Amid crackling arcs of electricity, Max Dillon, now almost unrecognizable as human, floated above the cracked street.
"Soren!" He shouted with manic glee. "You're finally willing to come out!"
His glowing eyes darted across the pristine surface of the medical center.
"Hmph. Not even a scratch...?" Max muttered, genuinely surprised.
At the threshold, Soren stepped out slowly, coat billowing in the heat-charged wind.
"Maxwell Dillon, right?"
"Far as I remember… we had no quarrel. But you've come back again and again with a grudge."
He took a step forward, and the shadows seemed to retreat from him.
"I'm afraid I'll have to shut you down…permanently."
Max's mouth twitched and then curled into a grin.
"You think you're above consequence, huh? Watching from your shiny castle while the rest of us rot in the gutters?"
Electricity exploded outward from him.
"I'll rip your dream apart, one thunderbolt at a time!"
A dozen bolts of lightning shattered the sky and rained down toward Soren like divine punishment.
But as each bolt approached the Everlife Medical Center, they simply… vanished.
Max stared, shocked. "Wha... what? No! That's not possible!"
He screamed in frustration and unleashed another barrage of high-voltage energy, his entire body turning into a searing comet of light.
The ground burned in his wake. Trees ignited. Buildings cracked.
But not Everlife.
It stood unyielding, an untouchable sanctuary amid natural disaster.
Soren raised his eyes. "It's useless…"
"This is my domain."
Before Max could react, Soren vanished, reappearing mid-air inches from him.
He drove a crushing punch toward Max's chest. But~
ZzzAP!
His fist passed through Max's body, dispersing harmlessly through his electrified form. Sparks erupted, and electric whips snaked up Soren's arm.
"ARGH!" Soren staggered back, his nerves flaring.
Max reformed, laughing wildly, now pure voltage and vengeance.
"You can't hit lightning!"
Boom—Boom—BOOM!
Max unleashed an explosive surge of electricity in a 30-meter radius.
Cars melted. Trees evaporated. Walls crumbled. The very air shimmered with unstable current.
Everything… except Everlife, which remained pristine, shielded by its internal field.
Soren teleported away, appearing atop a ruined vehicle, chest heaving.
His fingers twitched uncontrollably.
"Tch… that last hit…" He bit down hard, forcing his body to obey.
"What's wrong, Doctor? Starting to feel what it's like to be powerless?"
Electric light danced down Max's arms like wildfire.
"You thought you could create your perfect little haven…" He raised both hands. Thunder roared.
"I will turn your heaven into hell."
Soren clenched his fist. He's energy now. Physical attacks are useless.
"Unless…" A spark of thought ignited.
He vanished again, this time behind a fire hydrant. With a brutal kick, the metal burst, and a geyser of water shot toward the sky.
Psychokinesis flared from his palm, shaping the water into a glowing aqua prison that surged toward Max like a living beast.
Max scoffed. "Really? Water again?"
He raised his hand, generating an electromagnetic field so hot it began boiling the water mid-air.
"You're not the first idiot who thought water beats lightning."
"But I'm not just lightning anymore."
The water hissed into steam, surrounding them in thick, white fog.
Within the mist.
A faint, flickering bolt of electricity slithered low across the cracked pavement, silent and hungry.
It struck~ BZZT! right beneath Soren's foot.
"AGHHH!"
His body convulsed again. He staggered, muscles locking from within.
And then, like falling rain, dozens of tiny lightning bolts enveloped him, electrified needles tearing through his nervous system.
Max's laughter echoed through the fog.
"I've won, Doctor!"
But Soren, even in pain, smiled.
"Funny…"
"I was just about to say the same to you."
With one last push of strength, he teleported back to the entrance of the Medical Hall.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, the paralysis vanished and the pain faded.
Within his territory, he was king.
"You gonna hide in that damn building forever!?" Max roared, lightning flaring behind him like wings.
"You're just a turtle with a fancy shell! Come out and face me, coward!"
Inside the untouched Everlife Medical Center, the only structure immune to the devastation, Burns laced Soren's arms. His breath was ragged, but his eyes were fire.
The medical hall seemed like his only sanctuary, a temporary refuge from the storm outside. But for how long?
Max had grown too strong too quickly, he had become a threat that Soren could not allow.
"This ends now."
[Potential Awakening Lv 10]
Soren's system gave a soft chime. Normally, the potential awakening worked wonders on mutants, unlocking hidden abilities with the power of their X genes.
But when used on himself, it was a gamble. It came with limitations, he couldn't use it on everything, only mutant abilities, and it could only be activated once every 24 hours.
First, it could enhance all abilities from Lv 1 to Lv 2 for half an hour.
Second, a focused enhancement would upgrade one ability, increasing it by at least Lv 3, lasting for half an hour.
He'd never been one to hesitate when the stakes were high. His thoughts clicked together, forming a plan. It was the only way to control Max's dangerous electric powers.
[Choosing Psychokinesis Lv 5]
The system hummed in response, and Soren felt an instant surge of power flooding through his mind. His psychokinetic abilities, already formidable, skyrocketed. Lv 9!
Power flooded him like oxygen igniting in a vacuum. He could feel everything: every pebble on the road, every raindrop in the clouds above, even the twitch in Max's electric field.
He felt more than in control, he felt omnipotent.
The lights in the medical center dimmed behind him as if bowing to their master's will.
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
Fellow Phantoms and aspiring Phantoms to be, if you seek to access advanced parts of this story procced to my shadowy realm of p@treon.
PhantomDream