Chapter 19: Preparation For The Mission

I grit my teeth as I observed the brambles in the area, clenching my fist as I let out a loud roar… Why? Why should I still be training? My room was in shambles and my friend was being treated after being endangered just a few hours ago… Shouldn’t I be catering to those issues first!

“Damn it all to hell!”

I kicked the dirt, causing the dust to fly in front of me in a cone-like shower, missing the brightstone by a few inches. Despite my grievances in training, I know taking my anger out on the thing I wanted to achieve would at least just bring more troubles. It at least kept me a bit grounded, at least for now…

And soon, I heard brambles twisting and contorting. Xion must be here, I guess… I just hope he has something to help me advance this…

“Hey there!”

H-Huh?! Who the heck entered?!

I turned to face the entryway, seeing the same lady who wore a multicolored hoodie…

“A-Adria? Why are you here?!”

She giggled and winked, causing me to stagger a few steps back in discomfort… After all; I was the only one led here by Xion, at least I was the only one I know of.

“Oh, Xion asked me to check on you. Bet you’re shocked to see me here, aren’t you?”

She pointed her fingers at me like a playful little kid, to which I responded with a groan, covering my face as I did.

“No, I find it hard to believe that Xion allowed you of all people to be in here.”

I faced her, frown still affixed to my face. However, instead of retorting, she just looked behind me and waved.

“Hey brightstone! How’s the energy doing today!”

And much like magic, the stone sparkled in a similar color to when Xion first activated it. It was at that moment that I just cupped my face with my hands and let out a long scream to which she kindly responded to with a small tee-hee laugh.

After a few moments of sulking, she lightly tapped my arm, still wearing that same wide smile. Haah… her positivity is an enigma.

Maybe positivity was the key to saying hi to the brightstone? Is the power of friendship in anime real?

On second thought, I don’t think I want the last question answered…

“How did you do that?”

I gave her a wry smile, my lips twitching as I forced it to hold the fake expression. Adria said nothing and sat beside me, sullying her non-training clothes. Of course, I panicked. That hoodie had bright colors and if stains were to dirty it, I am sure I will never hear the end of her rant.

“H-Hey maybe you should- “

“I guess Xion never told you, at least not yet… Very well Pyre.”

She cleared her throat and looked me straight in the eye.

“I am the first one who activated the bright stone apart from Xion, and with the current proceedings, he asked me to teach you.”

My mouth dropped open like a trapdoor, shocked at the revelation. So that’s why she had such a simple time activating it!

“Y-You, but how?! Xion and you are like the sun and moon!”

However, instead of replying, she just shot me another playful wink.

“Then shall I show you how I did it?”

My mouth formed a grim line as I stared at her. It was now or never, and this, this was my do or die!

“Calm your mind more, Pyre! Stop imagining anything, and just think of a blank stream flowing into the crystal. It helps.”

I grit my teeth as I squeezed my eyes shut, still imagining whatever lake flow or river flow Adria was talking about, but to no avail… I collapsed to the floor before letting out a long groan. She walked over to where I was, towering above me as she wagged her finger.

“That was too rough, Pyre. Empty your mind more, and learn to stop doubting yourself.”

She then placed her hands on her hips as her brows knit together ever so slightly.

“But, with that power, you better be careful in controlling it. Earlier your essence was spilling out of your body and it was totally unfocused.”

I rolled my eyes at her speech, feeling that she was just holding a candle above me.

“Sure, sure… I’m probably just not that talented to pull it off as fast as you did.”

“And what was that supposed to mean…”

“Exactly what it should have meant, Adria…”

I groaned as I lifted myself off the earthy soil and with a grunt. I was up, ready to give the stone another try for power transmission.

“Now… let’s see how well I fare against this…”

I placed my open palm against its glass like base, and soon enough, my arm felt numb, as if it were being sucked into the crystal.

She told me to focus… empty my mind…

“Haaah…”

I let out a soft exhale, still trying to calm my nerves further despite my worries. Relax Pyre, you got this. In my mind, a soft image of flowing water formed… or was it lava? No matter, it was something flowing into a bright orange crystal.

“Pyre! Pyre! You’re getting there, it is glowing!”

Adria? No! I cannot distract myself. Focus Pyre, focus! Steadying my breathing, I carried on the image of putting something inside the crystal, wrapping the stream around it as a boa constrictor would.

My stomach hurt, my head spun, and I felt like I want to vomit. Cold sweat lined my brow as I did my worst to compress the thing around the crystal…

"… Pyre!… top! That’s enough!”

E-Eh… Whose voice was that…

"Come… n… Wake up!”

I felt a shake as the black space I had in my mind slowly dissipated… Soon enough; I felt the cold air kiss my forehead, wrapping me in an icy embrace. Just… what happened?

A woman was holding me close to her, her face pale and her breaths sharp. Adria…?

"Adria…?”

Her hand found their way to my face, gifting me a slap across the cheeks. It felt cold… sweaty even. Was she scared?

"I… asked you to stop…”

"W-Why? What’s the matter, Adria?”

She clenched her fist and looked at me with a frown

"Did you seriously not know what just happened?”

I shook my head. Seeing this, the woman who held me let out a long sigh before propping me up. Now I saw what she meant…

The brightstone had reached for the sky, almost like a pillar that raced to the heavens above. Just how much energy did I put into it?!

"What?! Who forgot to tell me that the brightstone was actually that massive?!”

Adria gave me a scowl, shaking her head when I said those lines.

"The crystal overloaded on the copious amounts of power you provided. Flames started lapping around the gem’s base and soon, it just spiraled out of control.”

Then it happened… the faint echo of moving brambles became ever present as the sounds of footsteps from someone entering became apparent.

Our pair ended up looking behind us as the man himself stood there, his arms crossed above his chest. The Principal now wore a gray coat, similar to most clothes he wore. Currently, he did not seem angry, just winded with raised brows and an open mouth.

"Good heavens! What happened here, Pyre?”

I just smiled as sweat started beading on my forehead. Good luck explaining this mess to him. But just when my mouth was about to open up and explain, Adria paced in front of me before blockading my advance with one arm.

"Sorry, I seriously am… Pyre’s simply could not control his power…”

But instead of getting mad, the principal’s lips curved into a slight smile and his brows smoothened out.

"No worries, this was the result I expected all along.”

Our jaws dropped. Did we hear him correctly? Was he really expecting this?

"But why? Why send me through all the trouble if you knew I would mess up?”

I turned to face Xion, who simply chuckled, before pointing at me with a confident smirk.

“Alright Pyre, why not test that power out, imagine the same stream you did from earlier… but this time keep your eyes open and aim for me!”

Was he nuts?! Him being on the receiving end of an attack from me?! Ahh! Screw it! I closed my eyes before taking a deep breath, allowing the sense of terror to flow into me.

The hairs on my body stood on their end, and a chill ran down my spine. Flames soon enveloped my hand, so I clenched them into fists and got ready for battle.

“Sir Xion! Please watch me!”

A roar of passion escaped my lips as I dashed for the principal, raining down punches once he was in range. However, the old geezer simply weaved out the way before parrying one of my fists away. Xion then leapt away, clearing some distance between us.

"Good, the fire may lack heat, but the rage is there! Show me that conviction!”

I let out a sharp breath before imagining the flames shooting off my fist whenever I swung it at Xion, and like magic, the flames fired at him, racing like mini fireballs to where he was. Yet a gust of wind from him merely blocked my efforts.

“And to think you were making well use of your lessons. It thrills me, my dear student!”

Yeah… lessons you never really taught yourself. With another breath, I envisioned the flames propelling me like a rocket, causing me to charge straight into Xion who moved out of the way. The brambles soon held me as I crashed into them. Thorns dug into my face and after just a few moments of pain, the flames engulfed my face…

"Another win for me, Pyre, but that was a better attempt than last time.”

He let out a chuckle as I forced my way out of the thicket and back into the grounds. As usual, thorns and thistles stuck into my training gear, burrowing deep. Despite this, my face and hands were unscarred, they were pretty much operational.

But now, I at least see some growth, some potential to my power… This venture may be possible after all!

“Thank you, sir… even if that hurt like hell.”

“We all knew you were going to recover from that like it were nothing.”

What if I did not… Will this principal make sure that I was safe…

“You did well though and in record time too, but you still need to master one thing.”

“And that is…”

The principal locked eyes with me, his emerald green irises burning with intensity when he did.

"You still have to control your output. Some of your attacks were strong, some were weak. However, I am certain you never really set much of a standard for those attacks, did you?”

I nodded. It was true, those were just blindly powered projectiles with barely any focus nor precision to them… If my power were like an augment, then mastering how I control and fire them may really help make good moves and skills for when I am in a pinch.

“For now, you can head home and relax. If you want to visit Shan, then it should be fine. I will also throw in an advisory to allow you to stay in the infirmary until she recovers. However, if you want to rest, you can always stay with Cora. The details should arrive to her as soon as we part ways, so no worries Pyre. Things will be fine, despite the way this society looks.”

"B-But S-Sir, another girl!”

He chuckled when he heard my reaction.

"Would you prefer Geon as a bunk mate then? Or perhaps you prefer Klaus?”

I see why he paired me up with those two then… with a long sigh. I raised a thumbs-up in the air, defeated, as I hung my head in shame.

"Very well, as for you Adria…”

She panned her gaze over to Xion with her skin being paler than usual.

“Robert was still missing ever since last night. Although, we will try to conduct a more thorough search…”

Adria’s face darkened a bit… looking away before pulling her hood down to further hide her face.

Just what was going on in this facility…?