Chapter 21

Psychic Training part 2

Thud after thud, the repeating sound of cracking and breaking echoed in the training 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.

In the other training room of the facility, 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 slabs rose wooden 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 done target practice during your military training, correct?”

“Yes sir…” Isabelle answered.

“Now you’re going to practice to control. Your task is to shoot the metal marble into the center of the target.” 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.

“Just shoot it straight into the hole while avoiding damaging the dummies. Like your previous task, you have to shoot it ten times. Finish this assignment by the end of today.”

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“Yes, sir.” Both Grant and Isabelle responded sternly.

“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 faded just as it appeared.

“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 Parthenos being able to do the same thing, so it should be possible.”

“…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.

~