With a heavy thud, Pietro and Lorna landed clumsily on the ground, narrowly evading a dangerous attack. But just then, Lorna's expression changed as her psychic senses detected an imminent threat. Without hesitation, she controlled both her body and Pietro's, attempting to fly and evade the impending danger.
Mid-air, Pietro sensed something and pushed Lorna away, just as his body was pierced by a feather—seemingly, creatures with feathers preferred to use them as weapons, much like the angelic beings Valentine and Racheal, or the current winged creature.
This time, the winged creature's tactic was effective. Pietro, initially wounded by the creature, now had a gaping hole in his chest, making even breathing difficult. Fortunately, in the nick of time, he managed to avoid a fatal blow to his organs. Though the injury looked severe, it was not enough to kill Pietro.
Despite his abilities' limitations, Pietro's enhanced metabolism and regenerative capabilities, far superior to ordinary humans, allowed him not to fall immediately. However, even with the dimensional beings' powers suppressed, Pietro found it challenging to combat them in his current state.
"Pietro? How are you? Are you okay?" Seeing the wound in Pietro's chest, Lorna's face turned pale with worry. She quickly repositioned and urgently inquired.
"Spread out! We need to fight while retreating!" Pietro gritted his teeth, pale but ignoring his wound, focusing instead on the dimensional beings. "The tentacled monster doesn't have wings; it probably can't fly. You carry me, and we just need to deal with the winged one…"
As Pietro spoke, the tentacled creature suddenly took flight, rushing towards them.
"Damn it!" Pietro's face turned grim as he tried to accelerate with Lorna in mid-air, but his speed abilities had not developed to the point where he could boost others. Thus, in this situation, especially airborne, Pietro couldn't assist Lorna; he was more of a burden.
"Throw me down, and we split up!" Realizing this, Pietro quickly made a decision. "If we keep this up, we'll both die here. Let's split. These creatures aren't targeting us specifically; they seem to be attacking indiscriminately."
"Split up?" Lorna frowned, unwilling to accept Pietro's suggestion as it was not the outcome she wanted to see.
"You don't want us both to die here without even someone to avenge us, do you? Maybe they'll target you if you attract their attention." Pietro smiled wryly, jokingly adding, "Just don't blame me if I run too fast!"
"Fine! Let's see who can make it out!" Lorna finally nodded, her telekinetic force bursting forth. Pietro felt uncontrollable as he was flung away, not towards the ground or the creatures, but back the way they had come.
In that moment, Pietro panicked. His previously calm demeanor vanished; he had intended to deceive Lorna into dropping him so he could distract the creatures while she escaped. But now, Lorna had actually thrown him far away, making it difficult for him to return quickly to support her.
"Damn it, Lorna! What are you doing?" Pietro yelled angrily as he tried to control his trajectory in mid-air, but without leverage, the speedy Pietro couldn't change his course, especially with telekinetic force pushing him away from the battlefield.
"Pietro, did you think I didn't know what you were planning? You wish! Even if you're my brother, who has been looking after whom since we were born? You're trying to deceive me, not realizing the gap in our intellects," Lorna scoffed as she watched Pietro being flung away.
"Quick, go get help. If you can't get Peter and the others to avenge me, I won't let you off even in death! And if I end up looking terrible in death, make sure Johnny burns my body to ashes. I don't want to die looking hideous!"
As Lorna spoke, she sensed a terrifying erosive force and saw a shadow rushing towards her. "You monsters! Die!" she exclaimed, her telekinetic powers bursting forth unrestrained. At that moment, Lorna felt a spiritual ascension, everything around her seemed to slow down—a sensation similar to what Pietro described when entering the speed domain. Her telekinetic powers felt stronger and more destructive.
Without hesitation, Lorna directed all her telekinetic energy towards the two dimensional beings. "Reaching a new level in a life-and-death situation, not bad..." Wanda's satisfied voice echoed. "Pietro's talent is lacking, but it'll do! Let these two dimensional beings perfect them!"
At Wanda's words, the bodies of the dimensional beings exploded instantaneously, not turning into a gory mist but into pure energy, which then merged directly into Lorna and the distant Pietro.
With a resonant "hum", both Pietro and Lorna glowed brightly for a moment before collapsing to the ground, unconscious, their bodies undergoing an unknown transformation. As the transformation proceeded, the injuries on Lorna and Pietro's bodies rapidly healed, and their physiques even seemed to be improving further, with only their tattered clothes as evidence of the fierce battle they had just endured.
"These two powers suit them well," The Ancient One mused, watching the unconscious Pietro and Lorna. "During my travels across parallel universes, I've seen their counterparts, whose abilities were similar but distinct. Now, their powers have truly aligned?"
"If their powers were exactly the same, why would I bother doing all this?" Wanda chuckled softly, responding, "You should know, those two dimensional beings were not easily chosen from countless others. They were specifically selected to address Pietro and Lorna's shortcomings and enhance their capabilities, shortcomings that their counterparts in parallel universes still suffer from…"
"Their potential may not surpass that of their counterparts, but with these upgrades, their abilities are certainly more comprehensive. How far they can go depends on their own efforts now. Besides, it's time for you to come back. I've been guarding the dimensional gates for you these past few days, even cutting off a few tentacles of dimensional lords!"
"I wasn't exactly slacking off; I was busy searching for these two dimensional beings, wasn't I? Running so far, it seems like you think I wasn't putting in effort!" The Ancient One retorted with a smirk, unwilling to admit she had also taken the opportunity to rest for a few days.
Meanwhile, unknown to them, time passed, and eventually, Peter Parker opened his eyes, a spark of electricity flickering within as he noticed the length of time Pietro and Lorna had been away. He turned to Barry Allen and the others, who were also developing their abilities, and voiced his concern.
"Hmm?" Barry and the others snapped back to reality, realizing that Pietro had been in a bad mood so they hadn't followed him, but Lorna should not have been gone this long. Even if Pietro hadn't recovered, Lorna should have returned by now.
"Could something have happened? Let's go look for them!" Peter frowned, voicing his worries.
"They should be fine, right? Even if they encountered a demon, they should be able to run away, right? After all, one is fast and the other can fly and use psychic barriers…" Johnny Storm scratched his head, expressing his doubts.
"We should still check it out!" Peter paused briefly, still feeling uneasy. He then said to Johnny, "Johnny, you're the slowest, stay here and guard the ice casket. Susan, you and Barry come with me…"
"Okay!" Johnny didn't object, knowing well that his speed was indeed the slowest. Although Peter's speed wasn't much faster than Johnny's before, now that Peter wielded Mjolnir and possessed the power of Thor, not only could he fly, but he also flew very fast!
With a whoosh, Peter, holding Mjolnir, led the way as a streak of lightning vanished from the spot, followed closely by Barry, who left a trail behind. Bringing up the rear was Susan Storm, whose flying speed was decent.
"Peter isn't just showing off his new speed, is he?" Johnny muttered, watching the direction in which Peter had disappeared. "Hmm, how does the power of thunder assist in flying? By surrounding the body with thunder? Could I possibly fly using a similar method?"
"Robert often told us to learn to develop and research our abilities. In the absence of acquiring other powers, it seems indeed the only way we can improve. So, can my explosive flames make me fly? Does blasting off count as flying?"
As Johnny spoke, his gaze inadvertently drifted to the ice casket. The casket, like Mjolnir, was a relic, but unfortunately, it had no master recognition setting, and no one in Robert's team had similar cryogenic powers.
Johnny had fantasized about mastering both ice and fire, which sounded very cool just thinking about it. However, after Pietro once touched the ice casket and nearly damaged his fingers, Johnny dared only touch the casket with his palms covered in flames.
But the ice casket clearly repelled the fire powers, reacting to Johnny's explosive flames as if it might release a cold stream on its own, scaring Johnny enough to quickly withdraw his hand, fearing the casket might unleash its power and freeze everything around.
After all, the ice casket had once encased Kara, and Johnny's explosive flames couldn't harm Kara, indicating that with his current strength, he wasn't capable of contending with the cold stream within the casket.
Elsewhere, Peter Parker and Barry Allen swiftly traversed the terrain, almost side-by-side, following the path Pietro and Lorna had taken. Soon, their expressions shifted, and they accelerated their pace.
"Pietro?!"
"Lorna?!"
Peter and Barry eventually found Pietro and Lorna lying on the ground, unconscious. Noticing their torn clothes and blood stains, both of them furrowed their brows, cooperatively examining the siblings' conditions, while Peter vigilantly scanned the surroundings. However, they found no enemies or bodies.
"They're still breathing; it seems they've just fainted. They appear to have been injured, but there are no wounds visible?" After carefully checking, Barry murmured in confusion, unable to understand what had happened to leave them in such a state yet without visible injuries.
"What's this? A feather?" Soon, Peter's eyes lit up as he spotted a blood-stained feather on the ground—the only trace left by the dimensional beings. But this single feather only deepened their confusion.
"What happened to them?" As Peter and Barry puzzled over this, Susan Storm also arrived, her expression anxious as she inquired about their condition.
"Use your telekinesis to take them back, try contacting Robert…" Peter paused briefly, then decisively made a decision.
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