Alex was still looking at the tower, observing as he felt something strange with it.
It wasn't the design or the aura it emitted, but rather the feeling it gave him.
It gave this feeling of being ancient as if this tower had been existed for a very very long time, which made him quite intrigued as he thought that Gaia and Vine created it from scratch and shouldn't give a feeling like that.
So he looked at Vine with confusion making her smile as she knew the source of his confusion.
"I know why you look confused dearest and I bet some of you already noticed it." She said as she looked at Hephaestus, Hestia, Ghislaine, Tiamat, Mirellia, Esdeath as they had the same confused look on their faces.
They looked at her and nodded.
And without anybody saying anything, she explained.
"Well, that tower already existed in the past but no one knows in what era or where. But one thing for sure, this tower is so old, maybe it existed from the beginning of the universe or something, I don't know.
But what I know is that this tower had so many powerful monsters and beings that could rival even the gods." This made them shocked and surprised.
"When I was looking for a prototype to use as a base for my dearest tower, I found this tower but it was destroyed, so me and Gaia worked together to get it back as it is and change it based on what my dearest asked, then she lent me her power to 'build' this tower here.
But be careful, there are still some ancient beings in that tower that have not been eliminated yet, me and Gaia worked a little more on the defenses of this tower so they won't escape although they won't even if we didn't do it as the tower somehow kept them inside without letting any go out."
Hearing this explaination Alex became amazed and more excited as he always liked to explore the unknown even if it was deadly and could lead to his death, but he didn't care, but now with him having many wives who loved him so so much, he wouldn't do it unless he was prepared for anything and he was already.
Vine who saw his battle hungry smile became happy as she knew that he liked it.
And without saying anything, he disappeared from his place and appeared in front of Vine and before she could say anything, he kissed her lips deeply which made her more than happy that her heart throbbed and oozed with sweetness.
"Mhmmm~ Hmph~"
The kiss was passionate and deep that their tongues were clashing and swirling around each other in a loving manner, making all women presented blush heavily especially Hephaestus and Hestia as they didn't see a kiss so deep and passionate like this before.
Hephaestus touched her lips and remembered the kiss they had before, in the room making her have a dreamy look on her face as the kiss was still vivid in her mind.
'Although it was my first kiss, but I can't forget it at all, the feeling of his lips on mine and his tongue clashing with mine.'
The more she thought about it, the more she blushed more and felt her body heat up and her breaths became heavier, but fortunately no one noticed it as they were mesmerized by the kiss that Alex and Vine were having.
On the other hand, Hestia had smoke coming out of her head as she watched the kiss as being a virgin goddess, she didn't experience anything like that at all, but she saw people kissing, even some of her friends told her about it, but the kiss she was seeing right now, was so much different, she didn't know something like this at all and that made her consider trying it.
'But if-if it's him, I-I don't mind' She flushed even more when she thought like that while looking at Alex.
The kiss lasted for nearly 10 minutes making the women around restless and wonder if they wouldn't end it or not.
Vine and Alex separated with trail of saliva connecting their tongues together, while panting with flushed faces.
"Haah..Haah...you...are always...good...at kissing dearest~ I can't get enough of it for I'm addicted to it~"
"You...are my lovely wife that I love and cherish, always."
Vine beamed with happiness and hugged him tightly. While hugging her, Alex looked at his other wives and smiled before saying.
"Come and hug me as well, you are all my lovely wives that I love and cherish, you can't even escape from me even if you want to~"
All of his wives beamed with happiness when they heard this and immediately came running at him, then all of them joined the hug.
Hephaestus and Hestia were left alone while having flushed faces as well as disappointed, but they shook their heads as they knew that they weren't his wives to join them.
But then, Alex said again while looking at them.
"You two can come and join as well, my arms and heart are so wide so take all of you~" He smiled.
Both of them felt their hearts beat crazily as wanting to jump out of their chests, but they didn't move yet. Hestia was reluctant to walk and join, but then her eyes widened in surprise when she saw her friend walking toward Alex and his wives with flushed face.
She didn't imagine that Hephaestus the quietest and coolest among the goddesses, that said she didn't have time for love and relationships, would go and join a hug with a man.
Alex smiled when he saw Hephaestus coming toward him, the others also smiled as they had the same thought.
'Darling/Dearest made another woman fall into his hands~'
He didn't say anything as he knew that if he did, she would be embarrassed and run away and he didn't want that.
Alex's wives broke the hug and let him hug the red haired woman who came in front of him.
He held her waist like before and hugged her while caressing her hair gently and tenderly, making her feel good. She looked up to him with her fiery red eyes and he also looked at her with his dark violet eyes making her so mesmerized by how beautiful those eyes were, it made her drown in them.
'How beautiful~'
He caressed her cheeks before she closed her eyes, making him smile and kiss her lips.
Feeling his lips on hers, Hephaestus wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss even more as she pushed her tongue inside his mouth.
'Hooo quite bold.!
But Alex didn't let her take control and with his tongue, making her submit and melt in his embrace.
"Mhmmmm Hmph~ Haaah~"
The kiss was deep and passionate making Hestia who came close look with surprise and shock at how her friend kissed a man like this.
The kiss lasted quite long as it was 5 minutes before they separated with a trail of saliva and panting with flushed faces.
Alex looked at her eyes and found it was there, the darkness inside her that made him smile even more.
This darkness was noticable to him and no one else as he noticed the slight obsession in her eyes.
'Just a little more and she will be perfect~'
She immediately buried her face in his chest as her face was so red to her ears as she felt embarrassed.
"And you, do you want too?" He said looking at Hestia who snapped out of her state and looked at him with shaky body.
"N-n-no, e-excuse me I-I have some business to do." Then she ran away with flushed face making Alex laugh softly while smiling.
He was caressing Hephaestus's hair gently making her relax and calm down.
"Let's go back girls, we will discuss our next plan."
They nodded and went back to the living room
***
As the roars reverberated through the room, four huge beasts appeared in everyone's vision and four torches surrounding the circular ritual slab automatically got a new breath of life. The lines and murals forming the ritual circle all gained a red glow that lit Strange in an eerie light.
"Tell me he's in control of these things..." Tony said to Wong as he stepped back from the demonic-looking beast that was approaching him with a threatening expression, he had to step aside as it approached Strange.
"I wouldn't count on it," Wong was in a similar situation and had to move away from the beast that was approaching him.
"Just great..." Steve said stepping back from his beast, "Instead of Wanda, maybe we should've focused on this dude more."
"Snap out of it, Strange!" Wong wanted to get Strange back before things got out of hand and threw a rope dart relic at him at an angle so that it wouldn't stab the man but would wrap around him. One of the beasts intercepted Wong's relic and allowed it to wrap around its arm before pulling. Wong had to let go of the relic as the beast pulled on it so that he wouldn't fly away. The beast roared at Wong threateningly while throwing the relic away.
Wong hurriedly conjured two swords for himself after realizing that Strange's actions of getting on top of the platform had somehow dispelled the anti-magic field. This allowed him to freely use his magic.
"This doesn't look so good..." Tony commented and blasted one of the beasts with his uni-beam from the centerpiece in his chest. The beast created a ball of red in between its hand and intercepted the laser blast with it before pushing it toward Tony. The man had to stop his attack to dodge the red sphere that so effortlessly took care of one of his most powerful attacks. He powered his repulsors up and created a shoulder-mounted canon with the nanoparticles of his suit. It glowed with a blue light as the blast charged, ready to attack the beast with another beam.
Looking at the hulking beast that was twice as tall as him and far more bulky, Steve knew that he wasn't its match and took a defensive stance. The beast seemed even larger than the Hulk and Steve didn't want to entangle himself with it. When the beast passed by him without engaging, he almost heaved a sigh in relief.
Natasha on the other hand created a huge whip from her palm that extended out to the beast and wrapped around its neck. She propelled herself toward it and quickly stood on top of it while grabbing the whip as if it was some sort of leash that she then yanked, making the beast roar in defiance as it burst out with a crimson blast that threw Natasha off. She collided with the ceiling and fell back to the ground on her feet, ready to take the beast on for another round.
At this point, Strange addressed them, "Stop! These are the Elder Beasts. Created by Chthon himself to protect the temple." He said while glancing all around the room, examining the myriad inscriptions all around.
The Elder Beasts didn't engage them and everyone seemed tense as they waited for Strange to say something.
"You asked me what we were doing about the planets didn't you, Stark?" Strange asked rhetorically, "I have your answer." He said and his Eldritch magic circles turned red as he started channeling the energy of the Chaos Dimension through the conduit of the ritual circle below his feet.
He chanted something and brought his hands together before separating them apart as multiple crimson nodes appeared all around him, however, they were somewhat dim as if weakened - it seemed as if they weren't receiving enough power. Even when he tried to focus on one of them to see the contents of the node, he was unable to access it as if something was interfering with his attempt.
"Is he moving around the inside of some kind of neural network?" Tony asked Wong, "Or some kind of web I guess."
"I'm as lost as you are," Wong said, "But I can tell that he's trying to access other realities within the multiverse..."
Strange continued browsing through the multiple realities and kept coming up with blanks. Within seconds, sweat had formed on his forehead and a drop dripped from his brow as he screamed, "What the hell is going on!?" His hands shook as the nodes and the connections all disappeared. The levitation of his cloak faltered for a moment as he fell down on the slab. It prompted all four Beasts to roar at him in defiance and wrath.
Steve frowned, "Aren't these beasts supposed to be under his control?"
"They don't look very under control to me..." Tony commented as he got ready for an actual fight.
"I know, I know! Let me try again." Strange said to no one in particular with an irritable tone as he floated above the slab once again and took a breath to prepare himself. He channeled his sling ring before creating a portal in front of him.
"Strange! Stop this farce!" Wong couldn't let Strange continue to do whatever he was doing. The portal that Strange had opened led to Agatha and the Darkhold. Wong threw his sword at Strange's extended hand, making the man flinch back and preventing him from grabbing the Darkhold. Wong then cast a spell that destabilized the portal and made it fizzle out of existence.
"Can't you see, Wong?" Strange tried to cast the portal once again to try and get the Darkhold, "I'm trying to fix everything!"
"All you're doing is giving in to the latent will of Chthon," Wong destroyed the portal once again and tried to attack Strange, but was interrupted by the Elder Beast that was in front of him. It roared and sent a ball of Chaos energy at him.
"Keep them busy!" Wong shouted as he dodged the Elder Beast and approached Strange, "I'll take care of him."
"I knew this was a bad idea..." Nat commented as she cracked her knuckles before jumping at the Elder Beast that was approaching Wong.
[No you didn't.] Alex said, [You had the same curiosity as Stark.]
[Yeah, well they don't know that.] She said cheekily to Alex as she kicked the Elder beast in the face.
"Start pulling your weight Tony, Cap isn't going to be much more use than a projectile today," Nat said with a laugh as she kneed the back of the Elder beast's head and created a scythe in her hand.
"I take offense to that," Steve shouted as he intercepted one of the beasts and hit it in the face with his Vibranium brace.
"She's not that wrong..." Tony commented as he saw the beast having been barely affected by Steve's attack. He charged it and powered his palm repulsors before grabbing its head and blasting both repulsors at full power. The beast roared as smoke rose from its head, but it still seemed alive as a red glow appeared on its head, acting as a shield that protected it significantly from that lethal attack. Tony was relentless and continued attacking it while keeping it engaged in close combat alongside Steve.
Back on Nat's side, she swung the scythe that she'd created on her arm at the beast's neck, planning to decapitate it in one go. Sensing the lethal attack, the beast threw a red ball of chaos. energy at the scythe to block it. The red ball collided with Nat's scythe, but it just passed through the ball of energy, cutting the beast's head.
It was so abrupt that it even surprised Natasha. She was frozen for a second when she realized that one of the beasts was dead.
[Focus.] Alex said. He was the one who manipulated the beast's Chaos energy to allow the scythe to pass. Unlike Wanda or any Chaos-based entity in general, he was only a manipulator. Even the spells that he could cast were done using Wanda's energy, so the temple never realized his presence.
Alex then directed Natasha to the other two beasts that were approaching Wong and Strange who were engaging in a duel of mystic arts. They seemed equally matched to Natasha and she could tell that if the beasts got involved, Wong would lose, badly.
[How'd you break through the sphere...] Nat asked as she jumped above the two Elder beasts and landed behind them.
[I'm bonded to Wanda too, honey. Chaos Energy isn't really a big deal to me.] Alex told her as she created two whips and wrapped them around the Elder Beasts' torsos, stopping their advance.
[Then can't you deal with that guy too?] She asked as she pulled the whips taut and sent a jolt of lightning through them, electrocuting both beasts.
[No can do.] Alex told her, [I'm looking for an opportunity to do something.]
Nat understood that Alex was after something. And that's why he was so closed off this whole time, [You're looking to get something from those two sorcerers.]
[Kinda.] He said, [I didn't really expect Strange to go all demonic and get himself corrupted by the temple palace's lingering will. But now that he is, I can put my plan into motion.]
[Well, whatever...] Nat said as she saw the beasts recovering from her attack. She yanked both whips and pulled both beasts back with her enhanced strength.
-x-X-x-