"Is she your friend?" Blade asked, raising an eyebrow at Jhon.
The poor guy in question had a hand over his face, a little embarrassed by Kamala's shout.
"Yeah." He confirmed, shaking his head with second-hand embarrassment, though a smile tugged at his lips as he lowered his hand.
Then he turned to Blade.
"You already knew, didn't you?" he said, locking eyes with a suggestive look. Blade narrowed his own, confused. Had he let something slip?
"What do you mean?" the vampire hunter asked, his frown betraying his curiosity about how Jhon had figured out he'd mainly come for them.
"You showed up right when the three women carrying the transmitter that could save the world showed up. You really think anyone would buy that as a coincidence?" Jhon raised an eyebrow, watching Blade's face change—it was almost comical. "Plus, you told me you're the Avatar of a god. If it's a god, the least they should know is something like that."
"Well… fair point," Blade admitted without much fuss. He shrugged and moved to check on his bike, which he'd left lying on the ground when he went to finish off Captain Marvel. Mentally thanking whatever force kept his baby safe.
Suddenly.
"JHOOOON!"
Hearing his name, Jhon turned toward the sound. When he saw what was coming, he opened his arms to catch the human cannonball called Kamala.
She crashed straight into his bare chest, hugging him tight. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she yelled. Then she lifted her face to look at him. The height difference made it a little awkward for her neck.
He sighed. "Should I call you an idiot or tell you you're ridiculously cute?" he answered, ruffling her hair. But his expression quickly turned serious. "I remember telling you guys to head to the base because it was too dangerous. Why did you come back?"
Kamala sighed too, avoiding his eyes. "I couldn't leave you alone. You were fighting those things for us—I'd feel selfish if I didn't help. Plus… I didn't want anything bad to happen to you."
Jhon went quiet for a second. Part of him was touched that she'd come back to help, but another part was still in disbelief that they'd really thought he was going to sacrifice himself. Did he look like a hero or something?
When he didn't say anything, Kamala thought he was mad that she'd messed up the plan. She started to pull away to avoid making things more awkward, but was surprised when Jhon yanked her back against him—closer than before.
"You know… we've known each other for less than half a day, so I wasn't expecting you to do something like this for me…" he said softly, cupping her cheek and brushing it gently. His other hand slid to her waist, pulling her in.
Kamala swallowed hard. She was way more nervous now than when she'd decided to come fight.
"That makes me wonder if you really only see me as a friend, Kamala." His voice was pure sin in her ear. She felt his fingers slowly trail toward her lips, brushing them lightly.
Her legs trembled, eyes locked on his mouth with hesitation.
Kamala's mind was a whirlwind. On one shoulder, a tiny angelic Kamala whispered, "Don't kiss him—wait until you know each other better."
On the other, a devil Kamala with horns and wings flicked fire at the angel to shut her up. "Kiss him and drag him to bed. It's the end of the world anyway~."
So, feeling rebellious today, she rose on her tiptoes, closed her eyes, and leaned in.
Jhon had only planned to tease her, but things had gone this far—who was he to say no?
He cupped her cheek, about to close the distance—when—
A sharp screech was heard, as if someone had slammed on the brakes of a car.
"KAMALA, WHERE ARE YOU!?" Kate and Riri shouted from twenty meters away, windows down. They jumped out of the truck and ducked behind a nearby fallen rock. Friday flew out of the trunk, hovering above them with cannons ready.
Positioned on either side of the rock, Kate nocked her special arrow and drew her bow. Riri raised her portable cannons, scanning frantically.
[Life signs detected twenty meters ahead, Miss Williams.]
Friday's robotic voice reported after scanning the area.
Hearing that, they sprinted straight toward Jhon and the others.
…
While Kate and Riri ran toward Jhon.
Kamala's eyes snapped open in panic at the sound of her name. She tried to pull away fast, but Jhon didn't let her. Instead he leaned to her ear and whispered, "Just imagine it~—your friends searching for you in a panic, while you're right here in a man's arms, about to be kissed. What if they catch you? Does that turn you on?"
She swallowed hard and felt a warm rush between her legs, making her shiver. She started getting excited while gripping his arm so she wouldn't collapse from weak knees.
"N-no, don't say that—let me go quick, they'll notice!" Kamala pleaded, eyes watery, looking up at him.
'Heh, adorable.' Jhon was just amused by how she reacted to his teasing, but when his perception picked up the others getting closer, he stopped.
He let go of her waist and ruffled her hair lightly.
As for the other person he'd sensed… ahem, he'd completely forgotten about Blade. Right now the vampire hunter had a dead-fish expression, cursing how Jhon could flirt like this while he was stuck as errand boy for a giant skull. In the end he drew his swords and focused on studying them instead.
Kamala breathed a sigh of relief when Jhon let her move. For a second she'd thought he actually wanted them to get caught.
The irony? She thought what they were doing was wrong, like unconsciously treating herself as the mistress about to be caught by the official girlfriend. Looks like Jhon would have to explore that kink very carefully…
Suddenly—
"Kamala!" Riri shouted, running up panting. When she saw them both safe and without a scratch, she relaxed.
Kate followed close behind, scanning left and right for any zombies—which was… impossible. Any zombie that showed up in this valley would've been turned into meat paste, so she wasn't going to find one.
"You guys okay?" she asked, lowering her bow. Jhon nodded.
Seeing they were fine, she let out a relieved breath too.
"You're all out of breath—were you running a marathon?" Jhon teased with a grin, earning himself a scolding from Kate. Riri grabbed his arm to steady herself while she caught her breath.
"H-hi… didn't think you'd follow me," Kamala finally said, stepping out from behind Jhon's back, hair messy. She avoided their eyes. She looked like a woman who'd just been thoroughly rolled in the hay.
Kate narrowed her eyes, glancing between Jhon and Kamala—his bare torso, her messy hair. If they weren't in the middle of the apocalypse, she'd think they'd been doing something… indecent.
Oblivious to her friend's thoughts, Riri finally caught her breath and stood up straight, glaring at Kamala.
"How about we take the damn transmitter to the base now?"
Kamala scratched her head, feeling a little guilty for making them turn back, but she didn't regret coming to help Jhon. Even if she hadn't actually done anything.
Seeing they were about to scold her, Jhon sighed internally and decided to make a small sacrifice—by teasing the engineer.
After thinking up the plan, he opened his arms and slowly approached her.
"Didn't you miss me even a little, little Riri~?" he asked, emphasizing the "little" just to annoy her.
"Who the hell would miss you?" Riri swatted at him with her hand, face full of disgust.
Jhon ignored it.
"Stop touching me, you're filthy!"
"I'll stop when you want me to, little Riri."
"Don't call me that, idiot!"
…
After a minute of teasing, Jhon finally calmed the tiny Riri down.
Now he stood near the truck in his full suit—minus the white shirt, which made him a little uncomfortable.
Making another sacrifice, he decided to leave it unbuttoned, showing off his perfectly sculpted muscles. It gave him more of a rebellious vibe than elegant.
He gestured for Blade to go ahead while they followed. Blade nodded. The poor hunter had come over earlier to ask if they were going to keep chatting like the world wasn't ending, which made the girls cough awkwardly. In the end, Jhon introduced everyone.
Riri started bombarding the Avatar with questions about gods and why they allowed this to happen. He answered what he could. In the end she got nothing concrete, just vague answers, so she lost interest.
Eventually Blade got tired too and went back to his bike. He'd already examined his new weapons in detail and realized they seemed custom-made for him. He almost felt sorry for Jhon—if that power had been discovered in the normal world, the black market would be crawling with mercenaries.
…
Watching Blade ride off on his Harley, Jhon climbed into the truck.
Unlike before when Kamala had been in the back, now Kate was in the backseat. For some reason she'd fought for that spot. Kamala had defended hers tooth and nail but lost.
"Has he left?" Kate asked, scooting over to give Jhon room.
"Yeah, he said to follow him—he'll take us on a better route to the base." Jhon nodded, answering her. After settling in, he closed the door and Riri immediately floored it. Kamala peeked back at Jhon; he blew her a kiss that made her turn away nervously, reminding her of what they'd almost done twenty minutes ago.
Kate smacked his shoulder.
"Ow."
He faked the pain to soften the drama—expert move. She just huffed. She didn't like his flirting with Kamala. Why? Well… just because.
After calming her mind with the Dao of Aggression, Kate decided to ask the question that had been eating at all three of them—especially her.
"Jhon…" She touched his shoulder. The idiot had started flirting with her friend again. Kate took a deep breath to stay calm.
Feeling her touch, he turned.
"Yeah?" he answered, yawning from hunger. He was ready to head back to his castle—he missed the comfort of his sweet home.
"Who were you fighting?" When she asked, the air in the truck grew unusually heavy. Only the sound of the vehicle speeding along filled the silence. Riri leaned in to listen, and Kamala openly turned to watch.
"Oh… that." Jhon already had a headache imagining the flood of questions, but knowing he had to tell them, he mentally braced himself. "Promise me you won't ask anything else." Even so, he asked them to promise. Kate nodded; the others didn't.
"Well… Captain Marvel."
(…)
Absolute silence.
Then the explosion.
"WHAT!?" ×3
All three screamed at once. Riri nearly swerved the truck—that's how insane the news was.
Unfortunately the promise didn't hold. They bombarded him with thousands of questions: how he won, who helped him, what happened in the fight, even if he'd had to sell his body to win—which made his lips twitch. Sell what—his brain?
And so two hours passed.
…
[First person]
Sunlight bathes his favorite planet with a burning tenderness.
Three kilometers from the base. In a barren, zombie-free area, a 4×4 truck was parked beside an abandoned gas station, lights off.
Behind it, an African-American man with moon-white eyes was building a small fire, pulling military rations from his jacket.
Unlike him, I was inside the truck, legs crossed in lotus position. My soft breathing created a peaceful atmosphere that made Kate, asleep beside me, curl closer.
After two hours on the road, we'd stopped to "rest," though I wasn't tired at all—probably thanks to what I'd copied from the Eternal and Blade.
Yeah, right now I was checking my… inner world? I don't know what to call it, but let's just say it's where my soul lives.
After creating a source and linking it to my dimension, I gained greater ownership over everything related to my soul. That, by default, gave me more control over another aspect of my body: the spiritual.
So I could send my consciousness into what would be my mental world. My translucent body floated in the void of what was once a galaxy with near-infinite stars representing my life experiences.
Before, my source only held Wakfu, since I was barely an Eliatrope. Now, in front of me, I could see the changes from granting those wishes. My spherical source had one extra color—a luminous yellow.
Knowing that granting those wishes gave me a new type of energy, I realized that was the representation of the cosmic energy Eternals possess. If you asked me, "Jhon, doesn't that make you stupidly strong?" I'd say: strong, yes—stupidly strong? No.
Ikaris and Captain Marvel have infinite energy, and this porcelain man beat them like kids. Well, at least Marvel, but you get the point. Infinite energy doesn't mean infinite strength.
I knew there were characters in fiction who got infinite energy and still didn't accomplish much. Others, though, got everything they wanted and became the strongest by right.
So it's better to grow slowly and truly understand my power.
Still, with everything I've gained, I have to say my ego never grew (cough, not more than it already was). Because even though I got the Eternal's powers, it doesn't mean I can suddenly destroy a country. No, as the essence said, I get everything the person whose wish was granted possessed—but as if I were a newborn, having to train. It might seem like a flaw, but my "talent" and training capacity let me increase and understand my strength at an abnormal speed.
Starting from zero doesn't mean no strength. In fact, right now I can feel the giant power in my body. If I wanted, I could easily destroy a building. But I still can't make my impacts cause natural disasters—not yet.
After examining my source, I created pure cosmic-energy threads and anchored them to it the same way I did with Wakfu. If Wakfu gave my source life, cosmic energy gave it durability—making it so tough even Hulk couldn't destroy it. Still, I wasn't satisfied and wanted it even stronger. With that in mind, I tried attaching even more threads.
But… I couldn't. The threads detached, leaving only what I'd already placed.
"Damn it." I cursed—out loud or in my mind? It's confusing when you're translucent, but you get my frustration.
Apparently my soul grows as my body grows, even though it's usually stronger. So if I'm not stronger, neither is it.
I sighed in disappointment. I wanted it strong enough for soul-based attacks, but I couldn't. What keeps me calm is that the essence makes me immune to soul manipulation.
Unable to change anything, a spark flashed in my eyes—I remembered something I'd overlooked.
A smile spread across my face. "Let's see how I look in that form." I rubbed my hands excitedly and gave the mental command: transform into my Eternal form.
"Urgg—" A groan escaped me as I clenched my teeth.
The feeling of rewriting your life essence is… pleasurable, almost like evolving.
First I felt my body stop being mere flesh and bone. Cosmic energy spread through me, rewriting every fiber. My skin hardened, darkened, and within seconds transformed into living armor—black, gleaming, as if the entire universe had compressed over me for protection.
I felt the plates mold to my muscles, fusing with me.
Between each segment of this new skin, cyan-blue light lines pulsed with my energy, like luminous veins channeling Eternal—and apparently Eliatrope—power.
My chest changed first: it opened, reorganized, and formed a glowing core in the center. My shoulders widened, denser; my arms were covered in organic metal that responded even before I thought to move.
The helmet—or my "head"—formed last. A dark layer swept over my face, covering everything, erasing any trace of external or internal humanity. It was strange because even without visible eyes, I could see clearer than ever. Almost like the universe opened up and breathed with me.
The cables—like biomechanical dreadlocks—grew from the back of my head. They didn't hang lifelessly; they moved, reacted, sensed the energy flowing through me. They were an extension of my will.
"Gulun." I swallowed hard when I saw my reflection in my source. I looked like… a goddamn mechanical god. I felt my strength double and my ability to use energy skyrocket.
The cables behind my head represented the pure energy lines I created; their durability scaled with how much I fed them, letting them extend hundreds of meters in seconds. Even so, I didn't lose the ability to create them myself.
"It's… incredible," my voice came out a little robotic but still kept my personal touch, making me look more like I was wearing armor than a mechanical life-form.
"Issei, I hope your Red Emperor armor doesn't break that easily…" A battle-hungry grin spread across my face.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed out loud, spreading my arms like a second-rate villain. My mental space seemed to tremble from my emotions.
…
In another world.
A brown-haired young man walked home happily with an idiot's grin. His nose was high and pride was written all over his face.
"I knew it! I knew someone would notice my greatness!" he shouted, fists clenched.
"I'm gonna be the king of the harem!" He thrust his fist into the sky like a maniac. Neighbors quickly pulled their kids away from him. They didn't want whatever syndrome or disease he had to rub off.
Oblivious to the disgusted looks around him, Issei suddenly started drooling as he imagined the beautiful onee-san who'd confessed to him. Was he finally going to lose his carefully preserved flower? It was about time to wet the stick that was almost expired.
Suddenly he felt an itch in his nose.
"Achuu." He sneezed. Was someone talking about him? Maybe some mature woman was stalking him?
But he also felt a strange weight on his head, making him frown. He ran his hand over it but found nothing. Assuming it was just excitement about finally getting some, he rubbed his hands and ran home. Time to brag about his great achievement.
If anyone had looked closely at his head, they'd have seen a green imaginary hat slowly growing over it…
But that's a story for another time.
…
[Third person]
Finishing his check of the changes from the Eternal's wish, Jhon opened his eyes.
He still wasn't used to lotus position—it made him feel a little stiff—but it was the one that gave him the most calm when entering his soul.
He turned his neck and saw Kate beside him. Her messy hair covered her face, which rested on his thigh as she slept.
He reached over and gently brushed her hair aside, revealing her face. He could see her perfectly symmetrical brows furrowed—maybe dreaming something bad. Her beautiful lashes and full lips tempted him to taste them.
Then he traced his hand down her neck and watched the blood pulse through her veins, giving her hazel eyes a faint red tint. Jhon opened his mouth and ran his tongue over his slightly longer-than-before fangs.
Without lingering too long, they retracted again.
He pulled his hands away from Kate's face, making sure her hair wouldn't bother her sleep.
"A dhampir," he murmured, savoring the word. After finishing with the Eternal's powers, he tested Blade's. Yes, Blade's—not Khonshu's.
Apparently the powers granted as an avatar aren't considered the god's property, since the god can take them back anytime. In the end Jhon got Blade's dhampir physiology—just stronger.
You could say he's… partially vampire? A dhampir is considered in various comics a human born with vampire blood, and in some versions a human turned vampire but not 100% pure.
Vampire abilities without necessarily having their weaknesses—which is why Blade is immune to sunlight. Jhon didn't feel a massive change from granting that wish because he'd already gotten the Eternal's powers, dwarfing the dhampir ones.
Superhuman strength, greater speed, heightened senses, accelerated healing, etc. Qualities that would have thrilled Jhon before, but now… not so much. What did excite him was the possibility of manipulating blood in the future. Just thinking about it made him shiver.
"Mmm…"
A small moan pulled him from his thoughts. He looked toward the sound. There was Kate shifting closer on his thigh, yawning.
"What time is it?" she mumbled sleepily, eyes still closed.
He didn't answer that. He just adjusted himself on the seat so she'd be more comfortable.
"Keep sleeping. I'll wake you when we stop to eat," he said softly, gently taking her hand. She smiled at the gesture and slowly drifted back to sleep.
Two hours later…
----------------
Hello, your future favorite author here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
If you feel like it, leave a comment or suggestion—it helps me fix my mistakes.
Have a good rest of the day or night.
Elysra demands power stones.
[JhonDaoist]