Chapter 201: Zoey's Dilemma.

Zoey was sprawled out listlessly in her bed. She looked at the ceiling of her room as she felt a yawn forcing itself out of her mouth. Now that she graduated, she had so much free time. Although she had several things she could do, it felt both good and wasteful to just sit right here in her comfortable ass bed doing nothing. She could be gaming, hitting up one of her friends to hang out, hunting daemons, looking for a new FTL opponent, or training for the upcoming Olympic Trials. But honestly, this stupidly expensive bed that cost more money than she had ever spent on furniture before felt so damn good.

It was like being hugged and caressed by fluffy clouds from heaven. Her body sunk into the blissful softness, and it kept her trapped with comfort and love. She really wanted to do something, but at the same time, she really didn't want to do anything at all. If she used her brain, she didn't really need to train for the Olympic Trials. Zoey had already gone beyond the physical fitness of humans. Her go-to strategy for track was being just slightly in front of the person in second place to hide her superhuman physique.

With the exception of very strong daemons and magjistars, there wasn't any human that was faster or stronger than her. She focused too much on her Body stat for that to be a possibility. Zoey didn't regret her heavy focus on Body instead of Mental and Magic. It's saved her life more times than she could count. But it did make her start to think.

Zoey's potential was infinite as far as she knew with the Box. Sure, some skills had reached their maximum level, but she didn't know if there was a limit on the number of skills she could get. This meant she could get multiple times stronger than she is right now still! A scary thought when Zoey felt like she was reaching her limit as a fighter and a magjistar. There was no real challenge anymore.

'If you really want a challenge, I got an idea…' Inner Zoey happily spoke up.

'No thanks.' Zoey was just complaining for the sake of complaining.

'We both know that isn't true. You're getting bored with this life of peace, comfort, fame, and luxury.' 

'This is everything I've always wanted. Well, except for the famous part. But the money, friends, and comfort. I literally couldn't ask for anything else. Except maybe a boyfriend."' Zoey argued.

'Humans are all greedy sacks of shit. You might be able to lie to yourself, but you can't lie to me, Zoey. I'm everything you've wanted to hide away from the world. Ever since we were a little girl, and you received your first whopping. Don't you remember thinking about what if your mom just died or disappeared forever? That way, she couldn't hurt you ever again. Back then, we weren't strong enough to stop her, to hurt her with anything but our words. But we both knew that telling her we hated her wasn't anything compared to the pain we felt with that belt or hand on our bottom. I know what you really want, deep down inside.' Inner Zoey's voice curled into a chilling smile that Zoey could imagine.

'And what's that?' Zoey felt that she already knew exactly what her other self was going to say…

'Violence,' she sang, the word echoing in Zoey's mind like a haunting melody. Inner Zoey's voice resonated with a disconcerting familiarity that Zoey couldn't escape.

In that moment, the room seemed to close in on her, the plush comfort of her bed transforming into restricting chains. The allure of peace and social success clashed with the dormant yearning for something more primal, something she somewhat hid within herself. Inner Zoey showed her explicit imaginary scenes of her fighting against the world. Using her boxing skills to tear apart magjistars with power, speed, and technique. Shattering daemons into blood stains and pieces with her grappling. Destroying both magjistars and daemons alike through a combination of her fighting and magji. Zoey forced herself out of bed as she tried to block out the incredibly clear scenes playing out in her mind.

"Break his spine!"

"Try out that Heartbreaker punch you've been thinking about for so long!"

"Holy shit! I didn't think you could break someone's leg with a low punch like that. You might as well finish her off than leaving her to suffer as a cripple for the rest of her life." Inner Zoey cheered.

Zoey ran out of her room. She had to leave. She had to think about something else. She couldn't go down this route. What would Victor think? What would her friends think? Her family?! Jogging down the street, Zoey desperately attempted to shake her mind of the feelings crawling their way up from deep down.

'Why are you running from who you really are?' 

'All of our potential going to waste.'

'And for what?! We could change the world for the better! We could do anything we put our minds to! Why waste it playing along with the whims of those weaker than us? Why hide and limit yourself to playing along with them like you're anything like them anymore?'

'We both know we're more than human by now. With the Box, we can take over the world! We can rule it and shape it into something far better. A world where we have nothing to fear for those we love and care for. A world where we can fight for as long as we like. With actual opponents who can push a superior being like ourselves.'

'You're fucking crazy… I never wanted anything like that,' Zoey spat. 'Ruling the world? Changing it how we want? That's fucking stupid. I'm not some fucking comic book villain.' 

"Sure, I like to fight. I like it a little bit more than the average person. But just because I'm feeling a little bored with how great everything in my life is going doesn't mean I need to do something so freaking stupid!" Zoey yelled.

Zoey, still breathless from her emotional outburst, scanned the unfamiliar faces around her. The realization of her public display hit her, and she took a moment to collect herself. "What the hell am I doing?" Zoey muttered under her breath, her fists clenching and unclenching involuntarily. "Hey, you okay?" a passerby asked, concern etched on their face. "Yeah, yeah, just was singing a really good part of a song," Zoey replied, attempting to dismiss the awkward tension she felt in the air. The onlookers shrugged and continued on their way, leaving Zoey alone with her internal turmoil.

'Alright. I may have come on a little too strong. I'm sorry.' Inner Zoey apologized.

"Don't talk to me for a while, okay?" Zoey requested.

'I'll think about it.' Inner Zoey went quiet after that. 'Bitch.'

Zoey walked through the cold winter streets in silence. She couldn't say that she never thought about the things her other self talked about. The stronger she became, intentionally or not, the harder it was to suppress the feeling of wanting to test that strength. Was it crazy to say that she missed the times when she was constantly losing and struggling to face off against people? Probably, right? 

It wasn't like Zoey could just stop becoming stronger, either. She's like a drug addict when seeing the numbers go up on the Box. Neither has she stopped her daily morning workouts that professional top-end athletes would struggle to finish. It was when she thought about the possibility of never having another satisfying fight again that those bad thoughts sprouted.

"Maybe it's time to go to therapy." Zoey decided. Money was no longer an issue, and she had more time on her hands than she knew what to do with.

Just as she decided to make this potentially life-changing decision, two figures approached Zoey. A guy and a girl. She didn't think they were fans because they didn't look excited to meet her. She couldn't think of a single damn reason why two strangers would approach someone like her on the street if they weren't her fans. So, she made eye contact with them as they stopped in front of her.

"Excuse us, are you Zoey Winters?" The guy asked.

"Yes?" Zoey considered lying, but they would easily catch her in that lie if they just typed her name into their phone's search engine.

"Do you mind if we have a private talk with you?" He politely asked.

"Why?" Zoey wasn't just going to follow some strangers for no reason.

"It's not appropriate to discuss this in front of so many… gullies." He whispered the last part.

Zoey's eyes narrowed as her fists clenched. In an instant, she seemed to transform into a terrifying predator ready to pounce on her prey. The magjistars tensed up as they involuntarily prepared themselves for survival, their mahna spiking from their bodies. Sweat dripped down their bodies while the need to chant a magji spell was rising from their throats.

"Wait! We just want to talk!" The guy clearly stated with his hands raised.

"Follow me," Zoey demanded. "Walk in front." 

"Hey! We aren't-" The girl's male companion glared at her, shushing her before she could finish whatever she was about to announce loudly.

The two did as Zoey said as she led them somewhere a little more private. In this position, she'd be able to get the drop on them easily if they tried anything. As far as Zoey knew, she was still the number one public enemy in the world of magji. They might be ignoring her after what happened with Victor, but she knew they wouldn't be forgetting her anytime soon.