The heavy, soundproofed interior of the black town car was completely silent as it glided back toward the Dover estate. But inside Airis's chest, a drum was beating a frantic, deafening rhythm.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
She pulled the wide-brimmed sun hat off her head, tossing it onto the leather seat beside her, and pressed a trembling hand against her sternum.
The Aegis Bioskin rendered her permanently immune to physical damage, but it offered absolutely zero protection against the massive spike of adrenaline coursing through her veins.
I just spoke to myself, she thought, her mind reeling, trying to process the sheer, metaphysical absurdity of the last ten minutes.
The corporate salaryman who had meticulously survived years of boardroom politics had almost completely shattered the moment she rolled down that tinted window.
Looking into Lin Ye's face—her own face—had been like staring into a living, breathing mirror reflecting her darkest, most vulnerable era.
She had seen the exhaustion etched into the boy's jawline.
She had seen the frayed threads on his cheap black sweater, a sweater she specifically remembered buying from a thrift bin because it was thick enough to hide the fact that he was skipping meals.
It had taken every ounce of her fabricated, aristocratic poise to keep her voice steady. She had wanted to open the car door.
She had wanted to pull the scrawny teenager into the heated leather interior, wrap him in a cashmere blanket, and tell him the nightmare was over.
But she couldn't.
The System had warned her about the dangers of a temporal paradox, and common sense dictated that a multi-billionaire heiress kidnapping a teenage boy off the street would end in absolute disaster for both of them.
I had to be cold. I had to be a mysterious, untouchable benefactor, she rationalized, closing her eyes and taking a deep, shuddering breath.
It was the only way to redirect his analytical mind away from the Dover family and back toward the scholarship exams.
It had worked. She had seen the shift in his dark eyes—the exact moment his desperate confusion had hardened into a fierce, unbreakable resolve.
He was going to study. He was going to claw his way out of the Southside, fueled by the belief that someone, somewhere, thought he was worth saving.
As her racing heartbeat finally began to slow, a profound, sweeping sense of closure washed over her.
She had closed the loop. Lin Ye was safe. He was fed. He was focused.
She no longer had to constantly look over her shoulder at the ghost of her past. She could finally turn all of her attention toward her own future.
"Arthur," Airis said, her voice regaining its melodic, effortless calm.
"Let's go home."
Sunday morning arrived with the quiet, luxurious serenity that Airis was quickly learning to expect.
She awoke just as the sun crested the Riverdale hills, filling her bedroom with a soft, buttery light.
She didn't move from the center of her massive, silk-sheeted bed.
She lay perfectly still, her sapphire eyes fixed on the ceiling, waiting.
The internal clock she had developed over the past week was counting down the final seconds.
Three... two... one...
[Ding!]
The chime rang out with a new, resonant clarity.
Instead of the usual translucent blue, the System interface that materialized in the air above her was bordered in a brilliant, glowing gold.
[Weekly Sign-In Cycle Complete.]
[Evaluating Host Environment... Confirmed. Safe location.]
[Initiating Premium Sign-In.]
Airis sat up, her breath catching slightly. The standard pool had given her a body modeled after the Golden Ratio and an invisible, unbreakable shield of quantum energy.
If those were the "Standard" rewards, what on earth constituted "Premium"?
[Premium Reward Dispensed: 'Absolute Psychokinesis' (Esper Pinnacle)]
Airis blinked. Psychokinesis?
Before she could ask the System for clarification, the reward integrated.
Unlike the Golden Ratio Pill, which had fundamentally rewritten her cellular structure, this integration didn't alter her physical body. Instead, it struck her mind.
It wasn't painful, but it was overwhelmingly expansive.For a terrifying, breathless second, Airis felt her consciousness violently expand outward.
She could suddenly "feel" the physical weight and molecular density of the silk sheets, the mahogany desk, the heavy oak door, and the very air molecules suspended in the room.
It was as if her mind had sprouted a million invisible, omnidirectional limbs.
A faint, luminescent emerald-green aura briefly flickered around her golden-blonde hair, causing the strands to float weightlessly around her face in defiance of gravity.
**[Skill Description: Absolute Psychokinesis (Esper Pinnacle).
The Host has been granted the ultimate manifestation of mental power, modeled after the peak capabilities of a certain legendary, emerald-aura Esper.
Level: Maximum.
Capabilities: Limitless manipulation of physical matter via mental command.
The Host possesses enough telekinetic output to casually level modern metropolises, effortlessly crush catastrophic 'City-Level' biological or technological anomalies, and exert sufficient gravitational pull to summon meteorites directly from the exosphere.
Note: Output is directly tied to the Host's will. Precision control is granted automatically.]**
Airis sat frozen on the bed, the emerald glow slowly fading back into her skin as her hair settled back over her shoulders.
She stared at the golden text, her corporate-trained mind completely flatlining.
Level metropolises? Crush City-Level anomalies?
Summon meteorites from outer space?
Slowly, carefully, Airis raised her right hand and pointed her index finger at the heavy, silver-backed hairbrush resting on her vanity across the room.
She didn't move her arm. She just thought about the brush moving.
Instantly, the hairbrush shot across the room, stopping dead in the air exactly one inch from her outstretched fingertip.
It hovered there, perfectly suspended, caught in an invisible, unbreakable vice grip of her own mind.
She flicked her wrist. The hairbrush spun in the air like a top. She lowered a finger, and the brush gently laid itself down on the nightstand.
"System," Airis whispered, her voice a mix of awe and absolute, bewildered exasperation.
"I am a seventeen-year-old high school student. My biggest stress factor right now is a girl named Monica who wants a masquerade theme for the Spring Gala.
Why in the name of God do I need the power to drop a meteorite on the city?"
The golden screen shifted, displaying a new message.
[Answering Host: The primary objective of the System is to ensure the Host's absolute comfort and a slow-paced, unbothered daily life.
In a universe with unknown variables, true peace can only be guaranteed by possessing absolute, overwhelming deterrence.
If a problem cannot be ignored, it must be capable of being instantly, effortlessly eradicated.]
[Furthermore, carrying heavy shopping bags is tedious. Psychokinesis is highly practical for daily errands.]
Airis stared at the final sentence, a genuine, incredulous laugh escaping her lips.
Practical for daily errands. The System had just handed her the power of a literal god—the ability to rip the earth apart and call down extinction-level events from the stars—and justified it by pointing out that it would save her a trip from the car to the kitchen with her groceries.
It was the most absurd, overkill logic she had ever encountered.
And yet, the twenty-seven-year-old cynic inside her completely understood it.
The ultimate luxury wasn't just wealth or physical beauty; it was the absolute certainty that nothing in the universe, be it a corporate rival, an assassin, or a giant monster, could ever force her to do something she didn't want to do.
She was the Aegis. And now, she was a telekinetic weapon of mass destruction.
Airis swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up.
She didn't walk to the bathroom. She simply willed herself forward, and her feet lifted a millimeter off the thick Persian rug, allowing her to glide silently, frictionlessly across the room.
She stopped in front of the full-length mirror. The girl looking back at her was the picture of innocent, aristocratic beauty. Golden hair, sapphire eyes, delicate features.
No one would ever guess. Not her parents, not Chloe, not the boys at Sakura Crest.
Beneath the designer clothes and the polite smiles was a being capable of bringing the world to its knees with a single thought.
"Alright then," Airis smiled, her eyes briefly flashing with a dangerous, emerald-green light.
"If anyone ruins my afternoon tea, I'm dropping a rock on them. Let the slow-paced life continue."