Chapter 79: So stay in your place and watch.

The sound of the push-ups continued rhythmic, dry, constant against the stone floor, as if it were already a natural part of the environment. There was no more hesitation in the movements, nor exaggerated trembling in the muscles. The effort was still there, but it no longer seemed to be crushing Victor as it had in the first few days.

Scarlet stood a few steps ahead, arms crossed, her expression closed in a way that was no longer just analysis.

It was genuine concern.

"Stop increasing that," she said, directly, without beating around the bush. "You’ve been way past the limit for a long time."

Victor lowered himself once more, controlled, and rose slowly, keeping his body aligned even upside down, supported by a single hand.

"Whose limit?" he replied, without stopping the movement.

Scarlet narrowed her eyes.

"Normal limit," she retorted. "You’re at sixty times gravity. Sixty times."

He let out a small sound through his nose, almost a laugh.

"So what? I’ve already adapted," he continued. "For me, this is already... neutral."

Scarlet uncrossed her arms, clearly irritated now.

"There’s no such thing as ’neutral’ here," she said, taking a step forward. "Your body might be responding now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t collapse later."

Victor turned his face slightly toward her, still in the inverted position.

"I don’t feel anything," he replied simply.

And it didn’t sound like bravado.

That was what bothered him.

Scarlet opened her mouth to reply, but hesitated for a second, as if trying to reorganize her argument.

"You may not feel it now," she insisted, "but that doesn’t mean there isn’t damage accumulating. Organs don’t keep up with muscles at the same pace. You could—"

"Okay, shut up." The interruption came sharply.

Carmilla, seated further to the side, didn’t even shift much beyond tilting her head slightly while yawning, clearly uninterested in the speech.

Scarlet froze.

She turned slowly.

"...Excuse me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Carmilla rested her chin on her hand. "You’re talking like he’s going to break any second since day one," she said unhurriedly. "Enough already."

Scarlet took a step toward her.

"I’m being rational," she retorted, now visibly irritated. "Someone here needs to be."

"Rational?" Carmilla repeated, letting out a small chuckle. "You’ve been freaking out for about five minutes."

"I’m not freaking out—"

"Yes, you are."

Scarlet stopped in front of her now, clearly ready to continue.

"You want him to just—"

"Continue," Carmilla cut in, lazily raising a finger. "Because he clearly can."

Scarlet opened her mouth again, this time completely out of patience.

"You can’t just ignore the risk—"

"And you can’t pretend he’s normal."

Silence.

Short.

But heavy.

Scarlet froze for a second.

Carmilla tilted her head slightly.

"Look at him," she added.

Scarlet turned her face away.

Victor was still there.

Same position.

Same rhythm.

As if that argument was just background noise.

He went down.

He went up.

Controlled breathing.

No signs of collapse.

No signs of extreme effort.

Just... consistency.

Scarlet closed her mouth slowly.

Still irritated.

But now without an immediate response.

"...This isn’t normal," she murmured, more quietly.

"Exactly," Carmilla replied.

Before things escalated again—

"So this is where those little things are."

The voice cut through the room cleanly.

They both turned at the same time.

Chysis stood there, a few steps behind, looking directly at Victor with an expression that mixed curiosity and something more... attentive.

Her gaze slowly descended to his wrists and ankles, where the pieces were attached.

"How much gravity?" she asked directly.

Victor didn’t stop.

"...Sixty times," he replied, still in the same cadence.

Chysis’s eyes widened.

Not excessively.

But enough to show that this wasn’t something common, even for her.

"Are your organs okay?" she asked immediately afterward, already taking a step forward. "Muscle can handle it. External structure compensates. But inside..."

She frowned slightly.

"You might be destroying yourself without realizing it."

Victor went down again.

He went up.

Without haste.

Without fail.

"I don’t feel anything," he replied.

Chysis was silent for a second, observing more attentively now.

It wasn’t just looking.

It was analysis.

She circled around him a little, slowly, assessing his posture, breathing, reaction time.

"Heart rate?" she asked.

"Normal."

"Internal pain?"

"No."

"Blood pressure?"

Victor shrugged—which, in that position, was an awkward movement.

"It’s the same as always."

Chysis stopped in front of him.

She lowered her body slightly, positioning herself at his inverted line of sight.

"You know that ’not feeling’ isn’t exactly a good indicator, right?" she commented.

Victor gave a small, wry smile.

"So far, so good."

Carmilla chuckled softly in the background.

Scarlet didn’t find it funny.

Chysis ignored the two for a moment, still focused on him.

"...Did you increase it yourself?" she asked.

"Yes."

"What was it before?"

"Thirty."

She blinked.

"Did you double it?"

"Yes."

Another silence.

Chysis put her hand to her chin for a moment.

"How long?"

"Twice every five days. We’re at two months. 60x."

Scarlet let out an irritated sigh behind her.

"That’s what I’m saying," she said. "This isn’t safe."

Chysis didn’t answer immediately.

She was still looking at Victor.

Thinking.

Assessing.

Then she held out her hand.

"Stop." Victor didn’t argue.

He went down one last time.

He went up.

And stopped.

He carefully released his grip, rotating his body in the air before landing on his feet, absorbing the impact effortlessly.

Sixty times the force of gravity.

And he landed... normally.

This made Scarlet frown even more.

Chysis, on the other hand, remained completely silent for two seconds.

"...Okay," she finally said.

She crossed her arms.

"This is a problem."

Victor raised an eyebrow.

"Good problem or bad problem?"

"Both."

Carmilla let out a small, amused "hmm."

Scarlet ran a hand over her face, clearly frustrated.

"Finally someone sensible," she murmured.

Chysis ignored the comment.

"If this is just muscle adaptation, you should already be failing internally," she continued, looking back at him. "But you’re not."

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Then there’s something else supporting it."

Victor shrugged.

"I just got used to it."

"No," Chysis replied directly. "You’ve gone past the point of ’getting used to it’."

A short silence.

She tilted her head slightly.

"...Do you realize that this here," she said, pointing to the weights, "was supposed to get you to thirty-six in six months? I remember doing this with your mother a few thousand years ago, she almost died at 36x."

Victor replied without much thought.

"Now I’m at sixty in a month."

Scarlet let out a low "exactly."

Carmilla just smiled.

Chysis took a deep breath.

"...Okay," Chysis said in a controlled tone, without raising her voice, but firm enough to break the rhythm of the room. "So we’re going to do the following." Victor looked up at her, still upside down, supporting his own weight with a stability that no longer seemed forced, just constant. His breathing was heavy, but organized, like someone who had already passed the collapse phase and was now operating at a strange level of adaptation.

"You’re not going to make it any higher."

He had already begun to respond, his body slightly adjusting its position as if to stand up—

"It’s not a request," she interrupted, without changing her tone. "It’s a decision."

The silence that followed wasn’t dramatic, but heavy. Victor held her gaze for a moment longer than necessary, as if evaluating not only what had been said, but the weight behind it. Then he exhaled slowly through his nose and stood up abruptly, clapping his hands together to brush off the dust, a movement too natural for someone under sixty times the normal gravity.

"...You don’t control this," he said directly, without beating around the bush. He shrugged slightly, as if testing his own body, and continued: "Sixty is light. Stop trying to impose limits based on what you think is the maximum." The way he spoke wasn’t aggressive, but it also didn’t try to soften the blow. It was just honest, dry.

His eyes were red again, not from physical exertion, but from something more internal, more constant. "I’m not your disciple," he finished, staring at her without looking away. "So stay in your place and observe. You don’t need to meddle in everything."

Scarlet remained completely silent beside them, their gazes shifting between each other, clearly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking. Carmilla, on the other hand, only tilted her head slightly, a genuine interest emerging in her expression, like someone watching something that was becoming more interesting than expected.

Chysis didn’t respond immediately. She just looked at him, unhurriedly, analyzing. There was no evident irritation, but there was no levity either. When she spoke, she maintained the same controlled tone as before.

"...Are you sure you want to talk to me like that?"

Victor didn’t hesitate to answer. He took a step forward, not threateningly, but without any retreat, maintaining the same posture.

"I do," he said. The answer came simply, without hesitation. He held her gaze and continued, "And are you sure you want to keep imposing things on me?" He made a slight gesture with his head toward the bracelets and anklets. "I’ve already said what I want. If this is the way, then fine."

There was a short pause before he finished, but it wasn’t hesitation. It was more like organizing his own conviction.

"I’ll be the strongest," he said, without raising his voice. "If that’s necessary, then don’t interfere."

The silence that followed was heavier than the previous one, but it didn’t escalate. Scarlet uncrossed and crossed her arms again, clearly uncomfortable, while Carmilla let out a small, sideways smile, without interfering.

Chysis exhaled slowly before answering, still keeping her gaze fixed on him. "...You’re not wrong in wanting to push the limits," she said. "But you’re wrong in thinking you already understand where it is."

Victor shrugged simply. "Then I’ll figure it out."

"And what if it breaks in half?" she retorted, without changing her expression.

"I’ll adjust."

Chysis narrowed her eyes slightly. "That’s not how it works."

Victor replied immediately, without pausing. "It’s working for me."

Another silence. Shorter, but still present. It wasn’t a lack of response, it was just two ways of thinking clashing without yielding.

Chysis glanced quickly at the weights on his arms and legs, as if recalculating something, then returned to his face. "...Okay," she finally said. "Then do it your way."

Scarlet turned her face away immediately, surprised. "You’re going to let me?" she asked, not hiding her reaction.

Chysis answered without looking at her. "I will."

She looked at Victor again, this time with a more direct focus. "But if it goes wrong, I won’t hold any consequences for you."

Victor gave a short, half-smile. "I don’t need to."

Carmilla let out a low laugh, crossing her legs more comfortably. "Now that’s interesting," she commented, barely concealing her amusement.

Scarlet didn’t say anything more, but her look said it all: it still seemed like a terrible idea.