Dead End 2

Of course, only if Susa also became an expert at fighting. It seemed like everyone was making progress or had a vision of how their powers could be used.

However, Lia seemed to hit a dead end with her powers. Using her soul was dangerous and her ability had many drawbacks.

Lia didn't want to show it but she was really concerned about how to proceed with her power.

"What do you say?" suddenly Mika stood in front of Lia with a proud smug. Lia was startled and quickly examined the situation. Behind Mika, the square he and Xavi went into was completely free of ghosts.

Lia lied, "Good job. So, your summons can purge ghosts too?"

Mika instantly dropped his smile and anger hid in his eyes, "You didn't even watch!"

"I did," Lia didn't bat an eye.

"You didn't! Stop lying!" Mika furiously stomped away and before he entered another square, he pointed at Lia and yelled.

"Watch! Don't you dare not watch!"

Lia sighed. Mika was indeed bratty. He really wanted to show Lia his skills and how good he could be. Lia knew it was to defy her and declare he was better than her. He was really too competitive.

"Alright," helplessly Lia watched Mika summon stones the size of a finger.

Not even giving Lia time to wonder, Mika threw the stones and it flew through several ghosts before flying back into Mika's hand in a circle. The ghosts, the stone touched had all vanished.

In other words, Mika's simple summons of an object could purge ghosts. Lia was baffled and had to admit that Mika's skills and ability were formidable. What was more surprising was that he figured it out how to use his power in a short time.

Mika strolled proudly to Lia and Lia praised him, "I've watched. Good job."

She patted his head but Mika instantly pulled away, "Stop it! Don't think this makes me happy"

Angry and flustered he stepped away and summoned a sword to fight against the ghosts in another square. Xavi approached Lia, "It was only luck."

"What?" Lia didn't understand what Xavi meant.

"The discovery that his summons can purge ghosts but it should be a given because your power can purge them, so ours should too."

"I see," Lia almost snorted seeing Mika's rebellious form but she decided not to tease him and keep this information to herself.

"What about you?" Lia has also missed Xavi's performance. Xavi effortlessly charged a power orb as big as his palm and threw it towards the ghosts. It was still rather slow but the size of it grew twice the size and the impact colliding with a ghost caused the surrounding ones also to disappear.

"You've improved a lot, good job," Lia patted Xavi's soft hair. Despite Xavi turning red, he didn't stop her. Lia thought that Mika should learn from Xavi.

"So, we've established a training regime. You fight against the ghost, then against each other and us. We'll swap things out," Lia suggested.

"Sounds good," Xavi agreed but then his expression turned serious, "You?"

Lia instantly guessed what Xavi meant and planned not to tell him when Xavi with a hint of anger said, "You promised to tell me!"

Xavi's voice was loud but it didn't disturb Lily teaching Susa how to fight.

"Alright," Lia sighed again, "I think I've hit a dead end. I'm pretty much useless without corpses."

"But Mika can summon weapons now."

"This still means I'm relying on him."

"What about me?" Mika came back with pursed lips. Lia saw that he once again purged all of the ghosts.

"Nothing, "Lia wanted to brush the topic off and turned to Lily and Susa.

"Hey," Mika grabbed her by the shoulders, Lia looked at him. Mika's lips became a fine line and he let go of her.

"Can you only control ghosts or could you control anything with your soul?"

"You mean I should try to see if my power works on other things?"

Mika nodded, "Have you ever tried it?"

Lia shook her head.

"Then why don't you try it?" Lia thought briefly and looked around, "There's nothing here."

"Mika's making a good point, it could work," Xavi also liked Mika's idea.

"I can summon something."

"Not a stone please."

Mika looked Lia dead in the eyes and all the good feelings he worked hard on bringing forth for her were instantly destroyed, "I know that's why," with pursed lips and narrowed eyes, he opened his palm and focused.

For a while, nothing happened until a white light surrounded Mika's hand. A second later something dropped on the ground.

This time Lia stared Miika dead in the eyes. There was a hint of amusement in his eyes when he held the thing up, justifying, "It's cute unlike you."

"It really is," Xavi agreed but Lia saw he was holding his laughter back.

"Try it," Mika held out the teddy bear and Lia, with dead eyes, grabbed the paw and transferred her soul.

Then Mika sat on the ground, "How do you usually control something?"

"Walk," Lia briefly said. A second later, the teddy bear stood up and walked towards Lia holding out his arms.

"It's very cute," Mika was even more amused seeing Lia's narrowed eyes.

"Chase Mika and bite him," in an instant, the teddy bear turned to Mika as Lia pointed at him and ran with its mouth open.

"Hey!" Mika backed off, "Try to test it out on the ghosts, not me! Hey, I was just trying to help you-"

Yet Lia didn't stop the teddy bear and soon it caused Mika to run in circles. Xavi once again thought Lia was very petty.

However, Lia appreciated Mika's help. She knew he heard her conversation with Xavi and wanted to help her and contribute something. It seemed like their relationship was getting better.

Yet suddenly a sharp pain spread in Lia's torso and she held her chest, "Stop!" she commanded and panted.

The pain grew.

"Come here," the teddy bear followed Lia's command and had the soul taken away again.

It slumped onto the ground. Lia hurried to grab its paw and retracted her soul.

"What's wrong?" Xavi dropped to his knees and patted Lia's back.

The pain diminished but it was still there. The soul piece Lia retracted was painfully floating around, agonising her. Usually, it was only a bit uncomfortable but now it was just tormenting.

Lia tried to stabilise her breath but it was futile. She heard people calling her name and saw Susa's worried face. Even without Susa telling her, Lia knew she was at her limit. Her soul couldn't take anymore.