Facing the roaring flames surging toward him, Liam didn't move.
His hands stayed in his pockets, his posture loose and almost bored, as if what stood before him wasn't a wall of fire but a mild inconvenience. There wasn't even a hint of intent to dodge.
The watching students immediately reacted, gasps breaking out across the room. To anyone unfamiliar with him, it looked like he had frozen up, overwhelmed by the sheer force of the attack.
But those who had seen his fight with Bobby knew better.
Fire or ice—it didn't matter. Neither had managed to touch him.
Seeing Liam stand there without taking him seriously only fueled John's anger further. His expression twisted, and without hesitation, he pushed his ability harder.
The flames surged.
In an instant, his entire body became wrapped in fire, heat radiating outward as the blaze intensified. The air shimmered violently, and the temperature in the training room climbed fast.
If flames burned long enough in a confined space, they could consume the surrounding oxygen entirely. Even with vector manipulation isolating heat, a lack of oxygen would still be a problem.
But this wasn't a sealed environment.
In an open space like this, oxygen constantly replenished itself. Unless the intensity reached something on the level of a massive detonation, it was impossible to burn through it fast enough to create a true vacuum.
John simply didn't have that kind of output.
Watching him pour everything into the attack, Liam lost interest.
There was no point dragging this out.
He stepped forward, walking straight through the flames without hesitation, closing the distance in seconds. The fire licked around him, but it might as well not have existed.
When he reached John, he lifted a single finger and pressed it lightly against his chest.
"Give it up. Your ability doesn't work on me."
"I don't believe you!"
John roared, forcing even more fire out in a desperate attempt to overwhelm him.
Liam shook his head slightly.
"Then don't blame me."
His finger tapped forward again, and this time, he adjusted the vector of force behind it.
The result was immediate.
A powerful surge exploded outward from the point of contact.
John's eyes widened just before the impact hit. Then his entire body was blasted backward, a cry tearing from his throat as he was thrown across the room and slammed hard into the ground.
The watching students fell silent for a moment.
It was shocking, but at the same time, it felt inevitable. They had already seen this once before.
Bobby had gone down the exact same way.
"Alright, that's enough. The match is over."
Storm moved quickly, stepping in to check on John's condition. She crouched beside him, her expression focused.
"How are you feeling?"
John clutched his chest, his face tight with pain, but he didn't answer.
"Don't worry, Ms. Ororo. I controlled the force," Liam said casually as he walked over. "He shouldn't be seriously hurt."
At the same time, he initiated another sign-in.
[Ding! Host, do you wish to sign in with Mutant Pyro, John Allerdyce?]
"Yes."
[Ding! Sign-in successful. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the super ability 'Flame Control' with 100 experience points.]
Flame Control.
Liam's eyes flickered slightly as he processed the ability.
Unlike John's version, which relied on existing fire sources, his was far more direct. He could generate flames himself, and their intensity would scale with his level.
At his current Level 3, he could already produce blue flames capable of reaching temperatures around 6,000 degrees Celsius—enough to melt steel with ease.
For comparison, typical orange flames peaked around 3,000 degrees.
Even the surface of the sun hovered around 5,500 degrees.
This meant his flames were already approaching that level of heat.
And that wasn't the limit.
As his mutant level increased, so would the temperature, potentially climbing to something far more extreme.
It was clear that what he had gained wasn't on the same level as John's ability at all.
At the same time, Liam noticed a pattern.
The abilities he gained seemed closely tied to the target.
Clarice's portal creation had translated into spatial teleportation. Bobby's ice generation had evolved into freezing control. Now John's fire manipulation had become full flame control.
So far, every sign-in had succeeded.
Maybe it was luck. Or maybe the system was simply that reliable.
He didn't dwell on it.
John, still on the ground, looked at him with clear frustration. But after a brief moment of hesitation, he clenched his teeth and forced the words out.
"…Boss."
Having lost, he honored the agreement.
Then, without waiting for anything else, he pushed himself up, brushed past Storm, and left quickly.
He had no intention of staying after that.
Liam watched him go, his mood still high.
Around him, the students erupted into conversation.
"That was insane. John's fire didn't even do anything."
"You should've seen the fight with Bobby. Same result—completely useless."
"What even is his ability? Fire doesn't work, ice doesn't work…"
"It's ridiculous. He's basically untouchable."
Voices overlapped—some filled with admiration, others with disbelief, and a few with quiet envy.
"Alright, that's enough. Back to class," Storm said firmly, cutting through the noise. "Jean has a lesson scheduled next."
Reluctantly, the crowd began to disperse.
…
Back in the classroom, Liam leaned back slightly in his seat and glanced at his system panel.
[Host: Liam Hayes]
[Super Abilities: Vector Manipulation, Spatial Teleportation, Freezing Control, Flame Control]
[Super Ability Level: Lv.3 (Level 3 Mutant)]
[Experience: 1000/3000]
Another ability gained. Another step forward.
At this rate, with one sign-in per day, reaching Level 4 within a week was almost guaranteed.
And Level 4 mutants were already considered powerful in this world.
Not bad.
"Huh… Clarice, you don't look too happy."
Liam turned slightly, noticing the faint tension in her expression.
Clarice blinked, caught off guard.
"Really? I… I'm fine."
"It's written all over your face," he said lightly. "If something's bothering you, you can tell me."
She hesitated.
For a moment, she stayed quiet, her gaze dropping slightly before she finally spoke.
"I… miss my friends."
"Friends?"
"Her name is Lorna," Clarice said softly. "She's part of an underground mutant group."
She paused, gathering her thoughts.
"After I escaped from a detention facility, they took me in. Lorna and the others helped me… but then we were discovered by a government agency, and we got separated."
Liam listened, his expression calm as he pieced things together.
There were countless mutants in the world, easily numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
Among them, three major factions stood out.
The X-Men, led by Professor X.
The Brotherhood of Mutants, under Magneto.
And the Hellfire Club, an organization deeply rooted in mutant influence.
Beyond those, there were also smaller underground groups, operating in the shadows.
Clarice had been part of one of those.
And Lorna…
Polaris. Magneto's daughter.
As the pieces fell into place, Liam found himself drawing a quiet connection.
This situation felt strangely familiar, echoing elements from stories he recognized.
Only this time, Clarice had ended up here after opening a portal by accident.
....
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