?Atst, above all else, the sophomore found himself warmed by the realization he wasn''t alone in his power and desire, finding in ally amidst the world of deception that bonded with him on a fundamental level.


    "Don''t worry, though," Yukio smiled, "I''m a follower; I n to support you, not hog any of the spotlight."


    "I see. Let''s take the Sentinels down, then," Noah said, epting Yukio''s hand.


    With their alliance forged, the two went their separate ways with Yukio leaving only his number for future contact, though Noah was certain he''d be seeing the entric man popping in-and-out of his life at a whim.


    That night, he felt something click within his brain after listening to Yukio''s speech of indulging in the joys of life with their unmatched power. Instead of simply tucking away in his home for the day, he looked up towards the sky.


    ''Who''s going to stop me if I have some fun?'' He thought with a smile.


    Warping upward, he transported from the street several miles into the sky, arriving above the clouds as he levitated, walking beside the clouds as he stepped on the air itself.


    A smile formed across his lips from the act that everyone shared as a child, though deemed as an impossibility.


    He guided his fingertips through the pale, fluffy clouds, finding the sensation to be ticklish as moisture met his digits.


    A hum filled his ears as he turned around, seeing an airne sharing the skies with him, though instead of avoiding it, he snapped his fingers with a yful expression.


    ["Absolute Freeze"]


    He levitated in front of the pilot windows, warping in as he stepped into the aircraft, getting a close look at the hundreds of intricate buttons before moving on to the passenger section of the ne.


    Frozen in time, the people, varying in skin, culture, and experiences were helpless to his whim as he walked between the aisles of seats, ruffling a child''s hair and taking his lollipop for himself.


    It wasplete control; he was able to do whatever he wanted, however he wanted, whenever he wanted.


    After taking a stroll through the airne, he decided to finally take his leave as he transported outside of it, warping back down to the city, instead going down to the downtown area of Sacramento.<novelnext></novelnext>


    It was lively, thriving with people that filled every block as billboards shined with digital ads and businesses were running around the clock, yet it was all frozen to a still for him.


    ''So quiet,'' he thought.


    Leisurely strolling down the sidewalk, he looked at the people frozen in time; white-cor workers in the middle of conversations on their phone, petrified in time between steps. Though he hardly had a necessity for cash when he could take what he wanted, he looked through the wallets of the more wealthy-looking folk, slipping cash out for himself.


    Due to the vigor he obtained from using ["Soul Plunder"] multiple times, his revitalized stamina allowed him to maintain his time-stop for a much longer period of time than usual.


    As he walked around the time-stopped downtown, he passed by restaurants he never got to try before, entering a bar-and-grill that was filled to the brim with customers.


    "Don''t mind if I do," he said.


    He picked food directly from peoples'' tes, trying out savory steaks, beer-battered burgers, and rich cheesecakes without anybody being able to reprimand him.


    "Yum," he remarked.


    After having his fill, he returned to the streets of downtown, using ["Levitation"] to peer through the windows of higher story buildings while lounging in the air. It was like snapshots of the time: in the hotel rooms, people partied, some slept, and others had more ''interesting'' activities going on.


    He stopped at the twentieth floor of one of the famous hotels of the city, levitating in front of the window as he caught sight of a man and a womanmitting the deet on the snow-white sheets of the hotel bed.


    "Have fun with that. Ciao," he said, pping his hands together.


    Utilizing ["Spatial Warp"], he set his destination to be the top of the tallest skyscraper in downtown, a banking tower as he reappeared from a wormhole at its summit, overlooking the bright lights of the lively city as he snapped his fingers, allowing time to resume once more.


    He sat atop its summit, letting his legs dangle above the brisk, night winds as the blue-skies had long since given way to the pitch-ck, star-filled sky.


    ''This is life; I haveplete control. Still, I''m not even close to done yet. Soon enough, I''ll have the entire world recognize me,'' he thought.