The training room in the basement of the Wexford mansion was a true temple of strength. Impeccable white lighting, a floor reinforced with a special anti-impact alloy, walls covered with deployable force fields, and dozens of training drones and high-density dummies lined up along one side.
Isadora, wearing a tight black top and gray training pants, stood at the center of the room. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, and her expression was one of pure focus.
"Training mode: Level 7," she ordered out loud.
A mechanical voice responded:
"Level 7 mode activated. Difficulty: high. Good luck, Miss Wexford."
Four advanced drones floated around her while ten reinforced dummies positioned themselves in a semicircle formation.
Isadora took a deep breath and activated her Total Physical Enhancement. Her muscles instantly became more defined, veins rose beneath her skin, and a subtle reddish aura surrounded her body. She felt the power flowing through every fiber.
"Let's see how far I can go today..."
The drones attacked first, firing bursts of kinetic energy. Isadora exploded into motion. Her body became a blur. She dodged three shots by mere millimeters, spun midair, and delivered a spinning kick so powerful it completely destroyed the first drone in flight.
"Weak!" she snarled.
The dummies advanced. Isadora dove into close combat. Her fists, reinforced by the enhancement, smashed into the dummies with impacts that made the ground tremble. Each punch produced a sharp, heavy sound. She destroyed joints, pierced reinforced torsos, and tore off heads with surgical precision.
But she wasn't just fighting. She was thinking.
"Ten days... that's all we have until the Rank D tournament."
As she destroyed the sixth dummy with a devastating combination of punches, her mind analyzed:
"Zeki is the biggest problem. Rank 2. Because of his psychic powers. Barrier, telekinesis, flight... He can throw me away without even touching me. If I get close, he can pin me to the ground or hurl me like he did with Chapo."
She jumped high, spun her body, and came down with a descending kick that completely crushed a dummy into the ground, opening a small crater.
"How the hell am I supposed to beat someone who can control me from a distance?"
Isadora activated a new level of enhancement. Her aura became denser, almost scarlet. Her muscles swelled slightly, gaining more density. She began to move unpredictably, changing direction mid-jump, using short bursts of force to alter her trajectory in the air.
The remaining drones tried to surround her. Isadora smiled fiercely and charged. With a spinning punch, she created a shockwave that knocked down two drones at once. The third tried to fire at point-blank range — she grabbed the energy projectile midair with her reinforced hand and threw it back, destroying the drone.
Panting, she stopped at the center of the room, sweat running down her body. The force fields around flickered from the damage.
Isadora closed her eyes, catching her breath, and kept thinking:
"Speed is useless if he traps me in the air. Raw strength won't work either if he throws me away before I can reach him. I need something that neutralizes or at least disrupts psychic powers..."
She opened her eyes suddenly. An idea began to form.
"What if I don't let him focus?"
Isadora walked to the control panel and set the remaining dummies to maximum level.
"Level 8 mode. All dummies at once."
The ten remaining dummies activated, now faster and more aggressive. Isadora smiled with a hunger for battle.
She moved like a hurricane. Her punches became heavier, her dodges sharper. As she destroyed the dummies one by one, her mind worked at high speed.
"Psychics need focus. If I create a constant barrage of attacks, if I don't give him a second to breathe... maybe he won't be able to maintain concentration. Or else..."
She delivered an uppercut so powerful that the last dummy flew and shattered against the wall.
"...what if I use the enhancement itself to reinforce my mind and body against psychic interference? If I increase the density of my muscles and nerves to the point of resisting telekinetic pressure?"
Isadora stood in the middle of the destruction, breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling. Her eyes burned with fierce determination.
"It won't be easy... but it's possible," she murmured to herself. "Zeki may be Rank 2, but I am Isadora Wexford. I don't lose to anyone."
She clenched her fists tightly, feeling the energy of the enhancement still pulsing through her veins.
"Ten days."
She would train to the limit. She would refine her body until not even the strongest telekinesis could stop her.
And when the day of the Rank D tournament came...
She would show everyone exactly what she was capable of.