Rundown I

"What Profession is the apprentice? Actually, the fuck is this niggas name? I'm not calling him a fuckin apprentice every time I address him." I said as I began to ask Bermudez the questions I needed answered if I wanted to survive this mission let alone complete it.

Bermudez had one of the finest AVs I've ever seen. Granted, while it was my first seeing one in person, let alone being in one based on their clout it didn't take a genius to know that the Lieutenants would have the highest quality AVs given to them as gifts by their manufacturer, Aerodyne Enterprises.

Bermudez, reading the hologram of a report sent to him by one of his subordinates looked up at me and said, "He's a Peak E-Grade Esper. Were you not listening when I introduced this mission in the first palace? Oh, you're talking about his ability aren't you?"

"Naw, I'm talking about how he ran off on yall dumbasses." I rhetorically responded.

His body shook in irritation, "You're lucky you're sponsored or I would've taken your head off."

I shrugged nonchalantly, "True. But you won't also find a newly awakened super as capable as me for this specific task if no payment is involved. So I guess we're stuck with each other."

"That we are." He agreed and leaned into his chair to make himself more comfortable, "I don't know his ability."

"I'm sorry the fuck what?" I asked in disbelief.

Bermudez shrugged nonchalantly in return, "You heard me. We have no clue what Jalen's ability is. Well, at least I don't have the slightest idea. That agent wouldn't let us anywhere near him even though he gained all of our interest when we first met him."

"How could he possibly gain your interest? He's the apprentice of a man you guys see as less than an ant." I reported until a possibility that seemed so impossible that I could honestly only pity the guy.

"Unless...No, No way," I muttered and started at Bermudez and could only feel a chill crawl up my spine when he nodded his head, confirming my alarming doubts.

"Yes." He affirmed, "We suspected that the agent's apprentice has a Demon Grade Esper Ability."

When superhumans were first introduced and people were starting to learn about them, they realized the infinite possibilities that the path of being superhuman provided. It shattered the realm of possibility and made things that we thought a mere fantasy a clear reality.

But with that came problems.

Due to the infinite possibilities the Council before it fell made a list of all hypothetically broken Esper Abilities and named it: The Forbidden Grade Esper Abilities.

Pretty much had every broken Esper Ability you could think of. It was said that the list contained almost every broken Esper Ability possible. But even broken skills have a hierarchy.

But there was a catch about this list, it wasn't ranked based on which was the strongest, it was based on how much damage it could cause not only to society but humanity as a whole.

The Forbidden Esper Grade Esper Abilities list was ranked from: Demon, Chaos, Calamity, Apocalyptic, and Extermination.

Demon Grade was basically an Esper Ability that while extremely broken was still acceptable by humans. This could mean that they had complete control of an extremely powerful element. The Esper Ability [Gravity Manipulation] would be an example of this but the Esper Abilities [Time Manipulation] and [Gamma Manipulation] are ranked higher based on the sheer damage they can cause if put in the right hands...well in this case wrong but who the fuck said I would use my powers for good.

Extermination Grade basically declared that the ability had the potential to wipe all of humanity off the map if the Esper who possessed said ability grew strong enough that is.

Examples would be [Reality Warping] and [Time Travel]. Anyone with Demon Grade Abilities is closely watched by the strongest megacorporations and organizations. They were targets of grooming and recruiting the second they were discovered. I've been hearing rumors that there is supposedly a list of S-Grade Potential superhumans that recently awakened.

Some even say that half of the top 10 are Espers that awakened Forbidden Grade Abilities and were being hunted down by the megacorps to be developed to suit their own purposes.

Demon to Calamity Grade Espers was usually hunted down and brainwashed or groomed to suit said organization's purpose and that was in the situation where they were young and weak.

If they had power they were granted the ability to negotiate but that was only on paper. In reality in the face of the megacorporations, what could you really do?

They could only agree meekly and be good little doggies. That's all they could do. Even if they were S-Grade so what? All the corpos would have to do was dispatch one of theirs and they would either submit, die, or really wish they were dead instead.

There are no recorded records of Espers that possess Apocalyptic and Extermination-Grade abilities. But that doesn't mean they don't exist. They can be peak S-Grades for all I know or they are out there hiding, coolin it and not even bothering to deal with mortal matters.

But from what I can tell that's very unlikely. They either haven't been born yet or no one has ever claimed the power. Forbidden Grade Esper Abilities is a list of all hypothetical Esper Abilities that exceed human logic. Just because they're on the list doesn't mean they exist, for all we know they don't at all.

But that would be very stupid to hang too if I gotta be honest. With the different abilities being founded each day it's only a matter of time before an ability of that caliber is revealed. Shit, it might've already been with how that damn list is going around.

I gave a silent prayer to the goofies that were going to be living their entire childhoods, if not their whole lives on hard mode as I thought about my own situation.

[Energy Manipulation] If I had to take a guess should be Chaos Grade but that could change based on how I decide to use this ability. While not confirmed it's been majorly accepted that any Manipulation-Type Esper Ability was a Forbidden Grade one. The type of Grade was based on the element most of the time and only a guess of what the said ability could be at its peak.

The classification of the grades was able to be changed at any time. The list was hypothetical after all, most of the abilities on the list were never even seen in person, and even if they were that didn't mean it would live up to the hype.