Psychic Overlord

Up in the instructor’s booth, Carlisle Freed squinted at the cracked battlefield where Kaizer stood victorious and Tessa lay in a crater, snoring peacefully.

He tilted his head.

"...Okay, real talk," He said, waving a jerky stick like a pointer.

"What in the seven hells did I just watch? She hulked up mid-fight like three times. What are those ’Super Tessa’ things?"

Madam Sylvia coughed lightly and looked away, clearly uncomfortable. "It’s... a bit of a long story."

Carlisle leaned in, interested. "Oh no, don’t you dare! Spill it! Right now! I demand answers!!"

Madam Sylvia sighed, rubbing her temples. "Her ability, Perfect Body, allows her to permanently increase her physical stats through sustained training, which means strength, speed, durability... everything. The more she works out, the stronger she gets and there’s no upper limit, just how much her body can handle."

"Okay, that makes sense, but what’s with the... transformation stuff?" Carlisle gestured vaguely to the battlefield.

Sylvia grimaced. "She, uh... gamified it mentally and said it helps her focus. So every time she hits a new physical plateau, she assigns it a name. First big breakthrough? Super Tessa. Second one? Super Tessa 2. You get the pattern."

Carlisle blinked. "She anime-trained herself into unlocking forms?"

"Technically speaking she’s doubling her muscular output with each stage by engaging specific layered tension systems through neural conditioning and biomechanical stress thresholds. It’s a kind of self-hypnosis fused with aura ignition." Sylvia muttered.

Carlisle stared. "So she flexes so hard she powers up?"

"...basically." Madam Sylvia said weakly.

He burst out laughing, nearly falling out of his chair. "Gods, I love that girl. What’s next? Super Tessa God Ultra Instinct Plus One?"

Madam Sylvia groaned and covered her face with her fan. "Don’t encourage her."

Lysandra, somehow sipping tea beside them, raised an eyebrow. "Too late. She already asked the lab if she could call the fourth stage ’Titan Mode EX.’"

Carlisle wiped a tear from his eye. "I swear, this tournament’s gonna kill me, and I’m not even fighting!"

.......

The arena still buzzed with the aftershock of Kaizer and Tessa’s explosive finale—cratered ground, energy residue lingering like static in the air, and a stadium that couldn’t stop talking.

Yet already, the lights dimmed, then reignited with a focused glow on the northern platform.

DING!

The board updated again with a fresh wave of data.

[Match 6: Roland Hayes "Tide" vs. Kaizer Lunin "Overlord"]

Up in the Supreme Force observation box, Commander Rae narrowed her eyes.

"Roland’s up next. This one’s different." She said, folding her arms.

Commander Blaze, still sore from the earlier shock of Solaris, finally managed a smirk. "Tide doesn’t flinch, not at death, not at Terra, not at stakes. If anyone can flow with Kaizer’s rhythm, it’s him."

President Ethan Voss nodded slowly. "It’s not about power, it’s about resistance. Roland’s ability... doesn’t just shatter, it absorbs."

In the instructor booth, Lysandra traced a finger along the rim of her teacup.

"Roland Hayes. Vibration control specialist. S-class. Known as the mellow storm, I’ve seen him flatten a boulder with a pat on the back." She said smoothly.

Carlisle frowned. "He’s the one with the Wave, right? The guy who redirects force vectors through harmonic resonance?"

"Exactly, he doesn’t stop attacks. He lets them in and then turns them around." Madam Sylvia confirmed, leaning forward.

Madam Sylvia glanced toward Kaizer’s side. "Telekinetic enhancement could actually work against Kaizer here. Roland’s whole style thrives on impact force."

Kaizer, for his part, stood silent near the center of the arena, eyes forward, jacket swaying slightly. He hadn’t moved since Tessa’s unconscious body was lifted off the battlefield.

His own figure showed bruising and psychic strain at the edges of his limbs, but his eyes were calm.

Then—

FWSSHH.

The lift hissed open again.

From the far side of the arena, a figure descended the steps with slow, deliberate grace.

Roland Hayes.

Loose windbreaker open to the chest, hair braided tight, hands in his pockets. His stride was lazy, but every footstep carried a strange sense of rhythm, like each step harmonized with the arena itself.

The crowd fell silent.

Unlike previous opponents, Roland didn’t project tension, he projected a calm and cool pressure, not unlike an approaching tide that would drown you before you noticed the water.

"Kaizer Lunin, nice fists. Tessa’s still snoring. You got good hands, man." Roland said smoothly, as they met at the center.

Kaizer inclined his head. "And you’ve got the most stable aura I’ve ever felt. It’s like fighting a heartbeat."

Roland grinned. "That’s the goal."

They held each other’s gaze, two minds not clashing—yet—but syncing, measuring.

In the Heir Pavilion, Rafael leaned over the railing.

"This one’s gonna be close. Roland’s too chill to break, and Kaizer’s too calculating to waste motion."

Ryu nodded once. "It’ll come down to internal timing. Whoever over-commits, even slightly, loses."

Davion scoffed but didn’t comment. For once, even he wasn’t sure who had the edge.

"Oh by the way, no telepathy alright? I don’t have much defense against that myself." Roland suddenly requested with a smile.

"...fine." Kaizer agreed speechlessly.

Below, Lysandra’s voice carried out again with poise.

"Match Six—Overlord versus Tide... Begin."

BOOM!

Kaizer surged forward first, fists glowing with layered telekinetic force. He launched a flurry of precise strikes that were vector-loaded punches meant to bend air pressure as they flew, but Roland didn’t dodge.

He turned slightly, like a dancer shifting his weight.

Kaizer’s first blow struck his shoulder...

...and the force vanished.

It was not dispersed, nor blocked, but redirected.

Kaizer’s eyes narrowed as he felt the energy of his own strike ripple through Roland’s body... and pulse back toward his ribs like a whip of pressure. He twisted, barely slipping the redirected hit, his back foot skidding against the arena.

A strange thrummm followed.

It was Roland’s counter-pulse, built directly from Kaizer’s own attack. He wasn’t resisting, the fellow was harmonizing.

Roland stepped in without urgency, palm rising toward Kaizer’s chest. A faint shimmer surrounded his hand, like air vibrating from a bassline out of a jumbo speaker.

Kaizer crossed his arms instinctively.

WHUMP.

Kaizer was launched backward like a ragdoll, slamming into the far arena wall, cracking stone.

The crowd gasped.

"He deflected a telekinetic shield like it was nothing!" Ferron Blaze shouted from the commentary booth.

Tae Ishi’s mouth dropped open. "I thought Kaizer was untouchable in close quarters!"

"He is, but Roland’s not clashing. He’s flowing."" Blaze leaned forward.

Kaizer stood up slowly, arms trembling from the internal shock. That palm hadn’t pierced his barrier, it had bounced inside it.

Kaizer adjusted his breathing.

Roland hadn’t even moved from the center.

"You good?" Roland called out, voice easy.

Kaizer nodded once, already adapting. "You don’t just hit, you echo. Interesting."

Roland smirked. "Vibration’s like rhythm, man. Catch the beat, you move. Miss it, you trip."

Kaizer inhaled deeply, clearing his thoughts.

He’d been using telekinetic enhancement and treating Roland like Tessa. A mistake due to the fact that he had gained a lit of exhilaration fighting Tessa in such a manner.

His mind adjusted to become less rigid. No more direct brute force, that wasn’t going to be enough to resolve this issue.

Their eyes met again, then Kaizer vanished.

ZWWWWP!

He reappeared behind Roland mid-stride and launched a kick, but Roland didn’t even look.

BOOM!

The moment Kaizer’s leg hit, Roland dropped low, rolled with the vibration, and countered with a reverse elbow that used Kaizer’s own weight and velocity.

The Overlord was flung skyward.

Roland leapt up after him, palms glowing.

Kaizer realigned midair, flared his psychic aura and released a psychic barrier.

But Roland’s strike phased through the barrier like mist, the vibration bending around the field.

He palm-struck Kaizer’s chest again and the resulting pulse launched them apart.

Kaizer crashed into the ground like a meteor, coughing once.

Roland landed smoothly, one knee down, then stood again.

"You didn’t use telepathy, right?" Roland said, grinning as he rolled his shoulders.

Kaizer coughed once and wiped blood from his mouth, nodding slightly. "Don’t worry. I didn’t."

Roland raised an eyebrow. "Then I guess you’re just struggling fair and square."

Kaizer stood, body aching, mind calculating.

Telekinesis as a whole wasn’t working since every strike was returned and every movement was punished.

He needed to change his methodology from the ground up and he had an idea how to go about it.

But before that, Kaizer decided to test something as his hand lifted.

"I didn’t say I wouldn’t use all of telekinesis," Kaizer muttered.

ZZZHHMMM...

A sound echoed, low and deep.

And then two clones appeared beside him, made from raw psychic force that were vague shapes at first, then sharpened into mirror images of Kaizer.

Telekinetic Enlargement.

The crowd cried out in excitement, having just seen Tessa taken down by these.

"He’s splitting his own telekinetic force into duplicates!"

Tae Ishi shouted. "That’s gotta tear his mind apart!"

Madam Sylvia watched with concern. "He’s risking neural feedback doing that at his current fatigue, but... it might be enough."

The Kaizer trio moved in sync, circling Roland at high speed.

Roland’s eyes narrowed, the rhythm shifting around him.

"Let’s go, Vibration King," the three Kaizers spoke at once.

The fight had just reached its next level.