Chapter 5

Rathal left the castle and headed back outside, but instead of heading back to the truck he decided to go and look for Lilias and he found her in an underground bunker where there were men behind a glass window looking at Lilias who as in a room with two other men.

One of the soldiers looked over at Rathal "Excuse me, you're not allowed here." he said

"I want to see how our newest esper is doing. I'm allowed at least that much, right?" Rathal said

"I'm sorry, but-."

"Leave it. we're only here to see her powers in action, that's it. the esper can stay." General Leonard said

"Very well." The soldier said as he stepped to the side then Rathal walked further into the room

Leonard pressed a button activating the mic "Esper, wave your hand if you can hear me.' he said and Lilias waved her hand so Leonard nodded "Alright, before you are two of our soldiers. I want you to demonstrate your powers so we can know what you can do and how you do it. understood?"

Lilias nodded then she looked at the soldier to her left and held her hand out at him making his eyes go into the back of his head like he was in a trance.

Lilias then pointed at the other soldier "Punch him in the face." she said so the soldier walked over and punched the other in the face without hesitation.

"Ah, some sort of mind control. that could be useful in covert missions. though, in a real battle, not so much." Leonard said then he pressed the button again "That's enough, esper. release the man and follow them back to your room." he said so Lilias nodded and waved her hand releasing the soldiers

Everyone left the building including Rathal while Leonard went in another direction. Rathal walked back to the truck and decided to wait there until either Vexx or Lilias came back. though it wasn't long until Leonard came back with Lilias and Vexx in tow, and Lilias was wearing a big hooded overcoat just like Rathal's.

Leonard and the others stopped right in front of Rathal "Well, I hope you had plenty of time to relax, Vexx."

"Hm, I did actually. are you finished with the new esper?" Vexx asked

"I am. it is now an official weapon of the Thetis kingdom." Leonard said

Vexx sighed "And let me guess. you're gonna assign it to me?" he said

"I was, but I had decided against it. your job is to be on the front lines, and this esper's power was not meant for such a thing. so instead I am going to assign it to someone else." Leonard said

"Oh? who are you going to assign it to?" Vexx asked though before Leonard could answer a soldier ran up to both of them

The soldier saluted "General Leonard, I have news from our base and the northwest."

"What is it?"

"It's the Gramor, sir. they've taken the base." The soldier said

"What?! have they taken any hostages?" Leonard asked

"We don't know. the transmission was cut off before we had the chance to learn more." The soldier said

Leonard shook his head "Those Gramor. they must have taken them by surprise. we need someone who can get in and out of the base quietly since we don't know if they have hostages or not. this will have to be a covert mission."

Vexx sighed "As much as I hate to admit it, but the espers will be perfect for this mission. especially the one with mind powers. we should have them take the base back and release any hostages they may have." he said

"Alright, this is a good chance for the new one to get some real battle experience. head out to the base and eliminate the Gramor. understood?" Leonard said

Vexx saluted "Yes, sir!" he said then he turned to the espers "Get on the truck. we're heading out now." he ordered

Rathal and Lilias trend and entered the truck along with a few new soldiers since the others were injured then Vexx entered the truck and they were off to their north-western base. While traveling Lilias was staring at Rathal so he couldn't help but notice

"What's wrong?" Rathal whispered

"Do you know what a connection is?" Lilias asked and Rathal shook his head "Come here, I'll do it." she said so Rathal leaned over then Lilias put her hand on his head. The next thing he knew he felt a sharp sting come to it so he quickly pulled away fast

'Ow.' Rathal thought

'Sorry about that, I forgot it hurts at first.' Lilias thought

"It's fin-." Rathal cut himself off once he noticed that Lilias wasn't actually talking "How did you do that?"

Lilias smirked 'This is just what happens when two espers connect to each other. now we're able to talk to each other without actually talking to each other. sadly it doesn't work at long ranges.' she thought

'How did you know about this?' Rathal asked

'The esper who I met before you taught me. he was very experienced in these things.' Lilias thought

'You said you met another esper before. what was he like?' Rathal asked

'He was...very mysterious. he never told me what his power was, he just showed me a few secrets that are exclusive for us only. he never even told me his name.' Lilias thought

'Do you know where he is now?' Rathal asked

Lilias narrowed her eyes at him 'Why? so you can capture him and add him to this war?'

'What? no! the last thing I want is these people getting another one of our kind. I just want to know.' Rathal thought

Lilias sighed 'No, I don't know where he is. one day we had rested for the night, when I woke up he was gone and I was alone. I tried talking to him through our connection but I got nothing back which meant he had already gotten far enough to lose connection.' she thought

'Are you worried about him? he might've been caught by one f the other kingdoms.' Rathal thought

'He's smarter than that. I'm sure he's still roaming around avoiding the other kingdoms.' Lilias thought as she giggled a bit 'Now, it's my turn to ask a question. why are you still here?'

'What do you mean?' Rathal asked

'I mean, why are you still with these people? I saw what you did to the truck when I tried to get away. you're clearly more powerful than any of these people and yet you stay with them.' Lilias thought

Rathal sighed 'I'm not staying because I want to, I'm staying because I have to. there's someone I'm close to who understands what we're going through. I believe she may be the only one who can and will help us.' he thought

'You have that much faith she can actually help us?'

'I do.'

'And you're staying because you believe she can do it?'

'Yes.'

Lilias glanced away then back 'If that's your choice, then alright. but I'm not so sure about putting that much faith in your friend.'

'Trust me. if anyone can do it, it's her.' Rathal thought

The next thing they knew, the truck had stopped and Vexx walked over to both of them.

"We're here. get out." Vexx said so Rathal and Lilias exited the vehicle and walked around to see their base in the distance "This is as close as we can get. we can't risk alerting the gramor to our presence since we still don't know if they have hostages." he said

"How do we go about this?" Rathal asked

"You sneak in. free any hostages they may have, then you fire a signal flare telling us that it's okay to move in so we can kill any gramor in the base." Vexx explained

"Got it." Rathal said as he put his hood on and Lilias did the same "Let's go." he said so he and Lilias began running to the far side of the base

Both of them ran straight to the base and once they had gotten close enough they crouched down to move slowly and silently. Since there was a fence around the base, Rathal pulled a part of it up so they could get through then they snuck around a building and saw a guard standing just around the corner.

'Lilias, take control of the guard. we'll use him and find out if there are hostages.' Rathal thought and Lilias nodded so she held er hand out to him and took control of his mind

"Walk back toward us." Lilias said so the guard walked backward until he reached them "Answer the question, are there any hostages in this base?"

"There are." The guard said

"Answer the question, How many?" Lilias asked

"Four."

"Answer the question, Where are they being held?" Lilias said

"Inside their barracks." The guard said

Rathal raised a brow "I didn't know you could do that." he said

"People under my control have to do whatever I saw, even reveal their own secret plans. the only downside is that they have to know the plan in order to tell me." Lilias said

"As I said before, your power is clearly stronger than it appears." Rathal said then he walked around the corner and saw the barracks on the other side of the base and he also saw another guard guarding the barracks so he turned back to Lilias "There's another guard in front of the barracks. if we can lure him over here then I can take care of him."

Lilias nodded then she turned to the guard under her control "Tell the guard in front of the barracks to come over due to a...hole in the fence." she said

The guard walked past both of them and to the guard at the barracks "Sir, I need you to follow me."

"What is it?" the barracks guard asked

"I found a hole in the fence." The guard said

"Really? alright, let's go." The other guard said so he and the other guard both walked around the corner and once they did he saw Rathal and Lilias "Who the he-." before he could finish his head was spun and his neck was snapped

"Alright, he's dead. let's go free the hostages." Rathal said as he stepped over his body

Lilias looked down at the dead man then she followed Rathal 'How do you do it?' she thought

'Do what?'

'How can you just kill people like it's another day and have no reaction to it?' Lilias asked

'When you've been doing this for as long as I have. you learn to get used to it. and I've been doing this for a while.' Rathal said then he walked up the stairs and into the barracks where he saw the thetis soldiers tied up together so he took a knife from the guard that was still under control and cut the ropes

A man with spiky orange hair took the gag out of his mouth then stood up "Damn, gramor. snuck up on us and took us by surprise. well, I think it's time we got some good od revenge." he said then he looked at the guard under Lilias's control "Starting with that one."

Rathal stepped in front of him "There's no reason to worry about him. he's completely under our control. we need to find a flare so we can signal the others."

"Ha, imagine that. an esper giving orders to a major." The orange-haired man said

"Well, it was an esper who just saved you. if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't still be dreaming about your revenge." Rathal said

The orange-haired man got in Rathal's face "You better watch that tone, esper. or else the box will be waiting for you." he said so Rathal simply glared at him "That's better. now, what's this about getting a flare?"

"There are others waiting away from the base. once we send the flare they'll move in and take care of the gramor." Rathal explained

"Alright, I know there's a flare gun in the main building. we just have to get in there and get it." The orange-haired man said as he took the gun away from the gramor soldier

"How many are there?" Rathal asked

"Don't know, don't care. as long as all of them die." The orange-haired man said then he walked out of the building so Rathal and Lilias and the gramor guard followed while the others stayed inside of the barracks "We're going in guns blazing."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Rathal said

"Who cares what you think." The orange-haired man said then he walked up to the main building and burst open the door making the two guards standing by it quickly turn to him but before they could do anything, they were both shot dead "That's two down."

Rathal rolled his eyes then turned to Lilias "I think it's better you stay out here. have that guard kill any that escape." he said

Lilias nodded then turned to the guard "Use your pistol and kill any that run away." she said and the guard did as told while Rathal entered the building with the man

Rathal heard more gunshots so once he turned the corner he saw the man standing on the side of the door as bullets were whizzing past.

The man turned to Rathal "Where the hell were you, esper?! I need you to take care of these bullets!" he said

Rathal simply rolled his eyes and walked to the door where he stopped each bullet coming at him then he turned them around and made them hit every man in the room.

"Took you long enough." The man said then he walked to the other side and took the flare gun then he tossed it to Rathal "Go and shoot that outside. I'll take care of anyone else." he said then he walked out of the room and so did Rathal

Once Rathal was outside he pointed the gun to the sky and fired, signaling to everyone else that it was clear for them to move in. Then Rathal turned to where Lilias was supposed to be and noticed she wasn't.

"Lilias?" Rathal said then he noticed the guard that was with her was dead so he walked over to him and observed the body ad noticed the heavy bruises 'What the hell happened?'

'Rathal! help me!' Lilias thought

Rathal immediately stood up and looked around 'Where are you?'

'Behind the barracks, past the fence!'

Rathal ran towards Lilias as fast as he could and found her being held by her collar by a tall muscular man. The man had pitch-black hair and wore a ribbon cotton shirt with simple jeans.

"Put her down!" Rathal shouted

The man turned to Rathal "Hey, I know you. you're the first." he said

Rathal looked confused "The first? what are you talking about?"

The man chuckled "That must mean she's the second. damn, and I was hoping I got my hands on a couple of their soldiers. oh well, there's always next time." he said then he threw Lilias at Rathal so he used his powers to catch her and set her down softly

Rathal looked back at the man who was walking away "Wait, you said I was the first. what did you mean by that?"

The man looked back "You'll learn. all of our kind will learn of the role they'll play in the end. but for now, it's too early so I'll take my leave." he said but before he continued walking the rocks in front of him started floating

"If you think I'll just let you go, you're wrong. you're gonna answer all of my questions, especially this me being the first and her the second." Rathal said

The man chuckled "Kid, we may not be enemies yet but I can tell you this right now. if we were to fight, you WILL lose. you're not strong enough to be even a warm-up for me." he said

"I'll be the judge of that."

The man laughed out loud "I like you kid. you may be the first person to stand up to me. as a special prize, I'll give you a demonstration of my power." he said then his whole right arm began glowing

"What are you-." Rathal was cut off when the man punched the ground causing a huge gust of wind to burst out as the ground was smashed and rocks flew everywhere so Rathal used his power to keep both of them safe and when the dust cleared the man was gone but left a huge crater where he was.

"Oh, my god." Lilias said looking at the destruction one punch did "One punch in the ground did this."

Rathal looked into the crater "I hate to admit it. but I think he was right about me losing to him. just who was that man."

"I think we'll see him again. someday. for now, we should get back." Lilias said and Rathal nodded so both of them walked back