Moonlight reflected across the dark ocean as waves crashed softly against the empty shoreline.
"Arrgggh you are fucking dead today!!"
Anna burst out of the portal like a missile wrapped in fury, her body tearing through the air hard enough to create a shockwave behind her.
Sand exploded across the beach.
But all she found was an empty island.
Green eyes narrowed sharply as she floated above the shore, her face twisted with rage and fury.
"Where the fuck are you hiding?!" she screamed.
The sheer force behind her voice rattled the nearby trees.
A few feet away, completely invisible, I watched her carefully while suppressing a grimace.
That punch from earlier had been insane.
Even now my chest was in severe pain.
According to D.A.I.S.Y., my Regenerative Healing power was working overtime to repair the damage. The only reason I wasn't screaming my throat out was because of the NZT pill keeping my mind sharp while dulling the sensation of pain.
I could use a skill like Greater Healing to recover faster, but it would take time to activate and was far too flashy. The moment I use it, my invisibility would be exposed immediately.
But I seriously couldn't figure out why she was this angry at me.
She had assaulted me completely out of nowhere.
This couldn't still be about that kiss back then… could it?
It had already been months.
Surely she wouldn't still be this pissed off over something like that.
Still, I was just glad I had managed to activate my portal before her second punch landed, as that would have been deadly for sure.
This place where I had opened the portal was one of the three islands which D.A.I.S.Y. had discovered back when we were still searching for the mutant facility.
Honestly, it didn't feel great running away here, especially when the others I left behind were still in danger.
But at least this way I had managed to lure Anna away from everyone else.
I could just leave her here and return to the group, however Anna had arrived at the island ridiculously fast and from a distance that wasn't even within D.A.I.S.Y.'s active monitoring range.
Which meant not only could she fly incredibly fast, but she could also travel absurd distances with ease.
In other words, if she wanted to, she could return to the mutant facility island quickly without any trouble at all.
So there was no point in simply abandoning her here…
I would just have to deal with her the moment she let her guard down.
Just as I closed the portal—
Another figure jumped through it.
I blinked in stunned surprise.
It was Marie.
She landed awkwardly onto the sand before immediately locking onto her sister floating in the air.
"Anna… why did ya just attack him outta nowhere?" Marie yelled angrily.
Anna whipped around instantly.
"Shut up! This ain't got nothin' ta do with you!" she snapped before narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "And what's wrong with your face?"
"Ugh… this is just a mask."
Marie quickly deactivated the disguise she had been wearing.
Honestly, it had to be some weird twin thing for Anna to recognize Marie even with the disguise on.
"And it does concern me…" Marie shouted loudly. "He's someone precious ta me, so Ah can't let ya hurt him!"
"I don't care who the hell he is!" Anna barked back. "Ah'm gonna pummel him ta death!"
She clenched her fists tightly.
"Come out, ya coward!"
"If ya insist on hurtin' him, then Ah'll stop ya," Marie said, tightening her own fists as she bit her lip.
Anna stared at her incredulously.
"You? You wanna fight me?"
"Don't think Ah'm still the same helpless girl from the last time we met," Marie said as she slowly took a fighting stance, her blood-red eyes shining beneath the moonlight.
Normally, I wouldn't mind seeing a catfight.
And honestly, seeing two insanely hot twins going at each other was absolutely something I would pay good money to watch under normal circumstances.
Unfortunately, there was nothing normal about this situation.
Both of these Rogues clearly weren't in the right state of mind right now, and this had a very real chance of turning bloody.
More importantly… this wasn't even remotely a fair fight.
Anna was simply too powerful right now.
If she hit Marie with the same punch she had used on me earlier, it would almost definitely turn fatal.
I exhaled slowly.
Looks like my original plan of sneaking up on her the moment she let her guard down and using my Anti-Power skill to deactivate her abilities like I did last time would need a few adjustments.
While the two of them argued, I quickly applied an NZT-48 Focus Patch.
Even with the permanent booster shot already inside my system, stacking two different versions of NZT together was still dangerous as hell. But right now I didn't really have a choice.
My normal reflexes couldn't even properly track Anna's movements, that's why a Focused boost was necessary.
Next, I used my Metal Constructs power to rapidly repair the damaged portions of my suit before activating Electricity Manipulation and sending currents through my body.
Instantly, my nervous system accelerated.
My muscles tightened as electrical energy surged beneath my skin, forcing my body into an electrically charged state to increase my reaction speed.
Then I quietly layered multiple invisible forcefield barriers between Anna and myself.
The strongest one was wrapped tightly around my body like invisible armor.
Only after finishing all my preparations did I finally drop my invisibility.
"Anna, leave Marie outta this," I spoke aloud while subtly activating both my Pheromone Emission and Seductive Voice powers.
Moonlight reflected off my white-and-gold suit as I stepped forward from the darkness, my golden cape fluttering behind me in the ocean wind.
Anna's eyes instantly locked onto me.
"There ya are."
Her voice came out low.
Dangerous.
Through my emotion-sensing powers, I could practically smell the sheer rage rolling off her in waves, and through Clairvoyance I could sense overwhelming killing intent directed entirely at me.
Yeah…
Looks like her current emotional state was so unstable that my charm-related powers weren't affecting her much at all.
I slowly raised my hands.
"Wait, Anna… what exactly is your problem with me?"
The moment the words left my mouth—
She vanished.
My Clairvoyance screamed in warning.
CRASH!!
Electricity crackled through my eyes as my dynamically enhanced vision stretched to its absolute limit. Even then, Anna was little more than a blur as she smashed through every invisible forcefield I had created like they were made of glass.
But this time I had been ready for it.
The instant she closed the distance, I activated the skill I had already been preparing.
The air in front of me shimmered violently just as her fist was about to connect.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A distant cliff exploded apart as Anna's punch tore through solid rock like paper after passing through the portal.
Fast.
She was way too fucking fast.
And way too fucking powerful.
I immediately deactivated the portal before she could exploit it.
"You know damn well what ya did!" Anna shouted as she spun midair and launched toward me again.
I flicked my hand.
Three overlapping forcefields — smaller in size but vastly denser — materialized diagonally in front of her, each positioned at a precise angle.
CRASH!!
The first shattered instantly.
The second cracked violently.
The third managed to redirect her trajectory just enough for her to miss me by mere inches.
BOOOOM!!
The resulting shockwave split the ocean behind me and rattled the forcefield wrapped around my body.
Lightning burst around my legs as I accelerated sideways across the beach, creating arcs of electricity through the sand while rapidly widening the distance between us.
Jesus Christ.
She was like a walking calamity.
"You get inside mah head every damn night!" Anna screamed, her green eyes wide with rage. "Ah can't even sleep no more!"
I frowned beneath my mask as everything instantly clicked together in my head.
So that really was happening…
Dream With Me.
One of the newer powers I had gained.
Any girl who had met me and developed even a baseline level of attraction or emotional openness toward me would eventually begin experiencing erotic dreams involving me.
Even when I first understood what the power did, I knew it had the potential to create problems.
A lot of problems.
But at the time I had rationalized it as something beneficial in the long run.
The advantages outweighed the drawbacks.
So I never bothered turning it off.
And now that decision had come back to bite me in the ass with absolute vengeance.
Shit.
Sensing that she was about to attack again, I immediately opened four portals simultaneously.
Anna flew into the first—
—and emerged from the second, only to fly straight into the third and emerge from the fourth.
Except the fourth portal had been positioned directly in front of the first one.
Meaning she ended up flying right back into the original portal loop.
For a brief moment Anna kept circling through the portals at absurd speed before abruptly stopping mid-flight after realizing what was happening.
Judging by the murderous look on her face, she definitely didn't appreciate my little trick.
"ARGHHH!! YOU'RE DEAD!" she screamed furiously.
She launched toward me again.
I instantly dispersed the previous portals and created two new ones simultaneously.
Anna entered one—
—and burst out of the second several hundred meters away, crashing violently through a cluster of trees in the distance.
BOOOOM!!
The jungle exploded apart from the impact.
For half a second I thought I had finally managed to buy myself some breathing room.
Then Anna shot right back out of the smoke.
Completely unharmed.
I honestly couldn't help but wonder again if she had somehow absorbed Captain Marvel's powers like she did in the comics.
Not wanting to stay in one place for even a second, lightning burst out of my body as I rapidly flew and ran across the island while Anna chased after me relentlessly.
I layered invisible forcefields behind me while opening portals across the battlefield in rapid succession, occasionally even turning invisible myself to throw off her senses and make predicting my movements harder.
Every move was calculated.
Every angle intentional.
I knew trying to confront her head-on would basically be suicide.
Not that I really wanted to hurt her in the first place…
Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I could.
At the speed she was moving, I was pretty certain she could even dodge my lightning attacks without much trouble.
So the only thing I could really do right now was control her movement, keep redirecting her attacks, and stall until either her anger subsided or I found an opening to make direct contact and disable her powers.
If only my Temporal powers worked on her, then I wouldn't have to struggle this hard.
But just like last time, they were completely ineffective against Anna.
CRASH!!
Anna smashed through another invisible forcefield like it was made of fragile glass.
The impact detonated across the island like artillery fire, sending sand, rocks, and shattered trees flying in every direction.
I instantly opened another portal beneath myself just as she reached me again.
BOOOOM!!
Her fist missed me by inches and tore apart the ground where I had been standing moments earlier, creating a massive crater across the beach.
Fucking hell!
I flew backwards through the air while electricity surged violently around my body.
Then I retaliated.
Golden-black flames erupted from my left hand as I summoned Chains of Fiery Judgment toward her while simultaneously creating multiple Lightning Chains from my right.
The glowing restraints shot toward Anna from different directions, wrapping around her arms, waist, and legs before tightening instantly.
For a brief moment, the attack actually worked.
Anna hissed angrily as lightning crackled violently across her body while the fiery chains burned against her skin with holy and infernal energy.
The surrounding sand turned into molten glass from the sheer heat output.
Then Anna flexed.
And everything exploded.
BOOOOM!!
The lightning chains shattered apart instantly while the fiery restraints were ripped apart by raw physical strength alone.
She really destroyed them instantly.
Of course she fucking did!!
"She's adapting…" I muttered under my breath.
And that was the truly terrifying part.
At first Anna had just been recklessly charging toward me in blind rage.
But now?
Now she was learning.
Already she had started predicting my portal exits.
Twice now she had nearly intercepted me mid-teleport, and if she managed to catch me directly again, I wasn't sure my body could survive another hit like the first one.
At this rate she would corner me eventually.
"Stop runnin' away!" Anna screamed furiously as she rocketed toward me again like a human missile.
"I'm trying very hard not to get turned into paste here!" I shouted back while opening another portal behind myself.
"Then stop resistin'!"
"Wow… violent, possessive, emotionally unstable and chasing me across an island at midnight? I didn't realize this was your version of foreplay."
"AH SAID SHUT UP!!"
BOOOOOOM!!!
Anna's next punch split apart the coastline itself as the entire island trembled from the impact.