Chapter 8 - The Greatest Esper

Ambrosia gazed at her book and began to read the pages. It was translated into an unknown language, yet Ambrosia understood it. Her heterochromatic eyes glowed with energy, soaking up the information flowing from the book.

Then, when she was ready, she closed the book, continuing to hover in mid-air. She gazed at the Tiger Frog, analyzing its features, and its weak points.

"Kento, I'm going to need you to move out of the way. The monster is dazed, so I'm going to attack it, but I don't wanna hit you!"

Kento looked toward Ambrosia, she was glowing. He knew what she was about to do. She was about to use her psychic powers to annihilate this monster.

"Okay, Ambrosia! Just get rid of this thing already!" said Kento as he ran from the monster, returning to where Ambrosia was standing. When he arrived, he stood back, a few feet away from her.

Ambrosia lifted both of her arms and tensed her body. When she did, hundreds of stones began to rise from the ground underneath her. She was lifting the stones with her telekinesis. Each stone glowed with the same energy as her.

She brought the stones close to each other and began to move her hands through the air, fusing the stones together into one large stone. When it was about her height, she re-shaped the stone into a large spike and launched it toward the monster.

"This oughta do it, take this!" shouted Ambrosia as she launched the stone spike at the monster.

The stone spike, controlled with Ambrosia's mind, flew through the air like an arrow, and pierced through the head of the Tiger Frog, ripping a hole into it. It went in one end and out the other, destroying the skull of the monster entirely.

The Tiger Frog collapsed to the ground and began to flail around, swiping randomly in all directions. It swiped at a group of trees, ripping them out of the ground, before throwing them at the pair.

"Ambrosia! WATCH OUT!" shouted Kento, noticing the trees flying toward them. Ambrosia saw this and lifted her arms once more.

"I could see that coming before it ever happened, HYA!"

Ambrosia tensed up her arms, and the trees stopped dead in their tracks and began to hover in the air. There were about 6 trees that Ambrosia had taken control of. Then, she turned them around and heaved them back at the monster.

The 6 trees flew through the air back toward the monster. Ambrosia was incredible. Her psychic powers were unparalleled, and she was able to easily take control of objects hundreds of times larger and heavier than she was.

The trees bombarded the monster, smashing themselves against its body, shattering into splints of wood, which pierced through the body of the monster. The monster then collapsed to the ground and began to bleed out. It was missing most of its head, and it was covered in holes.

Ambrosia then hovered over to the monster and glanced back toward Kento with a smug expression.

"Hehe, hey Kenny, how heavy do you think this monster is? Should I try tossing it around?"

"KENNY!? Nobody's called me that except my mother!" shouted Kento in exasperation.

"Well, I just did! Anyway, how heavy is this thing? 3 tonnes?" asked Ambrosia, ignoring Kento's annoyed expression.

"Probably, why? Do you think you can--"

Before Kento could finish his sentence, Ambrosia giggled and turned back around. She then lifted her arms, gazed intensely at the monster's body, and tensed up her body. The body of the monster began to glow yellow... Kento was shocked.

"Don't strain yourself, Ambrosia! We should just leave it here to die! Don't make this more complicated than it has to be!"

"But just leaving it here would be no fun. I wanna see if I can lift it! Here, watch this!"

Ambrosia's hands began to tremble as she reached for the skies. Then, the ground began to shake, and the body of the monster began to float off of the ground and into the air. Ambrosia was quite literally lifting the entire body of the monster!

"Okay, you lifted it, now put it back down before you kill yourself!" exclaimed Kento, but Ambrosia ignored him.

"Not yet, Kento. Check this out..."

Suddenly, Ambrosia closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply. She breathed in and out 5 times slowly, before opening her eyes once more. This time, however, her eyes were shifting in color actively, almost as if they were a rainbow. Then, the body of the monster flew into the air and remained stationary.

"WHAT!? Ambrosia, how did you do that!? You just flung it into the sky like it was nothing!"

"Just wait, Kento. I'm not finished yet, watch this."

Then, Ambrosia lifted one hand into the air and snapped her finger...

"...!" Kento's eyes widened.

"Checkmate." said Ambrosia.

Instantly, the body of the Tiger Frog exploded, reducing it to nothing, and raining down blood onto the grass fields below. With a single snap of her fingers, Ambrosia had evaporated the monster.

As the blood fell from the sky, Ambrosia looked up, and her eyes returned to their normal pink color. The glow around her began to diminish as well. She was exhausted.

"AMBROSIA!" shouted Kento, as he watched her body float in the sky. She was a good 70 feet into the air, and as her body's glow diminished to nothing, she began to fall. Kento ran over, stationing himself underneath her. He caught her in his arms, and she opened her eyes.

"k-kento..." whispered Ambrosia.

"Ambrosia, are you okay? Do you nee-" Kento was then interrupted once more by Ambrosia's high-pitched voice.

"WASN'T THAT AWESOME!?" shouted Ambrosia, quickly hopping to her feet, and putting her heels back on. They had fallen off when she landed in Kento's arms.

"...you never change, Ambrosia. Yes, I have to admit, it was quite the spectacle. But aren't you exhausted? You basically used up all of your power lifting the monster off the ground!"

Ambrosia walked over to a log, took a seat, and crossed her legs. She then fixed her hair and replied to Kento.

"I mean, I wouldn't say I used all of my power, I still have some fight in me! Plus, you had already weakened the monster, so it was easier to handle," replied Ambrosia, as she set her book down on her lap.

"Every time you read that damn book, you become some goddess-like figure with incredible power, what the hell does it say anyway? It just looks like a bunch of scribbles on a page!"

Ambrosia then opened it and glanced at the pages. Indeed, they appeared to just be random scribbles on a page, but Ambrosia understood their meaning. She then spoke.

"You wouldn't understand... it would be impossible for you to learn anyway. This book helps me, it teaches me things..." said Ambrosia.

"You're so odd... Well, either way, thank you for finishing it off. It looks like we won't need to clean up either, all of the blood is being soaked into the ground, and you basically vaporized its skin and bones."

"Ah, I suppose I did, didn't I. I haven't vaporized a monster in a long while, I usually just kill them and clean up like usual, except it's much easier for me to do so, considering I can just think about cleaning up and it will happen."

"True, you have it so much easier, you can just use your mind to clean up... but regardless, I'm glad we got this problem taken care of. I think we should return to Camp Theta to let them know of our success. Would you like to come with me?" asked Kento.

Ambrosia then stood up from her log. Her expression changed to something a little more serious, and she looked at Kento.

"Sure, but before we go, Kento, I need to talk to you about something I felt recently. Do you have a moment?"

"Sure, what do you need to talk about?" asked Kento.

"Well, as you know, Espers like me have an ability to feel energy and power pulsing all around us. We can easily gauge how strong someone is by just looking at them, and feeling their energy."

"Yeah, you've told me this before. What, did you feel something strange?" asked Kento.

"Well, yes. Earlier today, I'd say around 2:00, I felt an incredible power appear out of nowhere. I was in Camp Kappa the whole day, and it felt like it was close by. I was worried it might be a level 7 monster, so I went to investigate."

" I followed the traces of energy, and it led me to the forbidden flower field. When I got there, nothing was there except the corpse of a smaller Tiger Frog. However, I could sense a near-infinite amount of power surrounding the area."

"I originated the source back to a spot in the flowers imprinted with the shape of a human body. I'm worried that the shade might have appeared in the flower field, and attracted this Tiger Frog..."

Kento's expression changed from relief, back to anxiety. Ambrosia was the 2nd highest ranked hero in the entire camp, so her Esper instincts were a credible source of information.

"If the shade was there, and he attracted this monster, do you think perhaps he could have attracted more?" asked Kento.

"That's what I'm worried about. I haven't been able to detect any unusual amounts of power since that encounter, so if it was the shade, then he disappeared again," replied Ambrosia.

"Well, regardless, I think we should head back to Camp Theta. If the shade really appeared, we could be in for more trouble. Let's make sure the campsite is okay, follow me."

"Alright, you lead the way..."

The two of them took off, on the way back to Camp Theta. The sun had set, and the skies grew dark. Back at the camp, Mayumi and Yukio had gathered the corpses and were about to burn them, honoring the lives lost. Yukio was the first to speak.

"I'm so sorry you go through this often, Mayumi. Life is hard, especially under circumstances such as these," said Yukio. Mayumi lit the fire, it was a grand campfire, the flames burning around 8 feet tall.

"Well, today was worse than most other battles. We had a level 6 monster, and the highest leveled hero in the camp was a level 4, so we were severely outclassed, and we paid the price," replied Mayumi.

The other heroes gathered around the campfire and stood in a formal position. They gave a salute to the air, in honor of their fallen comrades. Mayumi then spoke on the matter.

"Today, we lost ten heroes. Ten people gave their lives to protect humanity and died honorably. Yui has successfully identified the remains of 5 of the ten heroes. The other 5 heroes' remains could not be salvaged..."

Although Yukio had offered to clean up the remains for Yui, she was still required to identify who they belonged to, as it was simply her job to do so. She stood next to Yukio, with a soulless expression, as if she had the life sucked out of her. Mayumi continued,

"I will now recite the names of the ten heroes lost in this battle, and the recovered remains shall be cremated in the campfire."

Mayumi then read off the ten heroes who had perished in battle. Heroes gathered in groups, mourning the loss of their friends, and comrades.

"Maxime Aubert... Luca Fournier... Lee Gerhard... Rolf Kaori... Abraham Adel... Fumiko Goro... Ryoko Sui... Abri Nicci... Kouta Noboru... Shigeo Daiki... these were the ten heroes we lost today..."

Mayumi then lifted up the leg of Maxime... a tear streamed down her face, and she laid it in the fire. Then, she proceeded to do the same with the rest of the remains. Yukio stood and watched, he thought to himself.

"So this is my task... I have to defend this world, and protect these people... I see now... Whoever sent me here, must have thought that I was the best person for the job. Let's just hope I can do it right... I need to go to Camp Alpha, and apply to join the Hero Camp."

"My only other question, is how was I sent here?"

Mayumi finished placing the remains into the fire, and as she stood up, she gave one final salute to her comrades, before letting the fire burn on its own, sending the heroes off, to the afterlife. Then, she spoke.

"You may all remain here for as long as you need to. Camp Theta will now enter a 7 day mourning period before we are rotated. Yukio, I want you to come with me. Yui, you can come too."

Yukio and Yui glanced at each other and then walked together behind Mayumi. They walked into an empty building, and then Mayumi asked Yukio a question.

"Yukio, how's your leg?"

"It's actually my ankle that's the issue. Yui gave me this boot, and said to rest for a week, before resuming normal activity," said Yukio. Yui then chimed in.

"Indeed. I believe he should rest here until we are rotated."

Mayumi then looked at Yui.

"Yukio told me he wants to join the Hero Camp. Do you think he could make this arrangement after he's recovered? I want your professional opinion."

"Absolutely. I think that after at least a week of recovery, that Yukio should have no trouble joining the Hero Camp. When we are rotated, I can show him to the administration, and he can apply there." said Yui.

"Alright. I'll probably come too, just to see how he does. We aren't required to transfer immediately, we can remain in Alpha for up to 14 days before we are required to transfer to another Camp. We will spend those 2 weeks with Yukio, training him on how to be a proper hero. How does that sound?"

"That sounds good to me, what about you, Yukio?" asked Yui.

"That's fine by me. Considering the world I'm throwing myself into, I think I'll need you two to help me out..."