“Sooo, what’s registration all about?” Machua tried to nonchalantly say.

  Machua was currently seated across from Lemuel, who was typing on a laptop. His typing speed wasn’t too fast and Plue occasionally jumped in to help him.

  “Because of the incident you two were caught up in, your data needs to be updated. Your Aspect being awakened, of course,” Lemuel answered while working on the laptop.

  “But what about Machi?”

  “What about him?” Lemuel looked up from his laptop to ask.

  Plue was also looking in Machua’s direction. She tilted her head a little bit.

  “Nothing!” Machua stammered out.

  Lemuel swiftly came to a deduction. “Oh, I see. You’re worried about your twin brother.”

  Machua silently let out her breath. In truth, she was worried about how the whole doesn’t exist before a year ago thing was going to go down with Machi, but this was also fine. Well, it was also a concern she had anyhow.

  “Y-yeah...” Machua gave a sheepish smile, while scratching her cheek.

  “Don’t worry. Auntie El’s a very nice person. She’ll have his registration wrapped up in a jiffy,” Plue cheerfully said.

  Both Lemuel and Machua thought the same thing. ‘… Are we talking about the same person?’

  “El will have it handled quickly if your brother doesn’t have any issues with his id or has committed any troubles in the past,” Lemuel added. “They’re probably finished by now.”

  Machua began sweating more and more.

  ‘That is exactly what I didn’t want!!!’

  “O-oh. Then I should stop worrying about him, huh?”

  “Haha. If you worry, then you worry. In the meantime, feel free to ask questions. It’ll be a bit difficult to adjust to life with an Aspect, and you’ll have your mandatory Hunter service now as well. Unless you’ve been working as a Hunter?” Lemuel explained and asked.

  “No, no.” Machua answered while shaking her head. “I’ve been on a trip abroad for the past 2 years. I thought I wouldn’t ever awaken my Aspect, so I didn’t think about it. I thought I was gonna be baking when I came back.”

  “Mm. Well, you have until you’re 25 before you have to serve, so-“

  Suddenly, Plue, who had a confused look on her face interrupted. “Isn’t ‘awaken’ the wrong word? You should be using ‘acquired’ or ‘got’ because it’s an external thing.”

  Machua gave it a thought.

  “Is it?” She asked.

  “It is, right?” Plue immediately turned to her father.

  “It is, but awakened is a term people used before we understood that. It’s a word we’ve used for so long that people keep using it even if they know it’s technically wrong. Since Machu doesn’t really know, would you want to explain it to her, Plu?”

  “Okay!” Plue’s energy rapidly changed. “So, Aspects are… uhh, wait let me think about it.”

  Plue brought her hand to her chin. She made several ‘hmm’ sounds as she thought of how best to explain it. Machua couldn’t help herself but to laugh a little bit at the effort.

  After a little bit, Plue nodded her head and cleared her throat. She began to speak like she was reciting a lecture.

  “Aspects are external laws of the universe that sometimes enter the bodies of people. This gives them more refined control with their mana and a link to the category of magic the Aspect rules over.”

  Machua wanted to interrupt Plue’s explanation, but she didn’t seem to notice her gestures and continued.

  “I think a scientist once said that the efficiency of having an Aspect when casting a spell versus not having it is about double.”

  Machua cleared her throat. “The Truthseeker once said the efficiency of not having an Aspect is 50% compared to the normal efficiency of 100% when you do have an Aspect. That’s for Major Aspects though, a Minor Aspect’s efficiency is about 80%. Anyone can use any spell, but with consideration for efficiency, when you cast spells you always want to use spells that match your Aspect.”

  “Uh-huh…” Plue seemed a bit confused at the interruption, but nevertheless continued. “Anyway, so usually Aspects enter people when they’re children or teenagers. It’s rare to find people who miss the timing. And then Minor Aspects are Aspects that people usually have to work for so they can actually choose that one. It’s weaker cause it’s your second. I think that’s it.”

  “You didn’t mention how the vast majority of people have Aspects… And how if you don’t get yours as a teenager you might as well assume you’ll never get one…” Machua trailed off.

  “Ahem,” Lemuel interrupted, “I’d like you to fill your power set now, Machua.”

  Lemuel spun the laptop around and pushed it towards Machua. Machua wordlessly filled it in.

  Machua Purin

  Race: Human

  Major Aspect: Dimension

  Minor Aspect: None

  Trait: World

  Plue was looking over Machua’s shoulder while she typed. When Machua typed in World for her Trait, she commented, “Oh you have a Trait like papa! That’s super rare.”

  Lemuel’s demeanour changed when he heard that. “You do? By any chance, were you…”

  Lemuel took the laptop back and looked at Machua’s old power set records. “Never mind. Just something related to an old case.”

  ‘I feel like there’s a lot going on behind that, buuuut I’m not gonna ask,’ Machua thought.

  “Yeah, I’ve had it since I was born,” Machua responded to Plue then turned to Lemuel. “But I didn’t know you had a Trait, Lemuel. You’re like the fifth person I’ve met who has a Trait too.”

  “I’m willing to bet that all of them had different Traits,” Lemuel said.

  “Yep. Haven’t found a single person with World yet.”

  “Other than your twin brother, I assume?”

  “R-right. Yeah. I meant haven’t found another person with it.”

  “You’re lucky to know someone with the same Trait as yours,” Lemuel said, almost melancholic.

  “Umm…” Plue, suddenly feeling left out, couldn’t help herself but try to speak up. “A Trait is when you control magic differently than other people, right?”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Both Trait-havers looked at her with a complicated look. They shared a glance before collectively giving up.

  “I don’t know how to explain it,” Machua admitted.

  “It’s not taught in schools because most people don’t have one. I think you should try asking El, Plu,” Lemuel suggested.

  “But she doesn’t have a Trait. You do, papa, and you’ve never explained it to me,” Plue pointedly spoke.

  “Let’s… shelf that discussion for later, Plu.”

  Plue seemed a bit annoyed but nodded her head. She had a grumpy frown on her face that Machua couldn’t help but try to change.

  “But we can talk about it later, Plu! I’ll try my best to explain it. Oh, actually my brother can probably explain it better than I can, so we can ask him!”

  “Really?” Plue excitedly asked.

  Machua flashed a grin. Yeah! We can meet at one of my favourite cafes! Cafe LeBlanche, if you’ve ever heard of it.”

  “I’ve been planning on going there too one day. This is perfect!”

  “When we meet there, I’ll show you the best desserts to order.”

  Lemuel’s face slowly morphed into a slight smile as he watched the two girls talk. It was a heart-warming scene for him, since Plue found it difficult to make friends.

  “Ah, Machua, your eyes changed colour!” Plue suddenly yelped.

  “Huh?” Machua couldn’t help herself from exclaiming.

  “Your eyes were blue before but now they’re green!”

  “Huh? My eyes are brown though. They’ve never been either colour.”

  “No, they were blue! I remember because I thought it was weird that your eye colour isn’t the same as your twin’s. I’m not lying,” Plue said, almost as if she was a little desperate to get Machua to believe her.

  “It’s true, Machua,” Lemuel cut in. “Your eyes were a different colour. Try and take a picture of yourself, you’ll see Plu’s right.”

  Machua looked at Plue, who was nodding along to her father’s suggestion, and decided to try it. It was unthinkable that her eyes would change colour, but then again, Machi existing was also unthinkable, so maybe they did? Maybe?

  Machua pulled out her phone, and quickly snapped a picture of herself, not even bothering to do a cute pose. To her surprise, her eyes were indeed green at this moment. She looked through older photos of herself, confirming that her eyes were brown, and then looked back at her latest pic.

  “How…?” Machua questioned.

  Lemuel answered her. “That’s your giveaway. Everybody with an Aspect has a giveaway that tells others what they are.”

  “The giveaway for Dimension must be that your eyes change colour from time to time, but you should be able to repress it,” Lemuel continued.

  “However, it becomes bothersome to repress your giveaway when you need to use your Aspect’s power.”

  ———————————————————————

  Star.

  Eyes filled with glimmering sparks must mean Star. That was Elize’s Aspect. An Aspect capable of shooting a barrage of projectiles akin to shooting stars. With her giveaway fully revealed, she was showing her intent to use her Aspect. Her eyes glowing with stars in them seemed entrancing, but within them laid a cold and unforgiving gaze. However, just because she revealed her Aspect, it didn’t mean she was actually going to use it. It was a threat, pure and simple.

  I had bet on the idea that this was a fake-out, so I simply rushed towards her. She wasn’t going to shoot. This was a test, that was all.

  However, my eyes told me otherwise. As I stared down the barrel of her gun, I could see a faint glow becoming ever brighter by the second.

  She was going to shoot. And at this range, I couldn’t dodge it. I still attempted to of course, but ultimately, the bullet would penetrate my skull.

  The bullet neared my eye, and I almost felt time slow down as my death approached. Given a single split second more, and it would finish me or at the very least render me blind in one eye. Unfortunately, despite the perfect aim and my rushing at her, it would never hit me. It’s not that I could get out of the way, it’s that in the next moment I simply didn’t exist in this world at all.

  *Bang!*

  I watched the bluish-white bullet enhanced with magic pierce through my head harmlessly, as I phased out of this world. Elize’s face looked as if she expected this. So, it wasn’t over.

  The next moment, I phased back into the world. In my position, close to the ground, I launched the table up, forcing Elize to back off. Just as she did however, I kicked the mid-air table and sent it flying her way, the legs perfectly positioned to trap her into the wall.

  *Bang!*

  Another gunshot rung out. It was aimed at the ceiling however, instead of at me. I didn’t have much time to question it, because when the bullet impacted the room’s ceiling, the entire room shimmered. A barrier that encapsulated the entire room made its presence known and shot the table back into the centre of the room.

  “Let’s get started, Machia,” Elize trained her revolver at me again.

  Another gunshot. At this distance, I dodged it easily. However, it wasn’t finished. Just as I made my move, I heard the bullet make an impact with the wall, and it made a different noise than normal. Hurriedly, I looked back, and found it shooting back at me.

  I dodged it again, but as I did, I found that Elize had shot another bullet at me. I dodged that too, but then another bullet came. And another. And another. Within seconds, the room was filled with bouncing bullets, making it difficult for me to find an area where I wouldn’t be hit.

  Much sooner than I wanted to, I was forced to phase out. All the bullets began streaking past where my body should have been and past me, blocking my escape. Elize calculated the trajectories of these bullets well. There wasn't anywhere for me to phase back in. I glanced at Elize and she seemed content at watching me face this situation.

  “Hah…” I sighed.

  The good thing about phasing out is that all danger instantly becomes nil once you do phase out. Without pulling some special tricks, Elize wasn’t able to hit me if I phased out.

  Normally, I’d expect the magic enhancing the bullets to start dissipating after a single bounce, but that wasn’t the case. The bullets were still zipping with enhanced speed and were all still glowing with that bluish-white light. Either Elize infused a lot more mana into each bullet than expected, or the magic in the bullets weren’t the cause for their bounces.

  I glanced at the barrier of the room. A reflective barrier. It must have already been set before I even came here. By utilising the barrier’s reflective property instead of having to infuse the bullets with magic to allow them to bounce, Elize could significantly cut down on mana costs.

  Now, there were two main ways to take care of this. One was to take out Elize, however, my Aspects weren’t suited for taking those bullets head-on. Ephemerality allowed me to escape them without a scratch, but when I phase, the entirety of my body needs to be phased out at the same time. That is to say, if a bullet occupies my position in this world, I can’t phase in, and thus, can’t hurt Elize. My Dimension wouldn’t be able to store those bullets in another dimension either, as they were infused with mana.

  I would have to find an opening for method 1. Method 2 would have me wait for the barrier to run out of mana. However, that simply wasn’t an option. Once again, because of Ephemerality.

  Ephemerality is the Aspect of change. But any change is short-lived, thereby the mana cost for phasing out increases exponentially over time. Phasing out didn’t cost much mana but spending a few consecutive seconds phased out was a big mana drainer. But with Elize’s bouncing bullets, I found it hard to find a space I could phase in and not be immediately struck.

  As I searched for a space free of bullets, Elize calculated my next movements. She was always a step ahead. Every time I found a space that was free, a bullet would cross its path in the next moment. At every second, bullets occupied the spaces I wanted to reach for. I couldn’t find a safe space anywhere. It was a trap room perfectly suited for trapping a Phantom.

  However, I wasn’t a normal Phantom. I specialised in direct combat. I could have escaped anytime by now, but that wasn’t my goal. I had to stay in Erelier in order to avert its destruction, and so, I had to prove myself to Elize, my guarantor.

  A brief and open spot. About 2 bullets that would make impact. Nevertheless, I rushed in and phased back into this world. I felt air enter my lungs again as the bullets made impact with me.

  My hands that is. I had reinforced my hands with mana and caught the bullets head-on. The bullets caused some bleeding, but all in all, I was fine. The mana in them dissipated on contact, so I instantly transported the bullets to another dimension and made my way to Elize.

  Unfortunately, I could not take a straight path. Elize made sure of that, which forced me to take a roundabout path to dodge the bullets. I only had 2 hands, I could catch maybe 3 bullets per hand. And there were way more than 6 bullets in the room. I needed something to break the status quo, or I would just run out of mana from reinforcing myself.

  I suddenly slammed my leg onto the ground, launching that table back up. I delivered a palm strike to it and this time, the table’s legs were not positioned to trap her. They were facing away from the wall, so this time, the table was poised to slam straight into her. If she didn’t do something about it, then she would be hurt. Which was exactly my chance.

  I rushed right after the table, taking on whatever bullets came my way. Some of them hit me, some of them I caught. I was injured, but I took them head-on. Elize didn’t seem to dodge out of the way, but even if she did, I would simply send the table at her new direction anyway. I would be fine, but since she wasn’t going to dodge out of the way, I capitalised.

  I kicked the table forward, with more force then necessary, breaking it in the air. I could see Elize’s face change expressions, not expecting this move. My hands were both poised for action. One hand was ready to slam her into the wall, while the other was ready to catch any bullets she’d shoot at me. With both of our visions free again, I could see directly where she would shoot. Right now, I would definitely be able to intercept her shots. There was no doubting it.

  Elize fired. The bullet travelled a little slower than expected for some reason. I don’t know if I would’ve caught this slight shift in speed, if it weren’t for my close distance to it, but that change in speed definitely meant something. Guns don’t change the speed of their projectiles, only their users did. Elize definitely did something to that bullet.

  “Scattered Shavings,” she intoned.

  The bluish-white bullet suddenly broke off into dozens of smaller sparks, all coming at me. That singular bullet at the beginning broke apart like a meteor. The result was as if she fired off a shot from a shotgun. I definitely couldn’t catch all of it, so I had no choice but to phase back out of this world.

  My momentum didn’t change though, so I still landed right in front of Elize, my arm reaching through her and phasing even through the wall.

  “What next, Phantom?” Elize asked, a little mockingly.

  I grimaced from the tone. It reminded me of someone I knew. I slowly turned away and backed off as I thought about what to do again.

  I glanced behind me, briefly, finding Elize still watching me. Her arms were crossed, and she was in a relaxed position. Though, she wasn’t laying her back onto the wall.

  I walked to the edge of the room and faced the reflective barrier. The table was launched off the reflective barrier earlier, and Elize wasn’t touching it at all either. Which meant that the barrier reflected all objects instead of only the infused bullets Elize shot. It was constantly active as well, which was why Elize wasn’t laying her back on it. The reflection isn’t based on her control.

  I briefly considered whether the barrier was set up by Lemuel. But, with his sense for justice, I wondered how Elize would explain this to him. Anyway, I knew for a fact she didn’t have control over it other than activation.

  In that case…

  I leaned my back on the wall and laid one foot on it. Since I was phasing still, the wall didn’t bounce me.

  “Elize, this better be the end of it. Otherwise, I think I’ll just be leaving.”

  I phased back in and quickly stomped toward the wall. However, I didn’t make contact with it. I made contact with a small hop bubble instead. The bubble burst and my mana flowed.

  Instantly, I rocketed forward at an insane speed. I instantly landed above Elize, having broken through every bullet that crossed my path. The mana of the bullets dissipated on impact, so even just affecting their movement was enough to allow me to store them.

  I glanced at Elize who had very wide eyes at this point. Almost like she couldn’t believe it.

  Without giving her a second thought, I allowed the reflexive barrier to bounce me back. I shot forward again and caught more bullets. I dashed around the room, ping-ponging wall to wall, ceiling to floor, intercepting each and every bullet. The sheer amount of spins and movement I had to do and the speed at which I did them were probably mind-boggling to the normal eye. But it wasn't difficult for me, my training with my captain made sure of that.

  “Done.”

  I landed on the ground and raised my hands into the air, taking out all of the bullets I had stored back into the world. All of the bullets clattered onto the floor noisily.

  “You really shot a lot of bullets at me. Was all of that really necessary?”

  Elize didn’t respond. The sparkle in her eyes slowly disappeared, as she unloaded her revolver.

  “I must say, Machia Purin. You are the greatest spell thief I have ever seen.”

  It was my turn to widen my eyes. Just from that? I used it exactly one time. And I concealed it behind my foot and the bounce of the reflexive barrier. She caught that?

  “I’m sure Galas would be dying to hear about this. I imagine if he caught wind, he would be chasing you all over the city. I almost want to tell him just to watch the mayhem he causes.”

  Elize suppressed the sparkle in her eyes. “His signature spell that he’s never taught anyone being used by a mysterious Phantom of all people. Either you’re a stalker that he somehow never caught, or you’re his secret disciple. I’m willing to bet it’s neither.”

  I deeply sighed. I underestimated Elize. For sure. “I’m sure you understand I don’t want you speaking a word of this to him.”

  “Of course not. You’ve exceeded my expectations, Machia, and I can tell you will be of help to me. I will not pry as to how you know Burst Hop. Now, I do owe you for putting you through this test, so feel free to request anything you need in the future.”

  Her tone rubbed me the wrong way, so I clicked my tongue at her. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go, we shouldn’t keep them waiting.”