Welldark B2 Ch. 03

What was my obligation here? De-facto, none. Taurus had already admitted that he was not a tyrannical father, therefore whatever I and his daughter did was ultimately outside of his authority. That only meant that I was bound by decency instead of power. As I certainly had my contrarian streak, that was way more effective. Had he been the overbearing kind of parent, I would have been tempted to revolt against what he wanted just because I could.

First question was whether or not I would even take this demand in full. Having established his decency, I felt that it was my obligation to. That, in turn, created a more pressing issue: how did this affect my timeline? By Esther's design, Aclysia should join our Anomalia at the end of the semester. That was six weeks from now. Ample time to get to know each other better and for Esther to sort out her scar issue. Not necessarily ample time for me to learn to withstand the pressure of the headmaster.

'One can only make estimates on what one has attempted,' I thought to myself and locked eyes with Taurus. The giant of a man was patiently waiting for my response. "I need to try right now."

"Stand," Taurus ordered and rose to his feet himself. He guided me halfway back to the door, before stopping. A step's distance between us, he faced me. Three fingers raised, he gave me a countdown. I took a deep breath, let it out, and braced myself for the inevitable.

It was like one large hammer hit every upwards facing surface on my body at the exact same moment. My knees buckled, my head was forced halfway down, my eyes stared straight ahead, without focusing on anything. Universally constricting pressure made it difficult to draw air into my lungs.

My legs desperately pushed against the supernatural weight on my shoulders. The initial strike was the easiest of it all. I got a first-hand experience of what it felt like to be underneath a hydraulic press. At the same time, it was entirely different. In reality, there was no weight. The heat all around me, the pressure on my lungs, the descending force on my shoulders, all of it was akin to the optical illusions one experienced when putting soft pressure on closed eyes. My senses were capable of noting the presence of Arustius Taurus' Astral Capacity, and, uncertain what else to do with it, were interpreting it as physical phenomena.

Knowing what the nature was helped my mental state. That only did so much. My physical experience was a teeth-clenching terror that only intensified further with each passing second. All of what I was, was sinking deeper into crushing depths. The ground was getting closer. Then I lost my balance.

The moment my hands touched the ground, the pressure was gone. I snapped for air, as if I had just spent several minutes under the surface. All over, I felt damp. I wiped away the sweat on my forehead and did my best to ignore the iron taste of blood in my mouth. My Astral Body would fix what I had done to my teeth.

All of my muscles felt leaden, as if I had just ran a triathlon. Barely, I managed to get from my hands and knees into a normal sitting position. I shot Taurus a questioning gaze.

"Thirty-five seconds."

"Felt a whole lot longer," I confessed and let out a long exhale. Nothing about me should have been actually exhausted. "Is that a good start?"

"Adjusting for you being a freshman, it is the best start anyone has had," Taurus told me.

I nodded, entirely unsurprised. "I do have a lot of Astral Capacity," I groaned as I fought my way back to my feet. The primary factor in the intensity of the pressure I felt was the difference in our supernatural power. It followed the same logic as the level of intimidation one felt from larger lifeforms. Someone two centimetres taller created barely any instinctive response, while a five-hundred metre giant would make most people react with instinctive fear.

The alternative way to overcome this was through mastery of oneself. In the end, all of the pressure was not an actual physical thing. If I could achieve the necessary level of self-control, the difference in power would not be as difficult to resist.

Taurus waited for me to say anything. I was tempted to try again. 'No, that won't end well,' I told myself. The well of power within me was depleted, expended in instinctive response to the pressure around me. 'I won't be able to try this more than once per day... and I shouldn't waste the headmaster's time either.' "Would it be fine if I returned next weekend?"

"You have the card," Taurus just stated and pointed me towards the exit.