Sin stared at the ball on her desk. Rai had just left the training hall after putting on a spectacular display. And... also teasing Sin, which flustered her a little bit more than she’d like to admit.

“How did he do that? That guy gets injured, then comes back after a month, and just learns telekinesis like that? What the fuck...” Amy said.

“He’s... always been like that.”

“He’s strong. Just like you... I’m really jealous of you two.” Lina said.

Sin and Amy were surprised. Lina didn’t typically talk about her feelings but this time she was forthright with them. Lina was, slowly but surely, growing.

Sin thought about Lina’s words. Her and Rai were equals in all but their mana reserves, acuity, and bodies. Also their training, but that didn’t matter quite as much.

So... what stops me from doing what he can do? Nothing. I’ll do it better than he did... but how?

Sin sighed and hung her head. Take your time Sindyl. There’s no reason to panic. Telekinesis. Let’s think back to the demonstration.

Sin recalled Miss Lillia’s demo. If I want the ball to move how I want it to, then does that make my intention part of the spell’s components? It’s different to other spells. Let’s look at the breakdown of a spell.

Sin called forth a quill, ink pot, and paper from her spatial rune. Most mages had their own spatial runes. Oftentimes they’d come in the form of a big rock that the mage had to carry around with them. For Sin, the daughter of the Deceiver, she’d used a pair of rings passed down to her by her mother. Her father had imbued them with spatial magi for her. Sin thought about how Rai’s seals were also imbued with spatial magic, then pinched herself for getting distracted.

Sin sat on a mirror chair that she conjured, and started writing down the breakdown of a spell.

⌜

Primary: The mana flow. Telekinesis has no accelerated mana flow. It’s supposed to be constant and consistent, with no fluctuations.

Secondary: The attribute. Telekinesis has no known attribute.

Tertiary: Let’s figure out the secondary component first.

How to forge an attribute: I don’t know.

⌟

Sin slammed her face down onto the desk.

Amy was focusing on her spell, which wasn’t working. She was so focused that she didn’t notice nor hear Sin's slam. But Lina did.

“Are you okay?” Lina asked her.

Sin’s voice came out muffled. “I juft can’t het it.” She raised her head. There was a soft pink hue in a circular shape on her forehead. “I just can’t get it.”

“Why don’t you ask Miss Lillia? She did say that we can ask her for help.”

“Well... yeah sure, why not? She won’t just give me the answers like Rai would, so it’s not like I’m cheating.”

Sin got up and walked over to Lillia, who was standing at the bleachers observing everyone.

The students were working hard to catch up to Rai, but for some reason no one had come to ask her for any help. Maybe it’s because Rai did it by himself? But even Rai got confirmation from me... though no one else would’ve noticed that.

Sin’s voice came from her side.

“Miss Lillia?”

“How can I help you Miss Raven?”

“Please call me Sindyl, Miss Lillia.” She sighed, “I think I’ve figured out part of the spell, but I can’t figure out the rest.”

“Did you think back on the demonstration?”

“I could tell that you willed for the ball to move, so I figured that intention was a big part of the spell...”

Lillia smiled, even though she was more frustrated than happy.

“You and Rai, you’re just the same aren’t you.”

“We’re very different actually. He likes lightning, and I like mirrors.”

“What... are you talking about?”

“N-never mind. I was hoping you could help me with the next part of the spell. Every spell is made up of a mana flow and an attribute, but I can’t figure out the attribute to apply to telekinesis. Elemental spells are easy, some spells like my mirror ones are more difficult, but telekinesis has literally nothing to work off. I can’t figure out how to reverse engineer it.”

Lillia thought deeply for a moment. She wanted to help, but didn’t want to give Sindyl the answer right away.

“You’re already on the right track. Follow that line of thought, try to think about spell attributes in a more abstract way.”

“Okay, thank you Miss Lillia.”

“You’re very welcome Sindyl.”

Sin returned to her desk.

Lillia looked up at the ceiling, for no particular reason.

“They’re so alike and they don’t realise it. What a pair you’ve chosen, Rodrick.” She whispered under her breath.

A line of students formed in front of her. Most of the class was there.

“Miss Lillia, can you help us too?” The boy at the front of the queue asked.

Lillia smiled. She was internally fuming, even though this was literally her own instruction earlier on in the lesson. Look at what you’ve started...

“Of course. I won’t give you any answers, but if you think you have an idea then feel free to tell me and I’ll try to help from there.”

Sin sat back down on her mirror chair.

If my line of thinking is correct, then that means I have to ‘create’ an attribute... did Rai really do that? No way, he’s too stupid. He probably just brute forced the ball to move according... to... his will?

Eureka.

The attribute is willpower itself! I forgot that attributes don’t have to be limited to the elements! Concepts and abstracts apply just as well.

Sin figured it out, but wasn’t sure how to manifest the spell itself. The tertiary component of a spell was often how it was manifested. Some were shot out as projectiles, while others were spells that activated within a given radius around the caster. The tertiary component could be anything, as long as the caster had the mana and ability to shape the spell into that component.

Even though Rai’s mana reserves were fucking insane, Sin had a lot of mana herself. Her mana channels were well developed after casting many strenuous spells in her own personal training. After all, she came second on the mana aptitude test in the entrance exams.

Sin was engrossed in the spell. The main thing she wanted to do was make her version of telekinesis easy to cast on anything around her, even if she couldn’t see it.

One of the techniques that Sin learned from her tutors when she was younger was Mana Sense. It was a common technique that pretty much every mage learned. The spell itself was simple. The caster constantly sent out waves of ultra-thin mana, allowing their mana to bounce off objects so the caster could feel all of the objects within a given radius.

One of the things Sin wanted to do when she initially learned it was to make Mana Sense a kind of passive spell. This would allow her to constantly be aware of what was around her. Of course, any high level warrior or mage would have their own ways of avoiding detection by this technique. Some would even be able to detect the waves of mana, unless the caster was skilled enough.

But it would still be useful to detect all of the objects in a room, for example, if Sin needed access to any of them for any reason.

After years and years of honing the technique, Sin’s Mana Sense was one of the best sensory techniques that she could’ve asked for. She was close to making Mana Sense constantly active without actually draining any of her mana. Of course, that didn't mean that she wasn't using any mana to cast the spell continuously, but that she was regenerating mana at a rate faster than what was being used to maintain the spell. That was something she’d continue to work on until she perfected it.

For now, Sin wanted to combine Mana Sense and telekinesis. She wanted to be able to cast telekinesis on anything that was within range of her Mana Sense.

Sin decided that the best way to accomplish that goal would be to apply telekinesis in the form of a mask. By virtue of always being in contact with every object within her range, Sin could easily apply the mask to them. Then, whenever casting the spell, she could command all of the objects within the masks. This way, Sin could cast telekinesis on anything she could sense. It was like imbuing an object with a spell, without actually touching the object.

The joyful feeling of butterflies in the pit of Sin’s stomach excited her. She couldn’t wait to try it.

Sin started. She cast Mana Sense. Because of her constant training and improvement of the spell since she was young, no one could even detect that she’d casted it. Not even Miss Lillia. By this point, Mana Sense drained a miniscule amount of her mana over time, so it would take ages to completely drain her mana if Mana Sense was all she was to maintain. It didn’t take up much of her concentration either.

Sin thought about it for a second. I want to have some fun, just like Rai did... so what should I... I know exactly what to do.

She remained sat in her mirror chair. Then she began setting up the spell.

Sin wrapped all of the objects in the room in her mana in an instant. This included all of the people, the balls, and the tables.

No one could tell.

She’d almost mastered this type of spell over the years. At her current level, she reckoned that only a master like Jin or an Aspect like her father would be able to tell.

Sin smirked. She commanded everything with her internal voice.

Rise.

Everything and everyone started floating.

Lina yelped, but Amy was already watching Sin who remained sat down in her chair.

“woahwoahwoAHWOAH!” One of the boys yelled.

The general emotion in the room was one synonymous with panic.

Lillia facepalmed as she floated in the air. She couldn’t believe just how flashy both Rai and Sin were.

The students were all scared. One of them even started crying.

“Sindyl’s casting the spell. Don’t worry!” Amy yelled out.

Collectively, the class became even more panicked. If a friend of Rai's was casting a spell that controlled all of them... that was the most terrifying thing they’d ever experienced.

Sin, however, was having a blast. She had control of literally everything in the room.

The first thing she did was focus on two things at once. Sin commanded all of the people that were suspended mid-air to go and sit in the bleachers. They floated towards them and were gently sat down in the seats. At the same time, she commanded all of the balls to dance around the room. All of the tables were suspended mid-air, organised in a way that looked like a pretty frame for the students to view from the bleachers.

The spectacle was incredible. Sin watched as her masterpiece unfolded according to her will.

What if... What if I used the mask to apply other spells?!

Sin applied some elemental attributes to the balls. Some ignited. Some emanated miniature wind scythes, causing a mirage effect around them. A handful of the balls froze into balls of ice. A couple of the balls had a red mist surrounding them. Sin didn't know what the red magic was, but she didn’t care.

Sin was completely enthralled by her own display.

Something shifted in her eyes, but Sin couldn’t feel it.

This... this is my Domain. My Sinful Domain.

Not only did she learn how to use telekinesis, but Sin had created an entirely new spell. Lillia may have been annoyed previously, but now she watched on in awe as her student grew beyond the bounds of what anyone present expected.

Amy and Lina watched as Sin skilfully controlled everything in the room while putting on a show. Amy’s gaze drifted towards Sin. Something was...

“SINDYL! YOUR FACE!” She shouted.

Sin turned to Amy after hearing her. She conjured a mirror and looked into it.

Her normally red eyes were fine... but there were pitch black glowing runes lined below them, along the top of her cheekbones. The runes themselves were black, and seemed to follow an eloquent design, but they glowed a soft red.

Sin screamed.

The objects that were flying around were now frozen in the air. The fire and wind dissipated, the ice shattered, and the red mist evaporated. The scarred balls remained suspended for the time being.

The runes around her eyes disappeared. The feeling, that she previously didn’t notice, disappeared.

Everything dropped to the ground with a loud crash.

Sin braced herself, but nothing was floating over her, so she was fine.

Lillia stared at the aftermath.