The Abstraction Ability
'Lein...'
Lein heard it again...
The whispered of the woman from his previous dream was calling his name...
The whisper was like a gentle breeze passing by Lein's ear. He opened his eyes, gazing around at the darkness now filled with a white mist. He walked slowly, moving forward, exploring the strange realm…
'Lein... Lein... Lein...'
The woman kept calling his name. The farther Lein walked, the clearer her voice became. Until finally, he saw a mirror in front of him. He stepped forward and gazed at his reflection in the mirror.
He gazed at his reflection in the mirror, everything seemed normal, except for his right eye, which had been replaced with a cat's eye. He closed both eyes for a moment...
Lein opened his eyes again, gazing at his reflection in the mirror, which now showed no face...
He had grown accustomed to these strange occurrences, and could only stare at the mirror. Through the reflection, he saw the woman standing behind him...
'Lein...'
The woman called out to him again, Lein turned around...
----
Lein opened his eyes, waking up from his sleep and his dream. He stood up from his bed, walked towards the mirror, and gazed at his reflection, only to find himself crying without reason...
Lein wiped his tears, made his bed, took a shower, had breakfast, put on his military academy uniform, left the dormitory, and headed then entered to his classroom...
He walked towards his seat, and Grace had already arrived in class...
"Halo, Lein," Grace greeted briefly.
"Halo too, Grace," Lein replied, then took his seat.
Lein yawned, still feeling drowsy. The sky was unusually dark, and time seemed to be passing irregularly. Strange... Yet, someone could still feel sleepy and exhausted.
Thirteen minutes passed, he and Grace chatted and conversed. Until Reo arrived in class and took his seat, greetings Lein and Grace.
"Halo, Lein... Halo, Grace..." Reo greeted Lein and Grace.
"Ha-halo," Grace replied, her face still flushed from Reo's praise the day before, while Lein remained silent.
----
Tens of minutes passed, the three of them chatted and laughed together, this conversation brought their relationship closer and more intimate.
Lucy entered the classroom, ready to lead the second training session. The personnel had all arrived and taken their seats.
"Attention... Today we will be learning about Cause passive abilities and Cause secondary abilities," Lucy announced to the entire class.
"Simply put, Cause passive abilities can be used without needing to actively activate your Cause. Let your mind run on its own without needing to be triggered," Lucy explained in her first point.
"Second... Cause secondary abilities are active Causes that you can manifest in any form of power without needing to involve your primary Cause," Lucy provided the second explanation.
"The fatigue effect of Cause passive abilities is 1/11 of the primary Cause... While the fatigue effect of Cause secondary abilities is 2/1," Lucy concluded with the final explanation.
"We'll practice by engaging in group battles, now let's follow me to the academy field," Lucy said, instructing everyone to follow her.
----
The entire personnel stood up from their seats and followed Lucy out to the academy field...
"Isn't this a bit too sudden? We're even practicing group battles," Grace said to Lein and Reo, while continuing to walk.
"Yeah, and it's always about Cause abilities," Reo complained.
"But you're actually really good at controlling Cause... Besides, if we want to train physically, we can do it on our own," Lein replied.
"I think you're right," Reo said with a sight.
----
"Alright, everyone... This is the academy field," Lucy said as they all arrived at their destination.
"What the fuck... This is like an arena, it's so huge... Why not just do it outside?" Reo complained again, but was also impressed by the academy field.
"But it's dark outside," Grace replied.
"You're right," Reo said, remembering what was happening outside.
"Listen up, everyone!" Lucy announced. "Your class is up first today. I've grouped you into brackets, so let's get prepared for our combat tarining."
"Lein Group versus Therrie Group, please gather on the field, the other groups can sit and observe," Lucy said firmly.
"W-what?! Why is our group first again?!" Grace complained.
----
Lein's group and Therrie's group entered the arena, Therrie's group consisted of three people, just like Lein's group. They faced each other and waited for Lucy's instructions...
"You two, listen... Therrie's Cause is a Mind manipulator like Reo, and his friends Kyle and Mike have Summoner-type Cause," Lein explained to Reo and Grace.
"Alright, both groups are expected to be ready. I'll start the countdown on the count of three," Lucy instructed.
3...
2...
1...
Begin!
Lein, Reo, and Grace quickly activated their passive Sixth Sense Cause, allowing them to clearly see the enemy's movements.
Lein charged towards the enemy, but he was blocked by a stone and sand golem that had been summoned by the enemy team...
The sand golem suddenly exploded, and Grace had used her Seraphim Eyes on it.
Meanwhile, the stone golem was successfully taken over by Reo using his Mind Manipulation. The stone golem then attacked another golem that had just been summoned.
Lein didn't want to waste his chance... He used his Cause to traverse space and time quickly, teleporting directly to Therrie.
He used his secondary Cause, gathering sand particles from the ground and merging them to form a sword.
Just as he was about to strike Therrie, he felt the field begin to dissolve, and his surroundings transformed into a walkable sea.
"W-what?" Lein said, confused.
Suddenly, he felt a knife stabbing his back, and as he looked around, he was shocked to see the water slowly manifesting into a knife.
The knife flew rapidly towards him, poised to strike, forcing Lein to use his Cause to create a spatial field that would prevent the knife from piercing him.
"Welcome to my subconscious realm, Lein Arcel," Therrie said with a haughty laugh.
"In my subconscious realm, I can manifest any object just by transforming the water into whatever I desire," Therrie said with an increasingly arrogant tone.
"Fuck you...," Lein said with a raging voice.
"What did you say, huh?" Therrie's face twisted in anger and irritation, and he manifested more knives, launching a flurry of attacks at Lein.
Meanwhile, in the arena, Reo and Grace were still struggling due to the endless and increasing number of Golems.
However, the two of them finally managed to corner their enemy, with Reo overwhelming their minds with stress.
----
Lein continued to hold off the knives with the spatial field he created, but he soon felt stressed and exhausted. This ultimately forced him to release the spatial field and reactivate his Cause.
He quickly teleported again towards Therrie, who controlled his domain, but Lein forced his body to its limits. He grabbed Therrie and forcibly pulled him out of his subconscious realm, tearing apart the dimensional fabric with his Cause, and both of them were flung back into the arena.
Lein stood right in front of Therrie, holding a shard of the golem's stone in his hand, sending a wave of fear through Therrie instantly.
"O-okay, I surrender, I surrender!" Therrie shouted in fear.
Lein ignored Therrie and repeatedly struck his head with the shard of stone.
"Lein?! What are you doing?!" Reo rushed towards Lein to stop him.
"Die! Die! Die!" Lein screamed, his stress reaching its peak as he smashed Therrie's head until it gushed blood and became unrecognizable.
Lein's face was covered in blood, but he still didn't stop.
Suddenly, both groups in the arena fell to the ground, gravity pulling them down, rendering them completely immobile.
"Lein Arcel! You've broken the rules!" Lucy shouted at Lein, utilizing her Spatial-type Cause.
Lein, lying helpless on the ground, couldn't do anything. He gazed at Reo and Grace, who were also pinned to the ground, before turning his eyes to Lucy, and finally, a faint smile crept onto his lips...
. . .