After saying something reckless the night before, Clark didn't dare bring up Whitney again. The tension between the brothers lingered quietly the next morning as they walked to school. Clark's mood was gloomy, and he kept his eyes on the ground while Victor walked beside him in silence.
Classes began as usual.
Two periods passed without incident, and eventually the bell rang again, echoing through the school corridors.
At that moment, a breathtakingly beautiful woman appeared in the doorway of the classroom.
She was dressed like someone heading out for a fashionable shopping trip rather than a teacher coming to work. A stylish red jacket clung to her slender figure, while extremely short denim shorts revealed long, graceful legs that seemed almost unreal.
She carried a handbag casually as she stepped inside.
The classroom fell into stunned silence.
Then the whispers began.
"What a beauty…"
"How can someone look like that?"
Peter's eyes widened so much it seemed like they might pop out of his head. He stared shamelessly at the woman's body, barely remembering to breathe.
The rest of the students reacted the same way.
Even several female classmates looked dazed, their cheeks flushing faintly. Chloe covered her mouth in shock.
"Oh my god… who is she?" someone murmured.
"Is she the new teacher?" another student asked nervously. "Maybe she came to the wrong classroom."
The woman placed her handbag casually on the podium.
"I'm your new biology teacher, Akins," she said with a smile that felt strangely indulgent, as if she were speaking to a group of kindergarten children. "Did you forget me already?"
The entire classroom froze.
"Teacher… Akins?"
Students exchanged confused glances.
The original Akins had always been considered attractive, but there was a huge difference between "attractive" and this unbelievable beauty standing in front of them now.
Plastic surgery couldn't possibly produce results like this overnight.
It would be like carving the Statue of Venus out of a block of stone.
Victor raised his eyelids slightly.
Akins.
Either someone was impersonating her, or her abilities had changed dramatically.
Yet something about her appearance felt strange. Her face was perfectly beautiful, but it also carried an unnatural quality, like a plastic doll that had been crafted too carefully.
Clark stared at her suspiciously.
He couldn't understand why someone would pretend to be their teacher.
"Wait a minute," a student began nervously.
"Am I not Teacher Akins?" the woman asked softly.
Her expression looked faintly hurt, and a pink glow flickered in her eyes.
"You are Teacher Akins," the entire class answered immediately.
"Good morning, Teacher Akins."
Their voices were perfectly synchronized, like obedient children repeating a rehearsed response.
Victor and Clark glanced around.
Peter, Chloe, and the rest of the students all wore blank expressions. Their eyes were dreamy and unfocused, like people intoxicated by love.
They simply accepted whatever the woman said.
The classroom fell into a terrifying silence afterward.
You could have heard a pin drop.
"Why aren't you two charmed?"
Akins had been preparing to choose new servants among the students when she suddenly noticed something strange.
Two people in the classroom were still perfectly awake.
Victor Kent.
Clark Kent.
Everyone else looked like sunflowers turning toward the sun, but these two were facing in completely different directions.
Akins stared at them in disbelief.
"Why can you stay conscious?" she demanded.
Clark stood up abruptly.
"What did you do to them?" he asked angrily.
He grabbed Peter's shoulder and tried to shake him awake, but Peter brushed his hand away irritably while continuing to stare at Akins with worship in his eyes.
Clark clenched his fists.
All of his classmates had lost their normal awareness. Their minds were being manipulated like puppets.
"Are you really Akins?" Victor asked calmly as he rose to his feet.
He had no intention of pretending to be charmed anymore.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied her.
He possessed an abnormal charm ability himself, but what she displayed now was different from the Akins he had seen yesterday.
"How could someone with such beauty and power disguise herself as a woman who is inferior in every way?" he wondered.
The change was impossible to explain.
Surely no god had suddenly appeared overnight to reward her faith, enhance her abilities, and grant her divine beauty.
Akins' expression darkened.
"Answer my question," she demanded. "Why can't my power affect you?"
"Release them immediately," Clark said coldly.
In a flash of motion he vanished from his seat and appeared beside the podium, grabbing Akins' wrist.
The speed shocked her.
She tried to pull away, but Clark's grip was unbelievably strong.
Clark himself looked startled.
Grabbing her arm felt like holding onto the tail of a giant python.
The more he tightened his grip, the more powerful the resistance became.
Akins suddenly smiled.
Her eyes narrowed seductively as she leaned closer.
A sweet fragrance escaped her lips.
"What did you do to me?" Clark gasped.
He stumbled backward, his face flushing red as his heart pounded wildly.
The woman in front of him was unbelievably beautiful. A strange impulse surged through his mind, urging him to kneel before her.
"No… that's not right."
Clark shook his head violently and forced himself to break free from the influence.
"Don't try to control me!"
Akins laughed softly.
"Clark Kent… Victor Kent," she murmured thoughtfully.
With her newly enhanced intelligence, she easily recalled their names from the student roster she had reviewed earlier.
Her eyes flickered with curiosity.
"What secrets are you hiding?"
Without another word she grabbed her handbag and dashed out of the classroom at incredible speed, leaving only a blurred afterimage behind.
"If you want your classmates to return to normal," she called back, "come find me."
Clark immediately chased after her.
"Don't run!"
Victor glanced briefly at the hypnotized students surrounding him.
Purple energy rippled faintly across his body.
"I'm curious too," he said quietly.
Then he vanished.
…
On the outskirts of town, a wide field stretched across the landscape.
Akins suddenly stopped running.
Not because she wanted to stop.
Clark had already caught up.
"Stop!" he shouted.
He grabbed her shoulder firmly.
Akins chuckled.
"It's very rude to touch a lady without permission," she said.
Her elbow slammed backward.
The air exploded.
Clark groaned as the blow sent him flying through the air like a car hit by a truck. He traveled dozens of meters before someone caught him from behind.
"Victor…"
Clark clutched his ribs in pain as Victor lowered him gently to the ground.
Victor stared at Akins with a frown.
Something was wrong.
Clark had just been knocked away without kryptonite being involved.
"You're not from this town?" Victor asked. "Where did you get that strength?"
Her power clearly surpassed Clark's current level.
Meteorite mutations couldn't explain it.
Akins turned slightly, subtly hiding her handbag behind her body.
"I've lived here for more than twenty years," she replied lightly.
"But I never imagined there were two magical brothers hiding in this town."
She was deeply shocked.
Her speed could exceed the speed of sound, and her strength could crush steel like clay.
Yet Victor and Clark had caught up to her easily.
Victor's gaze locked onto the handbag.
"What's inside that bag?" he asked calmly.
Akins' reaction had revealed too much.
From a psychological standpoint, turning her body to shield the bag was a clear sign she feared losing whatever was inside.
"Just some personal belongings," she said lazily.
Her red lips curved into a playful smile.
"Victor Kent… are you curious about a woman's secrets?"
She licked her lips seductively.
"I could teach you."
Clark stepped forward nervously.
"Don't go near her," he warned. "She can release some kind of invisible fragrance that almost controlled me."
Victor looked unconcerned.
"I noticed."
Even someone like Superman, who supposedly had terrible resistance to magic, hadn't been able to charm him.
He doubted this ability would work.
"Release the students," Clark demanded as he rushed forward again.
"Grab the bag first," Victor reminded him calmly.
At the same moment, two purple beams erupted from Victor's eyes.
Akins' pupils shrank.
She dodged the scorching rays quickly, but Clark was already in front of her.
He threw a punch powerful enough to sink a battleship.
Akins raised her arm and blocked it.
Then she chopped down toward his neck.
Clark staggered backward in pain.
Before he could recover, a vicious kick struck his guard. He barely blocked it, only for a fist to smash into his face an instant later.
Clark fell backward again.
Akins tried to press the advantage—
But a massive purple energy blast suddenly tore through the air.
The beam struck her like a missile explosion.
She flew backward across the field, carving a deep trench through the grass before finally stopping.
At the end of the trench, her chest smoked slightly from the heat of Victor's attack.
Her expression darkened.
She quickly slipped something from the handbag into her jacket pocket and tossed the bag aside.
Victor's eyes narrowed.
Inside the bag had been a small stone.
A strange yellow-gray stone.
Clark rubbed his bruised eye and stood up.
"At least it wasn't somewhere worse," he muttered.
Victor appeared beside him instantly.
"You call yourself an alien," Victor said dryly, "but you got beaten by a woman using simple self-defense techniques."
Clark flushed with embarrassment.
"I underestimated her."
He silently decided he needed to learn real combat skills instead of relying purely on strength.
Akins wasn't an ordinary opponent.
Clark stomped the ground and charged again like a thunderbolt.
Victor leaped forward as well, tearing through the air like a supersonic aircraft.
The battle erupted.
Each collision sent shockwaves across the field. The earth cracked beneath their feet while stones and dirt exploded into the air.
The noise sounded like bombs detonating across the countryside.
Victor watched Akins carefully during the fight.
Her speed exceeded his.
Her strength rivaled Clark's.
Overall, she was nearly equal to Clark at his current stage.
"This shouldn't exist," Victor thought.
There was no reason for someone like this to appear in such a small town.
Unless…
It was the butterfly effect created by his earlier actions.
Akins was even more shocked.
"What kind of goddess is this?" she thought angrily.
Two high school students were beating her like this.
Victor's attacks struck like meteors, while Clark's speed forced her constantly on the defensive.
Another explosion erupted.
Victor's blow sent her sliding across the ground again.
She stood up shakily, her hair disheveled and a burn mark visible across her chest.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"This isn't the goddess I imagined," she muttered.
"How could a god lose?"
Her hand reached into her jacket pocket.
She pulled out the stone.
Clutching it tightly, she shouted desperately.
"I wish again!"
"I want to keep my appearance—and become ten times stronger than I am now!"
....
Join my P*atreon for 100 premium chapters ahead of the public release.
Link: pa*treon.com/MysticVerse (Remove the *)
Free members also get 2 advanced chapters for free.