Necessary Conflict

[The Devil System is currently idle]

[Waiting for conditions to fully activate...]

[Calculating...]

[...]

[Progress Towards Activation: 96%]

...

It was a pretty large room so the other esper could be anywhere. If I could put my back against a wall, I'd be able to observe the EM-waves around me. After kicking some of the bugs away from me, I leaned up against the dusty brick wall.

Where are the EM-waves?

After scanning the entire area, I noticed a concentration of the waves just beneath the floorboards. It didn't seem to be far enough below to be at a lower level. They were definitely hiding underneath the timber flooring, shallow enough for my sword to reach.

Slowly, I began making my way over. The room had gone quiet now that the screams of terror from the guards had dissipated. My footsteps echoed as I walked to a specific spot on the floor. My socks were stained with blood as the bugs continued to gnaw at my feet. They bit on tight; there was no way for me to get rid of them without taking care of their controller.

With the tip pointed towards the ground, I raised my blade.

With a gentle thrust, it penetrated through the thin wooden flooring.

"...Gaughh!!" a screech of pain filled my ears, "...Aghhh!" I heard the faint yet frantic gasping from below the ground.

I could feel the sensation of soft, mushy flesh at the end of my sword. It stabbed straight through his body, cracking his bones. The boards rumbled as he seemingly struggled in vain. A few moments later, I pulled out my blade.

Colouring the tip, a deep red liquid dripped onto the ground.

All of the insects that were biting at my ankle suddenly fell still, dropping to the ground.

Before long, the room became dead silent once again.

I didn't really understand, why was the esper hiding under the floorboards anyways. There was probably a range for his ability, so I guess they might've needed to be close. But how did they know I was coming? From what it seemed, they didn't know I was there until a few moments before I barged in.

Something didn't seem quite right.

Placing my sword back into its sheath, I began walking to the next door. I still hadn't managed to see The Initializer or the B-ranked esper yet.

???

Huh?

I can't breathe.

I tried to gasp for air, but I couldn't

Air... I need air.

Frantically, I looked around. It must have been the work of the air-manipulating esper. Suddenly, I felt a pain in my back. My arms slammed into the ground as I tried to catch myself. Looking behind me, I saw a tall, muscular boy.

"Haha, you don't look like a member of Spectrum."

He had an annoyingly high-pitched voice, something that didn't seem to fit with his appearance.

Beside him, I saw a young girl.

Calculate.

Calculate.

I need air.

An immense pain was building in my lungs.

Air...

I needed to decipher his calculations as fast as possible.

"Look at you... so pitiful; I thought we were being raided by Spectrum. We really need to get stronger guards, it seems." He chuckled to himself.

With all the energy I had left in my body, I swung my sword at his legs.

In one swift move, he stepped back and avoided my attack.

"Yikes! You nearly got me there~" his high-pitched voice only made the mockery more intolerable.

My consciousness was fading.

Calculate.

Calculate.

I've got the foundation of his calculations.

As fast as I could, I expressed my partial inverse equation through my Interceptor.

I gasped for air.

The air was thin, but I was getting oxygen into my lungs. I couldn't stop myself from coughing.

"Huh? Are you messing with my calculations?!"

He suddenly looked down at me in anger. He raised his leg once again, kicking me right in the face. Unable to do anything against it, my body crashed into the hard wooden floor.

"You're a sly little weasel," he scoffed.

I've managed to decipher more of his calculations.

Again, I expressed another set of equations through my Interceptor.

Slowly, I was regaining my strength as air rapidly entered my lungs.

"Eh?! You managed to break free? You little piece of shit. I guess we can have some fun in that case."

All of sudden, the air around me constricted again. It seemed that he had recalculated, negating my inverse equation. However, I had filled my lungs with as much air as I could beforehand. My chest had expanded further than it had ever done before—I needed to save as much air in my body as possible.

Raising my sword, I took a few steps towards him. The lack of oxygen made me feel unbalanced, unable to fully comprehend my surroundings. He moved backwards as I pushed towards him.

I slashed at him, but he managed to evade my attack. In retaliation, he launched a wave of air into my side. The force pushed me right off my feet, causing me to crash into the dirty brick wall that the room was held up by.

The attack gave me a small breath of air, however.

I picked myself off the ground, raising my sword once again.

I need to calculate.

If I could get a null equation, I'd be able to stop his air-constricting ability.

Trying to observe anything I could, I desperately tried to formulate an equation to combat his attacks.

Calculate.

Use anything.

Try every formula.

I could see him building up another attack in his palm. Watching his movements, I quickly jumped out of the way before the shockwave hit my body. It smashed into the wall, forming a large dent, launching tiny shards of cement all over the place.

I managed to calculate another partial inverse equation for his new calculations.

With that, I was given a few more breaths of air.

"Goddamn it, how do you keep countering my calculations?! I guess I'll have to make it so that you won't be able to calculate anything ever again!"

He suddenly began sprinting at me.