Detection methods

Selvaria, Dee and the pendant managed to live rather peacefully until the beginning of the fifth year since Haydee's arrival. Dee had done great in her training, and seemed to have great promise when it came to detection and concealment abilities. As psions were so rare, very few mages and warriors had put effort into developing ways to detect them, and there were always ways around those detection methods. As such, a psion already had a head start when it came to concealment.

At first it would seem foolish to ignore a threat like that, but in the end it came down to numbers. Anyone could train ki, qi, kei or whatever a particular region of the universe or the world called the internal strength used by most warriors. While anyone could theoretically train in the use of ki, only the elite had the proper methods and talent to truly cultivate their strength. Even so, warriors were the most numerous when it came to powerful individuals.

Mages were much rarer. Again, theoretically anyone could gather enough mana to cast at least the basic spells, but the sad fact was that the path of a mage required a great deal of aptitude to really succeed. That was before one even considered elemental affinities, which were something that not everyone possessed. Without affinities, the mage would find no success. To top it all off, the basics of Ki were much easier to pick up when compared to the myriad ways to utilize mana. Self-taught warriors were a rarity, but it happened often enough to not raise too many eyebrows. Mages had to be either ludicrously lucky, or they had to have a teacher. As a result, there were a thousand warriors for every decent mage.

Psions were even more of a rarity. Even counting in the rare few races that were all born psionic, you would be lucky to find a single untrained psion for every ten thousand mages. As such, the odds of being attacked and killed by a psion were so miniscule that it was simply uneconomical to spend too much time developing ways to detect psionic energy, especially when one considered that these detection methods could always be countered in various ways.

Dee also showed terrific proficiency when it came to finding hiding places in locations were there seemed to be none, great ability in moving and acting in a way that she was just out of the direct eyesight of your opponent, ability to move stealthily and the clarity of mind to act and seem innocent if someone actually managed see you. "Pay no attention to me; I'm just one face among many. Someone you have seen a hundred times, and thus no longer a threat." Was the way Selvaria described the feeling she got when Dee managed to sneak up on her for the hundredth time.

This last ability was greatly assisted by her psionic abilities, where she used her power to exude an aura of familiarity. If one wasn't paying attention one hundred percent, then their eyes would simply slide across her, as if she wasn't even there. Partly as a result of this, Selvaria spent a lot of time and effort honing Dee's abilities to observation and detection. It would be embarrassing to be beaten by the same ability you excelled in. Additionally, when fighting mages one of the most important abilities was to be able to sense and read the flow of mana. When a mage wanted to attack you, he or she would first gather the mana in a focused location, before sending the attack out towards the enemy. By reading the mana, you could tell what type the attack would be and how much power was put behind it. Serious attacks could be avoided, while faints could be deflected or blocked. Reading mana would also help to detect people and beings, as well as non-living threats like magical traps.

Dee didn't have the ability to use mana, but her observational skills were excellent, and her ability to read mana got better the more spells she saw in action. Similarly to mana, one could read the internal flow of ki, to anticipate attacks and gauge their strength and seriousness. Dee's ability at reading ki was not as good as with reading mana, though that was in large part because unlike with mana, Selvaria didn't make for a very good training target as her ki abilities were too obvious, even if they were effective. This would be an ability she would need to train more in the future.

"She'd make for a pretty good thief or a scout." The pendant said one day, while they were observing Dee going through series of magical and non-magical traps, obstacles and hidden doors. It was a gauntlet that Selvaria re-created every day in a different form and level of challenge.

"That or an assassin." Selvaria mumbled in a quiet voice. She was a little disturbed by Dee's ability sneak up on her. She had faced assassins her whole life, but this little girl could've killed her a hundred times over had she wanted to.

"Let's hope not. Even I'm having trouble keeping track of her nowadays, and that's my specialty." The pendant also voiced in apprehension.

Their peaceful time became threatened one day when Selvaria heard that she would be getting visitors. The angels had tried to make contact with her several times before this, but she had rebuffed them every time. This time the one coming was one of the archangels, the leader of their ruling council himself. Lord Empyrean was the second most powerful of all the angels of Paradisia, only second to their Executor, the chosen champion and war-leader. As the Archangel of Order, he was one of the leading forces behind the purge of demons. He was not someone you could easily deny if he wanted a meeting.

"It's probably better if Dee isn't here when Empyrean comes. She isn't exactly stable when it comes to angels, and it would be pretty bad if she picked a fight with one of the archangels." The pendant said.

"I think you're right. I'll have one of women you saved take her to their village for a few days. She's been asking to go for a few days now, so that should distract her." Selvaria decided.

-----

"Lady Selvaria. As beautiful as always." The compliment was rather bland coming from a man more beautiful than her. Aside from the large golden wings, the Archangel of Order had very little masculine about him. If you had to use one word to describe him, that word would be gorgeous. If you were into the pretty boy type that is. The soft skin and face gave the illusion of vulnerability, and the shining long black hair would make any woman grit their teeth in envy. If one would assume him to be weak because of his looks though, one would be making a terrible mistake.

Selvaria on the other hand one might described as ok looking. Her silver hair hung straight down her back, and while her face had beauty and wasn't marred by imperfections, she also looked very stern and emotionless. While she could be describes as well endowed, she did her best to hide her 'assets' under her clothing, preferring to be remembered as serious but brilliant instead of beautiful.

"Lord Empyrean. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company? If I'm not mistaken, the angels have attempted to form relations with me before, but I'm fairly certain that I've made my disinterest in politics and power-play quite clear." Selvaria replied, skipping over most of the formalities, as the two were sitting down in the lounge.

The gorgeous angel let out a small chuckle. "You might be disinterested; however the powers that be are interested in you. Your actions have garnered everyone's interest, and can you blame them? Your technique was instrumental in the destruction of the thirteen hells. That carries consequences. As long as we don't know everything about the technique used, everyone will be worried it might be used against someone else."

The angel was correct. It had been Selvaria's experiment that had led to the destruction of the demons, and the subsequent purge. "I think I know enough about your consequences. I find your genocide an affront to everything decent, and your actions despicable. I was never in the faction of the Assembly that held a pro-angel stance, and your actions have only made sure that I never will. I do not oppose you, do not expect me to support you either."

The Assembly held the largest gathering of powerful individuals of the four factions embroiled in the war as a consequence of accepting members from all races with enough power. As a result though, the opinions of the Assembly were divided drastically, and whenever the Assembly was gathered it was common to see individuals come to blows. As a result, the Assembly was divided into factions, and it wasn't unheard of for one faction to end up on one side of the battle while another faction was on the other side. Naturally some of the factions were supportive of the angels, but Selvaria was not a part of those factions.

While Empyrean was making a supposedly clever quip about Selvaria's actions not supporting her words, the pendant sent her a silent but urgent message. 'Look there, at the ceiling behind him!' As Selvaria hid her look, she was shocked to see Dee creeping closer to the angel, using some of her power to stay attached to the ceiling. The only reason Selvaria even managed to see her, was because she had gotten used to her tricks, and Dee wasn't specifically trying to hide from her.

'Oh no!' Selvaria managed to think, before Dee slashed her claws towards the archangel. Empyrean however wasn't one of the most powerful angels for nothing, and managed to detect and avoid the strike just in time, mostly because his strength allowed him to move so much faster than the young girl. In the end there wasn't even any real danger to the angel even if Dee had managed to finish her strike, since she didn't even have the power to do real damage. However, she did manage to make a small nick on the bridge of his wing, and lodge a pair of feathers loose.