Chapter 3: Powers? (1)

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Enrique Nova's early life was not the brightest, so even though the apartment he found himself in looked and was cheap, he didn't complain. He's lived in far worse places before.

The apartment, however, wasn't just cheap, it was empty as well. Except for a bed, there was only a big mirror in the whole apartment. There was a bit of food as well, but without a fridge they were bound to go rotten in a few days.

Enrique decided to do something about it sooner than later. Living like this would be a bit hard after living lavishly for the past decades. It wouldn't do his mental health any good. Speaking of the mind's condition, they say a good body is the canvas of a good mind, and it seems Enrique had no reason to worry about his body at the very least.

He stood in front of the body-sized mirror and observed his reflection. He had his usual unusually handsome face, wavy hair that fell on his forehead, and cold silver eyes. There was no change in that. However, he was massive now. That was a change. He had always worked out, but obviously not enough for this type of body, if not he wouldn't have been caught by a teenager, even if it was a sneak attack. This body, from the looks of it, should be… exactly 6"3 feet.

"Hmm…?" Enrique blinked. How could he be so sure about his exact height? "Heightened Perception?"

Guess that was two powers discovered, with the first being lightning generation.

Enrique noted the powers in his mind and decided to check something else. Was this buff body just in his costume? For example, MoonKnight only had his powers while wearing his suit. So perhaps his body will return to that of an average muscular man once he calls back the suit?

He decided to test it out.

He took in a deep breath as his suit started to be retracted within the lightning symbol on the middle of his chest. As a single second passed, his entire suit was inside the symbol and at last, the symbol itself submerged into his chest as if being absorbed.

In a blink, his Super Suit was replaced with his previously torn suit again. However, he was still handsome, muscular, and buff. His body didn't shrink back. 

[Image Here]

Taking off his shredded and torn businessman suit, he watched his bulging muscles and nodded to himself. He not only looked in great shape, but he also looked younger. It's not that he looked old before, he was just a 31-years-old man, but now he looked to be in his earlier adulthood.

["Not bad?"] He heard a sound inside his head, making him flinch as he turned around immediately. ["Do not get flustered, my child. It is me, Mut. Now that you are my Avatar, I can relay my voice in your mind. Though it seems I still fail to read your thoughts, so you'd have to speak out loud if you want to communicate with me."]

"That's…" Enrique trailed off.

That was interesting. Though he hoped not, he saw a likelihood that she would be able to read his memories now that he was her Avatar. But no, she couldn't even read his thoughts. Enrique wasn't sure how good of a Telepath she was, probably not that good since just being a powerful God didn't mean you were a good Telepath (e.g; Thor), but this was still better than nothing. He was interested in what other powers his void enhancements had brought him.

"Anyway, so this body is permanent? Also, how strong am I? Peak Human?"

["It's not permanent, no. If you don't train for a prolonged time, you'll start to lose your gains. As for your second question- your body, buff it might be, isn't at peak human level. It, however, does reach Peak Human condition once you summon the Suit and enter your Avatar state. The equipment of the suit also comes with some supernatural powers, which I said is better for you to figure out yourself, though I will help whenever you are confused. But you have to ask since I can't read your confusion."] The Goddess' gentle voice finished. ["That is all, my child. I will be watching."]

Enrique scratched his chin for a moment before humming and channelling his will to summon the suit. This time, however, instead of the previous super suit, he tried to summon it in the form of a watch.

A silver watch, on his right wrist, did appear. It even showed the time, and the clock hands were tickling.

"Huh." Enrique blinked. "But it feels… somewhat weaker. Weaker than the full get up." He sighed. "Better than nothing, at least? There would be times when I can't just wear the suit, this would help then."

He then channelled his will again, this time the hand-watch expanded and spread to his whole body, transforming into a white business suit and pants, with a golden tie and golden leather belt.

This time, he felt the same amount of power as before.

"It seems to depend on how much of my body is covered." Enrique realised. "Oh well, this works too."

He needed something to wear, and this would do because he had no other clothes at the moment. His only other pair was on the floor, battered and bloody from the torture he went through. Speaking of the torture, it felt as if it never happened, as if it was a bad dream. He didn't hate that, he would rather not remember it. Though he wished to get back on that son of a bitch someday if destiny allowed. 

"Anyway," Enrique rolled his shoulders. "I suppose I should roam around for a bit while checking out what other powers I have exactly."

With that said, he stepped out of his apartment.

—★—

On his way out, he met a short old man, who was supposed to be the owner of this two-story building where Enrique was a tenant in, according to the Goddess.

"Quite a suit you have there." The old man chuckled. "It looks fresh. Reminds me of when I was your age when I…" He shook his head. "But let's not waste your time with that story. It does seem you are going to look for jobs starting today, like you said yesterday."

It appeared that the Goddess had created a fake scenario inside the old man's head, where Enrique used the excuse of coming to New York looking for a job.

"Yes, Mr. Jordan, I do need to earn money if I was to keep living in your place." Enrique replied as the Goddess whispered the old man's name in his mind. 

After receiving a genuine warning about the danger of New York city from the old man, Enrique took off. The old man was right about the warning though, New York was too dangerous. He was in the Brooklyn part of NY at the moment, so he should be relatively fine.

—-

It was morning, and the streets of Brooklyn were busy like always. People were all busy going to their workplaces or schools. Nobody paid attention to the man, wearing a suit a bit too white to be normal, but Enrique was used to all this. Having lived in the busy city of Paris himself, this wasn't anything new.

However, even in the earliest, Enrique could see crimes happening in this and that alley. New York already was a crime city, and with the addition of fictional villains, the crime rates here were even worse.

 Enrique didn't meddle with anything and just roamed around this part of the city for two hours. He also discovered something interesting about his power when he bumped into someone… but that needs a double confirmation, so it's for later. After he was somewhat used to the area and its layout, he decided to pick a fight to see how his powers fared in a real battle.

He walked to an alleyway where two hobo-looking men had plunged on top of an old woman, their knives raised in the air and about to strike the poor granny.

Enrique's business suit changed to his Super Suit, and he put his hoodie over his head as the dark alley was softly lit up because of the Lightning mark on his chest.

"Huh?" One of the hoboes grunted, turning to the source of the light. "What's up with this clown? Get your ass outta here before I fuck you up, bitch."

The other Hobo, who Enrique dubbed as Hobo-2, ignored him and rather went to strike the woman. Enrique ignored Hobo-1 and rushed forward, kicking the knife away from 2's hands.

"Kyaaa!!" The old woman yelled and shrunk back to a corner.

"Haah, this fuckface." Hobo-2 who just lost his knife grunted, standing up as he took out another knife from his pockets. "That's it, you are dead."

At the same time, Hobo-1 flanked Enrique from behind.

Enrique was confident in finishing them both. He knew a bit of boxing, nothing that great, but he had beat up people with it before. Now, with peak human strength, he was sure to inflict more damage. 

 So, when Hobo-2 jumped at him from the front, he ducked down to avoid a sneak attack from Hobo-1 behind him and struck his fist onto 2's solar plexus.

"Kugh!"

With a grunt, 2 was flown back, hitting a wall.

"You bastard!" Hobo-1 yelled, rushing and swinging his knife at him again, and although Enrique tried to dodge, Hobo-1 managed to slice at his stomach.

However,

-Clink!

The knife simply shattered once it came into contact with the suit.

"Aha," Enrique smirked. "Heightened Durability, confirmed."

He then grabbed Hobo-1 by the hair and slammed his face down on his knee, hearing a *crack* before the hobo fell down on the ground motionless.

"You did it now, I am angry!" The other hobo, Hobo-2, who Enrique had knocked down earlier, wasn't unconscious as he yelled from Enrique's back. 

By the time Enrique had turned around it was too late as the Hobo fired his gun.

-Bang!

The bullet hit Enrique's chest and… fell down to the ground, flattened.

Enrique analysed the situation in his mind. 'Heightened Durability is actually Super Durability? Unsure about agility, I couldn't see the bullet coming.' 

Meanwhile, Hobo-2's hands were shaking. "F-freak!" With a yell he fired again, and this time his target was Enrique's open face.

Enquire didn't try to dodge. More like he couldn't, but that's beside the point.

The bullet couldn't touch Enrique's face, it hit an invisible barrier that started from the opening of his hoodie. As the flattened bullet fell down on the ground, a faceless plain smooth mask of twisting gold and white colour surfaced in front of his face. The mask had no holes or anything for eyes and nose, but Enrique could see and breathe fine, though the Hobo couldn't see his face at all.

"Invisible Psychic Mask, double confirmed." He had bumped into a man a few hours ago, that's when he realised his head was protected by an invisible helmet of a sort, something that was active (in an invisible state) as long as he wore a full-body suit, and he could also materialise it physically if wished. "Now, a test for active powers."

As the hobo emptied his barrel on Enrique's body, yelling out curses as none of the bullets did any damage, Enrique raised his finger towards him and channelled his will to throw a bolt of lightning.

"-Ah!"

The Hobo's body jolted as a thin wave of distorted lightning hit him in the chest, screaming for a few seconds before he lost consciousness. Enrique stopped his attack since there was no point in killing the guy. Rather, he looked at the old woman, and revealed his face again, smiling gently as he crouched down beside her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, picking up her purse from the ground and handing it to her. "The Hobos are both knocked out, there's nothing else to worry about."

"A-ah… I-I… What are you, boy?" The woman didn't accept her purse, and rather grabbed the cross that hung from her necklace. "Lord, save me…"

Looking at the cross, Enrique's smile grew even gentler. "Boy? I am not a boy, my child. I am a prophet, a Pharaoh. The God you are praying to didn't help you. You were helped by me, who was sent by my mother, Goddess Mut. Indeed, you should pray to her instead, as only she can bring you salvation."

Enrique watched, his smile as gentle as the dead sea, as the woman's eyes locked on him, a look of awe on her face. "M-Mut? Who's that?"

Of course, she didn't know. She was an American, of all things.

"Goddess Mut, my divine mother." Enrique replied, calm and patient. "She is the Goddess of the sky we are under, she gives us rain, air, and even the light we see! She is what keeps us alive!" Enrique spread his arms as the clouds in the sky crackled, dark clouds forming a face that smiled gently, and white clouds acting like hair.

That was neat. But Enrique wasn't the one who did that.

["Not bad. I will take care of the cinematics."] He heard a whisper in his ears as the smiling face in the clouds looked down at them.

"O-oh my!" The old woman gasped at the sight before going to her knees. "I-it's the messiah! It's the return of Jesus!"

"Hey, hey! That's not right." Enrique quickly helped her get up. "It's… Pharaoh. The prophet of Mut. Not Jesus, nor Messiah. Got it?"

"A-ah… yes, yes!" The old woman bowed at him. "My Lord, forgive me for all my sin! Forgive me for praying to false gods all this time! Please, forgive this old lady and…" the old woman continued apologising, her tears painting the floor, as Enrique hid a smirk.

It fucking worked. He snagged the first believer.

He heard a soft giggle in his mind. ["A believer in the first day you started operating? The Pantheon's future is indeed looking bright with you here, my child."] Mut said. ["I can feel her faith, she's onto us now. Now, tell her the things I am telling you, word by word."]

Then the Goddess told him ways to worship her, ways to pray to her, as Enrique relayed it to the old woman.

-As a new believer, the old woman was to go butcher a camel, or a cow, or 2 goats, or 2 lambs, in the next 10 days.

-Additionally, she is to butcher such animals 5 times every year.

-She is to buy a statue of Mut, size doesn't matter but bigger is better, and worship it every morning and every night before sleep in a certain manner.

If she does that, she will go to Mut's heaven, Aaru, once she dies, and her life in this mortal realm is supposed to become better.

Supposed to.

"Hey," Enrique whispered quietly enough that the old woman couldn't hear. "I don't have to do that all, right?"

He heard a giggle in response. ["Why? Do you not want to worship me?"] After a short silence, as Enrique shrugged she said again. ["Heh. Worry not, you don't have to do all that. You are already serving me by being my Avatar."]

Meanwhile, the old woman looked up at him, her face complicated at first, and Enrique understood his demands might be a bit hard to comply with for a poor old woman. But nevertheless, she bowed again.

"T-thank you, Pharaoh!" She said, "I have thought of something already. I will go immediately and sacrifice two lambs! May the Goddess forgive me!" The old woman got up and ran after Enrique handed over her purse with a gentle smile.

"Well, that wasn't that hard." Enrique sighed after she left. In this world, very few people believed in the existence of Gods because of the supernatural around the world that were already explained by science, so finding an old woman like her was lucky.  

Now, with his first job concluded, Enrique decided to get some food. Apparently, dying starves you a lot.

Thankfully, the two Hobos had some bucks in their stolen moneybags.

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Master4thWall: That’s it for now. If you liked these three chapters, please leave some beautiful reviews, it helps alot!!

Also, the update here will be slow, I am thinking of two or three chapters a week. If you are feeling extra excited and want to read ahead though, you can read upto chapter 18 in my Patreon.

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