Chapter 2.2

"What was that, young lady?" asked Ms. Silvia as she turned to Asami, a dangerous glint flashing through her glasses.

"Uh, nothing! Just saying 'yay!', ma'am!" replied a nervous Asami while standing straight and saluting, her hand on her clammy forehead.

"Wonderful. Now, I want all three of you to come at me with everything you've got. Come now, don't be shy, use all your strength or trust me, you'll regret it."

At her words, Alina promptly activated her powers, covering her fists and legs with an electrical current, before launching herself forward towards Silvia, who smoothly sidestepped and dodged her punch. As Alina slid past her, Silvia smacked the back of her head with her pointer and the former turned to look back at her, stunned at how easily Silvia dodged her. With a shrug, Silvia gestured at Alina to continue and they continued exchanging blows. Michelle, in the meantime, pulled the safety off her gun and aimed for a split second before pulling the trigger. Each rubber bullet fired breezed a few millimeters from Alina's hair and shot towards Silvia, who simply raised her hand with an active spell on it. A wave emitted from her outstretched hand hit both Alina and bullets. Alina stopped for a moment while the rubber bullets lifelessly fell down to the ground.

She stopped the kinetic energy around me! thought Alina with gritted teeth.

Silvia then approached Alina in a position that prevented Michelle from shooting without hurting Alina. Soon the battle resorted to a one on one melee again, before Michelle holstered her gun and joined Alina. Alina backflipped to dodge a strike from Silvia while Michelle charged from behind the former while she was in mid-air to camouflage her attack. She sent an explosive punch towards Silvia who calmly slapped her wrist and flung it aside, diverting the trajectory of the punch. Then, Ms. Silvia sent a palm strike at Michelle's chest, forcing her backward. As Michelle fell back from the strike, Alina jumped over her and put her entire weight onto her right leg which was stretched out. Ms. Silvia slid away from the attack at the last moment, as the kick crushed the gym's floor, shattering the ground.

"Impressive," Silvia complimented with narrowed eyes. "Most impressive."

The two continued to distract Ms. Silvia, while Asami took her phone out and began casting a spell. A flicker of electricity surrounded her hand before shooting out to Silvia, who appeared to ignore it. Both Alina and Michelle moved aside as the blast neared them, and the bolt of electricity then struck Ms. Silvia. However, it harmlessly hit her side before coalescing into her hand, which she flung at Michelle who was too surprised to dodge. The energy hit her head on and Michelle, stunned, couldn't move as the electricity flowed through her, numbing her body.

"Michelle!" Alina shouted a warning that came too late as Ms. Silvia slid next to Michelle and knife palmed her at the back of her neck.

"Damn it, that's not fai- uwah!" screamed Asami when she saw Ms. Silvia speeding towards her as Michelle hit the ground. With little resistance, Asami was also brought down with a fist to the solar plexus.

"Now then," said Ms. Silvia. "Let's see how long you last, miss sixer."

Damn, thought Alina, as she continued fighting Ms. Silvia, fatigue eventually setting into her. Alina noticed that Silvia was moving very fast without having to take steps; she was using a spell that decreased to friction on her heels, allowing her to 'skate' on the floor.

This isn't working, I need to use -

"Remember Alina, you must never show your true power. While you can win against most opponents with your full strength, you'd be revealing your ace and inviting trouble at the same time. People don't realize it, but there's a lot more than just ESPer and spellcasting out there. But the Council and the 'other side', they know about it all too well, and they'll all come for you. So remember, limit your powers."

The words Jason once told her flashed through her mind in that second, causing her to pause. Then, the world started spinning as she was slammed into the ground, stunning her while pain shot through her back.

Screw it, Alina thought, her vision darkening as pain shot through her body.

Might as well go down. After all, it's not like it's a real fight.