Eventually, his powers started passing completely through her, passing through the gaps between atoms, which is what he wanted. He basically had just tricked his mind into thinking that, like his own skin or his own clothes, her body was part of him, and thus not to be damaged by his powers.

And that she was safe, he smirked a little.

"Just watch this, beautiful."

The forest had reset, only with the two of them in the middle of it this time. He surrounded them in a sphere of energy, and he concentrated, pouring more and more of his power into it. It was just a ball of concentrated force, and it was agitating the air around it so violently that the wind it kicked up was already starting to flatten the trees nearest to them.

He continued to pour more and more energy into the sphere, as much as it could hold. And when he couldn't contain it anymore, he let it all go.

He went off like a nuke, an explosion that was as deafening as it was blinding, unleashing a burst of pure force in every direction, with them at the very center of it all. And when it was over, they were still standing...

...well, more like floating, as the ground beneath them was flattened to a blast crater. And the forest?

What forest? There wasn't anything left for over a quarter-mile in every direction.