The team and I went at it for nearly 12 hours straight after our first bout. Each time, I limited different abilities, learning to fight against opponents with some of my repertoire sealed away.
Surprisingly, my angel abilities became my favorites once I got a handle on fighting with them exclusively. I was nowhere as fast as Pietro, but I trained my body and Predator gaze to be so sensitive that I could predict which direction he was coming from. After that, it was simply dodging, triggering Time Sage, and dishing out some sweet vengeance.
It didn't always work, though, as Pietro adapted quickly and learned to be more elusive with his attacks. He had to work a lot on his acceleration. He was either too fast and easy to counter or too slow to dodge my counterattacks and traps.
Gust and Wind Blade also got a hell of a workout, as did Aquilas and Osiris, causing both skills to upgrade.
Wind Blade (Adept)
Radically increase or reduce the damage of a Wind blade by feeding energy into it before attacking. All attacks get a flat 50% damage boost. Wind blades are dramatically easier to conjure. Costs reduced to 10 AE per blade.
Gust (Adept)
Channel angel energy into your wind affinity and generate a strong gust that grants a passive speed boost upon activation on self. Maximum speed bonus has increased to 70%, medium bonus to 45%, and low activation to 25%. Gust is also 50% more effective and easier to manipulate.
By the time we left the Simulacrum, Wolverine had grown the most. The Extremis formula affected his regeneration more than we anticipated. Now, he no longer had to sleep, breathe, or eat if he didn't want to. He was a perpetual energy machine that produced ludicrous amounts of heat energy, which he funneled into his claws, movements, and breath attacks.
He would've been a legitimate threat had I not been entirely immune. Rin was a close second. Between the deluges of heat energy and training with me, we were closer than ever in stats. I'd estimate he had about 150 across the board. Add a bit of juice, and he could go toe-to-toe with me.
With enough time and absorption, Rin even managed to match my stats in my Devil Trigger form, though he couldn't maintain it for long. His energy manipulation went to hell, and he ended up chasing after me, bleeding massive amounts of energy with every step. I beat him without ever laying a finger on him. It was a humbling experience for my young apprentice, but ultimately, it was very useful information.
Ulyetrix wasn't the type to hold back. He might charge Rin all the way up without even realizing it.
Mordo didn't fall behind either. He got ridiculously fast at weaving spells, his hands practically a blur as he cast increasingly complicated portals and counterspells to combat me and Pietro.
When we exited the Simulacrum, Scott was in the courtyard talking to Kaecilius with worry etched on his face.
"You're the only one I know who hasn't drank the Dante Kool-aid," he said. "How safe do you think the mansion is?"
"Safe enough that you don't need to share your concern with a perfect stranger," I said with a forced smile. I had made it a point to keep the mansion's location hidden from Kaecilius but not Mordo. This version of the sorcerer was honorable enough, but he was far too desperate and hungry.
"Do you have a problem with me?" Kaecilius asked.
"No more than you do with me," I said. "Just because I look like my brother doesn't mean I am him."
'No, you're worse,' I heard him think.
"Wait, you have a brother!" Pietro asked. Logan also looked similarly surprised.
"Twin brother," Rin clarified. "Apparently, he was the boss before the boss was the boss."
"Thanks for the running commentary as always, Rin," I said with a tight smile. Turning to Scott. "And as for you, the compound is as safe as it can be. We have turrets, shields, mines, and an omega-level mutant on the premises. Nothing is getting in. And even if it manages to, it's not getting out alive. No one knows where we are, and the mission would last a few days at most."
Scott opened his mouth to speak, but Kaecilius cut him off, eyes scanning Mordo, Pietro, and Logan. He threw an accusatory stare at me.
"You remade them."
I shrugged. "The fight demanded it."
"How many more of us do you plan to…change?" he asked, with a confusing mix of jealousy and rage, which I was not surprised to sense off of him. He was offended that Mordo was likely more powerful than him, even if he didn't necessarily agree with my methods.
He also wondered if I ever planned on extending the olive branch to him. I did not, but I didn't outright say that.
"As many as we need to," I said, "but we really don't have time for this."
Mordo moved before I even had to ask. "I'll gather my squad."
"And I'll go visit Jean," I said. Rin tagged along as I walked past a disgruntled Scott and Kaecilius. Logan and Pietro hung back to talk to them.
Jean was still asleep when I found her, but her mind was awake. She mentally reached out, and when I connected to her, I found myself standing in a copy of my workshop at the mansion.
"I see the illusion training is coming along well," I said, not bothering to turn around. I knew she was standing right behind me.
"You're no fun," she teased. "You could've pretended to search for me."
"Well, I just came back from 4 days of smithing and no sleep. I'm a bit on a short fuse, all things considered."
She touched my chest. "You do feel very different."
Her touch felt warm, and I smiled. "Thanks." Her voice, however, did nothing to soothe the growing anxiety concerning the impending fight. "You know I expected Quellitrax's third attack, even accounted for a giant monster. What I hadn't foreseen was you getting hurt."
"I'm fine…for the most part," Jean clarified. "I'm just recovering. Healing Piotr took more energy than my body could safely output, which basically fried my nervous system. The Phoenix is taking this opportunity to teach me about healing myself with my abilities. It's very complicated."
"My potions still work just fine."
"And you're literally selling your soul bit by bit," she said. "I won't be a part of that."
My lip stiffened, and I sighed. "Take all the time you need, but don't take too much time. I'm hopeless without you."
Jean's mental projection somehow blushed. "Of course you are."
--
The next morning, we gathered in an open field outside Wakanda with our entire strike force. Tony had spent most of the morning rigging Wakanda's fliers with five Nephilim rockets each, which were supposed to be saved for the final confrontation.
The rest of the bombs were remote-triggered and were in my dimensional pocket.
The group was divided into three strike teams, each comprised of members of the Thunderbolts, the Mutant Liberation Front, and the new SHIELD strike force.
Tony had told no lies when he said that his exoskeletons were ready. They all ran on arc reactors but looked like proto-iron man armor. Their thrusters were short-distance, and they had dual repulsors on their hands as well as retractable swords for piercing monsters in close combat. They also had a Uni-beam for an ultimate and carried Stark Industries' new energy cannons.
Every other person else was gifted with white Vibranium suits that granted more protection from the environment than anything else. They'd make fighting in the snow easier, but with their protection bracelets, they should be extra tanky.
Tony also provided several Arctic exploration vehicles retrofitted with low-yield missiles and 50-Cal guns for easier transportation around the frozen desert.
Each team also had its resident sorcerer whose duty was to coordinate long-distance attacks and provide avenues for rescue, retreat, interference, and escape.
Team one comprised the acid-spitting girl, three exoskeleton soldiers, Tony Stark, Captain America, Clint Barton, and Rin.
Team two consisted mostly of members from the original Brotherhood—Sabertooth, Magneto, and Wanda. Their numbers were supplemented by Kurt, Mordo, and three exoskeleton soldiers.
The final group consisted of Lauren, five exoskeleton soldiers, Wolverine, and Pyro.
Pietro and I were the final team because no one else could keep up. Besides Wakanda's air support, I estimated we'd be racking up the highest kill counts.
Our team also had the secondary function of searching for Ulytetrix. When we were satisfied that the monster population was sufficiently culled, we'd converge on the squid and attack.
If everything went well, Ulyetrix should be dead before morning, and I should be soaking up the greatest Red Orb windfall of my life.
"What do you think our odds are of this plan actually working?" Clint, who was in charge of team one, asked.
"Is the sky blue? I have absolute faith that shit will hit the fan the moment we run into Ulyetrix."
Clint laughed. "Pragmatic to a fault. You'd have made a great agent. Or a terrible one, depending on who your superior was."
I shrugged. "I'm just being realistic. Who knows what kind of eldritch horrors that monster will have waiting for us. 12 hours is a long time to give an alien octopus to prepare. Even with the heaviest hitters on our side, I still think it's going to be close."
Clint sighed in acknowledgment. "What I'd give to have Natasha by my side. Why did she have to be away on mission."
"Shouldn't it be the other way around," I asked. "I can't imagine you're excited to fight an entire continent of horrors."
"If I don't, who will?" Clint asked.
"True enough," I muttered.
Mordo walked up to me and spoke. "Everyone is ready."
"Right," I said, collecting myself. The strike team cleared a path for me, and I made it to the front of the group. From a cursory scan of their minds, I could tell that they were nervous—even the virtuous Captain America questioned the immediacy of the mission. That kind of doubt could get them killed.
Although the notion made my skin crawl, I made an exception and offered a rousing speech.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this. This will probably be the hardest challenge any of you have ever faced. It will be your first contact with something truly alien. Have no illusions that they will be friendly. Their leader is raising an army of monstrosities. Most of us standing here don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but we can all agree that having a threat in our backyards is a bad thing. So, I say we storm the arctic, kick its ass, and get back to plotting against the demons."
There were no cheers by the end, but I wasn't expecting any. It wasn't that kind of speech, but I did sense it—the mood had lifted.
We stepped through different portals, arriving at Antarctica simultaneously. The wind roared around me and Pietro.
It took some time, but we all synched over satellite radio.
Fury's voice rang out. "Alright, you all know what to do."
---
Rin.
The fighting started almost immediately. A pack of hungry Ice-covered wolves rushed in our direction, and Tony Stark was, surprisingly, the first to speak. He caught it on the sensors on his suits and tapped a few buttons on a floating display above his hand.
"Incoming," he warned, unloading a salvo of missiles from the Snow Truck that escorted us.
Most of the wolves dodged the explosions, and the few that didn't either died immediately or were rapidly regenerating well into their second phase of evolution.
"Open suppressive fire," Clint ordered, and the soldiers fell in line and fired as one. They bathed the landscape in blue energy fire, flash-frying whole body parts of animals, only to watch them rapidly regenerate and become faster and stronger. But it was like the boss reported; they all had limits.
Energy fire converged on each enemy the soldiers managed to cripple, and they quickly finished them off, but it came at the risk of leaving their flanks open.
The 50-Cal guns whirred to life when the monsters came to a close, but they had less effect than even Tony Stark predicted. Some monsters managed to wade through the Tsunami of energy fire well into their third phase and became extremely impact-resistant.
I had to step in to keep our resident genius safe. My longsword morphed into a hammer as I rocketed forward with demonic energy. It came down with a brutal finality with all of its runes singing. The beast exploded in a spray of bones and gore, and I spun around, moving on to my next target.
A beast that was trying to muscle down the Captain. He ducked underneath its charge, letting it slide over his extended hand blade. It opened up the wolf's side. It screeched in annoyance and charged again. The Captain let his rifle fall to the side, dangling off his strap, and raised his shield. He brought down the edge on the neck of the charging beast with all of the strength the exoskeleton provided, and decapitated the monster. Before it could recover, the Captain put his blade through its heart.
He didn't even look winded.
Perhaps that confidence was why he didn't sense another wolf trying to tackle him from behind. My modified energy pistol cleared my hip, and I put a hole in its eyes, stopping it dead before it recovered. Three extra shots rang out, perforating its head and heart.
The Captain turned around to look at me and nodded in thanks while I joined the fray.
The rest of the pack fell shortly after. By the end, I was bursting with energy, enough to strengthen every aspect of me ever so slightly. The cost of permanent enhancement has grown substantially since my rebirth, but the trade-off has been worth it.
I was stronger than I could've ever imagined, and I could now control demonic energy.
"That went surprisingly well," Tony Stark said, raising a section of his armor to reveal his face.
"I'll say," Clint interjected. "We were almost run through."
"You should let me charge their line before the fighting start next time," I said.
"Are you sure that'd be wise?" The Captain asked. "You'd take friendly fire."
"I've grown a lot since the last time you saw me Cap," I said. "I can take it."
Captain America looked at Clint, who nodded. "Noted then."