Episode 22: Too Strong
Countless sparks fell from the sky. From every direction—front, back, left, right—waves of water surged in, aiming to consume everything. From beneath their feet, writhing shadows shot upward like they were trying to strangle their necks.
Flam, Portus, and Caligo—this trio gave it everything they had. They launched every attack they could muster. Displaying the full extent of the abilities they had hone until now, they fought to subdue the enemy before them.
“Flam! Get a grip! You’re already getting tired?!”
“I’m totally fine, okay?!”
That was a lie. He felt like he could collapse at any moment. His stamina was nearly depleted. The flame that once blazed fiercely had lost its intensity. A clear sign he was hitting his limit.
Abilities can be used at will, but like all power, they’re not infinite. Use them, and you get tired. The more, the stronger you use them, the greater the burden on your body. If you keep using them without stopping? You could suffer permanent injury—or in the worst-case scenario, die from going berserk.
“Caligo!”
“I know even without you saying it!”
Caligo changed positions with Flam. Massive waves of shadow rose and pressed in on Julien. Thanks to this, Flam managed to get a brief moment to observe the situation.
“This isn’t good.”
There were three on their side. Even if they each attacked once, it only added up to three. On the other hand, the enemy was just one—but he had to deal with three times the effort. So logically, he should get exhausted first. That’s how it should’ve been.
But the man who introduced himself as Julien still seemed fine. He wasn’t fresh, but he didn’t show the same obvious signs of fatigue that they did.
He understood now why he called them “youngsters.” It wasn’t meant to provoke or belittle them. It was just a straightforward assessment.
How many experiences had he been through? How many ability users had he fought, and how many lives had he taken? Could it be that his name would be added to the list of ability users who fell to him today?
“Never forget, Flam.”
When he was younger, lacking ability and confidence, he remembered the words of his father, the greatest flame-type ability user on the continent.
“Even when it flickers out, a flame must burn.”
A strange thing to say. To burn even as you extinguish? Is that even possible? Those are contradictory terms! He hadn’t understood as a child. But now, he grasped what he meant.
“Hey, Portus. Get out of the way!”
“You reckless arsonist bastard! I stepped forward to let you recover, and now you want to burn out completely?!”
The Phoenix family never, ever extinguishes. They burn to the very end. Let’s see whether you turn to ash first or I burn out entirely. With that in mind, Flam squeezed out all his remaining strength and summoned a fireball unlike any before it—no, a meteor of pure flame.
“Hup!”
Even Julien, who had remained composed until now, let out a surprised sigh. His ability may be nullification, but even he couldn’t be sure what would happen if he took that head-on.
Impressive, truly. Worthy of being the son of Lord Phoenix. Maybe he should try persuading him further. But he shook his head. Akin Phoenix despised ability supremacists more than anything. Even his title was “Lord.” That idiot wore his obligations like medals.
“Which is exactly why these young ones must die.”
A parent who loses a child is bound to rage. But they also fall into deep despair and helplessness. Right now, Akin Phoenix is untouchable. But if he lost his son, he’d eventually show weakness. That’s the moment to strike—eliminate the troublesome obstacle for good.
BOOM!!
The massive fireball entered Julien’s nullification field and vanished like an explosion. Another failed attack. But was it truly without effect?
No. Julien also uses his physical stamina to maintain his ability. To erase something that massive must have cost him greatly. Even if just for a moment, his breathing turned rough. He may have looked calm, but it was like sprinting nonstop.
Who will collapse from exhaustion first? Whose ability will break under the limits of their body? The deciding factor, in the end, was experience—and the sharp tension that comes with real battle.
“Guh!”
Flam was the first to collapse. Caligo filled the gap, but he was also reaching his limit. Portus remained. But he wasn’t confident either. Alone, he could try to escape—but leaving the other two behind? His feet refused to move.
SHHHHHH!!
Then it happened. Small sparks began circling around Julien. They looked like harmless cinders. Barely warm. But precisely because of that, Julien didn’t move recklessly. He took a moment to assess.
It could be a trick. On the surface, they might seem weak, but hidden within could be immense heat or explosive force. He had already used up a lot of stamina. If his power ran out now, he would lose this overwhelming advantage. Of course he became cautious.
As Julien hesitated for a moment, Seria came rushing in and quickly pulled Flam to safety.
“Lady Seria? Why did you come back?!”
“I couldn’t just run away by myself! Let’s go!”
They couldn’t win. So the conclusion Seria came to was simple: they had to escape.
At first, the three boys looked reluctant, but they snapped out of it when Seria shouted,
“Are you planning to die here?!”
But their opponent, the supremacist Julien, was no pushover.
He sensed something was off—after having him surrounded and using all that effort, they were now trying to escape without using any more powers?
‘No way…’
Julien, who had been using power-nullification abilities until now, withdrew them.
It wasn’t to conserve stamina. Instead, he carefully touched the small flames that had gathered around him.
“…Hah.”
And then he realized—the girl who had so boldly interfered was, in reality, a failure with a pitiful ability.
What was this? At least the three young men had shown decent power, but this girl only had the title of an ability user—her strength was laughably weak.
“You honestly thought this flimsy trick would work on me?!”
As Julien surged forward, Portus quickly summoned a massive wave.
But it wasn’t like before. The best he could do now was a shallow puddle.
Julien sealed it without breaking a sweat. He had blocked huge waves earlier, so of course a mere puddle was nothing.
His ability wasn’t just about sealing powers—he also used physical enhancement.
Long-range attacks didn’t work. And close combat was just as useless since powers were still nullified.
Meanwhile, he strengthened his own body—get too close, and it was instant death.
“Lord Caligo! Take Lady Seria and that pyromaniac bastard and get out of here!”
“Portus! No, don’t do this! Fall back while you still can!”
“If we stay, we’ll all die!”
Water wasn’t just for washing things away. It could also protect.
Like the moats built around castle walls, Portus intended to be the last barrier between his friends and this overwhelming enemy.
He knew they couldn’t win. Their stamina would run out first, and the enemy was still using powers.
But still… he couldn’t just watch his comrades fall one by one.
Especially that girl, Seria. He’d sensed something strange about her from the beginning, and now he was sure—she was someone who must not be lost.
“…Fine then. Starting with Master Sparrow’s son isn’t a bad idea!”
Julien closed in, and Portus clenched his teeth, preparing himself.
“Not yet.”
Suddenly, someone lunged at Julien from the side.
“I’m not done with you yet.”
BOOM!!
Julien barely reacted in time and twisted his body as the attacker crashed into him.
The two tumbled together in a brutal grapple, smashing into the floor and slamming into a wall.
“A-Abel?!”
Yes, it was Abel—the classmate who had been blown through a wall by Julien earlier.
Julien’s attack had hit directly. The damage had been so severe that they all thought Abel was either critically wounded or outright dead.
“Huff… Huff…”
Though drenched in blood, Abel was still moving.
“What… are you?”
It wasn’t just Portus who was shocked—Julien was stunned too.
He had used physical enhancement himself. Each time he landed a hit, he returned at least threefold damage.
And yet this opponent didn’t fall. His bones must be fractured and broken all over, his lungs surely stabbed by the pain… but he was still standing!
“Even if I lose my powers, it doesn’t mean I lose my endurance.”
With blood running down his face, Abel licked it off and smiled.
He was certain—if he could take down this monster, he would experience growth beyond even an Awakening.
He could seize the fame he had always dreamed of. He could finally earn the glory of the ability-user world.
…Though, at this point, one might start to wonder if this is still a superpower story or not.
[TL Note: I’ve decided to go back to using “Lord” as the honorific when Seria addresses Abel. Using “-nim” only for him felt inconsistent and a bit unnatural. Apologies for the back-and-forth with the honorifics!
From now on, I’ll be using “Lord” for male characters and “Lady” for female characters.]