As Vajen and I engaged in our deadly dance of powers, Irene's voice pierced through the chaos, filled with fear and confusion. "What's happening?" she called out to me, her words tinged with desperation. "What's the meaning of this?"
I glanced over at her, observing the signs of a potential mental breakdown. I couldn't afford such a disruption, not now. With a subtle command, I triggered the hypnotic implants I had placed in her mind, calming her escalating emotions.
"It's nothing to concern yourself with," I replied calmly, my voice carrying an authoritative tone. "Focus on the task at hand."
But before Irene could respond, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed to the ground, lifeless. My hypnotic suggestions didn't work and forcefully put her to sleep. If she woke up now, she would fall into a psychotic episode and would indiscriminately attack.
With a flicker of annoyance, I ended her existence with a mere thought, ensuring that she wouldn't be a hindrance to my 'experiment' now it had reached a crucial moment. I shattered Irene's mind in her sleep using what was left of my hypnotic implants.
Returning my attention to Vajen, I continued our duel, analyzing his every move and adjusting my tactics accordingly. Vajen's usage of super speed was not indefinite and it was sapping his own strength.
Despite his impressive abilities, I knew it was only a matter of time before I emerged victorious.
With a final surge of power, I unleashed a devastating blast of telekinetic energy, sending Vajen hurtling through the air until he crashed against a nearby tree, his body limp and broken.
Now, it was time for the more important part of the experiment, so I approached him. With my dark robe billowing with the wind, I felt the ground suddenly surge. Vajen still had a fight in him. Ice spikes sprung up from where I stood, but I had easily dodged it.
"You think you've won, don't you?" Vajen's voice echoed across the clearing, strained but defiant. He struggled to rise, determination flickering in his eyes despite the pain wracking his body.
"I know I've won," I replied calmly, my gaze unwavering as I approached him. "You're resilient, I'll give you that. But your strength is fading, Vajen. It's over."
Vajen gritted his teeth, summoning the last reserves of his power. "You underestimate my power," he growled, launching another barrage of ice projectiles in my direction. He couldn't even summon his flames, clearly a sign of power fatigue.
I deflected them effortlessly, my powers surging in response. "It's not about underestimating you, Vajen," I said, my tone almost pitying. "It's about understanding the limits of your abilities."
As I closed in on him, Vajen's expression twisted with a mixture of anger and frustration. "You're just like them," he spat, his voice laced with bitterness. "Using people as pawns in your twisted games, and trust me, you claiming the elves wouldn't be good for you, Undead!"
Undead? An interesting remark.
I paused, regarding him with a cold detachment. "Perhaps," I conceded. "But in the end, it's all for the greater good. Well, for my greater good."
With a flick of my wrist, I unleashed a final burst of energy, overwhelming Vajen's defenses and rendering him powerless. He collapsed to the ground, defeated. I severed the nerve connections on his limbs, leaving only his involuntary organs untouched.
"It's done," I declared, standing over him triumphantly. "The experiment is almost complete."
I observed his defeated form with a mixture of satisfaction and pity. If it was back on Planet Earth, Vajen would have been at least a nation-threat villain if I were to believe what I had seen he was capable of.
With a swift motion, I placed my bony palm over his head, initiating the mind-razing process—a tasteless method I often employed to extract information from my victims.
Vajen's cries for mercy filled the air as he experienced the agonizing destruction of his mind in real time. Despite his struggles, I remained resolute, focused solely on the retrieval of the crucial memory packet I sought.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I extracted the memory packet—a small cube no larger than a thumb. Holding it between my fingers, I marveled at the amount of information it contained, proof of the long life Vajen had lived.
Vajen might not look like it, but he was at least 70 years old, and it looked like he had not aged a day.
"Now, this is what I am looking for," I declared to no one in particular, my voice filled with a cold certainty. "I guess this is it…"
With that, I turned away from Vajen's broken form, the echoes of this timeline left in the dust as I reset time in my perspective, allowing me to return to the hut where Irene introduced me to Marah.
I found myself contemplating the memory packet I had extracted from Vajen's mind. It contained vital information crucial for my adjustment to this world. With a sense of satisfaction, I focused on the task at hand— the elder looked at me with her poker face as she waited for more questions from me.
My illusory psychic disguise remained, enabling her to see me as a fellow elf. Irene stood beside me, remaining untouched by my power, her monster-transformed-flesh had already vanished and its place was her original self.
"The Frost Fire Sect! They've come again to the forest's periphery!" an elven boy exclaimed breathlessly as he bolted inside the hut, with his voice trembling with fear.
Elder Marah's features contorted with disgust at the mention of the sect. It was evident that their arrival brought nothing but trouble. It was déjà vu, but I was used to this.
"We must act swiftly," Marah declared, her voice commanding as she rose from her seat. "Prepare the defenses. We cannot allow them to encroach upon our territory."
"I will go alone," I told them firmly, meeting their gazes with determination. The elf boy looked at me with eyes wide as saucers. Irene was vocally against it, her concern evident in her furrowed brow and tense posture. "I can't just let a stranger protect my home," she remarked, her voice tinged with defiance.
"I insist I go alone," I reiterated, sensing the urgency of the situation. Marah, the elder of the elves, regarded me with a knowing look, her eyes betraying the wisdom that comes with age. She must have guessed the source of my confidence.
"Are you gifted?" she asked, her tone measured yet curious.
"Yes," I replied simply, confirming her suspicion.
Gifted was the most common term people would refer to a Super in this world.
According to the memory packet I extracted from Vajen, there were different terms for the Gifted such as Cultivator, Transcendent, Sorcerer, Wizard, Chosen, Graced, or rarely, they would even be referred to as Mutant out of fear by the common folk. They were all essentially the same, but they had awakened their Super-Inclination in varied ways, and they also had different methods to express their powers either through bloodline abilities, secret arts, or magic.
It was confusing to me at first. They were totally different from how we do it back from where I came from, but I would understand this world's supers in time. Not so soon, but I'd like to study them even just to fulfill my curiosity.
Marah nodded solemnly, understanding the significance of my confession. "Very well," she said, her voice carrying the weight of authority. "But be cautious. I suggest you still bring a few elves with you. The Frost Fire Sect is not to be underestimated."
"No, I wouldn't bring anyone. They would only serve as distractions to me. I alone am enough."
Not a word more, I turned and made my way out of the hut, steeling myself for what was to come— it was going to be a slaughter. I would siphon their soul energy, the purest psychic expression, and feed it to my daughter…
In time, I would resurrect my daughter.
The Supers possessed a lot of soul energy, and from what I understood of Vajen's memories, this world had plenty of them. This world's population of Supers even eclipsed the population of Supers from my home world.
I guessed… I shouldn't be mad with the Heroes of Humanity exiling me here…