They Never See It Coming

"Wait, what do you mean? Of course, I know how powerful the ability I have is!" Alec responded, confused as to what Aaron meant by that. "Here, let me explain it for you," Aaron replied, about to explain the full power the child possessed. "After all, it is quite impressive."

"Your skill allows you to steal the strength and abilities of other people and use it as your own. I bet if you were to throw a punch at me right now, you'd send me a bit backwards." Aaron explained, extending his arms to his sides. Alec was curious, but he wanted to see if what Aaron said was true. He pulled his arm back and let a punch fly. It landed on Aaron's armour, making him recoil slightly, but not enough to make him move.

"So, you aren't strong enough to do that yet...no matter. You will get stronger over time, so don't worry about it." Aaron concluded, looking at his armour. "Although, you did leave quite a dent in it," Aaron admitted, tapping his armour. Where Alec had punched, a decently sized dent had imprinted into his armour. Aaron placed his hand over the imprint and, using his Boundless Telekinesis, reverted his armour to thirty seconds ago when it dented.

"So, we know the extent of your current power. It doesn't have to be physical injury, as you said, but hey, that kind of injury is much better than mental injury." Aaron stated with a cheerful tone in his mentally-projected voice. Alec was just impressed. Beforehand, he wasn't able to deal a proper punch to someone. The last people only hit him, yet he wasn't allowed to test his strength on anyone. He was a punching bag, as people called it.

"Well, what other techniques can you use? I want to see if I can use those too!" Alec asked with an excited face. He wanted to see if he would be able to take another move and inflict it on Aaron, as he wanted to see what happened. Aaron laughed before lifting his hand. "Now, if I teach you my abilities, who's going to be the one who is known for using them?" Aaron responded, posing a question of his own. Alec thought about it, almost had an answer, and then realised it sounded stupid, considering the question asked.

The answer was "Both of us", but that wouldn't have answered Aaron's question.

"So, now, we're going to go fight the guardians for some of those keys. How do you feel about coming face to face with a lesser guardian, Alec?" Aaron inquired, curious of Alec's stance on it. Alec gulped, taking a deep breath, before giving his answer. "Those things are scary. The aura they emit is overwhelming. Almost enough to make you fall to your knees. At least, that's what I've heard from other adventurers who fought them," Alec answered. "After all, they also join in the fight with their summoned monsters, or so I've heard."

'Oh? So they also join in the fight with their monsters? It wouldn't be too unorthodox for me to join in, then. I can rely on my strength for these battles, but what if they find out about Monument?' Aaron pondered.

[Well, then you're kinda fucked, Aaron.]

'Memica! Dear God, don't scare me like that! I didn't know you were listening in!' Aaron mentally yelled, almost having a heart attack. Well, he didn't have a heart, but you know what I meant.

[I'm always listening to your thoughts, Aaron. I just mostly leave you alone, in case you want to find the solution by yourself.] Memica ominously replied, sending a shiver down Aaron's spine.

'You know, that's kinda scary, Memica. Every time you say something ominous, you put me on edge.' Aaron complained, causing Memica to give a joking response.

[I'm always watching. Even when you don't know it. From out beyond space, I'm always staring.]

'You know, that really doesn't help, even though I know you're joking.' Aaron responded, images going through his head. 'Now all I can think about is a big thing on a chair, just staring at me from the edge of the universe. It's scary.'

"Hey, Aaron?" Alec asked, dragging Aaron out of his thoughts. "Yeah, Alec?" Aaron responded, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "Well, from what I've seen, you don't have any keys, so why are you going to go fight a lesser guardian? Don't you need to, you know, fight the leaders? The human ones?" Alec inquired, curious as to Aaron's reasoning.

"Well, it's because I am not bothered to fight the human leaders, so I'm going for the riskier route of fighting one of the lesser guardians so I can get all the human leader keys. It's to save time." Aaron explained, causing Alec to just have more questions. He was about to ask one when he remembered something Aaron said. When he was firing his black hole.

"Go forth, Miniature Black Hole! Show him a fraction of my power!"

That's what he said. Alec was curious. "Also, Aaron, why did you say, when you were firing the black hole, that it was only a fraction of your power? Surely, firing such an attack would be near the limits of your strength, right?" Alec wondered, causing Aaron to slightly tense up, realising the mistake he had made.

"Well, about that, Alec..." Aaron responded, trying to figure a way out of this. "It's something I say just to scare the people who I fire it at. It's a way of getting them to think that I'm all-powerful, being able to do anything. Plus, I say a fraction, but I never say what fraction, so I could be saying it's 7/8ths of my power. People just assume that it's a low fraction. That's the great thing about lying about our power, Alec. There's only one advantage, and it's an advantage that can change the fight in a split second."

"They never see it coming."