Chapter 143 – Game, Changes

[2009 – September]

Turning on the stereo in the living room, Jean put on some of the music that she liked, which was mostly pop music and slow ballads.

This morning she had chosen pop music, and she listened to it while she combed her hair, washed her face, and brushed her teeth, her hips swinging to the tunes that echoed through our home.

I didn't mind listening to her music and I loved how she sang along to the songs that she liked the most.

She had a lovely voice and while she didn't hit every note perfectly, her singing was still beautiful and it caused me to smile while I took care of my morning routine by her side.

The way she danced and twirled while wearing only a small black top and a frilly pair of lace panties of the same colour, also wasn't a show that I regretted watching.

Standing in front of the closet, her hips popped from side to side in a particularly tempting fashion following the rhythm of the song, which caused her perky behind to draw my heated gaze to itself.

Throwing me a look over her shoulder, Jean caught me looking at her, drinking in her foxy movements like a man that was about to die of thirst.

Her lips curled up ever so slightly while her hands started to move along her sides and thighs as she continued to rock her curves to the music.

I knew that she was teasing me, tempting me to act, as she wasn't even trying to look through her clothes and decide on what to wear for the day.

Seeing no reason to suppress the slowly rising desire that coursed through my veins, I stepped behind her, my hands landing on her hips with my thumbs brushing over the bare skin that showed because her top was too short to cover her whole abdomen and back, the hemline barely reaching an inch or two above her navel.

Turning her head back, she looked up at me with an innocent smile, her bright green eyes carrying a mischievous look.

"Anything the matter, my love?", she asked with a whisper and I could see that she trying hard to sound innocent without losing her seductive edge, her hips still drawing small circles.

It worked perfectly though as I could practically feel my blood heating up, my eyes burning with flames of desire.

"How about instead of pretending to look for something to wear, you let me take off what you are wearing right now, you little minx ... ", I replied with a roguish smile, leaning down to leave a small kiss on her lips, softly biting her lower lip as I drew back.

She hummed quietly in response, the short contact having an obvious effect on the fiery-haired tease.

And just as I thought that she would answer with approval for my 'proposal', Jean moved fast as she slipped out of my grasp with a giggle.

"It's not that easy, Tige- Ahh!", she stated with a laugh, though she didn't manage to finish her sentence as I showed off some of my reaction speed and grabbed her by the waist and threw her onto the bed.

She cried out in surprise while sailing through the air before landing on the soft bedding, though she was also quick to react after her landing.

Following behind her, I managed to catch the pillow that she threw at me before it hit my face. The second one though, I didn't manage to avoid as she had used her Telekinesis to move it through my blindspots and hit me in the back of my head with it, which caused her to laugh victoriously at my expense, her eyes shining with childish delight.

Naturally, I could have avoided both pillows as my hearing and sense of touch were far too sensitive to not pick up on her little trick. I had let myself be hit on purpose though as I did not want to rob Jean of this moment when she so obviously had fun.

"If you want me, you will have to catch me.", she challenged me with a carefree giggle as she jumped down on the other side of the bed and ran into the living room to escape my 'evil clutches'.

"Well, you can run but you can't escape, sweetheart.", I accepted her challenge with a laugh and ran after her, slowing down somewhat to give her a chance while I reached out to lightly pinch her perky behind.

Letting out an adorable squeak, she shielded her bum with her hands before jumping over the leather sofa, trying to bring more distance between us.

"No pinching, you cheater!", Jean called out in protest.

"I am a God of Darkness, I bow to no rules!", I retorted without hesitation.

And for a while, innocent laughter rang out in our home as we reveled in the childish joy this little game of catch brought us.

…

"I am a Goddess, I- Haha! No, stop! Stop, tickling me! No! I demand respect!", Jean cried out while breathing heavily, trying to fight off Elijah as her love mercilessly tickled her sides, causing her to laugh and wiggle beneath him while he pressed her into the soft leather cushions of the sofa.

Jean had held on for as long as she could but Elijah had still managed to catch her and was now 'punishing' her 'cruely'.

"Ha, it won't be so easy, little goddess! I am the big, bad Lord of Darkforce, I shall show no mercy!", Elijah countered victoriously with laughing eyes, his tone dark and playful, "Submit and offer me your lips for a kiss, otherwise you shall feel despair!"

"Never!", she continued to stubbornly resist while laughing herself, trying futilely to fend off her love's 'vicious' assault.

A few minutes later though, Jean was powerless to fight any longer as she breathed laboriously, looking up at Elijah with glowing eyes and reddened cheeks.

He had a light smile on his lips, his eyes carrying unconcealed joy and tenderness in them while he towered above her, his waist pressing against her core as he sat between her legs, no longer tickling her as he waited for her to catch her breath.

He looked happy and carefree.

Tiredly raising her hand she brushed over Elijah's cheek, pushing a few stray locks back behind his ear as a lovely smile appeared on her lips.

"I give up.", she whispered, "You can kiss me now."

…

The next two days, I spent trying to figure out how much my powers had changed, and I did not mean just my newly-gained abilities.

Since coming to this world, I had given myself a grand total of nine abilities, though some minor ones had later been fused with other abilities.

There were three Epsilon-level abilities, namely Program, Bio-Circuit, and Mental Link. My Beta-level abilities numbered the same, with them being Peak Human Condition, Adoptive Muscle Memory, and Body Supremacy.

As for my Alpha-level powers, there was only a single one though it was one of my favorite abilities – Farsight. Shield Creation and Manipulation, along with Energy Vessel, were my two Omega-level abilities.

This wasn't a simple set of abilities, especially not now that I had become the Realm Lord of the Darkforce Dimension.

None of my abilities had become obsolete just because my power had grown massively, though that statement might be debatable when it came to my Peak Human Condition.

Still, my current looks had much to do with that ability and it had helped me develop rapidly throughout these last few months, so I did not regret granting it to myself even though it currently did not really add to my power.

My other abilities though had all received a massive enhancement due to the fact that my mind and body had been strengthened massively through my Energy Vessel that was fuelled by the Darkforce Dimension.

Bio-Circuit and Mental Link were the two exceptions as they were rather special types of powers, they both were still as useful as they had ever been, with the latter having changed minutely.

Program, on the other hand, was just an Epsilon-level ability that allowed me to make use of the processing capabilities of my brain without the need for me to actively focus on a specific task, this worked even when I was unconscious.

Two factors decided the number of tasks that I could 'program' my mind to carry out, one of which was the original level of the ability while the other depended on the strength of my mind.

Seeing as my mind had reached truly superhuman levels, Program had naturally become much stronger and I could now use it to carry out dozens of different tasks without any strain on my mental capabilities.

Adoptive Muscle Memory and Body Supremacy weren't too different in this aspect as the strength of my mind also greatly influenced the usefulness and strength of those abilities.

Before, I had only been able to use Adoptive Muscle Memory for a limited amount of time daily, which had amounted to around four hours before my latest power-up. Now though, I could use it without any time limit as my mind would no longer be under any strain even if I used it 24/7.

With my Superhuman Physique now, there were also basically no limitations to what I could learn while using Adoptive Muscle Memory, considering that my physical parameters had reached a standard that was beyond any earthen technology to even measure.

In truth, I could still feel my strength increasing every moment of the day as my Energy Vessel never stopped absorbing energy.

My Body Supremacy was a bit special though as the amount of control that I had over my physical state depended on the strength of my mind, while the extent of what I do with it also depended on my physical potential.

As a Peak Human, I had been able to reattach my limbs, change my hair and eye colour, and even harden my flesh so that I was unaffected even when I used my bare fists to rip apart concrete that was mixed with different metallic elements.

Now, I was a being that could crush a billion Peak Humans just by speaking too loudly, so it was hard to even imagine what else I could do with my Body Supremacy, though I was certainly eager to find out.

At this point though, I was mostly using it to force my body to react and behave as it did before.

I did this not only to avoid destroying everything around me with my overwhelming strength but also because I didn't want Jean to feel as if she was being kissed and hugged by a block of steel.

My bodily durability was even beyond that of Adamantium, and not just by a little, so doing this was necessary.

My sole Alpha-level ability had also changed greatly as it was likewise a power that was dependent on the strength of my mind. Though it had also mutated somewhat, as I now seemed to be able to look at any place in the Universe not only because my mind was on a Superhuman-level but also because of my connection with the Darkforce Dimension.

The Darkforce Dimension was a secondary dimension that existed as a space with its own laws and rules, and yet it was connected to this dimension and could be reached from every place in this Universe.

Through it, I could teleport to any place in existence and now, through Farsight, I could also spy on any place in existence.

I didn't quite understand the more intricate parts of why this was the case for now but my best guess was that since the mind was a bridge between the soul and the body, and both were now deeply linked to the Darkforce Dimension, this had somehow affected my Farsight which was a power dependent on my mind.

My mind hadn't been harmed or tainted by the transformation of my soul through the nexus core thanks to my Mental Shield but that didn't mean that it had been totally unaffected. It was just that I did not yet fully understand how I had changed.

There were many things that I had yet to understand when it came to my ascension to a Realm Lord, after all.

My shielding powers were naturally not left unaffected since the strength of my shields had always been closely connected to the strength of my mind. Obviously, this meant that I was now able to shield myself and others from things that I had not been able to before, death and injury were two such examples.

I still remembered vividly how difficult it had been to save Arya, and she had been just a baby owl with little life force at that time. And yet, I had struggled greatly to endure the strain of 'shielding' her from injury and death to save the tiny cutie.

But it wasn't only that, as I was sure that my abilities with my shields had grown beyond my understanding which meant that it would take some time to figure out exactly what I was now capable of doing with them.

Similarly, this was also true for my Energy Vessel and my abilities as a Realm Lord, especially the latter.

Still, there were a few things that I now was able to do almost on instinct as a Realm Lord. One of which was to teleport using the Darkforce Dimension, which was a faster and less complicated way to move large distances than doing so with the help of my shields.

I had also gained the ability to sense the life force of all living beings near me, and with 'near me', I was talking about the area that was covered by my senses.

If unsuppressed that meant that I could feel every living being on this planet with the greatest of ease, and if I opened my mind to the Astral Realm or another high-information state dimension, then I wouldn't even dare guess how far this new sense of mine reached.

Another less harmless ability was that I could not only sense life, but I could also reap with just a thought.

Like a god of death, I could devour the vitality of the whole planet without even moving a muscle.