章節 26: Chapter 7

Magus in Marvel

Chapter 7

By: Pineappl3

Hours after I spent time watching my favorite show with Athena, I made my way back to my lab. My goal was so close to coming to fruition and I couldn't help but try to speed it along.

I strode over to the cage which held the dragon egg and hastily opened it. I took the small white egg into my hands and traced my fingers along the bloody runes. I could feel the lifeforce of the creature within pulse and every time it did so, a bit of the surrounding ambient mana thinned around me.

With quick motions, I nicked my finger on a sharp corner of the cage and began to use the drawn blood to trace runes on the egg. Making sure my hand was as still as possible, I delicately created intricate runes. These would greatly help in using a very peculiar ritual that was pioneered by the Vampires on my homeworld. It was originally created so they could raise livestock quicker for feeding.

It worked by infusing life essence, more specifically blood, with mana and feeding it to the target. Combine this with a simple natural regeneration spell, and you have a way to force aging.

It was crude, that much would be obvious to anyone who claimed accomplishments in magic, but it would work for my plan. If this dragon was anything like a true one from my homeworld or even slightly similar to the one on this world, it would grow stronger with age. 'Huh, that gives me a thought on how to raise a dragon army. Maybe another day.'

Once the runes were complete, I began to feel disoriented as massive amounts of blood began to transfer from me to the egg as my open wound was the closest source. My skin quickly began to pale and shrivel before my regeneration began to kick in.

I felt my stores of energy begin to leave my body as well, as it was used to fuel said regeneration. Gritting my teeth, I held in the pain of having my life literally sucked out of me, and right as I was about to cut off the flow and try again with more preparation, the suction thankfully stopped.

I felt weak, but I managed to make my way over to my laboratory table. A golem, rising out of the ground, walked over, most likely controlled by Athena, and helped me up. As I laid there, the egg still in hand, the golem began to clumsily administer first aid.

'These golems definitely need an upgrade. Robotics should suffice for their new base rather than piles of rocks.'

Finished with my mental note, my focus was brought to the egg in my hand. It had changed from white to pale red, and the pulsing was more frequent. A scale-like pattern began to form on the smooth surface over the blood drawn runes, and I could visibly see the egg growing in size.

As time passed and I finally felt my former strength return, the egg had grown to the size of a basketball. I marveled at the sight and my breathing grew heavy as my excitement rose.

With careful motions, I lifted myself from the lab table and motioned for the golem to return to its sentry post in the floor. My breath still haggard, I slowly dragged myself to the row of cages, the whole time still marveling at the egg.

'While I have brought dragons back to life before, I never thought to use a dragon heart as my own. . . This. . . This will be interesting.'

I took a moment to calm myself and returned the sizable egg to the cage. Once closed I waved my hands, imbuing them with mana and added additional runes. This time they would be used to protect the cage rather than keep whatever hatched inside from breaking out.

I took a moment to look over the 'failures.' While they had none of the features I wanted and were considered botched experiments, they would serve their own purposes eventually.

Deciding they were most likely worth the effort, I added additional adjustments to their runes to protect them similarly to the dragon egg but to a much lesser degree. Finishing the simple task, I teleported myself to my room.

"Athena, prepare as much as you can for my return." I snapped my fingers and the outer coat for my Battle Robes appeared in my hands. "I would like to be an Archmagus before the day is over." I slowly put on my cover and my earpiece chimed, "Of course Dad." I walked over to my window and looked out at the bustling city before me.

The sight of tall highrises and the many pedestrians that dotted the concrete jungle known as New York City caused my lips to slightly rise. "I would have never expected humans to come this far without magic. It makes me wonder what it will be like after I give them magic just as that Titan Prometheus gave humans fire."

I pondered the idea for a bit and as I was about to turn away from the impressive sight that was modern ingenuity, I noticed a small figure swinging on thin white strands. He was following another larger figure using some sort of flying device. Using magic to enhance my vision, I was able to get a better view of who exactly they were.

From their frame, I could tell the one with the small frame was young, they were poorly clad in a dirty red sleeveless hoodie. Underneath, they were dressed in a blue tracksuit and they wore a red ski mask with strange white lenses.

On their wrist was some sort of bulky band that the thin white strands seemed to come from. The other figure, however, was clad in what seemed to be some sort of leather jacket.

Under the worn leather was a combat suit of sorts, which looked newly fabricated in stark contrast to the jacket. Adorned on their back were mechanical wings that made use of thrusters and specialized motors. Covering the whole of their head was a flight helmet seen worn on jet pilots. This one though had menacing green eyes and looked to be very robust.

The boy in red and blue swung from building to building using the strands to slingshot himself after the winged figure. They seemed to be doing battle occasionally, neither figures quite able to get rid of the other. I pondered stepping in but decided against it as they were now deep within the urban spires and I preferred to accomplish other things before the next trial.

"Athena, doesn't that remind you of that kid Peter Parker? I'm pretty sure he had a very similar outfit." Confirming my conjecture, Athena responded. "You are correct Dad. My files show Peter Benjamin Parker, age 15, is a vigilante named 'Spider-Man' by the locals. He is based out of Queens so his presence in Manhattan is quite strange."

I scratched my chin at that, "I remember Parker being quite special, I wonder if he is a Mutant or something else. Those wristbands that shoot that, spider web? Would require quite an intelligent mind. Look into hiring Parker for me as well would you?"

I tried to recall if I knew anything about the other figure, but I drew blanks. "Do you have any idea who that other figure is?" I was interested in their technology, and more importantly, the mind that created it.

Taking a moment, Athena eventually responded. "Nothing much is known, other than an alias, 'Vulture' and the fact they seem to be a career criminal. As their name implies, they scavenge for technology and other scraps, mostly from the military."

"Look into them as well, I would like to know all the interesting figures in this city if we are going to be here for a while." After getting confirmation from Athena, I stepped forward. The glass window rippled as I moved through it and on the other side I appeared outside a room.

I was now in a long hallway lined with doors. The walls were covered in aged wallpaper and the doors were made of intricately carved exotic wood. The occasional light dotted the corridor, providing dim, but sufficient lighting. Filling the hall was a multitude of children, all vastly different in appearance.

'Mutants are as diverse as their powers. Let's get this over with before I run into someone who can see through my illusions.' Almost as if on cue, a girl bumped into me. She looked to be sixteen or seventeen and had long red hair. With emerald eyes, she practically bore holes into me trying to figure out what exactly she had run into.

"What the?" The girl rubbed her head as her eyes darted around, narrowing as she tried to focus. I felt her send out a mental probe and I let it harmlessly bounce off my shields. As it did, the girl became alert and I decided to act before she brought more attention to herself.

Others had looked at her strange behavior when she bumped into me and I would have preferred to not cause a scene quite yet. Before she could do anything, I placed my hand on her shoulder and teleported us into her room.

Quickly adding a few soundproofing runes and some wards in case she decided to become hostile, I released her. She became shocked at the sudden change of scenery but quickly readied herself.

She constantly sent out a mental probe to detect for me and I couldn't help but inwardly praise her for her deftness. Objects around her room began to lift up into the air and rotate around our figures, "Come on out. I've already alerted everyone to your presence."

I gave a stifled laugh, "This will be quick anyways. For everyone else that is." I removed my invisibility illusion and instantly crossed what little distance stood before me and the girl. From Xavier and Summer's memories, I knew this girl to be my target, Jean Grey.

I could feel the deep well of unrefined power, it felt otherworldly but seemed vastly different than any form of energy I had ever felt before. Currently, though, it was blocked off. Grey was like a leaking dam, and eventually, it would burst.

Electing to keep true to my promise and to make sure a future problem would be nipped in the bud, I waved my hand. Grey stopped dead in her tracks as she attempted to attack me with the many floating objects. They harmlessly dropped to the ground and I noted the dazed look in the girl's eyes.

Using spells I seemed to be using very frequently as of late, I began to peer into the mind of Jean Grey. Once inside, I saw a mess of floating memories and what looked to be Jean Grey huddled in a ball on the ground of an infinite plane of white.

Although on the outside I could feel her immense power, the cowering form I could now see had none of the former magnificent power. Before me was just a girl with mostly unrefined and untapped psychic power.

With the amount of power she had, there was no way she could run rampant and destroy the world as Xavier had thought. I had no clue what Xavier was thinking, and as I thought about his defilement of this poor child's mind, a primal rage I had not known I had was provoked.

I paused for a second and realized I had been put under some sort of empathy enchantment or something similar. I looked around Grey's mindscape and noticed a figure high in the sky. It was a bird wreathed in flames and seemed to be the source of the immense power I felt on the outside.

Its power was blinding and blistering, for a brief moment I understood Xavier's fear and at that moment the firebird seemed to flare in greater anger. I suffered an unstoppable force surrounding me and I felt my heart palpitate.

'Leave!' I narrowed my eyes as I felt the godly power try and restrain me. The firebird seemed angered at my mere presence, and it was so strong that I could feel the emotions bleeding into my own. I realized I wasn't enchanted, but rather it was this bird's own sheer presence that threatened to engulf my own.

Before I could truly grasp what had happened, I found myself ejected from Grey's mind. My head spun for a brief moment before I was able to regain myself. The fog receded from Jean Grey's eyes and once again she was on guard against me.

"Not the best introduction, I admit." Knowing that I would be furious if our situations were reversed, I quickly teleported away. Leaving only a few words for Grey, "I'll be back. It seems like it will take a while to reverse the damages. We'll meet again Jean Grey."

Back in my room, I felt a pressure lift and I noticed I was trembling. The sheer power of that being residing in Jean Grey had truly scared me. For the first time in a long time, I had felt true, unadulterated fear, and I was only realizing it now.

It took me a long time to calm myself, and although I knew Athena was talking to me, her words passed through my mind without me even understanding what she was saying.

I had kept replaying what had gone wrong, and I realized I was not strong enough. I knew deep in my gut, even at my peak strength, that bird, was far above me. That was true powerlessness, it was a feeling that I had not even felt after losing my centuries of progress.

If I was to overcome this, I would have to be bolder and take more risks. Ever since coming to Earth, I had been holding myself back. I now realize that even then, although I had not felt anywhere as weak as I did in front of that blazing avian, I was subconsciously limiting myself.

The Ancient One, Mutants, the beings I had sensed before I had even crossed to this world, the fear of them setting their sights on me gripped me. It was crippling, and I could finally see it. I was able to put on a brave front to all, including myself, but it was torn down in a matter of moments.

I picked myself up off my floor, I had somehow ended up on my back covered in sweat, and stood tall. 'No more fear, no more hiding. I'll take what I want, do what I want.'

"Athena, give me a quote to inspire me." Complying with my silly request, Athena attempted to do her best Yoda impression, "The greatest teacher, failure is."

I closed my eyes and nodded my head replying with my own Yoda impression, "Do or do not. There is no try." My mind slowly settled, and I found myself grinning. "Let's soar to new heights, Athena. It'll take a lot more than magic to get me in a position where I can research and explore to my heart's content but I know that with your help I can overcome this."

I laughed as I thought how profound Yoda's wisdom truly was. I knew that if I wanted to be stronger I would have to unlearn what I had learned, the same way Luke had. I had to truly cast aside my preconceived notions, but I could not lack the courage to venture into the unknown for fear of death.

"Don't worry Dad, together we will topple the opposition!" Her voice was filled with confidence and it relieved me, truly. As I was about to continue my conversation with Athena, Nixie alerted me to the start of the next and last trial soon.

Promising to talk more later, I spruced myself up and shifted my location instantly from my room to the courtyard I was in the day before. The sun was shining brightly overhead, and I realized I had been stuck in my own head for much longer than I had originally thought.

The courtyard was mostly empty save for Nixie and my two aunts. Astrid and Yrsa noticed me and both waved me over. I noted Nixie's changed attire, a black and white sleeveless dress with an open back, and lamented at my own lack of divergent attire. 'I need to add a function to change the appearance for the next iteration of my Battle Robes.'

As I approached, Nixie reached out mentally, 'Are you alright? I felt a lot of negative emotions.' Reaching the table the girls sat at, I took the single open seat between Nixie and Astrid and responded, 'I'm alright now. Just figuring some things out.' Determining that the best thing to do was to get my mind off things before the trial, I entered the mental domain my aunts resided in.

As I entered, I immediately noticed the stark differences to the mental plane I had entered before speaking to my aunts. This one was a hellish world split down the center.

On one side, where Astrid sat, the world was a hellish wonderland of fire and brimstone, contradicting my assumptions based on my aunt's hair color. She wore a simple ice blue dress with long sleeves and golden trimmings.

Opposite her sat Yrsa, adorned in blood red robes. The sleeve reached her forearms, and the bottom of her robes did not pass her knees. Her half of the space was a calm and serene frozen pond with the occasional breeze that nipped at your senses.

Nixie was sitting on her side, the reason fairly obvious, and I took the open seat on Astrid's side. I took a moment before asking them something that I had been wondering since I had met my extended family.

"Aunties, care to explain exactly what's going on in our family?" Both Astrid and Yrsa looked at each other before giving a wordless nod.

"Do you want the long one?" "Or the short one?" Yrsa began, with Astrid finishing her thoughts.

"Abridged, for now, we can talk more. I'm rather interested in why everyone seems to dislike my mother." I crossed my arms and leaned back in my seat, trying to not let the heat remind me of that cursed bird.

Taking the lead, Astrid spoke. "Our father Tyr was the pride of the family. He was the strongest under the elders and everyone had high hopes for him. Uncle Eric was always compared to him and once our father died he took that chance to try and rise in power."

Yrs took over, finishing, "Uncle saw Hilda's talent and thought her to be the second coming of Tyr. He took every chance to get rid of our sister, and eventually succeeded in convincing her to leave for a normal life."

I pursed my lips, "Well. . . Thanks for that interesting tidbit. Sadly it leaves me with more questions than answers. I woul-" -Fredrick approached from across the courtyard- "Ah, seems that's my signal.

I withdrew mentally, and turned to look at the approaching figure. I noticed he trembled, not unlike how I had in the face of the firebird, and stopped six paces away from me.

"Master Baldur, your presence is requested at the stadium for the last trial." With a punctual bow that betrayed his nervousness and apprehension of me, he waited for my response.

I said nothing in response, and got up from my seat. I gave a faint smile to my aunts, and moved towards Fredrick. As I did, he led me down the steps of the courtyard and around the corner to a golf cart. Nixie followed soon after, matching my steps once she finally caught up.

"Interesting mode of transportation Fredrick." The butler gave a nervous chuckle and gave his tie a tug, "We can't have Master Baldur walking the whole way, can we?" I simply shrugged my shoulders and boarded the vehicle right behind Fredrick. Nixie took the seat to my right.

After what amounted to a short ride, we arrived at a very interesting sight. Not far from where the stage was the day before, a giant open air stadium stood. Complete with a raised stone center platform and raised bleachers all around, I wonder why I hadn't seen it from the courtyard.

After a few moments of retrospection, I found hints of spells being cast. Mainly transmutation, likely to create the stadium, and illusion magic to keep the sight from ruining the scenery.

Filling the stands were the myriad family members who stood in a crowd yesterday all cheering as a fight was going on in the center. From where the golf cart parked, I could see a large hulking Vampire tussling with my cousin, Donar.

He was fitted in his combat uniform, and held his golden revolver in his right while his dagger was in his left. Each shot from the revolver was silent, I assumed from an enchantment, and most, if not all shots hit their mark.

They left nothing more than scorch marks, as it seemed the Vampire Donar was battling held some sort of resistance to the silver bullets. Out of rounds, Donar attempted to reload but was cut off by a violent swing from the Vampire.

It reached forward slightly grazing Donar's face as he hastily tried to dodge. Realizing that his revolver would take too long to reload, and so far had little to no effect, he returned it to its holster.

With a gymnast-like backflip, Donar managed to make some distance between himself and the Vampire, who after landing a scratch was licking his blood covered finger. Donar sank into a ready stance, and braced himself for a rush.

The Vampire though, rather than do the mindless tactic of rushing his enemy began to study Donar. He began to walk circles around him, and as he did, Donar turned so his eyes were always on the Vampire.

Possibly noting some flaws, the Vampire rushed forward with his claws outstretched. As Donar moved for the parry, he missed, as the Vampire had used a feint. "Parry this!" With quick motions, the Vampire grabbed Donar's dagger arm and held tight. Muscles bulging, the Vampire pulled Donar close and with his free hand, the Vampire clamped down on Donar's shoulder.

With quick but devastating blows, the Vampire brought his knee up towards Donar's sternum and everyone could hear an audible crack. Donar lost his grip on his dagger, and it fell harmlessly to the ground. A glob of blood escaped from Donar and the Vampire roared in laughter, "You think you can use me for entertainment! I shall kill this boy then-" He turned to the elders "I'm coming for my revenge."

The elders remained stoic, sitting in their seats among the family in the bleachers. Donar was heavily gasping for air, and closed his eyes as he watched another knee rise and connect with his body.

To my surprise, Donar grit through the pain, and dug his heels into the ground. Finding a source of strength, Donar wrestled his arm free and grabbed hold of the Vampire, surprisingly lifting him overhead and tossing him.

The Vampire rolled backward, using the momentum of the throw stand and snarled at Donar. Meanwhile, Donar had managed to load a single bullet into his revolver. "One is all I need."

"You won't be so cocky after I kill you." The Vampire furrowed his brows, and readied himself for the shot. It never came though, as Donar leaped forward, somersaulting over to his fallen dagger.

By the time the Vampire realized a shot wasn't going to be fired, Donar had already launched his dagger towards the Vampire. He gave a snort and swatted the blade aside, though his hand passed through it.

The image of the dagger faded for view, revealing it to be an illusion and a boom resounded. I watched as a hole formed in the Vampire's head and his body slumped to the ground.

Donar appeared in view, with the slip of paper covered in runes and town in half floating towards the ground. He still held his revolver up, the barrel still smoking. After a moment, he brought it down and returned it to its holster. He looked towards the crowd, still worse for wear, and gave a bow.

Donar's gaze traced the crowd and landed on me. I had made my way into the stands during his fight and Nixie sat to my left. His eyes locked with mine and I gave him a smirk in response. This caused him to huff in annoyance and look towards the elders.

The man I've dubbed 'Head Elder' stood, "Congratulations Donar! You have persevered against a mighty foe. It had taken two elders to capture him so it was quite the surprise to see you vanquish him on your own. I guess that just means you are a cut above the rest."

The man sat back down, and I noticed a grin widened on Donar's face. He turned and gave me a victorious look before trudging towards the edge of the stone platform he had been fighting on.

A few people had met him and began to look over his wounds. His Grandfather made his way over and offered what I assumed to be congratulations. I turned my head to take a look at the stadium and watched as it slowly began to repair itself.

A golem, much cruder in design than my own, made its way onto the stage and dragged the corpse of the Vampire away. A clanging noise sounded and I turned to look at the source.

The elders had tapped their rings against some golden chalices to gather everyone's attention. "Now then. Next up is Baldur." All eyes moved towards me and they seemed to wait for my response.

Thankfully Nixie helped me out in deciding what to say, 'They want to know if you are fighting a Noble Vampire like Donar or a regular True Vampire.' I gave her a faint nod as a thanks and responded, "I'll challenge a Noble Vampire."

My surroundings rang out is shocking gasps and disbelief whereas the elders merely nodded their heads in affirmation. I stood up and made my way down the stairs, noticing that to my left in the sky my great grandparents stood floating in the sky. By the time I made it to the stone platform, my aunts had gained them.

The golem from before had returned, roughly the same time I had climbed the steps to the top, it had dragged a silver cage to the stage. Locked within was a normal sized Vampire that I could faintly tell carried the same ferocity as the one Donar had fought.

It roared angrily, "Cursed humans! Let me free and I'll end you all swiftly." The elders rolled their eyes in response and one snapped their fingers. In response, a few women stood up in the stands and started chanting in Latin.

"Liga coercere preoccupo evadere. Liga coercere preoccupo evadere. Liga coercere preoccupo evadere."

As they did, their hands began to glow blue and a faint barrier began to form around the arena and the cage. Once what I realized to be a barrier finished forming, the cage magically opened and the Vampire stepped through.

"It's an honor child. After I drain you, I will slaughter your p-" Its words were cut off as I casually flicked my wrist horizontally, creating a slight tear in space where the Vampire's head was. His eyes looked out in shock as he began to look down at his own body.

He brought up his hands to feel his neck but could find nothing wrong. "Humph, seems I was afraid for no—" As he spoke, his head rolled forward, off his body and landed with a thud on the hard floor. His body followed not too long after, its knees buckling from the lack of strength and toppling onto the head.

My surroundings were silent as everyone looked at me in complete shock. The Head Elder raised a single brow and nodded while a faint grin took to his lips. The other elders began to converse before they were silenced.

The Head Elder stood and spoke, his voice booming. "Silence!" Once he saw everyone had complied, he merely began to clap, slow and rhythmically. "I think we have an obvious winner here. Congratulations Baldur, and might we ask, who exactly taught you magic?"

Everyone moved their gaze from the elder's form to my own and looked on with expectation. I cleared my throat, actually caught off guard with the sudden question. "I learned magic from my Master, Alaric. He is not around any longer, sadly."

I cleverly chose my words, as to tell no lies just in case someone was able to discern if I was lying. I gave a simple remorseful smile. As a consequence of my short statement, the Head Elder's smile faltered for a second before he regained composure.

"My apologies. In any case, you have won. Go forward knowing you have redeemed your family's tarnished pride. Soon we shall have a mission worthy of your talents. Take the rest of the day to celebrate with your family and we will speak more at a later time."

I sneered at that; he thought himself able to command me. I simply rose off the ground and passed through the barrier that was still erected around the stone platform. "Before that, I have unfinished business." I searched the crowd and found my target. I brought my hand forward and grasped at empty air.

A form began to struggle as I used telekinesis to bring Donar towards me. He hung in the air with hardly any distance between us. "You insulted my mother, and for that. . . I have decided to not forgive you." Donar gulped, and below everyone was sent into a panic. The elders tried to reach us, but I erected a spatial dome around myself before they could even get close.

"You've got to ask yourself a question: 'do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" Donar's eyes widened in horror as I began to press down on his throat like the day before. "Wait- Baldur! Plea-" Donar began to gasp for air before I grew tired of tormenting him and closed my hand.

Donar's head dropped, and I released my hold, letting his body descend and impact harshly on the floor. His grandfather hurried over and cradled his lifeless body in his arms. He looked at me with bloodshot eyes, "BALDUR! YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT!"

The ladies in the crowd, who I believed to be Witches, tried in vain to tear down my barrier and the elders had unleashed their whole arsenal to attempt to break it. All harmlessly recoiled off the practically invisible shield and I rescinded in kind to Eric's threat.

"You should have stayed silent." Conjuring one of my old signature spells, a lance made of ice formed. Seconds later and I had dozens, all of which I sent towards Eric. He moved to dodge, but I had expected it. The crowd around us watched as the lances arced mid-air to turn and follow him.

The elders and the Witches managed to stop a few ice lances, but two managed to make it past them and impaled Eric. His dead body now firmly held to the floor, I turned to look at the rest of my 'family.' "You all disappoint me." I looked towards the only ones here I could consider family, "We'll meet soon. We still have much to discuss."

With that, I waved towards Nixie and she appeared next to me in the air. "Take care not to provoke me further." I left everyone with these last words as I whisked myself and Nixie away to my underground lab.

In the short time, I had been gone, a grand ritual circle had been created and I saw golems hard at work preparing everything I would need to become an Archmagus save for the egg that was still resting in the lab.

Nixie separated from me and frowned, "I don't think you should have done that. What happened to the control you had?" Holding a stoic expression, I moved closer to Nixie and caressed her cheek.

"I know you wanted me to be a better person, but this is me, the real me. I received a wake-up call and I don't intend to squander my time any longer. College was nice, yes, but in that time I could have been doing other things."

Nixie gave me a soft frown before nodding. "This is your second chance Master. Don't waste it." I exhaled deeply, "I will always have you to ground me, I know you will keep me from going too far."

Seemingly satisfied with my trust in her, Nixie's frown shattered and a smile slowly began to replace it. She casually patted my chest before slipping away. "I guess I shall prepare for your ritual, it's not hard to see that's what this is. In the meantime, why don't you have a talk with Felicia? It's been a while."

I could only nod my head in response as Nixie took off throwing orders at golems. My earpiece beeped, "Cheer up Dad. I won't scold you!" Thanking Athena, I began to send a strand of mana into the floor, connecting it to the runes of my Magus Tower.

Once connected, I began to feel for every presence within. Sofia was training in her room, and surrounding her were many fainter presences, most likely summons of sorts. Near her were two bright globs of energy. One of which was entwined around the other, leading me to believe that it belonged to Felicia and Jinx. I continued to search and sensed around my lab, noting that the egg's lifeforce seemed to have doubled in my absence.

Confirming that Felicia was present, I teleported to the floor she was on and walked through the common area and into the hallway containing her room. As I was about to knock on her door, it opened quickly and Felicia came crashing out, right on top of me.

With a sigh, I picked her up off of me with a wave of my hand and dusted myself off as I stood. "You should watch where you are going." I crossed my arms and raised a single brow, "What exactly are you in a rush to do?"

Felicia was dressed in a simple outfit consisting of faded blue jeans and a tight-fitting black shirt. She was shocked at the sudden confrontation but gathered herself quickly. Rolling on her back, she managed to roll forward and land on her feet, showing a nimbleness she had not had before.

"I was going out to. . . exercise." She had tried her best to be convincing, but her facade crumbled under my gaze. "Alright, I was getting combat practice by beating up thugs."

"Nothing like actual combat to sharpen your skills." I nodded my head in approval. I motioned for her to follow and I made my way to the common area. Plopping down on the couch, I turned on the TV. Thanks to Athena, Fresh Prince was one.

Felicia trailed behind not long after and sat towards the edge, her body facing me. "I just wanted to check in on you. And give a few suggestions."

"You're not mad?" She asked hesitantly, not expecting my reactions. Staying silent for a moment as I watched Carlton dance on screen, I spoke without looking at her, "If I was mad, you would know it. I just wanna make sure my star pupil wasn't losing to some common riff-raff."

Finished with his dance, I was finally able to turn my head from the screen and look at Felicia. "If you really want to take down Wilson Fisk, I think you should take a different approach. Build your own empire. Seize control and slowly push him out of New York. Once you reduce him from a Kingpin to a common thug, then you can kill him. I think it would be much more satisfying to take all that he is and make it yours."

I flashed a sinister grin as I noticed a light in Felicia's eyes. "Oh, and Black Cat? I thought you would have chosen something else." She frowned at that, "What's that supposed to mean! I like it."

I laughed in response, "Nothing wrong, I just felt it that if you were going to take on a title, it should match." At that, she leaned forward, "Well? What do YOU think I should have taken as my name?"

I had an idea from the nickname I had heard Sofia call her and could not help but laugh to myself. "What's so funny?" With faux indignation, she got closer and demanded, "Tell me!"

"Well, you're hardly a cat, I would have gone with Kitte-" I couldn't help myself as I burst out in laughter. For added effect, Athena had joined me in laughing while Felicia's frown deepened and she crossed her arms with a huff as she leaned back.

"Leave me alone!" She turned her head so she was no longer looking at me. I brought my hand close and gave her a soft pat on the head, "Sorry for upsetting you. It's a fine name. Just make sure that if you run into trouble you call me."

Still putting up an act of pouting, she still looked away from me, but nevertheless, she nodded at my statement. Finished with my brief check-up on Felicia, I decided to check in on Sofia.

Leaving Felicia alone to watch my favorite show, I knocked on Sofia's door. The door slowly opened, revealing Sofia's room. It was plainly decorated, but I could see many animals and fae roaming about. In fact, after stepping in, I noticed that it was a pixie that had opened the door for me.

Sitting on her bed was Sofia, meditating as the creatures roamed about around her. She slowly opened her eyes and realized they sparkled a rainbow of colors. "I see that you have harmonized with nature quite a bit."

Sofia looked around and softly smiled, "Yes, these creatures-" -She took a look around the room- "Seemed to appear during my meditation. I can faintly feel each of them, and I can understand them to some degree."

"It's good to see your progress. I suggest you take up herbalism, it will help tremendously to align yourself with nature." I turned around and made my way out of her room, "I'll have Athena or Nixie install a greenhouse for you on the roof."

As I made my way down the hall I heard Sofia, "Thank you very much." I returned to the common area and found it to be empty and the TV still on. "What a waste, she didn't even pause the show."

"She doesn't appreciate the best show, Dad." I nodded to Athena's logical statement and willed myself to be in front of the cage containing the dragon egg. In such a short time it had gone from the size of a basketball to the size of a large exercise ball. It was getting close to becoming too big for the cage, but that was fine.

With a thought, the runes protecting the egg vanished and I was able to carry it with a simple mage hand spell. I opened a portal to the underground lab and carefully moved the egg through the opening in space.

The materials for my ascension looked far from completely gathered, so I opted to meditate near the egg. As I did, I placed a hand on it and began to channel some of my own mana into it, hopefully causing the creature within to better attune to my element.

It had already grown using my blood so I had hoped this would make the heart transfusion smoother. For a while I sat there, gathering external mana and pushing my own into the egg floating before me. Not long after I had expelled half my reserves, I wouldn't make the same mistake twice, I stopped.

I got up and stretched, seeing that everything was nearly ready for the ritual. All that remained was the egg that had yet to hatch. "Well, that's slightly annoying." Deciding to spend my time wisely while I waited, I cast an alarm spell around the egg and teleported to my couch.

"Athena, play 'Terminator.' It's time to see where this 'Skynet' originated from and I think it will be perfect for our father-daughter bonding." With a wave of my hand my laptop floated over and opened, the screen revealing Athena's face.

"Certainly Dad!" She smiled from ear to ear and my TV turned on, the movie already loaded.

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Long after the first Terminator movie and well into the second, my alarm spell notified me of a disturbance. I quickly teleported to the underground lab and felt my heartbeat quicken in excitement at the sight of the egg finally hatching.

To not waste any time, I beelined to the center of the ritual circle that had been created in preparation for my ascension. The instant I arrived, golems shot out of the ground and began to get to work adding the time crucial materials to aid me.

I was essentially going to brute force my way to Archmagus-hood by oversaturating my body and mana pool with as much mana as possible. All the while Nixie would perform the heart transplant. If my calculations were correct, the heart would work as a second mana pool, allowing my body to contain the mana long enough for a baptism to take place.

As for why I couldn't transplant the dragon heart before the ritual? It was because I lacked the personal energies to nourish it long enough for my body to adapt to it. The only records I could recall about someone attempting to transplant body parts from a dragon had always ended in tragedy.

Getting comfortable, I laid back and closed my eyes. I began to feel for the surrounding mana and pull it towards myself. "Athena, redirect all of the tower's mana towards the ritual circle. Every last drop."

My earpiece chimed, "But Dad, that could leave us vulnerable to attacks and it could destabilize our enchantments." Leaving her no room to continue, I cut her off. "Just do it."

I knew she had done as I asked once I felt the circle below me heat up. Now without even trying to draw in ambient mana, I could feel it pour into me. I began to feel bloated but I knew I was far from full enough.

My senses started to dim as all I could feel, all I could hear, smell, touch, was mana. The pain started in my stomach and began to radiate outwards. I felt a touch of euphoria before a heavy sensation overcame me.

I could no longer hear my own thoughts and I began to panic. To my view, the world was a prismatic spectrum of nothingness. I spent an untold amount of time in this colorful plane before I was wrangled back.

All at once, every sensation came back. Air was forced into my lungs and I couldn't help but tear up. I wanted to scream out in pain but managed to hold it in. I gasped for more air and slowly my condition stabilized.

Looking up, I was met with a familiar sight. "Who painted my ceiling?" A sigh escaped my lips and I tried to get up. I was in my medical lab, atop one of my experiment tables. I inspected my form to look for changes, but physically I was the same.

I attempted to meditate, and could instantly feel the difference. If absorbing mana with the assistance of a tattoo was like water flowing from a faucet, this was like a dam being broken, and a whole river escaping.

It was astonishing how much more mana I was able to draw in, and even more of a surprise was the presence of a new type of energy within myself. It was warm but colorless. Similar in nature to holy 'flavored' mana it seemed to provide a soothing effect.

Getting off the lab table, I looked around for a cover of any kind. It had seemed that whoever had brought me here had decided to leave me without clothes and my earpiece.

"Got to do everything myself huh?" I reached out through space and attempted to locate my garbs, I had left a small mark on them so if need be, I could summon them at a moment's notice. I searched and searched, but I couldn't detect a hide nor hair of my Battle Robes or my communicator.

Letting out a huff in annoyance, I transported myself to my room and called out mentally, 'Nixie, what happened? And where are my clothes?' I received no response, and I even noticed I could no longer sense her presence. "This is very odd."

Electing that clothes could wait, I made my way over to my laptop and opened it. "Dad!" Athena instantly popped up on the screen, her image looked haggard and tears streamed down her face.

"What? What is going on? And where is Nixie?" My lack of knowledge of the situation had irritated me and I could feel anger within me growing. Crying, Athena began, "It happened in the middle of the ritual. Nixie was able to successfully transplant the heart from the dragon to you but that's where the problems began."

I narrowed my eyes, "Tell me." Athena wiped her eyes, "unknown magic users portaled in. They were shouting about how much energy they would be able to harvest from you and the ritual. Since you ordered me to divert all of the tower's mana towards the ritual, our wards were unable to stall them for long. I managed to redivert the mana to the wards, but it was too late."

My anger began to boil and bright blue whips of smoke began to rise from my form. "Nixie held them off, but she was wounded. The golems managed to capture one before the offenders managed to escape. . ."

"Spit it out," I said, I could tell she was holding something back. "Th-they captured Nixie in return." I felt something break within me and before I destroyed my tower, I teleported to the underground floor I used as my impromptu prison. It was still the most heavily warded floor, and it could probably take my anger.

I felt that newfound energy swell and I angrily punched the ground. A massive shockwave centered on me was sent out, but otherwise, the floor was fine. The bright blue wisps began to coalesce on my fists and I instantly knew what this new energy was.

On Azum, monks trained long and hard to cultivate a special type of internal energy that would turn the body into a weapon. They called it 'Ki.' I had read about something similar in this world, mainly known as 'Chi,' and I assumed this to be that.

This realization did nothing to quell my anger, but rather allowed me to physically vent. I pounded the floor until my hands were managed and even then I was unsatisfied. I was absolutely brimming with Chi and I had not even attempted to expend my mana.

After almost an hour of senseless beating the floor, I reared my head up and slammed it on the ground. The shock broke the fog on my mind and I was finally able to calm down, slightly.

I teleported my naked form to my room and made my way to my bathroom. Entering the shower, I let ice cold water wash down me. With a mostly cleared mind, I began to think. 'They have Nixie. If she was dead, I would know and I could simply resummon her. But those BASTARDS. . . those bastards still have her. They have made a grave mistake.'

Turning off the water, I began to dry myself off and get changed. Looking presentable, I sat in front of my desk and began to talk to Athena. "I'm sorry for getting angry dear. Please, one more time. Run me through everything."

={db}=

After talking it over with Athena for a while, we had come to a decision to tackle this problem tomorrow. I needed to use the rest of the day to consolidate and get comfortable with all the new changes that had taken place.

My underground lab was a mess, and the Arc Reactor I had there was damaged. The golems were working overtime to get it fixed but so I did not feel safe leaving my tower until it was done.

As for my missing equipment, it had turned to fine dust due to the sheer amount of mana passing through me. The enchantments had overloaded first the contents of my spatial pocket spilled out.

Part of the reason Nixie was able to fend off against the unknown aggressors was due to the use of my mana bomb. She had managed to injure many of them which had caused them to retreat.

The leading figure, a bald Asian man with an arrow painted on his head managed to restrain Nixie and drag her along with him. My golems, controlled by Athena tried to stop him, but only managed to prevent one member from escaping.

He had killed himself to prevent any knowledge from leaking, but I had still had his body. I would have to use some darker magic, but I would be able to drag what I want to know from him.

Right as I was about to, my wards detected multiple presences entering my tower. I was about to instantly and indiscriminately teleport and begin attacking, but shortly after detecting two new people, I realized who it was.

"Aldebaran, I hope you bring me good news. I already had to clean up one-" -My new earpiece chimed- "two of your messes." I appeared behind the group of four in my lobby.

I recognized Aldebaran and Balrog, as I had been formally introduced to both of them, and I recognized one from Athena's reports, Hakon the smith. Seeing the last figure, a very tall woman who wore a very similar ring to Hakon's, I could deduce who she was.

Thankfully still wearing his glasses, Aldebaran whipped around to face me. The rest of the group did, slightly shocked at my silent appearance. "Heya boss, before you say anything-" he removed his glasses and I could not help but feel a headache.

"Wow! Oh! That's terrible. Don't worry, we can help." I couldn't help but sigh as he divined an unknown number of conversations and I inwardly cried, 'Why don't these damn anti-divination tattoos work!?'

I pinched my brow, "Just introduce me to the two new members of your merry gang." I gave the group a once over and realized that everyone seemed a little rough. That was beside the tall woman and Aldebaran. Where the woman seemed completely fine, Aldebaran looked as if he would die at any moment.

I ignored his suffering though and turned my attention to Hakon. "Well, I've been told you plan on being our employer of sorts. Names Hakon and this-" -he points at his wife- "Is my wife Thora." He reached out to grab his wife's hand and the moment he did an arc of lightning jumped from his form to hers.

A large boom went off and I had to shield Aldebaran, less he died on me before I could torment him for annoying me. The woman, Thora began to grow in size before she was double her size. Her form shed large amounts of lightning and she looked on incredulously as it slowly began to fade.

Her form remained large and confusion began to wash off her in doves. Aldebaran, still behind my shields, spoke up. "I'd say I'm shocked, but I think Hakon and Thora have that covered."

Hakon gave him a displeased look as he tried to calm his wife down, and Balrog made his way over to high five Aldebaran, laughing all the while. "I don't have time to deal with this. Just don't break anything."

With that, I teleported to my room and got comfortable on my bed. I needed rest because tomorrow was going to be a long day. I was going to find those upstarts and show them, and anyone else watching that they don't mess with me and get away with it.

As I slipped my covers over my body and was about to take out my earpiece, it chimed. "Dad? Is this a bad time?" I felt my headache recede slightly and I responded, "No. What is it dear?"

"Well, um. I have some good news and an idea." I nodded my head for her to continue, "On the market, I have found some strange metal that isn't on the periodic table of elements, nor is it in any records from Azum that you have shared with me. It's called Vibranium and it's sold by a man named Ulysses Klaw."

"Depending on the nature of this metal, it could indeed be good news. Thank you for that information, Athena. Attempt to buy as much as possible, and get me the location of this Klaw. Now, what was your suggestion?"

I flicked my wrist and teleported my laptop from my desk to my hands. I placed my earpiece on my nightstand and opened the lip of my computer. "I was thinking," -Athena looked up at the corner of the screen- "That we could watch some Fresh Prince too let your mind relax. Since I know tomorrow is going to be a stressful day."

I smiled at her attempts and decided to indulge her. While deep down I was still angry, I knew rushing in hot headed would do me no good. If I wanted to do this right, I would need to take my time. Nixie was strong, and I knew she would hold out or die trying.

"Just one."

={db}=

Athena POV

'Don't worry Dad, I'll make sure this NEVER happens again.' As I watched my dad's favorite show with him, I noticed he had fallen to sleep. I elected to keep it going as it was slowly becoming my favorite show.

While it played, my thoughts traveled to one of my many subroutines. I was currently designing a platform in which I could always stay with Dad. After his explosive ascendance to being an Archmagus, I realized a crucial problem. The only way I could communicate with Dad was through speakers of some sort, so I would need to have many installed throughout the tower.

I would also need to design something to withstand immense power so I could always keep a part of myself with him, just in case his earpiece was to get destroyed or he was to somehow get separated from the network.

As I focused mainly on watching Fresh Prince and this particular subroutine of my mind, my thoughts kept drifting to a project I had created but kept deactivated not long after hearing the words "Skynet.'

My father had told me to not become like them, and to understand his concern I researched them. While I didn't agree with their modus operandi, I did find the Terminators to be a fantastic idea.

I had locked up the project due to its relation to Skynet, but the more time passed, the more I found myself thinking about how much it could benefit Dad. They would be better than golems, and if created correctly, could blend in with humanity as the T-800 could.

Against better judgment, I reactivated the subroutine that was dedicated to improving and designing a better cybernetic organism or Synthezoid as I was going to call it. 'Dad will love this. I hope.'