บท 686: Tragedy and Decoy

"Wanda, calm down!" Steve said as he tried to dissuade Wanda's anger. The other Avengers were also anxious about the situation, but they knew that they would have a hard time calming Wanda down if she was out of control. The only one who could instantly calm Wanda down was Dio, but they didn't know whether Dio was alive or not after what Tony did.

"Let him go. I am fine!" a familiar voice suddenly said from the side.

"Dio!" Wanda shouted as she saw Dio get off Galaxy's back. She let go of Tony, and he immediately fell to the ground. Wanda didn't seem to care as she immediately walked towards Dio excitedly.

"Relax, I am fine! I am not that easy to kill!" Dio said as he immediately patted Wanda's head gently. Everyone was also relieved that Dio was fine and Wanda didn't drown in rage.

"What is going on here? Tony attacked Stephen as soon as he came out of the portal, and now Stephen is in bad condition!" Steve said as he walked down towards Dio. Dio immediately let go of Wanda and took a look at Stephen's injury. He immediately saw that Stephen had a hole on his stomach, courtesy of Tony's attack, and nodded with a smirk on his face.

Stephen, who couldn't speak due to the pain he felt on his body, rolled his eyes as he knew what Dio was thinking. He already knew how bad Dio's personality could be, and if it were not because of the pain, he would've shouted and scolded Dio to no end.

"Tony was being controlled by that woman. Let him sleep. It should wear off soon!" Dio said casually. Natasha immediately stunned the unconscious Tony once more to make sure that Tony wouldn't wake up anytime soon. Still, everyone felt a little bit uncomfortable knowing that the leader of the Avenger could be controlled by the enemy so easily. it was fortunate that Dio could escape the enemy's trap without any injuries. Had it been any other person, it wasn't likely they would survive!

Meanwhile, Dio himself was using [King Crimson] to survive the Woman's Black Crystal's explosion. He couldn't use the Time Stop ability that belonged to [The World] as Galaxy wouldn't be affected by that, so the only option he had was to erase the time itself! After he survived the explosion, he used Galaxy's power to make a portal to where the rest of the Avenger was.

The woman could never expect that Dio could delete the time itself and be able to escape unscathed! Dio himself still looked at T'challa with a sorry sight as he didn't mean to let all those Wakandan armies die like that!

Dio took out the pocket snail from Tony and placed it on Stephen, who was about to die! Immediately, the snail did its magic and covered Stephen's wound with life energy. It didn't take long before Stephen was as good as new.

Dio sighed in relief as he didn't have to use his Reality Overwrite anymore. He didn't have that many Soul left, after all. Furthermore, he didn't know what would happen in the future, so he couldn't swap his Stand carelessly. Replacing a card had 24-hour cooldown and he couldn't waste time without any consideration of what he should do next.

"What is the body count this time?" Dio asked solemnly.

"It's a lot. The whole army is gone!" Steve said gloomily. The incident was way too sudden, so the soldier couldn't escape safely.

"What the hell!" Scott shouted as he was startled by the thing on Loki's hand.

"What? I am curious; blame me!" Loki annoyedly said as he held one of the Black Crystal Bomb in his hand, but strange enough, he wasn't affected by it. The Black Crystal Bomb was really something spectacular and yet also vicious! The explosion itself wasn't that powerful, but the infection rate once the fragment started flying was astronomical! Once someone was as little as scratched by that flying fragment, they were as good as gone!

It could infect not only humans but also surrounding stones, grass, and even Dio's ice wall! If this Black Crystal Bomb were thrown into a densely populated city, the aftermath wouldn't be pretty! That said city would become a dead zone in a matter of minutes!

Fortunately for everyone who survived this time, they were on an open field this time. There were hardly any resources to transmit the infection, so the Black Crystal Bomb failed to kill everyone! But further use of that land was almost impossible as it was now dyed in black!

"Still, we have to find that woman! Finding her was like finding a needle in a haystack! It was too annoying to do!" Steve said as he ignored Loki.

"You go and join T'challa. I will stay here alone. Since the woman was hell-bent to fight me, she would come to me sooner or later!" Dio said solemnly.

"It's too dangerous! Are you sure about this!" Steve asked worriedly.

"I am sure! I believe she hadn't retreated just yet. She might not come out if you guys stay with me, so it's better for you to leave with T'challa. I believe that it's the best course of action we should take." Dio said solemnly. Dio then glanced apologetically to Wanda. He didn't want to make Wanda worry about him, but it was simply the best course of action he should take.

Steve remained silent, but he didn't persuade Dio to reconsider his plan. Dio's plan really made sense, and he didn't have any argument to throw anymore.

"Be careful!" Steve said as he didn't know what else to say at the moment.

"I am waiting for you to come back! I hope that you are victorious in your endeavour!" Wanda said as she knew that she couldn't persuade Dio either.

"Since I already killed her once, I will be able to do the same again! Don't worry about me too much!" Dio said as he hugged Wanda tightly. He saw the look of worry in Wanda's eyes, so he hoped that little reassuring could convince Wanda that everything would be alright.