Johnson dodged the barrage of metal spears in an instant, his body flickering like living lightning. His hand shot out, catching one of the spears mid-flight. With a surge of speed, he spun it in his grip and drove it forward against Joyce's crimson barrier at impossible velocity. The spear screamed through the air as it struck, yet the barrier trembled without breaking.
Joyce's lips curled into a smirk. Energy gathered into her palm, crimson and alive, as her body vanished from sight. In less than a nanosecond, she appeared behind him, her voice dripping with amusement.
"Too predictable."
"Behind you…" Jake's voice rang inside Johnson's mind.
"Oh, damn it!" Johnson twisted, but before he could react, Joyce's fist collided with his face at light speed. The sheer impact blasted him out of the building, his body tearing through the walls as he was hurled into the open sky.
He coughed blood as he plummeted, the pain in his stomach searing. His body spiraled downward at terrifying speed.
Joyce was already in pursuit, her crimson aura flaring brighter. She appeared before him mid-air, her long hair whipping violently in the growing winds. She raised her fist, the storm answering her call as the air thickened and the sky turned black.
"Take this, my most powerful weather attack!" Her voice roared through the desert. "LIGHTNING BURST!"
A colossal bolt of lightning descended, entwined with her punch as it smashed into Johnson.
Jake's calm voice cut through the chaos. "User has received an enormous amount of elemental energy. Upgrading user through absorption."
Johnson screamed, but his voice soon twisted into laughter. The lightning crawled into his veins, mending his broken flesh. His wounds sealed in an instant as his hair began to glow. Raw lightning of countless colors enveloped him, wrapping his body in a mantle of power.
Jake's voice followed. "Updating speed stats. User can now move at near-light speeds. Mach fifty confirmed."
Joyce's eyes widened, but she did not falter. She drove her fist into him with hyper-strength, sending his body crashing onto a plateau. The ground shattered, a valley splitting open as dust and rock exploded into the air.
Johnson rose slowly from the wreckage, his eyes burning with fierce determination. Lightning raged around him, arcs snapping in every direction as his physique swelled. His muscles grew denser, his frame taller, his skin radiating with aura until it glowed like molten gold. He clenched his fists, smirking, his chest glowing brilliantly.
Joyce spun her hammer back into existence and swung with all her strength, her body a blur of red energy.
Johnson stepped forward, his voice low, his breath brushing her ear as he moved faster than her eyes could follow. "Too slow."
He caught her legs and flung her across the battlefield with brutal force.
Her eyes widened. What did he just say?
"I am… too slow?" Her lips trembled between a frown and a smirk. But her shock quickly twisted into fury. She tore the bangles from her wrists, releasing her full power. Her aura erupted, splitting the desert floor. Floating landmasses and shards of earth rose into the sky, circling around her as she pointed her hammer at him.
"Don't you dare fuck with me!" she screamed, her voice trembling with both rage and something else—something dangerously close to exhilaration. "CRIMSON BURST!"
The world shook as crimson light swallowed the battlefield.
Johnson didn't retreat. He let the energy strike, absorbing every fragment of it into his glowing body.
Joyce roared again, releasing a pulse of pure destructive energy from her hammer. The plateau split apart, sand and rock vaporized in a single blinding flash as the wave of annihilation tore toward him.
Johnson's body burned as the attack ripped through every fiber of his being. His lips twisted into a manic grin as he staggered forward, his voice hoarse but thrilled. "Ah… how marvelous. How marvelous, Joyce. You are feeding me all this power. Do you want me to defeat you this badly?"
Jake's calm voice once more intruded. "User has received a larger burst of energy. Updating stats. Aura sense upgraded to Aura manipulation. User speed: absolute light. Advanced super strength: eighty-five percent. Regeneration: hyper-regeneration. Suit upgraded. Upgrading Jake…"
The device on his wrist shifted, reshaping itself into a sleek, compact design. A glowing screen pulsed on its surface, displaying his stats in real time.
Johnson's body reformed, every wound erased. He regenerated not just from flesh and bone, but from his very atoms. His golden glow brightened, not born solely from lightning absorption but from the raw will of his spirit.
This time, his aura wasn't simply energy. It was defiance. It was hunger. It was victory. His muscles swelled again, his form radiating like a god descending into battle. His skin shimmered with golden brilliance, his grin feral and unrestrained.
To be continued.....