"Come,on, Dad, you have to shake hands with Mom," Thena said, tugging at Max's hand.
When he didn't move, she gave up on that tactic and tried a new one. Her lip quivered, and her eyes became watery. In a small, pleading voice, she whispered, "Please, Dad…"
Max quickly looked away. "Not this time," he said.
Thena pouted. "Then… can I at least go with Mom? I'll be back before sunset."
"I don't know… you still haven't finished your daily training routine," Max replied.
"I'll train twice as hard tomorrow!" she insisted.
"Come on, Max, let her have this," Nina said with a grin.
Max rolled his eyes. "Fine… but she'd better be back before sunset," he warned Diana.
Diana didn't respond she just smiled at Thena. "Alright, my little princess, time to go," she said, squatting down to pat her back.
Thena raised an eyebrow. "Should… piggyback ride?" she asked uncertainly.
"Yes," Diana replied.
"Isn't there another way? I'm too grown-up for this," Thena said, crossing her arms.
"Well, we could walk back to the city, but that will take too long. By then, the ice cream van I buy ice cream from will be long gone," Wonder Woman said.
"You're going to treat me to some ice cream?" Thena asked eagerly.
Max opened his mouth to decline—but Nina's hand on his shoulder stopped him. He shot her a light glare but said nothing.
"Yes, we can go for something else if you don't like it—" Diana began.
Before she could finish, Thena leapt onto her back, wrapping her arms tightly around her neck. She pointed at the sky with one hand and shouted, "Onwards!"
Wonder Woman chuckled. "Alright, hold tight!" She slowly lifted off the ground and blasted into the sky, leaving Max and Nina alone.
"I'm already regretting this," Max muttered.
Nina smirked. "you will get used to it in time "
Max didn't respond—he just watched them disappear into the distance, shaking his head.
"So, how did this happen in the future?" Max asked, his tone calm but edged with curiosity.
"I don't think it matters anymore," Nina said softly, her voice laced with nostalgia. "But… it was a real turning point in my life. It seems it's happened sooner here—and maybe that's for the best."
"I guess it is," Max murmured, gazing ahead into the open field where heat shimmered from the lingering flames. "You should probably do something about those flames—Amaterasu flames."
"Oh, right. Forgot about them," Nina said, blinking as her Mangekyō Sharingan flared to life. and the black fire that clung to the earth flickered once… before fading away completely. She exhaled and rubbed her eyes.
"You're really using your Mangekyō too much," Max said. "Aren't you worried about going blind?"
"No," Nina replied, shaking her head slightly. "They heal every time they get damaged from use. But it still stings every time I activate them."
"I see," Max muttered.
"Aren't you even curious about my Mangekyō's abilities?" Nina asked, tilting her head with a teasing smile.
"I can already guess," Max replied dryly. "Amaterasu in your left eye and Kagutsuchi in your right. Correct?"
"You're correct," Nina said, sounding genuinely impressed. "I can't believe that you were once this strong."
"Once?" Max raised an eyebrow.
Nina chuckled faintly, her expression softening. "When I was younger, your power felt immeasurable. I could never gauge it—every time I thought I'd reached your level, you just kept climbing higher and higher. You were unstoppable. At one point, you even blew up a planet."
"What you actually mean," Max said with a faint smirk, "is that I'm weaker than what you remember."
"No," Nina said quietly. "I think you're actually stronger now than you were at this same point in my timeline. I just… never thought my power level would one day come close to yours."
"Things really are different in this time then," Max said softly, his voice thoughtful.
"I've been meaning to ask you…" Nina hesitated, her tone shifting. "Where's Uncle Zetsu?"
"So you even knew about Zetsu," Max said, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
"Yes. I did." Her voice softened, and a shadow of sadness crossed her face.
"Then what happened to him?" Max asked quietly.
Nina sighed, her gaze lowering. "He was killed. By Darkseid."
Max's jaw tightened slightly. "…How did it come to that?"
"It's a long story," Nina said, shaking her head. "And it will probably happen differently here or maybe not at all. But if I tell you, the chances of it happening will become zero."
"So you're keeping it to yourself for the advantage," Max said knowingly.
A faint, almost guilty smile appeared on her lips. "Yes"
"Preventing all those things from happening or at least making sure some of them don't that's the role I have to play before the audience, before exiting the stage," Nina said softly.
"What do you mean?" Max asked, frowning.
"You'll understand one day," Nina replied with a smirk.
"That's what you used to tell me. And now I have, just like you once said. So I'm sure you will too," she added with a small smile as a gust of wind blew her hair.
Max scratched the back of his head with a grin. "I didn't believe there'd ever come a day when my own words would be used against me."
"I think it's about time you started your own training," Nina said.
"Yeah… I guess this does present an opportunity," Max admitted.
"Anyway, take this." Nina held out a kunai marked with her Thunder God seal.
"And this is for?" Max asked.
"It's the perfected version of the Flying Thunder God. In the future, you were too busy to perfect it ,so I did," she explained.
Max hummed as he accepted the kunai. Nina turned and began walking away.
"I'm strong, Dad… but I can still become stronger. So I've got work to do. I'll be back before dinner," she said, then disappeared, leaving Max alone.
He frowned, understanding what Nina truly meant by leaving the stage. She was still hurting from everything that had happened in her time, and she carried the weight of preventing all the tragedies she had lived through.
Max shook his head and muttered, "Time to grind."
He pulled out gravity seals from his system space and slapped them onto all his limbs. His body grew significantly heavier, a weight he welcomed. He formed a single hand seal, summoned multiple Shadow Clones, and poured ninety percent of his chakra into the technique.
Thick white smoke swirled violently, and when it cleared, hundreds of clones stood before him, each gripping a sword. They all charged in unison as Max conjured a black rod . With a burst of speed, he dashed forward to fight them head-on.
An hour later
Max stood hunched over, panting, the forest utterly destroyed around him. His clones had given it their all, coming at him with everything they had. He had trained purely with his hands, without even enhancing himself with the Gates, and it had been brutal.
But he wasn't satisfied. He wanted more.
Maybe it was time to take it to the next level,to train like Goku, pushing every limit, which meant it was time for very intense physical conditioning training. It was time to truly push himself beyond anything he had done before.
One Month Later
The morning sun streamed through the kitchen window, casting a warm light across the table. Plates clinked, and the smell of toast and sizzling eggs filled the air.
Max sat at one end, nursing a cup of coffee, while Nina sat opposite him, slowly eating a bowl of cereal. Thena sat to Nina's right and Terra to her left, both wolfing down their food as fast as they could — neither wanted to be late on their first day at Jump City Primary School. Max had pulled a few strings and paid a few pockets to get them enrolled, and the girls weren't about to waste the opportunity.
"Done!" Thena shouted, sharply placing her empty plate on the table. Terra, calmer and more deliberate, set hers down as well.
"Come on, Dad! We can't afford to be late on my first day!" Thena urged, practically bouncing in her seat.
Max sighed. Thena was slowly becoming a delinquent, the result of spending so much time with her mother and learning to rely on her own stubborn instincts. Terra, by contrast, was a different story altogether always trying to impress him, as if she owed him something, like a soldier following an order. He had tried to change her behavior over time, but it seemed to have only grown stronger.
Max shook his head, taking a slow sip of coffee and letting the morning calm settle around him. Despite the chaos of two growing girls, there was a certain comfort in these small, domestic moments a rare sense of normalcy he wasn't about to take for granted.
End of Chapter.
Please support me in Patreon for 5+ advanced chapters at patreon.com/DarkerKnight.