Soul Seer Reads DEATH BATTLE's Mind!

    

Soul Seer, the First Power Pill

Power Pills was created by Bookfangeek, it can be read on Tumblr, Webtoon, and Tapas

DISCLAIMER: The Imgur Purge of May 2023 deleted most of the linked scans. Until I am aided in reclaiming all missing images, this message will remain here. Regardless, the blog will continue being updated with new scans.

Welcome back to the blog! If you're into series that have major young adult novel vibes, I'd recommend this series to you. Power Pills may not be my cup of tea, but I recently finished it and it's longer than 900 pages so I might as well put this out there while it's still fresh in my mind. This is a pseudo anthology series where each section focuses on a different protagonist, with each previous protagonist returning in following sections of the story. I could've gone with any of the protagonists in Power Pills as each one has an interesting powerset. I decided to go with Soul Seer not just because he's the first, but I think his story is among the best in Power Pills. How so? Why don't we find out.

Background

"I'm also assuming you got your powers the same way I did and that the other superhero wants us to team up. So… if you want to, I can help you train and we can fight the "bad guys" together."

Caleb Budde is your typical college student. He's friendly, kind, and a bit on the dorky side, but falls apart when trying to socialize with anyone that isn't his roommate Guy. To help him deal with his social anxiety, Guy made him go to a house party to and make friends… it didn't go as well as he had hoped. Every interaction was awkward and clumsy, he even blundered a potential relationship with a classmate Guy knew was interested in Caleb, Kate. Despite how much of a failure it turned out, this party would be a great turning point in his life.

While he was moping by himself with a light headache, a kid he had never seen on campus before offered a selection of painkillers to him. Although all eight pills were a different color, he claimed that all Caleb had to do was pick one. He was obviously suspicious of it, but he felt mysteriously compelled to pick one, that being the yellow pill. He left as soon as Guy returned, and Caleb told him what happened. As he was scolding Caleb for falling into what could've been a drug dealer's clutches, his headache worsened and he had to be taken back to his room.

His headache recovered after the night passed, but something was definitely wrong. He heard dozens of voices everywhere he went, thoughts that weren't his own. He fled from class after making a fool of himself and went to Guy for help. Both realized that Caleb gained the ability to read minds, along with mind control. Guy helped Caleb control his powers so they don't become a burden from him, and providing brutally honest advice to stop him from abusing his powers.

Things kicked into high gear when Caleb overheard the thoughts of a trio, who were planning to rob a bank. Caleb decided to take things into his own hands. He and Guy intercepted the robbers and held their own in a fight, but were ultimately rescued by a man in a superhero getup. Their savior not only had Caleb's mind control powers, but an assortment of other abilities too. This guy may have called himself Lightbringer, but Caleb recognized him as the shady fellow at the party. He didn't figure out all the details of Lightbringer's deal, but he was able to learn the following after dealing with the robbers: Lightbringer had hypnotized him into taking the pill, Lightbringer is on Caleb's side despite his actions, and there will be people that will come after him. Caleb wiped the robbers' memories of his and Guy's names and faces before the police showed up. The only thing they knew was that they fought someone with mind control, which made it onto the papers.

To prepare him for the foes he will face, Guy recommended he take martial arts classes. Turns out Kate is the star student there, and sparring against someone who could predict her moves before she threw them helped her figure out that he was the mind manipulator that stopped the robbery. Kate became a driving force in not just helping Caleb figure out more of his powers, but inspired him to become a full fledged superhero. 

His first outing as an actual superhero came out of the blue when a teenager was wildly attacking local businesses. Caleb quickly suited up and jumped onto the scene, but this was no ordinary kid. He quickly healed from violent wounds, and Caleb's powers didn't seem to affect him. But after drilling into the kid's head to fall asleep, it put the kid into a coma. Caleb didn't mean to do it, and wanted to make things right. After bringing him to the hospital, he learned he could directly enter peoples' minds, and discovered a horrible truth. The boy was trafficked and tortured by a shady group called Future Tech, who placed a microchip inside his brain to do their bidding. Caleb doesn't know what this group's aims are, but they're here to cause trouble, and get their hands on him. Thankfully he was able to suppress the effects of the microchip, and from behind the scenes, Lightbringer was able to help bail the boy from potential charges.

Since then, Caleb has become a legit superhero, going around and stopping crime wherever it appears. After a month of becoming a beloved heroic icon, word came out of someone else who could shapeshift into animals. Turns out that every month, Lightbringer would trick someone into taking one of his pills, providing them with extraordinary powers—each one Lightbringer already possessed. While his motives are unclear, it seems like he wants each one that takes a pill to work together. Thus, Caleb has started to grow out of his shell more as his team increases in size. He's become friends with them, helping them cope with the sudden changes in their lives. Currently, there are five members of this team—soon to be six. They all may be in the dark for what their true purposes may be, but Soul Seer and the Power Pills have dedicated themselves to using their powers for good, and stopping whatever schemes Future Tech comes up with.

Equipment

N/A

Abilities

Mind Reading

The first ability Caleb discovers he has. Basically, he can hear peoples' thoughts. It's a power he learned he can turn on and off in case the voices grow too overwhelming. His powers are limited to a range: the biggest being a concert hall's radius. However, this doesn't pertain to long distance communication via technology, as he can tap into cell lines to overhear phone conversations from the other end. When it takes lots of effort to use his powers in highly populated settings, his eyes glow blue. He can use these powers to his advantage by anticipating dangerous situations right before they occur, and outmaneuvers them thanks to his good reflexes. According to his Toyhouse profile, thoughts directed at him he hears the loudest

Mind Manipulation

After stating a command, his and the target's eyes glow, and his target does whatever was ordered. He can snap them out of it at any time, or permanently alter their minds in some way. He can make people drop their weapons, stop moving, do chores, jump off a building, fall asleep or unconscious, and so much more. As a bonus, he can create mental barriers around peoples' brains to keep them from being mind controlled. He finds it easier to control them when making eye contact with them, but he's still very much capable of controlling them without it.

Memory Erasure

With his mind control, he's able to make anyone forget whatever piece of information he tells them to forget. Even selective bits of information like peoples' faces and names.

Enhanced Strength

After taking the pill, he has higher physical strength compared to other humans.

Accelerated Healing

He can't regenerate from wounds like severed limbs, but he's able to heal from injuries like stabs and slashes significantly faster than others. The author stated that Power Pills heal injuries 3-6 times faster than the average person.

Mindscape Entering

When concentrating really hard, he can project his consciousness into a person's mindscape to interact with their conscience and directly see their memories.

Aura Manipulation

Caleb can see a person's aura: the subtle energy that surrounds people and objects. He can utilize it as a form of X-ray vision.

Psychic Navigation

If his mind reading isn't able to pinpoint a person's location, he has an alternative to fall back on. His powers can bounce off of human brains, so if someone is hiding in his range, he can track them down. This is useful in locating people that are able to block his mind reading.

Techniques

Taekwondo

Caleb is a blue belt in taekwondo. He's known for his agility and focus on defense. When he figures out his opponent's strategy, he attacks his opponent's weak points. When he's low on energy, he goes full defense mode. But now that he knows his opponent's strategies, he'll block their limb that's doing the most damage. He also really likes to sweep his opponent's legs. Thanks to his powers, he's able to predict his opponent's moves before they can even perform them.

Feats

Overall

• Successfully intercepted a planned robbery and aided in stopping it
• Is a blue belt level martial artist
• Can beat people easily by learning what attack they’re gonna do before they do it
• Defeated Avery, who resisted his powers, but accidentally put him into a coma
• Trained by black belt Kate in martial arts
• Broke out of his shell to form the Power Pills, which now stands at 5 members, soon to be 6
• With the help of Wax Guise and Bulletproof, fought three members of Future Tech
• Helped set up a scheme that would freeze Streamline—the fastest Power Pill—in place so he could talk to and recruit her
• He's stated to be a skilled strategist
• Helped the Web distrupt the Lacrima cult, which transforms people into fish-like humanoids to help them ascend to becoming something greater than human
• Beat all the Power Pills in a game of hide and seek while they all had mental blocks up to keep him from reading their minds

Strength

• Scales to Lightbringer, who can punch through brick walls
• Scales to Wax Guise, who can turn into a tiger, (which bites with over 1,000 psi), and scales to a Future Tech goon who broke a bench
• Scales to Streamline, who punched a hole through her wall, and according to her Toyhouse profile can lift an entire car
• Scales to Sibyl, who's strong enough to lift a person up while they're impaled on a spear, then knock out three other people with their body
• All Power Pills can lift pianos without weight training

Speed

• Scales to Lightbringer, who dodged a bullet
• Dodged the Web's electric blasts (MHS+)
• Scales to Wax Guise, who not only dodged the Web's electricity, but can also turn into a cheetah, which can run from 80 km/h to 128 km/h, which is 35.5556 m/s)
• Scales to Bulletproof, who teleported a bullet away from her forehead the moment it made contact with it
• Scales to Quickwit, who was able to evade Lightbringer's electricity-powered attacks

Durability

• Scales to Avery, who was thrown out a window, recovered after being impaled through the chest, and survived many electric shocks
• His arm was slashed by a knife

Weaknesses

• His mind reading has a range
• Caleb has extreme social anxiety
• Although he has enhanced strength, his fighting style lends itself more to defensive techniques than his strength
• It can get overwhelming hearing so many thoughts at once, like in a full concert hall
• His mind control powers are ineffective against Future Tech's superpowered goons
• It's difficult to use his powers on someone when they move significantly faster than him
• He can't make the thoughts he hears quieter. According to his Toyhouse profile, shout-thinking hurts his head
• Caleb's team figured out a way how to stop him from reading their minds: bunching up their thoughts and imagining a sturdy mental barrier around them

Matchup Potential

In terms of a good Soul Seer opponent, I'd want someone that operates on a low scale like a street tier superhero. His combat style is mainly tailored to simple martial arts and screwing with peoples' minds, so his opponent should have abilities that are flashier, but not too flashy that it causes a scale issue. Maybe his opponent could have some mind powers of their own to show how both can interact with each other in a battle of the brains. In terms of thematics, they'd likely be the first in a superhero team comprised of people that gain powers one by one from a mysterious person or group.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it