Chapter 81. Gasp!

Gasp!

Michael’s lifeless body gasped for air as soon as he entered the portal. The illusory figures of Arthur and Shelly looked over and slowly disappeared. Only Seth’s figure remained as he began to look around.

Cough cough cough!

Julie instantly noticed the excessive coughing and slowly turned her head around. Michael was standing there, his body battered and bloody, yet the smile on his face as he looked at her was the same one that she’ll never forget.

“Michael!” Julie ran over to Michael and stood in front of him. Her hands hesitating to touch the person before her.

Michael slowly reached out and grasped her hands in his. “I’m here.”

“Michael…” Julie started to loudly sob, as Michael pulled her into his embrace. He had forgotten what he wanted to do as the two remained lost in each other’s embrace.

“Ahem, Yōkoso! Michael and Seth.” One of the robed figures stepped up and exclaimed disrupting the mood between the two. “Welcome, welcome to Julie’s training!”

“M-m-my training?” Julie looked at Michael and Seth in confusion.

“Yeah! Your training. Which you absolutely failed the first part.” The person removed his hood revealing a familiar looking face.

“Gran!?” Julie exclaimed.

“No, I’m P6.” The guy smiled at Michael and Seth. “You may call me Philip Syx.”

“Oh…Wait, what’s going on?” Julie was confused as she looked around. “Where’s Shelly, where’s Arthur?” The two kids were nowhere to be seen.

“Shelly was the first to realize that this was all an illusion and went back to the Inn already. Arthur is still in his own training area. The four that were with you were illusions.” Philip Syx answered. “That means, the Michael who we killed was just an illusion, you failed because you couldn’t differentiate reality from illusory, you lost yourself to your emotions and begged us to bring him back after realizing you couldn’t do anything to us.”

Julie was silent as she listened to P6, it was exactly that, the moment she was teleported she should have sensed for any energy uses. If she even tried to sense she would have known that the people around her were just energy created illusions.

“Anyways, welcome to Julie’s training Michael and Seth! Glad to see you two again.” P6 smiled at them and continued to say. “Now that you two are here, we can begin the actual training.” P6 pointed up towards the sky.

A portal started to form and hung from above. “That portal is 20 meters (65 feet) up in the air or roughly 11 Michaels tall. Your objective is to enter a portal and escape.”

“Goodluck.”

…

The scene of four defenseless trainees piled together screaming in anguish as they were burned before her very eyes. Shelly calmly opened her eyes from meditation as she looked outside the window.

The sun was still high in the sky as it has not been more than two hours since she had returned to the Inn, however it could not be said the same for the four others. She recalled the words Boss had informed them that morning, “I’m going to say it right now, if I think you guys can handle it, I won’t’ interfere…if you’re together, have someone be your eyes for those who can’t differentiate reality from illusory and then run in…”

Shelly never once forgot what Boss had said earlier that morning. It was the first thing she recalled when those five robed individuals appeared that calmed her down. When Seth, Michael, Julie…and Arthur’s illusions were attacked one by one. It wasn’t just an illusion for illusion’s sake, it was a warning of what would’ve happened to them if they weren’t lucky.

However, was that all there was to it? To see a different ending for them? Shelly wasn’t sure, she quietly pondered her thought as she recalled the five robed individuals that attacked her. Only their names were wrong for Boss to inform her they were an illusion. But, were their abilities correct. “teleportation, cloaking, illusions, and…fire? Was that one of their powers? Then…what about the last green robed one? Is there a hint?”

Shelly calmly pondered her thoughts as she got up out of bed. She sighed and headed back downstairs. Two hours was too long for them to not figure out everything was an illusion. There must be more to it.

The door to the Inn opened and closed as the calm white-haired girl made her way back to the festival grounds.

“Oh? Welcome back Shelly.” Boss quickly welcomed the girl who had returned after finishing her training two hours ago. “What brings you back here? Did you decided to watch them with me?” Boss asked.

Shelly looked over at the portal and quickly noticed the four portals around Boss from before turned to two. “Which two?” She asked.

“Michael figured it out five minutes after you left and called me out for it…I think adding a P42 and K4 was a bit too obvious.”

“Where did he go?” Shelly asked.

“He figured it out and went inside.” Boss pointed towards Julie’s portal. “He first saw Seth being chased by my illusions and ran straight in. He brought Seth back and now they’re helping Julie out with her training.” Boss answered.

Shelly walked over to the two portals and furrowed her brows.

In Julie’s portal the three were struggling incredibly hard devising a way to reach the portal 30 meters in the air. Failed experiments from their attempts littered the ground as they continued to devise a way to get up.

Arthur was still training within his portal, however that single individual he was up against, became two. “I’m adding in another one in an hour, I wonder if he can deal with three at once.” Boss muttered to himself as Shelly looked on.

“Can I help them?” Shelly asked.

“Did you really have to ask? Go~” Boss encouraged Shelly who was looking back and forth between the two portals. Shelly thought for a moment and turned to one. She quietly stepped in.

“Good thing she made it back, otherwise I’d have to start giving them hints.” Boss sighed in relief as he watched what happening in Julie’s portal. He then turned his attention over to Arthur’s who was rapidly improving his combat experience against similar sized kids.

Boss, however wasn’t thrilled at all at Arthur’s improvement. “Don’t you know how to conserve energy at all kid!? So much wasted movements! Why? Why’re you jumping from a punch! Just sidestep! Sidestep! Gahhh! Right there! Just tilt your head! C’mon! Even a baby could do this! Where’s Lotus? I need Lotus!” Boss was angrily shouting at the portal watching Arthur train. Sadly, his shouts were in vain as the boy within couldn’t hear anything from outside and Lotus was still asleep.

“This is impossible! How’re we supposed to get up there!” Seth shouted in anger. He then turned to glare at Philip Syx who was distance away playing card games with the other four robed individual and pointed. “Why’re you breaking everything we make!? What do we have to do!?”

Philip Syx placed his cards down and looked up at Seth who was seething with rage and smiled. “I break it because you don’t need it, isn’t that obvious?”

Kay Two looked over to Seth seemed about ready attack and calmly added. “Figure out what the objective of this training first before you try building a ladder to get up there. Remember, this is Julie’s training which means it is indicative she’s going to be how you get out.” He then looked over to P8 “Do you have a 3?”

“Goldfish”

“Tch!”

The three trainees sat down and looked up at the portal hanging high in the sky. “If it’s not a ladder then what?” Michael asked. He turned to look over at Julie “Do you know, Julie?”

“Yeah, I heard you’re a Seer, maybe you have to see how you got out from your powers?” Seth asked.

Julie sat down and shook her head, her face buried in between her knees “I don’t know how to control it.” Over this month of training with Gran and Boss she felt more confident that her overall wellbeing and control of her powers improve. That was only the case for her ability to stop things, she still couldn’t figure out how to control her foresight.

Sigh

“I don’t think it’s that power.” Michael interjected.

“Then, what about your stopping ability? Maybe it’s not a stopping ability but like telekinesis and you can move the portal down?” Seth asked.

Julie’s popped her head up and looked up at the portal. She stretched out her hand at the portal high in the sky. A couple seconds of struggling sounds flew by before Julie dug her head back into her knees. “It’s not moving.”

“Damn! Are we going to be trapped here until we figure it out!?” Seth exclaimed in irritation.

“Nope, we’ll give you hints until you figure it out.” Kay Two answered from afar.

“Then give us a hint!” Seth exclaimed.

“She’s over there.” Philip Syx pointed at the silhouette of a white-haired girl with sapphire eyes who was calmly walking over.

Shelly arrived before Michael, Seth, and Julie who were curiously looking at her.

“She looks like Shelly.” Michael stated.

“She looks exactly like Shelly.” Seth corrected as he continued to look at her. “How is she the hint?” He asks.

Shelly raised her eyebrow at their confusion and decided to quietly play along. She sat down before the three of them and began to meditate.

“Meditate?” The three looked to each other and then at Julie.

Julie quickly copied Shelly and closed her eyes.

The five robed individual looked over and then back down at the cards in their hands.

Flick

A single card flew at Julie at an alarming speed, it instantly appeared before her and smacked her squarely in the forehead.

“Ouch!” Julie exclaimed as she covered her forehead in pain.

“Is that the wrong answer too!?” Seth exclaimed at Philip Syx who had thrown the card.

“Who knows?” Philip Syx stated calmly. “But I’m going to try to stop her from figuring it now.” Philip calmly stated as he pulled out more cards from within the sleeve of his robe.

Flick Flick Flick

Multiple cards were flying at them at rapid pace. Seth and Michael instantly got in front of Julie and Shelly who were sitting cross-legged on the ground. They grabbed the wooden planks beside them and blocked cards.

“We’ll block their attacks, focus on getting us out of here!” Seth exclaimed.

Julie nodded her head and started meditating. A whole different world of energy signatures invaded her senses the moment she closed her eyes. Everything around her was made of energy, the five robed individuals, the planks, this entire place was covered in energy.

“There’s so much energy…” Julie muttered as she scanned the surrounding area. She tilted her head up, the portal that was supposed to be high up in the sky released an energy signature as the robed individuals. “Was that portal an illusion too? Then where’s the real one?” Julie thought to herself as she looked around.

Julie stood up, her eyes remained closed as she slowly rotated herself around, trying to find the energy that was coming from the portal. Her brows furrowed as she noticed a small energy trace further ahead, it was a familiar energy that she’s sensed every time they had Boss’ training, it was the invisible teleportation walls.

“Perhaps…?” Julie opened her eyes and looked towards the direction of where the portal was.

“Did you figure it out!?” Seth exclaimed as the board in his hands completely crumbled to the assault of the cards. He quickly ran and hid behind Michael as he looked for another thing to shield them with.

Julie nodded her head, “I think so.” She pointed at an enormous lake up ahead. “It’s in the middle of the lake, above the water.”

“What!?” Seth and Michael exclaimed as they turned towards the lake. “But there’s no island there! Are you sure!?” Seth exclaimed.

Julie nodded her head, “The energy is the same as the teleporting walls, it’s either the portal, or it’ll teleport us to where the portal is.” Julie answered.

“Then what’re we waiting for!? Let’s go!” Seth shouted and ran, he picked up a few planks and rushed towards the lake. Julie and Shelly followed behind Seth as Michael continued to defend the assault of cards flying at them from the back.

Seth instantly threw the plank in the water and laid down above it. However, the weight of Seth instantly sunk Seth into the water. “Shit!” He quickly got out of the water and looked over to the other three trainees. “I can’t swim. What about you guys!?” He exclaimed.

All three of them shook their head, none of them were able to swim. “How are we supposed to get across then!?” Seth was annoyed, the assault from the P6 and the other four was never ending as they continuously flicked cards at them from afar.

He really wanted to build a small boat, capable of keeping them afloat long enough for them to paddle to the center, however everyone knew that time was of the essence. Once the five Gran lookalikes destroyed the last defensive thing they had, they were sitting ducks, awaiting to get cut by thousands of cards.

“Use your power on the planks.” Shelly calmly spoke up as she tossed a small plank on the water. She then looked up to Julie “Can you stop more than one?”

Julie looked at the two floating planks on the water. “I guess, I’ll just have to try.” She stated as she stopped the first plank, then the second. “It works! Go! Hurry!” She exclaimed as Seth, Shelly and Michael carefully stepped from one plank to the second.

“Now, what!? We’re going to need at least 100 planks to get to the center!” Seth exclaimed.

Shelly turned around and picked up the first plank and dropped it in front of the second one. “Do you have enough energy?” Shelly asked.

Julie instantly understood what Shelly was doing. Everyone just needed to stand on one plank together as they swapped planks around until they made it to the center.

“I hope so.” Julie responded.

“Everyone, step!” Julie commanded as the second plank stiffened. The three quickly took another step onto the plank as Julie maintain her hold. Shelly then quickly turned around and picked up the first plank and tossed it in front again.

Everyone now understood what they had to do, they quickly caught onto what Shelly and Julie were doing and made their way towards the center together, one step at a time.

“We’re doing it, we’re doing it!” Seth exclaimed in delight as they were more than halfway there.

“Wait, hold on!” Julie exclaimed as Seth took the first step. The weight of Seth instantly flipped the plank around as he quickly fell into the water.

“Seth!”

Julie quickly stopped Seth from sinking further with her power while Michael hurried to pull the young man up.

“Sorry Julie…” Seth apologized, in his own delight he forgot to wait for Julie to stop the plank before stepping on.

“It’s okay.” Julie replied. Her breathing was heavy, it was the first time ever that she had to stop three things at once. She needed to prevent the plank and Seth from sinking and also to keep the rest afloat.

“Let’s continue.” Julie continued to say as the plank in front of them stiffened.

The three quickly listened to Julie, this time everyone was moving as one as they made their way over to the center. The cards that were flying towards them abruptly stopped the moment they arrived.

“It’s right here.” Julie stated as she pointed in front of them.

Shelly nodded her head and stepped right through. Her body vanished before their very eyes. “It works!”

The three quickly followed from behind as they too entered the invisible teleportation wall.

“Not bad, not bad at all.” Philip Syx muttered as the four trainees vanished from the place. He looked over at the other four lookalikes as they returned to playing cards. “What’s gonna work? Teamwork~”

The four rolled their eyes as Kay Two looked over to P6 and spoke up. “Do you have a six?”

“I am a Syx.” Philip replied. His response caused the four to facepalm as he laughingly handed a six over to Kay Two.

P8 looked towards the center and shook his head. “I bet Seth is going to pee his pants at what he sees.”

“Ahaha, at least he’s already wet, nobody will know.” P5 remarked as they continued to play.

“Holy shit!” Seth exclaimed as he started to panic. The four trainees found themselves high above the skies. Their body floating as they looked down from above. Seth quickly went onto all fours hoping to not fall from the skies. “How do we get down? How do we get down!?”

“Relax, Seth.” Michael replied as he looked over to Julie who was just as panicky as Seth. “Can you two sense anything?”

Julie remembered what she had to do and quickly closed her eyes. However, before she could say anything, Shelly spoke up. “The energy holding us up is disappearing, we’re going to fall.”

Right after Shelly finished saying that the four of them felt the invisible ground beneath them disappear as their body started falling from the skies.

“Ahhh!”