(Short Story) "Power levels are bullshit"

When it comes time for the school day to end, you typically don't want to waste any time getting home as fast as possible, but you suppose a bit of a detour from your normal plans isn't too much of a hassle. Later on in the week you would have to take a chemistry test, so it was important for you to take time out of your night to study for it. You couldn't do that if you ended up leaving your chemistry note book behind. You had noticed it had been missing later on in the school day while rummaging through your bag during one of your other classes, and since you weren't really in a rush to go grab it, you decided to just pick it up later at the end of the day since trying to grab it between classes seemed rather annoying.

So here you were entering the chemistry lab room. In all honesty, you shouldn't be too surprised that Hateya is still in here, though when you glanced toward the table that she was working at and saw her messing with the wires of this oddly large and mechanical belt buckle, which you were only able to guess was a belt buckle since it was attached to this uniquely designed leather strap that resembled a belt in a way, you wondered if she should really be working on that in the chemistry room of all things.

For a brief second, Hateya's sunset-coloured eye glanced up at you, acknowledging your presence before focusing back down onto the belt buckle she was tinkering with. "Just looking for my notebook." You quickly stated your reason for being here, not wanting to distract her too much from whatever she was working. The native girl didn't put too much effort into responding, giving you a half-assed hum in acknowledgement, which you took as a sign to go searching the room.

Obviously the first place you'd checked would be the table your assigned to, though given that there are other classes besides yours, it would probably have been moved from there by now, but there was no harm in checking. But as you began to move toward where your table was situated in the lab room, you found yourself suddenly stopping when you caught a whiff of something. You pulled the collar of your shirt over your nose in a vain attempt to protect your nostrils from the smell; it smelled like an animal had just died in here or something. You hadn't noticed it when you first entered, but as you had gotten further into the room, the smell hit you like a semitruck. It was truly horrible; if you had to guess, since you were in the chemistry lab, it was probably the result of some mixture of chemica- or it was a person; that smell was definitely coming from that person, whom you had only just noticed after your head began darting around the room in your alarmed state. And you went from alarmed to panicking soon after your brain processed who you were looking at.

"What the hell is that thing doing here??!" You shouted, pointing to the girl lying down in the center of one of the lab tables. You felt a bit weird calling her a thing given that she looked human at the moment, but you knew what she really was: a demon from the deepest, most wretched parts of hell. A girl who referred to herself, in all her uncreativity, by a single letter, D.

Hateya looked up from her project; in hindsight, you realized you went against the whole not wanting to bother her thing, her eyes following your finger all the way to the disguised demon girl lying on the table. There was a pregnant pause with Hateya blinking in confusion a few times before eventually speaking up, "Oh right, I forgot she was here; she has been strangely quiet recently." You weren't entirely sure how that was possible, even if she was normally very loud, her being quiet doesn't deflect from the fact that she smell like fucking carrion.

"It because I'm soooooo~ bored!!!!" The demon girl whined, having risen up from the lying position of the table after hearing voices in the room. D's human face was shifted into an expression of intense agony, as if was actually suffering from not just being whiney little shit. Though her expression would soon perk up when she spotted you. "Hey YaYa, you should totally let me kill that guy; it would be some proper entertainment!" She practically pleaded, drool pooling out of her mouth and onto her hands, which were clasped in front of her as if she were begging.

You visibly flinched over hearing her suggestion of killing you for her own amusement, your head turning toward Hateya to see what her response was. "No, that would make a big mess and then I'd have to clean it up." Hateya she answered the demon girl, her focusing turn back to the work in front of her.

Your eye twitched a bit in disbelief upon hearing Hateya's response. Was that really the main issue she had with that?! "Um, and because it's just plain wrong!" You added, stressing the moral issues with the situation.

You watched as Hateya's entire body paused for a moment before she raised her tweezer, holding a hand up, and pressed on the two ends together twice, making a weak-sounding clanking noise. "Yeah, that too." She replied as if she hadn't thought of that at all.

You sputtered for a moment in shock before recollecting yourself to the best of your abilities. "Yeah, that too!!!" You repeated her words, lightly mocking them over how she missed out on such an obvious point.

"Yes, that's what I just said, Sam." Hateya mindlessly replied, not having understood what point you were trying to get across, causing you to scowl greatly at the scientist.

You would've wanted to say more to her, but the shrill voice of the whining demon girl would interrupt you, catching both your and Hateya's attention. "Come on! It's been months since I've torn something to ribbons!" She wails, expressing her dissatisfaction with not killing anything since just before the school year started. She was the type of demon that fed off of **** and conflict; the more intense, the more satisfying for her. You weren't sure if this worked similarly to a succubus, which feeds off of lust, where she actually needed it to sustain herself, or if she was just incredibly addicted to ****, but it was clear that she was tweaking from the lack of it.

"It all because of this irritating religious ward you put upon me!" D complained, grabbing onto the talisman with Hangul characters written on it that was attached to her face and began tugging on it. The demon girl pulled on the sliver of paper with all her might, but the talisman refused to budge from its spot on her forehead; in her struggle, D would end up throwing herself to the ground, knocking over a few chairs near her, and began rolling around as if that would somehow help remove the talisman from her body.

The whole talisman idea was a rather clever idea by Hateya. You'd think a woman of science like her would buy into religious superstitions, but since her brain operates on a much higher plane than anyone could possibly comprehend, you guess it isn't much of a surprise that she actually has an understanding of subjects that would be considered nothing more than fiction to most in the scientific community... That and there's an actual goddamn demon standing before the two of you. Though despite the idea of placing a talisman that prevented D from harming other living creatures coming from Hateya, she wasn't the one to create it, apparently because she didn't have an affinity for that type of stuff, and it would take someone religious and in-tune with the dead, so she relied on Alena and her knowledge of the occult to create the talisman. How Hateya even got it on D in the first place is a story that is a mystery to even you.

The two of you watched with deadpan expressions as D convulsed on the ground, making this annoying, rugged screeching sound as she attempted to pry the talisman from off of herself. And then, in an almost 'blink, and you'll miss it a moment', D suddenly sat up, her hands clasped together in front of her once more. "All I'm asking is for a few minutes; release me from the effects of this talisman for just a moment, and I promise I'll only kill a handful of people..." She begged, drool pouring out of her mouth as she salivated at the very idea of getting a chance to slaughter a couple dozen people. The saliva that fell out of her mouth landed on her hands and the sleeves of the dirty shirt she was wearing, the fabric of the shirt beginning to break apart from the acidic nature of her saliva; weirdly enough, the skin on her hands and arms was just fine. "What's considered a handful here again? One person for each finger, right? Then in that case, a few handfuls." The demon girl held both her arms out wide with the finger on her hands spread out as she added onto her previous statement, specifying just how many she'd like to kill.

Your lips curled into a frown at D's proposal; there was no way that Hateya would agree to that. The native scientist's neutral expression had yet to change, as she simply lifted an arm up and wagged her finger at the demon. "Can't trick me; I know you're accounting for the four pairs of arms you have hidden." Hateya answered, shutting down the demon's proposal and arguing against it from a more logical point of view. Doing the very basic multiplication in her head, Hateya would continue on with an explanation as to why not. "Handfuls are actually based on how much of something you can fit in the palm of your hand, but if she goes off your version of that term, then five fingers for six hands is thirty people. Possibly more than that knowing you'd go off the rails, which I can't have; I'll need those test subjects for later."

The demon girl gritted her teeth in response to Hateya's response, throwing herself back onto the ground as she went back to struggling to pull off the talisman. Though you yourself weren't too happy with Hateya's answer, as she had once again completely forgotten about all the moral concerns that come with letting D just go around killing people. "And because it's wrong to kill people, Hateya." You remarked behind clenched teeth.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that." Hateya answered, not even bothering to glance in your direction, choosing to instead go back to tinkering on her personal project. "But also, correct me if I'm wrong, aren't you well acquainted with people who kill for a living or have taken lives in the past?" She commented, contesting your previous statement.

You pursed your lips together as you stood there in silence, letting the only sounds that filled up the room be the noises that came from D's mouth; you didn't have a rebuttal; she had you there. But still, you wanted to shift the conversation back to your original point. "O-okay, well yeah, but those people can at least control themselves, unlike that beast. Which brings me back to why exactly did you bring her here? She ate children as a hobby, you know?" You argued.

“Ate? You say that like I chose to quit or something,” D quipped, having sprung up off the ground to make a joke about the rather morbid comment you had made about her, a proud, dumb smile plastered on her face.

“And that’s why the talisman stays on!” you chided, not even bothering to face the monstrosity standing behind you, who hissed back at you in response. With your focus still on Hateya, you repeated your question, **** to know why she had brought D to here of all places. “Seriously, why the hell did you bring her here?”

“I didn’t,” Hateya responded, placing some of her tools down as she lifted the belt up in order to inspect the wire work in the buckle from a different angle.

"Huh?" You blurted out in confusion, you had understood what she had said, it was just that you weren't expecting her to have said it.

“I didn’t bring her here,” Hateya repeated, turning around to face you. “She came here on her own, deciding to follow me for most of the day,” she explained, to which you gave her a few rapid, confused blinks in response. Letting out a sigh, Hateya went into further detail. “She’s a grown, in fact ancient, woman with her own free will. All the talisman does is prevent her from harming anyone; it's not like I have the power to control anyone’s actions.” The scientist elucidated

There was a brief pause before Hateya cocked her head to the side, a thought having crossed her mind. “Though then again, mind control isn’t too hard. After all, subliminal messaging is used all the time to get people to think certain ways, like back when you used to stay up late at night to watch cable television and food commercials came on, suddenly you’d become hungry, craving that specific product on screen.” Hateya began mindless rambling, her mumbling just being audible enough for you to hear. “In fact, I’ve created a device that uses subliminal messages; though I’ve never used it, it tricks the brain into making your body defecate all your internal organs out of your body. Perhaps I should create another device that tricks the brain into thinking the target a cluster of mushrooms might be interesting to see.”

Your face visibly stiffened, being completely repulsed by what you had just overheard. What in God's name goes on in that girl's brain? “Hateya, what the...” You stopped yourself mid-shout, deciding that you shouldn’t waste any more energy on this. “You know what, never mind, I’m just going to grab my notebook and get the hell out of here,” you stated before stomping over to your assigned seat.

As you thought, it wasn't there, clearly have been moved out of the way to make space for something else. Alright then, the the next place you should check would be the window sill; since the counters on the lab room usually prioritized the equipment for the class on them and the window sill was wide enough to have things placed on it, this was often where object that were left behind were placed. So, you made your way over to class's window and as your eyes scanned the sill running underneath the glass, you spotted something, not your notebook but it was something at least.

It was... that thing, the thing that you saw Hateya sometimes walking around with when you spotted her outside of school, and also sometimes inside the school... It was a rather common thing to see her with, that’s what it was. You weren't quite sure what it did, probably something important since she always carried it with her, but you never asked because you didn't really care much and it wasn't bothering anyone else, unlike her other inventions.

But there it was sitting there, basking in the sunlight on the window sill, a charging symbol registered on its small screen. "It solar powered, assuming you didn't figure that out already." Hateya stated having unexpectedly appeared at your side, causing you to let out a rather wimpy, high pitch yelp in surprise.

You placed a hand over your mouth as your face flushed with red over how pathetic you must've looked somehow getting startled by a person you knew was in the same room as you. You could even here D snickering behind you. It wasn't your fault, you weren't expecting her to have come over to you. "Why are you-" You began to ask, but were cut off by Hateya raising a hand up, waggling a familiar looking notebook in her hand.

You quickly snatched it out of her hand and began inspecting it, rapidly flipping through the pages and making sure she hadn't done anything to your precious notes. Despite how rude your action was, Hateya didn’t seem to mind it too much, and began to explain why she even had it in the first place. “I sit next to you; I’d hope you remember something like that. When I saw you had forgotten to pack your notebook with the rest of your class supplies, I was about to remind you, but you had already left the room by the time I noticed. I decided to hold onto it for you until I could return it.”

The idea of Hateya holding onto one of your belongings caused your face to sour. “You didn’t do anything perverted with it, did you?” you asked, wanting to ensure your notebook hadn’t been violated in any way.

Hateya blankly starred at you for a bit before answering "It's paper...?"

"I don't like how long it took you to answer that." You responded, not fully believing the perverted girls words. "Also, how come you didn't give this back to me during gym or when I entered the room?"

Hateya would provide a reason for why in both situations; for the first, she simply answered with two words, “The mile.” Ah, that made sense. We had to sprint across the field as fast as we possibly could, running a distance that equated to one mile under a specific period of time. Doing that was always a pain, and Hateya's clumsiness only made things even more difficult for the native girl. So, while everyone else had already finished up with their run, Hateya was still at the halfway mark. And it didn’t help that she showed up a bit late to the gym either, meaning she didn’t have time to give it in the time given to us to change.

As for the second, Hateya tapped on the belt buckle of the belt that was wrapped around her waist, despite it being too bulky to be used to hold up her skirt, not like she even needed it to help hold it up. “I was busy working on this; I was about to finish up anyways, but even if I wasn’t, you would probably still have been looking around this room long enough for me to have finished.” Explain, giving you a twirl that nearly resulted in her falling over when her feet got tangled up, to show off her little personal project.

That was nice and all, but you now had what you needed, so you didn't really have to stick around anymore. "That, cool... well, bye." You waved in a way that almost came off more as shooing her off than saying goodbye and made your way out of the room. As you left, you could almost feel Hateya's gaze burning into the back of your head, but you didn't bother looking back, continuing to walk until you were halfway down the hall to the staircase. And then you felt yourself stopping in place; for whatever reason, something in your gut was telling you that Hateya was still standing in that very same spot, starring at the doorway awaiting for you to return, ready to explain in detail the inventions that she has worked on.

You let out a sigh, titling your back before swinging your body around and making your way over the chemistry lab once again. Why did you always have to be so **** to appease others? You don't get anything out of it most of the time besides trouble.

You practically threw yourself through the doorway, jogging back where you had been standing earlier, and just as you expected, Hateya stood exactly where you had last seen her, her eyes having been focused on you, starring on a hole into you as you entered the room and following you to where you were now positioned. "Okay fine." You rolled your eyes before pointing to the device sitting on the window sill. "Tell me what that does." and the moving your finger over so that you were now pointing toward the belt she was wearing. "And then tell what that is." You requested, though it was less to your desire and more to Hateya's.

Hateya reached over to the device on the window sill and tried scooping it up, initially missing her target and swatting the thing with her fingers, causing it to shift in its position, before managing to successfully pick it the second time. With a few taps on the device's screen, Hateya turned it on. "Upsilon was right; you do have low self-esteem." The scientist mindlessly commented, her focus down on the device in her hands. You brow briefly twitched in anger over the comment possibly directed toward how you were a people-pleaser, but you let it go, not wanting to start an argument that would waste even more of your time in this room.

"This just scans things." Hateya nonchalantly answered, lift the scanner up so that it was chest level with you.

You had bit your lip to stop yourself from chewing her out because no way did you come back for a half-assed explanation like that. Hateya was starting to piss you the hell off. "Wow, Hateya, that explains everything." You stated, your voice dripping with sarcasm.

Normally Hateya had trouble reading people's emotions or understanding certain ques people were giving off, but this time around she seemed to understand that you weren't too happy with that explanation and began to detail further what exactly it could do. You guess Hateya hanging out with that worthless bucket of bolts was actually doing some good for her. "It scans basically everything; energy signatures in every possible wavelength from electromagnetic, kinetic, infrared, x-ray, gamma, and even ones that would be labeled as 'supernatural' such as spectral, demonic, or holy." Hateya demonstrated to you, pointing the device toward D, who stuck out her tongue at the two of you, a large wad of saliva rolling down it and onto the floor, which then began to slowly eat its way through the tile flooring.

The screen showed off a distorted image of the classroom, almost everything coloured gold except for D, who was emanating a dark orange. And then, with a swipe of her finger, Hateya changed the setting, the image now almost completely blue save for the talisman stuck to D's face, which glowed a bright gold. The native girl then lowered the device back down. "It can also measure something's pH, act similarly to UV lights in how it reveals pathogens, and tell me the molecular composition of something. It also acts as my personal weather application, telling me the temperature, perspiration, or how dry the air is, wind speeds, and even warning me ahead of time about natural disasters. I went as far as to program it to give me readings on the current positions of the local tectonic plates."

"But its most common use for me is reading something's biological data." Hateya specified, which got an eyebrow raise out of you. The hell was so important about other people's bio information that she needed to be constantly checking it? Almost as if she read your mind, she went into further detail. "Information such as your genetic make-up, both detailing your genus species and your blood relations, and how far your ancestry extends. I analyze someone to get their current age and state of physical well-being... Which reminds me to tell you, you should lay off from drinking energy drinks; they aren't doing your heart too many favours." She illuminated, even going into a detail that you kind of wish you didn't hear.

You slowly yet instinctively placed your hand against your chest, resting it over where your heart was located as you stared at Hateya uncomfortably. It would probably be best for you to change the subject away from your health. "Oh yeah, well can that thing..." You awkwardly paused your question halfway as your mind raced through many possible conversation topics, but you didn't want to stray too far from what the original conversation was about. You continued to stand there, just frozen in place as your brain continued rejecting conversation topics, Hateya waiting patiently for you to finish. Though eventually the perfect topic did come to you, causing you to smirk like an idiot. "Can that thing measure power levels?" You thought with glee, being ever present in your voice.

"Yeah, it can do that." Hateya nonchalantly answered, causing your jaw to drop. To be perfectly honest, your question was entirely meant to be a joke; it only coming to you in the first place since the scanner read biological information, and you'd have to be living under a rock to miss a Dragon Ball reference. Though I guess it shouldn't surprise that local miracle worker and fuck-ass super genius Hateya Walker built what was basically a goddamn Dragon Ball Scouter.

You found yourself slouching slightly as you blankly stared at Hateya. "Huh, is that so?" You muttered, not really sure what else to say in your state of surprise. You should probably stop joking around with Hateya; she exists in a totally different realm of possibilities compared to everyone else... Wait just a minute; you could find out how strong you were!

"You know, I've been working out lately; how high on that thing do I score?" You asked while positioning your body in many different poses that intend to show off your physique, if it weren't for the fact that it was hidden under many layers of clothing.

Hateya didn't put much thought or interest into your question; casually raising her scanner up to you after swiping the screen to change the settings, and with a tap, she got to read your freaking power level. Just those words alone coming to your head was enough to get you giddy; honestly, the scenario was a bit surreal for you, but in a good way. In less than a second, a result appeared on the screen, though you were unable to see it due to the scanner being pointed toward you. "Yup, same as before, twenty." The clumsy scientist answered monotonously.

You let out a long, loud whoop in excitement, raising one arm up in the air and letting your hand dangle as you shook it side to side. "Which is average." Hateya stated, causing you to cease your antics, freezing right on the spot. "Well, an average rating for someone of your age group, if you want me to be more exact." She specified, continuing to kill your excitement.

You could hear hysterical, hoarse chuckle coming from somewhere in the lab room, that abomination being greatly amused at you having your hopes killed. "That meat sack actually thought it was something of value!" D exclaimed from the lab table she was sprawled upon, an arm pointed in your direction as she continued to chuckle at your misfortune.

"Oh, shut up!" You shouted, angrily throwing your book bag down to the ground before pulling out a half-drunk water bottle from one of the side pockets. Reeling your arm back, you were prepared to throw the bottle at the demon girl across the room but would be interrupted when Hateya's eye locked onto your water bottle in your hand. "First warning: no water or drinks in the lab room." She warned, her unemotive face having only mildly become more stern.

Your head whipped toward Hateya's direction, an unamused expression plastered on your face. The two of you stood there in a stare-off, with D's chuckling being the only thing to fill in the silence between the two of you, though after a second you quickly backed out of your stare-off, unzipping your book bag and tossing your water bottle inside so that it wasn't "in" the classroom anymore. For being basically a mad scientist, Hateya took lab rules a bit too seriously, well, at least when others didn't follow them. There was no point in pissing off Hateya; as far as you were concerned, she was practically a god in human form.

You crossed your arms in irritation, grimacing at the native girl. "Fine, whatever. Back on topic, how does that thing read power levels in the first place? You question, genuinely curious about how the device got that number exactly.

A glimmer of excitement could be seen in Hateya's eyes for a split second before she began to answer you. "Your 'power level' is measured using a multitude of factors. One being your energy output, which, before you ask, you do have one; you are a living thing after all. Anything that is alive has a soul; as such, it produces chi, even if it's only to a minor degree. Some organisms have a greater than average amount of chi for their species, whether this is something that they were born with, they trained their bodies to accommodate a greater amount of chi production, or if they had their bodies enhanced in some form varies between individuals. One thing is certain: a great amount of chi allows superhuman physicality; it essentially pushes up the intrinsic limits placed upon the organism, placing new ones upon them until they are ready to enter a new plane of strength. I guess you could compare it to leveling up in a video game, in a way." Hateya explained, pausing for a moment to allow you to process everything she said before continuing on with her ramblings. "Now for physicality, the scanner accounts for level of muscularity and nerve development to determine a precise level of strength; just because something isn't outwardly muscular does not mean they have highly developed muscles. In fact, someone that has an abnormally high amount of chi and a higher-placed limit has a greater difficulty bulking up. It's why someone like Joyce appears much frailer in comparison to Dana or Denise despite being many times stronger than them."

You nodded your head, just letting Hateya ramble on and on, not really having much to add and not wanting to interrupt. While it was a lot of information to take in, you could interpret what she was saying just fine. The scientist would catch you off guard a bit when she suddenly leaned in close to you, causing you to instinctively move back, Hateya having to stand on the balls of her feet to reach your face. Continuing on with the previous point of conversation, Hateya began to give another exposition. "But, as I previously mentioned, it isn't just physicality it measures. While utilizing chi in an external fashion does require a well-honed body to do so, there do exist individuals that are capable of expelling energy from out their body without the need for superhuman physicality. Say, if someone were to be experimented on or be born with an ability that makes their body produce radiation. Now, let's say that, without any need for exercise, they figure out a way to concentrate that energy outward. If they only produce a low amount of radiation, then they'd only manage to expand the radius in which others can be affected for a brief moment; someone with a large amount, on the other hand, can create a powerful blast."

"Like a kamehameha!" You shouted in excitement, interrupting Hateya before she could continue on, a smug smile on your face from getting a chance to say those words in scientific conversation.

Hateya stared at you blankly for a second before lightly nodding her head once. "I suppose, yes, though I'd say an energy beam would be a more accurate way of describing it since the kamehameha is a ki-based attack, with ki being the Japanese equivalent of the Chinese term chi." She clarified, kind of killing your mood a bit.

You awkwardly rubbed the right side of your side while looking off to the side, being corrected like that didn't sit well with you, so you tried to think of a different example. "Okay... Then like psychics, right? They don't fire big beams of energy out, but they don't need to work out to do wacky shit."

"No, ESPers use chi for their psychic capabilities." Hateya responded, correcting you once more without a second thought.

You sputtered a bit in surprise, having been astonished to hear that physics was just manipulating chi. You had only just a few moments ago found out the chi was actually a completely real thing, and now your perception of psychics has changed. "But how?! You said people need to work out like hell to fire a Hadōken or some shit, so how exactly are psychics moving objects from across the room if that's apparently chi?" You demanded, not understanding how something physically weak somehow met the requirements for external chi usage.

"Those weren't my exact words, but yes, you do need a developed body in order to externally use chi. First of all, it's not like ESPers cannot work out; second of all, their brains are more developed than the average person's." Hateya explained, her words coming off as passive-aggressive despite how unemotive her voice sounded.

You physically slouched out of shame, staring at Hateya with a blank expression on your face. Her explanation was so simple that you couldn't believe you just didn't think of that in the first place. You guess it was because you were in such a rush to be right that you failed to actually think things through.

"Also, ESPers can produce energy beams, among many other abilities they are capable of." The clumsy scientist stated, clearly not having read your sense of shame right now, Hateya decided to throw even more salt into your wounds, whether intentionally or not, was a mystery to you.

"Fuck you!" You blurted out, having taken full offense to that last correction. You're going to kick the first psychic you see in the dick when you see them. It's on sight.... Okay, maybe it would be a bit immature to take your anger out on someone like that for such a petty reason. And it would probably be for the best that you didn't piss off someone that could launch you into the stratosphere. Though while you stood there simmering in your rage, something about Hateya's word hit a chord with you. "Hold on, Hateya, are you psychic?" You asked, having come to a realization.

"No???" The clumsy scientist quickly responded back, squinting her eyes at you with perplexation.

Every time you open your mouth, you come off as an idiot. Maybe it's because of who you're talking with, but it really sucks. You've been spending these last few minutes flustered as all hell. "W-Well...Well, you're like super smart and stuff, so I assumed you have a hyperdeveloped brain or something." You stumbled through your words to blurt out a defense of some sort. Anyone could tell that your rationale sounded weak based on how shitty your response was. It sounded way better in your head.

Hateya's face remained as unemotive as usual, but you could tell behind those eyes that she was holding back from mocking your response. After a brief moment of silence, she spoke up, deciding to acknowledge what you had said with an answer. "I may be, by your standards, abnormally intelligent." You furrowed your brows at that statement; there was no need for her to try and be humble; she was abnormally intelligent by everyone's standards. "But my brain lacks any abnormalities to it. It is a perfectly normal human brain." She knocked her knuckles against her forehead to emphasize her point.

It took your full will in order to resist sneering down at her. The jury was definitely out on her brain being "perfectly normal"; you couldn't truly write off the idea that the universe was sending signals directly to her head just yet, but you guess you'll roll with it for now. "Okay, fine, what about magic? Does that come from ki as well, huh?" You sarcastically asked.

Hateya being Hateya, decided to answer you, not having understood that you were trying to mock her. "Most certainly not; magic stems from a different internal source. It's often called mana in many fictional stories, though from the context from which that word originates, it's more similar to chi, so we will instead just call it magical essence for simplicity's sake."

Well, that may not have been a serious question in the first place, but you can't say you aren't curious. "Okay, so your 'magical essence" You rolled your eyes, saying the name that Hateya decided to use for a mana pool. "determines how many spells you can cast and shit, right?"

The native girl shook her head. "Not quite; someone's magical essence doesn't limit the number of spells that someone is able to cast. As it's an internal source, it is exhausting to constantly cast spells in the same manner that it's exhausting to constantly be running. Instead, someone's magical essence limits how well they can manipulate 'The Source'."

You rapidly blinked thrice, having been caught off guard by what Hateya said at the end there. "Hey, hey! You can't just throw out random terms out there like I know what that means!" You interrupted Hateya before she could go any further into her ramblings, frantically waving your arms around near her face in order to secure her attention.

The scientist took a few paces back away from you to avoid you arms failing about, even if you had no actual intention of touching her. "Yes, 'The Source" is..." Hateya paused briefly in consideration to how she'd go about explaining it. The clumsy scientist raised her hands up and held them parallel to one another, leaving a decent sized gap between them. "Consider this, you know about our 'universe' and how it encompasses all our planets, stars, solar systems, galaxies, et cetera, et cetera."

"Yeah, obviously." You responded while shaking you head. What did think you were, a five year old.

Hateya then moved her hands out apart even further, widening the gap. "Then of course you know about the many dimensions that run parallel to our own and each other. For example, the many different afterlives, Hell, the Far Realm, and the place that Moony was born in, which she told it would called 'Malarkey' in our language."

Your eyes briefly darted to the side before snapping back in place to meet Hateya's. "Yes." You lied, having lost track of what Hateya had told you. You've been at school all day so far, and Hateya's long-winded explanations on top of that were starting to take a toll on you.

The native scientist continued on. "Right, then beside our universe, the one that contains our observable universe and trillions of different dimensions that are either parallel or overlapping ours, are a infinite number of universes that are created by every single slight difference that can be made by both living and nonliving things." You began to feel yourself drool a bit.

"Of course, similar to our own, those universes have dimensions in them as well, with them likely having small aspects that differentiate them compared to ours. And then, surrounding these multiple universes is an ever-expanding, dense void that contains the information of every single detail within this multiverse. This is what I refer to as the source, and it's what people who use magic have to manipulate in order to perform spells; they manipulate the Facts. Manipulating the source requires so much energy that even performing the most 'basic' of spells unassisted is impressive. It's why you often see them using amulets, wands, scepters, caldrons, or having covens." Hateya finally finished off her jabbering with a somewhat proud smile creeping up on her lips. You, on the other hand, just stood there with a desolate look on your face, the veins in your forehead pulsating as you fought off your boredom-induced exhaustion.

"So, in summary?" You rolled your right hand with its fingers spread out in front of Hateya's face, urging her to give you a more digestible explanation.

Hateya stared at you, a hint of disappointment being noticeable to you with the way her lips quickly dropped down to a neutral expression. "Okay, to put it simply, if you ever see someone do something like, let's say, summon a bunch of meteoroids from thin air, then they'd be what you'd call a real menace to society." She summarized.

...Yeah, no shit. What is trying to do, waste your time. Well, whatever, let focus your attention on something more important. "Don't speak like that, you're not relevant or cool, girl."

Dejectedly, Hateya swayed her head to the left, staring away from you and out the window. You wanted to feel bad, but nowhere in your body could you feel the ounce of sympathy to make that possible. You had one devices explanation done with, but now you still get on with that weird belt that Hateya was wearing.

You began to impatiently tap your foot, awaiting Hateya to snap out of her daze and finish off with her explanations. You had opened your mouth, moments away from calling out her name, when she had suddenly perked up and turned to you. "Would you like to see what everyone's power level is?" She asked, leaning forward with her hand interlocked behind her back and cocking her head to the side in what you could presume was an attempt to win you over by making herself seem cute. Which was unnecessary given that Hateya was naturally very cute-looking. Also, you really want to see what 'the scouter has to say about their power level'.

"Oh boy would I?!" You shouted in excitement, and honestly you weren't too sure as to why you said it like that. You had only just moments ago called Hateya for her failed attempt at sounding cool, and now here you were saying some goofy shit. Straight up sounding like a goober. You were thankful that Hateya couldn't pick up on things like that, but too bad she hasn't the only other person in the room.

You turned to look over at D, who was making a face at you, mocking you for your odd response. You mouthed, 'fuck =off', at her before returning your attention back at Hateya. "So, yeah just show them to me already." You demanded.

"I have them listed down on my laptop." The clumsy scientist responded while reaching into the pocket of her lab coat. Her laptop, huh? So, did she leave that over at the lab station she was working at, or is it in her bookbag—or her fucking pocket, you just fucking watched her pull out a whole ass laptop out of her lab coat's pocket like it was nothing, as if it could actually fit inside there... You know what, sure, Hateya, whatever you say.

Hateya began to set up her custom-made laptop on the desk nearest to her. "While I said everyone, what I really meant was the people with interesting ratings since a majority of people in this town have an average rating of twenty without anything else to note about them." She stated as she put in her log information and began going through tabs.

"Right, and these people are able to reach high levels of power just through working out really, really hard? Can't be too many of them out there if they are competing in the Olympics and shit." You commented while looking over Hateya's shoulder. She had a lot of tabs up; you were surprised her laptop was running at a snail's pace because of them. Not only that, you didn't get how she could stand such a clustered mess. Personally, you could barely stand to have more than seven tabs open at once. Also, unless your eyes had deceived you, you had spotted what appeared to be a pornographic site amongst the many tabs; you certainly weren't going to make a comment about it, though, since you most certainly didn't want to know what Hateya watched in her free time.

"Yes, either by pushing the body past its normal limits on a regular basis, being born with abnormal strength or abilities, or through Manifestation." Hateya answered, not looking back to face you as she began to open up a program. You rolled your eyes upon hearing Hateya mention another term you didn't understand, but luckily you didn't even have to ask about it, since Hateya would just tell you right away, you didn't even have a chance to open your mouth. "Manifestation is when something's soul, body, and mind all synchronize with the desire to fulfill an ambition while under a great deal of stress; this is typically just means for survival, though it can occur other circumstance as well. Manifestation can either grant someone a superhuman physicality, an ability, or both, though the level of strength or what ability they get is based on the individual's own character."

You let out a small chuckle, not really having listened to what she had said. "Aren't you an encyclopedia?" You slyly remarked with a stroke of your chin. Though similar to how you had partially tuned Hateya out, she must've done the same as she stayed quiet for a brief moment before turning toward you and leaning her body to the side in order to not block the screen.

"These are some of the ones I've collected so far, there are a few more if you want to scroll down. The numbers that the scanner doesn't accurately depict their ability to hold their own in a fight, I have a few notes about that..." Hateya monotonously divulged as she presented her screen to you.

Your eyes scanned through the many names and numbers listed on the sheet before suddenly coming to a realization. "Hold on, Olympic athletes are only five points higher than normal people? That doesn't seem right." You questioned, cocking an eyebrow up at the scientist.

Hateya let out a sigh. "Aren't you in pre-calc? I would have expected you to have grasped what exponential values are already. A point, as you call it, is much higher than you'd think. Since it's exponential, it's being multiplied by itself. The value of a single point was assigned a value that I got from a rather simple calculation I go-" The clumsy scientist was about to go on her hundredth rambling, but would be cut-off by sudden inhuman shriek sounding in the room.

There could only be one suspect to what the source of that noise could've been from, and both your eyes immediately fell upon the demon girl lying upon the center table. She was currently pulling on her hair hard enough that it looked like she was attempting to make herself bald. "I can't stand this! This mindless scientific drivel is enough to make me dribble!" She shouted as she leaned back and made another horrific screeching noise, causing you to reflectively cover your ears.

Not minding the noise D was making, Hateya addressed her as if everything was normal. "It can't be drivel if its science. Also, you're always heavily salivating..." The native girl's eye dropped down to the table that D was laying on. "...To- To which you have burnt in the lab station with..." She mumbled, her lips pursed together in visible irritation.

"I had come to you for entertainment but all you've done is bore enough that I wish to return back to hell!" D moaned, falling forward, a forehead slamming into one end of the table while her abdomen was left hovering over the hole she had made. The demon then lifted herself back up scowled at the two of you. "If you do not bring me something worthy of my entertainment, I'll go on a rampage." Hellspawn threatened behind clenched teeth, saliva dripping out of her mouth and into the hole she created.

Despite the threat, Hateya completely brushed off what had been said to her; in fact, she quite literally did, given the fact that she visibly brushed off her shoulder as if something meaningless had landed upon it. "Well, given that you in fact cannot actually harm anyone, your threat has little value. Also, I have no obligation to do anything for you since you showed up uninvited. Personally, I, for one, think my discussions are quite entertaining." The clumsy scientist glanced in your direction. "What do you think, Sam?" She inquired.

Your eyes began to rapidly dart between D and Hateya, sweat racing down your forehead as you tried to think of an answer. In all honesty, you kind of agree with D, which is something you should feel ashamed about because that's something you should never do. You'd much rather be back home gaming right now instead of being here. "Uh...Well, my answer to that is that...I have no obligation to give you an answer." You responded with a cheeky smile on your face, your head scrunching up between your shoulders as if you were expecting Hateya to hit you or something. But instead she pursed her lips as she stared up at you.

Any awkward tension between you and Hateya was quickly cut off by more of D's shouting. "You foolish fool, I'm only limited to not being able to hurt any other living thing. I still have other means for going on a rampage!!! Now get on with what that belt can do before you **** my hand, idiot!" She pressured, glowing seams briefly appearing on her skin before fading away.

Having your body turned to face Hateya, you stared at D from the corner of your eye, slightly alarmed at the brief glimpse of whatever D just did. With that talisman on her face, she should be powerless, right? Hateya keeps saying she can't harm anything, so it's probably just another empty threat. Nothing to worry about. "Right, so yeah, are you gonna to explain what that belt you were working on is or...?"

Hataya beamed upon hearing you ask that, or at least beamed as much as she could physically express. "Why explain it to you when I can demonstrate?" She announced before taking several steps back and grabbing hold of the mechanical belt's buckle.

Getting caught up in one of Hateya's experiments always leads to disaster, there was very much a reason why she practically had no friends... Besides the lack of social skills. "I'd much rather you not-" You attempted shout out in order to get her to stop her demonstration, but it was far too late as she began to perform it.

"Transform!" Hateya called out before flipping open the belt buckle. Hateya briefly showed off the inner circuitry of the buckle before rotating it one hundred eighty so that it was upside down, a loud cranking noise sounding off as she twisted it; she then proceeded to slam the panel back shut, hiding the circuitry. Immediately afterward a jingle of sorts began to play, emanating presumably from the belt as red polygonal structures began to form around the clumsy scientist, the structures practically dancing as they twisted and bent to the beat of the music. This only lasted a second or two before things suddenly took a turn for the worst, as the moment the structure began to close in on Hateya, it started to become erratic, taking on the form of the almost scribble-like shapes rapidly descending upon Hateya.

The second that scribbles touched Hateya, they instantly combusted, lighting the front half of her outfit on fire. "Oh, that's an issue." She mumbled while looking down at the large flame burning away at her front. Greatly amused by this, D began chuckle hard, her eyes glowing as she starred directly at the flame.

Your eyes practically flew out of their sockets as you stood there, unable to do anything, in shock. You would quickly shake yourself out of your terrified trance and take action. And by action, you mean trying to order D around. "She's on fire; do something!!!" You called out to the demon girl, who was just watching on in amusement, beginning to clap her hand like a fucking seal.

D quickly quickly ceased her clapping and turned to you with a confused look on her face. "Uh, no??!" She responded, utterly bewildered by the idea of actually saving someone.

You could only stare back at D for a bit, your own bewilderment resting on your face, though you guess I was beyond idiotic to think a demon like her would actually help out. Wait, why the hell were you focusing on D? Hateya was in trouble. "Hateya!" You reached a hand out, and you called out to her. But she was gone from where she had been previously standing, instead having moved over to an isolated area of the lab room. The native girl was walking rather calmly for someone that had been lit ablaze, but she didn't appear to be bothered by it at all as she made her way over to the emergency shower, grabbed the handle, and let water spray down upon her, dousing the flames on her outfit.

As the fire cleared up, the damage was revealed. Besides her lab coat, the entire front section of her outfit had been decimated, her breasts and nether regions out on complete display, unless you wanted to account for the soot clinging on to her dark skin. "Oh, that's also an issue." Hateya mumbled while looking down at the current state of her shirt and skirt. She then turned her attention toward you, engaging in what felt like the longest staring contest of your life, even if it only lasted a grand total of one second.

You let out a yelp before shutting your eyes closed and averting your head to the title floor as not to look at Hateya's cute, exposed body. Your eye lids actually started to hurt from how hard you had them closed, but you didn't want to open them out of respect for Hateya...Even though she was massive pervert and you actually really, really wanted to continue staring.

"Ha! The virgin cannot even handle beholding the sight of some tits, sexless loser." D gibed through a pair of clenched teeth, or at least it sounded as if her teeth were clenched shut to you.

Your eye snapped open in anger upon processing the insult. Your attention was moved away from the exposed Hateya and focused on the snickering demon girl. She might be slightly scary, but right now she was harmless, and you weren't going to take any insult toward you lying down... from her at least.

You reached into your book bag once more and pulled out a half-drunk water bottle. "Alright, that's enough from you." You grumbled as you tossed the water bottle at the snickering hellspawn, quickly quieting her up as her eye flashed open wide in surprise and her head tilted to the side with the impact of the plastic bottle.

"No food or drinks in the lab room!" Hateya called out to you, her voice only raised slightly from how it usually sounded. You turned to look at her, forgetting that her entire front had been exposed; luckily, or perhaps unluckily, in the time that you had closed your eyes and turned your attention to D, Hateya had put on her lab coat backward, shielding her front half.

She was likely upset about how you had ignored her previous instructions, but you doubted that she's one to talk, since she had just lit herself on fire a couple of seconds ago. And you were going to call her out on it, but someone else in the room decided to make their voice heard first. "Oh, the bastard of a bastard decided that he's going to challenge me?" D cooed with excitement as she stood up at full height, towering over both of you since she was still on the lab table.

Once again, the glowing purple lines on her body emerged, and this time, they remained, radiating a brightness that matched the excitement on her face. Suddenly, two growths bulged out from beneath her body around her rib area, wiggling around as if something was trying to burst out of her. And something in fact did, that being two long, slender black and white arms, which reached up and grabbed hold of her face, their sharp fingertips digging into her skin as she went into a sprinter's position.

"Very well, I'll take this challenge head-on..." The pair pulled apart the skin on her face, tearing her human body and the dirty clothes she was wearing in half, down to her feet, revealing the reptile-esque, four-meter-tall, six-armed, black-and-white abomination that lay hidden underneath that human form. While the shreds of clothes remained behind as they fluttered to the ground, the pieces of skin she had torn through quickly dissipated, vanishing into the air like cotton candy in water. "And make it into a hell of a slaughter." D declared, launching her off the table and straight toward you.

You had been watching all this go down in a frozen state of horror, but seeing a massive creature from hell hurtling itself toward you was more than enough to snap you out of your horror-filled daze. Though you didn't have a lot of time to do anything, so all you really had time for now was to scream. And so you shall. "HateyaYouSaidSheWouldn'tAbleToTransfooooooorm!!!!!!!!!!" You wailed moments before D pounced upon you, and then everything went black.

"She can do everything she could do before; the talisman only prevents her from harming any living thing." Hateya corrected, though her words fell on seemingly empty ears as Sam remained dead silent, his body stuck in the position it had fallen into when he had instinctively fallen down to avoid D. He was now sitting on his butt, one arm propped out to hold the upper half of his body up, while the other was held out to protect his face from D's impending maw. One of his legs was curled inward toward his body, the heel of his foot nearly touching his groin, and the other remained planted on the ground, albeit the knee slightly bent.

Meanwhile, D was just as frozen in place as Sam was, but unlike him, it wasn't because of fear but due to her body forcibly being seized. Emitting from the talisman on her face, the only thing remaining on her body from when she tore through her human appearance were golden chains that wrapped around D's body, forcing limbs and jaw to halt in place, preventing them from touching Sam. Her legs and the bottom pair of arms were **** downward, digging into the ground in order to prevent her from crashing into poor dear Sam. This is most likely not something he was expecting to face today, was it?

The golden chains were a defensive mechanism that would continue to restrain D until she ceased acting upon her killing intent. She should have expected this really; it had been a few months now since the talisman had been placed on her, yet she always found herself instinctively trying to act upon her desire to mindlessly kill. Of course, though, this time around D had a different intention with her actions. She knew they were pointless, so this time around she spent less time struggling against the chain and relaxed her body, causing the chains to fade away.

The hellspawn tilted her head down to the human sitting below her, cocking her head side to side as she inspected him. And then, planting all six of her hands down on the ground and arching her back, D let out a laugh, which sounded more like a bird's warble. "He's such a useless sack of meat that he soiled himself in fear!" She cried out in hysterics before letting out another warble.

Hateya poked her head out between the demon girl and the cute boy to inspect him. He had in fact soiled himself, with a large dark stain having formed on his grey sweatpants. He had pissed himself in fear, or maybe it was a byproduct of him passing out, given that he remained unmoving, his stuck, its same horror-stricken appearance, eyes wide open but completely white with how far back they had been rolled, and drool pooling out of his open jaw.

The clumsy scientist snapped her fingers in front of Sam's face twice, and upon getting no response, leaned away from him. "Looks like we won't be getting a response from him anytime soon." She stated while cupping her chin with the same finger she had snapped with.

"He sure brought a lot of entertainment, even if it wasn't intentional on his part." D commented while mimicking Hateya's action, cupping her pointy chin with her left up-most hand.

While it was a bit difficult to tell where D was staring, given that she had multiple across her body and they consisted of only an unmoving pupil, Hateya could still tell the demon had her attention directed onto her. After letting the room bask in silence for a bit, Hateya eventually decided to speak up. "Is there something on your mind?"

D let out an inquisitive hum before slowly crawling on all eights to Hateya, getting close enough that her blocky snout nearly touched her face. "Only the fact that you had brought me some entertainment as well, but unlike him, it was very much on purpose."

"Are you referring to me starting a fire? What would make you think I did that deliberately?" Hateya asked, though her tone of voice was different from the monotonous one she usually had, there was a hint of playfulness to it, which, with the addition of her cocking her head to the side, made it very much apparent that she was playing dumb.

Sticking out her bottom-most arm, D stroked the belt buckle that was underneath Hateya's coat. "Because you're not the type to make mistakes, you're way too smart for that; unless, of course, you're doing them intentionally." The demon girl accused, tapping the buckle with her long finger, which acted similarly to the index finger on a human's hand.

The clumsy scientist let out a faux-disappointed sigh, acting as if the truth behind the fire wasn't obvious to anyone who actually knew her. "You caught me; I was worried about you causing an incident, so I decided to play along with your demands just to shut you up." Hateya confessed with a shrug.

"Nuh-uh." D shook her head while waggling a finger, which caused Hateya's eye to squint slightly in confusion. "Partial truths won't get you anywhere. You had also wanted to flash that boy, since we all know you're a pervert."

Hateya blinked her eye in surprise before brushing back a lock of hair behind her ear. "Despite not having a brain, nothing gets past you." She murmured, slightly annoyed at being called out, her gaze falling down to Sam, who was still frozen stiff on the ground.

D let out mock laugh "As if I need something like and as if you don't engage in all types of perversions daily. Do you truly lack enough intimacy in your life that you can only find worth filling it with carnal pleasures?" The hellspawn mocked, letting out a short warble.

Unfortunately for D, Hateya ignored her provocations and kept her focus entirely on Sam. Walking back to where she had standing earlier, the native girl picked up her scanner once more and briefly pointed it at Sam, result popped up on the screen before Hateya place it down again and turned toward D. "You should help me get him up, and by help, I mean just you."

"What, do you think I'm your pack mule because you managed to place this upon me?" D flicked that talisman on her face. "Cause if so, I'll make it ever clear that isn't the case, loser." She threatened, spreading out all six arms and standing up on two legs again, nearly getting to her full height had the ceiling above her not been so low.

"No, its because he looks too heavy for me manage to move him." Hateya answered, visibly unfazed by D's antics.

D let out another hum, this time one of contemplation. "Very well, I have nothing better to do anyways." She remarked before approaching Sam and lifting him by the back of his jacket with one hand, letting the other five stay planted on the ground. "To where in which shall we put-"

The door to the lab suddenly swung open, and there, standing in the frame, was none other than Crystal, who, like usual, looked ever unhappy. "Okay, I would have come sooner, but I had other things to attend to." She explained, as if anyone had asked or cared, her eyes focused down on the notepad in her hand as she wrote down an infraction. "There's been a lot of weird noises coming from this room, so I'm going to have to ask you to stop whatev-" The control freak looked up and actually gazed upon what was going on in the room, her eye immediately locking onto the demon that was holding up her crush.

She stood there dead in silence, her face completely stone cold. After a while, she simply just shook her head at the sight. "I don't want to know; just get rid of that thing!" She demanded while writing down another infraction onto the slip and tearing it off the notebook, placing it on the counter closest to the door for Hateya to pick up later.

Without another word, Crystal hurried out of the room, having much more important matters to focus on, though she would come back if she heard another noise to exceed her recommended decibel limit. This left a rather confused Hateya and D to look at each other. "She must be working on her temper. She is often more volatile than that." The scientist inquired.

"I haven't the slightest clue, but she has a point; we really should get rid of this thing." The demon pointed at Sam with a finger on one of her middle arms. "He's rather ugly for a human."

"Think you mean your standards, he actually considered pretty attractive my most people's standards." The clumsy scientist corrected, beginning to guide to demon girl out of the room so that they could get Sam somewhere he could properly rest.

The two left the lab room, now leaving it completely empty, with the activity coming from the scanner resting on the windowsill, its screen blinking as it began shutting down. The last image flashing up on it was the date from the most recently scanned subject. It was just Sam's ordinary data, not having changed from the other times Hateya had scanned him. Yup, just his perfectly average data, bearing in mind the unidentified energy source coursing through his body and spreading out of him by an immeasurable distance.

You opened the front door to your house, having finally arrived home from school hours after it had already ended. Your jacket had been wrapped around your waist to cover the obvious stain on your pants. This had probably been the most tired you had been returning home from school, even beating out any math final you took. Probably had something to do with you getting the scare of your life.

As you waddled your way in, you could hear something from the TV in the family room playing; tilting your head over, you could see that it was your younger sister watching one of those shitty reality TV shows. God, you fucking those shows. You'd tear off your own skin before ever participating in one of them.

Of course, your presence didn't go unnoticed, with your sister turning around to look back at you, a sly smile appearing on her face. "Wow, you came back really late. I mean, even I beat you back home, and school ends three hours later for me." She teased. She was attempting to annoy you, but you were too tired to really feel anything right now, so you actually had the ability to ignore her for once.

You took off your shoes before beginning to slowly make your way up the stairs, but your sister wasn't having it. "Um, hello? We all know you don't have a life, so what took you so long to get home?" She asked, though she clearly wasn't genuine about it. You attempted to take another step up, but doing that only caused your sister to continue to verbally prod you. "It's ****, isn't it? Mom and Dad always knew you would fall down that—"

You decided to cut her off before you heard any more of that. "I fucking pissed myself." Your answer, which barely explained anything, left your younger sister in a state of shock, which gave you enough time to climb up the stairs and go to your room.

Upon hearing the door to your room close, your sister snapped out of a state of shock and simply let out a sigh before shaking her head with a shrug. "Living up to the family expectations, as usual." She muttered with a toothy grin. But, with you no longer being in the room, she then went back to focusing all her attention back onto the TV, turning back in time to see a contestant get an electric shock for failing to complete a truth or dare question.