Chapter 56: A Burnt Child Dreads the Fire

(Scarlette’s POV)

“That’s right, control your breathing and focus. Ready? On 3, okay? 1, 2, 3!”

Woomph!

A burst of fire shot forward, striking the Boobot square in the chest. The impact wasn’t enough to damage it, but it knocked the training robot onto its back with a metallic thud. It briefly reminded me of Kaede’s effort the other day.

“Great job!” I exclaimed, releasing my guiding hold on Krystal’s hand.

Krystal exhaled deeply, relaxing her stance. “Thanks to your guidance,” she beamed.

The muffled sounds of combat echoed faintly through the walls. Since the tournament was only 2 days away, the school had granted priority booking for participants who wanted specific rooms. This allowed us to secure an extended booking session which lasted the whole afternoon.

I had volunteered to spend the first hour working with Krystal, helping her refine her technique on the basics. This wasn’t just for her benefit though. Even with my skill in pyrokinesis, it was never a bad idea to revisit the fundamentals. Besides, this mini-tutoring session also served as a confidence boost and a warm-up for the much more intense training I had planned with Cadel later.

“Alright,” I said, clapping my hands together. “One last go, and then we’ll call it.”

Krystal nodded, stepping into position. After giving her a few more pointers on her stance, we resumed the session.

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When we finally finished, Krystal clasped my hands and bowed. “Thanks so much for the help, Scarlette. I’ll keep working on what you’ve said.”

“Good. Stick with it, and you’ll uprank in no time,” I smiled encouragingly.

As Krystal left the practice room to rejoin her friends, I cracked my knuckles and turned to Cadel. “Okay, I’m ready,”

He got up, dusting off his pants. “Come at me.”

Wow, straight to business, huh?

Cadel was completely out of my league, which was the reason why he was an excellent training partner. Going all out against another human without the fear of accidentally hurting them was a rare opportunity.

I took a deep breath and unleashed a twisting column of fire, far more intense and controlled than Krystal’s earlier attempts. It shot toward Cadel… but as it closed in, the flames dissipated, just completely snuffed out. Instead, a hot burst of air surged in my direction. Reacting quickly, I raised a wall of fire to shield myself from further damage. The barrier flickered as his counterattack collided with it, but it held firm.

“You okay?” Cadel called.

“Yeah, let’s keep going.”

We continued sparring for several rounds, with each exchange forcing me to dig deeper into my abilities. Finally, I raised my hand for a timeout.

“Cadel,” I panted. “I think it’s time I try it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you attempting what I think you are?”

I took a deep breath. “Yes. If I want to make it far into the tournament, I have to master it.”

The last time I had executed that technique was back during my showdown with fellow 5-Star classmate, and arch-nemesis Kazen Rain at the Colosso Dome. His plasma-based Ability had made him a brutal opponent, forcing me to throw everything I had at him. And I meant everything.

Backed into a corner, I had no choice but to attempt a self-imposed forbidden technique, where I transformed into a flaming falcon, which greatly enhanced my strength and senses. In exchange however, I had momentarily lost consciousness, and my falcon-self went haywire, going way overboard on its assault on Kazen. While I hated his guts, it was never my intention to mutilate him that badly.

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Thankfully, the medical team had saved him before anything became long-lasting. After the incident, I had worked up the nerve to apologise to him in person, but he had simply brushed it aside, saying he deserved it. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand his reasoning, but I could at least grasp that he wasn’t holding it personally against me. That didn’t erase what had happened though.

After a short break, I closed my eyes and took a couple of steadying breaths. “Okay… I’m doing it. Get ready.”

Cadel flicked his hand, indicating for me to get on with it.

I slowly lowered my stance, channelling heat through my body, feeling the flames course through my veins. My eyesight sharpened. My arms morphed into wings, my feet into talons. The air around me shimmered with the amount of heat I was radiating.

Yet, Cadel didn’t appear the least bit intimidated. If anything, he looked intrigued. “Steady,” he called out.

The transformation was complete. Thankfully, I was still in complete control of myself. But I didn’t dare move an inch in fear of suddenly losing it again.

“Relax,” Cadel repeated. “Try flying.”

His voice sounded muffled, yet incredibly crisp at the same time. But I understood what he was telling me.

Slowly, cautiously, I unfurled my wings and started pumping them. Effortlessly, I lifted off the ground. The ceiling wasn’t exactly high, but there was enough room to move around at least.

I cautiously hovered around the room, straining to maintain my sense of control.

“You good?” he asked.

Unable to speak, I let out a sound somewhere between a squawk and a growl.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Let’s step it up a notch then. Try attacking me.”

I froze mid-air, uncertain. But I only had so much time in this form. It was severely draining my energy, and if I hesitated any longer, I’d burn out before I could even try.

Steeling myself, I swooped right at my friend. Just as I was about to connect, I ricocheted back upwards as if I had hit an invisible wall. Reacting immediately, I twisted back around and spiralled back down, sweeping a curtain of fire at him with my wing.

Again, the flames vanished, and I bounced off nothing again. Damn, that’s annoying. But in this form, maybe he’ll misread an attack. Perhaps I should try using more force?

Frustrated, I came back at him for a third time, packing more heat and velocity than before. But before any of my attacks could touch him, they just… stopped.

What’s going on? It felt as if I was lagging in real life. My movements were being halted randomly, and my fiery attacks just faded into thin air.

The human in front of me was letting me continue my barrage, slowly stepping back as I flailed. I noticed him waving his hands.

“…Scarlette…”

The voice was distant. I could barely hear it through the roaring in my ears.

“Scarlette!”

Was someone calling me? Couldn’t they see that I’m busy right now? I just needed a moment to finish—

Suddenly, I was completely frozen, the heat extinguished from my body. As my fiery form rapidly faded, I felt the invisible grip on me release and I pitched forward.

The boy caught me in his arms.

“Scarlette? How are you feeling?” Cadel asked.

I shook my head, trying to make sense of what had just occurred.

“Huh? What… oh,” I stuttered, realisation dawning on me. “…did it happen again?”

Cadel nodded grimly. “What happened?”

Looking at his concerned expression, I felt my eyes start to water.

“I don’t know.”

He gently set me down on the floor and crouched beside me. “Let’s talk it through. When did you first feel like something was wrong?” he asked.

I could piss and moan about the situation, but that was never gonna get us anywhere. Blinking back my tears, I attempted to clear my mind. “I think it was after my first failed attack on you.”

“Did that annoy you?”

I winced at the sharpness of his words. “I think so. I don’t really remember what happened after that.”

After pausing for a while, he continued, “I do have a hypothesis. It looks like you’re fine when you’re calm, but you only lose control when you start feeling strong negative emotions, like fear or anger. If that’s the case, the obvious solution would be for you to erase your emotions while you’re in falcon-form.”

I considered his words. They did make sense, but if he was right, the solution was much easier said than done. “Umm, how do I do that?”

“How are you feeling right now?”

“Frustrated, I guess. And scared.”

“Of what?”

“…m-myself…”

“Why?”

I felt a tinge of impatience. Since when was Cadel my therapist? This annoyance was immediately replaced by guilt as I realised that he was just helping me understand myself, and I felt terrible.

“I don’t know,” I answered bluntly. But it was an honest response.

“If you’re worried about experiencing negative emotions in combat, why not replace them with positive ones?”

“Are you telling me to be happy when I’m beating someone up?!”

“No. I mean something like confidence.”

I quickly shut up.

After a while, I continued, “So you’re saying I should be more confident? It’s not that easy.”

“No, but you can work towards it.”

I let his words sink in. “I guess.”

“Another thing. You have to get rid of the mindset that you’re ‘not allowed’ to use your falcon-move. Imposing a mental block on yourself just leads to more wavering. Embrace it. It’s part of your arsenal, and it’s a perfectly valid technique.”

I tried to refute his point, but I had to admit that what he said all made sense. Had Cadel always been this logical? Well, yeah…

A few moments later, I got up and stretched. “Let’s try again.” For some reason, a surge of adrenaline rushed within me. I was more determined than ever to make it work.

Cadel got up as well. “Good luck,” he said.

It was probably dangerous to go right back into that form so quickly. Cadel must have known that too, yet he didn’t even try to discourage me. Was this his way of showing the faith he had in me?

For the second time today, I ignited myself, morphing into the blazing form of a falcon. With a screech, I launched my attack.