Retains skills

After I’d cooled down a little and my legs didn’t feel like they would collapse out from under me if I tried to stand, I pulled myself to my feet, took a moment to concentrate, and let go of Aífe’s Noble Phantasm. The progress bar sitting in the back of my head vanished, but I could still remember clearly how the Apple Feat and the Salmon Leap were performed. It seemed, in my base Breaker form, at least, the skills had stayed behind.

“Release.”

Another moment of focus was all it took to drop out of my base Breaker form and become regular, ordinary Taylor Hebert once again. I looked down at my hands — they didn’t look any different, any stronger, any more dexterous than they’d been when I woke up that morning.

I walked over to where I’d set those pieces of rubble down, then I hefted them up and started juggling. Effortlessly, as though I’d been born to do it, I handled them, tossing them up into the air, catching them, swapping them between my hands. Yesterday, I would have fumbled like a newborn.

For the rest of the day, I wore a smile, and nothing could bring me down.