Standing on each end of the ring, Sierra and Jeremiah could do nothing but awkwardly look at each other as their snake eyed teacher began.

Jeremiah had an average build, the body of someone who went to the gym three days a week and got their workout routine from Peloton’s website. With a neat and tidy crop of short blonde hair sitting on top of his head, auburn eyes and a face free from acne, he was slightly above average looking. At least he would be, if the smug smile had ever thought to drop from his face.

“Power control is a very crucial part of this course for all of you, especially for those of you who only recently came into your abilities. Standing before you are two pinnacles of that control, even with their potentials limited. Let their spar serve as inspiration for how you may learn to one day master your own abilities.” Mr Evergreen continued, turning to face the aforementioned pinnacles of control. “You two, you are to treat the other as a wanton criminal bent on bringing harm to themselves and the public, therefore under the Federal Provisional Force Act, you are authorized to render them unconscious or otherwise incapacitate them. Remember, this is not just a class on power management, but also a graded exercise in creative problem solving. At my signal, you may begin.”

With no further parting words, the tall figure slinked out of the area to what appeared to be a stone podium overseeing the arena.

‘ I have no idea what he can do, but given he’s a Lord with high control, I’d assume he’ll want to start on the offense. The moment we start, I’m covering him with a barrier and immobilizing him.’ As Sierra concocted her plan, Mr Evergreen pressed a few keys on the stone pillar, causing a clear dome to snap into place over the arena.

“BEGIN!” The viper veined teacher called out in a commanding voice.

In that moment, two things happened instantly.

First on the draw, Jeremiah snapped with the middle finger on his right hand, as a cloud of fog instantly filled the transparent dome.

Following up on a heartbeat later, a translucent blue box appeared somewhere in the field, where Sierra had guessed Jeremiah was.

‘ SHIT! I can’t do anything to him without seeing him! ’ Sierra realized, her eyes darting around, only to find the inky white smoke preventing her from seeing even a centimeter away from her nose.

‘ Calm down. Think. You can’t see him cause of the fog, since it’s his ability you need to assume he can still see you. But he’s not a ghost, he still makes noise. Listen for it. ‘ Calming down her breathing and closing her eyes, Sierra tried to concentrate on the ever subtle sounds coming from around her.

*Tap tap tap tap* Sierra heard the near-silent footsteps a moment too late, snapping her head to the left, only to be caught with a surprise attack in the form of a punch to her right ribcage.

Swiping her hand out, on instinct Sierra attempted to form a bubble roughly the size of an SUV and trap everything to her right, only for the silver ring on her finger to burn for a moment, stopping the flow of her power and causing the barrier to die in her veins.

With the footsteps now retreating, Sierra grit her teeth in frustration.

‘ What the fuck! How is that too much power, but he can summon an infinite amount of smoke! ’ Taking a deep breath, a thought began to form in Sierra’s head. ‘ The issue is either size, or conditions. I tried to make a large shaped barrier that would keep absolutely everything inside of it. That would kill someone, since it would keep air out. Control. ‘

Once again listening for footsteps, the problem with her thought process became evident.

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‘ How the fuck does someone make two different sets of footsteps? ‘ It sounded as if two different people were walking throughout the smoke, slowly circling Sierra’s position.

In that very moment, the exact nature of her opponent’s ability hit her brain like a bolt of lightning.

‘ He doesn’t have two sets of footsteps, just like he didn’t fill the whole arena with smoke or fog. If he did, I’d be coughing and it would be hard to breathe. Also, if it was fog I’d be wet. This is all illusions. That’s his ability. ‘

“You almost had me there, making me think the arena had filled with smoke and duplicating your footsteps making me question your ability. But you just make illusions don’t you. You have a band of smoke on my eyes and some method of duplicating your footstep sounds. But you’re limited heavily like me aren’t you? This is your maximum isn’t it?” Sierra said in a voice only she knew was faux confidence, whipping her head to face one of the footstep sounds at random.

“So what? You still lose dumbass.” The voice came from all directions, not giving Sierra any indication of his location, but the footsteps rapidly approaching her location were all she needed.

‘ Encase living material. One centimeter tolerance. Self. Reactive. Attach on contact. Reject no light nor sound. ‘

Only the sharpest of eyes could notice the slight shimmering now surrounding the figure of Sierra, as a nearly perfectly transparent barrier appeared, tightly hugging her skin directly. They would also notice that her movements had completely stopped, becoming eerily still.

Unfortunately for Jeremiah, he did not possess those sharp eyes.

As his fist flew true and attempted to strike Sierra in the jaw directly, it struck that shimmering barrier, causing it to snap to his skin, encasing himself instead of his would-be victim.

In an instant, Sierra could see again, as the line blocking her vision disappeared. Sitting a mere couple centimeters away from her, frozen in his form of a right hook, was Jeremiah. Nicer looking that usual as he lacked his usual smug smile, yet glaring daggers at Sierra.

He was only within the barrier for a moment, before vanishing before Sierra’s eyes.

“You realize I know you can make illusions right? It’s not a stretch to believe that you can turn invisible.” Sierra said, smirking slightly while staring at her empty looking barrier.

That smirk lasted until Jeremiah appeared next to the barrier, swinging a wild punch into Sierra’s nose.On instinct, a barrier appeared between the two, yet the figure passed right through, the moment of shock causing Sierra to step backwards. However, the figure's strike simply stopped a moment before impact, leaning in to whisper in Sierra’s ear.

“Without this stupid ring, you’d be covered in phantom pains till your brain was fried. You’re lucky.” With a passing remark, the illusory Jeremiah dissolved.

“Miss Wraith seems to have immobilized Mister Harris! Well done, both of you. Neither of you tried to do anything that would seriously injure the other, and Mister Jeremiah’s use of multiple illusions and clones was a wonderful display of his mental focus and concentration. Miss Wraith, please release Mister Jeremiah and we may continue the exercise.” Evergreen said, turning towards the rest of the students, whose eyes currently held a plethora of different emotions. “The purpose of this class is to learn and demonstrate control, as well as learning to practically apply your abilities, just like Mister Harris just demonstrated. From this moment onwards, as long as there are no objections, these two will be your tutors. Think of them as resources and wells of knowledge when I’m otherwise unoccupied. Any questions?”

“Bullshit! She only won cause she got lucky with that guy as an opponent! I can give it to Harris, but not her. She didn’t do shit but get hit and get lucky!” The red haired Lord who had previously brushed off Sierra’s introduction said, standing up with fire in her eyes. “She’s a King level holder, her ability probably froze him for her.”

“Oh? Miss Lancelot, do you perhaps believe to be in better control than her? Are you claiming out assessment was inaccurate?” Evergreen said, his voice bereft of anger, filled only with curiosity.

“Easily. Lemme at ‘er, I’ll take her down and make her lose control.” The woman with the last name Lancelot said, walking towards the bottom of the lecture hall.

‘ You’ve got to be kidding me. What’s with her? Did I shit in her cereal or something without knowing it? It feels like some people have it out for me for no reason here. ‘ Sierra thought, slowly accepting her fate.

“Are you up for the challenge Miss Wraith?” Evergreen said, flashing his cobra-like grin for just a moment, his eyes filled with excitement.

‘ He just loves this doesn’t he. ‘ Sierra thought with slight disgust.

“Sure.” Is what she actually ended up saying. “I can help teach her to control her temper at least.”