Chapter 74: Leak

"Alright," she said, circling him. "Show me what you got..."

Ethan opened his faucet the samw way she had taught him in back in the gym. He activated Death Control, pushed it forward, and a green film ran from his forearms to his knuckles

Ava clicked her tongue. "There. You’re already leaking."

Ethan looked at her. "What?"

"It’s leaking," she repeated as she stepped in, scanning him with a very serious look in his eyes. She tapped his wrist, and he felt a mild shock on it.

"Feel that? That’s the energy that would help you land a solid hit wasting."

She corrected, and told him to go again. When she noticed another leak, she called it out.

Then another...

And another...

By the time she called out a leak the fifth time, Ethan raised his eyebrow and shot her a look. "Why are you so fixed on leaks?"

She smirked then crossed her hand. "You wanna know why? Alright then. Have another go at it."

He stared at her for a moment longer, then activated Death Control again. For a few seconds, it almost seemed like he had gotten it right.

Then his fingers went cold, colder, then numb. He raised a curious eyebrow and checked his hands. The sparks were moving wildly, Intensifying by the second.

Then...

**BZZZZZTTT!!**

Ethan hissed through his teeth. "Shit "

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[Death Energy: 1100 / 1200]

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Ethan glanced at the system and turned back to her. "Okay. What was that?"

"That," she said, "was a leak. Or in my terms, a ’Burst’. It’s more like when you’re forcing the energy in more volume than your faucet can handle. Normally, when you do that, it clogs, then leaks, then bursts. That’s basically what happened to you just now."

Ethan listened, then looked down at him hands as the ache slowly faded. "I see..."

Ava spoke again. "It’s dangerous though. A Burst has enough energy to form a crater under you. So you have to be really careful."

Ethan nodded, and they ran it until the difference was clear enough that he could tell by physical difference...

A clean coat made his hands briefly cold, he was able to give a full strike, and his pool dropped just by a little bit.

However, a coat caused a larger drain, numbness, and weak hits.

"You’re not commanding a corpse," Ava said, circling behind him close enough that he caught that scent of lavender again. "You’re spending yourself. Every open second is a price, close the faucet like you mean it." Her then lightened as she spoke again. "Also, when you concentrate, your eyes narrow just enough that I can see just a green glow. It’s getting hard to focus you know..."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Focus on the lesson, please?"

"I am lessoning." She laughed. "One more clean coat then you’re done for the day. I need a nap."

He landed a final strike that cracked the post, and exhaled as he dispelled the energy. It was better, cleaner, and no after shock.

Ava nodded, satisfied. "Now that is what I call a strike." She turned, ready to leave. "Same time in a few days.. I expect you to get better by then."

She began walking and waved. "See you later Shaw."

***

Ethan walked to his dorm, reviewing all he had learnt mentally.

He nodded a few times. "Training to avoid leaks shouldn’t be so hard," he mumbled...

By the time he opened the door, Lila was in the kitchen when she turned her head.

"You’re back?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Did training on Death Control again. I actually learnt something new—" his mouth sealed shut automatically.

He just indirectly mentioned Ava in that sentence. And last time he checked, Lila didn’t really like this.

He slowly turned his head to her, and instead of finding a hard to read expression, he saw her looking at him with an otherwise curious look.

"And how did it go?"

"It uh... it went well," he said slowly then he asked. "Aren’t you mad or something?"

She turned back to the sink. "I’m not..."

Ethan blinked. "Are you sure you’re Lila?"

Worst case scenario, she got abducted by a dungeon beast...

She laughed. "I’m not. Really." Her expression went normal again. "I’ve been thinking..."

"About?"

"The fact that people are going to keep being interested in you." She didn’t look away from the sknk. "Rankings, Restricted file noise, stories from the Devil class kill. I can’t control any of these from happening just because I don’t like it and I can’t ask you to become invisible just because visibility scares me." A pause. "I’m not saying I like it. I’m saying I’m coming to terms it. No amount of worry or anger I express will change the fact that one day, someone might come through these doors to look for you because they found you interesting just because they heard of something you did."

She clenched her jaw. "I’ll just turn into another problem you have to deal with..."

Ethan moved to the fridge and opened it. "You’re not a problem to me though."

"I know." A small smile tugged at her lips. "I’m just trying to accept reality." She looked at him again. "But if blond lightning tries anything funny—"

"You’ll burn her clothes off." Ethan finished for her with a huff.

"Exactly."

"Wow, you’re consistent..."

"Very consistent."

They finished dinner, did the dishes and went to bed. And when Lila went to sleep in her room and Ethan asked why, she said she wanted to see how long he could stay before realising that be misses her...

***

By the time they went to class, they ran into Nora and Ethan’s eyes widened as he remembered something...

"Nora, any update?"

Nora turned to him, and when he understood what he meant, she shook her head. "Nothing yet. No records of Brimstone having any side effects on humans upon over exposure."

Silence stretched for a moment, then added. "That is not a safety guarantee though. It merely an absence of proof. There are still caution warnings around this thing..."

"Understood."

Her gaze flicked over him again, as if noticing that there was something different about him, then turned to leave. "See you in class."

***

By the time they made it to class, professor Crane was already there...

She set her tablet on the podium and when she did, the noise dropped.

"Everyone, listen up," she said, then tapped on the tablet as a projection appeared on the board.

"We’ll be holding an Inter-class tournament. First through third-year blocks facing off against each other in a regulated match under supervision. Participation is mandatory, and the student who comes out on top will be giving bonus scores for the rest of the school year. Schedules will be posted to your devices by evening."

A ripple went through the class— excitement, dread, people already dreaming of what it would feel like to come out on top.

Crane’s eyes moved across the seats one more time before she said one final thing. "You have one month. Class dismissed..."