Chapter 21

Psychic Training part 2

Thud after thud, the sound of cracking and breaking of wood repeated in the room. Both Isabelle and Nero sat in the corner of the room, wiping their faces with towels while waiting for Grant to finish his set.

After two consecutive breakthroughs, Grant smiled. He was ready to strike the last one, but as he was about to throw the metal marble in his hand, a sudden crash caught all of their attention.

Back in the training room, Felix gasped before collapsing to his knees. Beads of sweat poured down his cheek. His tired eyes downcast as he took in deep heavy breaths.

“Good job.” Anastasia spoke in a dry manner, “You’ve learned the basics of pushing.”

“I take it… huff… that the next step… is to learn pulling?” Felix replied with weighty breaths.

“No. You still need to continue drawing it out.” She replied as she picked up the tire with one hand and rolled it back towards him. “Seven more times.”

Felix pushed himself back up with his hand.

With a thud, Grant saw through the hole the wooden plank. The tenth one he had completed on that day.

“Yes!” He yelled out before looking back to the other two. Nero stared with a subtle smirk while Isabelle smiled widely, happy for him.

David walked up to the three with a sliced pie in his hand, “Good job. All of you, line up.”

The three stood up side by side one another in front of David.

“You’ve all progressed decently in the past week. Isabelle, you’re quick to the uptake and have a good handle on your aura. You get to move along. Give the other two some advice.” David instructed as he placed a slice of pie in Isabelle’s hand.

“Yes, sir.” Isabelle replied with an awkward expression.

“Grant, your improvement wasn’t as fast as the other two, but your progress was clear. You are now much better than when you first started. You’re moving on to the next task, but you’re still going to have to practice this one until you’ve got it. Understood?” He said as he handed him a slice of pie.

“Yes, sir.” Grant responded, rejecting the apple pie with furrowed eyebrows, to which David raised his own with curiosity.

“Nero, even though you’re always quick to finish, you always use too much energy. Remember that your aura is limited. You’re moving on to the next step, but keep that in mind.” He explained as he put a slice of pie in Nero’s hand.

“Yes, sir.” Nero replied, taking a bite out of the pie.

“As for your next task.” David then pressed on a remote, and the ground started to rumble.

The three watched as the floor split in half, and large slabs of metal rose diagonally from underground. From the metal slabs rose dummies, each with a small gap in the center. The area looked significantly different from how it was less than thirty seconds ago.

“You’ve all completed six months of shooting range training, correct?”

“Yes sir…” Isabelle answered.

“Now you’re going to practice to control. Your task is to strike the center of the target. You should not break the dummies, just shoot it perfectly in the hole.” David picked up one of the ball bearings. As it became enveloped in his orange energy, he struck. The metal ball spiraled up then down, until it shot through the center of the small hole on the wall.

“Like last time, you have to shoot it ten times, finish this task by the end of today.”

“Yes, sir.” Both Grant and Isabelle replied.

“Yethfir.” Nero answered with a mouth full of pie.

Anastasia watched while Felix lifted the wheel and once again. A current ran through his body, and ember-like particles sprung from his fingertips, but quickly faded.

“Again.” Anastasia spoke sternly.

Unable to respond, all Felix could do was pant in exhaustion.

“You’re on your last one.”

“It’s gotten… really hard… to draw out.” He huffed out.

“Sigh, I hate to do this, but imagine Lewis Shaw’s smug face throwing garbage at you.”

Felix’s face contorted with rage. Suddenly, from his palm, a crystalline blue flame burst out, flinging the wheel upward and crashing against the wall.

“… I’m impressed.”

“Eh?” Felix mumbled out as the glow around his body had yet to fade.

“Remember what I said, aura is a reflection of you. As such, it spikes with your emotions. That being said, frustration without any clear goal in mind won’t get you anywhere.”

“Right. So then, what’s next? Pulling?” Felix huffed out.

“Not yet. Pulling is still far too difficult. The next step is stopping.” Anastasia pulled out her rifle once more.

Felix took a step back. “Stopping… bullets?”

“What’s wrong? You did it before, didn’t you? When you protected Obsidian’s heiress?” Anastasia asked as she pointed her rifle in front of him.

“Y-yes…” He gulped.

“What was going through your mind when you did it?”

“I’m… I’m not sure. I did it reflexively, but I think it was because I wanted to protect her.”

“I see. Strong feelings such as those can be channeled like that. But we can’t replicate those conditions as we are now.”

“Phew…” Felix let out a relieved sigh.

“You will stop each one with your aura, understood?”

“I um… Wait, but… if we need our aura to stop bullets… then.” He recollected his battle against Harbinger; How Maria had been shot from behind, and the sensation of her warm blood sliding across his face. “Can first stages do this? Stop bullets, I mean?”

Anastasia tilted her and responded, “I've heard Jane being able to do the same thing, so it should be possible.”

“Jane… the seventh rank… I see.”

“I’ll look into it. There’s something that doesn’t add up with what we were told.”

“Alright, thanks.” He nodded.

“For now, you should think about protecting yourself.” She quickly brought the gun back up and pulled the trigger.

With a loud thud, a piece of the dummy broke again.

“Nero, your output is too much. You’re draining your aura too quickly without properly utilizing it. The goal isn’t to break through, but to control.”

“Yes, sir. I’m having difficulty trying to do just that.”

“Keep the fire of your rage in check. Keep the energy still and steady, you’re in no rush.”

Nero took in a deep breath and rolled the metal marble in his fingertips. As he threw it, the energy enveloping it was still, up until the very last moment where the red energies burst out on impact.

“Try again. Be more patient.”

He took another ball bearing. He took another deep breath, his crimson eyes focused on the target, and he struck.

“Huh?”

“It’s falling. Move it up.”

Nero focused his gaze on the ball bearing. Suddenly, the red energy popped from beneath it and hurled it upward. With a sharp thud, it struck slightly above the target.

He let out a thick, exasperated breath from his throat.

“You understand, don’t you? Once aura leaves the body, it becomes increasingly difficult to control the further it gets. Now, one more time.”

He picked up another. It was a third attempt under David’s watchful eyes.

As he drew back his arm, David said, “Concentrate.”

He threw it once more. This time, as the ball bearing fell too low, the aura burst from beneath it. And it got thrusted upwards and close to the target, it burst one more time.

It had burst straight through the hole. His first success in this task.

“It’s not exactly how you’re supposed to control it, but it’s a compromise that works.” David explained with a nod. “You’ll still have to learn how to do it properly, but I’ll let this one slide.”

Nero looked over to the other two with a smile on his face.

Grant, who had a focused expression on his face, noticed Nero’s excited glee and gave a thumbs up. Nero also gave a thumbs up.

“First one down.” Nero clenched his hand.

“Third one down.” Grant smirked as he raised three fingers. “Looks like I’m ahead.”

“Not for long.”

The two nodded at each other, but while they displayed their mutual support and rivalry, a buzzard noise came from the edge of the room next to the wall of the room. Isabelle was done with her first set.

Their smiles turned to sour, envious frowns and they swiftly picked up their pace.

Anastasia fired her rifle towards Felix at a consistent interval. Every time she fired, he quickly threw his hand and deflected the rubber bullets away. But despite the interval, he was still being overwhelmed and pushed back.

A consistent tingle struck against his right hand until his fingers began to quiver and shake, he yelled “Stop, come on, wait— Stop!”

“That’s right, you have to stop the bullets coming your way.”

“Wait… stop, stop firing... wait… stop… firing…” Felix paused in thought, as he dropped to the floor.

“What?” Anastasia complied and lowered her rifle.

“Anastasia” He huffed “Is it possible to stop… a laser beam…with psychic power?” He asked as he pointed to the rubber bullet in his hands.

“Laser beam…is it like the one in your report?”

“…Mhm.” He nodded, looking at the right hand that he had once lost.

“You want to train to defend yourself from that?”

“…That’s right.”

“I don’t know… we’ll have to figure out a way to simulate it without killing you. For now, let’s take a break.” She declared as she walked out the door.

*

Isabelle got to the kitchen and found someone at the counter with a sandwich in their hand. A woman with dark brown hair and copper brown eyes, dressed in a caramel-colored sweater.

“Oh, h-hey there.” Isabelle greeted as she went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle from in it. “Carol, right?”

“Yeah, we saw each other about a week ago.” Carol replied as she swallowed the stuffing in her mouth “And you’re Isabelle Corona?”

“Isabelle Castella, actually…”

Carol hit her chest, struggling to put down the sandwich, “Right, s-sorry. I’m bad with names.”

“That’s alright. Mind if I sit with you? I like having company.” Isabelle awkwardly asked as she gave her a bottle.

Carol quickly downed half the bottle and let out a sharp, relieved breath, “Ahh. Go ahead.”

“So... what are you doing in the Golden Lion?”

“Um... I came here to visit Felix.” There was a short pause before Carol smiled softly, twiddling her fingers.

“O-oh… really?” Isabelle awkwardly replied with a soft chuckle.

“So, what about you, how’s training coming along?”

“It’s been… challenging, but I’ve been getting the hang of it. Huh—?” She was cut off from her own thoughts as she realized that Carol started to play with her hair.

“Your hair looks white as snow; it looks really lovely.”

“Th-thank you. Are you thinking of going through the implementation?”

“Nah, I’m just a little curious. How did it feel when you went through the process?”

“How did it… feel?” She repeated.

Isabelle’s crimson eyes drift off as the memory resurges. The scene played out vividly in her head.

Her hands and legs were bound to the table as it slowly descended. Three syringes were on the table, and that she had one more shot to go through.

“Here is the last one. This is what will turn you into an enhanced human.” One of the professors said to her, showing her a syringe full of prismatic fluid.

“There was a risk of dying, right? How much?” Isabelle huffed out as she looked over to the man. Her face drenched in sweat as she struggled to breathe.

“Since it’s too late for you to turn back now... ninety five percent.”

“Ninety-five?! G-get me out of this!” Panic instantly filled on her face.

“It’s too late to turn back now, we’ve already paid you the sum. Now, for stage one…”

Her cluttered fear and fright streamlined the moment the man injected her in the arm. Fiery red waves burst out from her body and spiraled above her while she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Isabelle’s lips slowly opened as she answered Carol, “It felt…like I was burned alive… my body was destroyed from the inside out. All I could think about was regret, but... by the end of it, I think I remember…It felt like… I was in a sea of stars.”

“A sea of stars?”

Isabelle covered her forehead and spoke with a distant stare, “I don’t remember, it’s so hazy… but… it felt so peaceful. I’m sorry, I don’t know how to explain it.”

“I see… still, ninety-five percent…” Carol replied with a dim stare. “Well, that’s all in the past now. At least you survived, didn’t you? Cheers to that.” she raised her bottle.

“... Right, cheers to the five percent survival rate.” Isabelle smiled and raised her own.

As they chugged down their drinks, Carol immediately excused herself from the table, “I’ll just head to the bathroom real quick.”

“Okay.” Isabelle replied with an awkward smile, “Be quick.”

“I won’t be long.” She waved as she headed to the bathroom. It was only a few meters from the kitchen, but when she got to the door, it opened, and Maria walked out with lipstick smeared over her lower lip.

“H-hello— ” She greeted the black-haired woman.

“I saw a spider.” Maria responded and quickly walked away, not even turning to face her.

As she left, Carol’s eyes fixated on Maria’s reddened hand, dripping with blood. Her eyes showed slight alarm as she got inside, and saw that the mirror above the sink had been shattered.

“Eh?” Carol muttered to herself.

In the lounge, two agents sat watching television.

“Um… what’s this?” Felix asked, sat down by Anastasia on the small couch.

“You don’t like wrestling? Would you rather watch boxing?” Anastasia replied.

“Personally, I’d rather watch anime.” Nero replied as he parched his head on the sofa behind her.

“Y-yeah, me too.” Anastasia responded in a higher pitch, her cheeks suddenly turned beet red.

”What are you two doing here?” Felix asked.

“Same as you. We’re on a break.” Nero replied.

“Damn, that supplex. Think you could pull off something like that?” Grant looked at Felix with a smile while pointing at the screen.

Felix simply raised his eyebrow and replied, “I’ll go make some coffee…”

“Could you grab me a cold drink?” Nero asked as he took his seat.

“Me too.” Grant added as he gazed at Felix as he walked away.

“I’d like some beer.” Anastasia added.

“Sigh, so this is what Murphy feels.” Felix blurted out on his way to the kitchen.

As the other two made themselves comfortable on the couch, Anastasia blurted out “And what about that girl, Isabelle?”

“She went to the kitchen earlier, she should meet Felix there.”

In the kitchen, Isabelle finished her drink. As she headed out, she was greeted by Felix, who was just about to enter.

“Hey, gotten better at throwing metal balls?” Felix asked.

“I guess. Have you gotten better at pushing tires?” Isabelle replied.

“Heh… so far, this is all I can do at the moment.” He answered as he pointed his finger to one of the bananas on the table.

As a blue fire formed around his fingertips, he shot it out. Suddenly, the blue fire pierced through the banana and splattered everywhere.

Isabelle reflexively defended herself, the pieces of banana floated midair, wrapped around the red energy in her hands. “That was more… ‘exploding’ than it ‘pushing.’” She blurted out in response, holding back her laughter.

“You’re not wrong.” Felix replied, wiping off the squashed banana on his face.

“What the—?” Another voice spoke, walking into the kitchen.

“Oh, hey there. Fancy meeting you here.” Felix smiled as Carol entered the kitchen.

“What happened?” She replied as she quickened her pace as she walked towards him.

“I was just… showing how much I improved, I guess.”

“Don’t play with your food!” Carol suddenly scolded as she pulled him down by the collar and wiped off the food splatter with a tissue.

“R-right.”

“S-sorry… you just… remind me of my younger brother.” She looked away, flustered, but still pouting.

“Right…” Felix answered with a slightly flushed face, scratching his cheek.

Isabelle watched the event play out and just laughed awkwardly to herself.

“So then, what exactly have you improved on?” Carol sighed and asked with her hands on her hips, looking up at him with a slightly annoyed look.

“I just… tried to push, and used too much energy, and I guess I accidentally… squashed it.”

“I see. So then that blue fire is the power of you enhanced humans?”

“The colors depend on the stage, and at the moment I’m the one who has blue. But that’s basically the gist of it.” Felix answered.

“Sounds complicated.” Carol replied.

“For the most part, it lets you move things with your mind.” Isabelle simplified her explanation, above her hand were the splattered pieces of banana suspended in the air, wrapped in the red haze.

“I see, so what’s it like? How does it work? How does it feel? How do you use it?” Carol suddenly shot out a barrage of questions.

“I— um…” Isabelle stuttered. “It feels like heat. You’re directing the heat in your body and letting it escape out of your body. Then once it does, it feels like the aura becomes your hand, and you guide whatever’s in it.” She explained cleanly and concisely.

“And when it comes out of your body, it feels like you’re in water…” Felix added.

“As for how to use it, well… that’s what we’re still trying to figure out. Right now we’re still using instinct. But you have to imagine how to use it.” Isabelle answered.

“I see.” Carol added.

“I actually had this idea… where I wouldn’t need to kill people. Where I would just restrain people.” Felix explained.

Anastasia walked into the kitchen, “What’s taking you so long to get some drinks?”

“Ah, right. Sorry.” Felix replied.

“Well, I’ll see you two later.” Carol answered as she quickly rushed towards the door.

“What are you doing in our training facility?” She grabbed Carol by the wrist.

“I-I came here to visit my friend, Felix…” She answered nervously.

“I only have one friend at the moment.” Felix awkwardly laughed, but as Carol looked at him with worry, he quickly realized the tension in the air.

Anastasia looked at him with a sharp glare, while Carol gave him a fearful expression, “Her name is Carol Thomas. She’s someone I helped once before.” Felix answered in a serious tone.

“Tsk.” Anastasia let her hand go, and Carol quickly pulled back her hand, and rubbed on her aching wrist.

“S-see you.” She waved at Felix once more before walking away.

Anastasia then walked to the fridge and grabbed a few bottles, “I wonder if Nero would like this…” She mumbled to herself before facing the other two, “Who authorized her to be here?”

“Her badge probably let her in.” Felix answered.

“Ah, is that so? I’ll have that fixed.” She replied in a bothered tone and continued to rummage the fridge.

“R-right…”

“By only friend… did you mean Maria?” Isabelle asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Maybe you could have room for one more? Maybe five more? Us espers need to stick together after all.”

“I guess you’re right… then, you’re my second friend now.” Felix smiled.

With a flushed face, she smiled back, “I guess I am. I can’t wait until Caitlyn heals up so she could join us.”

Upon hearing those words, Anastasia glanced over to her, and her mouth opened slightly, but decided to keep her mouth shut.

She got up with a few bottles in her arms and looked over to Felix, “Head back in two minutes.”

“Right.”

**

As the three red-eyed espers returned to the room. It had become emptied of the clutter, and the wide space in the middle was covered in thick black mats that formed a large ring that was ten-meters in diameter, and in the center of it sat David.

“Welcome back. Anastasia told me that you lot were all watching wrestling. Which gave me an idea.” David said to the red-eyed trio.

“Oh no…” Isabelle muttered out.

“In a bid for survival, your own aura will kick in. Once it has, you’ll slowly learn how to draw it out on command.”

“In other words, combat training?” Grant asked.

“Correct. You were eventually going to have combat training anyway, but I thought it’d be best to start early. I want to see how far you’ve already come and how much farther you need to do.” David explained. “Isabelle, you’re up first.”

“M-me?”

David and Isabelle stood up on the platform made of black mats, while Nero and Grant sat at the side and watched intently.

“Isabelle seems to be the most adept at using her abilities, so let’s start with her, and maybe you both can learn something.”

“Go easy on me, sir.” Isabelle awkwardly laughed.

“You’ve had six months of training, haven’t you? You should be able to handle it.”

Isabelle frowned and squealed in a low pitch.

“Relax. I’m joking. Your task is simple, to get me out of bounds using your psychic power. I will block and parry, but I won’t hit you back.” He said as a coat of psychic fire formed around him.

“But… aura cancels out aura.” Isabelle gulped.

“That’s exactly why…” David stopped with wide eyes and asked, “Wait, how did you know that?”

“It was something me and Nero discovered when we first got our powers.”

“I see. Taking initiative to learn, very admirable. I don’t have a lot of energy to face all of you head on, so the time limit for each round is two minutes.” He pressed into his mechanical arm and a holographic screen projected in the air.

“Ready…”

Isabelle raised her arms and let out a deep exhale, her red eyes began to glow, and a red haze suddenly burst from her arm fists.

“Go…”

A raging fire suddenly burst Isabelle’s body, which flung away most of the mats on the floor, as well as everything else in the room that was not pinned down.

Both Nero and Grant shielded their heads from the blazing red hurricane standing in front of them.

“Isabelle, wait!” David yelled.

“Huh, what?” With quick red gust, her aura vanished.

“The mats…” He said as he lifted

“Oh… oh…”

David raised his mechanical arm, and with an amber glow the same color as his eyes, all of the mats started rearranging back into the pattern it was before.

He crossed his arms and went quiet. Isabelle tilted her head, “S-sir?”

“I’m thinking…” He raised his metal finger against his lips.

Isabelle’s eyes furrowed as he looked to the other two, but they responded with a shrug, and so did she.

“I got it… Isabelle, remember the dam. Now imagine yourself as a fire.”

“Now you’re just giving me conflicting instructions, sir.”

“Use whichever fits most for the situation. The human soul is more complex than one or two things. Think of yourself, not as a raging fire, but as a still candle in a silent room.”

“Alright.”

He reset the clock, and she took her stance.

The room was lit once again by her aura. Crystalline fires formed around her once more, spiraling from beneath her feet, to above her head.

David watched with arms crossed, waiting.

“The hell, again?” Grant blurted out as the red waves brushed against his skin like needles.

But as she took an inhale, the thundering red torrent of energy slowed down and gradually grew smaller.

In her head, it was a dam that leaked as little as possible, and a fire that’s burning on the smallest wick. All that remained was remained a soft, faint steam that calmly flowing out of her body.

Amazing.

That was the only word he could think of to describe her.

To think that she would be able to learn so quickly.

“Are you ready?” He said as he raised up his arms.

“Yes sir.” She looked at him with determination.

“Let’s go!”

As soon as the clock began to tick, Isabelle leapt at him with an excited grin, but as she struck, both her and David immediately realized that her aura quickly dissipated.

The large man stood there with a startled look as he easily parried the confused girl’s attack.

“What– what happened?” She blurted out as she manifested more energy into her palms, “It’s working, but…”

She tried it once more, and a still fire wrapped around her body. She tried boxing against the air, but her aura remained left behind from her initial position and dissipated immediately.

Watching her, David immediately recognized the problem.

I see… Though she can imagine it, she doesn’t have the instincts to use her aura in real time, making it lag behind her initial mental images.

“Isabelle, you’re running out of time.” David announced.

Isabelle looked at her mentor and pleaded, “But sir, wait, I can’t get it to work with my body…”

“You don’t get time-outs in a real battle, Isabelle. Now continue, with or without your aura.”

“I… okay.” She resigned herself to fight.

The fight resumed, and Isabelle quickly circled around him, swift back and forth movements that made sure she wasn’t directly in front of him, quickly disappearing from his line of sight.

Even without her aura, she was still an enhanced human.

With every pause, she struck. But she was always parried, caught, and pushed back each time.

David reflexively reached out his arm to stop her next strike, but found his arm trapped and suspended in a fiery red.

“Remember, the objective is to push me out of the ring, not to beat me.” He repeated as he chased her movements.

“I haven’t forgotten.” She smirked.

“What?” David blurted out before looking down. He was only a few steps away from the ring.

Suddenly, a red aura flared out of Isabelle. A brilliant, crystalline crimson leaked all over her body.

She took her stance and quickly rushed him. With a burst forward, she struck. Only for David to flare up his own energy in response.

The buzzard rang, and the match was settled.

“How cunning of you.” David remarked.

“I thought... you weren’t gonna fight back.” Isabelle mumbled out. Her arm pulled back, and her head pushed to the ground.

“I said I wasn’t going to hit you.” He answered, letting go of her arm. “Two minutes is up.”

David’s feet were still in the ring.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t too rough, was it?” He reached out his hand to help her up.

“It’s fine.” Isabelle answered as she stretched out her arm.

“How did she—?” Grant muttered.

“Look at the floor.” Nero pointed out.

“Huh? What… when did that happen?”

“Her attacks were a distraction. Every time she struck him; she moved the floor mats away from him. You were too fixated on the fight to notice.” Nero explained.

“It’s only been a few days, but you’ve improved a lot. Well done.” David praised her.

“Thank you, sir.”

He took a long look at Isabelle’s hair, remembering the face of a woman with white hair and warm orange eyes with a four-leaf clover necklace dangling from her neck, smiling brightly at him.

She tilted her head as David’s gaze did not leave her, “Hm, what is it, sir?”

“Nothing… it’s nothing.” He patted her head with his metal arm.

She lowered her head while still looking at him with soft eyes.

To think she was able to come up with that plan on the fly. Not to mention, she’s already extending it outside of her reach without me teaching her.

He lifted his hand from her head, “You still need to do control practices later.”

“…yes sir.” She replied with dismay before walking to the side of the wall, taking a sip out of her bottle.

“Grant, you’re up. And don’t bother trying to move the ring.” David gestured for Grant to come up.

“I can’t even if I wanted to. I can barely let out any energy yet.” Grant replied as he got up.

“Don’t worry, it took a year and a half for my psychic powers to fully develop, and another eight months to learn how to control it.” The timer on the holographic screen reset, and it began to countdown once again.

“It’s… it’s difficult.”

“Think of the fire that drives you to keep moving and let it manifest through your body. Let the heat envelop you.” David instructed with arms crossed.

A faint red haze began to manifest from Grant’s body. He took his stance, his body tense all over.

He lunged forward, but then stopped a foot before David, dashing to the side to give him a surprise kick, though David saw this coming, what he failed to anticipate was how Grant’s aura would immediately disperse before it could even make contact.

David easily caught his leg with his human arm and commented, “Still can’t maintain it, I see.”

Grant had a look of fright as David slowly lifted him up by his leg, he was then thrown against the mats.

Though David pulled back his punches, this attack proved too much for the third-stage esper and caused him to roll on the floor.

Grant’s eyes watered from the slam, but quickly got up. As he wiped off his watery eyes, he glimpsed at the black mats on the floors and had a realization.

He grit his teeth, and with a psychic enhanced foot, he kicked the mat towards David.

“Really, a distraction?” David remarked and placed his metal hand in front of himself, ready to flick it away.

But instead of it being used as a projectile, the rubbery black mat contorted as it made contact with his finger, wrapping around his metal hand.

He tried to unspool the mat from his arm, but he noticed that beneath him, trails of red radiated across the floor, shining from the separated surfaces of the black mats.

As he got one off, another wrapped around him from behind. And another, and a fourth, until his upper torso was covered in floor mat.

A boiling hot drop of blood fell down Grant’s nose, which he slowly wiped off. It was the limit of how much psychic energy he could use at the moment.

He pulled back his arm and ran towards David with a raised fist.

With a grin on his face, David’s orange energy began to flurry around him, protecting his head, ready for the blow.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and his teeth unclenched. Rather than the fist to his face that he expected, David suffered from a kick to his nether regions.

Before he had time to retaliate, a fierce, burning red foot kicked him over to the side. He rolled dangerously close to the edge of the ring, less than two feet away.

But David escaped the mats, and tore them apart with a fiery burst psychic energy.

He then grabbed Grant by the face and lifted him up, quickly Grant’s aura flared up to defend himself, but David was quick to slam him to the mat-covered ground.

As Grant slammed down, the aura that enveloped him immediately dispersed and he gasped for air.

“Sorry…” David stood up straight. The torn-up mat that bound him became loose, and he walked toward Grant. He struggled to speak, “You certainly have... skills, that much I… give you. Where did you… learn to fight like that?”

“Bounty hunter’s gotta… have experience.” Grant huffed out; the air still knocked out of him.

“You were a bounty hunter? That explains a lot... Were you scouted out by the agency?”

“Not… exactly.”

“Then how did you find your way here?”

“... Heh… I found an angel with golden hair… chased her all the way here.”

“In this profession, she might probably be with the angels already.”

“I doubt she’d get killed that easily… She is the Golden Lion, after all.”

“Allison? I see. Anyway, congratulations. You were able to do in a week what took me a month to learn.”

“Kicking balls?”

“Hmph. Just go. Nero, you’re next.”

Grant limped over to Isabelle and grabbed the bottle on the ground.

“Nice fight.” She gave him a thumbs up.

“Ahh… thanks. You too.” Grant replied as he lifted his bottle. Isabelle’s expression changed, then she realized what he meant and raised her own.

Nero went ahead as both bottles let out a clack, spilling out the little droplets of water.

As the drop fell to the floor, Felix took a deep inhale as he wiped the beads of sweat from his face. The blue glow around his body fluctuated with small, random bursts.

“It’s normally best to use your aura as frugally as possible, in case of emergencies. But unlike David and I, you’re supposed to have a reservoir of psychic energy. You have no need to limit how much you release. That’s what your gun, Agony is for.” She explained as she picked up his white gun.

“Right… it was based on yours, wasn’t it?” Felix replied.

She nodded, “It takes as much psychic energy as you produce and releases it as a wave. Though aura on its own isn’t much, you can at least use it to shove things around or knock people out. After you learn how to push things, we’re gonna learn how to grip on to things.”

Felix recollected the moment he fired it against Moritz, and spoke, “When I first managed to use it, it was like I shot out a tornado, one that destroyed everything in its path…”

Anastasia’s eye widened slightly, surprised by this, “I see. You must have used all of your energy in one blow.”

“I… I think so.”

Nero walked to the ring of mats, facing David, “Are you sure you don’t want to take a break first? That last fight looked a little… critical.”

“I may be running on fumes, but I still have enough in me for one more fight.” David huffed out.

“Maybe we should get some more pie?”

“Tell you what, if you win. I’ll get you whatever flavor you like.” The countdown began.

Nero walked side to side, watching how David would respond.

He threw a feint kick, which caused David to flinch. Nero’s eyes were steady as he lowered his foot.

David was no fool in this regard, and immediately realized that the blond young man was sizing him up.

Nero threw another feint, which David attempted to grab. But Nero’s foot burst with a psychic red explosion, which allowed him to escape. He then circled around him for a few seconds, pretending to strike, while the other two watched.

Unfortunately, David could not deal with Nero as easily as he would have liked, as he just finished dealing with the other two red-eyed psychics, he had lost a sum of his aura, and was dealt significant damage by one of his students.

He was also very cautious of the blond young man, who was exuding a thick air of blood lust.

David jumped straight toward him and tussled, throwing a punch, then two punches. Then backing away.

Sizing up the young man as well. The two combatants portrayed swift, skillful motions.

The clock was ticking, less than thirty seconds left after Nero finished sizing him out. He let out a wide grin. His body quickly filled with a coat of aura, and a fiery shroud burst from beneath his feet as he lunged forward.

He evaded David’s metal arm, the one that held down Isabelle to the ground. Then he attacked with a fast, fluid motion, striking both his arms upwards with an explosion of red energy. Psychic energy exploded with every single motion, and then went straight for his throat.

But before his fist could reach David’s neck, David used his energy to maneuver around Nero and quickly subdued him. His fist was caught in David’s left arm, then the metal arm reached for his face, and quickly slammed him against the floor.

An intense wave of pain rushed through Nero’s body, and the floor mats did little to cushion the blow.

“Let this be a lesson. Psychic energy allows you to move your body around, without needing to actually move.” A sweat dripped down David’s face.

Nero broke out a pained gasp, and from the spaces between David’s metal fingers, he chuckled, “I would like… some blueberry pie this time.”

David looked down and found his foot out of bounds. Nero had cleared the objective.

He let go of Nero’s face and asked, “Nero... That was the Dance of the Shadow Demon, wasn’t it?” David stated.

“What about it?” Nero got up slowly, the pain still radiating on his body.

“...I’m just surprised to see something so ridiculous and impractical being put to use.” The man crossed his arms.

“The what of the what now?” Isabelle blurted out.

“I’ve heard about it before. It’s a sword style designed to kill multiple opponents at once. It makes use of consecutive sequences of counter attacks. It’s impractical to use without an actual sword, though.” Grant explained.

“The specific technique he used was the Shadow Demon’s Spider Lily. An impractical move that only something a master could do. To think he attempted it without a sword... and almost succeeded.” David added.

“What… do you mean?” Isabelle asked.

“Luckily, I knew about the move. I was able to avoid it with my left arm, as for my right arm… Well, let’s just be glad it’s made of metal.” He showed them his mechanical arm, which had a crack on it. “That move coupled with psychic power. Terrifying combination.”

“Do you need that repaired?” Grant asked.

“It’s made of nanomachines. It’ll repair itself in a few minutes. For now, continue working on your last set, then call it a day.”

“Yes sir.” All of them nodded, and David went to the corner and sat down, looking at his broken metal arm, “The way he uses his explosive aura to his advantage… Nero Miles… who is he?” He muttered to himself.

Isabelle and Nero… the both of them are…

Anastasia huffed heavily. Pieces of her clothes torn, her skin was visibly full of scratches. It was as if a hurricane had crashed through the room. “A finely tuned fighting sense... You’re no stranger to combat. But when push comes to shove, your fighting style becomes wilder, and more frantic… Reminds me of a certain lion.”

Felix’s back was flat on the ground, slowly taking in his breath as he stared at the ceiling with tired dead eyes.

“I can see why they expect so much out of you. But you have no control over that monstrous power of yours…” Anastasia blew out blood from her nose, streams of orange electricity sprang out from every wound, healing them.

“If you don’t learn how to use it, it will kill you. You’re the only fourth stage so far... so you need to figure it out soon.”

Unable to respond, Felix continued to take in air through his swollen neck and red nose.

“Let’s call it a day.”

With the sun setting down from the window of the room, Felix replied with a husky, tired voice. “… right...”