Disclaimer: I own nothing. This history has no interest in offending any party. Having the sole objective of only entertaining the readers. Enjoy~
...
"Against all the evil that Hell can conjure, all the wickedness that mankind can produce, we will send unto them... only you. Rip and tear, until it is done."
- King Novik
...
Recap: In the last chapter, Eidolon's group find Illyana and surprisingly a Ororo from another dimension. Now the plan changed and they will attack Belasco to recover the piece of Illyana's soul and save the X-men from the other universe.
...
While chaos is happening outside, inside the castle Illyana's group advances.
"This way..." Illyana points out in a direction. She and Ororo are the guide in the maze-like interior of the castle.
Sometimes they use Kitty, Mikhail, and Kurt's powers to take shortcuts, this way they avoid conflicts most of the time. The unlucky demons that crossed paths with them however, are easily deal with it.
"So it is really in his study room..." Ororo comments
At this time, everything shooks, making them stop for a moment.
"Things are heating up out there..." Kitty comments
"Let's hurry." Ororo advises.
They continue to move steadily and carefully, if their task is completed everything is over.
The group eventually finds themselves in a huge hall, where they meet with a battalion of demons. Before anyone in the group could act, Ororo raises her hand and summon a strong but controlled Hurricane, in this closed space.
Her hand shines azure while she makes the demon soldiers hit each other constantly till all of them are out of combat. Then she let them fall on the ground.
"*Huff* I always wanted to do that with these bastards..." Ororo sighs satisfied
"Damn, that's some fine control." Kitty exclaims "Can our Ororo do magic too?"
"Almost everyone can do magic. Some are better than others. I have a connection with Gaea, the Mother Earth, I'm luckier than most... You can ask your Ororo when you go back." She explains calmly
"What?? I never heard of that! Is Ms. Ororo that special? She never talked about it..." Kitty exclaims "Wait... She is always taking care of her garden... Maybe..." She puts a pensive expression.
Thinking if Ororo knew about this connection, and if knew if she choose to ignore. Anyway, she is gonna tell her when she go back. She could be missing a great opportunity.
They continued in their way, taking the demons as discreetly as possible.
"!" Suddenly Shadow acts fast and pulls Illyana back.
The ground where she was before explode and a huge figure emerges from it.
"I smelled you from far away, little girl... Is this commotion your last attempt? I'm almost impressed." A pink and muscular demon with a cocky smirk says while looking down at them "Oh, aren't you guys pets the last time I saw you?" He asks with a condescending smirk while looking at Kurt and Kitty.
"S'ym..." Illyana says between gritted teeth.
This makes Mikhail's face change... "So you are the one..." He says looking at the demon furiously while pulling his short adamantium sword from the scabbard.
Shadow raises her hands in a stance. This is exactly what Eidolon predicted.
His orders are to divide if met with a powerful enemy, but Illyana needs to keep going for the Bloodstone.
Without a word the rest get close to Kurt and with a *Bamf* they disappear.
S'ym looks around surprised "Oh yeah, he could do that trick... Well, I will follow them after killing you two" He said scratching his chin
"You're dying here, bastard." Mikhail points his sword at him.
"...Beneath." It is all that Shadow says before she punches the ground, making the three of them fall to change the battlefield.
The place where Illyana and the others are going is in the upper parts of the Castle, keeping S'ym far away from them was the smart move.
S'ym contemptuously doesn't care and lets himself fall with them.
.....
N'astirh is in a pinch.
Being pressed down in close quarters and from distance, he can hardly breathe and much less fight back.
Of all the people that are attacked on Belasco's side, he is the one in the worst situation.
He is moved from far away, and ambushed with his pants down practically.
He raises a shield to defend himself from Rogue, just to have his defense smashed like a common brick wall by her mace.
Rogue swings Eidolon's Nth Metal mace once more, don't giving him a chance to rest.
Dodging is the only way against this girl, he noticed.
Trying to keep his distance from Rogue, and the damned mace, he opens his wings and propels himself high in the air. With another clap of his wings, magic missiles are ejected at Rogue to keep her away, but she expertly dodges them.
As she fights she becomes better and better, even using aerial movements more fluidly.
He tries to fly higher, but he hits a barrier. Margali trapped the four of them in this place. He makes another barrier to defend himself from more magic attacks coming from Jimaine.
To where he dodged, he met Rogue mace with his face, with enough strength to throw him on the ground.
Still floating she extends one hand and a big explosion is emitted from it, hitting N'astirh.
The demon sorcerer groans in pain, but suddenly he forces his body to move. Blue chains emerged from the ground, trying to trap him.
He moves away from them with great difficulty, throwing some items and concoctions at the chains that try to encircle him like snakes. Halting them.
He tries another something, that makes him blink of existence before reappearing in the same place when a lightning bolt hits him.
"Damn that woman..." he mutters looking at Margali who just raised her Wand of Power to stop him from teleporting away.
She already is prepared for the too-common power of teleportation between sorcerers.
He tries to stabilize himself after the attack, but Rogue intercepts him again, she is simply too fast.
And she is not giving him any chance to approach the tower.
Whatever items, potions, scrolls, weapons, or anything else he held there... It is now useless.
He was really caught with his pants down...
Now bleeding all over his body, his senses are slowly failing him.
He is trying to keep his concentration at the highest levels against Rogue, but he also has to keep an eye on the other two.
Be aware of Jimaine that is constantly throwing magic beams at him. And at Margali that stays still all the time, observing and only attacking when the opportunity presents itself.
But a sheathed blade is equally dangerous. The constant mental pressure strains his nerves while he is afraid of her next move.
Finally, he makes a mistake... A blue chain latches on his feet and pulls him to the ground. dragging him for some meters
Rogue then ruthlessly steps on his back and grabs his wings... before ripping them off in a show of brutality that is strange to herself.
Without thinking too much she takes the mace from her belt and raises high on the air.
Surprising even herself on how calm her heart is when she smash the demon head on the ground.
*Boom*
After the dust settle, the mother-daughter duo approaches.
"Well, that's surprisingly easy..." Margali comments
And it really is. N'astirh, the strongest native sorcerer of the Limbo dies just like that. Bullied like a little children.
Overwhelmed in numbers, power and strategy.
Someone strong as him shouldn't have gone down like that, if was a fair fight he would at least escape. Alas, he met prepared enemies.
Margali looks at the mace in Rogue's hand 'A anti-magic weapon... What scary fella...' She thinks.
*Booom*
Suddenly Rogue attack N'astirh again with even more strenght. The legs of the corpse even raise a little before lying motionless again.
"?" The mother and daughter duo looks at her strangely
"Always double tap..." She answer the non asked question in a non-nosense voice similar of what they heard from Eidolon.
Margali watches her, she is almost a completely different person. Gone is the girl that is happy to be on the background till is absolutely necessary.
Rogue puts the mace away, one of the reason things went so smoothly, on her belt, and says "I'm going help the others." Her tone is different from the shy way she talked before. More confident, even her posture changed.
"Go ahead. I'm gonna check his tower first." Margali says. In truth, beyond looting whatever N'astirh has she wants to keep a healthy distance from Eidolon. She wants to observe him from afar a little.
Like Eidolon, Rogue didn't even look at her. She nods and then with a flex of her body, takes off flying at supersonic speeds to the city.
....
Sparks fly with every clash between Saeko and Necrosis.
She must go beyond to keep up with the great number of weapons her Enemy wields. She defends up, right, left and then counter-attacks with a stab.
Necrosis tries to cut her legs, but she jumps while delivering another strike.
Necrosis parries with his Shield before lifting himself a little in his hind legs and advancing with great momentum against Saeko.
She parries with her sword but is pushed back. She concludes that Necrosis is stronger than her physically.
She looks up and is surprised to see that he is already on her, his axe cleaves her face, passing right through her widened eyes...
...Before she collapses in mist.
Appearing above and behind him, she spins and goes for his neck, but he moves a little and she can only cut his shoulder.
One of his arms now hanging by a thread of skin and meat.
'His lower horse body gave him an explosive acceleration, but he had a hard time turning around. If not he would defend or counterattacked such open attack.' She analyzes.
"You're not weak... I respect you a little now." Necrosis comments a little haughtily but with a tinge of respect in his tone.
His words make Saeko's eyes widen, but not for the reason that one would think.
She sighs and straightens up before sheathing her sword.
"?" Necrosis looks confused
"I'm sorry... I was having fun at your expense." She says bowing a little "He choose such a nice opponent and I was just treating you like a dummy..." She sighs again
"But you're a warrior..." She adjusts her other sword on her waist. The adamantium katana "I will not toy with you and kill you in the next move." She says more seriously now.
"Hah! Bold words!" Necrosis exclaims before raising himself in his hind legs again and preparing for an explosive charge.
*Haaaa*
Saeko exhales deeply while closing her eyes, when she opened her eyes again she can see more, much more.
The Transparent World... She can see her enemy's muscles, blood flow, and air currents around him... Everything is in slow motion to her.
The dust rises with each time his hooves touch the ground.
In this slowed world, Saeko lows herself in an Iai stance. Her right hand hovering over her sword.
It is not possible to see because of the clothes and the mask, but from Saeko's collarbone to her left cheek a purple mark appears, expanding till it's just below her left eye. The mark looks like mist but is sharp in some way.
Haki and Nen are concentrated on her blade.
"Kasumi no kokyū... Shi no kata: Iryūgiri (Mist Breathing... Fourth Form: Shifting Flow Slash." She then disappears from her spot leaving only an afterimage behind
The world falls silent for an instant. She appears behind Necrosis, her sword unsheathed.
He continues to charge for some time before nnoticingsomething is wrong.
"You..." When he goes to turn, his body is divided in two perfectly from the top of his head till his crotch.
He falls without another word in two puddles of gore
'I barely felt resistance...' Saeko admires the blade in her hand "He really spoils me..." She says
"Indeed..." Cortana's voice speaks to her while she turns around "From all of his people, I think you're the one he spoils more. Don't tell Lady Jade though." She adds
"Fufu." Saeko giglês before turning to the vision of her defeated foe.
A shudder flows through her spine and she moans.
Even if didn't have the full satisfaction of feeling her sword cutting through her opponent, because of how good the blade is. She can still admire her own deed.
Her own strength.
Saeko is strong. Much more than one would expect from her. She could probably solo the Avengers right now, with the exception of Thor and Hulk.
She is really an anime character that can move at sonic speed and has a blade that can cut everything. Would be one hit-kill in everyone if they don't prepare.
'That's bad... I almost cummed a little.' She thinks while rubbing her thighs together 'I can't allow myself to do this here... Only at home. Thinking about him...'
She centers herself and gave a last look at her opponent before she goes have fun with the small fries. Now using the normal sword.
...
S'ym, Shadow, and Mikhail ended up falling for a long time till they reach an open space that looks like an old subterranean cave.
It looks like an abandoned mine, probably from the Promethium. The place is dimly lit by brilliant rocks.
After the fall, Shadow took a bunch of devices and threw them around in all possibledirectionsn. The devices activate in the air and start spinning and spraying black paint everywhere.
The paint cover even more of the light, letting the place darker.
Shadow activate the night vision of her futuristic glasses, while Mikhail put his own.
"Trying to beautify your tomb?" S'ym mocks
Shadow didn't answer and goes for a direct attack. She is always one of few words.
S'ym laughs and punches the incoming Shadow with blinding speed. But she expertly duck and kicks his ribs.
He would have dodged, but he is too conceited and didn't think that this little girl could hurt him. He wants to see her face of despair when her attacks are ineffective.
Slowly destroying his enemy's hopes is a hobby of him
But...
"Gah-" He is thrown at the wall with his side hurting a lot. "What?!" He removes himself from the wall in a hurry. After checking his ribs he noticed a ugly scorching mark and worse, his regeneration is not kicking in.
Devil Arm: Beowulf. A set of gauntlets and greaves blessed with sacred light. Highly effective against demons.
In the past, Hector noticed something about the Gacha, it always gives things at his power level, varying depending of his luck. But... There's a loophole.
Maybe can't even be called a loophole, but he gained certain things that are obviously above what he would "deserve" based on his power level.
It's about the items... The fact that they're external help and don't increase Hector one power, opens the possibility of very strong items being gained through the Gacha.
Because is not simple to use strong items.
Not all weapons in the Omniverse is like the Mjolnir that boosts the user's power. It's the opposite, the user needs to be strong to unleash the full potential of the item.
Beowulf comes from a very high-level universe and is something that can damage universal-level demons.
When Shadow used it, left a scorch mark in S'ym.
To make a comparison, if was Hector kicking the guy with the comparative percentage of his power while wearing Beowulf, S'ym would be dust now.
Shadow pulled her arm back, concentrating her aura on it and then punching the demon from distance. The white veins on Beowulf shine brightly before a white beam of light is shot at S'ym.
Now, wary of her attacks, S'ym dodges hastily to the side. He steps forward at an amazing speed and sweeps with his clawed hand at Shadow, trying to cleave her torso in two.
But she saw that a second ago. Thanks to her upbringing, her Observation Haki is extremely advanced. She twists her body backward to dodge, her hands touch the ground and she goes for a backflip.
But while she was doing that, her right leg struck and she releases a huge Rankyaku at S'ym from close range.
This 3-meter-long Rankyaku, different from normal, is completely white.
The thing about the Beowulf, is that it can add Holy properties to all attacks from the user. Since the attack was powered by Nen or Haki, to the shockwaves or even the wind moved by the pressure of the blows.
All of this will be have a Holy light. All of this will be effective against demons.
S'ym puts his arm to protect himself, but the Holy Rankyaku makes a huge scar on his torso, arms and legs.
"You little..." He gnashes his teeth. "I'm not letting you have an easy death!!" he exclaims and tries to tackle her, using his huge physique as an advantage.
Halfway through he needs to stop and hastily dodges a swing of Mikhail's sword. Now he is more cautious of their attacks, and rightly so.
S'ym backs off, but Mikhail presses forward elbowing the demon. S'ym once again is surprised by the physical strength of this human.
Mikhail who is using the E.D.I. suit, doesn't try to take distance and goes for a punch in the chin. His first glowing with his powers, but this time S'ym dodges.
"You're the one that will be having an ugly death, demon. I need to repay you for six years of my sister suffering." Mikhail says snarling.
They exchange attacks at high speed, but Mikhail is slower. At some point, he is disarmed of his sword, but he didn't let that hinder him too much and switches up fast to a fistfight.
After some blows, their two first clash at the same time and they go to a stalemate. A stalemate that doesn't last long when Shadow intervenes with a roundhouse kick. S'ym needs to back off. Shadow follows with a Soru and connects a punch in his calf.
The demon groans in pain. And he fell on his knees when Shadow combos her punch with another on the back of his knee.
Mikhail doesn't waste time, recovering his sword he raises it in the air while teleporting directly above S'ym.
Swing down, his blade meets the demon's left arm that he used to defend himself.
And cut his arm relatively easily.
S'ym eyes go wide as saucers.
Adamantium... The short sword that Eidolon gifted Mikhail before entering Limbo. This metal doesn't have incredible proprieties...
It can't absorb kinetic energy like vibranium.
Or be a excellent magic conductor like Uru
Or even disrupt magic like the Nth metal.
Adamantium is durable. Simple as that. Nigh indestructible, and its molecular integrity is as such that it can be forged in a pico proportion, and become the sharpest blade in the world. Cutting between molecules.
In the comics, Wolverine cut the Hulk in many moments with his claws. Hector tested the blade in himself. And his arm is cleaved neatly with effort, and Adamantium becomes one of the highest dangers to him because his main weakness is his neck and nervous system.
But he already devised a way to counter it. And would be necessary for a strong person to use against him to adamantium become effective again, someone at least at his level.
But S'ym is not Hector, he can't control his body and the molecular structure of his skin to make it impenetrable.
And once again, S'ym is surprised by the capabilities of the weapons of his enemies to hurt him.
Not giving time to him to think, Shadow swipes his leg to destabilize him.
But before falling, S'ym goes berserk and with an animalistic roar punches the ground with all his strength.
Dust and rocks fly everywhere, the castle trembles, and the wall and ceiling cracks. S'ym utilizes the opportunity... to run.
The pink demon is a bully. And bullies target the weak. The situation is becoming dire to S'ym and he is not so dumb that hehaven't noticed it.
'These people are prepared' He thinks.
He will run from now and take revenge later, he just needs to find N'astirh to heal his wounds. Then he will use hit-and-run tactics to deal with these pests.
Maybe even take Illyana as a hostage. Yeah, that should work...
When he is crossing the exit, using the dust as cover... Shadow's eyes never left him.
Again, her Observation Haki is extremely good. So good that she naturally had the Empathic Vision and Mind's Eye ability that Fujitora, the marine admiral had.
Above the exit, she emerges from a huge ink stain that she previously put there.
Letting gravity do her job, she falls on S'ym back. Her two arms are outstretched, her fists closed while she places them on the demon's skin.
The Beowulf's white veins shine brightly because of the aura concentrated there.
"...Rokuogan" She spokes in a soft voice.
*Boom*
It is like a flashbang just exploded. The culmination of the Rokushiki is used with the Beowulf to deliver a devastating blow.
The shockwave ravages S'ym internal organs with the holy attribute. The demon screams in pain like never before.
Shadow releases a breath and rolls her shoulders, thankfully she has Hyper Regeneration, so in a few seconds, she is good as new.
She slowly approaches her opponent.
After the dust settles again, is possible to see S'ym state.
He is whimpering on the ground, has cracks all over his body, bleeding everywhere.
It is a signal of the demon tenacity and durability that he is still conscious. And in one piece.
And he still has the strength to one last move.
Desperately, he propels himself from the ground, surprising Shadow, and makes a run for his life again. The burst of strength didn't last long, he slow down a little but he didn't stop running. He is very attached to his life. As one of the strongest residents from Limbo, he can't just die like that.
'Naive girl...' He thinks that he really could escape, till a blue light flash at his side and he only has time to widen his eyes before his other arm is cut by Mikhail again.
"Run, run... I'm letting you die as you lived... In disgrace." Mikhail says with an angry expression.
"AaArg! You bastard!!" S'ym shouts, but he can't even punch now that he doesn't have arms.
S'ym flexes his legs, maybe to jump, maybe to kick Mikhail... His intentions will continue unknown because Mikhail chops one of his legs too.
The demon fells face first on the ground
"Crawl like the worm you are..." Mikhail says looking down on him, before raising his sword. "That's for Illyana"
And S'ym is no more.
.....
Eidolon P.O.V.
Okay, this is the magic bullshit that I was talking about.
I think while dodging attacks from all directions.
After I punched Belasco in the ground, it didn't take a second for the guy to trap us together in something that can only be the Mirror Dimension.
I felt and saw the space shift and reality be flipped, but I let him use his BFR(Battlefield Removal) trick, works for me.
My task of keeping him occupied is completed.
But damn, this is annoying...
He has full control of this battlefield. I'm feeling in the Inception movie.
There are parts of the castle and city in the sky.
The up and down are all relative. Gravity is working strangely, I think he is controlling this too. Some places that are really far away appear close and vice-versa.
The ground where I stepped opened like a mouth to devours me and I jump to dodge. Magic circles appear above me and a rain of magical beams attacks me.
I make my body as thin as thread and dodged with some difficult the heavy assault, but not even one touches me. My body, now like a thread, advances to Belasco position, piercing the air at hypersonic speeds.
He hastily raises a shield to defend himself, but it only delays me a little before I pierce his forehead.
Emerging behind him, I shake off his dirty dark blood from my thin barrier or protection. You know... gross right? Penetrate brain matter.
Even more from a guy like that.
Turning around, Iswipedr my leg to deliver a rankyaku at him. But he teleports away.
That's another annoying thing. His teleportation is flawless. Maybe is his connection with Limbo, but there are no ripples or fluctuations when he teleports.
I can only follow him by seeing the future.
He reappears at some distance. The hole I made in his brain appears to not be a trouble to him. He is just staring at me.
"Oy oy, why are you dodging? Shouldn't you be invulnerable?" I taunt "I starting to think that I overestimated you..."
I advance again.
He raises his hand and from his fingertips, green fireballs the size of someone's head start to be shot like a machine gun.
The fireballs go in all directions, but then they appear to sink into the air and start appearing from impossible positions.
Imitating me, huh?
His control over the battlefield is really annoying, I would need the sharingan to see all this shit. Unlucky to him I have good substitutes.
Using my well-trained 3D maneuvering I dodge all little fireballs that has the destructive power to destroy a city block.
In the end, my biggest strength is still evading.
And speed. The most OP of the stats. It is not for nothing that in my former life when there was a discussion about fictional characters with similar strengths they put a note of "Speed Equalized".
Being faster than your opponent, even if just a little, is a huge advantage in a fight of this level.
Some fireballs come very close to comfort, it appears that he can control their direction too, and I have to slap them away.
Maybe if I do things like Garou, I can gain his card.
I advance while dodging, but he disappears again.
The All Seeing Eyes of God working a full throttle to keep up with his moves, he blends with the surroundings simply too well.
In this Mirror Dimension, that right now looks like something that Escher would have painted, suddenly dozens of Belascos appear in many places.
Small tricks... I act confused, making him think that this work on me, while I pinpoint his location.
Doing some dodges that appear to be a whim, I move closer to his real location. While he continues to rain hell on me.
When I see the opportunity, I turn fast and deliver a punch in the real Belasco. My punch powered by the advanced Conqueror Haki connected with a crimson barrier.
The barrier is destroyed and my fist met another barrier.
And destroying that, it met with another barrier.
And finally stops, after making the third barrier distort
"How do you know that I'm the real one?" he asks when our eyes met
"Your stench." I says
He frowns in displeasure "You have fallen into my trap anyway" He comments while red demonic glyphs appear under him, and then walls appear in all directions. Trapping me
He teleports away and the walls start closing. Trying to seal me... Ha!
"As if..." I comment casually before crouching in the air and releasing an Omni-directional Force blast.
The two forces, one trying to enclose and one trying to escape clash, causing a huge explosion. I and he are affected by it.
The shockwaves make some of my bones crack, and blood spills from his open wounds.
I think I figured out his "Invulnerability"...
First, he is really durable, even more durable than Thor when I fought him.
My punch empowered by Fa Jin was literally my strongest attack till now, it's not my limit by the way, and he hadn't his torso blown away like the Deep Sea King against Saitama.
I have planned to make him a donut, but my fist just went half way through, and the wound is slowly regenerating.
That is the second part of his "immortality". He has a healing factor, not as fast as Wolverine or Deadpool, but he has it. I can see his dark red blood coalescing to restore him.
And now the main concept behind his invulnerability/immortality... It appears that his body means jackshit to him.
His heart was crushed, his brain pierced and he just continue to go on like nothing happened. I destroyed his Parietal Lobes and nothing changed.
It looks like his body is like a puppet to his soul. Like how I would control a robot with my technopathy, what happens with the robot body wouldn't affect me.
I check again with the All Seeing Eyes of God... No, it's really him. He is not remotely controlling from far away that body. So... Is this like in DnD where some sorcerers have patrons that give them power, and when the sorcerers die their souls go to the patrons?
If I kill him, I would need to trap his soul... If not the extra-dimensional demons would retrieve it and all be for naught.
Well, the plan is holding him anyway.
"You know, to a guy that sold his soul to become some demon's little pet, I would expect you to be stronger..." I mock.
In truth, I'm lying. He is very strong and resourceful. The guy has a range of abilities as big as mine. And I literally went to a world where 6 Billion people have powers.
His pursed lips are the only indicator that he is displeased
"Why should I be content with this limited vessel when I can go much farther? I deserve to achieve great heights!" He exclaims in a proud tone. Then he looks at me like I'm an insect "Someone like you that was born strong can't understand... The power that you're gifted... I earned it!!" He shouts raising his hands high in the air
Well, I can't argue...
"I would prefer to die powerless than be some demon's whore... You know that these deals never end well for the contractors, right?" I say
"Hmpf. Only if I don't have the competency!" He says before finishing his next spell.
Oh... Ooh~ "I can't dodge that..." I murmured while looking at the future
The red clouds in the sky rumble as a warning and then in the next instant a storm of lighting is already on me.
Faster than any lighting has the right to be, the huge AOE attack hits where I am. The red lightning engulfs almost all of this Mirror Dimension, leaving no room to dodge.
Choosing to not try to test my magic resistance, which must be as weak as Superman's one, I extend both of my arms to use [Reflect] empowered by [One For All].
After the onslaught, I bet that he is surprised to see me still standing "Thanks for the gift, take it back." I say returning the attack.
[Reflect] is a Trump card that I haven't shown the world. Something that I guarding to use in a crucial moment to turn the tides of a battle. Here? No one is watching...
The huge attack hits him directly.
And again, even after he is all burned up, he still acts chill.
"You're a slippery pest...." He comments, slowly regenerating. Now I notice that he is absorbing energies from his surroundings to heal faster.
Hm, using the home advantage?
He decided to change tactics and slowly take his sword from the scabbard.
Oh, that is the thing that Margali wanted. Yep, looks nasty. There's really some high-level of dark energy in that thing.
He waved it at me, and a crescent shape bloody attack flies in my direction.
Using one of my many powers, I turn my right hand into a blade and slash back. 'Kamusari'. I use Roger's signature move.
A black slash empowered by Conqueror's Haki meets Belasco's red one.
The two annul each other, but I think his slash is stronger. Well, I was just testing the Waters... Wait... No, his Slash has some sort of corrosive propriety.
A corrosive power that can even affect energies? That's interesting... But appears that Haki is eficient in resisting it a little.
I remove Yone's katana from my Sky Poison Pearl "So we are playing with swords now?" Holding the material sword with one hand, I construct the immaterial sword with my spiritual power int the other hand.
"Let's dance then" 'Cortana, put The Only Thing I Know For Real to play.'
'Right way, Master' It is her response.
Cutting the distance in an instant I attack with the sword in my left hand. He parries it, but I follow with the one in my right hand, while his sword is out of the way.
He needs to teleport back some steps to dodge. Then, from the hand that is not holding a sword, he releases a magical attack.
I twist my body back to dodge, then I pull one of my legs behind to create a stable stance and spin. A 360º slash is released from my attack, the slash goes far enough to destroy many buildings.
But the annoying guy already teleported above.
So this how it feels, huh?
Belasco, you're starting to annoy me very, very much.
Let's put a hold on the plan of simply keeping you occupied...
I look at him from above and disappear. Appearing behind him.
He teleports away again, but I follow by predicting where he will reappear.
'Oden Nitoryuu... Tougen Shirataki' Using the same attack Oden, used against that giant boar, I start cutting before he even appears totally.
Red blood spills from his chest.
"No one knows this... But destiny and luck made me become a dual-sword style edge isekai MC..." I comment just to confuse him before using the same attack downward. It's true though... Oden, Yone, Starkiller... Who is next? Kirito? Ugh...
He chooses to parry this time, a bad move. My strength is simply too much superior to his.
He is thrown at the ground like a ragdoll.
It's decided Belasco...
I'm gonna surrender to the cliche and cut you in many pieces and scatter you around to seal you.
I decide before attacking again. Dropping on him like a meteor.
His durability is nothing to scoff at, so he raises the tip of his demonic sword andreleasese a beam of energy at me.
While he is looking to the place where I was hit in the sky, I'm already with a stance at his side.
"Gah!" I slash his side.
Deciding that making big moves was not optimal he goes to compete with me with swordplay. Another bad move.
He is good... Probably because of the years. He is not just a scholar.
But I'm faster, stronger, and can see a little in the future.
We exchange a hundred of blows, every second a new wound appears on his body.
This remembers me of my fight against Thor. At that time I had the range advantage, now using two swords I have more options.
He tries to keep up with some spells thrown here and there, but he is being hard-pressed.
The thing is that he doesn't appears to be getting tired, so we will be at this for a long time.
But I'm feeling myself improving, stretching the muscles and techniques that I don't use for the lack of opponents. It is good... And surprising fun.
Hmm. Which of my characters like fighting? Should be the ones from One Piece...
I'm not particularly fond of battles, but I like improving
"Let me use you as a stepstone." I say with a laugh, referencing those chinese novels and annoying him further.
Dude, you're too old to cough blood in anger like that~
When he makes a mistake, I end him.
....
Jean Grey P.O.V.
Maybe I had a knack to multitask. Or is it simply a thing that I developed because of my powers, but I found it easy to attack the minds of some of these demons while simultaneously throwing debris at the others.
Now I'm noticing that all that mental training and meditation really paid off, I got better in handle my powers. Before it was like handling a weapon with oily hands, always slipping out of control easily.
Oh, look at me... using metaphors like Eidolon.
A battalion of demon soldiers approaches and I reach with my telepathy. I'm not as good as the Professor who can freeze people for some time and then when unfreezing them, they wouldn't have even noticed anything.
But against demons I don't need to be careful, right? Brute force it is...
They fall on the ground clutching their head or foaming through their mouth. I pull an already worn-out building close with my telepathy and make it fall on them.
I see another group approaching and I try to pull their weapons while Scott shot at them during the momentary confusion.
Huuff~ I never pushed myself this hard.
Hum? I'm sweating... I noticed after having to clean my forehead so that the sweat doesn't enter my eyes.
Strange, my body is getting tired but my mind is as clear as ever.
And I'm feeling even more "mentally energized" after every moment. Maybe this is my "true Omega-level potential".
Sincerely, living with Bobby and Ororo, I was never awed by the Omega-level. They are stronger than the rest, right? That's it.
I never saw Ororor or Bobby go all out. Did they ever went all out in their lives? Eidolon in the interview said that an Omega-level can at least affect continents with their powers.
This is so weird to think about. I can't imagine myself affecting that many people. It's impossible.
Eidolon said in our first encounter that sometimes ourselves are our greatest limiters. Something about mental blocks...
I didn't think too much at that time, I can barely control my power... Imagine using all this potential.
Sounded so distant in the past. But now...
I put two fingers on my forehead, a little action that I conditioned myself to help my concentration, and started shutting down all the enemies I can.
Their minds work differently from a human in many aspects... But in their core...
They.are.not.that.different!
Every word that I thought was punctuated with batches of demon soldiers falling.
I exhale heavily. More as instinct, the small tiredness that assaulted me after exerting that much power is recovered quickly.
Damn, I think I am strong.
I hear a cutting noise above me. The demons that are flying and are put to sleep by me while flying are attacked by a purple light.
I see Murasaki approaching at distance, cutting even more demons in two with her sword.
Heh~ A flying sword slash... Kitty would love it.
A sonic boom makes my focus goes in another direction, just in enough time to see Rogue dropping in the middle of a group of demons exactly like Eidolon does. But with less class...
After she straightens herself, she blurs and blurs... I can barely accompany her speed with my eyes while she appears to slide onto the ground and attack the poor demons.
With a boom, she appears close to me. "Finished here too?" She asks
"Yes." I point to Murasaki turning the demons into Legos "And where are Mrs. Szardos and her daughter?"
"Stayed behind to take useful things from the tower..." She shrugs her shoulder.
"I see..." In hindsight, didn't Eidolon give them that task already to reward them in that way? The guy really thought in everything, huh? And...
"Eidolon won't give Belasco's sword to them, right?" I ask Rogue
"...I wouldn't do it."
I notice some looks between Illyana and the other Ororo. That sword is dangerous...
Even if Mrs. Szardos has no bad intentions... It could be like the Dodecahedron in New York. Sincerely, I can't blame the guy.
He at least gave the tower off as a consolation prize.
"Can you go and help Illyana's group?" I ask. I'm worried about them now.
Rogue looks at the castle. It is a huuuuge castle.
"It's hard to locate them... Eidolon makes it look easy." She shakes her head.
Now we are in a dilemma... Should Rogue continue here or give them reinforcements?
Rogue looks around the battlefield for some time. "I will go to Illyana, just to be safe. Things look in control here..." She says before taking off at high speeds, almost pushing me with the wind pressure.
"Well, if Rogue with Eidolon mind said..." I shrug and go back to assist Colossus that is being swarmed by demons.
.....
"It's here." Illyana point to a huge double door, decorated in a fancy way
"Shouldn't this have some ward or something? How do we you will open it?" Kitty asks
To this Ororo extends her hand and blasts the door with a gust of wind.
"Ookay..." Kitty says slowly
"This time is better to be fast..." Ororo comments while Ilyana already crosses the door and looks around the room.
But suddenly she hears a hissing sound and she doesn't waste time to teleport a meter back.
A clawed hand swiped on the place she just was standing.
"Cat!" Oror exclaims
"That... That is the other me?" Kitty asks with her eyes wide
Before them, there is an anthropomorphic cat woman. Brown fur covering her whole body and using a blue leotard that is a little too skimpy for Kitty's tastes.
"She has been cursed by Belasco. A twisted way to teach Illyana a lesson..." Ororo says
*Bamf*
The well-known sound is heard behind them, but their Nightcrawler was still standing at their side.
Ororo acts fast and throws a lightning bolt from her fingertips at the other Kurt. He, on his side, teleports away fast and reappears at Cat's side.
"Ziz looks..." Eidolon's dimension Nightcrawler starts.
"...savage?" kitty guesses
The other Kurt is shirtless and with a golden collar around his neck and chest. He looks like a beast, growling and salivating.
"So... We need to capture the most sneaky of the X-men... Sounds easy." Kitty comments sarcastically. But then she hears something on her earpiece.
"Kitty, it's Rogue. Where are you? Are you hearing me? Is this on range?"
"Uh... In one of the Upper levels. Not so sure where exactly..." She comments
"..." Nothing comes from the other end fro some time "Can you scream for me?" Rogue finally asks
"... That sounded wrong..." Kitty answers unsure "But okay." And then she shouts with hesitation. "Rogue has a crush on Eidoloooon!!!"
"..." Everyone looks at her strange
Some seconds later...
*Boom*
The ground explodes, Illyana groups shield their faces and when they open again there's a red faced Rogue holding Cat and Savage Kurt by their necks.
"T-That's not what I mean!!" She Half-shouts with gritted teeth.
Kitty shrugs her shoulders "I thought that the power of cringe would give you a boost..." She says shamelessly
"Let's not waste time." Ororo interrupts "Illyana find the Bloodstone." She turns to the girl.
Illyana closes her eyes to concentrate.
"Are you with that?" Rogue asks. Kitty pulls two syringes from a purse behind her.
"Here." She delivers the two syringes to Rogue and the Southern belle meta applies them expertly in the two unconscious metas.
"Now they will stay like that for Half an hour at least." Rogue says
"And when Illyana found the Bloodstone I press this button..." Kitty adds holding a device that Eidolon gave to her.
He said that will release a pulse that he will feel and he will end this mission.
Now they went silent, to let Illyana concentrate.
...
Eidolon and Belasco are still Fighting in the Mirror Dimension.
After this long, Eidolon has a good grasp of Belasco's abilities. Well, with the obvious exceptions being whatever trump cards the old sorcerer has under his sleeves.
He is even fighting a little relaxed. No, is not like is being complacent. He is... Managing his advantage.
In a battle of this level, mistakes can be fatal. And sometimes the ony thing that can decide the result.
In the manga and anime Saint Seiya, is said that if a battle between Gold Saints doesn't end in a second, will last a thousand days.
'Hmm, I want a Gold Saint card... Shaka if possible, my favorite...' Hector thinks while exchanging dozens of blows and keeping close to Belasco.
This fight can really last a thousand days or more if this goes on, but he is not worried. Different from his fight against Thor, he didn't need to win, to win.
'And making big moves give openings...' He thinks while keeps pressing his opponent.
Even in fight games, experienced players rarely use the ultimate moves. Because the action/animation before is a opening.
It is all about combos and timing. This is the essential in a fight. Hector knows this and he knows that the advantage is all his. No need to risk having the tables turing on him.
He is not kidding when he said that he is using Belasco to train. He tried many powers, even making more arms at some point.
But the moment finally arrives. The small trigger that can change the tide and the rhythm of the balanced fight.
Belasco face changes. A snarl grows in his feature, making him even more demonic.
"ILLYANAA!" he shouts before releasing a huge amount of magic to stop the fight and gain ground to breathe.
This already proved a mistake before. He tried it during the fight... To break Eidolon's rhyme, but the hero expertly predicted it and backed in the right time. Again, timing...
Then he pressed after Belasco finished his big move and then he was even more in advantage. Belasco is using this move again, even knowing that Eidolon wouldn't fall for this.
It is because he didn't plan to continue to fight.
He turns around and flies away. During his flight, he opens an exit and waves hishandd to the Mirror Dimension close around his foe. He is trying to seal Eidolon.
Will not work.
"Turning the back against the enemy... Never thought that I would find someone really doig that." Eidolon murmurs, already in a stance. His two swords raised, his words give enough time to him to pump his body of Nen, Haki and other powers.
His limbs grow a little thicker from the concentration of power.
'Yone + Oden Nitoryuu... Fate Sealed + Tougen Totsuka...' He thinks while focusing on Belasco.
He advances, so fast that the space appears to compress where he was before. Behind him, the ground explodes.
Belasco feels the danger and turns around to raise his defenses and his sword. But he can't stop him.
A dark energy clashes on his chest. The attack is so powerful that the X-shaped slash met the wall of the Mirror Dimension and shatters it, revealing the real Limbo behind it.
Eidolon and Belasco emerge in the real Limbo and the Mirror Dimension slowly dissipates, starting from the X-shaped fissure.
Eidolon is not done. His attack made Belasco fly even higher in the air uncontrollably and he releases another attack on the defenseless sorcerer, albeit weaker this time.
Like a bullet, the demon falls to the ground making a huge crater and lifting a huge cloud of dust.
Eidolon spins around in the air a little before lading gracefully close to the Illyana group that is outside.
He turns to look at them.
"Everyone is finished? Let's go then." He says like a father asking if everyone packed their things before returning to their home after a vacation.
...
Illyana P.O.V., Some minutes earlier
It's close... I can feel it.
"It's in that cabinet!" I exclaim after opening my eyes. My brother and that silent girl joined us while I was concentrating.
I hurry to the cabinet, pushing some cauldrons and tables out the way.
Belasco's study is full of weird things. Relics, books, body parts.
I try to open the cabinet, but it's locked.
"I can't..." I start but my brother interrupts.
"Allow me..." he says pushing me gently to the side, then he uses his short sword to cut it open.
The double doors of the cabinet are open wide after his attack, revealing their insides. There are a lot of things... A Crystal ball, a gilded skull, some green candles, a staff that it's made of a bone and...
"I got it..." I took the golden collar with a red stone in the middle. I can recognize it everywhere. Holding it I feel complete again.
I didn't even notice that something is lacking before, but while the Bloodstone is in my hands, I notice the difference immediately.
"Great, now we can go?" The Kitty of my dimension asks
Ororo turns to me "Can you absorb your soul back, Illyana?" She asks
I frown while looking at the Bloodstone. "Maybe..." I say unsure. Suddenly, I have an idea "Brother, take me to a garden in... that direction." I point after situating myself
He raises an eyebrow but nods.
Mrs. Ororo turns to me "Illyana, are you...?"
"Will help." I interrupt, afraid of her hesitation will make the others don't want to support me.
After some teleportations, with the others following, we arrive in a small garden in a secluded part of the castle.
The garden is simple. Filled with purple grass and with a swirling red and black pool in the Middle. The place is open because on some specific nights, when the moon appears, some rituals can be made here.
I have seen Belasco create things from this pool. I read about it... It's like an eldritch furnace.
I approach the pool holding the Bloodstone necklace in my hand
"Ookay... Tell me that you're not gonna enter this evil-looking water." Kitty says, Looking at the in disgust
"I'm not gonna enter..." I say "...totally" And before they can even argue I plunge my arm in the pool.
Pain assaults my arm and continues through my whole body, but I grit my teeth to no scream. I let the cold feeling of the water go through my body, to my soul.
I couldn't see inside the pool, but I can feel the necklace disintegrating between my fingers.
The effects are better than I expected.
"Okay... Remember when I said not totally?" I turn to the others with a strained smile "I lied" And I jump in the pool.
I can use this thing to destroy whatever spell Belasco put on me and reattach this piece to my soul again... But...
Is this the ideal? I can make my soul complete again and then what? This isana opportunity, right?
I read on some of that books from Belasco that is possible to forge a strong and personal weapon using this pool and some part of you. Maybe only blood, maybe a limb, some assholes even used family members...
I read that the greater the price, the stronger the weapon. Equivalent Exchange or something like that...
So if I use this piece of my soul...
I can feel Belasco's spell being washed off, I feel free from the first time in a long time.
The Bloodstone, one of Belasco's most prized possessions destroyed. But I can use the residual energy too, right?
'Everything can and must be used' It is one of that asshole lessons.
The piece of soul in my hand absorbs everything that it can to become material. I see, it's easier than I thought. What weapon I should make?
Well, I already thought about that.
Belasco uses a sword, my brother uses a sword...
Eidolon uses a sword...
The piece of the soul starts stretching. When I feel that is completed, I finally allow myself to emerge from the pool.
"Pwah, Cough Cough..." I wheeze. I haven't noticed that I was not breathing.
"Illyana!" My brother carries me off easily, his face worried. "What you did?"
"It's done..." I say slowly and I look at my hand.
A blue flame-like sword in my hand, with no distinct feature.
Don't look that impressive, but it's mine. It is my strength and power. Something to attack, to defend myself. To not be helpless anymore, now I can do more than just run away.
I was saved from giving an explanation by a super loud sound that echoes all over the place. It's like glass shattering mixed with other things.
"Whattaheck?" Kitty exclaims point at the sky.
Above us, the sky was cut. There's a wound on it, in the shape of an X.
"The Mirror Dimension..." Ms. Ororo says "They're fighting there." She adds
And then she quickly explains what is the Mirror Dimension to the others, I already know that. So Eidolon and Belasco are there...
Then, a figure flies off the huge X-shaped scar in the sky.
Belasco... In a sorry state that I would not think possible before today.
He is all bloodied and is not really flying, it appears that he has been thrown around by some force.
Then Eidolon appears above him. I had only one second to register what I'm seeing before the sky is cut again and Belasco is plummeted into the ground.
Eidolon does some backflips in the sky and lands perfectly beside us.
He straightens himself calmly and asks casually "Everyone is finished? Let's go then." He takes a look at my Soulsword but he didn't comments
I look at him. I want to be as strong as him.
Hmm... Maybe I should've made... two swords.
....
Third Person P.O.V.
Eidolon checks Illyana with the All Seeing Eyes of God.
"It appears that you broke the spell. Good job." He says patting Illyana's head. She came down from Mikhail's arms because she doesn't want to be treated like a kid.
'So this is the Soulsword, huh? She really did it... It looks like Kuwabara Spirit Sword from Yu Yu Hakusho right now. Well, I think this thing evolves with the user.' He thinks to himself.
"So... Mission accomplished, guys." Eidolon comments before snapping his fingers.
To his action, the air starts dripping with a black liquid and then Jean and the others far away appear from thin air. Everyone, but Margali and Jimaine.
"Ugh... Gurk... That's unpleasant..." Jean comments wiping her mouth
"Sorry, efficiency." Eidolon says calmly
"So, we can go now?" Jean asks but a loud rumbling noise is emitted.
Belasco emerges from the ground and rises high in the air to look down on them, fuming with anger.
He literally looks like a walking corpse.
In his torso an X-shaped open wound is exposed for all to see, some of his organs are even spilling out.
His invulnerability is really impressive. Eidolon's attack only cut halfway through his body. And the fact that he can still operate at 100% with no regard with his injuries is a form of strength too.
"None of you are leaving this place alive..." He says in a calm fury and points his sword to the ground. A huge amount of what appears to be blood get out of the sword.
The waterfall of blood touches the ground and goes around forming circles and writing itself in a strange language.
Eidolon looks at all this with a frown. "A summoning..." he warns the others.
The blood in the ground shines for a second before a pit appears where the magic circles were previously. The pit is full of dark red liquid and completely still.
Then a demonic arm emerges from the pit. The thing is, even if this arm wouldn't look out of place in someone with the Hulk's build it's small when compared with the pit, like a ant
Another arm appears.
And another, and another, another...
Countless demons start crawling out of the pit.
Eidolon relaxes. 'So, is not a boss fight, is a wave...' He thinks.
He exerts his Conqueror Haki to test the Waters. Some demons fall, but most of them continue to advance without being affected.
"Hm..." He checks them again "Mindless puppets..." He comments "This must be the army that he was preparing to invade our dimension. During countless years..." Eidolon comments
These demons don't have free will. They don't even have base instincts. They are just like NPCs that will follow the command of their master till they be destroyed.
The ones that Eidolon could affect with his Haki were the ones made recently, that still held a lingering consciousness.
"Well, you guys run... I will hold them off for a bit." He comments nonchalantly. Puppets make for numbers, but without even base survival instincts, it means that their battle capabilities are subpar too.
"Are you sure?" Jean looks at what now should be at least a million of demons filling the sky and the ground, circling them slowly. And there's more still appearing
"No problem... Small fries." He says
"Illyana!!" Belasco's voice is heard again "You belong to me! Now and always!" He shouts in anger
"What a creepy..." Kitty says
"Belasco..." Illyana says balling her fists and biting her lower lip in anger, Eidolon notices that she is trembling a little.
He remembers one of the last Marvel movies that he watched in his former life. The one with the New Mutants, where Illyana appears to have some phobia and deep routed trauma.
Maybe he can cut the root of it now.
"I will teleport you guys to Mrs. Szardos..." Eidolon says the next move "Illyana, want to stay and help me fight Belasco?" He suddenly asks a unexpected question
"!?"
"What?"
"This is too dangerous..."
Illyana stares at him without saying anything
Eidolon shrugs "You have issues with this guy. No better way to beat trauma than... literally beat trauma." He laughs a little
He continues "Remember what I said before coming here. Follow my instructions. I shouldn't even have to explain, but because Belasco is taking his sweet time to surround us, I will talk."
"Our win condition right now is everyone escaping. That guy has tunnel vision in Illyana now. You all escape while I and Illyana stay as bait. When you guys are far enough, the two of us will escape. The end."
Everyone keeps silent, thinking about it.
"Before, we fought for Illyana. Let Illyana fight for you guys now." He says with a smile to the little girl
In the end, this guy is simply too good at moving the heart of others.
His words ignite Illyana's resolve.
He looks at the others, that still don't appear to be on board with his idea.
"Don't worry, I will protect her. I will kill the demons and she delivers a good attack on Belasco as payback and we get out here and met you guys far away." He says
"..."
Everyone looks at each other. But no one has the moral or reason to contradict him.
"What do you think of my plan, Illyana?" He asks the interested party, ignoring everyone else.
She continues to stare at him for a while "I'm in." She says and he laughs
"You all heard the girl. Bye." He didn't give them time to argue back "Go to that mountain over there." He points before pushing through a portal, to where he is feeling the presence of Margali and Jimaine.
....
In the mountain
Everyone fall in front of the mother-and-daughter duo.
"What is this?" Margali asks
"Eidolon and Illyana will buy time..." Jean answers.
Piotr and Mikhail are still worried, looking at Belasco's city
Mikhail puts his hand on his brother's shoulder "Let's trust the two." He says and Piotr nods after some time
They hear a sonic boom and Eidolon drop close to them, pulling the flying nimbus.
"Hi, I'm a clone. Let's move away." It is all his explanation, before he urges everyone to climb the cloud.
"That guys is really prepared..." Jimaine is the one taht comments now
.....
Belasco's city
"Are you scared?" Eidolon ask Illyana.
"No!" She says hiding her fears
"It's okay to be scared. Being brave is pushing forward despite the fears." Eidolon advises gently
She slowly nods
"Don't worry, you just have to move forward till you meet him and attack with all your strength. I take care of the rest." He moves behind her and extends his hand over her shoulder.
The demons continue to enclose them.
Eidolon's outstretched hand ignites with a blue flame. The heat increases and increases, and his palm starts shining white.
The heat is so great that the light bends and is hard to distinguish his hand by the air distortion.
Illyana surprisingly can't feel the heat, Eidolon is shielding her.
Then, he releases the flames at Belasco, destroying and incinerating all demons and their path. The jet of flames looks more like a laser.
"See, I will open a path to you... Just move forward and leaves everything to me." He says to Illyana. "You can go in your time..." he spoke softly
She nods and grips her sword tightly.
She takes a huge breath and with a war cry, she teleports into the middle of the millions of demons.
When she reappears, she is face to face with a fat pink demon with a hook as a hand. If someone pays attention is possible to say that these demon bodies are full of enhancements and weapons.
Truly a product of Fleshcraft.
Instinctively Illyana raises her sword to attack the closer demons.
But a flash of light later and the demon is cut to pieces. "Continue forward, Illyana..." She hears Eidolon's voice close to her side. "These guys don't even deserve the 'The Only Thing They Fear Is You' OST..." Eidolon says more to himself
Then, all around her, sword flashes appears and all demons follow the same destiny of the first demon.
With a renewed trust in Eidolon, she teleports again. And the same scene repeats itself. Everywhere she goes, a sword flash appears and the demon becomes minced meat. The power of the wind pushes the ones further from her even further.
She continues teleporting closer to Belasco, passing through this army with the same difficulty she would have, taking a stroll in a garden.
She advances, her eyes focused on Belasco with full concentration.
Finally she does her last teleport, appearing less than two meters away from the reason for all her suffering.
He was waiting for her, obviously. Holding his sword he goes for an attack. "You little, you are nothing without me!"
But his swords meet Eidolon's two katanas. With a twist of his wrists, Eidolon diverts Belasco's sword to above, leaving the demon exposed.
Illyana doesn't waste the opportunity. She is afraid. Conditioned all these years to fear this man, but gripping her sword tightly, she raise it high and deliver the strongest attack she can do... Hitting Belasco square in the face.
Her move didn't do much damage but made him wobble a little.
Eidolon then grabs Illyana and takes off "Good job." He says while hugging her and flying away.
Illyana is Looking at Belasco over Eidolon's shoulder.
"Take that, you fucker!!" She surprises Eidolon by screaming and showing her middle finger at Belasco "In your ugly face!! Fuck you! You and your stupid small horns! What are you? A succubus? Maybe is this why you wear a skirt!!!"
"..." Eidolon turns to look at her slowly, his eyes wide.
Then he burst out laughing. So she has a dirty mouth... Sincerely is not a surprise, she was literally living in a Hell dimension.
"Your brothers would have an attack hearing you now." He teases.
She freezes at his words. "Don't tell them..." She says a little worried.
Eidolon smiles seeing that there's still a little girl inside her, after all these hard years.
"He is doing something again." Illyana warns Eidolon
"Yeah, I noticed..." he says. His Danger Sense warned him.
Belasco has raised his sword high in the air. Eidolon can see the energies in Limbo converging above him. A good chunk of the demons below him also explodes in a rain of gore that also converges above Belasco.
In a huge crimson magic circle.
'The guy is pulling a Cid Kagenoh. Trying to be atomic. I'm jealous now...' Eidolon chuckles in his mind.
"Illyana" Eidolon attracts the girl attention "Here a lesson... Ultimate moves like that are only good at the beginning or at the end of a fight. You can start with it to grasp an advantage, or use it to finish your opponent." He says
"Using like that in despair..." He shakes his head "Give so many openings."
Eidolon turns to look at Belasco one last time before accelerating
"Now is check-mate... But he was on check since the beginning." He comments without looking back
Illyana once again moves her eyes to Belasco. Just in time to see...
... A second Eidolon emerging from thin air just beside the demon. Sword of Actuation in hand, aiming at Belasco's neck.
Yes, Eidolon has divided himself. His Ghostly Bio-fission, which separates him into two bodies was used even before he attacked N'astirh tower.
Yes, dividing himself like that reduces his power, but he couldn't trust a normal clone to do the job.
Yes, he is fighting without the Sword of Actuation for this reason.
And yes, he is Fighting with only 80% of his total power all this time.
Because of this he "played safe" and controlled the fight carefully.
With Belasco, his eyes widen almost comically when he sees Eidolon appearing at his side, with a horrifying-looking sword going to his neck.
But the guy didn't live this long for nothing. With a crazy scream, he detonates the huge magic circle in the sky.
The air becomes heavy with miasma and other dark energies. He desperately controls these energies to solidify the space to hold Eidolon's attack.
Eidolon feels like he has fallen and a very viscous liquid, his movement becomes sluggish. He frowns before activating the new ability of the Sword of Actuation.
He hadn't spent that eight Power Boost card for nothing.
The many eyes. mouths and noses in the blade start to act frantically.
The eyes looking everywhere almost psychotically.
And the mouths screaming.
And the noses inhale all magic energy in the surroundings. The mouths joined them a little later.
The air and space that was overcharged and dense with energies become thinner in an instant, and Eidolon's sword continues its path.
In the split second that all of this happened, Belasco moved away a little. The sword will not reach his neck.
*Ziing*
But blood flies in the air anyway. Together with Belasco's right arm and prized demonic sword.
'Four limbs, the head... and I cut the torso in two. Seven parts to good luck.' Eidolon thinks before using many powers to stop his momentum and changed the sword's direction fast.
Belasco can't allow this.
He screams.
No, is more than a scream... Eidolon Omniligualism notices that this is some sort of chant.
His Danger Sense flare, the biggest this day.
His eyes move to Belasco's unattached arm. There are demonic glyphs floating and surrounding the arm. The lim is pulsating grotesquely.
'Explosion... Corruption... Corrosion... Decay... Blood of Gods...' He read all of this from the glyphs
'Filho da puta...' He swears in Portuguese, before acting fast and kicking the air to move away. He grabs Belasco's sword telekinetically too.
In the end, Hector is the cautious type.
There's no need to risk his life to try to kill the guy. This is not a game.
The arm explodes...
Not only it explodes, but it also appears to use the dense magic atmosphere to empower itself. Making the explosion even bigger.
1 Km... 5... 10... 20... 50... 100...
The huge ball of destruction devours everything is a 100 Km radius.
From afar, it looks even a little pretty.
A black and red ball of energy, slowly expanding and looking like is swirling.
.....
With the X-men
"What... in... the... actual... fuck..." Kitty murmurs looking at the far away nuke-like Explosion
"Do you think they're all right?" Jean asks
"They should be... An explosion like that is slow to Eidolon." Rogue comments
"Illyana..." Piotr says worriedly
....
Eidolon and Illyana stopped an little far away to look at the Explosion
"That guy is a little resourceful, huh?" Eidolon comments calmly while putting Illyana down
"Is he dead?" She asks looking at the explosion
"No... But he is very hurt and lost his sword, castle, trusted subordinates and army." He looks at her "In some Years, if you still hate his guts you can come here and take revenge on him." He says to her.
The best-case scenario would be sealing Belasco, but he is no specialist in sealing anyone. So who knows if would be effective...
In the end, crippling the guy is good enough.
Eidolon plans to come here again, after some research and na increase in strenght.
Illyana looks at him and nods slowly at his words. She doesn't know how to feel right now... Should she feel happy for escape? Sad that Belasco got away?
Sincerely, everything appears a dream. She will need to live a normal life for some time till she get used to it. Her "normal" right now is... weird.
"Now Illyana, let's talk about something more serious... I want to talk with you alone about this." Eidolon says in a serious tone.
"I imagine that you are mature beyond your years. So I will not treat you like a kid." He says
After letting his words settle in he continues "You have been here for six years, a little more... But you already know that to us, it has been less than a day since you disappeared."
"Everyone is the same, the world, your brothers, your friends..."
"..."
"Where I'm trying to go is... I can turn you back." He says
"..." Illyana's eyes widen.
"I can make your body return to your six-year-old self. Keeping your memories, experiences, everything. Only your body will de-age. This can make things simpler for you, maybe for everyone... But it's your decision" He raises his hand, that is shining golden
"I don't want you to be influenced by everyone else. I can understand, that adults can be a little inconsiderate of the child's choice. But this is to normal kids. You're not a normal kid."
"..."
"I will support you choice. You can take your time thinking..." He says
They maintain the silence for some time. Illyana staring at Eidolon hand.
"I think this would make my brothers happy..." She finally says "But it would be a lie." She takes her eyes off his hand to look at his face "I'm not a little girl anymore..."
"..."
"..."
"...Very well." He retracts his hand. "If you regret you can simply call me. It is not like the opportunity went away. Go back, live a little, and think. Only you will know your future challenges." He says
She nods gratefully at him.
"Well, let's go back to your brothers. They must be worried sick." He says
But before catching her, he opens his left hand. There the Sky Poison Pearl floats. And then he throws it at the distance like a professional baseball player.
....
The other Eidolon is floating calmly in the sky, watching the wasteland created by Belasco's last desperate move.
"What is this? Magical Radiation? Nasty..." He comments looking around. Even he, felt a little dizzy before he willed the Sword of Actuation to eat all this.
He looks around one last time before going away.
The place is a mess, he can't locate where Belasco teleported off. He didn't believe Belasco died. But the magical explosion, created storms and spatial distortions. And Belasco can teleport very stealthily in this world.
So there's no way to follow the guy.
'In some years, he should become bold enough to amass power again. This will reveal him. Then I come back and deal with him. Maybe I should start practicing destroying souls...' He thinks while raising his hand casually and catching the flying green streak of light that is the Sky Poison Pearl.
He puts the Sword of Actuation and Belasco's Sword away, before stopping in a forest nearby.
"Come..." he says to thin air and shadow starts to close around him.
His Shadowkhan army appears, carrying all sorts of stuff.
Beyond waiting for the chance to strike, there are other reasons that Eidolon divided himself in two.
The most important is obviously keeping the others safe from the shadows.
He was observing everyone fight, ready to intervene to save them. In the end, beyond thinning the number of demons around Jean's group a little, he didn't need to intervene.
"They grow so fast..." He wipes an imaginary tear
The other reason is obviously to loot everything possible from Belasco.
In his own words "If this is a Walmart cultivation world, I will channel my inner Meng Hao and steal everything I can".
He couldn't take everything, but he get a lot of books and other things that he will need to sort of later.
Right now, he can only check superficially the ones that look cursed or too much malevolent.
"I'm not taking this shit to my home dimension..." he comments, while the Shadowkhan separates the loot in two piles "Especially you..." He says taking off Belasco's sword from the Sky Poison Pearl.
He tries to hold it for a bit, and his mind is assaulted by a million corruptive thoughts.
"Disgusting..." He let go of the sword.
Using [Creation], Eidolon makes a retangular perfect adamantium container. And carefully using intangibility, he puts the sword there.
He also creates a bigger container to put the other unknown possibly problematic things.
Then, he flies high in the air and looks around. Inside this big forest, has a Promethium vein.
That sword is something that he doesn't feel comfortable taking back to his world, even inside the Sky Poison Pearl. He will use the energy of the Promethium to hide the adamantium containers.
"There's even a cave here... Convenient." He goes to the cave, ready to dig deeper to hide the cursed things.
He only needs to deal with the inhabitants.
There's a group of demonic lions living there.
He approaches without a care, and when the lions roared to him, he released his Conqueror Haki.
"That's better..." he says after watching the effect of his power on the demonic beings. All of them cower in fear.
One overly courageous lion attack him, but after being plummeted into the ground, he becomes meek like the others.
"You guys are pretty strong... Protect this place." He comments before going to hide the things very deep underground.
After some minutes he returns
"Is too close to Belasco's former castle?" He asks himself "Nah, sometimes the eye of the Hurricane is the safest." He comments before starts flying to reunite with his other half that already caught up with the other group and is healing the other Kitty.
.....
Some minutes earlier
Jean's group was waiting close to the first city that they visited Limbo before they see Eidolon approaching.
" " Illyana..." " Piotr and Mikhail exclaim relieved after seeing that their sister are okay.
Saeko and Shadow go close to Eidolon to check on him.
"So is it all over now?" Jean asks Eidolon
"We saw a big explosion, what happened?" Kitty adds
"Belasco self-destructed a limb to stop me from hacking him to pieces. He then escaped." Eidolon gives the abridged version. He looks around. "Everyone defeated their foe, except me. Feeling like a failure now..." Eidolon jokes to light the mood.
They laugh but don't buy Eidolon's self-deprecating joke.
Shadow, Mikhail and Rogue return the borrowed items to Eidolon.
When Shadow returns the Beowulf, Eidolon noticed she is a little down.
"Is there a problem?" He asks
"...hesitated." She says Looking down
He understands immediately. She hesitated to deliver the finishing blow. S'ym would have escaped if not for Mikhail.
Eidolon pats her head "It's okay, there are things that we are comfortable doing and things we are not. For this, we have companions to cover our weaknesses. You fought a strong dude, good job." He praises gently.
For some reason, Illyana is looking at this interaction strangely.
Eidolon turns to everyone "I bet everyone wants to go home, but there are things to do before it." He looks at the alternative universe trio.
Magic Ororo is sitting beside the unconscious forms of Kurt and Kitty.
"What's their problem?" Eidolon asks while giving his own examination on the two.
"Kurt's mind has been affected after a long time by an enslaving spell and Cat has been transformed into a literal cat by Belasco's twisted sense of humor. Her mind also decreased to that of an animal." Magic Ororo says
"Hm... Solvable." He comments easily
"Solvable?" Kitty asks, the word rolling weirdly on her tongue "Is this a real word?" She looks around, Jean nods at her
"Do you want my help?" Margali Szardos intervene from the side
Eidolon looks at her "Sorry, Belasco's sword was lost during the Explosion..." He lies easily.
"..." She stares at him for a while, narrowing her eyes. In the end she shrugs "Nothing comes easy... But you don't keep your word and even throw towers at a dame's head. How do you make up for it?" She asks with a small smile.
"What about everything inside the tower? Should be enough compensation..."
"There's nothing of value inside the twoer..." She drawls
Eidolon narrow his eyes at her, no one would believe that. He checked first too.
"You owe me one, my dear." She says to him
He snorts, not acknowledging any promise before crouching beside the two unconscious X-men.
"Hm... There's a weird feeling in the air... Are they flirting?" Kitty whispers to her fellow X-men
"Please... don't..." Kurt groans.
"Well with all due respect... Your mama is a Milf, Kurt" Kitty teases in a low voice "Rogue, quickly! The Eidolon inside you feels something about Kurt's mama?"
Rogue rolls her eyes, she only blushes a little. And like Eidolon, ignore the question.
Eidolon examines Kurt and Kitty a little.
"First... The easier one..." He says after some time. Extending his hand to Cat's stomach. His hand shone in a golden glow familiar to Illyana.
He will use [Rewind] to revert the effect of the spell.
Normally, would be more complicated that that. Superpower and magic are a little... hard to mix. Even if some have the same effect.
But Belasco's spell on Cat is more cosmetic. Just a little above a prank. Something that you would see in Hogwarts.
He tests the waters first. After some time he decides to go all out. In the end, magic resists...
A single horn appears on the side of his forehead. The tip shines with the same golden glow of his hand, even his eyes shine golden.
"Oh... A horn. Cool..." Kitty says
The golden light covers the unconscious Cat. Two minutes later Eidolon retracts his hand and stands up.
On the ground, now a human lies asleep.
She is very similar to Kitty, the only difference being her age, and her hair that is longer.
"So that's the limits of my breasts?" Kitty comments sadly, looking at the modest chest of her counterpart "And these clothes are too revealing..." She says looking at the bare legs. For some reason, she feels embarrassed.
Some seconds later, Cat eyes starts to flutter and she groans on the ground. Holding her head she sits. "I had the weirdest of dreams... I was a cat and a hot guy healed me." She comments before being pulled in a hug by Ororo, and Illyana joins them afterward.
Eidolon turns to unconscious Kurt.
His problem is much harder to solve. His mind has been subjected to conditioning, brainwashing, suppression and all sort of other things.
Normally, he would ask for the help of someone with a better understanding of the Mystic Arts. But he has something useful to this.
He takes the Lasso the Truth out. Making Kurt sit down, he wraps the blue meta on it.
The Lasso of Truth. It is much more than a rope that can force people to tell the truth. Made by the gods of Olympus in the DC universe, and there they are big shots.
The Lasso has so many abilities that even Hector was surprised when he received it, confirming his theories of the loophole with items.
But the ability that matters right can be read in the card like that: [It can force those entrapped by it to face their own falsehood. Individuals who have been altered in a metaphysical manner are forced to undergo a biophysical reset when ensnared by the lasso, making the modified revert back to their base self. This can relieve an individual from the effects of toxins or poisons, as well as cease the effects of mind control.] (Taken from the Wiki with slight alterations)
Eidolon holds the Lasso enveloping Kurt, he willed it to show its power. The Lasso shine and Eidolon close his eyes.
He can feel and see the Lasso powers on Kurt from his Mind's Eye. The light of the Lasso shining in Kurt's twisted mind, restoring it.
Kurt trashes and screams in pain. The process is painful.
Everyone looks uncomfortable watching the scene. Margali, Scott and Ororo gave some steps forward to stop it. But Saeko steps in front of them and stares at them in a warning.
"Have some faith in him... Did he even fail till now?" She says admonishing, her hand in the pommel of her katana.
Thankfully, Kurt's pains come and go fast. Like putting a dislocated boné in the right place.
Eidolon retrieves the Lasso, letting Kurt fall on the ground panting.
Without a word, he steps back.
"Ugh... Where I am?" The ex-savage Kurt says rubbing his forehead.
"Kurt!" The older Kitty hugs the blue meta strongly.
Jean looks at Eidolon
"Do you have a solution to everything?" She can't help but ask
He turns to her "Yes" He says and she rolls her eyes. But he continues "...it is what I would like to say. But no. Even if everything in the multiverse has an opposite. I don't have all answers..." He looks ahead again. To the wholesome reunion of another trio. He chuckles "I'm simply an overthinker. Someone that likes to be prepared..."
"... I do my best and hope for the best" He sighs "For now it's working."
"..."
....
While Ororo, Kitty and Kurt's counterparts talk a little about the situation. Mostly Ororo explaining everything. And the younger Kitty barging asking the older Kitty if she was married or something like that.
The other half of Eidolon appears with a sonic boom.
Dropping from the sky, he didn't even acknowledge anyone before using Bio-fusion to turn one again.
Eidolon stretches a little, glad to fill himself again at 100%.
"No signs of Belasco." He says like is something that his other half was investigating. He turns to the Magic Ororo and the others. "Time to help you guys go back."
"But how?" Kurt asks
"You will use your sword again?" Jean guesses
Eidolon shakes his head "Better to not open rifts between dimensions that thoughtless... I have another way. I just need you guys to take me where you first appeared here." He says
"I'm not even gonna say anything more." Jean shakes her head in amusement, making Eidolon laugh.
"Can't they come with us?" Kitty asks hopefully. She wants to get to know "herself" better.
"Remember about the time dilatation..." Eidolon says "Better not overcomplicate things. And I bet they want to go back earlier than later..."
Kitty nods "Goodbye other me." She says dramatically. Her counterpart does the same.
"Two Kittys are too much anyway." Rogue says sarcastically
The two Kittys glare at her at the same time and show her their middle finger.
After this, Ororo and the other two thank the rest of the people for the help and say one last goodbye to Illyana. They stayed with her more than their counterparts in the Illyana universe.
Even more than her own brother Mikhail. They are family to her.
The Multiverse is too big. Without a specific power or device, will be hard to meet again.
...
"It's here?" Eidolon asks after he and the alternative trio arrive close to a chain of mountains around Belasco's former city.
"Yes... We appeared around here." Ororo answers.
Jean and the rest are heading to the place where they enter Limbo in the meanwhile.
Eidolon activates the All Seeing Eyes of God and look around. He looks at everything, there are only small signs of a portal here. Some sort of summoning ritual. Probably what Belasco used to kidnap them.
He moves a little, choosing a place calmly. He finally stops, staring at an empty clearing.
He moves the Earth to make a triangular tunnel and walks inside his creation. There, he activates his stand, D4C.
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap allows the user to travel the multiverse, at least to the parallel Earths. Hector's vision changes... He is presented with a Kaleidoscope of options for him to choose.
Lights dance in a dark background. These are worlds. He analyzes each one of them. All of them are different in some way. Some in minor things, some in big things.
In truth, is possible to check if someone is an outsider in a universe. There's a different aura around them. Hector checked before when comparing Kitty and Kurt with their counterparts.
He finally found what he is Looking for. A world that has the same signature as the trio. Similar to his own, but at the same time... a little more mysterious. Like the laws of magic are as much present as the laws of science. Maybe even more...
"Come here, you three." He called them without losing sight of the world "First of all... I will not accompany you guys. I'm afraid a second in your world could be months here and I would let my group here alone." He starts
"So I would push you guys back. I think that I took the right world, but if I'm wrong... I will not be able to help you guys anymore. So... You trust me? Ready to risk?" He asks
"Better this than continue here on this place..." Kitty says
"We can figure out something if we not ended up in our home universe." Kurt adds
"Your help will be much appreciated, Eidolon." Ororo says
"Very well... Close your eyes." He commands and they obey.
Then, without going together, he pushes them between the "gate" and watches they fall into the other universe
"..." He continues to watch even after some time
"Master?" Cortana says softly "Your vitals..." She starts unsure.
She felt Hector... unrest for some reason.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath "It's nothing, Cortana. Don't fret over it." He says turning back to fly again
"It's just me rejecting the Rick Sanchez path..."
.....
Back to Eidolon Universe, X-men Mansion
The group starts reappearing in the hall of the mansion after Eidolon reopens the spatial fissure.
"We are back! Mission... Accomplished!" Kitty shouts striking a pose
From the side, Margali and Jimaine say their goodbyes to Kurt, promising that will keep in touch.
They don't want to linger around for long. After a last hug, the mother and daughter duo teleports away.
Eidolon looks around and is surprised to not see anyone. 'We are in limbo for 8 hours...' He goes and contacts his people that are on guard outside
'Shego... How long we've been in Limbo?" he asks using technopathy
Obviously, he let people watch over the mansion.
'Hello to you too.' Shego's voice is heard 'Some minutes. Why? Time is different there?' She asks back
'Yes... And makes no sense.' He answers 'You can go back now, take Machia with you.' He gave the orders
'Isn't the time dilatation constant?' His musings are interrupted by Ororo appearing.
"Back already? Did something happen?" She asks, checking on them.
Then her eyes stop on the 12-year-old Illyana
"Ms. Ororo!" Kitty throws herself in the older woman's arms "You wouldn't believe it... We found another you. She can use magic. And..." Kitty starts to lay out everything that happened in a confusing and too fast-to-understand way.
"Okay, okay... Why didn't you take a breath and tell us what happened more calmly" Ororo says with an amused smile.
At this time, Xavier and the rest appeared too.
"I'm glad that all of you came back safely." The Professor says to them.
"Damn, I'm hungry..." Kitty comments while everyone was talking with each other.
"Maybe I can cook something for you guys..." Eidolon says with a pensive expression "As a reward..."
"What? You can cook?" Kitty turns fast
"A little..."
"More than a little..." Saeko chuckles. "Eidolon, there's something I need to do. Can I go back first?" She asks him in a low voice
"..." He looks at her for a second "Okay." And he opens a portal to her, deciding to not comment on what she will do.
"I don't believe you can cook..." Jubilee says from Kitty's side "This is destroying the image I had of you in my mind." She jokes
He chuckles "Wait, till I put on an apron..." He comments, before asking for permission to use the kitchen.
"Yeah, at the end of a mission, there's a banquet. It's the law..." Kitty nods
"Don't bring your animes things to real life, Kitty."
...
"It's... It's like happiness that you can eat..." Kitty says between tears while eating Eidolon food.
"That's really good, Eidolon. You will make a good husband." Ororo jokes while eating elegantly.
"Is this a proposal?" He flirts back and she laughs
"Wait, I called dibs..." Kitty jokes
Eidolon can only shake his head. He didn't have a passion for cooking, but he is enjoying having people like his food. Maybe this is the beginning of a hobby.
After some time, everyone finishes eating
"Ugh... I'm gonna die. That's it. I accept my fate. I'm going happy." Jubilee groans while caressing her stomach
"You stuffed me..." Kitty comments
"Phrasing..." Eidolon warns with a sigh "Mikhail, you can stay as much as you want. Let's go, Shadow." He turns to his people. Shadow also like his food. He takes some to give to Saeko too.
"There's chocolate chips cookies baking. Take them out in five minutes." He says to them
"These are my favorites." Jean comments
"Oh... Glad I did them, there are ingredients around." He says, but in truth, he knows that is her favorite 'I don't know who are Margali and Jimaine, but I remember reading about the X-men's favorite food on a geek site... Priorities past me, priorities.' He thinks with a shake of his head.
"I like to do them sometimes..." Jean explain the ingredients.
After some more small talk.
"Well, I'm going now. I will come back, maybe tomorrow... Maybe after tomorrow. To check on Illyana." He notifies before teleporting away
....
Eidolon P.O.V., Kamar-Taj
"Oho, good job there." The Ancient One says to me after I came here to return the books.
And ask some questions.
"I have some things to ask..." I start
"Go on." He says easily
"About Illyana's condition... She will have problems in the future?" I ask
"Maybe, maybe not... Only depends on her." He answers
"..." I stare at this guy. Why did old people like to act cryptic?
"..." And he looks so amused.
"Forget about it..." I sigh "Can I come to research on my own in the library here then?" I ask. This is important.
"Oh~ Wants to become a disciple? You're more than welcome. We can start by shaving your head..." He says with a smile. He obviously messing up with me.
"Not a disciple... There are some rules about simply coming here to read?" I ignore his other words
He chuckles and caresses his huge goatee. "Obviously, if you do not take part in our teachings, you can't go to some places, take some artifacts, or read some books... But everyone can come and learn by himself." He says
Like an outer disciple then... At least, there are no responsibilities.
"It is all I want. Self-study..."
"No problem, I will talk with Master Wong about it. You can come at any time..." He allows it easily.
Good. This is a big step. Now that this door is already open and I contacted the Ancient One, there's no reason for me to not take advantage of that.
Time to learn magic.
"By the way, changing the subject..." I start "I'm curious why the time dilatation in Limbo makes no sense." I ask
"Oh... A common doubt. How do you imagine the Multiverse?" he asks me back
"... Like an infinity number of 4D geometric objects overlapping each other." I say "From different angles can show infinite forms." I answer
"Oh..." He looks at me interested "It appears that you know a little... The infinite dimensions are constantly moving inside the big Multiverse. Like grains of sand inside a container that moves erratically. Sometimes spinning, sometimes shaking..." He starts
"I said before that Limbo was in the center of the Splinter Realms, also known as the Archipelago of Anguish and Redemption. The Archipelago is connected with multiple universes like ours. But is not like they're static neighbors. Watch this..." He waves his hand and three illusory spheres appear in the air.
Two look like the planet Earth and another one is red.
"Let's simplify things a little too much..." The spheres move around each other. They move erratically. Going up and down, doing circles. There's no pattern there.
Sometimes the red one, which could only be Limbo, is close to one Earth, in another is close to another Earth. When they are close to one another, the two spheres move slowly, almost at the same speed.
"Depending on the position relative to our reality, the time dilatation varies..." I guess
"Exactly." He smiles
"Is the same principle with Black Holes and gravity?" I ask
This looks like some mystic Interstellar and Jojo science.
"Heh... If you want the simplified version. Gravity is one of the fundamentals force in the universe... But in the Multiverse. It is more complicated than that."
I look at the three planets moving in silence
"Don't stare too much. And don't try to make sense of the pattern either. Our math can't calculate the moves of realities yet. If you are good... you can feel it." He says with a mysterious smile
"..." Well, we are really only scratching the surface of Science. Maybe all of our math is wrong. Heck, Time... A constant... It is not a constant anymore.
What type of equations can you use to calculate the multiverse movement? Heh, Rick Sanchez is really a monster, huh? And Reed too... Multiversal travel with Science is a great feat.
Even if I think that half of the portals that Reed opens are him beating rock together and hoping for a spark. Now, Rick's portal gun is more impressive... Much more impressive.
"Illyana is unlucky, huh?" I comment with a sigh
"Maybe, maybe not..." He says with the same cryptic answer
"..." I can understand that maybe is a good thing for Illyana to grow fast, but I'm having my own spell used against me. I will trademark cryptic answers.
"..." He continues to look at me amused
"Can I slap your head?" I ask seriously
"You can try... But can you bear the consequences?" His smile didn't leave his face
"... Well, not a priority." One day, one day...
After saying goodbye with a promise of coming back tomorrow I make a tactical retreat.
Yes, I'm testing if he can take a joke. It's good to know the personality of Multiversal powerhouses.
.....
Third Person P.O.V.
After Eidolon leaves the Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One is all alone and smile.
A smile full of deep meanings.
"I don't think you have the time left to try to slap my head..." he chuckles lightly
He then sends a telepathic message to Wong "If Eidolon comes, just let him enter whatever he wants"
"Is that wise?" Wong asks unsure in the telepathic link.
"Maybe, maybe not..."
.....
Earth-8280
"Apparently there's this super strong guy in the other universe. Like, the God of Mutants. With hundreds of powers." The Kitty of this dimension says to her fellow X-men.
The ones that are still alive in this reality. There are many faces here, that only a comic reader would recognize.
Everyone is happy that they come back. To the people of this reality, only three weeks have passed
"Hmpf... Every time someone declares himself God or savior or mutants, it never ends well." Hank McCoy says
"He didn't declare himself anything. I'm just saying." Kitty explains "We don't have anyone like that here, right?"
"No, no Omega-level with this much power was ever registered by the Cerebro. "The Professor says
"What about his true name?" Scott asks
"He never revealed." Ororo says.
"He is like Spider-man in secrecy" Kitty adds
They talked about their experiences there. Not happy ones, so they decide to focus on the rescue and their counterparts.
After some time, Xavier interrupts the talk "Everyone, I think they deserve to rest now. We can continue our talk tomorrow."
Everyone disperses after that.
Ororo and Kitty walk together to their rooms
"It is good to be back." Kitty says while stretching
"Yes, it is."
"If one day I meet that Eidolon guy again, I need to repay him. Maybe fighting an extra-dimensional threat together." She says "Maybe in bed... He is hot."
Ororo doesn't even comment, too accustomed with Kitty's antics. And is good to hear her again.
"I wish I had asked his name. To search his counterpart here..." Kitty adds with a finger on her lips.
"To what? Would not be the same..."
"Who knows... Maybe he is a normal guy, his mutations waiting to appear" She says "Maybe he already appeared and he is not the same..."
"I think we would notice if someone like him appeared."
"Maybe he is a little different..." Kitty says "You know whom I remembered seeing him? The Warlock."
Ororo looks at her, pausing "There are no similarities between Eidolon and the Dark Warlock. Wait, is it simply because of the black mantle?" Ororo laughs a little
"Not at all... It is the vibe. Didn't you think so?"
"You only met Eidolon and the Warlock one time each. What do you know about their... vibes?"
"They're chill... Talk in a similar calm way, even when what they're talking about are absurd things. Like killing us... Or open portal to new other realities." Kitty says with a frown
"The Warlock is a villain. A magic villain. He is not a mutant, the ages didn't match too..."
"Oh, how do you know? The Warlock identity never went public..."
"I was friends with the Fantastic Four, remember? I fought the last battle against him with the Avengers." Ororo says, remembering that time "Strange told me that the Warlock is young, like your age."
"Strange knows him?"
"Yes, it appears that they are disciples together. Even if the Warlock was much younger, it appears he was equally talented. Almost became the Sorcerer Supreme."
Kitty's eyes widen "Really? And he becomes a villain?"
Ororo shrugs "It is impossible to see someone's heart. But I remember Strange commenting that he failed in the last test..." Ororo eyes look distant
"What test?"
"He couldn't let go." Ororo answers "While Strange let go of his obsession in fixing his hands. The Warlock couldn't abandon his own obsession..."
"The Warlock obsession..." Kitty says slowly "What is that guy wanted so much again?"
"Resuscitate someone..." Ororo says, shocking Kitty.
"! Wait..." Kitty stops "Is this why he attacked us that time targeting Jean?"
Ororo nods "He tried to enslave the Phoenix Force."
Kitty's mouth is agape "Crazy motherfucker... He would never succeed."
To this Ororo stops "He invaded hell and enslaved Mephisto..." She says making Kitty's mouth fall "Apparently, something happened with the soul of the one that he wants to bring back. After that, he went even crazier..."
Ororo looks at Kitty "Our last fight... With the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova Force, Fantastic Four, many others, and even some villains... Do you know what we're stopping him from doing?" Ororo asks
There's no problem revealing this now.
"I'm afraid to ask..."
"He was stealing power from Eternity."
Kitty almost faints
Ororo continues "Something about reaching the center of the universe."
Kitty whistle
"You met him before he invaded Hell." Ororo says "What happened in Hell changed him. He killed Doom, Stark, Thanos, Adam, Selene, Namor, T'challa, Steve Rogers, Magneto, Wanda and many others..."
Ororo then declares "...He is not like Eidolon."
"Okay, okay... It's just... He didn't look that bad when he attacked us. Didn't even hurt any of us too much. He looked... a little lonely."
"This was before he went to hell." Ororo remembers, but Kitty's words bring back a memory
On the day she fought against the Warlock after T'challa's death.
Her, Susan Storm, and the new Black Panther Shuri are in Wakanda to check on Susan's pregnancy when he attacked.
It's not even a fight.
Even when Baast possessed Shuri, the Warlcok simply ripped the goddess of Shuri's body. Apparently, he wanted the powers of Necromancy.
She remembers very well the moment when he could've delivered the finishing blow in them.
She was shielding Susan and Shuri on the ground.
Beneath his black hood was possible to see his yellow demonic eyes staring at them with indifference. His face is covered with bandages, the consequences of his dwelling in dangerous magic. The Warlock is dangerous because he can go that far.
Right there, when Ororo thought that the three of them would die... His gaze fell on Susan and he stopped.
For a moment, she can swear that his eyes became a normal blue before he turns around.
"You should quit this hero bullshit..." he said in a raspy voice "You're pregnant. And there are no happy endings." He says before teleporting away.
Even he couldn't hurt a pregnant Woman, is what Ororo thought.
Ironically, months later Susan had a miscarriage. Completely unrelated to the Warlock. She separated from Reed and the Fantastic Four broke off, after this.
"What happened with him?" Kitty asks "Who killed him?"
To this, Ororo doesn't answer. No one that was present on that fight felt comfortable talking about what happened that day.
...
Two days later, still on Earth-8280
Reality shifts and a woman appears close to the X-mansion.
She stops exactly where Ororo and the others reappeared.
She examines her surroundings with her green eyes, they glow yellow with a demonic power after a while.
"This could be useful..." She says before extending her hand to put something in the empty space.
Anyone would recognize this woman's face.
Red hair and green eyes. It's Jean's face, but...
She is so scantily clad that someone would not believe that is truly Jean Grey. Her smirks is something strange in that face too.
"They said something about... Eidolon, I think..." Madelyne Pryor smirks before disappearing.
...
In Limbo
Belasco walks slowly into one of his many hideouts.
Gnashing his teeth in anger, he tries to feel his lost arm. It's useless... He can't Grow it back.
"Damn you all..." He says in a slow voice
Years of effort wasted like that.
"But is okay..." He tells himself. He has another card.
His daughter already reincarnated back in his universe.
She will deal with his enemies.
.....
A.N.: No author note because it reached the limit of characters.
Till next time.
End of another volume.