Based on context clues, it seems to negatively impact the use of skills.

  Yamanda narrowed her eyes. “Then I’ll just cut you down where you stand.”

  Tanya tilted her head. “How, though?”

  “The hell do you mean, ‘how’?”

  “Even with your teleportation, you couldn’t touch me. So… how exactly do you plan to pull that off now? Oh, oh! I think I know what you're going to do—but nope!”

  Yamanda’s glare hardened as Tanya zipped through the air at extreme speeds, staying close to Hessien.

  Tanya waved playfully. “I’m not going to let you teleport me around. Though, considering I’m composed of pure skill energy—pure negative skill energy—I wouldn’t even be harmed by it. Or were you planning something a little more… violent?”

  This is going to escalate again.

  I shot a look at Hessien, who noticed my gaze.

  He whispered loudly, “Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure Tanya will be fine.”

  We needed her alive to keep the president in check.

  Yamanda was about to make her move when an idea suddenly struck me.

  “Wait!” I shouted.

  She glanced at me briefly before turning her focus back to Tanya. “What is it?”

  “I’m sure your people have always had trouble dealing with Tanya and her kind…”

  Vacinay snickered. “Now she sounds like her racist mother.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” I snapped, before turning back to Yamanda. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that Tanya is…”

  Tanya grinned. “Different? Changed?”

  I looked at her, wondering why she was sabotaging this for us. We aren’t in Naruto. No amount of change is going to erase what she’s done to these people.

  Ignoring her, I pressed on. “She isn’t bound to Hessien by choice.”

  As soon as I said that, I shot Tanya a sharp glare, praying she wouldn’t suddenly blurt out, actually…!

  She just smiled at me.

  I continued, “The president is responsible for her being free and bound to Hessien. Since he didn’t trust us, he wanted to control us—using her.”

  Yamanda looked at me like I was a child who’d just said something profoundly stupid. “Do I look foolish enough to fall for such nonsense?”

  Actually, yes.

  Ghomas nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, but you’re hot, so it’s okay.”

  Without sparing him a glance, she swung her sword in his direction, sending a massive white arc slicing through the ground near him.

  “Insinuate I’m stupid again. I dare you.”

  What the…

  She was almost completely different. Bloodlusted Yamanda is something else.

  Ghomas trembled as he gawked at the scorched ground where the attack had landed.

  My heart pounded against my chest, as if it wanted to break free from my ribcage.

  I swallowed my nerves and pressed on. “It’s the truth. That bastard has skills related to contracts. I’m sure he had set up something to take control of Tanya the moment she possessed us.”

  Yamanda’s glare deepened. “Lying about the president can lead to capital punishment.”

  My eye twitched. Getting constantly threatened is really starting to eat away at my damn ego.

  ‘LyInG aBoUt ThE pReSiDeNt CaN lEaD tO cApItAl PuNiShMeNt.’ Why don’t you suck a dick and die?

  I was even more pissed because I was telling the truth. Not only was she refusing to believe me, but she was treating me like I was an idiot.

  Your damn president tried to set us up and failed, yet you’re angry at me?

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Then why don’t you kill me?” I challenged. “Kill us all right here and now so your planet can get overrun by the mutants.”

  She stared at me for a few seconds before turning her attention back to Tanya, who hovered lazily above the ground as if this had nothing to do with her.

  “I think… I’ll just get the president’s confirmation,” she said before suddenly vanishing.

  Man, my day was so ruined… I couldn’t even digest my food before all this bullshit happened.

  I was so pissed.

  She returned in less than three seconds—with the president. I was pretty sure I had learned his name at some point, but I had already forgotten it.

  Or maybe I never bothered to learn it. That’s how little I care about this shithead.

  The president scanned the area before locking eyes with Tanya. His lips parted slightly, and he licked them.

  Tanya dragged a finger across her throat in a silent threat, and the president took a wary step back.

  Yamanda folded her arms. “Sir, can you confirm that you have nothing to do with this creature? Lumine claims otherwise. I know it’s a lie, but—”

  “I-It’s kinda complicated,” the president admitted.

  Yamanda, who had previously worn a confident, exasperated expression—the kind of look someone has when explaining for the tenth time why the Earth is round—froze. Slowly, confusion seeped into her features.

  “In what way…?” she asked.

  Tanya had settled beside Hessien, but her gaze remained fixed on the president, like a predator watching its prey.

  The president folded his arms behind his back. “You see… The Reality Defenders are very young. Minors, in fact. So they aren’t fully mentally equipped for the role they were meant to serve. Because of that, we… um… had to use unconventional means to harness their full potential.”

  I scoffed. “That’s code for ‘he wanted to mind-control us.’”

  At least he didn’t try to drug us. I guess.

  Vacinay crossed her arms. “Exactly. Also, Lumine is the only damn minor. I’m a grown ass woman.”

  I shouted, "I turned 18! I'm 18!"

  "And I'm Batman. Wallaaaaaa."

  "Oh, you—"

  Yamanda cut me off. "We can talk about that later. What I just heard is far more important..."

  She bit down on her glove, clearly stressed. "So... you really, purposely unsealed that creature? The same one that killed the president two centuries ago, slaughtered 780,000 innocent people, and possessed children just to make them murder their own parents?"

  Holy shit. I knew she’d done some bad stuff, but that last part? That was insane. That had to be disinformation. I hoped it was, at least.

  Hessien leaned over and whispered to Tanya, "That’s all propaganda, right?"

  She gave him a blank look. "No. I’m surprised that’s all I did."

  Yamanda snapped her gaze to Tanya, eyes sharp as daggers.

  "It was an interesting experience," Tanya said, completely unbothered.

  "You sick—!" Yamanda stormed toward her.

  Tanya stood up lazily. "I know what I am. I embrace it. You Flowmans, however, like to pretend you have the moral high ground. Your kind has committed genocide against countless races. You wiped out the Despertamors in my time, and it was that very massacre in this country that led me to commit so many atrocities."

  Her expression remained eerily sincere as she continued, "To be frank, I fully intend to kill every single Flowman on this planet. Not now, of course, but eventually. Maybe this century, maybe in the next six. At this point, it’s not even revenge anymore. No matter how many of you I kill, it will never be enough for me to think, ‘I’m satisfied with that number. The suffering of Bhusrui, Klon, and the others has been repaid.’

  "Now, I just want to be the person that makes you all realize:

  ‘Oh. These are the consequences of our actions.’

  ‘Oh. We’re going to die because we tricked and betrayed the Despertamors.’

  ‘Oh. We really shouldn’t have done that."

  Yamanda was now only inches away from her. "Even if that was—"

  "If it was? Don’t be foolish. It’s in your history books—how you all ‘wiped out’ Evil Manifestations two centuries ago. Since we’re seen as the embodiment of evil, I doubt the truth was even censored."

  "The war started because of the harm your kind was causing."

  "We caused less harm than your kind did to others."

  The tension between them was growing thick enough to choke on.

  "You... you didn’t just kill. Your attacks cut off entire towns and villages from food and water. You left people to starve to death. You made them die slow, agonizing deaths."

  Tanya didn’t flinch. "I’m aware. And your kind killed us piece by piece. First a leg, then an arm, then another limb a week later. You used our bodies to forge weapons, enhance pills, and strengthen armor. Every action I took was a calculated response, designed to make you feel the suffering your kind inflicted on mine.

  Yamanda’s hands clenched into fists. "Let’s say your actions were justified as revenge. You just admitted you plan to kill every single Flowman. What have the modern ones—or the future ones—ever done to you? Their ancestors are dead. Why should they inherit their sins?"

  "I suppose when I kill all Flowmans, the only Despertamors left will be created from other species. That’ll create a different dynamic, since they won’t share the same chaotic history with them."

  I listened intently but didn’t say a word.

  Yamanda grunted before turning to Hessien. "How much control do you have over her?"

  Hessien hesitated, nervous from the heated exchange. "Not much. But she can’t kill anyone unless I allow it."

  Yamanda exhaled sharply, then turned toward the President. "I am immensely disappointed in you."

  And then—he was gone. She must have teleported him.

  Under her breath, she muttered, "So damn fucking incompetent..."

  I locked eyes with Ghomas and Vacinay. None of us knew what to say.

  Yamanda took a step back and sighed. "Whatever. I guess. I’m already pissed off, so let’s start training now. But first—Hessien, get her out of my sight."

  Hessien glanced at Tanya, waiting for her reaction.

  She smirked. "Open up, boy."

  Then she dissolved into pure energy and flew straight into his mouth.

  That... nearly got a laugh out of me.

  Hessien blinked a few times, looking completely dumbfounded.

  Silence. Then he finally spoke. "...So, uh... you aren’t gonna try to kill me—to kill her, right? Like, on some ‘necessary sacrifice’ bullshit?"

  Yamanda sighed and forced a smile. "I’m trying not to give in to that temptation... unless you’re offering yourself."

  "No no!"

  "He isn’t!" I jumped in front of him like a human meat shield.

  "Exactly! And Tanya would rush out to protect him too!" Vacinay added, scrambling to his side.

  Ghomas, arms crossed, casually distanced himself from us and said. "Yeah, what they said."