"I hate flying."
Adam whispered, covering his face from the violent beam of light threatening to melt his face away. He pushed forward, tilting his head to the side to look at the woman lasering him to the wall.
[Lara, the Girl of Power]
If he remembered correctly, that was her name—Adam fought her in the Game right after Harvey died. Adam squinted, trying to see her face properly, only to realize how pissed off and mad she looked.
Well, he couldn't blame her at all. He was… a different man during that time. He might have been a little rough with her.
The beam of light grew even larger, now covering his entire body. He glanced back, and the wall of the ship was slowly melting away.
But as soon as he looked away, Lara suddenly flew right in front of him; her fist slamming onto his cheek. The entire ship quaked once more, but other than that, no warning lights popped on.
On the bridge, Sisa and her team were watching what was happening in the gym carefully.
"Should… we tell them not to be too rough, Commander?" One of Sisa's people spun on her seat to face her.
"Not yet." Sisa raised her palm. "The gym was made to withstand tremendous amounts of force that would otherwise destroy mountains."
"What about… Adam?"
Everyone turned away from their station as soon as they heard that question. They looked at each other, then turned to focus on their commander.
Sisa didn't answer, however, and instead focused on the colossal screen in front of her that showed the cosmos beyond.
"Adam wouldn't do that," she said, shaking her head. "But… but just in case, warn them."
"...Affirmative, Commander."
"Nobody fucking cares about that!" A boom exploded before the announcement could finish as Carmen flew forward. Everyone initially thought she would take this chance to attack Adam, but no.
She dropkicked Lara instead, causing the violent and intense beam of light bursting from her eyes to sweep across the gym… and hit the others who were just watching from the sides.
They all leaped away, some failing to move properly due to the unfamiliar gravity. Sylvie, however, did not move at all and just let the beam slash through her; her body, seemingly unaffected by the laser, as it rebuilt itself around the damage—no.
Perhaps it was better to say it was like trying to swing a blade through a pool of water; there was only resistance, but no damage at all.
"I thought we were on the same side!" Lara, who'd been kicked violently by Carmen, retracted her blast and glared at her.
"Same side…?" Carmen smirked. "We're supposed to be training in Zero Gs—what the fuck are you picking sides on?! Haha!"
Carmen looked around, and as soon as she spotted Adam calmly patting out the fires on his suit, she once again shot toward him.
This time, however, Adam actually looked at her before she could get near. Carmen stopped instantly, then chose a different target… but Adam was already behind her before she could even turn.
But since Adam couldn't really quite control himself yet, he just grabbed onto her, and the two of them slammed onto the other side of the gym.
"Gukh!" Blood showered from Carmen's mouth as her back slammed heavily on the wall. Adam didn't seem to care, however, as he kicked her away toward the other S-tier Heroes.
But instead of catching her, they swatted her away instead. Carmen still managed to land on her feet, however, as she rushed to one of the people who swatted her.
And just like that—almost all of the S-tier Heroes joined in. Adam looked around, and right when he was about to push himself back into the fray, someone grabbed his wrist.
It was Sisa who emerged from the wall, half of her body still inside it.
"Adam. We would prefer that you get used to the Zero Gravity in another way," she pleaded. "On another note, I would like your presence on the bridge."
Adam glanced at the chaos happening in front of him, then glanced back to Sisa and nodded. Sisa bowed in return before her body submerged back into the wall. Adam lightly patted the metal, but it was completely solid.
It was Sisa's ability, and one of the reasons why she was one of the last of her people—she had the power to make herself completely intangible. It might seem like a simple ability, but Adam's introduction to Sisa was her trying to pull his heart out.
Well, she didn't just try. She was successful in doing so—fortunately for both of them, that didn't mean anything at all to someone like Adam.
Adam sighed upon remembering that, then turned his focus back to the chaos before carefully hugging the wall to quietly make his exit.
"Do you… need help?" Sylvie suddenly appeared in front of him, looking at him awkwardly.
"I… can do this," Adam said… before he started floating back toward the chaos. Sylvie giggled at this, grabbing onto Adam's hand before he could completely disappear. The two once again looked at each other, and it took exactly two seconds before Adam surrendered.
"I'll… need you to help me reach the bridge."
"Hmn…" Sylvie smiled, playfully opening her arm so that Adam could slip his hand through it. "Of course, madam."
"Don't like this too much," Adam said, shaking his hand as he accepted Sylvie's help.
Carmen, who was initially planning on ruining the moment, couldn't help but shake her head at the sight.
"Some people just have it all, eh?" she muttered. "X-tier Hero… and a multi-billionaire for a lover? What the—this just pisses me off! I'll fucking kill all of you!"
And with that roar, her wings blazed even stronger.
***
"When… was this?"
"Just before we left Earth's atmosphere."
On the bridge, Adam had just seen Beatrice's message, saying that the Emperors had reappeared… in another Survival Mode leak.
"Should… some of us go back?" Sylvie muttered, crossing her arms as she looked to the side. "Is the First Soldier really the chosen Champion? What are the odds of that?"
She wasn't really asking anyone in particular, and all of them there knew what the answer would be.
"It's Gerald," Adam whispered, staring at Beatrice's obviously worried face on the screen.
"How strong do you believe he is, Adam?" Sisa asked, turning off Beatrice's message and switching back to the view of the expanse of space.
"I haven't really met him even once." Adam shook his head. "But from all the stories I've heard… Gerald is a lot stronger than Chike."
"...The second Hero considered to be X-tier?"
"Yes."
"If I may?" Sylvie raised her hand. "I have met Gerald twice during my visits to the Philippines. And I believe he is the strongest man I have ever seen in my life."
"Even stronger than Adam?" Sisa asked.
"Yes," and Sylvie answered without any hesitation.
"That means we can't lose him." Adam didn't mind her words at all. "How long until we're within striking distance with the bellethers?"
"Forty-four hours," Sisa said, raising her finger as the screen shifted to the map of the solar system, showing the ship's trajectory.
"Can this ship go any faster?"
"Yes. But I'm afraid it is not about speed, Adam." Sisa shook her head. "We have calculated the bellether ship's trajectory, and have chosen the best possible location to intercept them—Phobos. If we were to launch the surprise attack just right, we might force them to land on Mars, where we would have a higher chance of defeating them."
"Is it… true?" Adam asked. "Do the bellethers really have no Heroes?"
"Yes." Sisa nodded, raising a finger and once again changing the screen. "They kill them to prevent any imbalance in their hierarchy. I believe it is their core belief that Heroes cause chaos—but as you may very well be aware, Adam… they don't need the abilities of Heroes. Their weapons are enough."
"Forty-four hours…" Adam muttered, covering his mouth as he glanced at Sylvie. "I need to get used to fighting like this before then so we can go back as fast as possible."
"Oh?" A hint of a smile crawled on Sisa's face, and one of her fangs showed itself as she placed a hand on Adam's arm. "Are you that confident that your presence would make that much difference in the battle, Adam?"
Sylvie, of course, squinted at this gesture but didn't say anything.
"No," Adam answered. "I just know Gerald needs us. And we need to return as fast as possible. So…"
And once again, the air around Adam changed, and the entire bridge became silent.
"Although I don't like it…" Adam closed his eyes, shaking his head before staring at the images of the bellethers on the screen.
"...It's them or us."