the middle. She's the healer." Eian said, tone serious and focusing himself for battle.

"Oh, how manly. You going to tell us you have seven inches next?" Susan barked a sarcastic laugh.

Faster than the wind he swooped down and grabbed a rotting piece of discarded flesh, repositioning himself to stare at her, his other hand racing and catching her neck in a vice-grip, he restrained most of his strength at the last second.

She squeaked in either surprise or pain and before anyone could react he grabbed and pulled her forward, placing the rotting meat in front of her face aggressively.

He was on the brink of shaking her, despite everything, he knew women were naturally weaker than him, especially now that his body had been remade, but this woman pushed him to his limit.

"Look bitch. I don't have the time nor patience to baby your ass. We are going in there. To. Kill. Understand?" Eian glared into her terrified eyes, she nodded meekly.

"Hey dude... er, let her go? Err...Please." The chubby man's grip on his weapon was tight and hands white, but he looked terrified, his partner had equally wide eyes.

"None of you are fucking taking this seriously enough. Look at the blood for fuck's sake, something in THERE can jump out and kill you in the next ten seconds. Be. Ready." Eian growled at both men, who gulped and nodded.

Of course, Eian had positioned his body by now to be facing both them and towards the room the blood led to.

Rules established and feeling only slightly ashamed, Eian huffed, the only woman who could tell him what to do was his mother, she was the only woman who had his best interest at heart, even if he disagreed with it sometimes.

The girl was shaking as he let go after she nodded, both men being cowards they backed down and obeyed, good thing too as he did not want to smack them a bit too for just being enthralled by the bitch.

"Alright. Let's go." Eian calmed his rage to manageable levels, breathing really helped, thanking Sarah mentally.

The door was slightly ajar, which gave Eian a parital view of bloodstains and the mutilated carcass of a rotting man.

The walls and door obscured his vision, but he heard cloth and movement on the other side.

Approaching slowly, moderating his breathing Eian knew there were three sources of vibrations there, denoting three enemies.

Entering meowls were followed by claws and teeth, lots, Eian swung his bat upwards, catching a ball of fur and tossing it to the side.

Another set of claws was heading towards him before he could get his swing back, so he kicked and caught its face, its momentum made him lose balance slightly but he regained it in time to swing and catch the last monsters face.

Swinging Eian aimed at the one directly in front of him, he heard struggle from behind as the beast he caught with his foot had passed him due to its own leap.

Kicking the beast and shoving it back into the room, Eian focused on the two beasts finally getting a good look at the monsters.

Too many teeth and a jaw which unhinged as the howled, Eian saw something that might have looked like a cat monster.

Swinging he caught the initial beast in the face again, the second lept a moment after, he spun away avoiding it's lunge.

The first beast looked dazed, while the second ran up to him, he kicked its face like a football before baring down his full might in an overhead swing.

A crunch later, a beast was down while the dazed monster was shaking its weary head, Eian hit its skull again with minimal force, and it dropped down moaning.

Looking outside, Eian inspected his teammates, they had managed to subdue a beast, not without injury as the two men had bleeding lacerations and the woman clutched her right arm, clearly injured.

The cat-monster was twitching slightly, they had pummeled, stabbed and likely brutalized it without care or precision.

It was still alive, Eian sighed, this bunch was filled with amateurs.

"Someone, put it out of its misery damn it." Eian sighed, then the noises alerted him to danger.

Bursting from nearby doors, more monsters emerged, yowling in rage, at least five in total.

His team freaked, screaming as they ran to him, they all hid behind him as though he represented safety.

The monsters charged as one, using power for the first time, Eian channeled Qi towards his brain, a trick he learned recently from Russel, time slowed ever so slightly as he did, tiny yet that little advantage gave him a major edge.

'And they're cowards. I hope this is worth it' Eian noted as he sighed, it was going to be a long day teaching this lousy bunch.

Despite it all, Eian figured he could bear with it if it meant rescuing the twins, Ed's sisters.

Every hour that passed he would imagine images of them either violated, beaten, or both.

Those thoughts weighed heavily on his mood.

*****

Upon their return, just as the sun was going down, Eian noticed many hostile stares once more, after such a long arduous day, he almost wanted them to provoke him, he needed someone to vent his frustration upon.

On the contrary, the team he trained were quiet and submissive, keeping to themselves and sneaking glances at him, that suited him quite fine.

Passing by he noticed someone approach, Edward, and his father, despite everything Eian was worried for Ed's sisters, he did know them for quite some time, friendly girls.

"This is all your fault." Edwards father glared daggers at Eian.

"And we'll fix it. Move, I'm tired." Eian replied, he understood his stance, but he was not in the mood.

"You little piece of~" Ed's dad opened his mouth and rattled off, Eian shoved him aside, forcefully entering.

Ed also had his eyes on Eian, but he cared little, he got Eian in a mess first and Eian simply got out of it in any way he could, he had made peace with his decision, and he would help save Ed's sisters anyway.

Hostile glares followed him everywhere, some people bad-mouthed and cursed at him, he ignored them, these people were doing little to fix it, some were too scared of their assailants.

It was their family members and yet only about half of them were truly helping, the others had either given up or were depending on them, Eian hated the latter more.

Already food stores were dwindling and Eian dreaded the immense task it would be to feed them all, they needed a steady supply of food, not that Eian was fully sure he would be staying.

Russel, along with the leader of Ed's little gang, and a few more notable and respected people around were already rationing their supplies.

People were unhappy, morale was at an all-time-low and things could blow at any moment, empty bellies could lead to looting and infighting so they gathered all their supplies in one spot, and put it under heavy guard.

All this information was clear to him as he made his way to the top floors, where the notables had taken residence.

His group dispersed at the entrance of the building, so Eian was alone when he went to sign off for the day.

They had made progress, but the two men were lacking in courage and the woman, Susan, was forced to heal them again and again, hindering their progress significantly.

None of them had any form of training, leaving Eian to wonder if they had even undergone the Dream in the first place.

Reaching the top Eian heard brief discussions taking place, it looked like he was one of the last to return, the group he had been given really needed it though.

As he entered, Russel was in deep discussion with a few others about today's training and their progress on the tunnel, Ezrael, who had a much better memory had drawn a general layout of the enemy compound.

Eian listened to a myriad of topics and couldn't help, but wonder why they were considering demon summoning? That could not possibly be safe.

"E! You're back! Any progress?" Russel asked when he finally saw him.

"I guess. The group is... better." Eian held back from saying 'useless'.

"Haha, your expression ol' friend. Sorry, despite having motivation, not all people are like us, the average person did not get a guide." Russel smiled, Eian wondered how many people actually got one.

"It's not just that, they're... well cowards really. Anytime something popped out they ran behind me." Eian sighed, he'd had to use unnecessary power several times.

With Russel's smile becoming a knowing smirk, he nods and gestures around himself to the people lounging about.

Eian noticed most looked tired, including Russel, who had recent bloodstain splatter on his clothing and grime clinging to them.

He counted roughly fifteen in total, both men and women, of all sizes and filling the room with chatter as well as the stench of battle.

Not all of them looked dangerous, but Sarah had not looked dangerous either, and she was might be capable of incinerating this building with enough effort.

"Not everyone adapts well E, you, me and these fine gentlemen and ladies are doing well. The others need more time, but we need them too. Eventually, we will need farmers, engineers, managers etc." Russel explained.

"...That feels a long way off." Eian rubbed his face, all he wanted was a bath, food and a bed.

"For now let's focus on getting the twins, and everyone else back of course. One step at a time, we might be dead by next week, so no use planning for next year, agreed?" Russel visibly deflated a bit at the mention of the girls.

Edward, Eian, and Russel had been friends long before Ed's behavior formed a schism between them, of course, they were familiar with each others family.

"Don't worry we'll get them back. Sure as gold. Bruce, help Eian get some food." Russel smiled again while patting Eian on the shoulder in a friendly gesture.

Bruce was a beefy bulky man, he had clearly invested everything into Body, how strong he was Eian truly couldn't tell, but he had a face that was perpetually scowling.

"I'm tired, send Aaron, he'd love to." Bruce pointed to another slimmer yet fit man.

"As long as he doesn't hit on him. E's not gay, at least...not as far as I know." Russel announced, Eian's eye twitched.

"That's blatant discrimination. Suck bovine testicles, you degenerate African. Bruce, I prefer you take it up the rectum." Aaron announced, pointing his middle finger at Russel and Bruce.

A brief friendly chattered happened before Aaron agreed to go, Eian was ready to go an hour ago.

Before exiting together, Eian felt a bit awkward around this guy, if you didn't know he looked completely normal, a fit white guy and moderate features topped off with extreme-light-brown hair.

One would never expect him to be a homosexual, not that Eian had much experience with them, he had no problem as long as they left him alone.

"Quit fretting, I am considerate of peoples stances. I know 'flirting' is uncomfortable for you 'hetero' men." Aaron laughed good-natured while waving his worries away.

"Okay." Eian shrugged, that was all he wanted to know before they went.

Upon exiting the room the woman from before, Susan, who apparently followed him, looked startled to see him, her eyes growing wide.

Strangely, lacky one and lacky two, both members of the team were long gone, and she stood there alone.

Eian briefly wondered how petty she had to be to come all this way to pick a bone with him, especially when all he could think about was food and sleep, the bitch.

"Ah! You're out, listen~" Sarah had somehow swapped her torn bloody dress, she was brushing her new clothes when Eian interrupted her.

"Look. I'm hungry and tired. If you're gonna yell at me, go yell at Russel, it was his idea to add you to my team, and he knows me." Eian grumbled, he just wanted food, a bath which would likely not happen, and lastly sleep.

"No! No, I just wanted to say sorry, about how I acted earlier. Sorry!" Susan waved her hands in front of her, she shook her head also.

Saying her part, she scurried away as though a hoard of monsters were after her, Eian blinked and she was gone.

"Impressive, I considered those to only happen in dramas." Aaron looked genuinely impressed.

"Huh?" Eian watched him confused, it might just be his tired mind, but he was sure he missed something there.

"Follow me, I'm sure exhaustion has caught up to you, if not physically at least mentally." Aaron chuckled at him as he walked towards food-storage.

Eian stared at him blankly for a moment before groaning and following, it was getting pretty dark.

******

Surprisingly there had been some water, apparently summoning water was not hard, some 'know-it-all' likely knew how to convert their energy into any other element, or there was a water elementalist around.

Of course, he was only given a bucket and a tiny bar of soap, but it good to feel refreshed as dirt, grime, and blood were a terrible combination.

Eventually, after humanity adapted, if they even survived, Eian wondered how these new powers would affect civilization, so many things would be easier, yet like all things they could be abused by evil.

As the last vestiges of light faded, Eian marveled at how adept his eyes were at seeing with such detail with so little light, he could see cracks on the tile in enclosed darkness.

Making his way towards the apartment his mother, himself, and both Ezraels were assigned, it was a tiny thing with two beds given to both Elisa and Ezrael's son, Eian and Ezrael made themselves comfortable with what was available.

They were away from troublesome people, and the guards were supposedly neutral, but Eian still had a habit of blocking the entrance with a couch before they went to sleep, it would not stop intruders but it may slow them down long enough for him to wake up and take action.

Elisa and Ezrael's son were allotted the two small rooms on either side, while Eian and Ezrael each got a dark little corner of the main room made up of a living room and kitchen, two in one.

"Sweetie? You're back, have you eaten?" Elisa asked him, as she poked her head out from her bedroom on the right.

"Yeah, thanks ma. Goodnight," After his mother's similar reply, Eian went straight for his pillow, and sheets on the floor, ever since forming his core he could sleep on almost any surface without bother.

In the darkness was Ezrael at a little dark corner of the apartment, using couch pillows for support getting comfortable.

As Eian sat down Ezrael got up and looked at Eian, Eian hated he had no defenses in place to prevent his intrusions, but Russel promised to keep an eye out on him every day.

He personally would prefer to be as far away as possible from the man, but the goal of 'protecting them' it was much more feasible if they were in stuck together.

Eian noticed Elisa, his mother, did not share the same concern over Ezrael's powers, whether it be from ignorance or naivety.

"Eian. How was the day?" Ezrael asked, tone polite.

"Fine. Got stuck with a crappy team. Babying them all day long." Eian answered and shook his head in dismay, not wanting to go further into detail, hopefully, tomorrow would be better.

"Good, good. Listen... do you think you can convince your friend, the... colored one, to call off the rescue mission?" Ezrael asked.

"No, and he prefers you calling him black, he's not a rainbow." Eian watched him out of the corner of his eye, suspicious.

Ezrael waved the concern away, growing bolder.

"I don't think it's in our best interest to go looking for trouble when we already got away," Ezrael answered, Eian watched him funny, did he think the other people would just abandon their family?

"You realize he's not the leader here right? Most people here had someone stolen, they aren't going to abandon their families." Eian explained to him, as though explaining to a child.

"Yes, well I spent the day asking around, most people with abilities are here with your friend. Russel? Without their help, the other people won't risk it." Ezrael explained.

Eian was almost sure this guy spent the whole day reading people's minds, he wondered if he should care, most of these people didn't like him, but it was a matter of principle, confusing.

Ezrael had a point and if Ed's sisters hadn't been taken Eian might have even agreed, horrifying as that might have been, knowing it was likely there would be conflict, there would be a loss of life, Russel was downplaying it for Elisa.

The twins were familiar to both Russel and himself, despite being raised in a lousy environment they turned out okay, polite and playful whenever he saw them.

Eian was not abandoning Ed's sisters, even if it meant getting his ears chewed out by his mother, not only for Ed, but Eian wasn't sure he could walk away and not have nightmares for the rest of his life.

He had seen those twins grow up.

"Russel won't change his mind. Ed's sisters were like distant family to him." Eian answered, and to him.

"... Damn it." Ezrael answered, his intense stare alerted Eian to something.

"You're fucking doing it again, aren't you?" Eian took a deep breathe, grit his teeth and glared at the bastard.

A stray thought made Eian wonder if he was doing the same thing to his mother, the thought further threw sparks to his fury, especially when he could be doing other things to her.

"Your mother isn't going to like the idea of you going there to fight." Ezrael's words confirmed that he was at least in his head, and that sounded too much like a threat to Eian.

Standing and marching forward, fury clouding his judgment, Eian felt the blood rushing up his face as he bared his teeth in seething aggression.

Falling to the ground half-way clutching at his head, Eian felt his mind slowly picked apart, then something immense was seized his very being from inside his skull, and begun crushing it.

Quashing his thoughts, he felt his body begin to twitch without command, desperate Eian funneled energy from his core, he sent a jolt up his spine from his core towards his mind.

Not a tiny surge as before, but a full-blown tidal wave, the weight upon his mind did not lessen, but he could bear it, for now, fighting back he forced his limbs to obey.

Strainingly pushing his thoughts and limbs forward, an uphill battle, his control slowly slipping from his grasp, like an adult slowly unclenching the closed fist of a petulant child, and flopping him to the ground.

"What are you doing!?" Ezrael's voice was fear-riddled, shaking and usually high-pitched.

"Fuck you!" Enraged, Eian tackled the bastard, his rational mind crumbling beneath an assault, turning him primal.

Surging Qi to his head, he pummeled Ezrael's face, once, twice, and thrice, he heard a cry of but the speaker and words were lost to him.

When the pressure on his mind froze, a great weight slid off his mind, as he realized his breathing and thoughts were hazy, ragged, and uncontrolled.

Fuming amongst mindless anger, Eian halted his fists as a tiny part of his rational mind advised, he wasn't about to kill this man.

"STOP FUCKING WITH MY HEAD!" Eian yelled, his abrupt use of QI on his mind ceded, leaving him aching.

"Eian! Wh, what are you doing?!" His mother's panicking voice brought him fully back to earth.

Taking in the scene, he realized he was in trouble, again, from the dark it must look like he punched Ezrael unprovoked.

Ezrael's nose was bleeding, and his eye looked as though it was swelling, lips bleeding while he may, or may not, have a few broken teeth.

Overall he was laying down pitifully on the floor, moaning, Eian tried to sort out his thoughts, the task monumentally difficult.

"He's jumping into my head without permission. Again, like always." Eian argued it was the first thing he remembered clearly.

"Are you turning violent? You could kill him!" Elisa rebuked seemingly ignoring his argument, shocked he would act this way.

"Don't talk about things you don't know anything about!" Eian defended, his pitch increasing slowly, wincing as his headache worsened.

"I...I know attacking people is barbaric, I taught you better than this!" Elisa argued her voice panicked, her hands were frantic, flinching while she stood still, eyes wide, equally in shock at his defiant tone.

That was it, he was fed up with this crap, and how the fuck was he supposed to get proof of mind-reading or mind control?

Elisa, however, seemed to have reached some sort of conclusion as she rushed past him, kneeling over the injured Ezrael as she begun to heal him, igniting another spark to his anger.

On top of everything, he was still angry, an emotion he was all to familiar with, not wanting to lash out at Elisa, Eian decided it was time to high-tail it.

"Look. We can talk tomorrow," Eian was finished trying to justify himself, he couldn't think clearly due to a throbbing headache, and he needed sleep.

Unconsensual mind-reading was a violation of dignity, privacy, and his rights, or at least it ought to be, it was tantamount to mind-rape.

Closing his eyes, Eian massaged himself just above his eyes with one hand, the pain unending, in fact as the fight was over it was growing worse.

Unknowing if it was suppressed stress, the Psyche attack on his mind, or fast use of too much Qi to argument his mind, but he was at his limit.

Iboprophine would help, hopefully, if he could find some, he wanted nothing more than to shut off his brain.

"How can you say that to me? Eian, look at him, you could have killed him!" Elisa was frantically scolding him, her voice filled with emotion, she was not even looking at him, full focus on her patient.

"Whatever ma," Eian's skull pressed into itself in a throb of agonizing pain, he walked away from her.

"Young man? This discussion is not over!" Elisa turned to look at him, and he noticed some tears streaming on her face.

"It is, I'm going to find some sleep. We can talk tomorrow," Eian ignored all her other words, and his anger easily made him ignore the little voice in his head telling him to try convincing her he was in the right.

Moving every obstruction from the door-way was easy, slipping outside also, it helped that Elisa was so weak, slow and currently tending to someone.

Once out in the hall, he brushed past inquisitive looks soon leaving the building entirely, she would likely hound him all night if he stayed.

He found a place easily, using Eyes-of-the-Earth, he made his way to a desolate little building nearby, it would be perfect for staying the night, he ensured nothing was truly inside, his powers were new and he felt weird relying on them completely.

Barring all entrances with stray furniture, he scrounged up whatever he could to make himself as comfortable as possible, the last thing he remembered was blacking out, his mind stumbling to find relief.