Bill just stared blankly into the eyes of Professor Curtis all the while Erin was on the verge of crying again.

“You… you mean to say is that… a part of her soul was inside m… my body and that it protected me from my own power?” Bill asked in complete shock.

“Yes… Her soul is the only reason you are still alive, but now her soul has been completely depleted from your body and any injuries you sustain from here on out will not be healed at superhuman speeds.” Professor Curtis explained.

All the progress Bill had made for the past two months about moving on and recovering has gone right down the drain in front of his very eyes as his wounds became fresh again.

‘Even in death, you protected me…’ Bill said to himself as finally he couldn’t back his tears. His heart started to beat faster and faster and his core became more lively than ever as the trigger that the Earth mutant gene was waiting for was finally activated.

****************

The brownish-orange aura bubble inside his core began to oscillate and expand rapidly, enveloping the entirety of Bill’s body in an instant. His entire body began to glow with the aura of the Earth ability as the weird tattoos resurfaced all over the skin of his upper body.

As the aura circulated through his body at insanely high speeds, It felt as if millions of tiny microscopic needles were flowing through Bill’s blood vessels as they were being ravaged and destroyed.

However, even with his body destroying itself at a shocking rate, Bill felt no pain as all he could feel was the overwhelming power that was bubbling inside of him, a power fueled by his endless pit of sorrow.

The pressure that Bill was exerting was so much that even Erin began to feel weak and she instantly activated her own mutant gene to stand up to the pressure similar to when they fought Victor’s lackeys in the underground base or else she would have definitely collapsed under all that pressure.

Professor Curtis’ prediction was spot on as since Bill didn’t have a target unlike last time to direct all of this overwhelming power and emotions to, his body began to release the power randomly in every direction.

The flat and empty training room in which they were currently training suddenly transformed into a jungle of tall and mightily earth pillars and extremely sharp earth spikes that randomly erupted from the ground and wall in every direction imaginable.

“Bill! Get a hold of yourself!” Erin shouted as she created her own ice pillars to counter the emerged earth pillars and spikes that erupted near her but her words all fell on deaf ears as Bill was overwhelmed by the power.

However, deep inside his body… his consciousness still remained. Even though he wasn’t in control and the mutant gene was running rampant destroying his body as well as his surroundings, Bill didn’t even try to fight back for control.

Even after all the training he had done under Professor Curtis’ supervision, he didn’t even want to try and stop his ability from killing him because deep down all of his pain and sorrow was his immense feelings of guilt.

It was all his fault. If he had been batter… If he had been stronger… maybe if he didn’t get hit during the recruitment test and Iris had 100% of her soul, she would have survived…

These were the thoughts that were running through his mind as his body deteriorated more and more every second.

He believed that he deserved to die for everything he had done, there was no redemption for someone like him and maybe death would suit him better. That way he wouldn’t have to watch another person close to him die because of his weakness and incompetence.

“BILL!” Erin screamed as she slowly managed to get the hang of countering all the Earth pillars and spikes that kept on emerging from the ground.

Alongside training her mutant gene, Iris was also training a lot to become a better fighter as in comparison to everyone else, Erin was the weakest in terms of combat strength and fighting style and she wanted to improve her natural skills and not rely on the power boost from her mutant gene.

She began to take the special close combat training course which fortunately took place right after their regular day ended, leaving her with some time to rest and recover before meeting with Professor Curtis in the night in order to master her mutant gene along with Bill.

Even though it had been very long, Erin was a fast learner, a trait which was the reason why she received the training scholarship in first place alongside Iris. One of the first things that she learned in the class was to be able to read the opponent and their attacks so that she could fight optimally without wasting any energy or unnecessary movement.

Another lesson that she learned was knowing when to avoid and evade an attack versus when to advance forward and all of this required her to train her senses more and more and raise her perception and agility in order to become a great fighter as fighting wasn’t only about power.

According to Professor Mei, her teacher in the special close combat training course, power was only a small factor in determining the outcome of a battle as many more factors played a greater role such as strategy, evasiveness, speed, determination, and duration among many others.

Even though Bill was on a whole other level than Erin at the moment, he wasn’t himself and his attacks were wild and random and weren’t specifically targeting her.

After she had gotten used to the speed at which the pillar and spikes emerged towards her, she began to analyze small gaps in which she didn’t have to block and could simply evade the attack by creating a thin layer of ice underneath her feet and allowing her to slide to the left or right with minimal resistance.

Slowly but surely, Erin began to close the gap between her and Bill all the while she kept shouting at him to pull himself together and control the aura before it killed him.

However, even after all of that, Bill remained unfazed and his body posture was that of a person who was at their wit’s end and had completely given up.

Fear and desperation were slowly creeping into Erin’s heart as she watched Bill’s body weaken to the point that he practically had no muscle left on his body, but she didn’t let them overwhelm her as that would leave her to lose focus and potentially get hit by a random spike

or pillar.

Erin persevered forward, using every ounce of her power to dodge and block Bill’s ruthless attacks.

Finally, she was able to close in on Bill and she quickly grabbed his shoulder.

Bill’s extremely weakened and limp body moved backward with zero resistance, but the raging aura that was still actively raging all over his body began to attack Erin’s hand.

It felt as if she had grabbed an extremely hot piece of metal as the pain was unbearable even though she still had her Ice mutant gene active.

She yelped in pain but didn’t dare let go as she pulled his body towards him. For a second, Bill’s almost lifeless eyes met Erin’s and she was able to see clearly the broken will inside his

body.

Even with no words being exchanged, Erin could interpret Bill’s emotions clearly and was extremely saddened to see such a strong fighter and her close friend be broken like this so much to the point that her heart felt pity and wanted to comply with Bill’s resolve to just die; however, Erin had better control over her emotions than before and quickly removed those emotions from her heart as in the next moment, a look of determination appeared on her face. She pulled out one of the auto-injectors from her back pocket that Professor Curtis had just given her and immediately injected the green liquid directly into Bill’s neck. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

*****************

It only took a second for the green liquid to do its job as the aura enveloping Bill’s body immediately disappeared and no longer burned Erin’s hand.

The area calmed down as no more Earth pillars and spikes erupted from the ground and Bill’s shrill of body instantly collapsed into Erin’s arms.

Erin quickly grabbed his fragile body and was astonished by the fact of how light he was now and very carefully and gently laid his body down on the ground.

After she had dealt with the current threat, Erin couldn’t contain her emotions anymore and

began to cry her eyes out after looking at Bill’s critical condition; her hand was also very badly injured and was hurting like hell.

Professor Curtis who was observing the entire thing from above; using his Wind ability to levitate off the ground and observe from a safe height, finally intervened before Bill could die.

Within seconds, several medical personnel barged into the training room and provided Bill with critical care before transporting him to the head nurse’s office. Professor Curtis personally walked with Erin as they too made their way over to the head nurse’s office so that Erin could get her hand checked out and they would be close to Bill after he woke up as they were both very concerned.