The esper readied her spear to block the sword while the other three espers saw an opening on Stella and were about to strike her at the same time. However, just as their attacks were to connect, the spear esper felt a shiver run down her spine as she saw one of Stella's purple eyes looking at her.

Shing!

Stella swapped places with her sword. The three espers missed their attack while the spear esper's eyes widened in shock as Stella appeared in front of her. However, even though shocked, she reacted quickly and swung her spear at Stella.

Pack! Bang!

Before she could do anything, Stella grabbed her spear with her left hand and punched her in the chest. The spear esper fell to the ground coughing as she tried to breathe.

"Out," the muscled man said as he appeared next to the spear esper. He grabbed her and disappeared again. The three espers were looking in shock and nervousness at Stella as she turned to them.

"Don't slack off, now we know her ability, prepare to counter it" said one of the espers as the three of them moved into a triangle-like formation, leaving Stella's sword in the center, and took battle stances again. "Get ready to anticipate her next swap," said again the one from the front looking like the leader. Then he took a step and countless ice spikes shot from the ground starting from his foot and headed towards Stella.

Shing! Bzzz

Stella disappeared as the ice spikes missed her and reappeared in the center of the espers' formation wrapped in purple bolts. However, the espers anticipated her swap and unleashed their attacks on her. The esper in the head of the formation swung his spear as well as a powerful ice-spike, the other one shot a dozen of flying weapons towards Stella with his telekinetic ability while the last one altered the air's viscosity around Stella so she couldn't evade the attacks.

'Wait, her sword is still here...' thought the leader as he saw Stella's sword still on the ground 'she didn't swap places... f*ck' he thought as he realized his mistake. Even though Stella was one of the most, if not the most popular esper in the academy, most people only knew her stage. Little people knew the specifics of her ability.

"She's our most promising esper..." Jake said from outside.

Shing! Shing!

Just as the attacks were about to hit Stella, she teleported her sword to her hand and then teleported herself away.

Booooom!

"...Hyperion's Ace, Purple Flash"

The three attacks missed and hit the ground. As a result, a big cloud of smoke wrapped the espers, blocking all visibility.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Three purple flashes were seen from inside the smoke cloud and the gymnasium went silent.

As the smoke dissipated, the three espers could be seen laying unconscious on the ground, while Stella stood in the center with her sword already sheathed, little purple bolts still jumped around her body and her sword.

Clap clap clap

Claps could be heard as the muscled man approached Stella.

"Very well done Stella, next time you will spar with the second strongest last-year student, a step 2 manipulation stage esper. We've already seen how you perform against espers at lower stages than you, now you'll practice against someone one step above you. With that you should be ready for the tournament" he said.

"Thank you very much teach, I'm looking forward to it," Stella said with a smile.

"F*ck, now we're really gonna be late," said Jake while looking at his clock. "C'mon Seth we gotta run," he said as he dragged Seth with him and began running to the next class.

On the way to class, Seth could only think about the scene he had just seen, how that girl was able to handle so skillfully, four espers that he couldn't even dream of fighting. 'She's truly impressive' he thought.

He suddenly noticed that Jake was looking at him with a smirk.

"What?" Seth asked, confused.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" Jake said while smirking.

"Wh-What? I mean yes, b-but not the way you think," he answered as he blushed a little without knowing.

"Don't worry dude I'm just teasing you." Jake said while chuckling "It's no big deal, about half the academy has a crush on her by now anyway"

After a minute of running through the halls they finally arrived at the class, however, the door was already closed. Seth and Jake looked into each other's eyes.

"You go first," Jake said to Seth.

"What? No, you go first and I support you" Seth said

"I'm not going first, you go first. We arrived late because you were daydreaming with Stella" Jake said with a smirk

"Wh-what?" Seth said taken aback

"After you" Jake as he signaled

"Fine," said Seth as he unwillingly approached the door

Toc toc toc

"F*ck you," Seth said as he looked back to Jake, however, the door opened at the same time. Seth and Jake froze in place as a tall, slim man with glasses appeared before them.

"Mr. Vronti, would you be so kind as to repeat the last thing you said?" said the man in a severe tone.

"I-I said nothing," Seth said nervously

"Y-yeah I didn't hear anything ei-" Jake tried to help, however, he shut up as Mr. Voight threw him a severe glance.

"Not only do you arrive late to class but you also have the nerve to insult me," Mr. Voight said.

"I'm sorry Mr. Voight, I didn't mean to..." Seth tried to apologize.

"I don't care about your excuses, your behavior is unacceptable. You'll be having three hours of detention after the end of classes and a noted written work of 20 pages for tomorrow on the implications for quantum physics of discovering the workings of espers' abilities. I want demonstrations and definitions of the main equations seen in class. You'll also be having a deduction of 15 points during your next exam. Am I clear?" said Mr. Voight to Seth.

"Yes, Mr. Voight" Seth replied.

"Okay, now go take a seat," he said and Seth entered the classroom. Then he turned to Jake "As for you, you should expect a deduction of 10 points during your next exam" Jake only gulped as he heard this. "Go take a seat" he continued as he let Jake enter the classroom.