Strongest Superhuman System

Mark hummed and nodded in understanding after some time.

"Well, I guess it's not the worst way to spend your free time. Sometimes, people just like being alone."

Mark did not expect the look on Luna's face to suddenly change from her blushing embarrassment to a contemplative look that made her appear very downcast. Her eyes clouded over, and a mask of sadness appeared on her face as she was transported to another place inside her head. Mark leaned forward and called her name, but she did not answer him the first few times.

"Luna!"

"Huh?"

Mark finally shouted her name loudly, and Luna seemed to snap out of whatever trance she had gone into as she looked up at Mark in shock. She saw the worried expression on his face, and she smiled.

"Oh, sorry, I… I must've zoned out for a moment there. I just remembered something from before, and I couldn't get it out of my head. About what you said: I don't think anyone wants to be alone. I just think they haven't found someone they are willing to let into their space yet. There are scary things that can only get to you when you are alone.

No matter how much of a neet I might be sometimes, I always think that it's better to be with others."

Mark could see the sincerity in Luna's tone as she spoke about what she was thinking, and Mark knew at that moment that this was the way Luna lived her life. Is that why she was so desperate to have so many people in her guild? Is she afraid to be alone? Mark had no idea who Luna had been before she became Luna.

The system gave Luna the name Rose Snow, so Mark knew that she was someone else before becoming a superhuman and taking on the name Luna, but he did not know anything more than that. There was one more thing that Mark figured out from seeing her status in the system earlier.

"Is that why you are trying your best to hold back your power?"

Luna's eyes widened in shock as she heard Mark say this. She was in the middle of putting her hair behind her ear when Mark spoke, and she immediately paused and dropped her hair back to leave it hanging as she turned to Mark with wide eyes.

"What?"

"Your power. I felt it the other day when you were trying to get me to join your guild. I don't know if it's just instinct or a result of me feeling your power head-on for the first time, but I could tell that you were holding back. And you weren't just holding back your power output; you were holding back your potential.

You are consciously making it so that you grow at a slower pace than others around you. Is that some sort of pity play on your part? You feel sorry for the other superhumans, so you don't want to grow too fast so that they don't feel bad too. That's pretty stupid, and honestly, it's eventually going to cost you-"

Freeze!

The spot where Luna kept her hand on the table quickly froze over, and Mark raised a brow as it slowly came towards his hand. He tapped his finger on the table once the ice was about to reach him, and some lightning raced across the table and evaporated the ice into steam in seconds.

Luna was shocked to see the lightning, and if she was in a better state of mind, she would have asked Mark how he was able to use lightning-based attacks at all. But she was not in the right state of mind right now, so she was only focused on trying to get Mark to back off from her personal life.

"Do not talk like you know anything about me. I have great respect for you, Mark Vanitas, but if you ever try to analyze me like that again, it will be the last time you make the mistake. My power is mine to do with as I wish, and no one has a right to tell me how strong I should or should not be. Do you understand?"

Mark couldn't help but smile a little as he saw the fire burning in Luna's eyes. He felt she looked very beautiful. Mark leaned back and sighed to the side as he realized that he might have taken things too far. How she uses her power is her business and no one else's, but Mark just felt like she was wasting her talents by not utilizing her full potential.

At this rate, won't she just be doing herself a disservice?

Mark looked back into Luna's eyes and spoke up.

"I don't know why you feel like you have to hold back, but I just think you're going to regret it. There might be a situation where you have to protect others, and you won't be able to because you lack the power you need. Or you might be under attack, and you lose your life because you are holding back. No matter how much power you have, it never hurts to have a little bit more."

"You would know all about that, wouldn't you? I can tell you enjoy fighting. You don't care how strong or how weak the opponent is; you just want to fight like a fucking gladiator with no reasoning. Don't you think that will eventually put you in trouble?"

This was the first time that Mark was ever going to hear Luna cursing, and it lit a fire in his heart that he had never felt for her before. He grinned at her in pride.

"Trouble? I don't care what sort of trouble comes. I'm only going to keep getting stronger. No matter how strong the opponent is or how impossible it might seem for me to win. I'll keep moving forward until I win. As far as I am concerned, there is no alternative.

Either I get stronger, or I force myself to become stronger. I love the thrill of battle. The feeling of blood pumping through your veins as you exchange blows with an opponent and the ecstasy of figuring out an opponent's weakness in the midst of battle. There is really nothing more exhilarating."

A small smile tugged at the edge of Luna's face for a moment as she heard Mark's response, and she finally relaxed back in her seat with a sigh as she was unable to form an argument against what Mark just said. What can you possibly say to someone who is as deeply rooted in their beliefs as Mark?

"You're nothing but a brute through and through. There is nothing that can be done about that. Maybe you are a stronger person than I am in that regard. But I cannot let go of what I believe in either. Tell me, why did you join the Artemis guild?"

Mark raised a brow.

"That is only temporary."

"Temporary, yes, I know. But it is dangerous."