Chapter 20

Psychic Training part 1

In two different training rooms stood two different groups. In one room was Felix and Anastasia, both of whom were separated by a small wooden table with a rifle standing upon it.

“What about Marie?” Felix asked.

“As a stage one, Maria Readman doesn’t possess any aura. At least not according to the research…” Anastasia responded in a skeptical manner, “So she isn’t going to do this training.”

“I see…” He replied dejectedly.

In another room stood David, in front of him were the three red-eyed espers. Nero, Isabelle, and Grant. He collected wooden staffs and rubber knives and other objects.

“My name is David Soldier; I will be teaching you how to use your powers. I haven’t had the time to read your files, so introduce yourselves.”

“I’m Nero Miles.” The blond young man with sharp eyes nodded.

“Isabelle Castella, sir.” The silver-haired woman nodded.

“Grant Jaeger.” The brown-haired, pony-tailed man responded as he stared intently at David’s face.

Isabelle then looked around and spoke, “Why isn’t Felix with us?”

“Felix is training with Anastasia… And I’m sure he doesn’t want to see me right now.” David answered as he handed each of them a staff and a rubber knife.

“Why’s that?”

David paused for a moment, spending the awkward silence searching for the right words. “Personal reasons,” He then placed down the staves and knives in front of them, hoping that they would drop the topic.

“I see.” She replied.

“I’m sure the professors told you all they know. You three have been espers for six months, correct?”

“Yes sir.” The red-eyed trio answered.

“Let’s start with the basics. We are not entirely human anymore. According to Professor Tetsuya and Professor Levi, we are a new breed “Homo Novus Animo”, or “espers” as of recently.” David explained.

While Nero and Grant stood with indifferent expressions, Isabelle flattened her lips upon hearing those words, clearly bothered by the statement of no longer being human.

“As a new species, we have many gifts that are far and beyond normal people. But our defining trait is our telekinesis, our ability to control energy and bend objects to our will with the use of Zeta radiation, or aura.”

“Something you have to understand is that aura itself is more than just telekinesis. It’s an extension of your senses, and a projection of your soul. It’s not a weapon, at least not until you make it one.” Anastasia explained to Felix as she disassembled the weapon.

David placed a metal sheet beneath his arm, “And we are limited by two factors: By the amount of the aforementioned aura that we possess, and the limits of our psyche. Controlling energy is controlling movement, and how it’s expressed differently between each user, often shaped by your psychological hang-ups.”

A fiery haze formed around his arm. Untouchable, intangible, but dense and fiery. A visible contradiction between reality and power.

It flowed out of him like water and enveloped the metal sheet and was pulled upward from the floor. The three covered their ears as they watched the sheet bend and fold with an ear-piercing creak, wrapping itself around David’s left arm. “For me, it works like armor.”

“The aura is the power to stop, then to attract and repel, then to move things to your will. Take it one step further and you can stretch and mold... and change. That is psychic energy.” Anastasia explained as she assembled the rifle back together with a flick of her wrist using her psychic ability.

“It isn’t a weapon. It’s a tool. All of you are stage three, so you should theoretically possess same amount of aura.” David said to the three as now both of his arms were now shining in chrome.

“But what about when it comes to drawing out the power?” Grant asked David.

“Drawing it out varies differently from between me and David. For me, drawing it out is a lot like breathing.” Anastasia took in a deep breath, followed by a faint, orange glow manifesting from her body.

Felix nodded.

David continued with his lecture, “But if there’s one sure fire way to release it, then imagining it is the easiest way. Don’t just feel it. Imagine it. The power comes from the brain, so you have to project it into the real world. It’s a slow process, so keep doing it until it’s as natural as breathing.”

“What do we call this power we possess?” Nero asked.

“Hm? I suppose we just call it psychic power.”

“I see.” He sighed dejectedly, as if hoping for something more.

“Now, then, show me what you all can do.”

Nero stood and held up a wooden staff like a sword, he felt a tingly sensation from his arms as red light flowed through the pathways of his nervous system.

“I’ve always needed direct contact with objects before I could apply my aura on them.” He explained as a crimson red haze materialized out of his hands and into the staff, causing it to shake rapidly.

“Understandable. The aura starts from the brain, then it flows through the body as heat, after which you extend it outside of yourself, which transforms into the psychic power.” David demonstrated as the psychic flames flowed out of his palm.

“And I always found it a little difficult…” The wooden staff kept shaking faster and faster, unable to handle the red energy until suddenly, it burst. “…to control.”

Isabelle and Grant reflexively hid behind their arms to protect themselves from the scattering wood shards, while David stood with arms crossed, undaunted and immovable while the wooden chunks floated midair, caught in his orange aura.

“The way you use your aura is volatile. If too much aura is released from all directions at once, the pressure will crush whatever you’re trying to control. You need to learn how to fine tune it. Until then, I suggest using a harder material for it.” David replied.

“… Sadly, I’ve found that even swords break.” Nero lamented.

Isabelle was next, and the others were waiting on her display, “Actually, I’d rather not.”

“Show us.”

“If you say so.”

Strings of red lightning formed around her body as a vicious flame began to form around her, the entire room began to creak.

Nero stood still and watched, while Grant took a step back, pushed away by the ferocity of her crimson crystalline flames.

The aura around her began to spiral and form a dome of fire, but before the psychic structure could be completed, David spoke, “That’s enough.”

The red flames that radiated throughout the room were reduced to lingering embers on Isabelle’s body.

“I see.” The realization had set in as he saw her white hair, “It’s strange to believe that you’re already fully awakened.”

“Ah, yeah…” She scratched the back of her head.

“Try this.” He placed a rubber knife in her hand, “Imagine that your body is like a dam, and the water is your aura. For now, don’t think about how it works, just let it flow out of your arms and channel it into this knife.”

The silver-haired girl nodded and closed her eyes.

A mental image has been sketched into the silver-haired girl’s mind. She breathed in, and it felt like a gust of wind brushed against the waves within the dam.

She felt the spaces in her own mind widening as the concrete walls opened.

In her mind, the water rushed out.

Isabelle opened her crimson eyes and watched as a powerful stream red light endlessly flowed out through the rubber knife, like the pressure from a flame thrower.

“It worked?” She said in a stunned, surprised manner, “It worked! I did it!” She hopped excitedly, “David I—!”

She glanced over to the side and saw the three men standing with startled faces, avoiding the torrent of psychic fire she was releasing.

“What?” She asked as her energy diminished into a small thin light.

“Yeah.” David gulped, “You did it.”

The orange-haired mentor was surprised by this development.

Incredible. For her to immediately know what she was doing after such a small suggestion. Who is this girl?

He thought to himself, David then looked over to the last of the red-eyed trio and said, “Grant, you’re up.”

“I have to follow up to that?” Grant nervously laughed.

“Unfortunately.” Nero replied to his remark.

The brown-haired man clutched the rubber knife.

The veins in his arms started to glow and grow hot, before the energy exited out his pores, and started to spark outside his body, “It’s difficult. I haven’t been able to draw it out very easily.” He explained.

Isabelle and Nero covered their faces against the flickers and the flares.

Coated in his orange aura, David was protected from the crimson fire, “Try breathing slowly, think about it flowing out of your mind, then exerting it out from your body. Or perhaps you could imagine how it should go, the same way Isabelle did.”

“Alright.” Grant grabbed one of the rubber knives and concentrated on a single point on the target, only to create streams of energy that violently started to sear across his arm.

A surge of orange, fire-like aura then flushed it away from his arm, like a stream of water extinguishing a flame.

“I’m… having trouble.” Grant remarked as he looked at his hand, the crimson cracks in his flash started to mend back together.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here to help you until you get it.” David replied reassuringly.

“I get how it works. I’ve just never been able to use it before.” Felix uttered as he looked at his red-haired mentor.

Anastasia then inquired, “Your report said that you were able to draw it out when you were trying to escape, correct? You used your psychic energy to increase your speed and called it Blue Mode?”

“Marie’s the only one who calls it that. But yeah, that’s right.” Felix nodded.

“It can also be used to speed up the body by making oneself into a projectile, but that’s difficult to control, so I don’t advise doing that.” She responded with her finger raised up.

“Um…”

“That was a joke. You haven’t tried it before, have you?”

“When I was chasing Lewis Shaw for the first time…” He recollected his time at the port, when he slammed against the metal vessels in a violent fit of rage, “It’s like I had no control of my body, that I was just being tossed around.”

“Now you know not to do that.” She sighed, “Moving on, it’s possible that you developed a form of enhanced speed in a state of panic. I think it’s best if we try to draw it out again.” The short, red-haired woman explained as she pointed her rifle at Felix’s face. “You are to stand there and I will fire at you.”

“I don’t think that’s—!” BANG! A deafening noise shot right beside his ear.

“Go.”

“… okay.” He let out a crestfallen response, knowing he was not allowed to argue.

“We will try to reenact what first triggered your aura. Are you ready?” She ordered and raised her rifle.

“No?”

Felix stood near the wall. He swallowed as he watched the rifle pointed straight at his head. He placed his hands in front of him, hoping he would be able to do as she says.

The first round was shot.

“ARGK!” He reflexively pulled back his hand and clutched it after the rubber bullet struck it.

The next round fired.

“Ow, ouch! W—wait!”

One, after the other, Felix was pushed further and further back as almost each of the rubber bullets narrowly struck him.

“Good reflexes. You were taught to watch where the gun was pointed then avoid accordingly before your enemy could fire, correct?” Anastasia explained without letting an inch of her shooting interval.

“Wait, please, just! Ow!”

He yelled as he whipped away the next projectile and it struck the ceiling.

The ceiling split apart as sets of wooden planks descended from it. The three watched in awe as the area transformed itself, and turned itself into a makeshift shooting range.

“This facility was designed with us in mind, and for people who have yet to become espers. As with any skill, you learn through repetition. Throw these continuously until you break through each of these targets ten times.” David handed each of them a metal bowl full of ball bearings.

The three of them turned towards the floating planks, held up only by a single rope.

“But that’s… like an inch of wood?” Isabelle squeaked.

“That’s right.” David responded nonchalantly.

Nero picked up the first metal marble and rolled it between his fingers before drawing back his arm. With a loud wooden thud, the plank target swung upwards as it was struck by the metal ball.

Both Isabelle and Grant then took a marble each from their bowl and struck the wooden plank, only for it to fling upward and swing back down.

Isabelle and Grant both looked at David with confused expressions.

“Don’t you think we should start with something more… basic?” Isabelle added.

“This is the basics. You have to break through the first one that’s five meters. Then the next one that’s eight meters. Then the last one in ten meters.”

“How about something simpler? Like learning to maintain our aura? Drawing out aura is already a challenge as it is.” Grant responded.

“First you need to learn how to use your aura before you can maintain it. Understand the principles of how it works.”

Nero picked up another and threw it in a pitcher’s throw, it was followed by another loud thud. The wooden plank was swung even further back than before.

Grant followed up, “Even if we hit it, there’s no way we can break through it. It’s just gonna swing up—”

With a sharp, loud thud, their attention was drawn first wooden target. It swung back and forth, and as it steadied, they saw the puncture that Nero made in the middle of it.

“—wards.”

Nero grinned at his two red-eyed companions.

“Show off.” Grant responded and picked up one of the metal marbles, acting casually as he took on Nero’s challenge.

“These two…” The silver-haired woman blurted out.

“You need to deal with your own weakness and shortcomings. Overcome whatever it is that’s keeping you from using your full potential is yourselves.”

Isabelle sighed in a resigned manner as she followed their lead. She picked up one of the marbles, inspected it for a few seconds, then looked at the targets for a clear shot.

She pulled back her arm, and swung.

— Bang!

Anastasia lowered her gun and walked up to Felix who was on the floor, “Perhaps this isn’t the best way.”

Felix, who tried to communicate with ragged breaths, whimpered in agreement. “Mh-hmm.”

Nero broke his seventh hole through his target, while Grant was stuck waiting for his target to stop swinging back and forth.

Isabelle’s face drenched in sweat as she’s made several small dents on her target. She gritted her teeth and hurled the small metal ball in her hand. With a crisp, wooden burst, she managed to pierce the first hole. She looked to the rest of them with lips widened with a vibrant smile.

Their mentor, David gave an approving nod and while Nero smiled back slightly, Grant watched in silent envy before grabbing another ball.

David walked out the door.

A large rubber tire wrapped in an orange glow rolled into the room, along with Anastasia.

“Maybe we should start simpler. I think stopping might be too advanced for you for now. For now, pushing is the easiest task. You have one hour to move this only with your power.”

She placed a white gun against the tire, one that was identical to Felix’s ‘Agony’, and as she pulled the trigger, a wave of orange energy burst from the gun and flung away the tire, “You just need some aura to have it start rolling.”

“But I can’t draw out my aura at will.” Felix replied.

“That’s why we’re training, so you can use it on command.” She said as she knocked him on the head, “Aura acts like a fluid that stretches depending on how much you emit. According to the professors, it’s said to start from the brain, so think about letting it flow from your head to the object.” She explained as she raised up her hand in a fighting stance.

“To the object…” He raised his arm towards the tire while Anastasia watched.

She opened her lips, “You know, you don’t actually need to move to use your powers. It just helps you visualize what you want your power to do.”

“I see.”

Nero sat at the side, rolling the marble in his fingers. Almost done with the task, with nine punctures through, which almost broke the plank in half.

Isabelle, who was gasping for air, was almost done.

There were seven holes on her target. She raised her hand and the marble started to glow with spikes of light streaming between her fingers.

With a weighty swing, the marble spun close to the ground, and then quickly curved upward, changing its course.

The plank snapped in half.

As it made a hollow, wooden rattle, Isabelle grinned widely, “It worked… I did it!”

“Experimenting, huh?” Nero sneered.

Grant’s face narrowed with frustration, with only four holes in his target so far.

“It’s gotten late, you can go take a rest. Try again tomorrow.” David told the two of them.

“Um, wait, let me just do the last—” Before Nero could complete her sentence, a loud thud caught their attention.

“Yeah… rest would be nice.” Grant huffed out as he punctured his fifth hole. There was a bitterness in his tone.

While Grant walked to the side and wiped his face with a towel, Isabelle looked at David and asked. “Actually, do you have a kitchen?”

“Turn left by the end of the hall.” David answered.

“Right, thanks.”

Felix stood there in front of the tire waiting for the energy to flow out. From his palm released a small blue wisp.

“You should have been able to push it forward by now.” Anastasia remarked from her chair, watching a show on her phone.

“I know that.” Felix responded, clearly frustrated at himself. He pressed his arms against the floor and flung himself back up. “Maybe I could use a little more instruction.”

She got up from her chair and walked towards him, “Psychic energy starts from the head, then flows throughout the body, enhancing it, making it faster and stronger. After that it’s exerted out of the body and enhances or moves things.”

She placed her palm against the wheel, and with a sudden burst of orange haze, the wheel suddenly started to roll until it slammed against the wall.

“Me, David, and your sister all experience aura differently. Mostly instinctually. I can tell you how it works, but I can’t teach you how to use it. Just take a deep breath and apply your will.”

“Sigh, right.”

Felix took a deep breath and pulled back his arm. He felt tingly a sensation as a blue glow passed through the tunnels of his veins. And as he struck his fist, his psychic energy formed and manifested into his hands.

“It worked!” He smiled and looked at her excitedly.

She nodded calmly, expecting him to continue.

“Come on… push!” The energy in his fist was steadily growing larger, but would not move the way he wanted. It simply grew larger and more unstable.

“Ah— hah! What do I do?” He blurted out nervously as he looked at Anastasia, but before she could answer, the energy burst in all directions and tossed him back.

But finally, the tire moved forward ever so slightly, before turning to the side and plopping down with a loud thud.

“Progress.” Anastasia looked at him with a startled expression, “That’s enough. Get some rest.”

Felix got back up, gasping, “But I’ve… barely done anything...”

“No point in struggling. Come back here tomorrow, we’re done for today.”

A flow of water streamed out of the sink as Grant washed his face. His gaze cast down, and the red in his eyes reflecting in the droplets. As he got up to dry his face, he took a step back, startled as he saw David in front of him.

“Grant. A moment.” David gestured for the brown-haired man to come closer.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Two things.”

“First. Answer honestly, why did you react when you saw my face?”

Grant looked to the side and muttered, “It’s nothing.”

“If it were nothing, you wouldn’t have slammed the table when you first saw me.”

Grant flattened his lips, unable to look at David, “…it’s just… you look a lot like someone I used to know.”

David’s lips parted, as if eagerly wanting to ask something, but shut and opened again, only to say something else. “Was he… someone important to you?”

“…He was.” Grant mumbled out.

“Then maybe that’s why you’re having so much trouble.”

“Why’s that?”

“If it’s grief that you’re dealing with, you have to let go of it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The thing that’s keeping you from releasing your aura is likely your grief. It’s blocking the flow of aura from your mind to the rest of your body.”

Isabelle sat in the kitchen, as she stirred the spoon in the coffee, she recalled the moment just before the training began.

In the office of the chief’s office where she had just entered, a deep, gravelly voice called out to her.

“Isabelle Castella, correct?” A tall, muscular man stood before her, dressed in a white suit and a red and gold overcoat. His body blocked half the windows behind Chief Vivian’s desk, where she sat silently.

“Y-yes, sir… um.”

The man sat down on the black sofa in the middle of the room, “Sullivan Osbourne. CEO of the Golden Lion and Head Director of the twelve agencies. Please, take a seat.” He gestured toward the seat right in front of him.

“Ah o-okay.”

“Such magnificent red eyes.” He commented. One of his eyes were wide open, while the other was closed with two scars running across it.

Not only did his appearance intimidate her, but also his voice and position, there was weight in all of who he was. “Would you like some coffee or tea?”

“I’m good, sir.”

“Shame, this tea was imported all the way from India.” He lamented as he poured himself a cup and added a spoonful of sugar, “Then let me cut to the chase. For the past three years, Felix refused to learn under the tutelage of David, he even went so far as to say that he couldn’t muster out any aura yet and instead occupied himself with physical training.”

“Okay.”

The Director stirred the spoon in his teacup and spoke, “I would like to say that he was being selfish and stubborn. The problem is, he was right. and Professor Tetsuya agreed with his decision to wait until he developed his powers, because there would be no point in him learning how to control it.”

Isabelle quietly nodded, “Is that so...”

“Now that he has developed his powers, we were simply waiting for David to finish up his duties so he could teach Felix.”

“Duties, sir?”

“Being rank one also comes with a lot of responsibilities, you see.”

“I see, so then.”

“You are the one who suggested that he should wait to be taught by someone else, no?”

Isabelle tightened her fists on her lap as she tilted her head down, “Sir, it’s only been a few months since I became an esper.”

“And look at how far you’ve come.”

“It’s… not very far, sir.”

“You are the first of your batch to have your hair turn white hair. And in such a short amount of time. It is, in fact, quite far.” He took a sip of his tea.

“I would tell you how I did it, sir, but—”

“I’m aware. The maturation of espers is correlated with their growth, and people grow in different ways, so there’s really no point in asking that question.”

“I see.” She twiddled her fingers.

“I think you misunderstand me. I am not asking you to teach Felix. You see, the only other person in the world that’s able to teach him has also finished up her mission, and has returned.”

“Who?”

“The third rank agent, Anastasia Frost.” The Chief answered.

“So then, that means my request was accepted?”

“The decision to have Anastasia teach Felix isn’t done on behalf of your request. It was simply the most rational choice to do so. Felix would likely not progress very well if he were taught by David.” The Director answered.

Isabelle looked up, “Then… why was I called here, sir?”

“I understand that you are compassionate and kind. Therefore, I would like to ask you to watch over Felix as he grows, and for you to list down and report to us how you see him progress.”

“But… wouldn’t it be better if the teacher, Anastasia, did that?”

“Isabelle. Look at your hair. You are currently the person closest to him in terms of power. That’s why I want you to help him as his equal, or… if the worst were to ever occur, stop him.”

The silver-haired girl felt a heavy weight suddenly dropped on her shoulders.

“I’m simply asking you to watch over him. Think of it as a personal request.”

She gulped, “…I understand, sir.”

“One last thing. You are to deliver this letter to your commander at Frontier Industries. Tell them that I have accepted your temporary transfer to the Golden Lion.”

As he said those words, the Chief handed a letter to her.

“Yes, sir.” She answered as she took the letter.

“I expect great things from you, Isabelle Castella.” He then paused to take a sip of tea, “Dismissed.”

The memory of that discussion made Isabelle let out a sigh.

She stopped stirring the coffee as another person walked into the kitchen. Her face slowly drooped down from her hands until it reached the table.

“Isabelle?” Felix greeted as he entered the room.

“Huh? Oh, h-hey there. What’s up?” She responded in a tired voice.

“I just came here to make some coffee.” He walked over to the counter, “Is something bothering you?”

“Oh, um… nothing really.”

“Then, do you mind if I join you?” Felix smiled as he lifted up a glass jar in each hand.

“No, go ahead. Cream and sugar? I didn’t think you would like it sweet.”

Felix grinned widely in response.

“So, how was training?” She asked.

“Hard… I pushed a wheel for a little while, you?”

“I broke holes into a plank of wood.”

There was a brief pause before the two broke out with a soft, awkward laughter.

Back in the training room, Anastasia was curled up in a ball as she watched from her phone, snickering to herself. But there was a knock on the door.

“Director?” The red-haired woman quickly got up and saluted white-haired man.

“Anya, where is Felix?” Director Sullivan asked from the door.

“He was going to make some coffee, so I told him we should just continue tomorrow. I’m surprised you came all the way to this facility, Director.”

“I wanted to see your progress with my own eyes.”

“Not much progress, it’s only been a day. Right now, I’m still trying to get him to draw out his energy. David and the others should be doing the same.”

“What do you think of him so far?”

“He has a lot of aura, but that’s about it. He can’t control it properly yet.”

“That is unfortunate, but understandable.”

“I was in Russia alone for four years, now I’m on babysitting duty. Has he really been an esper for seven years?” Anastasia murmured as she looked away.

“Anya. He is a stage four. The only stage four we have so far. The power he possesses is more than the rest of you combined, so it’s only natural for him to have difficulty getting it under control.”

“…Right…”

“That being said, I’m relying on you to bring out his full potential, do you understand?” The Director asked sternly before shutting the door.

“Yes sir.” She nodded, as if she had a say in the matter.

The door shut, and Anastasia was left standing alone.