Chapter 54: Tea and... Tear?
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This history has no interest in offending any party. Having the sole objective of only entertaining the readers. Enjoy~
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"Assumptions are made and most assumptions are wrong"
-Albert Einstein
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Recap: In the last chapter, Illyana has awakened her power and is transported to another dimension under unknown circumstances. To prepare for the rescue mission, Eidolon decided to visit the most knowledgeable and trustworthy person that he can think... The Ancient One.
....
Assumption breeds arrogance, which breeds mistakes.
That's the main reason why I'm coming to talk with the Ancient One. The nature of my power allows me to grow strong and steadily without taking risks.
Obviously, is already been proved that actively seeking power and accomplishing great feats helps with the Gacha, but eventually, I would have power that people can only dream of without doing shit.
So this allows me to have a huge leeway to choose the risks that I want to take.
Yes, I am in a dangerous universe, where the power roof is one of the highest in all fiction. Yes, I have a sense of urgency in at least being strong enough to survive medium-level threats(Mediul-level=Planet burst shit), thankfully I am already in a somewhat comfortable position.
So, there's no need to take crazy risks like traveling the galaxy collecting power and artifacts, like invading the Collector's place or having contact with someone stronger than me, even if I could gain something from that.
Depending on my paranoia, I would never even exchange a word with someone I can't one-shot in this world. But alas, it can't be like that.
I know that not everyone is an enemy... Everyone is a potential enemy. And this is where my contingency plans enter.
But there are people out there, that is... a little out of my scope, even if I prepare. I would not go down easily, but... Certain defeat is the result.
Can you blame me for not wanting to put myself in a potential boss fight without grinding enough and without extra lives?
First of all, I know the "plot" of the actual situation. Illyana is on the Limbo, I know the name of the responsible too... Belasco. She would eventually make a cool sword, age up and then escape.
Nice... No problem. Happy ending. This is her origin story.
But...
Assumptions are dangerous.
Will she really escape? Is she really on Limbo? What if this is a dark universe where she dies?
There's no Amora or Frost Giants in the first Avengers movie either. No Warlock's Eye. No Loki empowering himself with the Casket of Ancient Winters. The Portal would be closed without me having to use Captain America Shield to save New York.
My rational brain always says to me that I'm not special. That I'm not some sort of Main Character or anything like that. If I die today, the universe will continue to expand and the world will continue to spin without me.
But... Why if I'm here to bring some sort of balance and prevent bad ends? Maybe this universe is like the dark multiverse of the DC where bad things happen and are fated to tilt to the evil side and I'm here to balance things.
Maybe without my interference, or at least some help things can go downhill.
It needs only one bad day after...
That would explain some things. Me, here with the Essence.
At the same time, people are not my side characters. They are their own being and plenty capable of surviving and growing without me having to babysit them.
When and where to intervene is a dilemma of mine that I ponder almost every day. The same dilemma that I pondered in the past about taking the nuke out of Iron man hands.
Too much doting can spoil them. And in the worst case, they will end up lacking when they are the most needed.
But I'm not letting Illyana's fate to chance. She is the sister of my subordinate and a kid. Sorry if you will not become a badass magic mutant Half-demon with a soul sword, Illyana.
You can grow in another way.
Now, before going to save her. Let's gain some information from the Ancient One. It seems that he is still alive. Makes sense, Strange accident is last year, not even 10 months have passed.
Not even the guy can become Sorcerer Supreme so fast.
Again, assumptions are dangerous. All my meta knowledge could be wrong and Illyana could be in another hell dimension, the enemy can be another. Better be safe than sorry.
And if was not for the, till now, 100% rate of people here having the "right/canon" personality, I would have risked delving into Limbo without coming to Kamar-Taj.
So the chances of the Ancient One being an evil Dumbledore are slim. Not zero, but slim...
I'm still on guard, but my Danger Sense is not alerting me even while I follow the mild-mannered Asian man that looks like a stereotypical monk through old halls. So this could go well and even open some doors for me to learn magic in the future.
Normally, this moment would be when I would strike up a conversation to gain information, but I have a feeling that would be for naught... Hmm, would be a breach of etiquette to use the All Seeing Eyes to look around?
There's even an etiquette about it? I don't know.
The monk guy opens a huge double door, without using magic, and then my senses alert me that this is a portal door of some kind. The temperature, sounds, and pressure is very different from the outside.
I can tell that we're high on a mountain now.
"Follow me." The monk says, Leading me through an open space. To my side, I can see some disciples doing exercises, sparks of different colors flying with their synchronized movements
So orange is not the universal color of these things, huh? The MCU is wrong again. Maybe is like the chakra in Naruto. Surprise surprise, everyone has chakra in Naruto with different colors, blue is simply the standard used in the anime.
Minato is called Yellow Flash, not only because of his hair. His rasengan is yellow in the colored pages of the manga.
I search around to see if I can find Strange, but to no avail.
The monk passes by other... acolytes? - Is this the word? – Bowing his head to them and them to him. They greet me with a bow too, and I nod to them.
Finally, we arrive at a very inconspicuous door.
"The Ancient One is inside." My guide says and goes away.
Oookay... Bye to you too.
My Danger sense is still not accusing anything.
The tabs of the Essence are open in the corner of my vision, ready for me to take off a bunch of Power Boost cards so that I can use them in a power or an item, in case of danger.
Yep, some things need to be done redundantly with the Essence. Like buying monthly the GP with money, taking the card out, and holding it to bring the item or character.
I hope there's a next patch that improves it. Mental Control Mechanic or something like that. Or maybe simply me and the Essence growing together. I literally have had this power for 4 months.
I open the door and find myself in a very normal living room in a style. There are two chairs and a small table. High, but thin Windows keep the place illuminated.
There's not much on it, decoration-wise, a small cabinet with some things that look very normal, some plants that also look normal, and some art and caligraphy on the walls.
Nothing mystical or fantastic.
Even the only man in the room looks normal.
If we ignore his purple and yellow robes, he just looks like a normal 60-year-old Asian man. His head is bald and he has a respectable goatee that reaches below his neck.
And I sigh mentally looking at him... Haah~ So not even he can't escape the curse of all men... Baldness.
I also wonder if having a goatee is necessary to be the Sorcerer Supreme. And...
He is a man. As expected, there's no reason for him to be a woman.
If I remember correctly, The Ancient One is only a woman in the MCU because Marvel was owned by Disney and is owned by China, so... A stereotypical Chinese dude would be offensive... Pffft. Pathetic.
How so being the wise, cool and most powerful human in the entire universe be pejorative? Weirdos...
I hate this gender-swapping shit, only for the sake of gender-swapping.
Well, at least Tilda Swinton delivered very well, can't complain. She was the face of the Ancient One in my other old but is not right, sorry.
"Oh, you're here. Come help me with the tea." He says with a calm smile while carrying a tray in his hands. Tea, huh? Classic "Do you know how to properly set a tea table?" he asks
"Yes." I answer and go to help him.
I really do. And my knowledge of the tea ceremony comes from the unexpected Hanma Yujiro, that brute guy is surprisingly elegant and knowledgeable about all kinds of etiquette.
"Do you like tea?" He asks me while he brings a sophisticated teapot in the shape of a bird- no, a Roc.
"Who doesn't like tea?" I say back while organizing the table.
I notice that he prefers to do everything step by step, very calmly. One would expect him to snap his fingers and make the tea appear magically, but I can understand him now that I have so many powers.
There's something enjoyable in doing things with your own hands.
"Wu Hao tea, one of the few luxuries that I allow myself to indulge in this old age." He says with a smile while giving me the teapot.
I put the tea to the two of us, him first obviously, as a sign of f respect.
He is older than me, he is more powerful than me and he protected the universe for a long time. Any of these things can earn my politeness, all together earns my respect, even if I don't know him too much.
And I'm, technically, in his home too.
"Take a seat" He gestures to me.
I nod at him and take a seat. After some minutes of silence and enjoying the tea, he finally says
"I'm sure that you have something to ask me..." He says
"Didn't you already know what I'm going to ask anyways?" I ask purposefully a little petulant
He only chuckles at my words "The process is equally important as the result sometimes, is not good to skip it." He says
"Very well, Illyana Rasputin has been kidnapped or fallen, in some sort of hell dimension. I would like to know everything that you can say to me about the dimension, the inhabitants, the power level, races, and the probable culprit." I say directly "I'm in a hurry..." I add after some time
He massages his goatee while thinking.
"Little Illyana will not have her life endangered, but she will face tribulations above her age..." He comments wistfully
At this moment I expected him to turn back to me and ask if I don't know already about Illyana's fate, maybe aware that I'm originally from another universe(maybe a multiverse).
But he comments nothing about it.
So I flipped the script
"Shouldn't you do something about it, if you look so sad because of her fate... Maybe you could snap your fingers and bring her back. She is a six-year-old, and her brothers are worried..." I say accusatorially.
He turns to me with a smile.
"Heh, you could stop this now. This probing through rudeness... You are not wrong in doing it, but is unnecessary. And now that I pointed it out, unreliable." He says with his eyes twinkling a little.
"..." I just look at him for some time before reclining on my chair "Alright, but I'm really in a hurry. Say what you think that I need to know before I go." I say acting normal.
He was not wrong.
I was probing him. Trying to gauge his personality. And consequently how much contact I will have with him in the future. From never coming back to see him again, to casually coming to borrow some magic books and watch the teachings of the masters of the mystical arts.
In my other life, I read a lot of fanfic where the MC receives wishes from a god or something like that. Dude... If someone that I don't know comes out from nowhere to give me powers I would be very, very on guard.
Seriously, the first thing that I would try to do is gauge the personality of the god in question. If the god is magnanimous and can take a joke or a somewhat rude behavior. Or if the guy looks petty and vindictive. Seriously, I wouldn't accept shit from someone that looks like wants amusement out of my suffering and will be watching and messing with my life.
I would probably ask for small things like a healthy body and mind.
Back to my talk with the Ancient One, I watch him stand up and approach a wall slowly.
"The situation is a little worrying... Little Illyana is right now in Limbo. Not the catholic Limbo, I tell you. There are many 'Limbos'. The catholic one, the purgatory... The two are not the same." He says finally arriving at the wall "With time 'Limbo' became synonymous of 'sealed place of stagnation'. A separated dimension that is not Hell, but can't be considered it's own dimension either. Because have not the fundamentals to be considered an independent dimension."
He swipes his hand and the wall changes. Like the entire wall is a big screen, and he just swiped right. In the place of the inconspicuous wall with some paints and poems, a bookcase appears. "I could explain this subject, but you're in hurry and would take too long." He says casually while he goes to take a book
"The 'Limbo' that interests you now can also be called the 'Otherplace'. Is part of the Nexus of Realities and the centerpiece of the Archipelago of Anguish and Redemption, but this also is not that important." He says while looking at the bookcase, searching casually for maybe another book.
"What you need to know is that fact made the Otherplace a dimension that is visited casually by many sorcerers, demons, and beings of other dimensions. A place easy to enter but hard to get out. So the dangers are unpredictable."
"Did you ever go there?" I ask
"Ah yes, is an excellent place for every aspirant sorcerer to learn demonology. Not so dangerous like the others, and the demons are not that hungry for your soul." He chuckles "There's even a somewhat society..." He comments
"So is like a Hub of activity of Mystical and Demon-related things..." I conclude
"Yes." He says, finally getting another book and turning to me, carrying two books in his hands "Is a magical based dimension, don't forget about it."
I nod "And about the inhabitants? Their power levels? The bigshots? There's a ruler there?" I ask him to fill the gaps in my menta-knowledge
"A normal demon would be stronger and tougher than a human, and smart as one too. There are demonic beasts too. Some demons use magic as well as any sorcerer. But I would say their power level normally can't go beyond that of an Asgardian. So they are no problem to you." He says while giving me the two books. One is thick and the other very slim.
None of the books has a title. One looks downright evil, the thicker one. With a cover that appears to be made of some black animahide and letters written with blood.
Opening it I see that is a book of demonology. Talking about demons, demonic beasts, and how to use them as reagents, make contracts. Also, explaining many hell dimensions.
Skirming fast I get to the part talking about the Otherplace. This book looks like a diary of some sort. A journal of many demonologists. Very useful.
The Ancient One voice cut my thoughts "You need to keep an eye open for people like you... Outsiders... Who knows? Maybe you will end up meeting a sorcerer as good as me collecting ingredients or slaving demons." He says with a playful smile.
"Don't jinx it..." I say sighing. Is he hinting me something?
"But the one that you need to worry about is the somewhat ruler of Otherplace. That one would be an obstacle on your path." He says looking at me more seriously now.
If I didn't know it already, this is would be where he hinted that is Belasco that kidnaped Illyana
"Belasco..." He pointed to the other book, The thin one. "Was a very powerful sorcerer from centuries ago. His talent for the Dark Arts allowed him to make contact with what he thought are the Elder Gods, but in truth are an Offspring of one. The N'garai, more precisely their elite, the Madbhara." He waves his hands and the thin books opens and some pages are flipped to show what he is talking about.
This thin book appears to be a wiki about Belasco.
"Elder Gods..." I say in a low voice reading the part about these demonic beings. My eyes focused on their Creator.
Chthon.
Isn't this the guy from where the Scarlet Witch magical powers come from? The writer of the Darkhold and a future problem. A problem that I want very far in the future...
"Like you should know already, 'Gods' are a broad subject. There are many types beyond your Asgardian friend. The Elder Gods, the Outer Gods..." He answers my no-question.
"Outer Gods? So Lovecraftian lore is not fiction?" I ask just to pry for more information
"Ah, Lovecraft... A great sorcerer that never was..." He exclaims and sighs "He had a natural talent and spirituality. But it was not his fate to cross paths with the Mystic Arts... To this day I don't know if that was a good or a bad thing." He comments
So Lovecraft had the potential to be a sorcerer... Well, knowing the guy I'm glad that this talent was never touched. He is a good example of separating the author from their work.
"Tell me more about this Belasco... Seven centuries and still alive and now a demon..." I say reading the pages of the thin book
"He tried to open a portal to allow the invasion of the N'garai in the past. He was eventually defeated and sealed on the Limbo through a ritual that connects his blessing to that dimension." He explains
He continues "This blessing is something that you need to know. He is virtually indestructible." He says to me with a smile
"..." I sigh "How much 'indestructible'?" I ask to make sure. This universe is full of people claiming invulnerability, but few can really say that are indestructible.
"Very much indestructible. Immortality and Nigh-invulnerability. Impossible to hurt him though conventional means." He says
So basically I will probably fight a low-budget version of the comic!Scarlet Witch with centuries of experience that is indestructible. Okay... I can do it.
"I see... If that's all. I'm going now." I say raising from my seat.
"Everything you need to know is on the books." He says with a smile "You can take them with you and return to me later."
I nod.
Well, so he is pretty sure that I will come back. Good to have his vote of confidence.
...
Leaving the Kamar-Taj, I speed-read the books while high in the air and flying away.
Also, I scan everything and save them with the help of Cortana and my technopathy. Having the mind like a computer is useful, I can even replay things from my memory in a TV or even play music in my mind.
Stopping high in the air, I decide to do something that I don't like very much but would help in this situation.
I touch my face and activate [Foresight], Nighteye's quirk to see the future.
I don't like to rely upon or even use it. This power is unreliable. Even inside the BNHA universe is possible to alter the outcome, so here? And living using this power every day after waking up sounds tremendously unhealthy in many ways.
But there are moments where it can be useful, like right now when I will do a dangerous thing. Could at least serve as a guideline.
I focus on the visions, wanting to see only some dozen of hours in the future.
"..."
Hmm~ I see.
It seems that my confrontation with Belasco is inevitable. Strangely, but not unexpected, the visions became a little blurry when I enter the Limbo(Otherplace) but I saw some interesting things. Three interesting things to be exact.
One, I will fight Belasco. And yes, he is annoying. I could tell even from the little that I saw.
Two, we will meet Illyana, not in a dungeon or a prison.
Yes... "We". I saw first that the X-men will want to follow me.
Sincerely I would prefer to do this mission alone. Is the rational thing to do, but... Rationality can't Always win when a loved one is in Danger.
Is not right to deny Colossus and Mikhail from following. And then I couldn't stop the rest either. It is not like I'm their father.
Okay, if is like that... I will set the mission on my own terms and says some necessary things first.
Using my technopathy, I give a call.
After being answered I say.
"Saeko, are you down to invade a hell dimension and cut some demons?" I can almost hear her grin widening.
......
Preparation is quicker than my talk with the Ancient One.
Get some weapons and visit another guy.
This time I will not Exchange a word with him.
Now I know that the demons of the Limbo speak another language, so I will visit Douglas Ramsey, a.k.a Cypher. The meta that some days ago awakened his power of Omnilingualism.
Unfortubaly, MCU Loki don't have Allspeak. Sucks, huh? Even magic is severely limited. Like he is a Character that the build is all invested in illusion magic.
Is on my list to go to him to copy his powers since two days ago, but this is one of the things that are so easy that you left it for later. And he is seldom alone.
But now he is. He is alone on his room, under the covers of his bed, all depressed.
Using [Somnambulist], Midnight's quirk, I make him go into a deep sleep.
I look around his room for a bit.
It's dirty and dark, with the curtains closed. This guy has an issue.
The problem is obvious, he is depressed because he is a meta with a weak power. He awakened his power, and notice that he is now part of the metacommunity but his power is not good
I even read about this in the BNHA/MHA world. "Depression pos-awakening". Very common, even so when always happens in a child and in a world that values quirks so much.
Everyone wants to have a cool and strong power. But not everyone is lucky in the genetic lottery. A child wants to be the next All Might but ended with the power to change his hair color. Or quirkless.
The dreams are shattered, your first and only chance of being a hero, the first and biggest disappointment in a child's life.
So they became withdrawn, sad, and unmotivated. There's even a booklet teaching parents how to deal with it. How to act even before the awakening. Lowering expectations a little, saying that is common to be normal subtly.
Well, I'm not here to help this guy now. His power is not even so bad. Okay, you're not a flying brick but it has its uses. And your appearance remains unchanged. You can live a normal life.
I extend my hand and copy his power. Take some minutes, but I succesfully acquire and start flying away.
I test the power with the data of the Chitauri and other things.
Okay, this power is low-key busted.
This guy can become the greatest hacker. And being omnilingual helps with magic too, right?
His path is not that straightforward but it is there. He only needs to open his eyes to the possibilities.
....
I appear again in the living room of the X-mansion.
The fact that all X-men are suited up doesn't surprise me.
Okay, let's manipulate the situation a little to my benefit. And cut some wings.
"I'm back." I say to them and start walking in the direction of the hallway where the Sword of Actuation it's still there, I'm thinking of using Power Boost cards in it, because of the talk with the Ancient One and what I've seen in the future.
Now I know that there will be a small upgrade if I use 8 more cards. The vision was fuzzy, but I know that could be useful in a place where magic is the norm. Let's wait for now...
I see Colossus and Mikhail on guard close to my sword, I walk to them while multitasking reading the two books in the files saved in my mind.
"What are you guys thinking of doing?" I ask turning around to look at the X-men following me while all ready to battle. Time for a little teaching.
*Sigh* How do I reach these keeds?? *Cartman Voice*
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Kitty Pryde P.O.V.
Everyone is a little stressed right now.
Simply waiting for Eidolon can be nerve-wracking. All of the X-men are ready to jump into whatever dimension Illyana has fallen down, even Logan and Dr. McCoy returned and are ready.
Eidolon finally appears in the living room, after some words he start heading to the hallway where Illyana disappeared
"What are you guys thinking of doing?" He turns to us when he finally arrives close to his sword
There's something different about him today. He is more serious.
Scott steps forward and says "Obviously, we gonna accompany you." He is in his navy blue costume with a giant yellow X on the chest, and with his "battle glasses".
"I would prefer that you guys not do it, really." Eidolon answers immediately
"Why?" Scott asks
"The truth may hurt but... The chances of you guys getting in the way are not small. The rational option is obviously me going alone." Eidolon says and then turns to give a side glance to the Rasputin brothers "But I think sometimes rationality loses..." He comments
"I want to go help Illyana." Piotr says stepping forward.
"I completely understand. But you all must also understand that this must be done right, the truth is all of you are a liability. There's nothing you guys can do that I can't do myself..." He says frankly while crossing his arms over his chest, below his mantle
Damn, that is hurtful but... I sort of understand, somehow...
And Eidolon is fucking intense now, with no smiles or pleasantries. This is Eidolon in working mode.
"But taking into consideration the feelings of Mikhail and Piotr, would be better that there's a team with them. Capable enough to defend themselves and act independently from me." Eidolon says "But I choose who will come..." He says almost glaring at everyone, daring anyone to challenge him.
He touches his ear like he is talking with someone for a second and then focus on us again. "From here, the ones that will accompany me beyond the two brothers will be..."
"Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Rogue and Shadowcat." He says
Whoa, I'm included! But...
I turn to look at Scott. He is gritting his teeth.
"Beyond them, Shadow and Murasaki will be accompanying us too." Eidolon says gesturing with his hand to an empty space at his side, where a portal opens and from it emerges Eidolon's sidekick and the purple female samurai.
She is called Purple Samurai here in the west, but I read that her name is Murasaki-something-something in Japan, meaning Purple Mist Blade or something like that. Is a long ass name.
I look at her more attentively, the first time seeing her personally after all, she is tall for a woman. Her purple cool hair is tied in a high ponytail. If let loose, I think her hair would go to that Yamato Nadeshiko style. Yes, I'm into anime and mangas.
Even with her Half-Hanya mask is obvious that she is pretty. Long legs, a modest chest... I think. That cloth looks tight, maybe she has huge badoonkas. She has two katanas on her left side.
"A pleasure to meet you all" She says in English, with only a small accent, while bowing to us.
Most of us return the greeting.
But it appears that Scott is not happy with Eidolon letting him out. Logan too.
"Listen here, bub... If I want to go save the girl, you can't stop me. And I'm used to going to fucked up places anyway." He says Half-growling
"And I would appreciate you here much more. There's a reason that I want to let Storm, you and the others are the most 'attack-oriented' metas here. To protect the mansion in our absence." Eidolon says without feeling the least threatened by Logan.
He continues his explanation "Jean and Robert can be the heavy hitters. Even if you don't need a heavy hitter with me going, Robert can help with crowd control, Jean beyond helping with that can help with interrogations of the inhabitants for information. Kitty and Kurt can infiltrate and escape easily, this is a rescue mission I remember you all. And Rogue can absorb information and physiologies of the natives, who know if we need to pass though a defense mechanism that only lets demons in or something like that. Colossus, Mikhail, Shadow and Murasaki can defend all of you against multiple opponents or even a stronger opponent alone." He explains patiently.
"..."
Okay, he got a point.
This lineup is good, even without Eidolon.
"This is also a good opportunity to teach you guys something too. I will not always be here, maybe a similar situation can happen and I will be on the other side of the galaxy. But I also can't bring a dozen of you with me."
Logan looks a little subsided, understanding Eidolon's point. He can look like that, but Logan has a soft spot for the children, so saying to him to stay to protect them is the right call.
Storm doesn't even argue, even though she is worried sick about Illyana.
Scott is on the other side...
"I still think I should go too." He says
Eidolon looks at him, completely done. But then he sighs and starts talking again.
"Cyclops, you're the leader of the X-men, right? When the adults don't make the calls I mean..." He says.
Scott nods
"So let me give you a little lesson about leadership..." Eidolon starts. Hmm... I hope Scott doesn't take this the wrong way, he can be prideful sometimes.
And Eidolon is acting very professionally, even if he is not sugarcoating his words, talking with us like adults and people who work saving lives. Is a little refreshing...
"There are certain steps that one needs to take to be a leader. A leader needs to prove his own competence and capabilities as an individual to all the people he has under his command. This will facilitate and speed the fulfillment of orders and turn the team into a well-oiled machine. That operates very well, minimizing failures. And I need to remember you, failures in the things we do... mean loss of lives." Eidolon says seriously
"The X-men was a young group, you're the older one, but I'm sure that you proved on some occasions that your decision making is good and should be followed by your teammates. But you coming together will be a liability, a loose end in the chain of command of this group..."
"I do not have illusions that my orders will be taken without questioning. You guys don't know me, I can't demand this of you all. Even not intentionally, you guys may turn to look at Cyclops or even Jean every time that I issue a command, turning the process of acting slow... And this can't do." Eidolon frowns.
His frown gives me goosebumps.
He focuses on Scott again"We don't know each other, you may think that your ideas are better than mine and act of your own volition. This will endanger everyone. Okay, maybe not endanger everyone... I'm powerful enough to cover most of your guy's mistakes, one of the reasons I'm even consenting and taking more people. But any confusion generated by your guys will make my life hard, do you understand?" Eidolon explains.
I can understand. Is not like he is condescending. He is speaking facts.
"I'm not dumb, I will not act out of line." Scott argues
"You're saying this now... When emotions cloud your head you may act differently... Let me prove it to you." He looks around and spots Jean. "The situation is pure chaos, destruction and fights everywhere... A battlefield. Jean is falling from high in the sky, high as a skyscraper, unconscious and to certain death, and I order you to ignore her falling and escape to safety with the rest. What would you do?" He points at Jean and ask "My order is a simple 'Cyclops, guide the others to safety'."
An awkward silence falls on us. Everyone knows what Scott would do.
"This means nothing! I can't abandon a friend!" He argues
"Yes, yes. You're not wrong, but is not the right answer either..." He turns to the Purple Samurai "Murasaki, cut your arm."
! The order catches everyone off guard and before anyone could react, she already has pulled one of her katanas and is swinging it at her outstretched left arm.
"!"
When I was ready to scream... Eidolon catches the katana between two fingers.
I and I think a good part of us released a breath. Okay, it was obviously that Eidolon wouldn't let her cut her arm. What I'm thinking?
"That's the ideal relationship between a leader and the ones that follow him. Very important especially if the situation is pure chaos and everyone is in a pinch. If Jean was falling, you would ignore everything and everyone to try to save her. This comes from your own worry and personal feelings taking precedence over my orders." Eidolon explains.
"Again, you don't know me at all, but are you forgetting how fast I am? If Jean is falling from a building I would like everyone to go to safety because is easy to me to save her, no need to waste the efforts of you all that are not even safe." He then scoffs and rolls his eyes "Heck, I could have time to put makeup on her and change her clothes to a wedding before casually catching her. She was never in danger under my watch."
He turns to Scott again, his eyes accusingly "But you don't know that. And even if you know, you don't trust me enough to put her safety in my hands."
"..."
Well, we can't argue about that
"...would be more of an instinct, really." I can't really but mutter.
This makes Eidolon turns to me and I straighten up unconsciously like he is some sort of drill sergeant.
"You're not wrong, familiarity breeds trust and cooperativeness. If I said so, Murasaki here would abandon all of you because she trusts that I have everything under control and trust my capabilities. Is because we know each other." He says gesturing to the female samurai "I ordered her to cut her own arm and she didn't even hesitate. This is the result of her having confidence in my decision-making and the fact that I maybe know something that she doesn't. I don't need to explain all my thoughts to her. Maybe her arm was cursed, she trusted that I would ask her to hurt herself for nothing. And she knows that I could cure her eventually, thanks to this she doesn't even feel bad about doing it."
"Well, she probably figured out that I was asking that just to prove my point, but she was ready to really cut her arm and suffer the pain for the sake of my argument... That's the level of trust she has in me and is not something I can cultivate in your guys today. I explained this so that maybe... Maybe during this mission, this conversation will come to your minds and will make you all make the right choice at a diffcult time." He explains and I turn to the female samurai.
Her expression. Didn't even change. This woman is hellbent on following Eidolon.
If he asked me to cut my arm, even after he explained everything, saying that he would heal me, even if I mentally prepare myself... I would at least flinch.
If Scott says to me to enter in a dangerous place and that he would cover me with his blast... Would do it without hesitation? Yes, I would do it. But nothing without hesitation. And I would still worry about getting hit, worried that he would fail, which might affect my performance.
This woman would jump from certain death if Eidolon say that he would catch her.
So this is the difference between our teams? We're still newbies...
"Now I'm going to ask you again, Cyclops. Even after I said all this... Do you still want to come? Sometimes doing nothing can be the best you can do..." Eidolon looks at him
Well, Eidolon made excellent points and shared his experience, buuuuuut...
"I'm going." Scott answers resolutely the expected.
"Alright then." Eidolon doesn't ever argue and turns around to take his sword.
Eh?! That's it? No more arguing? Is Eidolon tired of trying to convince him?
Like if reading my thoughts, probably notice everyone weird expressions, Eidolon says.
"You are not wrong in wanting to come. They're your team. Is okay for you to try to come to protect them." Eidolon comments without turning back "Your decision could eventually be right and I could be wrong, we will only know later. I'm not you father and I already said my piece..." Eidolon then takes the sword from the spot where is cutting space and then focusing he makes an "X" in the vacuum.
Opening a square-shaped portal, beyond there was only a mass of red clouds and chaos. Whoa, cool as heck.
"This is very common in this world, you know? Is normal to have different ideas and ideals from other people, and this can generate conflicts. The closest example is the Professor with Magneto. That doesn't mean that they hate each other or anything like that..." Eidolon gestures to the Professor and he nods lightly
"So don't be mad if we just disagree. Grow up. But I will warn one last thing to everyone. This time the difference of ideas between me and Cyclops was easily solved. I really don't care... But if the topic is something a little more important..." He turns serious, his sharp gaze on everyone "When two people has different ideas and none of them backs off, conflict is inevitable. So, if during this mission or in the future we get on odds terms... We will fight."
Gulp.
"Who is coming? Organize yourselves." Eidolon says before turning to Mikhail and giving him a short sword... Is that Adamantium??
From our side, we will mostly follow Eidolon arrangements. The only difference is that Scott took Bobby's place. Not a bad idea, Iceman is more suited to a defensive battle.
Turning to Eidolon is Me, Scott, Jean, Rogue, Kurt and Piotr. Adding the Purple Samurai, Shadow, Mikhail and Eidolon himself, this is a super strong line-up.
Damn, with this group we can do anything.
And we are going on a mission with Eidolon! Is wrong to be excited?
"That's it? Okay... Let's go." Eidolon says and I'm ready to step on the portal but then I feel something touch my face and see Eidolon's palm blocking my view.
A flash of azure light is the last thing I see.
...
Marvel Girl, Jean Grey P.O.V.
Whoa *Thunk* I felt myself falling on the ground.
Where I am? The last thing I remember is seeing Eidolon touching my arm and then...
I turn around, noticing that everyone is in similar states of confusion. And it takes me an embarrassingly long time to notice the place where we are.
The sky is filled with red clouds, the ground is a dry desert of black and purple earth. There are some dried trees here and there with different colors, some look like are made of rock and are spiked.
The only living beings I can see beyond us are some black dots flying high in the air that look like birds, but they're making some horrifying sounds.
"Is... Is this hell?" I hear Kurt asks at my side. He is not using the holo-watch that changes his appearance. His blue form exhibited to all to see, no that there's anyone beyond us to see.
"No, just one of the many 'Limbos'." Eidolon answers, only he, Mikhail, Shadow and Murasaki are standing straight from the beginning. Mikhail is helping his brother to stand up.
"Don't stand up just yet... Get used to this place first." Eidolon advice
What he is talking about...? Uhh Ugh... I feel... Dizzy... is hard to breathe.
It takes... One minute, I think, from the sensation go away.
I finally raise myself from the ground.
"What is that?" I ask, approaching Eidolon
He turns to me "This is another dimension... The laws of reality here are different. I can tell that this place is much more magical in nature. Humans, even if they have the potential, are not that mystical. Is even a... weakness, no... a blindspot that we need to overcome. Is natural that we take a little longer to get used. We feel weird from simply going a thousand meters high after all..." He explains
True, we are a little too fragile.
Everyone is already on their feet and getting closer to talking about the next steps.
"What did you do to us?" Scott asks a little accusingly, but even I'm curious
Eidolon doesn't look at him, preferring to focus his gaze on the horizon. "Just taking some precautions to avoid cliches..." He answers casually
"Cliches?" I ask
"Yeah..." he still focused on something else beyond us "I facilitate you guys' transportation so that we wouldn't be separated during the crossing of the portal." He says and he extends his hand and attracts a big rock to him.
When the rock touches his hand, a green light envelops it and then a marble appears on his hand. Looking closely is possible to see the big rock inside the marble.
"Carrying you guys like this prevents the eventual separation between us..." he answers before throwing the rock away
"Oh... These cliches... Very common indeed" Kitty says while nodding her head.
She is probably talking about some fantasy thing.
This aside, being separated would be disastrous, is good that he took precautions. Well, is Eidolon after all.
"Is this way that you carry a bunch of things? Compressing them in marbles?" Kitty asks curiously
"Maybe..." He and his one-word answers.
Eidolon then produces a cloud from his hands. A light blue cloud, very big. At least Twenty feet wide.
"Hop in." He says before jumping in the floating cloud and standing above it. Shadow and Murasaki don't hesitate in jumping on it too.
"What?! This is like that anime... Do you even have the flying cloud of Sun Wukong?" Kitty asks while testing the cloud with her hands "Fluffly..." And then she jumps on it. I follow her afterward. Yeah, really soft.
Everyone climbs in and then the clouds fly to the sky, very fast I could say.
"A jet is too conspicuous in a dimension like this..." Eidolon says and the cloud turns red, to match the sky.
From below must be hard to spot us.
"Hm... This is not like I imagined this place..." Kitty comments while peeking down
"Do you imagine rivers of lava? Damned souls being boiled and whipped?" Eidolon asks with a hint of amusement while keeping his eyes on the front. He is sitting in the forefront of the cloud. Shadow and Murasaki are a little behind him, I'm the closest one beyond the two.
"Ah... well, yeah..." Kitty answers a little bashful
Eidolon and some others chuckle "This is not hell. Is not even the Purgatory, only a dimension of demons." He says "But there are many other people here too, visitors like us..."
"People visit this place?" Rogue asks incredulously
"Is convenient..." Eidolon shrugs his shoulder "You can come here to acquire things or even train. Going to other dimensions to train or harvest resources is somewhat common to the ones that can. No consequences..." He says
"Damn..." Is all that Kitty says
Yeah, damn... Is that common to simply go to another dimension? What world we are living, huh?
"Did you do it before?" I ask him, he finally turns to look at me.
"Do you even heard of Eidolon before I show myself? How do you think I tested my limits?" He says with a hint of mischief in his eyes, and then his expression changes to... sadness? Melancholy?
If it were not for my Empathic power I wouldn't have noticed.
Interesting... Eidolon used other dimensions as training grounds. I ask myself how many stories he has to tell.
"Now this is a good opportunity to teach you some things, Shadow. You all pay attention too..." Eidolon says looking at his sidekick and Murasaki.
His words make everyone perk up. Is not like we are doing anything here either.
He starts "The multiverse is a complex construct of realities or dimensions, with infinities possibilities. There are universes similar to ours, even alternative universes that are almost a copy but with some alteration. There are even alternative versions of ourselves out there."
"Wait... So the thing about evil versions of us is true??" Kitty asks
"Evil, neutral, good... There are many versions of yours out there. Sometimes the circumstances dictate ourselves. What would happen if you guys are not found by the Professor, but instead found by some evil organization that would do all sorts of evil experiments with you guys? Would you all be the same? Maybe you would become bitter, angry, and evil..." He says, making everyone put a contemplative look "Try to remember something that could've go wrong in the past and imagine that in another universe, it really went wrong and this changed you... Maybe Mikhail here was an evil version before I help him. In another universe, he never suffered his accident and lived happily."
"..." The man himself looks a little sad hearing that.
"All sort of different versions of us is out there. Gender-bending versions, versions that never awakened their powers, old and young versions, different races."
"Beyond these parallel and alternative universes, there are completely different dimensions from our own. This place is an example..." Eidolon opens his arms to gesture to the Limbo "Places that is like hell, like fantasy worlds, sci-fi with totally different races, elements or laws of physics and concepts... Heck, this whole reality may be just a plane. Another reality must be as big as our solar system with only one planet."
"There are dimensions that don't carry living beings, only energy... Some people can channel these energies to use you know? It said that the Mjolnir is connected with a dimension of lightning and thunder..." Eidolon explains
"There are ridiculous universes too, where we are animals, made of pizza, where we are two-dimensional or we are made of blocks." He looks at us "So, where do I want to go with this? When you find yourself in a new reality, try to leave whatever common sense behind and be open to learning. Observe carefully first. Maybe in a reality, the green light is to stop and the red light to go. And this is only a small thing from many examples..."
I see Shadow nodding to his words.
"Now, bringing to our situation... First thing first, stay out of trouble and study the place. I already checked if we are not inhaling something toxic and slowing dying but be attentive in the future without me." He says to our surprise "Here we need to see how the inhabitants live. Are they barbaric? Where the strength rules above everything? There's a social hierarchy? Who are the elite and who are the oppressed? What is the language? The currency?"
"Sincerely, realities where strength rules above everything are very simple and straightforward. Just be strong and not attract the attention of something stronger and you can do anything. Take anything. No consequences..."
"Ah~ If you're lucky, sometimes 'the trash of one is the treasure of another' so maybe there are huge reserves of gold, Uru, vibranium or other precious metals here and the natives don't care. So you can take everything. The inverse is true too, maybe trash to us is precious to them..."
"If you're running out of money, just go to a post-apocalyptic world and loot everything..." Eidolon comments and I look at him strangely
"Did you ever do that?" I ask raising my eyebrow
He looks at me with amusement in his eyes "Yes" he answers with his favorite word "Don't worry, I will not destroy the economy..." He says afterward
Going to a desert Earth and taking gold or anything else, imagine how much he has of everything? Heck, and the other planets?
The guy must be a trillionaire.
"Is very common for stray people to end up rising to overlords on the dimensions where they are stranded, you know? Some people let the power go over their heads. Is not something easy to do in our world, but there are places where the natives would worship you easily simply because of the fact that you are stronger."
"Remember, not all people here are evil. They have different views. Maybe some will think of you as a food, as ingredient. Don't try to be a revolutionary and change how this place works based on your human sensibilities. Adapt. Temporarily, but adapt... With luck, not everyone are bloodthirsty monsters and we can have a conversation and even cultivate some friendship here... There are all types of humans, so the same should be true to any race." He councils
Well, a necessary heads up.
Eidolon lets everyone digest the information. Sincerely, I was thinking that we would be fighting from moment one here. Like cutting through hordes of demons to rescue Illyana.
Well, I think everyone did their own assumptions.
After some time in silence, it's cut by Scott asking Eidolon "Do you have any idea where we are going?" He asks
Yeah, we are flying without direction. But at least we are covering ground fast.
"We are going to where Illyana is." Eidolon answers without turning back
"But aren't we just flying aimlessly? Are we searching for a reference point? Did you know the geography here? Did your friend give you a map?" I ask
"No, we are flying to Illyana." Eidolon says withou care
Some frowns appear on everyone's face, except the ones of the SCP.
"Do ya know where she is?" Rogue asks
"Yes."
"How?" I ask
"I put a tracker on her."
!
"Whaaaat?" Kitty and everyone act chocked
"When did you do that?" Kitty asks
"The first time I meet her." He says calmly, ignoring our shocked faces.
This guy is really paran- Wait a minute...
"Did you put trackers on us too?" I ask him and everyone perks up and looks at him.
From the corner of my eyes, I can see Murasaki giggling slightly
"..." Is he avoiding eye contact? "No..." He finally answers, but I'm not convinced.
I even try to look at myself. How the heck did he put a tracker?
"You are all grown-ups. Illyana is a child in a place that is prone to be attacked. The sister of one of my people, obviously I will take precautions." Eidolon explains
Wait... Did he know that something would happen with Illyana?
Our first meeting is him coming to me to talk about the possible future disaster that I could cause.
Maybe he saw that something would happen, but instead of trying to control the outcome, he just take precautions to help.
Hum. I don't know how to feel about that...
"This is a little of an invasion of privacy..." Kitty comments
"There's no such thing as privacy in our world." Eidolon almost rolls his eyes "even you guys put cameras to monitor the children on their bed..." He says
Touche.
"This is to-" Scott starts to argue
"... To take care of them. Observe if there are any changes in their bodies in their sleep, etc etc. Yeah, yeah I know. Is a good thing. A child doesn't need privacy. It needs to be safe and a little of space. To let them do their things, commit their mistakes and even get hurt a little... But is our job to protect them from anything fatal." Eidolon says
Parenting 101.
"Oh... A city. Let's go investigate." He says suddenly looking at the horizon, we still can't see it "I learned some things about this place from my acquaintance but let's learn by ourselves and compare the information." He says turning the flying cloud to the supposed city.
....
We arrived at the place. Yep, is really a city. Awful similar to a human one.
Eidolon said that is natural, this place has received the influence of humans in the past. But there are also strange things, like that building that looks like a honeycomb, that hole in the ground where people are going in and out and that huge tower that touches the clouds.
This place is like a mix of crazy fantasy cultures.
And obviously the most apparent mix. The people.
Yes, there are demon-looking people with big horns and red(or another color) skin, yellow eyes, protruding teeth and evil looks. But not only them.
There are people here that have no distinct difference from humans. I'm sure I saw one or two humans, covered in strange clothes.
Some look like humans with some distinct features like pointy ears, a single horn on the forehead, hooved feet, tails, wings.
Kurt doesn't look much different from these to be truthful.
And then there are the really weird ones.
Like that mass of tentacles wiggling around calmly, and no one batting an eye. That giant wasp guy flying close to the ground. That minotaur guy and that dragon guy. Is very common for people with the bodies of a human and the head of some creature here.
The physique varies too, some are small as children and skinny as you can get. And some are mountains of muscles or fat that could compete with the Hulk and Blob.
"Just walk confidently. Try not to gawk too much." Eidolon says, leading us into the streets of this labyrinth-like city. "You can go anywhere if you act confident enough, like you own the place. You can enter anywhere with a ladder. " He advises.
We follow him. He is constantly teaching us things, to look at the people more attentively. To see if someone is a fighter, who looks like a bad person, where to find who is doing illegal things. He pointed these things are easy to spot "You just need to really open your eyes." he said
"Zis place geeves a... familiar feeling." Kut comments absentmindedly.
We look at him. The one more at home. Would be rude to point it out, even if is obvious.
But Eidolon sometimes is very considerate, and sometimes he is blunt as the punches that he could deliver "Maybe you have some demon heritage... Wants me to look in it later?" He offers
"..." Kurts looks... hesitant.
We always thought that his appearance is simply a coincidence. The way he looks like a demon...But now, with him talking about these feelings, the smell of sulfur that he emits when he teleports...
There is something deep going on there.
"If you don't want to forget about it. But let me say something..." Eidolon turns to our blue friend "Your parents and family only define you as much you allow it. So don't feel bad about the discovery. And who knows, maybe whatever ancestor of you was a good guy... Did all these people look like sadistic savages?" he gestures to some young demons playing some sort of board game and laughing.
To a weird couple of a small cyclops-like dwarf giving a gift to a huge minotaur girl. She is all shy, it is cute and wholesome in some way.
Kurt nods at Eidolon's words after some time. But Eidolon is already looking forward again. That's him being considerate, he can be nice when he wants.
"Wouldn't this be the moment where we separate to search for clues?" Kitty walks til she is shoulder to shoulder with Eidolon and asks
"Stop with the cliches... " He rolls his eyes "There's no need to separate. I can hear everything in the city. Is awful and not useful came up till now, but there's no need to go in different ways" Eidolon says
Yeah, continue rubbing that you don't need us here.
Jokes aside, he was not being arrogant when he said that the best way is simply for him to go alone.
"There's some sort of bazaar ahead. Let's go." He says pointing to the end of the street.
We walk from some time before the street opens to a large área, full of peop- I mean demons... Well, living beings.
The place looks like a marketplace, it's bursting with activity. Beyond the people, the most notable structure is the statue of a demon in the Middle. I think 30 feet tall.
Eidolon is looking around, his All Seeing Eyes at full force, there are even some circles in front of his face. He is analyzing everything and everyone it seems
"There's even some interesting things here... In the future, I will come back to check out." He comments lightly
"Brings me too! All this magic stuff sound cool." Kitty says latching onEidolon's arm "There are even some cute animals here... And... some not so cute." She says gesturing to a place that is filled with cages filled with... beasts.
Small humanoid reptilian things, a cute one that looks like a purple sheep, a snake with the head of a bird, some cute little monkeys, and then some... dangerous looking things.
Like a rhinoceros filled with spikes, a horse on fire, a giant... what is that thing?? A centipede spider with wings??? And that thing is enormous!! Eidolon burn that.
"My phone is acting weird..." Kitty comments while trying to take pictures of the animals "The battery failed already??"
"Even if magic is not the exact opposite of technology and the two can even work together, some technological things will have a hard time in a place like this. Difficult for radiowaves to propagate, electromagnetism is all going crazy here... The place should have 'sucked' the charge of your phone. There are ways to protect tech apparatus from external influences you know? But I think your phone is not 'magic-proof'." Eidolon comments
"So like Hogwarts?" She turns to look at him.
Eidolon gives her a look.
"After all my explanations... Yeah, like Hogwarts, Hufflepuff girl." He rolls his eyes and continues to walk.
"Hey, what is the problem with being a Puff?? We're loyal and hard workers!!" Kitty exclaims with her hands on her hips
"Nothing wrong..." Eidolon says but he gives a cough that sounds awfully similar to "side character".
"Typical Gryffindor..." Kitty shakes her head.
"Hey, I'm obviously a Ravenclaw. The underrated house. Don't lump me together with those reckless brutes." Eidolon looks outraged
I can only shake my head at their antics.
...
After walking a little more we stopped in front of a small shop, selling trinkets, stones... That may or not may be used for something useful. Some are beautiful.
Eidolon is... acquiring information from the owner of the shop. But...
"He is rizzing up that demon lady good..." Kitty whispers at my side, to me and to the other girls
And is true.
"■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■" Eidolon is talking with the shop owner in a language that we don't understand, sounds like Latin with onomatopeias of suffering.
His tone is a little flirtatious while he is holding the lady... hand?Tentacle? I mean... I'm not one to judge by appearances but... She is not on the beauty standards of the human race.
Her skin is purple, her hair is small blue tentacles that move around wildly, her face is full of eyes and her teeth are sharp... is possible to see because of her laughs at what Eidolon is saying.
She is even blushing and covering her face timidly at some of his words.
Okay, she is humanoid and she has a womanly hourglass figure, but her limbs are an agglomeration of tentacles that are joined till her makeshift hand.
Well, props to Eidolon for don't care about appearance. She has huge breasts by the way.
I steal a glance to my side and see Rogue looking too focused at the exchange. Jealous even from this?
Murasaki only appears amused and Shadow looks like don't care. Did she ever have emotions? Best deadpan face that I have ever seen.
With a last caress on the demon lady... limb. Eidolon says goodbye and approaches us. All the way that he is waking in our direction the demon lady doesn't take her many eyes off him. That multiple eyes blinking at different times are triggering the trypophobia that I didn't know that I have.
Did she just bite her lips?
So some things transcend dimensions, huh?
"I discovered some interesting things..." Eidolon starts
"Like her address to a late visit?" Kitty teases elbowing him on his side.
"This too..." He answers flatly "But is not important. Has'zy told me about the biggest city in this place. Is relatively close to here..." Has'zy huh?
"The ruler of this dimension is a sorcerer of our reality. My acquaintance told me about him. Involved with dark arts, turn himself into a demon, sealed here..."
"Do you think he kidnapped Illyana to escape?" Mikhail ask aggravated.
"That's where things get interesting... There are some rumors that Belasco, the name of the guy, has taken an apprentice. Human girl... Blonde hair..."
!
"He is teaching Illyana? Wait... Is he good or bad?" Kitty asks confused
Eidolon shakes his head "A guy that tried to open a portal to our world so that extradimensional demons can invade can't be good. But... This was seven centuries ago. He could be searching for a successor or he had a change of heart. Now, this is the good news, Illyana is alive." He says
And everyone breaths in relief, a certain invisible weight lifted from our shoulders, but I notice that Eidolon is not so happy.
My empathic powers show me that he is... contemplative? Guilt? Exasperated?
"And there's bad news?" I decide to ask
He looks at me intently
"Belasco has taken Illyana as an apprentice at least 6 years ago... In this dimension."
Everyone's eyes widen.
"Time is another concept that acts differently in other realities..." He says gravely.
....
A.N.: Hell There.
Hope you like this chapter.
Is not one of my best but this arc is the introduction of two important things...
Magic and the Multiverse.
The next chapter interesting will happen.
I put most of the chapters under Jean's p.o.v. so that we see how people see our MC when he is working. Jean is the most unbiased of everyone.
I thought long and hard about the aging of Illyana, I eventually decided that she will not be in the age of the first X-men group. Eidolon going there saved her some years of suffering.
By the way, I thought that Belasco would be an easy enemy. Till I research him.
Seriously, Marvel is full of, strong underrated people.
Little Spoiler. Beyond Belasco, another Sorcerer Supreme-level candidate is visiting Limbo, I ask myself what will happen, huh?
Till next time.
Chapter 55: Battle In The Limbo (Part 01)
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This history has no interest in offending any party. Having the sole objective of only entertaining the readers. Enjoy~
...
"There's no other way to go but forward."
- Sabito, Kimetsu no Yaiba
....
Recap: In the last chapter, Eidolon and the rest dived on Limbo to search for Illyana. They explore this new place, Eventually discovering that she already spent years on it. Now, they're on the way to Belasco's city to the final confrontation.
.....
A.N.: Well, well.
Webnovel has a limit of 20k words by chapter. What a bummer. So this first part will have 13K. I stopped in a cliffhanger, to mess with your guys too.
Anyway, this messed up my plan. But I will release the rest still this week, the problem is I have things to do, you know? So I don't know when.
But I will release till Friday at least. I don't have time to edit, other priorities.
Fun Fact: Did you guys know that there's a demon in lImbo that idolizes Peter so much that he uses a symbiote to become Spider-Man?
Keep this information in your mind. This and the connection between symbiotes and the limbo.
.....
Eidolon P.O.V.
We are again on my flying nimbus produced by Shirakumo's(Kurogiri) original quirk.
The mood is a little heavy now. The fact that Illyana spent six Years here all alone left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
I, on the other hand, am pondering one more time about this multiverse where I ended up.
Again, assumptions are dangerous.
Even meta-knowledge can't be taken as a face of value anymore.
Ah, Marvel~ A big company that was active for over 80 years when I came here. One of the great names of entertainment. Passed some bad times during the 90s but survived.
Where I want to go is... Existing for this long allows a variety of canon things and source material, creating some inconsistencies, contradictions, and other problems.
The most common is the fluctuation of the power level of the characters.
Discussions about who can defeat who are sometimes unsolved because of these inconsistences. One time a character is fighting cosmic threats and in another moment is having a hard time against someone mid.
But other things can differ too. Like origin stories as an example...
Rogues was originally a villain. And she one time absorbed a little too much of Ms. Marvel, gaining her powers. Because of this Rogue of the 90s cartoon could fly and had super strength in her base form.
Did Peter's parents experiment on him to make him compatible with the spiders in this universe?
Jean died like 7 times in the comics. But there are decades of time that allow the opportunity for these sagas to happen... In real life how this will work?
And Logan... Another rabbit hole...
Origin stories... Are probably closely related to Fate.
Fate... This invisible force that I had no idea how powerful it is. Is Illyana now being protected by it?
I remember reading once that Illyana disappeared for months to the X-men before returning. But on another time I read that they haven't even noticed her disappearance, it was like a second.
Did Fate adapt the time dilatation to this place, to give her time to grow into what she should be? Did Fate take into consideration my existence and interference?
Or this is all a coincidence?
I tested fate when I killed the Green Goblin. Still waiting to see if he returns.
But should I go out of my way to impede someone's origin story just to see what happens? What the consequences will be? Testing is essential to me to understand this world... This is a big deal, it's my life after all.
I want to know if higher forces are toying with our destinies.
With who can I test it? Recently I heard a report of General Ross spending a lot of time in a hidden military facility. And I bet that he is becoming the Red Hulk right now. I would be worried if I didn't know that the Red Hulk has a weakness to the Negative Zone energy and for some reason bladed weapons. I'm lucky that I read it in the wiki on my former life.
But Betty Ross becomes a Hulk too, right? Should I constantly work against her to become a Hulk just to see if Fate will be forceful to turn her?
Hmm... Well, this is all just speculation. I just need to remember to keep an eye open to all possibilities and my mind open to unpredictable things.
I decide to turn to my temporary team and start some small talk to alleviate the mood "Well, Scott. It appears that you're not that wrong in coming. Considering the time dilation, when we come back, not even a second will have passed then." I comment
He only grunts in acknowledgment at my words.
Is he still mad that I called him out about his overprotectiveness of Jean when we first met? Or is it about the talk I gave him earlier? You are a little petty, my dude.
I'm trying so hard to not let my distaste for your fictional representation get on me, but I have to say... You're not making it easier.
I'm not blind to the motives. It is his little jealously that becomes even uglier when amplified by whatever conditioning Sinister did to him.
After my talk with Jean, aparently she really listened to some of my advice and started act more independently. She also told me that she connected more with the girls. Previously she was closer with Scott. The two of them are the first students and bonded over the fact that they couldn't turn off their powers.
Now, they are more distant... And for some reason is my fault. Like I did something to the girls get together.
Meh, probably they talked about me in a good way and he doesn't like it.
Whatever, don't care. I will be civil at least.
"Let's talk about the rescue plan..." I said attracting everyone's attention again "Let's be sneaky and kidnap Illyana." I say
"Sneaky?" Kitty asks
"Kidnap?" Piotr raises a eyebrow
I go to answer them in order "We still don't want a war." I say looking at Kitty
"Even after we know that this guy has Illyana under custody?" Scott asks
"Belasco threath level increased severalfold after our discovery of the time dilation." I say calmly "He is here for seven centuries to OUR time..."
I see their eyes widening in realization.
"One night being six Years... He must be alive for hundreds of thousands of Years..." Jean says a little shocked.
"Yeah... And this is the thing about sorcerers... They fight by preparing themselves. With this much of a time, and the resources of this dimension..." i left the rest unsaid.
After some time, I decide to relax them a little. "Well, he must have reached a power roof after some time, if not he woud have escaped using his own strenght" I comment
"So... The best way is still to rescue Illyana stealthily." Mikhail says
"Are we really not gonna talk with the guy before?" Kitty asks unsure "Maybe we could solve this peacefully..." She says optimistically
"No. And we are gonna kidnap her. "I say determinedly
"There you go again with kidnaping..." Kitty says
"We need to consider all the possibilities... Illyana was brought here at a young age. High chances of a brainwash." I say shocking them again
"Even if not slowly, maybe she was enlaved though magic. So we couldn't just go there, find her and say: 'Illyana we came to rescued you!'... Maybe she would snitch on us, think that we are the enemies and putting everything to lose." I explain and watch they face change in a large array of emotions
"We kidnap her first and ask questions later." I conclude and then wait them to nod.
"What is the plan?" Saeko asks
"Simple. We will create an escape teleportation route with three steps. First I will invade, take her and teleport her to Mikhail which will be a little farther. Then Mikhail will teleport again to Kurt. And then you guys alternate in teleportation to move as far aways as possible..."
"The other will wait in certain positions to prevent ambushs and will be joined by the two that will continue to teleport away. I will stay behind to create a distraction, clones and bait whoever is in the Belasco's castle in the opposite direction and then I will join you all.
"After this, when we arrive far enough we will stop and examine Illyana..."
"Examine?"
"Who know how her body is right now..." I shrugh my shoulder "Maybe she has a tracking spell, a magical high infectious disease, a curse or other thing that connects her with Belasco. We will not be taking her to our world without cheking that first." I say
"..."
"You really is cautious..." Jean comments.
Again I shrugh "I say something similar to the Avengers, but I will say to you all now. We are strong. And we can affect many people easily. And I'm not talking about powers only. Every decision you make can have big consequences..." I take my time to look at everyone to convey my seriousness.
"In the worst-case scenario, we could facilitate Belasco escape and subsequent invasion of our dimension. A invasion much worse than the Battle of New York. Are we gonna allow this when everything that takes to avoid it is being cautious?"
I let them think about my words "We will plan the details after seeing the layout of the place where Illyana is located." I say and go back to look at my hand.
Is not like my hand is interesting, but there's a change-
"I noticed that you're looking at your hand contantly since we arrived in Limbo... Is there a problem?" Jean voice interrupt my thoughts
I look at her, everyone is also looking at me with various level of interest
Well, no harm in telling. Is just one of my many powers.
"Do you know that I can turn into animals, right?" I say and for some reason Kitty giggles.
There's some sort of inside joke about me? Whatever...
After Jean nod, while admonishing Kitty with her look I continue.
"Well, is more complicated than that..." I start "Apparently , my Animal Shapeshifting in truth connects with the biosphere of the place I am."
I then raise my hand. My fingers elongated, nasty claws grew and some spikes appear in my knuckles.
"So my power connected with the Biosphere of the Limbo when I came here..."
"So you can turn in the demonic animals from here now?" Kitty asks interested
"Yes. I was testing and is much harder. Probably because I don't know the animals from here and because I just arrived." I say
I notice that I feel like Im slowly losing "connection" with my home dimension and is become harder and harder to transform in normal animals.
But is not a big problem because I have other powers to transform into animals from Earth.
The thing is that after I leave Limbo I will probably lose the ability to transform into the demonic animals from here.
I think the crux of the question is that the Beast Boy card I absorbed is from him as an inexperienced teenager.
Should I dedicate a good time to train his ability? Or should I use some Power Boost Cards? I feel that I can gain the ability to "save the files" of animals that I encounter if I improve this ability.
When I use the next Travel Ticket I will train this ability.
"So you can transform in those things that we saw on the market?" Kitty asks when poking my hand
"Yes."
"So, can you gain their abilities like... I don't know. You said that there fantasy-like universes out there. So you can become a dragon if you go there? Or a unicorn?" She asks with her eyes twinkling
"I already can transform into a dragon. And animal transformation is useful when you try to take only the advantages, but is rare for a animal to have a power that I don't have already." I say calmly
"Whaat? You can transform in a dragon?? Can I ride you?" She asks excitedly
"..." I look at her "Phrasing, please..."
" ! Oh! Oooh~" Realization slowly hit her and she blushes a little
"It is not just anyone that can ride me. But if you are good girl I can allow you one day..." I put my face closer to hers and tease. Her face goes even redder.
Why is so fun to make girls blush?
Now the mood is better.
I will let them concentrate for now, while I focus on an interesting discovery.
Has'zy, the nice demon lady, gave me the currency of this world for me to play. No, she is not my sugar mama.
I initially thought that I could cheat and produce a lot of currency and buy a lot of things without a care. But is not possible to make a perfect copy.
Between my fingers rest the currency. Is a thin black rock-metal thing with strange proprieties. The literal translation of this would be "Shard of the Black Heart" in the language here.
This little rock/metal thingie has a lot of energy stored inside and... darkness properties.
Is used as a reagent, ingredient, and even in a way to empower the demons from here.
Dude... This place is a fucking cultivation world!!
This is like those Spirit Stones that are currency and can help with cultivation.
Makes sense that this is the currency. If we humans had something that we should just eat to live a little longer and grow a little stronger, it would be the most valuable thing in the world to us.
Gold is simply the best option because there's really no need to change and our ancestors liked the thing.
I use my All Seeing Eyes to look at the ground and I can detect reservoirs and veins of this metal. And the deeper I look, the strongest this energy signature gets.
So maybe the core of this planet is full of these things.
Observing a little more carefully, I notice that the place where we are going, Belasco's city fortress, is resting in a huge vein of this Black Metal. So this thing should be really precious.
Seriously, this Black Metal is just a little worse than Stark's Arc reactor when the question is energy. But the process to transform the energy inside into something usable to humans can be a little complicated.
Hmm~ My American side is getting antsy seeing all these resources sitting here. Maybe I should bring "freedom" to this dimension and "liberate" these guys from this...
Well, let's focus on Illyana's rescue now. In the future, I will come back here.
Hmm... Would be nice to gain a demonic summon to put on this place... Oh Raven, when you will come to me? I can only dream for now.
Hm? I turn my face abruptly to look at the distance
"What?" My action didn't go unnoticed by Jean
"Illyana's position changed..." I comment while focusing on the horizon.
Beyond the trackers that I put on Illyana's plushie that I gave her, and the nano trackers that I put inside her, I also registered her on my [Search] power.
[Search] is such a good power that even All For One wanted it. Seeing a person one time you can always reactivate the power and see the "light" of this person from miles away. Coupled with my super senses I can locate anyone on a planet with this.
Search can even point to weak points in a person's body... It is what that Wild PussyCat used to train Classes 1-A and 1-B. Like inform me this person has low stamina, that one has a bad knee and other things. Is another power on the list of upgrades.
"She is Moving? To where?" Piotr asks while I continue to observe
I raise from my sitting position without taking the eyes of Illyana's position
"She is being pursued..." I say making them gasp in shock and worry
But I continue calmly "Sometimes the unpredictable can be good news..." I comment "I'm going ahead. The cloud will follow me." So it's true that we wouldn't find Illyana in a castle or as a prisoner.
Without waiting for a response, I move. I become intangible just to ignore air resistance and fly faster and without a sound, a little trick of mine. Is cool to do sonic booms, but I can be stealthy when I want.
I move fast, to save Illyana. In no time I'm above the plains wasteland where she is running. She sometimes Blinks in a blue light, using her teleportation, to move dozen meters away.
But her pursuers are relentless. Seventeen demons, being led by a robed and hooded figure. A woman, for the shape of her body.
I could wait for the eventual cliche moment where Illyana would trip and the pursuers would get close and I would save her in the nick of a time.
Is not a bad approach. Wait would allow me to hear them talk and discover more of the situation. But...
Meh... Cliches...
I shrug my shoulders and release my Conqueror's Haki on the 18 pursuers.
The world trembles a little, the red clouds churn and look like the sky is pressing against the Earth.
The demonic pursuers fall on all fours while foaming. Their consciousness holding by a thread in the face of my controlled Haki.
The robed woman also falls, but she is in a better state.
Illyana notices the situation after turning back to check on the people pursuing her. She is the only one not affected by me.
I slowly descend between her and the others. When my feet touch the ground, I use my powers to make the earth envelop the demonic ones in a tight prison.
The robed woman is enveloped by my Lasso of Truth in an equally tight way. I squeeze the golden lasso in my hand, making it glow, ready to extract some answers.
"Don't hurt her!" Illyana suddenly appears in a flash of blue light between us. Protecting the woman.
Stockholm much? Well, I can understand a little because I know the face below the hood.
"Illyana... Do you remember me? I came with your brothers to save you." I say calmly.
I watch her patiently. Yep, 12 years probably. Her hair is longer now, a straight blonde hair that reaches her waist. A cute face with hits of sharpness show that she passed for some challenges here. She is skinny but doesn't look malnourished. I don't see signs of abuse either. Recent ones, at least...
Her brows furrowed a little. "You... You're that friend of my brother. Eidolon... You gave me a plushie." She says, remembering.
"Yes, we came as fast as we could. Only here we discovered that time passed differently. Only one day passed to us..." I say with a sad voice. I don't want her to think that her brothers abandoned her.
To my words, a single tear slowly slid down her cheek. The fact that her face remains mostly unchanged is another indicator that she is used to acting strong and has some good willpower.
"They are coming to this place right now, I came ahead because I'm faster..." I explain and she sniffs a little.
She turns around to hide her face, I can only see her hand wiping her eyes.
"You must have passed some hard times. You're so strong. We are all proud of you..." I say going to give her my characteristic head pats. "Don't worry, no one will hit you anymore. I'm here."
She starts bawling her eyes and turns around to bury her face in my mantle.
.....
After some minutes, holding Illyana's small trembling shoulders, she recovers herself. She is really resilient.
"So..." I start and look at the robed woman.
When I used [Foresight], I said that I saw three surprises. I only talked about two.
The third one is this.
" Alternative universe?" I ask telekinetically removing the hood of Ororo Munroe.
An older Ororo Munroe, in the late thirties at least. There are other small differences here and there. But yeah, is one of the many Storms.
It's too early to Multiverse bullshit.
X-men... Always with the crazy adventures of time travel, other universes, aliens...
"Yes. Ms. Ororo was my caretaker here..." Illyana answers me while Ororo looks at me silently.
"Oh... Is that so? Let me first-" I was interrupted by the distant sound of my cloud approaching "They're here." I say before grabbing my cloud telekinetically and yanking it to us much faster.
....
Jean Grey P.O.V.
Okay... I know that Eidolon said that surprises are common. And we should let any preconceptions at home before coming here...
But this is starting to get ridiculous.
First, this place... Limbo is not like I expected. The demons... People here are much more civil than I expected. I totally thought that we would have to fight hordes of demons to release Illyana from a cage hanging high on a tower of a demonic wizard or something.
Then we discovered that six years has passed here and Illyana was the apprentice of the guy. We change plans and suddenly she makes our job easy by coming to us.
And then another surprise...
There's an Ororo here.
Taking my eyes away from the wholesome reunion of the three siblings I look at the ... other Ororo.
She is like, 95% similar to our Ororo. She is older, okay. But there are some other differences too. Small... you wouldn't notice if you don't pay attention.
It is like... Twin sisters that lived in different places and these differences molded them differently too.
"By the way... Why did you tied her like you're into some BDSM play?" I ask Eidolon at my side with a raised eyebrow
"It is called Kikkou Shibari, the Turtle bondage rope." Kitty says while nodding "Masterfully Applied. Good job." She gave Eidolon a thumbs up.
I'm not even surprised that she knows these things. I shake my head before looking at Eidolon again, waiting for an answer.
"What? It is efficient." He says calmly with a shrug of shoulders. The alternative Ororo still glaring at him "Violence and sex is the human race's favorite things. This knot is years of evolution and research have given form..." He explains.
"..." I'm surprised that he can convince me with his bullshit.
"I can't release her before we discover if she is not an evil version..." Eidolon says
"She is not bad!" Illyana suddenly says from between her brothers. The 12 years old Illyana still amazed me a little. Yesterday she is a cute child and now she is a pre-adolescent.
"For you, I will give her the benefit of the doubt." Eidolon says "This lasso compels the one bound by it, to tell the truth..." He declares before squeezing the Lasso "Did you take care of her?" He asks Ororo in robes.
"Yes..." She answers without even thinking. Her eyes widen after the word leaves her mouth.
"Did you do it by Belasco orders?"
"... Y-yes. This too..."
"Are you genuinely good to her?" Eidolon asks after the ambiguous answer
"Yes..."
"Any Hidden motive?"
"She is a child... There's a need for a motive to help her. But..." The Ororo struggles a little. "I was still hopeful that one she would help me go back to my universe..." She confesses.
"What are you to her really?" He asks
"Her caretaker... Babysitter... Whatever. I took care of her between Belasco lessons and protected her of abuse and other things... I couldn't defy Belasco... He... He has Cat... Kitty Pryde and Kurt under his spell." She confesses giving Kitty and Kurt a look.
Kitty and Kurtgasps are at my side.
There's another Kitty and Kurt here too.
"Hm... It appears that you are not that bad... The last question before I release you..." Eidolon pauses and looks at the demons that are enveloped in the earth like statues "Are these guys of any importance?" He asks. His eyes grow cold.
Ororo looks at him "No."
"Very well..." He takes the Lasso back and puts it away in some place.
Then, he turns to the demons. In his hand appears a huge... Sword? No, I chainsaw? A chainsaw sword.
That thing looks impractical. At least six feet in length and thick as my torso
*Vrrrre* The thing turns on.
Eidolon's arm blurs and in the next moment the upper body of all the demons disappear in a rain of gore that was taken far away from us by the wind.
I notice Eidolon eyes in Illyana. Because of that, I look at her too, her eyes show neither shock nor disgust. My heart clenches a little, imagining everything she has been through.
"Is the chainsaw sword really necessary? You could have ended them more cleanly..." Murasaki asks with some mirth in her voice. I feel a weird emotion come from her... something I can't put my finger on it.
"Well, I have a chainsaw sword, so I need to use the chainsaw sword." Eidolon answers like is obvious.
Kitty is nodding at my side for some reason, even with her face a little pale from the display of blood.
"Why do you even have a chainsaw sword?" I can't help but ask
"Why didn't you have a chainsaw sword?" He asks back "I have a chainsaw sword for the same reason anyone would have a chainsaw sword if they could." He says a lot and nothing at all.
But Kitty is still nodding like he said the obvious "He is right. I wish I had a chainsaw sword." She comments wistfully
"Here. Take the kid's version." Eidolon says and pulls from who knows where a small version of his chainsaw sword, only three feet in length
"Kid's version?" I ask slowly. My mouth twitched a little, when I see Kitty all giddy holding the thing.
"Yeah, this one doesn't have the flamethrower imbued." He says again like is something completely normal while teaching Kitty how to use the monstrosity.
For some reason, the mental image of Eidolon taking his child to a hell dimension to kill demons as a Father-sons bonding time appears in my head.
Hehe. I pity the mother of that family.
"So... Magic Ororo, can you tell us more about the whole situation. Illyana come here, let me examine you. I will need some samples by the way." Eidolon says urging Illyana to get close.
I watch Eidolon take a little saliva and blood from Illyana. Then his arm opens like he is a cyborg and he puts the sample there.
Seriously... Does this guy have a power to everything? I will not even ask. I know the answer... 'Yes'.
Magic Ororo, as how Eidolon calls her, starts telling the story.
She ended up here in Limbo years before Illyana.
"Only you and your Kitty and Kurt?" Kitty asks
"Yes. The three of us are sucked into a dimensional fissure." Magic Ororo says
"Later we discovered that this was no accident at all. We are purposefully brought here by Belasco." Magic Ororo says
"But why? Kurt asks
Eidolon answers this without taking his eyes from his open cybernetic arm "Kurt can teleport, probably using some hell dimension as a medium, Kitty can phase... Matter and energy... Ororo has a connection with an Elder God... Seeing your clothes, make me think that you are much more attuned to your magic potential than our Storm, right?" Eidolon glances at Magic Ororo briefly
She nods slowly. "From what I talked with Illyana it appears that my universe is a little more magical connected than yours." She says
Eidolon nods and goes back to his examinations "He wants to escape." He concludes. "He wants to use your guys' powers to escape... Let me guess again. There's no Illyana in your universe." Eidolon asks without even looking.
"There's no Rasputin family in our universe." Ororo says
!
"What? What happened to them?" Scott asks
Magic Ororo shrugs "Who knows? Never heard of them before. Maybe they simply never existed, maybe they died... I can't know from here either." She says
"Hm... Did you know of a Belasco from your universe?" Eidolon asks
"No..."
"Interesting... He is from our universe. But Limbo appears to be connected with other parallel universes too. One Limbo to multiple alternative realities, how this works in the space-time continuum? Ah, don't mind me... Just thinking... Go on, please." Eidolon waves his hand and Magic Ororo continues.
"Belasco is too strong and put us under his power using Kurt's life to threaten me and Cat. He uses a spell on Kurt that made him more an animal than a human, so we would need to act obedient till we have a chance to escape." She says to our horror.
"Six years ago Illyana is brought to us. I'm horrified because she is so young and I could imagine what she would go through. I would teach Illyana common magic and Cat would teach her how to fight. Belasco himself would teach her other thing and do... experiments and rituals with her. S'ym, a subordinate of Belasco, was also a sadist that beat her in disguise as a test several times. I tried to protect her the best I could through the years..." She says calmly, but I can feel my anger boiling.
Everyone is angry.
"In the beginning, she thought that Belasco was not that bad of a guy, her young mind thought that he would help her get back to her Family. But with time this innocence was carved out of her." She says heavily, Piotr hugs Illyana tightly
"Two Years ago Illyana got a good grasp on her power and starts escaping. She did several attempts. All of them were unsuccessful and she would be punished by S'ym every time. But Belasco never appeared to care too much. He has Illyana under... control too."
"She never stopped trying to escape. I sometimes bring her back, to try to alleviate her punishment. I tried to say to her to be more patient... But in this, she doesn't listen to me." She sighs
"This time we are found by you..." Magic Ororo finishes looking at Eidolon
"..." Eidolon doesn't even look at her, while he ponders. "Well, the situation changed again. But not by much. We still need to invade Belasco's place..." He finally says. His arms are back to normal
He continues "First, let me share what I discovered about Illyana's situation." We pay attention to his words
"There's a problem with her?" Mikhail asks
"Yes. First, she doesn't have any disease or anything dangerous to other people on her body. But..." He pauses "She is not totally human anymore." He reveals
"She looks pretty human to me..." Rogue comments while we look at Illyana
"Yeah, even this will not be a problem. She is a part demon now... Not a problem really. I think will bring more advantaged than disadvantages. Long life, strength, better magic affinity. She is even less demonic than Kurt. No offense, dude." He says a little jokingly to alleviate our worries
"None taken." Kurt says good-naturedly
"She is more or less 10% demon now. But as she grows this could change. Can also change if she decides to accept this... heritage and use it. We must watch her attentively from now on." Eidolon says "This is the good news..." He says immediately a little more seriously
He turns to Magic Ororo "Could you explain to us why her soul is not complete?" He asks and Ororo sighs
"I would get there." She says heavily "When she was younger, Belasco convinced her to do a ritual that put a piece of her soul on a Bloodstone."
"Bloodstone?" I ask
"Bloodstones are what Belasco used to connect with Extradimensional demons and open a portal for them to come to our dimension. My acquaintance told me about them..." Eidolon says "There were five Bloodstones, I thought all of them are destroyed."
Magic Ororo scoffs "Not all of them. I know for sure that Belasco has two in his possession. Anyway, he tricked Illyana saying that if she put her soul there would make her stronger to go back to her family faster. At that time, she still believed that he was a good guy that care for her."
"Well, He didn't lie about making her stronger. But also bound her to him. While he holds the Bloodstone he has some sort of control over her. I don't know how much, he never used it..." Magic Ororo says
"So we need to retrieve Illyana's soul. "Scott says
"And rescue my and Kurt's alternative version." Kitty adds making all of us nod.
Eidolon is motionless, his chin resting between his fingers while his eyes bore into Illyana. The characteristic patterns of the All Seeing Eyes rotating. Three holographic circles even appear in front of his face while he stares at her.
The little girl squirms a little under his gaze, before recovering her bearings and staring back at him defiantly with her ching high. She is strong.
"There's another problem..." Eidolon says softly "There's something... extra on Illyana. Something demonic and foreigner." He says
"What do you mean?" Piotr asks worriedly
"Isn't this Ilyana demonic powers?" Kitty asks
"No... This signature... These glyphs... They mean... " He says slowly "I see... A trojan horse." He concludes and starts looking in the direction of Belasco's residence
His words jolted us. Even Magic Ororo was surprised.
"Do you mean..." I start
"Belasco didn't care about her escaping because he is hoping for it..." Eidolon says slowly "Or maybe even that we rescued her. He wants her to grow strong, he lets this S'ym guy beat her to encourage her in running away, and made her create bonds with Ororo, Kitty, and Kurt to make her want to save them... All so that she escaped this place..."
"...and consequently. Him following after her. Either in some sort of magical piggybacking by using the piece of her soul on the Bloodstone or another method."
This Belasco guy...
"What an asshole!" Kitty exteriorizes my thoughts
"Old sorcerers... Always annoying." Eidolon comments "Paranoia saves the day again..." he adds in a low voice afterward
"There's a way to help her?" Piotr asks
"There's always a way." Eidolon says to our relief "First, there's a chance of Illyana herself solving the issue if she recovers her lost piece of soul. I can see this... spell latching on her fractured soul." Eidolon says while Looking at Illyana with his eyes
"Second, If this spell is stronger than what I think, I will change my plan from distracting Belasco, to defeating him. I will go through his research or whatever. I and Illyana will stay here in Limbo for months or even years if necessary to break the spell. You guys return before us." He says like is no big deal.
But damn, these are one of these moments that you can't help but respect the guy.
He continues "The third method would be... a lot more invasive." He says taking out his famous Sword of Actuation.
The creepy blade glowed in a blood-red light.
"I don't want to do this. Could damage her soul. Is not like I go around dissecting souls to practice, you know? But is an alternative." He comments before putting the sword away
All this time, I notice that Illyana's eyes never left Eidolon. I can only barely hear her thoughts. Whatever change happened to her, made her mind more robust. But I can deduce that she has some sort of admiration and respect for the black-clad hero.
Sincerely, I was expecting a little fear when he talked about the dissection of her soul, but this works.
"So, the objective now is to rescue Kitty and Kurt's alternative version and recover the Bloodstone with Illyana's soul." Eidolon declares.
"I can somewhat feel where the Bloodstone is located," Illyana says suddenly
"Good, this makes things easier..." Eidolon says before trailing off and looking somewhere else
"What now?" Murasaki asks
"You can show yourself now." His eyes focus in a empty place
"We have company?!" Scott asks going to combat mode, everyone following suit.
Eidolon continues to stare before raising his hand and releasing a burst of air, strong enough to uproot trees, in an empty spot
The sand and dirt taken away by the wind are stopped by an invisible barrier. There's really a hidden enemy out there.
We move to stay around Eidolon, prepared to battle.
Then a blue screen appears in our field of view, and after some time it is lowered revealing two women to us.
I don't recognize them, but Kurt shouts
"Mami!?! Ji!?!"
Now what??
How many surprises this day is guarding to us?
.....
Third Person P.O.V.
Eidolon holds off the urge to massage his eyes. 'What now?' He thinks while watching the opposite party 'Who the heck are those people now? And Mami?? My meta knowledge is freaking out that I have no idea what is happening.'
The group consisting of Eidolon, Murasaki, Shadow, Mikhail, Piotr, Jean, Scott, Kitty, Rogue, Kurt and now Illyana, is facing the two newcomers.
They are two women. Hector doesn't know because there's a limit how much a casual fano f Marvel can know about the lore of the world.
But these people are Margali Szardos and her daughter Jimaine Szardos. In the old X-men comics, it was Margali that raised Kurt after he was abandoned by Mystique.
In this universe, Kurt's origins are a little mixed. He was abandoned in a church and despite his appearance, the priest raised him with love. Obviously, in a way similar to the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, the priest never allowed Kurt to show his face to others. But this was for Kurt's own protection.
When Kurt grew a little and become aware of his own situation, he run away to don't cause trouble to the priest. With his powers, there's no one that could hold him against his will.
As a side note, Kurt's heritage allowed him to use his power since he is a baby.
He ended up being found by a circus where he is adopted by Margali Szardos. Margali has a gipsy heritage, learning magic from her mother and knowing about demonology and other related things. He didn't find Kurt such an anomaly. She deduced that he was an offspring of a demon with a human and was abandoned because of his appearance.
Kurt was raised with Margali's two other children till an incident made them fall apart.
Her daughter, who right now is by her side is Jimaine Szardos. She doesn't have much of the looks of her mom. She is blonde with blue eyes while her mother has dark curly, almost bushy, hair with brown eyes.
Someone more knowledgeable about the comics would know that Kurt and Jimaine are recurrent lovers through the years.
Right now, Eidolon is analyzing the mother and daughter duo. He can feel the mother radiating hostility while the daughter looks a little... hesitant.
'What is the story behind all this?' He thinks
"KUURT!!" Margali shouts, gripping her staff tightly. "I swore the day that I met you again, would be your last!"
"Okay... What is happening here now?" Scott asks around
"Iz... Iz complicated." Kurt says a little down
Apparently, Margali is not waiting to solve things peacefully, because she raises her staff and points to Eidolon's group and forms a huge sphere of magical blue energy that she wastes no time releasing in the heroes direction.
The ball of energy, which must have one meter of diameter, moves incredibly fast.
"Incoming!" Mikhail exclaims while everyone prepares to defend, move away or counterattack depending on their own capabilities.
Eidolon keeps his calm and even signals Saeko that she doesn't need to move, she is already pulling a sword from the scabbard.
Taking a step forward Eidolon contemptuously bitch slaps the magical energy to the side, diverting it a little far away from the two groups where it makes a big explosion.
An Explosion big enough to engulf city blocks and raze them.
Eidolon looks at the explosion with a sideglance before turning his eyes to the mother-daughter duo ahead. Margali is equally looking at him more seriously now.
The two narrow their eyes at each other while taking their own measures against their opponents.
'Using only brute strength to divert that...?' Margali thinks while scrutinizing Eidolon
'That's some destructive power to a casual spell... This would make her an Avengers level threat... if we ignore Hulk and Thor.' Eidolon takes his own conclusions 'What is with these obscure and strong characters? Is she one of these strong ones that appear in one issue to never again?' He sighs mentally
Eidolon is not totally wrong. Margali Szardos is not weak by any means.
She was even a Sorcerer Supreme for some years to substitute Dr. Strange. In the comics, she even transformed herself into a demon to acquire more power.
So, as a Sorcerer Supreme candidate, she is obviously very strong. Is safe to say that she should be as strong as Strange during his early years as Sorcerer Supreme.
'Should I take her down now, and talk from a superior position?' Eidolon considers.
Even if a strong sorcerer appears, that doesn't mean that he is afraid.
He is wary of magic. But he is wary of what he calls "bullshit illogical magical things" that can warp reality, attack the soul, banish or seal someone. And all the great array of possibilities that magic provides, the unpredictable type of trouble.
If all that a magic user can do is control elements or use energy projection... This makes them no different from a meta. And he can take them as easily as any meta.
"Woman... Did you know that I'm an advocate of true gender equality?" He says plainly while giving some steps forward
"Oh... Here we go..." Kitty whispers behind them
"I'm the type fo guy that always retributes what is given to me..." Eidolon says before raising his hand and swinging forward casually. The shiny sparks in his palm are the only warning of what is coming.
*BOOOM*
He releases a big explosion in a cone at Margali and Jimaine.
"..." Everyone shields their eyes or ears from the dust or the sound.
"Are they dead?" Rogue asks
"No." Eidolon is the one that answers even before the dust settles. He waves his hand again, but this time only to create a huge gust of wind to clean the place.
The group is welcomed by the sight of charred Earth that expands till their eyes can see. But in the Middle, the duo of sorcerers is still alive and healthy.
Apparently, Margali raised a Shield to protect herself and her daughter. No, not a Shield. Two screens of protection that formed a "V" in front of them.
'Well, they are not dumb...' Eidolon thinks seeing the efficient way to divert the explosion blast.
Margali continues to stare at the black-clad hero silently for some time.
"Are you gonna stay between a mother and her revenge??" She exclaims at him. Her Romani accent is more prominent now that she is not shouting.
"I'm not one to deny someone their revenge... But I have the feeling that this is all misunderstanding. You will be surprised how common misunderstandings are in this world... Always provoking unnecessary fights." Eidolon says in a carefree way "I also don't believe that Kurt, one of the most soft-hearted of the X-men, did something that warrants such hatred..."
He looks at her and then crosses his arms. "So yeah, till I'm sure what is going on. No one is killing anyone here." He declares.
Margali grits her teeth.
Sincerely, all-out fights are not something that anyone wants to partake in. Especially against an unknown strong enemy like Eidolon. And she is also outnumbered.
But she can't just let Kurt go like that.
Eidolon decides to take control of the situation. "Why didn't you start with your accusation and then Kurt will defend himself? Did you guys even have a proper talk about whatever problems exist between you two?" Eidolon hits the head of the nail
"..."
"Kurt... Who are those two..." Eidolon turns to ask
"Ehm... Margali szardos and Jimaine Szardos... They... They took care of me during a good part of my childhood..." Kurt says a little down
" 'Took care'?! I saved and raised you like mine own son! And how did you repay me?? Huh???" Margali shouts from her position.
'These names ring no fucking bells... The same thing with Mikhail when I met him. Seriously, I will find a world where Marvel Comics exists just to read the Wiki. Wait... Would still be the same Marvel?' Hector thinks while watching the drama and pondering if his plan is feasible
"What happened then?" Eidolon asks, trying to make the conversation progress
"He killed my son! And many other kids!!" Margali points her trembling finger at Kurt
"..." While everyone was surprised by the reveal, even Eidolon is, and looking at Kurt. Eidolon observes other things.
Like the fact that Jimaine, the daughter doesn't appear to hate Kurt, she looks a little lost. Like that awkward family member that wants to stop the fights but doesn't know how.
Eidolon also observes Kurt, his heart is beating fast after the reveal. And continues to do so. Normally, a liar when accused of something that he is guilty would have a rise in his heart rate for some time and then calm down.
But a man that is falsely accused is always nervous because of the thoughts that no one would believe in him. Kurt was strange, he is a little in the between. He didn't calm down but he looks... resigned.
"Did you see him doing it?" Eidolon asks
"No! But he confessed!" Margali says to his surprise
"Did you do it?" Eidolon turns to Kurt. He hears the heart of the blue meta spiking even more.
"Iz an accident!! I never wanted it... But... But..." He lows his head and doesn't speak anymore.
"Accident? As if..." Margali says slowly in anger
"That's weird Kurt..." Eidolon says attracting the attention "You know, I'm very good at spotting lies. You didn't lie when you said that you did it... I believe that it was an accident or the circumstances are special, but..." Eidolon turns to bore his eyes into Kurt's yellow ones
"You're hiding something." He says making Kurt lows his head even more "Normally people hide shameful things, mistakes... But you confessed that you killed someone... What is worse than that?" Eidolon tilts his head.
He is making the people around him accompany his logic.
"Maybe you're not lying for your sake..." Eidolon guess slowly and watches Kurt act like he was electrocuted. "Who are you protecting, Kurt?"
Kurt doesn't answer. He raises his hands to his face and cries.
The X-men go around Kurt to console him. Eidolon observes some changes in Margali, she didn't look so sure of her vengeance now.
"What do you think about all of this?" Eidolon asks, but not Margali. He asks Jimaine, the daughter that was silent all this time.
"Ah... Eh..." She stutters
"Do you think Kurt is guilty?"
"No!" She says fast "I mean... He said that he is, but... But must there be a good reason? Right? Kurt is not like that..." She says slowly.
"Jimaine..." Margali mutters looking at her daughter
"I'm sorry, mami... I've been looking for Kurt secretly all these years. I want to solve this without you. You... You are so full of anger and..." She tries to articulate, but she is apparently very nervous.
"You said that you raised him..." Eidolon addresses Margali "Why didn't you ask your own memories if the Kurt that you raised was capable of killing someone for no reason... His step-brother nonetheless." Eidolon says.
Margali eyes shake with confusion and conflict, a swarm of emotions on them.
'Time to the last push...' Eidolon thinks while going close to Kurt 'I will start charge for the pep talks...'
"Kurt, no matter how painful it is you need to face your past now." Eidolon says and then turns to address Margali while showing the Lasso "This is the Lasso of Truth. Anyone touching it will only say the truth. This can clear all misunderstandings. If you want to test..."
Eidolon observes Jimaine looking at her mother and the mother's expression changes a little
'Are they communicating with magic telepathy? I see... The daughter is more in tune with the mundane world and knows about me... She must be the one that stopped the mother from continuing Fighting.' Eidolon guess correctly
Margali initially doesn't want to go with Eidolon's suggestion, afraid of some trick. But Jimaine convinces her eventually. It appears that Eidolon's good rep can be useful even in these places.
After a minute of Margali trying to lie while holding the Lasso, she is convinced enough and Eidolon moves to Kurt.
"The truth can be liberating..." He says extending the golden rope to the blue meta.
Kurt looks at it for a moment before grabbing it with some hesitation.
What follows is Kurt telling everything about his story with Margali's biological son, Stephan.
Stephan and Kurt are good friends. In truth, Stephan was the first to discover Kurt's teleportation powers. Kurt hid it, his appearance was enough to make people scared.
During the time that this family of four was traveling with a circus Stephan discovers Kurt's secret power and in return, he revealed that his Family is also special. With his mother capable of using magic and talked about how he and his sister would eventually be capable too.
The family used the circus to hide from hunters or something. Stephan also revealed that the family had connections with demonic powers and confessed that he was afraid of becoming a bad person if used demonic magic.
He even asked Kurt to kill him if he become a bad person.
Kurt says that with time he noticed changes in Stephan. He was angry with him, jealous of the attention that his mother gives to Kurt. He becomes distant and started saying mean things to him.
With time, Kurt noticed that his hatred grew and also he started behaving strangely.
On the fated day, Kurt found Stephan after he had killed the children. Mutant children. He confronted his stepbrother. The two fought, and because of bad luck and a lack of control, Kurt ended up causing his death.
That's when Kurt was found by some people from the circus and some visitors.
Now, is not hard to imagine how it went. A demon all bloodied over the body of dead children. No surprise that they pulled their torches and pitchforks without asking questions.
From there, the misunderstandings piled up and snowballed beyond control, and the relationship of the family was destroyed.
Everyone has different levels of Shock hearing Kurt's tale.
The mother-daughter is kneeling and hugging each other. Knowing that Stephan committed heinous things like killing children shocked the two.
While the mood is sad Eidolon thinks about only one thing 'Irrational hate of mutants... This smell at Sublime...'
He sideglances the mother and daughter duo crying over the dead childre, Stephan and the others, they don't know what to feel.
For some reason, his heart aches a little and he sighs.
'This is a little character but... Whatever, creating another enemy to Sublime can be useful in the future'
"Mrs. Szardos..." He called her. When she looks up at him with her tear-stained face, he decides to really go with it. "There's a chance that Stephan was not himself"
"What do you mean?" She asks. The exchange attracts the attention of the others.
"There's an enemy of the metas, or mutants if you're not entirely into the situation, that is secretly and discreetly turning the world against the metas." Eidolon explains "He... It is old and can affect people's minds and emotions. And he does everything that he can to make us the enemy of the world creating this irrational phobia."
"Wait... There's someone really doing it? But why? Is he a mutant too? He has powers, right?" Scott asks
"He is not human... I don't want o reveal too much because he is a slimy bastard, but let's say that he wants to dominate the world and we, the metas, are a thorn in his side because we are immune to his methods. He is not directly strong, he can only use these underhand methods." Eidolon turns to Margali again
"He affects people's minds like these... Maybe when Kurt and Stephan are children they stumbled upon something of him and he affected Stephan. Kurt being immune didn't notice a thing. Kurt, did you and Stephan went... I don't know, exploring just the two of you guys?" Eidolon asks
Kurt slowly nods, his mind Racing. "We always went around in the rivers, forests, abandoned houses... Anything that looked interesting where the circus passed." He says
"In one of these adventures Stephan was contaminated, probably..." Eidolon comments.
"How did you never hear of this guy?" Kitty asks
"He is old... Very old... He is ingrained in Society already. What he can't control with his powers he used of propaganda and influence to make the world hate metas. Because he is so old and his number of proxies is hard to trace him." Eidolon sighs "Do you know how many incidents are registered by the media about the metas?" He asks and people frown
"Four... In all history of humanity, there are only four moments where the metas are truly exposed by the media. In World War I, a certain massacre that was related with Wolverine and Sabertooth, Kennedy assassination, and the two times Magneto attacked... The last three are relatively recent. But the world hates metas for a longer time and appears that everyone forgets the why...Or doesn't care."
"It is all this guy. He is probably one of the greatest if not the greatest force anti-meta in the world. Many of our enemies in governments are influenced by him and they don't even know that." Eidolon describes this invisible enemy.
Needless to say, everyone was shocked by the revelation.
"Wouldn't be better for the world to know about that?" Kitty asks
"No... This is something that I need to say to you all, don't speak of this out there. Seriously, this guy is a hard bastard to track. I'm almost getting him and I don't him to escape. If he escapes, he will remain hidden and impossible to track for maybe a thousand of years... A hidden blade forever on our backs." Eidolon says, but he is not much hopeful about them keeping their mouth shut.
He already located Sublime. And he even started devising a "cure" for the sentient vírus. In the worst-case scenario, he will spray the world with it.
"So you are saying that someone affected my boy's mind and make Kurt have to kill him..." Margali says slowly and with a dangerous tone
"70% of chance... The symptoms check, but can be another motive. Or you boy is simply a psychopath." Eidolon says bluntly
"Eidolon..." Jean says in horror
"But I don't know him, you are the one to judge that." He continues without a care. "Now, unless you have time-based powers you can't change the past. But you can start improving the future in the present." He said before moving away a little and pointing at Kurt with his thumb.
.....
Later, the group waits for the family trio of Margali, Jimaine, and Kurt to talk in private, a little far from them.
The other family trio, the Rasputin's. are talking between each other two.
Eidolon is planning the next step when Jean elbows his side "Aren't you good with these things?" She teases with a smile while looking at the family hugging each other
"I was thinking the same... Maybe I should quit of being a hero and become a therapist." He jokes, making her chuckle
At this moment, Kitty, Magic Ororo, Scott and Rogue approach. Murasaki and Shadow are already close to Eidolon from the beginning.
"So Captain, what is the next move?" Kitty asks making a salute
"I distract Belasco and you guys recuperate the Bloodstone and the 'yours' from another universe. Now, let me ask you Magic Ororo..." Eidolon turns to the woman "Beyond Belasco who should we be worried for? We need to separate them and chose who will be their opponents. Tell us everything."
Magic Ororo nods and starts speaking "Beyond Belasco, there's his captain of guard Necrosis, and then his two main henchmen: S'ym and N'astirh. They are the strongest."
"How strong precisely? Use comparative with the heroes and villains..." He asks
"I never saw Necrosis fight, he is a centaur in armor that has six arms, apparently he uses all type of medieval weapons. Swords, shields, maces, spears..." She says "S'ym and N'astirh are strong. N'astirh is a sorcerer, never seen him fight but he should be at least equal with S'ym.
"And S'ym is a physical powerhouse. Maybe strong as the Hulk, but faster..." Magic Ororo says
"I doubt it." Eidolon comments "He must be strong as casual enraged Hulk." He puts his chin on his fingers and starts thinking about the match-ups.
Seeing his silence, Kitty decides to ask Magic Ororo.
"How is your world Ororo?"
"I don't know how to explain without knowing about your world" She smiles "There's the X-men, the Avengers and other superhero groups. By the little we talked, my world must be some years ahead of yours."
"Whoa... So you like, know the future. In what I should invest?" Kitty starts asking but is interrupted by Eidolon.
"Is useless to try to cheat like that... Her universe is not like ours, even a small difference can make everything different. You will just end up too tied with what you think will happen and suffering in some way." He advises
"Party pooper..." Kitty pouts but she suddenly smiles and turns to Ororo "How is the Eidolon from your world?"
"No... Never heard of an Eidolon... Or nothing similar." Magic Ororo reveals.
Kitty's eyes widen "So... About the metas, the battle of New York..."
"Metas, huh? We call ourselves mutants. And yeah, a terrible affair that battle, many died." Magic Ororo says
Jean frowns "How is the mutant situation there?" She asks
"Bad..." Ororo says like she is accustomed
"How many years ago the battle of New York happened?" Eidolon asks, but he appears uninterested
"8 years ago." Magic Ororo answers
"So is useless to talk, many disasters should have happened. Your world is very ahead of yours. With is a little worrying..."
"Worrying?" Rogue asks
"That means that the heroes and villains there are stronger, more experienced and in more quantity than us. If there's universal war, we would lose..." He says
"We don't want wars..." Ororo says
"Don't need to be your universe. Statically Half of the multiverse is with a timeline more advanced than us. Maybe just one second, maybe a hundred Years. I don't like it..." Eidolon frowns "It is good that I don't exist in your universe. With luck, I died in all other universes." He says casually.
Jean stares at him. She remembers the time that he is subjected to Danielle Moonstar's power. His fear... Himself.
'It is not only about him going crazy or being mind controlled. He is worried about an alternative evil version of him coming here.' She thinks
Hector is worried about that truly. But his way of having a meta power was not conventional. And he doesn't think all of his alternative versions have the Essence either. The Multiverse would be broken.
'With luck, I'm the only Hector with powers in all Multiverse...' He thinks 'But why do I feel like I will not be so lucky?' He sighs internally
He even prepared an excuse for this during the interview.
His fabricated origin story is based on Dr. Manhattan, where his power is too strong and he died. For all senses and purpose, if the other Hectors don't have his powers he can say that they didn't awaken in the same way. And if he doesn't exist, that means that they died.
Eidolon then claps loudly, making everyone look at him. "Okay, everyone. The break is over. Let's move to the Belasco fortress. I will say the plan along the way." He exclaims while producing the cloud again.
...
Flying in the cloud again. Everyone is sitting in a circle while Eidolon starts to explain everyone's task
"But... What are you two doing here again?" He pauses to look at the sorcerer duo sitting calmly.
"Kurt told me the gist of it... I want to help." Margali said simply, like is natural.
"..." Eidolon stare at her "And you three solved your issues?" he asks
"..." Margali frowns "It is hard to simply forget years of hate, but I understand that is unfair to blame Kurt. I... I just need time." She says and her two children put hands on her shoulder to Comfort her.
It is really complicated, even if Eidolon gave her someone to blame, must be hard to sort out her feeling in so little time.
"Hm... Well, these things take time. Just keep in touch." Eidolon comments "But are you here for the goodness of your heart or do you want something?" He asks suddenly
Not knowing the person by their fictional character, he will keep his distance.
Margali doesn't answer immediately "Are you sure that you want to fight Belasco? He is not an enemy that anyone wants to make so easily..."
"The Ancient One already told me many things about him" Eidolon interrupts "It is not that I want to make him an enemy, he IS my enemy now. Tell me what you want already..." He says
"Eidolon..." Kurt starts saying but Margali raises her hand
" So you met the Ancient One..." She says with a strange gaze "You're right. Sincerely I just care about Kurt and Jimaine." Margali says "I would accompany you guys just to keep him safe. If you want my help... I want something from Belasco too. Such an old sorcerer. He must have a mountain of useful things..." She says
"An hour ago we are almost fighting and now we are planning a raid together." Kitty comments
"There are no eternal enemies, only interests..." Eidolon quotes from somewhere
Margali smiles at his words "You look like a smart fella..."
Eidolon doesn't react to her patronizing words "Anything in particular that you want?" He asks
Sometimes is good to give someone the chance to make a choice. This will reveal their objective and ambition, and help you make a good map of their Character and intentions
Margali narrows her eyes a little at Eidolon "I want Belasco sword..."
"..." The two stare at each other.
Ororo and Illyana's reaction of surprise didn't go unnoticed by Eidolon even if his eyes never left the older sorcerer.
But in the end, he shrugs and says in a carefree way "Oh, just this? Okay." He accepts easily
Ororo try to catch his attention with her eyes, but he didn't look at her
"I just want you to hold off one of Belasco's followers and the sword is yours, if I get my hands on her. With my plan will be easy to kill the guy..." Eidolon says
'As if I'm giving anything that you want to you' He thinks to himself 'If this Limbo looks like a Walmart cultivation world I will act like Wang Lin. If you want the sword, fight him yourself...'
Nothing is revealed on his face, but now he has the plan that if even Belasco's invulnerability is too much, he wants to at least take his weapon and cripple him beyond recovery.
"Okay, now that this is settled... Let me explain the plan. It is incredibly simple." Eidolon says before outstretching his hand making a hologram appear.
Using the power [Chart] and [Hologram] together with other abilities, a perfect 3D image of Belasco city appears in the middle o everyone
"Is this Belasco's place?" Kitty asks
"Yes, I mapped it earlier." Eidolon says
"When?" Jean asks
"During our two wholesome family reunions... I don't like wasting time" It is all he says, he didn't explain his use of clones and other powers to scout ahead.
Belasco's fortress city looks nothing out of the ordinary when compared with a feudal city. A huge castle surrounded by all types of buildings. The only thing that sticks ups is some incredible tall towers all over the place.
"So, Magic Ororo... Where normally does our target stay in this place?" eidolon asks
"Necrosis normally stays here, in the barracks or in patrol." She points to an isolated place close to the wall. "Belasco and N'arstirh vary a little, N'astirh normally stays holed up in his tower. This one." She points to the specific tower "S'ym is completely unpredictable." She shrugs
"Where the Bloodstone could be?"
"In Belasco study probably..."
"But there's a chance that is with him? In this case, I will need to take it myself... And before he discovers that he can use it to threaten us with Illyana's life..." Eidolon comments darkly
"We will divide ourselves... First, there will be a group with Illyana that will await from my signal and the confirmation that the Bloodstone is not with Belasco before invading sneakily." He makes a light shine on the back of the castle
The faces of everyone appear on the hologram and he move them around the map
"This will be everyone's initial position... Illyana, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Shadow, Mikhail, and Magic Ororo will wait here to go retrieve the Bloodstone and rescue the other Kurt and Kitty." He shows the position
"Murasaki, Marvel Girl, Cyclops, and Colossus will attack Necrosis and the guards. Murasaki will take care of Necrosis and I want the three X-men to go crazy, I want chaos" He says showing the place
"There are civilians in this city?" Jean asks a little worriedly
"No, all of them are Belasco subordinates, but there are some slaves through..." Magic Ororo says
"Just attack the ones that hold weapons and attack you. I will leave this to your judgment." Eidolon says, seeing Jean's uneasy face.
After she nods he continues.
"Mrs. Szardos... Do you know how to set traps?" He asks
"Yes, if you give me some time..."
"Then you, your daughter, and Rogue will wait here. A little far away from the city. I will throw N'astirh to you guys." Eidolon says "Just hold him there if he prove himself too dangerous. Sorcerers are unpredictable."
She nods
"I will attack from the front. Attract attention and keep Belasco busy." Eidolon says pointing to the front gate "Any doubts or suggestions?"
"Isn't the group of Illyana a little fragile to the dangerous task? They had a great chance of finding that S'ym guy, that is strong as N'astirh." Jean asks
"I thought about this, I will give some useful things to Mikhail and Shadow later. But there's no need for them to be super strong, they need to be capable of running away fast. I don't want too many people to put a burden on Kitty and Kurt's powers." Eidolon turns to Illyana's group "If you guys meet S'ym or any other enemies, you guys have Ororo, Shadow and Mikhail to leave behind and continue forward with the task."
He tries to convey the seriousness "Your guy's mission is literally the most important, in the moment you guys complete it and we are getting out here. But no need to risk your lives, remember it." He says
"Any other question?"
"We don't need any help." Margali says signaling at Rogue
"Maybe... Better safe than sorry and I want you guys to defeat N'astirh fast. The fastest anyone defeats an enemy, the fastest they can move to help and we will snowball on them. We have the surprise element. If we go well, we can end everything in less than half of an hour." Eidolon says
"And this girl will be of any help?" She asks with a raised eyebrow
"Mami..." Kurt tried to mediate the situation
"She will..." Eidolon answers with hesitation "Rogue, come here." He then raises his arm. His suit retracts from his wrist to his shoulder. "I will allow you to take a lot this time." He says
Rogue eyes widen and she gulps before nodding.
"Sucking him in broad light... So bold~" Kitty jokes while making a show of spying on them between her fingers that are trying to cover her face.
This only makes Rogue, that is taking off her gloves, blush more.
.....
Later, they are high in the air looking down on the fortress city.
"Yes, N'astirh is in that tower. But is hard to see inside the fortress itself... Wards maybe. But there are two high signatures there and there... No barrier surrounding the city, a little arrogant..." Eidolon points
"That's the throne room and the dungeons. Belasco should be in the throne room." Magic Ororo says "S'ym should be underground."
"Good. Shadow.. Use those." Eidolon says taking off Beowulf of his Sky Poison Pearl "Just channel your energy and you will know how to use it." He says
Shadow put the pair of gauntlets and greaves. The Devil Arm adjusts to her size and she tests it a little.
"Mikhail... Put this." Eidolon takes off the almost forgotten E.D.I. Biomech suit.
"This looks like Thor armor." Kitty comments
"It's inspired in it... A prototype" Eidolon says
Eidolon has outgrown the item, but that doesn't that can't be useful. Together with Cortana, he is working on making a variety of Power Suits. He is combining Spartan armor with this Biomech suit.
In truth, this piece of armor and belt shouldn't even work. The armor would need the Battery that is contained in the hammer. But thanks to the Gacha, it works without it. But don't give the user flight of electricity projection.
And because Mikhail is not a summon, he doesn't give powers to him for now.
"This will give you a good level of durability and strength. Give me back later with a report of the use." Eidolon says like Mikhail is gonna test it. "Now go to your positions... When everyone is ready I will start."
"Rogue take this... It is an anti-magic weapon." Eidolon gives her the Nth metal mace.
She takes it and tries the weight, her moves precise now that she absorbed Eidolon again.
Margali that is giving a long stare at Shadow's Beowulf and Rogue's Mace turns to him.
"Belasco is a strong individual, killed all that challenged him..." She comments as a good-natured warning.
"He never fought me..." Eidolon says
"This is his world..." She continues
"Good... Very good..." He looks down on the city "I don't need to hold back then."
His eyes started glowing dangerously red and the X-men that know of his fight against Thor shuddered a little.
'Against Thor, he is in the middle of New York... And don't want to kill Thor... Now...' Jean thinks to himself
"Remember that we are still down there..." Kitty half-jokes
....
Later, Eidolon is floating alone now. He took off his mantle.
Waiting for Margali to be ready.
While waiting he pulls the Sword of Actuation from his Inventory and looks at it.
'Better be safe than sorry...' And he slowly starts to take off Power Boost cards and use them on the sword.
Hector is a little stingy with his Power Boost cards. Even if they are the "consolation prize" of the Gacha, because of his limited rolls, he can't waste them.
He has a list of powers to upgrade, like [New Order] or even [Erasure], the power that he is keeping a secret to use against Apocalypse and make the eventual confrontation last 1 second.
But powers can be trained, can be improved by an increase in strength... So he is holding it for now.
But items... It is not simple to upgrade items. So is not a waste to use Power Boost cards on it.
He uses cards one a one. And no apparent changes occur, he feels like he is filling a reservoir that he doesn't know the volume of.
Obviously, he can feel the slight increase in the power of the sword with each card, but he is waiting for the... breakthrough or evolution.
In the eighth card, it finally comes... The sword shines and trembles a little
'Last time the Sword the blade changed from blue to red and I gained the ability to shift between hurting only physical or astral things... I used two cards...This time I use 8... If this continues in a geometric progression...' He frowns thinking about the huge amount of cards needed in the future.
32 in the next and 128 after it...
After the light subsided he inspect the changes in the sword.
Appearance-wise, there's only one. The thorny vines that composed the guard and handle changed from green to purple. The sword looks even more alive now, pulsating.
'Oh! I see...' He instinctively knows the new abilities and he tries one.
The thorny vines move around wildly before latching around his hand. But hey not stop there, the vines envelop his hand and continue to grow and grow till they are covering his whole arm.
In a makeshift thorn armguard that ends on his shoulder. Some vines still dance slowly at the end of it, above his shoulder.
'An anti-astral armor? And only the arm for now, huh?' Hector counts his body parts and feels a little headache knowing how much more upgrades are needed.
'Well, at least shows that this sword has great potential...'
He puts the sword away and makes his preparations.
"*Bzzt* In position..." Rogue reports to him in his earpiece.
"Copy that." He says before floating down slowly.
As he approaches the wall, some guards look at him and pointed but he ignored them.
"The One For All users said that named moves are stronger... And weirdly they really get out a little stronger. Must be the adrenaline..." He muses to himself while taking position. "How should I do it?" Some guards with wings fly to him
"First comes rock...?" He mutters
"No... Maybe a United States of Smash?" He muses again
"Nah... Talking about this, maybe I should accompany my moves with a word like Smash... Uvogin uses 'Impact' "
"Maybe 'Strike' "
"I should stick with the basic and go with a Serious Punch..."
The guards finally arrived and surrounded him. Shouting something about trespassing and going to kill him.
"Well, this cheap cultivation world deserves a palm attack..." he raises his hand, flexing many of his energy sources.
The sky darkens a little and the world starts trembling.
Taking the perfect angle he attacks.
From his palm, the Force and his telekinetic powers coupled with Nen emit a giants turbid palm that flies to the city.
The attack razes 25% of the Giants city as a collateral, because the real target is the tower where N'astirh dwells.
It is a testament to the protective wards the fact that the tower is not disintegrated, but it is uprooted and sent flying at a distance... To Margali, Jimaine and Rogue.
"Hm~ I will call it 'Cultivation Bullshit Palm Strike'." He nods to himself
...
"Well, that is our signal." Jean comments seeing the uprooted buildings and rubbles flying crazily on the other side of the city.
She, Saeko, Cyclops, and Colossus are on the roof of a building looking where can only be the barracks of the soldiers.
After the commotion, demonic people start pouring out of the buildings like ants.
Colossus rises from his crouched position while covering his body in metal. He Steps out the roof and loudly lands on the path of the soldiers.
While this, huge icebergs fall from the sky around them, conveniently blocking other escape routes. Eidolon doing trapped most of the soldiers in that part of the city.
Some demonic soldiers could fly, but they're hit by Cyclop's blasts. Jean helps attack the mind of the ones flooding Colossus and throwing what she can to the ones flying.
Murasaki is completely still even if the fight already started. She wants to join already, but she held herself back.
Her eyes focused on the buildings. At some point, a centaur knight steps out of one of the buildings shouting something, maybe orders...
Saeko smiles under the mask before disappearing from her spot.
She steps on Colossus's shoulder before moving forward so fast that she appears to be teleporting. Where she passes, demons receive cuts and fall.
She finally arrives at the back...
"Mist?" Necrosis, the huge centaur with six arms, looks around before hastily raising his shield.
The blow makes him slides a little before he steadies himself to look at his opponent.
"Wench! You will pay for your cheap tricks..." He exclaims while taking a variety of weapons.
Saeko raises his sword. "Im gonna enjoy it..." She licks her lips
....
Outside the city
"Good control..." Margali praises while watching the tower flying in her overall direction. Jimane and Rogue at her side.
When the tower falls and starts sliding in the ground, she times perfectly and hit her Wando f Power on the ground.
Blue glyphs shine on the ground and converge where the tower falls.
Then a huge explosion and a pillar of blue light emerge with enough strength to reach the clouds.
'A sky beam... Typical...' Rogue thinks... But is more like Eidolon than her. She shakes her head to focus again.
She absorbed a lot. Really a lot this time.
Eidolon controlled what powers she would absorb this time. Focusing on the quality of powers, but in the quantity of energy. She is almost glowing with strength.
After the light subsided, a creature that looks like a humanoid pterodactyl with a horse face emerges from the rubble. He is very hurt and enraged.
Looking around, he spotted his three enemies
"I'm gonna make you three wish that you never existed-" He starts saying before receiving an attack from Rogue Mace, he is sent flying to the ground. She doesn't hesitate before dropping down on his chest with her knee. And then taking a deep breath she releases a sonic scream close to his skull.
And then drops the mace on his chest again
"..." Margali watches this unfold.
"Are we really necessary here?" Jimaine asks unsure while starting to float, her hands glowing ready to give support.
.....
Back to Eidolon, he continues to rain down the destruction on the site, in a controlled way.
Targeting especially the towers, the place that Magic Ororo said are the core of the wards. He disturbs everything with the goal of making Illyana's group travel unnoticed.
At some point, he notices someone appearing from the balcony of a high part of the castle.
'Finally...'
Belasco looks exactly like someone would imagine a demon. Red skin, yellow eyes, and horns. He is using regal clothes also red, but some with some jewelry. In his waist was a sword.
He looks around unfazed by the destruction. Then he finally looks at Eidolon.
"I was already bored without suicidal people like you..." he drawls complacently
Eidolon doesn't answer him "Belasco is on the balcony of the largest Building" He mutters into his earpiece.
....
With Illyana group.
They received the message and looks at Illyana.
She closes her eyes in concentration.
"It was not with him..." She says after some time.
Everyone nods.
"We are invading right now, Eidolon".
If the Bloodstone is not with Belasco, Eidolon only needs to take the guy away now.
....
Eidolon raises his hand and releases a high concentrated blast of Air Cannon at Belasco.
The Upper part of the castle is destroyed, but Belasco is unaffected after he raised a shield.
"You're not bad... Will make a nice puppet." Belasco comments
To keep his focus on himself Eidolon emits his Nen and other energies. Ready to go all out.
"Oh... Are you a demigod? It's always these heroic types born with a golden spoon in their mouths..." He says condescendingly
Eidolon punches the air.
But before his motion is finished, a small portal appears in front of his fist. His arm disappears and reappears close to Belasco, already giving him an uppercut to the sky.
A convenient power that he took on the world of the Incredibles.
Eidolon doesn't stop there. It is not n his style to give enemies chances. He continues to punch the air like he is Shadowboxing.
His first disappeared and reappeared in different positions close to Belasco.
He punches almost every inch of his body... Face, stomach, crotch, liver, ribs, back. Belasco is treated as a ragdoll for some time. Throw around in the air by the force
"ENOUGH!" Belasco screams stabilizing himself in the air with a burst of magical energy.
He is panting in fury, but he looks just a little hurt.
Eidolon appears above, his arm already pulled back in a huge motion. His first is shining in a blinding light.
All this time he is not simply punching Belasco to accumulate damage.
He is using Fa Jin. Accumulating the kinetic energy of dozens of punches to multiply this one attack.
"First comes rock..." He says before burying his arm in Belasco's torso.
Belasco is shot at the ground like a bullet, Eidolon still connected with him while he caved his heart.
...
A.N.: Aah... I really wanted to end the arc with this chapter, but...
The characters talked by themselves. Their talk too much, I swer.
Bye, bye. This week I end this arc. I will even add the epilogue as a apology.
Till some day.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
972 Power
stone 
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