“Ready?” Lucy’s question from across the sparring field snaps Kane out of his thoughts for a moment, and he nods. “Alright, on three.”
“Three.” Kane’s mind whirls at the first count, and at the visible flow of psychic energy in Lucy.
“Two.” He crouches down slightly, preparing himself to dodge the initial assault he knows is coming.
“One.” Kane eyes the electricity flitting between his opponent’s fingers, and makes his plan.
“Go!”
The bolt of lightning that lances directly in the path he’d been standing sends a deranged smile across his face at the realization of just how much stronger Lucy has become since last he saw that technique. Still, he recognizes that the fact she used it at all, knowing his own powers, means even she knows she can’t win.
The three methods of using psychic energy, buffer, freezing, and ignition, each have their own limitations. Ignition techniques like Lucy’s lightning bolt are flashy and powerful, but take their toll on the mind of the user. Exactly like lactic acid buildup in muscles causing pain and sluggishness during exercise. For that reason, wasting her neural heat limit on attacks that won’t do anything to Kane proves to him that it was more or less just to show off.
The second lightning bolt he ducks underneath is slower to fire, and weaker than the first. Whether that’s from his aura or from her fatigue, he doesn’t have a way to know. Regardless, he dashes forward the moment it’s safe to stand up. Immediately realizing he can’t utilize his full speed in his pants, he decides to show off a little himself. Waiting for Lucy to charge up her next bolt, Kane taunts with his left hand as he jogs. When he watches her put her hands together to lose the bolt, he stomps both legs into the ground and crouches, holding up his palms, one over the other, in front of him.
The familiar sensation of being struck by a massive amount of heat and psychic energy-something he remembers quite well, for numerous reasons, hits his hands, and Kane immediately spreads his arms to either side as the energy disperses over his aura. He feels the energy being hungrily absorbed by his now unrestrained aura quickly disappear into nothingness, and promptly suppresses himself again.
Kane recognizes the look of surprise on Lucy’s face, but hers, unlike some of the bystanders. Is quickly replaced by understanding rather than confusion. He breaks out into a jog again, able to close the gap before she can charge up another bolt. Not that it stops her from lashing out with a palm at him. He notes that the electricity and energy on it are steadily being devoured, and carefully sidesteps the strike. Her front kick is next, similarly charged with lightning, though this time, he counters, holding up his left palm to catch her shin.
He blinks through the brief clash of psychic lightning against his momentarily visible aura, and deflects her kick to the side. Then he unceremoniously slams his other fist into Lucy’s unprotected stomach. Or, at least, what he’d thought was unprotected, since the sensation of her hand grabbing and twisting his wrist away wasn’t expected. It doesn’t change anything, though, as he lets loose his aura for just a moment, enough to smash his free hand into Lucy’s side with all the force the rotation of his torso can bring to muster. Kane resuppresses himself immediately.
She lets go of his arm as she falls down to the ground for a moment, before staggering to her feet and rubbing her side. He had wanted to offer her a hand to get up with, but if she’s strong enough to shrug that off, he supposes that’s just as well.
“Alright, you win. Dammit… I thought I could at least hit you after all this time…”
“I mean, you kind of did.” Kane takes a moment to dust off the orange dirt from his pants as he spots Lucy doing the same.
“Yeah, but… I mean, I knew it couldn’t hurt you, but I didn’t expect you to turn it aside so easily.” Despite the friendly tone, the glare she shoots the space around Kane makes him hesitate for a moment. “I think I get why you can’t fully suppress it now, though. Let me guess, it’s gotten so strong you can’t even use your own skill?”
Kane just nods at that before glancing around at the various onlookers beginning to digest the duel, and then quickly start spreading what he’s sure amounts to tabloid worthy gossip for this school.
“So, does that make me rank 5 now?” If it weren’t for the dirt she was still trying to dust off, Kane’s sure Lucy would be trying to punch him in the ribs right now.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“Doesn’t work that way, asshole. Official matches are held every month. This will probably get the teachers to match you up against 10 or 11 though.” Lucy finally stretches her arms above her head, evidently satisfied with the only slightly dirty look her leggings and skirt have now. “Fuck. I wish I’d remembered to change first. Why didn’t you remind me?”
“Because I don’t know how anything works here, and your idea of showing me around was to fight me?” Kane laughs to himself at the look of false anger she wears for a moment, before deciding to be at least a little bit productive. “How about showing me to the lunch room, rank five~”
----------------------------------------
“-And that’s the Freezing Psitech lab, Buff is in the opposite wing, and Igni is in the underground section with the gym. Any questions, idiot student.”
“Yes! Why am I idiot student?” Kane makes a show of saluting before asking his question, allowing himself to revel in the carefree vibe of the tour Lucy has been giving him.
“Because You made me pay for YOUR lunch, idiot student.” Kane smiles at the way she over exaggerates her words with her finger wagging, culminating in a flick aimed at his forehead, which he doesn’t flinch to.
“Lu! That’s what your friend looks like?” The interrupting voice is filled with something Kane can’t quite make out, so he turns to its source a moment after Lucy does. The short blonde girl he actually has to turn his gaze down to meet the eyes of shocks him with her complete lack of psychic presence. Even if he weren’t standing next to Lucy, and were the girl not within his own aura, he’s sure her presence would still be next to nothing.
“That’s right Amy, this is the moron from the stories.” Lucy moves to stand next to ‘Amy’ in a way Kane eyes dubiously, though he mentally notes not to comment on it. Yet.
“Pleasure to meet you, Amy.” Kane extends his hand for a brief handshake, before swiftly pulling it back. “Actually… bad idea to shake my hand. You’re a blank, right? That’s why you didn’t react to my aura…”
“Lu! You told him didn’t you!” Amy stomps a foot and balls her fists at her sides while facing Lucy, which Kane laughs at internally before his friend speaks.
“Nope. He’s just like that. By the way, he beat me in a spar earlier, if you needed an estimate.”
“W-What? I thought only Jack and Eva could beat you with just Ignition techniques?” Kane shifts awkwardly as Amy’s eyes appraise him as she continues. “I suppose I should’ve guessed the Baelirus heir would somehow be extraordinary. But why would my being a blank make it a bad idea to touch you?”
“Please don’t call me that… I don’t want anything to do with them. And I’m adopted, anyways.” Kane clarifies, before sending Lucy a knowing look.
“Amy, you know the Baelirus family specialize in Absorption Buffers, right? Well… Promise me you can keep this small secret.” Lucy waits for her to nod before continuing. “He can’t turn his off. You might get actually injured if you touch him.”
“Oh… Either way, it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’ve got homework to do, talk to you later, Lu.”
“Crap. That’s the subheadings for Steiner, right… I still need to do those still…” Lucy looks a bit grim as Kane laughs quietly. “I’ll text you later, I’ve still got to show him around the underground.”
Kane waves Amy off as Lucy says her goodbye, before falling in line behind his friend. A blank studying at a school for psychics is hardly common, sure, but finding her in a freezing psitech lab makes significantly more sense. In fact, with how difficult Kane personally finds those techniques, someone who can’t use them at all would probably be better than he could ever be at designing psitech, on account of not getting hooked up on personal habits. More importantly, he walks away with an overwhelming feeling of amusement.
“Not your girlfriend. Right.”
“I will stab you if you don’t shut up, now.”
----------------------------------------
Kane does his absolute best to keep his aura as contained as possible, a difficult task given that the further he and Lucy go into the underground areas of the school, the higher the density of psychic energy is. He briefly considers if it might be better to just let it run wild for a bit, but knows that type of thinking will only make things worse in the long run.
“The arena, you said they hold more than just the ranking matches there, right?” Kane asks his question to try and ease his own tensions, not really caring for the answer, at least until he hears it.
“Hmm? Yeah, students can hold matches with other students down here. Not spars, but actual matches, with gear and everything. Betting is even allowed.”
“Betting? Like students betting on eachother, or-”
“Teachers bet on us sometimes. You can even bet on yourself if you’re confident.” Lucy grins beside him, a taunting look on her face.
“I thought this place was supposed to be prestigious, that just sounds like a glorified fighting ring.”
“Well, some actual fighting ring recruiters sometimes try to scout us, and I guess as long as it stays nonlethal, the school doesn’t mind paying for it. Outsiders can’t get in, they have to bet online.” Kane nods at that as they reach the entrance to the arena complex.
The two pass through the security checkpoint without issue, though Kane does note that both guards wince when they see him. A small part of him wishes he could just turn it off, but a larger part knows that if he did have the presence of a blank, he’d probably be more dangerous completely accidentally.
“See that board? With the ranks? It cycles between ranks, upcoming bouts, bets, scheduled lesson times, that sort of thing. You can see it online too, if you have a phone.” Lucy holds up her silver phone, sized more for a tablet than anything truly portable, then sighs at him. “Right, yoU dOn’T-”
“I don’t have one.” Kane cuts her off to not give her time to mock him so horribly. “I also have no money.”
“Why don’t you just… I don’t know, call your family? Isn’t that what being an aristocrat is for?” The genuine confusion in her voice as she points out her own spot on the rankings gives Kane a bit of pause, but he recovers as the board switches to match times.
“I don’t want anything to do with them. You know why. I thought I’d just like, go-”
“You can’t have a job while at school here. So you were planning to steal or fight or something for money, right? Kane, take my advice, don’t do that sort of thing. Sanctuary’s underbelly… is a hell of a beast, alright?” Lucy’s look of worry and care snaps him back to earth for a moment, and he pauses as he sees the bets placed on the current bout.
“I promise I’ll be careful. Though, looking at that… If I had anything to bet, I’d be tempted to go down there right now.” Kane watches the bet between rank 316 and rank 412’s bout exceed a total pot of thirty thousand.