Chapter 785: The Price of Power Is… You've Come at Just the Right Time
"There's nothing else."
Tatsumaki lifted her chin, her emerald aura flaring to life as she instantly reclaimed her haughty, untouchable demeanor. She smoothed down the edges of her black dress.
"I'll handle the rest. Fubuki, you stay right here. It's an absolute mess outside right now, so don't go running around causing trouble."
Delivering the warning with the heavy, authoritative tone of an overbearing older sister, Tatsumaki didn't wait for a reply. A pulse of psychokinesis shattered the silence, and she shot out the high-rise window like a green comet, streaking straight toward the Hero Association headquarters.
Ren watched the sky for a second before shrugging. "Then let's head back too."
He turned, ready to leave.
"Wait." Fubuki's voice called out, tight with hesitation.
Ren paused, glancing back over his shoulder. A knowing glint flashed in his eyes, as if he had been counting down the seconds until she spoke. "Miss Fubuki seems to have something on her mind."
Fubuki pressed her lips together. Her fingers curled into tight fists against her sides as she finally made her decision. "Ren-kun... you're even stronger than my sister, aren't you?"
It wasn't just a blind guess. Whether it was the impossible miracle of resurrecting the dead, or the way the famously arrogant Tornado of Terror actually restrained her temper in his presence, Fubuki could feel it. The sheer, crushing weight of Ren's absolute superiority.
"Of course." Ren didn't bother with false modesty. He held her gaze, his dark eyes seemingly piercing straight through her skull. "You want to gain a power that eclipses your sister's."
He laid her deepest, darkest ambition bare in a single sentence.
"How—how did you know?!" Fubuki took a sudden half-step back, her emerald eyes darting across his face as she tried to find the trick.
"I merely read your inner thoughts."
"Mind reading?!" Fubuki gasped. No wonder she constantly felt entirely exposed whenever he looked at her. He actually possessed such an invasive ability.
Ren's lips curled into a wicked smirk. "Not just mind reading. I also have X-ray vision."
A sharp gasp escaped Fubuki's lips. She instantly crossed her arms over her chest, shrinking back.
X-ray vision? Then right now, to him, wasn't she completely...?
In a split second, the thick fabric of her dark green dress lost all its protective value. Her skin flushed hot, a phantom sensation of crawling ants spreading across her entire body under his gaze.
"Haha, relax," Ren chuckled, waving a hand dismissively. "I wouldn't go so far as to use X-ray vision on you."
Despite his casual tone, Fubuki didn't buy a single word of it. Her arms remained firmly locked over her chest.
Beside them, Vivi covered her mouth, a soft, melodic laugh escaping her lips. "Miss Fubuki, you can trust Ren-kun. He disdains using cheap tricks or lies to communicate with you."
Vivi knew the truth. Back in her own world, countless people practically begged for a fraction of Ren's attention. The same held true for Mumei and the other girls in the Chat Group. With a legion of beauties ready to answer his every call, Ren had absolutely zero need to secretly peek at anyone. If he wanted something, he just took it.
Hearing Vivi's gentle reassurance, Fubuki slowly lowered her arms, though a lingering awkwardness still painted her cheeks pink. She took a deep, steadying breath, forcing herself to focus on the one thing that mattered most.
"Ren-kun, you heard my inner voice correctly," Fubuki said, her tone hardening with resolve. "I want to become stronger than my sister."
She no longer harbored the toxic, suffocating jealousy of her past, but the burning desire for strength remained. She refused to spend the rest of her life cowering behind Tatsumaki's back like some useless, fragile doll. She wanted to stand on the front lines. She wanted to fight the invading monsters shoulder-to-shoulder with her sister.
And deep down, she desperately wanted Tatsumaki to look at her with genuine pride.
Fubuki stepped closer, her expression dead serious. "Ren-kun, since you possess such immense, unfathomable power... do you have a way to make someone rapidly improve?"
Originally, she had planned to build the Blizzard Group, relying on numbers and faction prestige to bridge the gap. But after witnessing Tatsumaki's true, world-breaking power up close—a chasm so vast it defied logic—Fubuki had finally woken up. Numbers meant nothing. Only absolute, personal strength could forge her path forward.
"Become as strong as your sister, right?" Ren asked lazily. He raised his right hand.
Snap.
A crisp sound echoed through the room.
"For example, like this," Ren said casually. "Are you satisfied?"
Fubuki stood frozen. Her breath hitched.
A terrifying, oceanic force erupted from deep within her cells. The air pressure in the room violently shifted. With barely a conscious thought, her dark green aura exploded outward. Her dark hair whipped wildly around her face, and the hem of her dress billowed as gravity lost its hold on her.
She floated upward, completely effortless. The sheer density of the psychokinesis coursing through her veins made her feel like a god. She felt capable of tearing the very fabric of reality apart with a single thought.
"Go outside and get a feel for your new power first," Ren instructed. Before she could even open her mouth to speak, the space around her warped, and he instantly transferred her out of the apartment into the open sky.
Silence returned to the room.
"Ren-kun, are you planning to claim her too?" Vivi leaned in close, her soft curves pressing against his side. Her slender fingers began tracing slow, teasing circles over his broad chest.
On his other side, Mumei opted for a far bolder approach. The Kabaneri girl didn't bother with gentle teasing, her hands diving straight into a deep, highly direct massage that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.
She had been holding back for far too long. And judging by the heat in Vivi's eyes, the princess was in the exact same state.
Ren turned, capturing Vivi's red lips in a deep, bruising kiss before wrapping his arms around both girls, pulling them flush against his body.
He smiled faintly, a predatory glint in his eyes. "I just want her to experience her ultimate dream."
His hands began to wander. "Vivi, Mumei... before Fubuki gets back, we really shouldn't waste this precious time."
After a while.
"I've actually become this strong?!"
Fubuki's voice cracked with pure, unadulterated exhilaration. She couldn't stop moving. The intoxicating rush of this god-like power was too wonderful, too addictive.
She raised her hands, mimicking the precise gestures she had seen Tatsumaki use on television broadcasts.
Massive chunks of concrete and steel ripped themselves from the earth, floating effortlessly into the clouds. She swept her arm, and the debris shot forward like artillery shells. She visualized pulling meteorites from the thermosphere, parting oceans, leveling mountains. The psychic energy responded to her every whim without a single drop of fatigue.
She had done it. She truly possessed power that equaled—perhaps even surpassed—the Tornado of Terror.
How could she not lose her mind with joy? The singular, impossible dream she had chased since childhood had just been handed to her on a silver platter.
After a period of frantic, earth-shaking experimentation, the adrenaline finally began to recede, allowing her rational mind to catch up.
She hovered in the air, staring at her glowing green hands. This ability wasn't hers. It was a gift from Ren. She had no idea what kind of divine mechanics he used to achieve such a feat, but the obvious reality was that he had elevated her to S-Class in the blink of an eye.
"I have to thank him properly!" Fubuki gasped, her cheeks flushing with gratitude.
She spun around, her green aura flaring as she shot through the sky, flying straight toward her apartment at supersonic speeds.
Reaching the high-rise, she didn't bother with the front door, darting straight through the open living room window.
Fubuki's boots touched the floor. The words of deep gratitude died instantly in her throat.
Her jaw dropped. Her emerald eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"What... are you doing?!"
She stared in absolute, paralyzing shock at the intense battle currently raging across her living room sofa.
Fubuki's brain completely short-circuited. As a woman who spent all her time managing a hero faction, she had never witnessed such a raw, unfiltered scene in her entire life.
She had only been gone for a little while! How did Ren suddenly end up in such a fierce, tangled struggle with Vivi and Mumei?
And more —this was her home!
Despite the sudden intrusion, Ren didn't show a single ounce of shame. He didn't even bother to stop his rhythmic movements.
Without looking up, his voice cut through the heavy, heated air of the room. "Is that power what you want?"
"Ah... uh... mm..." Fubuki stammered, her eyes darting wildly around the room, desperately trying to find a safe place to look. Her mind was a chaotic mess of static.
"Cough... is now not a good time for me to be back?"
Fubuki violently spun around, presenting her back to the sofa. Her face was burning so hot it felt like it might melt off her skull. She couldn't bring herself to yell at her savior, but she certainly hadn't expected the relationship between these three to be so incredibly... complicated.
And... what she had just seen... it was terrifying. She had never seen anything like that before.
"Heh heh." A low, wicked chuckle vibrated from the sofa. "You've come back at just the right time."
Ren's lips curved into a devilish smile. He raised his hand.
Snap.
The sharp sound easily cut through Vivi and Mumei's heavy breathing.
Instantly, Fubuki's knees buckled. A wave of crushing weakness slammed into her. The boundless, oceanic power that had been surging through her veins just a second ago evaporated into thin air.
It was violently replaced by a hollow, sickening emptiness.
"My power?" Fubuki gasped, staring at her trembling hands. Her eyes widened like copper bells.
The power was gone. She had been brutally dragged back down to her original, mediocre state.
She remembered the snap. The snap that gave her the power, and the snap that just took it away.
Forgetting her embarrassment, she whipped her head back around.
Ren was looking right at her, that faint, predatory smile still playing on his lips.
"That was just a free trial to dispel your doubts," Ren said smoothly, his voice dripping with temptation. "Just a little taste of what it feels like at the top."
He paused, letting the heavy silence stretch.
"If you truly want to possess that power permanently... you can join us."
Fubuki's breath hitched. She looked at Vivi and Mumei, whose hair was currently tangled in Ren's grip, their faces flushed with intense pleasure. Her expression twisted into a complicated knot of shock, temptation, and sheer panic.
Didn't that mean paying a price?
And this price...
Just a single glance at the sheer scale of the battlefield made Fubuki's heart pound wildly against her ribs. Would it really be okay to add one more person to that chaotic scene? Could she even handle it?
"Sorry, I... I can't do this!"
Fubuki decisively spun on her heel and practically sprinted toward her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She would just let them use the living room. She needed to hide.
"Ren-kun... it... it seems like it didn't work..." Vivi gasped out intermittently, her voice trembling.
Mumei looked up, her eyes hazy but determined. "Brother, I can go persuade her."
"Heh heh."
Ren casually ruffled Mumei's soft hair, his tone radiating absolute, unshakable confidence.
"No need. She'll come."
His dark eyes flicked toward the closed bedroom door.
"Because she craves the power."
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