CHAPTER 32

200+ stones to go for a bonus chap. You can do it reader-kun. I know you want it. Do you? Do you?

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"Huh?"

I smiled more at his incomprehension before his face dissolved into anger as part of the constructed wall started spinning and shot outward from the wall like spears at me while I jumped back and stood a distance from the range of the wall-spear.

I contemplated which new idea to test out and since testing the limit of my new physical strength against the barrier was something I was uncomfortable with – a subconscious action – I decided to go for the energy attacks.

This part was what was confusing.

Energy.

I had a lot of it.

All property-less.

Just pure energy without form.

Theoretically I should be able to assign a property to this energy and make it affect the material world based on the assign properties. Theoretically.

"Thinking won't do you any good. Nothing you do could ever hope to break this barrier."

'Hmm. Let's go with old fashioned heat energy. Should be simple enough.'

I stretched out an open palm to him as my red veins came alive once more, but this time I didn't focus in the pure destructive radiation that came with it. I focused on the simple heat every type of energy had and amplified that effect as I felt the energy in my body churn to accommodate my thoughts as the palms of my hands caught on fire. Pale golden-orange flames.

With that I projected the same feeling from my hands outwards and used a tiny part of the sea of energy my body contained to fuel it and almost reeled back in shock as waves of thick flames bellowed forth and crashed into the barrier with overwhelming heat.

Pyrokinesis.

In it simplest forms yes, but my theory was halfway proven. Giving the heat property of fire to my own energy was enough to create a wave of flames.

The guy behind the barrier was shocked with a healthy amount of fear present in his eyes, most likely thinking I was intent on burning him alive as his barriers most likely absorbed kinetic impact rather than pure heat which was easily conducted.

As if answering my thoughts he denied the position of a sitting punching bag and created large cone like structures and sent them at me which I dodged with fluid ease while I punched some that got aimbot.

This brought another idea to my mind. I needed something for long distances and no, fire and destructive balls of doom(still working on a trademark) were not long distance attacks. They were more like AOE attacks than actual long distance. I needed something solid that could also deliver substantial damage when it hits its target.

So as I dodged the linear trajectory of my spooked opponent who was giving the intergalactic police force a bad name, I figured why not just do what he was doing but with… well active imagination.

Since I already knew how emission of energy felt, it was easy to conjure up a ball of radioactive terror and held it in my hands as I focused on a simple form.

An arrow.

Small, short, sharp, fast.

Efficient.

Reducing the accumulated energy within it for more lethality and less ferocity a red arrow made of pure energy floated above my hands.

I smirked at my success and watched as the arrow slowly floated up to my side with slight sway to it. Note to self, practice more control.

Steadying the arrow, I looked at the confused barrier manipulating mutant that was watching me conjure up an arrow that was too small for the amount of focus I put into it. Not that I blame him since this was my first time doing it.

"Mind if we do that again?" I asked him as I controlled my now perfectly airborne-balanced arrow to my front and to my question he created three big spear tip but to his applause, this time he gave it a drill-like shape and spun it as he sent it to me. I waved off my own arrow in tandem and watched as it collided with a spear-drill midair and exploded with a force that destroyed the others.

I nodded in satisfaction with this display of force. As it turns out, it was way easier to manipulate volatile energies than one would be led to believe. It might be heavily attributed to the fact I was more exposed to volatile energies, mostly heat, than the tranquil ones - cold - making them harder to control.

I was being careful not to flood my attacks with too much energy so as not to inadvertently destroy this place with people still in it but his barrier was really strong.

I felt I could break it if I really pushed myself but there was no reason now was there… yes there was.

I somehow forgot this was still a rescue mission.

I could hear the booms and trash of the others fighting. Wolverine vs the wild-mouthed beast, Thunderbird vs Muscular, Colossus vs a guy who looked like a blue version of the Thing and Reiner against Bonesaw.

Scott, Jean, Ororo and Kitty were nowhere to be found, having already defeated the other members.

Looking further through the walls I saw Scott and Ororo taking on a squadron of armed guards while Kitty was out of my range of sight, the same with Jean.

Well since they remembered they had a mission and are already on it, there was no reason for me… not to dally around longer.

With that I turned around and addressed my spectator who I was now thinking he only knew how to use his powers for defense rather than offense which I blame on the lack of DC comics in this universe and the early level Japanese animation which was still in its infancy during this time.

This guy was a bona fide Green Lantern and all he could do was make walls and spears. Talk about medieval imagination.

Where's the railgun, and the giant arms, the machine guns, aircraft and the terrorizing goodness that was a 'fuck you too' bazooka? This guy was severely lacking in imagination.

Although my control was still shitty, that could be attributed to the fact that I just recently gained the ability to emit energy, so manipulation was bound to take some learning. And talk less of the fact that my evolution ended today with me waking up a few hours ago.

Without saying anything I conjured three red arrows and sent them to him as he braced himself for the impact. Different from the last arrow I threw, these ones had a little spinning effect on them as they traveled in projectile-like patterns and exploded upon contact.

I still couldn't create big solid constructs like his since I was still new to this and also since my automatic energy conversion was destructive in nature made it all the more harder to create.

There were a lot of energies I still couldn't control that I had ideas how to.

Cold.

Electromagnetic.

Kinetic.

These three were bedrocks to controlling some of the most ridiculously overpowered energy manipulation abilities.

Ice, electricity, magnetism, telekinesis, flight, gravity manipulation, spatial manipulation.

There was a lot of things I could do with it if I figured out how to manipulate other abilities and not just adapt to them.

I figured something after this last evolution I underwent, the more things I adapt to, the higher my plateau of growth grows. If I was able to learn a lot about manipulation of energy then my next evolution would be a major one unlike anything I've undergone. I instinctively knew this.

Looking at the man in front of me now, I couldn't help but feel pity and bore towards him. He could manipulate hardlight particles to a ridiculous extent if only he stopped to think of its usage and applications. Even reading a high school physics textbook on any topic about light would have given him inspirations to improve his abilities to at least the upper level of the Alpha class.

Now apart from pity, I felt slight anger at him. I knew people who would literally kill for his abilities – I've killed them in the hundreds – and here he was spouting ridiculous things about how his barriers couldn't be broken. What made him even think that his was a defensive ability.

Feeling my anger creeping up at his stupid mug, I augmented myself and speedily arrived at the front of his barrier.

The confidence was still plastered on his face and all it did was irk me on.

I cocked my fist as it pulsated with red chaotic energy and let it flow freely and unhindered as I brought it down on the barrier and watched as my hands pass through without any fleeting restriction as if the barrier wasn't even there in the first place, it rushed forward even as it broke through his personal space and subconscious defense and landed on his stunned face as it flung him through the cracked wall and several walls behind it with an unnaturally twisted neck.

He died before he crashed to the ground with an unbelieving expression frozen to his face.

"Okay, that was overkill." I didn't think that punched would straight out kill him even when I dialed down the energy output as I saw it pass through his second barrier before it hit him but it seems like even the resultant force was still too much as it killed him, almost taking off his neck in the process.

I X-rayed the fights around me and walked to the one I think needed help the most.

Constructing an arrow, I sent it fly freely as it is imbedded itself and exploded into the skull of the muscular dude who was in the middle of choking Thunderbird. If I remembered correctly he died in the early parts of the X-Men comics.

'Gotta up your game T-bird.'

John Proudstar was strong with superhuman strength, durability, speed, and I think he had foresight in the TV series. A well rounded mutant.

He gave me a nod of thanks and ran inside the building to help the others who were in.

The guy fighting Reiner was spooked as he was now the only one of his friends remaining and the moment he saw Muscular killed he turned to me like a deer in a headlights which gave Reiner, who I was just figuring out his ability – biological transmutation – the ability to make his body take on properties of matter, the time to turn his hand in a pallet of metal and swapped it at his head knocking him out.

Since there was no more fun to be had on this floor, we went in deeper and saw bodies in different conditions, mostly dead, as we walked in further.

I could see Kitty in a room with some kids as Jean directed her to where she was.

A squadron of guards were incoming on Scott and Storm with Colossus joining them in a few minutes while Logan was going to town in a 1v13 as he clawed his way through unhindered.

'Hmm. Choices, choices, choices.'

I ran scenarios in my head for unlikely complications to occur.

'Let's get the kids out first.' With that I walked through a set path and continued down as I came in contact with Scott's team already planning on engaging before they were cornered with Colossus at the helm.

Without paying them any attention I walked towards the incoming armed enemy goons ignoring the 'Heys' and 'Stops' that called out to me.

'Why didn't Scott just lasered through these guys? Right, they are the good guys so they have to hold back when fighting because of their morals.' I thought as arrows were formed around me, this time with yellow heat energy.

Scott, Jean, Ororo, Piotr, Logan.

Just one of these guys were more than enough to solo a base like this if were pushed to do it. If so, then why didn't they?

The answer was simple.

Psychological limitations. It was something everyone had; myself included. But I would disagree since mine were a lot looser.

The need to be better, a role model and something as fragile and ephemeral as 'humanity' were the reasons. Maybe not Logan though, since all it needed to set him off was to push his buttons the wrong way.

The others were different.

They don't know yet, maybe because they haven't been despaired or broken down. Having their reason for living trampled on, their mental faculties disassembled, their aspirations crushed… or maybe they do but like me once upon two years ago, chose to deny it.

Or maybe it was because I was older than them that I could see it clearly. Scott was still young, approaching his mid twenties with the others in the same range. Presently the only one older than me was Logan.

Maybe that's why they haven't realized it yet…. Logan was an untamed beast, always have been, but he wasn't feral.

It was very simple.

It was all a matter of 'Choice' and 'Will'.

Anything you choose, with the right amount of will, mostly in a universe like this, could be achieved.

After all, even the worst of monsters could be most loving of parents.

Thanos was an example.

No matter how mad and deranged he was, he still loved his daughter, even in his own twisted, sick way.

You might be made a monster,…but it's up to you and you alone if you choose to continue as one.

I let out my arrow as I continued walking and watched as they all lodged themselves inside a target before enveloping and consuming the ones near it in flames.

I created more arrows to target the ones who managed to dodge and killed them all as I kept walking to my destination.

I paused at an intersection and spoke to Scott and his team mates.

"I seem to recall this as a rescue mission. The luxury of time doesn't favor us but the enemy." With that I walked off and headed to Kitty and the kids.

'Haha.' I laughed at that thought.