107. Flying to Mars for Vacation

Flying to Mars for Vacation

The exhaustion from what I had done in that outburst hit me like a ton of bricks…

But a ton of bricks was no longer much of a problem for me.

The potential consequences, on the other hand, very much were.

I had just burned through the equivalent of an hour of stamina in a burst of anger, blindly created a constantly accelerating missile, and launched it toward the far side of the solar system.

I raised my hands in front of my eyes and examined them from an entirely new perspective.

That… had not been easy, but it had not been some extreme effort either.

Compared with nearly killing myself to make a giant bullet circle Earth, the difference was night and day.

“You have just noticed the first half of the answer to your question. Your contribution to destroying Mort was greater than anyone else’s, and that has consequences. Some of them are beneficial. Others are far less so.”

She paused, giving me time to absorb information that should have been obvious in hindsight.

Whether a villain empowered by violence and destruction, or a hero protecting the helpless and bringing down evil, helping destroy that absurd, enormous, mediocre avatar of malice would improve my superpowers.

Apparently, the improvement was… substantial.

This was not the first time since the battle ended that I had tried to look at my character sheet and see what had changed.

Just like the previous six or seven attempts, absolutely nothing happened.

“In addition, you should consider that your regeneration has been growing stronger. The more often you regenerate, and the longer you continue regenerating, the greater the overall temporary enhancement to all your abilities becomes.

“Your confrontation with Mort and his personal entourage lasted for several hours. During that time, you were pushed to your limits again and again.

“Given the difference in power during the latter half of the battle, you may not have noticed the change, but I assure you, everyone else did.”

Since I definitely heard a trace of teasing in her tone, I wondered exactly what Lia meant by “everyone else.”

Then I decided that was a problem for future me, not for vacation me, who had just stopped the end of the world.

So I said nothing.

“Which brings us to the heart of the matter. Death is not a door you pass through. It is not a switch that can simply be flipped, nor is it something so absolute.

“It is a transition. A continuous state. Being dead for three hours, three minutes, or three seconds does not even compare to the seventeen-hour human record on your planet. For the powerful in our world, that would be a ridiculous joke.”

She did not laugh.

Neither did I.

“As your damaged body began to break down, your regeneration further enhanced your abilities as the injuries accumulated. Around the two-hour mark, your healing surpassed the rate of damage, and your condition began to improve—starting with the regrowth of vital organs.”

That was when I decided the implications of this situation were also a problem for future me.

I sat up again, repaired the angel shape I had ruined during my tantrum, and enjoyed the brief peace and the magnificent view of the sky.

The red tint was a little too close to the crimson nightmare Mort had turned Sanguang City into with his power at the end, but because this color was natural, it was acceptable.

More than acceptable, really.

It fulfilled a very old, perhaps slightly childish dream, and I had just helped save the world.

If I wanted to be childish, I could be childish. If anyone had a problem with that, they could go take a swim in the sun.

“How do you know all this?”

Because when a previously mysterious alien mastermind became willing to provide answers, you asked questions.

Lots of questions.

“No, let me rephrase that. How much do you know about everything? And why did you help?”

“I know more than others because knowing things is my nature. Perhaps that is only a small part of me, but it is the part most often used.”

Lia walked around where I was lying and stepped onto a nearby boulder.

With the other boulder having been thrown into space, she now stood on the mountaintop—the highest point in the world.

She was very different from any version of her I had seen before.

More like me, rather than a child or a teenager.

Even more like me than I was.

She was a tall adult woman with an inhuman vitality, and though her skin was pale and her hair black, her body seemed like only a thin, fragile shell wrapped around some unseen, tremendous power.

Were there really organs under her skin? Was she made of blood, flesh, and bone, or was she only a thin mask stretched over a magical singularity?

“Both,” she said with a smile. “Even I must follow certain conventions when entering this world—or, rather, I am supposed to.”

Had she just read my mind again?

Well, compared with knowing a childhood dream I had ten years ago…

“As for why I helped, it is the same reason you helped. Because we chose to. I could have chosen, as you could have, to use my abilities only to fulfill my childhood dreams. Had I done that, this world would have become far worse.”

I could not argue with that, so I chose to look up at the stars.

This sky was completely different from any starry sky I had ever seen, yet it felt close enough to touch.

That was one benefit of having eyes like telescopes.

I had never liked thinking too much.

Maybe if I had, I would have made different choices. I might have left the city as soon as possible and gone off to chase a child’s dream.

And when I went back—if I could go back at all—everyone I knew would either be dead or turned into monsters.

A dream, or the world.

At the time, I had not actually known how things would turn out.

Even if I had known, it would not have mattered.

My choice would not have changed. If anything, hindsight only made me more certain of it, so why bother thinking too hard about it in the first place?

“That is why I brought you here,” Lia said, making a sweeping gesture toward the magnificent world spread around us.

“With a little help, some cooperation, and a minor violation or two of cosmic treaties, we can have both the dream and the world, don’t you think?”

I laughed, and did not bother using superpowers to make the sound normal.

The overly high pitch actually sounded better that way.

“So this is a reward?”

“The only reward for a job well done is more work,” Lia’s thunderous voice replied.

That made me raise an eyebrow.

Had she gotten taller?

“What I am offering here is only a temporary respite.”

Yes. She was definitely taller now. And somewhat translucent.

It looked like our conversation was coming to an end.

“Like energy, power is not destroyed, and it tends to fill a vacuum very quickly.

“Mort’s destruction dispersed most of his power, but a large portion of it will sooner or later be seized by others.

“Furthermore, the connection he established between his world and yours lasted long enough that ambient power and concentrated attention alike have begun to flow toward Earth.”

“What do you mean? There will be more invasions?”

Why did she have to say things that ruined the mood while I was on vacation?

“More monsters to fight? More demons like Mort?”

“Not at first. The little light show I put on while blocking the enemy from entering your world should prevent their interference for some time.

“However, the new superpowers appearing in your world as a result of all the released power are another matter entirely.

“Additionally, the survivors in your city and in the nearby locations attacked by monsters cannot be ignored.

“By now, thousands of people possess supernatural abilities, and in the days ahead, many more will gain power.”

Wonderful. The world was turning into a Marvel universe.

Maybe I could just sit here and miss the inevitable incoming power registration and forced recruitment.

How bad could the worst-case scenario possibly be?

Do not answer that question!

“How much time do I have? Should I start flying back now?”

This was not exactly a short trip.

“After your battle ends, things will remain relatively calm for a time,” said Lia’s towering image.

She was now a translucent, glowing shadow, tall as a tower.

“You have roughly half a year before the first major calamity arrives.”

Multicolored lightning crackled through her fading body, shining in every color of the rainbow and a few beyond the rainbow.

At least there was no octarine.

“But now I must say farewell. Goodbye, Ye Lin, hero of Earth. We will meet again.”

What followed was a dazzling, kaleidoscopic explosion so bright it made the inside of a nuclear fireball seem dim, yet it had neither sound nor substance.

By the time my retinas recovered, I found myself alone.

For the moment, that suited me just fine.

“After ten thousand battles, I am finally free!” I shouted at the universe.

No one heard me.

Or maybe they did.

Either way, that was a problem for future me.

“It’s time to explore Mars!”

I launched myself from the now-slightly-shorter summit of Olympus Mons and flew toward my new vacation spot, ready to have as much fun as I wanted.

(The End)