Chapter 123 – Invitation

[2009 – September]

Sighing to myself as I sat down with Emma and we each drank our sports drink, I knew that my last strike had rattled her quite a bit.

The moment she had left her Organic-Diamond Form, my Extrasensory Perception had picked up on her panic through the psionic energy surrounding her, the metallic taste so sharp that I could still taste it even now.

I had realized my mistake almost immediately but the damage had already been done. Immobilizing her and robbing her of any strength while she did not have access to her psychic abilities, had been the wrong move, and I felt guilty for the fear I had caused her.

Weakness was clearly Emma's greatest fear, or more precisely it was being defenseless. I didn't have to be a genius to understand why that was the case, as I knew enough about her past to guess the reason for that.

Thankfully, Emma wasn't an ordinary woman and I could see that she had already regained her calm.

Her past traumas were not something that I could just mention tactlessly as I knew her well enough to know that she had no interest in talking about what she had gone through, at least not for now.

And so, I opted for asking her about her experiences in controlling psionic energy and mentioning the problems I encountered during the exercises that she had recommended I do to improve my control.

These teaching sessions were something that we held regularly, and like today, they mostly took place on Sunday morning while a second one was usually held in the afternoon on a weekday, though the latter session wasn't at a fixed time as Emma was naturally very busy.

Sparring together though was something we had only done a few times but I had taken a great liking to fighting her.

The main reason for that was that Emma possessed a natural durability that was simply unmatched by anyone else in the Hellion Mansion. And it forced me to exert the full potential of my Body Supremacy to go toe to toe with her as my body was naturally far less durable.

Over the last few months, I had learned everything I could from Laura and John, not to mention the many instructional videos I had watched while using my Adoptive Muscle Memory

I had at first learned Muay Thai from Araya while Laura's style was best described as simply 'lethal'. John was also a very good fighter, though his style was more technical than Laura's, even if he fought with more aggression, instead of the cold ruthlessness that Laura embodied.

Through all that I naturally developed a very lethal fighting style, in fact, I was more deadly than any of them.

And with every new skill I had learned from Laura, every new weapon I had learned to wield, I had gained a better understanding of Martial Arts at its core, which was also owed to my Body Supremacy.

The one thing I had become the most proficient in during all that was how to use my own strength with the most efficiency and how to channel force in general. It was something that had fascinated me the moment I had caught a glimpse of it.

And that had been the moment I had simply abandoned all 'styles' and had started to focus solely on how to exert force with the greatest efficiency possible while using my Body Supremacy during my training and sparring with Laura and John.

The more I learned to channel my own force, the greater my understanding of force exertion grew, and subsequently, the better I became at reading how my opponent exerted force.

And while I may not be a genius when the science or computer department, nor did I have any particular interest in either despite my heightened intelligence, this ... This was different.

The moment I had stepped foot into the gates of pure force exertion, I had felt like a fish in the water.

Maybe it was only natural for someone with Body Supremacy to have perfect bodily control, and therefore be able to use one's own force efficiently. But it was more than that.

My bodily control was 'absolute' in a way but that didn't mean that I could just learn how to channel my strength in the most efficient way like I learned Martial Arts. This wasn't about simple movement, channeling force was something that depended on understanding, experience, and insight more than anything else.

And yet, it had come to me naturally as if I had been born for this kind of battle style.

It required incredible focus and an iron will to direct my bodily strength with such perfection, but I had already forged an unbreakable spirit through the pain I had endured while using Self-Creation, the sheer force of my will something ordinary people could never comprehend.

Unexpectedly, my comprehension of how to channel force had taken a leap after I had read 'The Cycle' as it had given me a deeper understanding of opposing forces and the origin of strength and focal points.

My fondness for this kind of style wasn't just about talent though. Instead, I had felt an inexplicable affinity with this 'style'.

I was passionate about learning how to control my own force with such precision and lethality because of how much I valued my self-control in all aspects and this was essentially nothing but the very peak of self-control when it came to close-quarters combat.

Control oneself was the ultimate discipline, as far as I was concerned.

Using more force than necessary wasn't being cautious or 'not underestimating the enemy', it was simply the trait of someone that didn't how to control himself.

If you had strength but couldn't control it, then what was the use of this strength? Power that couldn't be controlled completely wasn't power that belonged to oneself.

I knew my own strength better than anyone else, and the aspect that set me apart from other Omega-level mutants was precisely the fact that I was in control of my own power, it was what made me formidable and very dangerous.

It was also during this time that I had grown more passionate about my sparring with Emma as she was the perfect sparring partner for me to test out my abilities to control my opponent's force by interfering with their way of exerting strength.

Had I used the same attack that I had used to make Emma collapse on John during our spars, I would have shattered the skeleton structure of his shoulder and likely ruptured his internal organs as his body would not have been able to withstand the injection of my condensed force.

Laura was the same, and even though she would have survived and healed.

Emma's diamond form was much more suitable for me to gain better insights into how to disperse my opponent's force from the inside.

Not to mention that her durability was such that I could not injure her without using my barriers and attacking her with my space manipulation, but this also meant that in a spar the only effective method to counter her strength and durability was to interfere with her ability to exert strength.

In a way, Emma was the perfect whetstone for this kind of battle style, as it was in a way the antithesis to her superstrength and indestructibility.

" … Still, you already have a terrifying level of control over psionic energy for someone that wasn't born with the power to manipulate, and has only trained with it for a few weeks.", Emma stated, after giving me a few tips to tweak my exercises for better results.

"At this point, it is really just a matter of time, as you have to get used to and adapt to the use of psionic energy. The exercises will shorten the process but in the end, it is a process that takes time.", she added, smiling encouragingly as she sat opposite me in a lotus position, her tight-fitting white work-out clothes accentuating her toned yet voluptuous body.

Nodding while I rested my arm on my raised knee, I replied while smiling slightly: "Hmm, I know."

I naturally knew that she was right as I could feel my mind and senses rapidly adapting to the ambient psionic energy as time passed, not to mention that I trusted Emma's judgment as she was the person with the most insight in these matters, as even Jean did not have such precise control over psionic energy as Emma did.

My lovely redhead may have the potential to surpass my sister, as she was the nexus of all psionic energy in all realities, but she still had a long way to go before realizing that potential.

On the other hand, Emma was a true prodigy, as she had used her telepathy as a springboard to become a master of pure psionic energy manipulation. This was something even Charles had not been able to do as he was still a pure telepath, albeit one of the most powerful on this planet.

"Beep. It is now 10.30, Ms. Frost."

Suddenly a robotic female voice rang out in the training room, reminding Emma of the time as per her instructions, which signaled the end of our training session.

"Well, it seems our time is up.", Emma sighed ever so slightly as she stood up, "I have some other appointments that I need to keep, so I will head back first. What about you, Elijah?"

"I still got some time, so I will stay and train a bit more. Jean is having a 'mani-pedi' morning with Angelica, Marie-Ange, and Allision. I believe she even managed to draw in Laura, though I am not sure how she managed that.", I replied with a shake of my head, laughing lightly.

"Impressive.", Emma said, one of her perfect brows raised in surprise as she knew full well Laura's character.

"Jean can be very persuasive.", I added with a smile, before I continued, "That reminds me, Jean asked me to invite you for dinner at our place. How about tonight, if you have some time?"

Blinking in surprise, Emma didn't reply at first, not expecting the sudden invitation, before a softer look appeared in her eyes.

"Sent me the time. I will be there.", she nodded and voiced out quietly, smiling somewhat affectionately before she added, "See you tonight, Elijah. "

"Later, Emma.", I said my goodbyes as she turned to leave the training room.

In many ways Emma and I were very similar, which caused me to sigh internally as I knew that it was hard for her to open up to others and show her softer side, even to those close to her it was like this.

Still, I cherished the rare moments I saw Emma let down her guard as I knew that they were evidence of the trust and affection that she held for me. Lightly sighing to myself, I pushed aside those thoughts as I went back to my training.

Moving towards the middle of the training room again, I called out to the programm that controlled the room settings.

"Room Control, activate Setting Seven.", I commanded lightly.

"Affirmative, activating Training Room – Setting Seven.", a robotic female voice replied as the ultradurable floor panels shifted to the side and thick reinforced concrete pillars rose from the ground.

These pillar had a faint metallic luster indicating the metallic elements that had been mixed into the concrete to drastically increase their toughness and durability.

Taking a deep breath as I shifted into a state of utter focus, I burst forward in the next moment, my speed akin to a specter as I arrived in front of the nearest concrete pillar almost instaneously.

My movements elicited almost no sounds as I had tensed the muscles directly beneath my skin at a high frequency to disperse and shift the air resistance generated by my extreme movement speed away from my body.

My toes pressing against the floor lightly, I jumped up and delivered a spinning horizontal kick at the metallic concrete pillar, the bridge of my foot carving through the surface of the barrel-thick concrete post with almost no resistance.

Giving in to the spinning motion, I followed up with a high kick from my other foot, channeling all of my bodily strength into the sole of my foot which upon contact simple shattered the top-half of the pillar, dust and debris flying everywhere.

I didn't pause for even a moment as I danced throught the forest of pillars, ripping into and shattering them while perfecting the way I focused and condensed my strength into different body parts.

Agony washing over my body with every strike even though my flesh stayed unharmed, the sheer force of the collisions setting my nerve endings ablaze. But I didn't react or hold back my strength, using the pain to guide my actions while constantly adjusting the way I used my strength.

For others, this kind of pain may have paralyzed them, as the feeling was similar to having your bones ground into powder and your flesh stripped off by dull knives, but I wasn't fazed by this. In front of my unbreakable will, pain become just another sensation that helped me see the flaws in the way I channeled my strength.

Drop by drop, I felt the metaphysical reservoirs of energy hidden inside my body fill up with life energy, my every action bringing my physical body to its absolute limits as I ruthlessly squeezed out my potential. The Omega-level was so close, I could almost taste it.

Like an inexhaustible machine, I forced my flesh to collide with ultradurable concrete in an effort to perfect myself again and again, my eyes like reflections to a deep dark pond.