When the trembling young man stood up, it was as if he was shouldering a ten thousand pound weight, the sound of his crushed bones was grating to the ears.
The immense power of Spider-Man was resisting this invisible pressure. Riley felt as if all his bones were broken in another world, he struggled to get up, but helplessly fell again.
"Xu... Xu..." Riley's dying voice called the name of Xu Shang-Chi, who quickly rushed over. Riley's dilated pupils could not even focus, but he still managed to squeeze out a sentence from between his teeth-
"Branch, branch... give me, give me the branch..."
Xu Shang-Chi hesitated a moment. Riley, exerting all his strength, turned his head. His lifeless eyes fell on the nearby bonfire. His chest felt as if it was being crushed by a huge rock, immovable, but his limbs began to convulse.
"Quick, quick... I can't be controlled by it, go quickly!!"
In the midst of Riley's shrill screams, Xu Shang-Chi, disregarding everything, stumbled over to the bonfire and picked up a branch that had not been fully burnt.
But Riley, as if having had a sudden resurgence of strength, sat up and snatched the branch from Xu Shang-Chi. His lips began to move uncontrollably as the notes of that melody seemed to be on the tip of his tongue, ready to burst forth.
Tears overflowed from the young man's eyes. Beyond the tragic fate of Spider-Man that he bore, the many hardships that made him contemplate his existence countless times solidified his determination, as if he was gripping the throat of fate when holding this branch.
Under Xu Shang-Chi's shocked gaze, Riley grabbed one end of the branch, then savagely thrust the sharper end into his own eardrum.
"Squelch! Squelch!"
With blood oozing out from both his ears, the young man finally loosened his grip, his hands slackening and falling back. Jarvis rushed over and held up Riley's head, but Riley could no longer hear what he was saying.
Xu Shang-Chi came over to Riley, looking at his blood pouring ears, the terrifying fear that he couldn't resist gradually took root in his heart.
Riley sat back next to the bonfire, staring straight into the flames. Xu Shang-Chi and Jarvis also sat down next to it. Jarvis mouthed to Riley, "Are you okay?"
"I need to talk as little as possible." Riley said in a hoarse voice. "It wants me to sing...."
Jarvis fell silent, then looked at Xu Shang-Chi and asked, "Do we just wait here? Until when?"
"Until dawn." Xu Shang-Chi swallowed and said, "We must wait until dawn."
"Will there really be a dawn?" The voice of Wanda came. She was not aware that her tone had become increasingly ethereal and light, or that she had been staring into the flames in the same position for a long time.
"Can you still contact Xeseon?"
When Jarvis's voice came, Wanda had a slight recollection, she took a deep breath, rubbed her eyes hard with both hands, and then said, "I'll try."
After this, she closed her eyes to concentrate and then heard a faint echo in the complete darkness of the Chaos.
"What is that?" The intermittent voice of Xeseon came.
Wanda was puzzled.
"Behind you."
Wanda became afraid.
"Wanda..." Xeseon's voice became weaker and weaker, but before their connection was cut off, Xeseon still made every effort to speak to leave a piece of advice:
"Remember, do not close your eyes before dawn."
Wanda was startled awake to find both Xu Shang-Chi and Jarvis were staring at her. Jarvis asked, "What did Xeseon say?"
"Wanda shook her head.
The night was getting darker, but it also meant that sunrise was getting closer. Wanda kept staring at the flame.
Wanda's eyes had dried up from crying, but she dared not blink anymore. The darkness left when her eyes opened and closed was getting longer. She already understood that if she closed her eyes, something else would open them for her.
Suddenly, Wanda, her eyes full of bloodshot tendrils, stretched out one hand, trembling as she picked up a stick.
Jarvis looked at her in terror, but a barrier of chaos rose in front of Wanda, blocking Xu Shang-Chi and Jarvis.
Behind the barrier, Wanda's eyes grew redder, then tears began to flow. Her face showed a childlike innocence and sanctity as well as a helpless look like a little girl.
"It's coming, it's coming..." Wanda's sobbing could no longer be suppressed. She was panting and trembling, shaking her head uncontrollably and crying, saying:
"My talent allows me to turn illusions into reality, and if I see them when I close my eyes, they can truly descend, descend into my body, gaining my power..."
"What's wrong with you? Wanda! Don't do anything stupid!" Jarvis repeatedly banged on the barrier, but Wanda looked at him through tear-filled eyes and said:
"If I lose control, you all will die... I can't let it descend!"
"But the dawn is almost here!" Jarvis shouted.
Wanda kept swallowing, obviously terrified to the extreme. She looked at Jarvis with somewhat unfocused eyes and said:
"The moment before dawn, chaos is at its densest... it's coming!"
At that moment, fear and cowardice on Wanda's face gave way to an unchallenged power inherited from her father. She cried out with an unprecedented tone:
"I said — you cannot descend!!!"
The powerful chaos power swept away, toppling both Xu Shang-Chi and Jarvis to the ground. The infinite red light, in the darkest moment before dawn, became more intense.
Then, all that power converged within Wanda, flowed into her eyes, making them shine like ghostly fires. In the deepest esoteric night, she preserved the last bit of light from the extinguished bonfire.
Once all the power of chaos that Wanda commanded was condensed into her eyes, the stick in her hand jabbed into her eye sockets. She tilted her head back, tossed her red hair, and let out a dreadful scream:
"Ah!!!!!!"
The same ruthless decisiveness inherited from her father let Wanda push further until she gouged out her own eyes.
The eyes rolled on the ground, it seemed as if something was about to surge out of the uncontrolled chaos within. Wanda used her last bit of strength to crush her eyeballs, letting her power along with those weird shapes vanish into ashes. In an unprecedentedly wild tone, the Scarlet Witch roared:
"Go away!!!!!!"
The Scarlet Witch, drained of all her power, knelt on the ground, tilting her head upward. Her empty eye sockets bleeding profusely, gazing at the stars as if they were a discarded statue on the ruins of an altar for lost faith.
But the blood flowing from her eyes was like moss journeying against the endless desolate time. Beyond the ordained tranquil fate, it wildly sprouted a powerful and vibrant vitality that is unyielding.
With the first light of dawn illuminating the eternal ruins, the stars watching all of this unwillingly retreated.
Infinite glory arose from the distant horizon, the golden morning mist was like billowing waves, gently and forcefully brushing over the city ruins.
The long first night was finally over, it was dawn.