บท 146: Chapter 144
A bright flash of light illuminated the city before a massive explosion sent a plume of smoke and a gust of wind that made Steve and Maria cover their faces.
The alley was completely destroyed; the trash cans and emergency stairs had vanished, the walls were gone, and it seemed like there was a sphere where everything had been obliterated.
Fortunately, they had evacuated the people from those apartments early, so no one was hurt.
Steve and Maria approached the explosion site, and as they expected, there was nothing left, just a dark crater.
At that moment, a large ship appeared above them, followed by several Yautjas suddenly surrounding them.
Steve couldn't help but be on guard, attentive to their movements.
Maria was more relaxed, knowing they posed no threat to her. She wore a look of curiosity, as they seemed to regard Steve with respect.
Finally, a slightly taller Yautja with a cape and longer dreadlocks appeared. Both assumed he was the leader.
The Yautja approached Steve with a metallic staff the length of a forearm.
With a motion of his hand, the staff transformed into a spear before returning to its staff form, which he then handed to Steve.
Steve saw it as a sign of respect, judging by the body language of all the aliens, so he extended his hand and took the spear.
After handing it over, the Yautja leader gestured a sign of respect before disappearing along with the others in a flash, while the ship vanished in the distance.
"Wow, what an exotic culture," Maria said, a bit amazed. They not only didn't blame Steve, but they also respected him.
"In fact, don't they feel sadness for their fallen clan member?" Steve asked, furrowing his brow as he looked at the spear.
"Kid, don't feel guilty. That seems to be their way of life," Maria said, patting Steve's shoulder.
"You're the director of SWORD, I suppose," Steve said, looking at Maria.
"That's right. If you ever get tired of working for the one-eyed guy, you can come join my organization," Maria said, laughing as she left the alley.
Outside, several of her agents were talking to police officers and firefighters.
The explosion had, of course, drawn everyone's attention, and many people were peering out from their windows or in the vicinity, recording and asking about it.
It was impossible to hide what had happened. A spaceship had clearly appeared over the city, and Maria was sure many must have recorded it.
Trying to conceal it would be foolish and would only generate more suspicion or panic. It could even lead to a riot, with many people demanding to know what happened.
Maria only instructed her guys not to comment while putting them to work.
She quickly ordered her agents to carefully inspect the explosion area to see if any traces of weapons or biological material remained.
Maria seriously doubted it was possible, since the explosion was the equivalent of a small nuclear blast. Even her barriers couldn't completely contain the explosion.
"What will you do?" Maria asked, looking at Steve, who seemed to be playing with the weapon they had given him.
"I'll take a vacation. That was what I originally wanted to do when I stumbled upon this," Steve said with a faint smile.
"You should. You came out of a war and suddenly appeared 70 years later," Maria said, nodding.
"Yes, I suppose I will," Steve said before retracting the gifted spear and attaching it to his waist.
"As an apology for technically using you as bait, I'll lend you this," Maria said, taking a card from her wallet.
"I have a house in Madripoor in a really nice and secluded spot by the beach. My daughter gave it to me to relax, but I don't really use it much. With this, you can enter the country without much hassle and also buy things there," Maria said, handing him the card.
"I don't think I should," Steve said, declining. He had always been a simple man and wouldn't know how to enjoy such luxuries.
"Oh, come on, don't be like that. Think about it. If you decide not to go, you can give it back to me through Natasha," Maria said, slipping the card into Steve's hand.
Steve felt somewhat embarrassed holding the card. In his opinion, what he did was what he had to do and not something that warranted a reward.
"Take care on your way home. Goodbye," Maria said before getting into one of the vehicles and leaving.
Upon seeing this, Steve also began to walk towards his home. There were many curious eyes on him because of his attire and shield.
Some older people looked at him with confusion and disbelief.
Upon arriving home, Steve placed his shield and new spear on the table before collapsing onto the couch exhausted. Even though they hadn't fought for more than 15 minutes, the intensity was so high that even with his endurance, he ended up drained.
Steve couldn't help but wonder if he could become stronger. Since receiving the serum, he had never trained to increase his strength. It was off to war and then straight into the ice.
He supposed he would have to figure it out slowly.
...
Damian was at home having a meal with his entire family. Natasha had already arrived, so they temporarily skipped their explanation of the magic circle and moved on to eating.
While they ate, everyone couldn't help but stop and look out of the dining room window towards the city.
A bright flash of light had appeared in the sky before they heard the faint sound of an explosion and the subsequent plume of smoke.
Damian furrowed his brow as he assessed the situation. To his surprise, he saw Steve and Maria together in front of the explosion.
Seeing everyone looking at him, urging him to tell them what had happened, Damian smiled faintly before conjuring a large magic circle in his hand and creating three rectangles side by side to form a triangle.
In each triangle, they saw Steve and Maria from above.
Everyone watched as they approached the explosion site before suddenly being surrounded by several humanoid figures.
"What are those?" Carol asked after seeing them disappear.
In her travels, she had never seen or heard of this race.
"They're called Yautjas. They're a fairly technologically advanced civilization, but their culture is a bit tribal. They live for hunting and honor," Damian said, dismissing the triangles showing the images.
Before, despite having good control over space, he wouldn't have been able to create windows to another part of space. Now, with his magic circle, he could do more delicate and practical things.
"Were they responsible for the recent victims?" Carol asked, looking at Damian with a furrowed brow.
"That's right," Damian said, nodding.
"Don't look at me like that. They're not as bad as they seem. They never attack defenseless people, pregnant women, or children. Besides, this is Maria's responsibility. Let her handle it," Damian said, shrugging.
"You seem to know a lot about them," Ophelia said, looking at Damian.
"They're business partners of Knowhere," Damian said casually as he ate.
"Hmm, now tell me about the magic circles," Ophelia said, interested. After all, she was the most advanced in Damian's created magic system.
Everyone immediately started paying attention.
"Well, I'll give you a summary of what I have so far."
"So far, I've created four magic circles, each more powerful, allowing for greater manipulation of the world around us: Elements, Transmutation, Conjuration, and finally Space," Damian said, summoning each of his circles as he spoke.
Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. What if he moved the circles outside of his body and not just kept them on his hand?
Trying it out, Damian began to focus on moving them. The magic circles moved slowly and separated from his hand before suddenly returning.
Damian didn't pay much attention and assumed he would need to practice.
"That's it," Damian said, smiling at his family.
Everyone, especially the three little girls, was amazed by the magic circles. Although the three ladies had their own magic circles, they didn't have the same impact as seeing Damian's large magic circles.
Carol and the three little ones just pouted because they couldn't learn yet.
Damian smiled faintly at their expressions.
"What do you want to do tonight?" Damian asked, smiling at them.
...
The next day.
Damian woke up with Natasha hugging him. He smiled faintly to see her still asleep because it was quite usual for her to leave for work early.
Damian hugged her and moved to the side before kissing her on the cheek, savoring her embrace.
Natasha, awakened by Damian's actions, opened her eyes and looked at him before giving a gentle smile. She caressed Damian's cheeks before kissing him on the lips.
"Do you have something to do today?" Damian asked, smiling at her.
"Hmm, I'll be out for a while but should be back for lunch," Natasha said, hugging Damian tightly.
"Alright, Tony invited us to his house," Damian said, nodding as he ran his fingers through Natasha's red hair.
"Hmm, I haven't seen his baby in a while. She's really adorable, reminds me of when our three little princesses arrived," Natasha said, smiling.
Damian chuckled lightly before kissing Natasha's head and starting to get up.
"I'll go see Jen; it's been a while since we've seen each other," Damian said, smiling before heading to the bathroom.
Natasha followed him before attacking him in the bathroom.
Nearly an hour later, Damian emerged from the bathroom dressed with a faint smile before teleporting to Kamar-Taj.
To his surprise, he felt a significant obstruction that he easily passed through, but it was still surprising since he had never felt anything like it before.
Damian saw Jen looking directly at the point where he arrived, which was also unusual because she usually took several seconds to realize his presence if he wasn't deliberately hiding.
"Hello, what was all that?" Damian asked, looking at Jen, who seemed disappointed.
"I improved the security of Kamar-Taj and replicated the barriers that are around the world. Even the masters can't open a direct door to my room, but you still do it as if it's nothing," Jen said, disappointed.
Since Damian's appearance and the uncertainties of the future, she had begun to study magic again and tried to become stronger.
"Well, if it's any consolation, I did feel an obstruction... like going through a paper wall," Damian said, teasing her.
Jen only looked at him annoyed because, for a moment, she thought she was close to achieving it.
At that moment, Damian looked out of the building as he heard more noise than usual and was greatly surprised to see many disciples training. It's worth noting that the mystic arts were not easily taught.
Before, there were definitely not more than 500 sorcerers in the world, but in the place where he was, there seemed to be at least a thousand.
Most of them appeared relatively new and were in training.
"Is there something I don't know?" Damian asked, looking at Jen confused.
"Hmm, I've become stronger and created a fairly powerful divination spell, adding the Time Stone allowed me to glimpse brief images of the future," Jen said, looking at Damian.
Damian couldn't help but freeze a bit at hearing that. He would cause quite a scandal in a few years, and Jen seemed to be forming an army.
"And what did you see?" Damian asked, showing no expression other than curiosity.
"The world becomes chaotic, animals mutate and become very powerful, and humans can now have powers and use magic," Jen said, looking at Damian with disdain for trying to pretend to be innocent.
"Normally, I would stop you, but I know I'm not capable. As the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Kamar-Taj must increase its power for the new challenges that lie ahead," Jen said.
Damian seemed somewhat embarrassed by Jen's words. He had always kept that plan of his hidden because it went almost entirely against Kamar-Taj.
"Besides... my feelings for you have decided not to oppose you. Perhaps it's good to see a new future," Jen said with some hesitation but also with anticipation.
"Jen... I'm a married man, please behave," Damian said, feigning seriousness and making a joke to hide what he felt.
"Idiot, you're not even married," Jen said, sipping her tea quietly.
"Thank you," Damian said, looking at Jen and giving her a sincere smile.
Jen nodded calmly, but her heart skipped a beat for a moment. She had to admit that when Damian didn't act like an idiot, he was too attractive even for someone like her.
"Now that we've reached an agreement, tell me everything," Jen said, looking Damian in the eyes.
"Hmm, let's see, your visions were correct according to my plans," Damian said.
"The Earth has a pitiful amount of magic, and besides, sorcerers like you don't produce it in your bodies. That's why you have to extract energy from other dimensions."
"But what if the Earth became a very abundant source of magic? Surely creatures would learn to harness this energy to evolve," Damian said, smiling slightly.
"This would put humans at a great disadvantage because it would take them a long time to learn to harness this power, unlike other creatures that could do it instinctively," Jen said, furrowing her brow.
"That's right," Damian said, nodding.
"So, I will create a system that can track the growth of all intelligent creatures. Until normal animals reach a certain level of intelligence, they won't be able to enter the system, which will balance things a bit," Damian said.
"With the help of several Infinity Stones, I will change this world and return it to what it used to be."
"What do you mean?" Jen asked, furrowing her brow.
"Before, the world was full of magic, and it wasn't that different from what I want to do," Damian said, summoning a book in his hands that superficially detailed what the world was like in that era. It was one of the books he had found under the bed in Savage Lands.
Jen took the book with some doubt before nodding to Damian. She would read it once she was alone.
"I'll be back. Good luck training your disciples; you'll probably need them," Damian said, smiling as he stood up.
"I hope you'll be somewhat partial toward humans in all of this," Jen said, shaking her head.
"I'm sure humans can fend for themselves," Damian said, shrugging before disappearing.
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