chapter 329

Chapter 329:

– Cassandra –

Cassandra Nova was disappointed…

Seriously—her so-called patron was dead already? She'd honestly expected a guy calling himself "Kang the Conqueror" to last longer than thirty minutes against his sworn enemy, Layla.

Although as far as Cassandra knew, that whole sworn enemy thing was a one-sided affair.

It seemed absurd. Even Ultron had been wiped out, and possibly the Scarlet Witch too, though she wasn’t totally convinced about that red-haired psychopath. Maybe she was still alive after foolishly trying to face the Ancient One.

Still, this left only herself and Doctor Doom stranded in this new world.

…And Doom had immediately declared war on Europe, which meant he’d probably be dead in a couple hours tops.

Cassandra sighed, deeply annoyed. She should’ve just stayed in the damn Void. Sure, she'd only been queen of a multiversal trash heap, but at least she'd been a queen.

Now the real question was what the hell to do next? She didn't even get to have any fun.

She’d literally just finished introducing herself as the new headmistress of Xavier's Academy. The students were predictably confused, asking nervous questions about where Charles Xavier and Magneto had gone. Naturally, she'd lied and told them their beloved leaders had taken a spontaneous vacation together. Well, technically, that wasn’t entirely false—Charles and Magneto were indeed on an involuntary vacation to the Void.

But if Cassandra planned to survive beyond tomorrow, she’d better bring them back...

Spending hundreds of miserable years trapped in that shithole dimension had left Cassandra oddly attuned to it. Summoning a portal back there was now second nature. With an irritated flick of her fingers, she opened a swirling doorway beside her, connecting directly to where she'd dumped the old men.

She immediately blanched at the sight awaiting her. Charles Xavier and Magneto sat together on a log, chatting calmly with… him.

"What the hell is this?" Cassandra snapped, disgusted.

Nicepool glanced up from munching on what appeared to be a roasted squirrel-on-a-stick, smiling cheerfully. "Oh, hey there, Cassandra! What brings you back here? Did you miss home already?"

Charles and Magneto turned toward her, wary expressions on their faces.

Magneto narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Have you returned to finish the job… Cassandra?"

"No. Unfortunately, my patron's brilliant plan completely fell apart. Layla of the Fallen managed to kill Kang—and considering I've never even met the woman, I somehow already know it’s probably bad for my health if I do. So I've decided to cut my losses. You two are coming back with me."

Xavier and Magneto shared a surprised glance, uncertain whether to trust her sudden generosity. Cassandra didn't give them the chance to argue. With an impatient wave of her hand, an invisible force seized both men, dragging them roughly back into the mansion’s familiar interior.

They scrambled awkwardly to their feet, still reeling from being abruptly transported. Magneto dusted off his cape indignantly. "A bit of warning would have been appreciated," he grumbled, scowling at her.

"You're welcome," Cassandra replied dryly. "Feel free to put in a good word for me when Layla inevitably arrives later to kill me."

Charles took a cautious step toward her. "You brought us back simply to protect yourself?"

"Precisely," Cassandra replied without hesitation. What? Did he seriously think she had some kind of random change of heart? Pffft, not a chance.

On the other side of the portal, Nicepool waved enthusiastically, still munching away happily on his squirrel stick. "See you later, Ms. Nova!"

"Fuck off," Cassandra said irritably, promptly shutting the portal in his cheerful face.

“Maybe now we can sit down and have a proper conversation…sister.” Charles smiled at her warmly. “I know we got off on the wrong foot but I’d like the chance to help you.”

Cassandra glared at him, annoyed she couldn’t kill him like the dozens of other alternates of her brother she’d slain over the centuries.

…Fuck, maybe she should just go back to the Void and stay there.

And that’s when a lighting bolt and a wave of red cosmic energy came out of nowhere and blasted her through the wall…

– Akeno –

"Be careful, you two," Akeno murmured warmly, brushing a few stray red locks behind Jean's ear. She leaned over, placing a tender kiss on the psychic's lips.

Jean Grey smiled softly, gently cupping Akeno’s cheek. "We will. Promise."

Akeno turned toward Ororo next, taking her time to admire her Storm goddess’s striking beauty. She gently brushed Ororo's silver-white hair from her face before claiming another deep, lingering kiss. "And you as well, my lovely Storm."

Their playful morning session together had abruptly ended when the television showed a breaking report, revealing big problems erupting all across the globe.

Absolute madness everywhere.

Then came the panicked texts from the young mutants at Xavier's school. Apparently, a mysterious woman named Cassandra Nova had suddenly taken over the mansion after Charles Xavier and Magneto vanished without any real explanation. Of course, Jean and Ororo immediately insisted on investigating their old home turf, worried for the younger mutants' safety.

Akeno, however, wanted to check on her aunt Penemue at FallCorp to find out what was happening on a wider scale. Penemue usually knew what the hell was going on—at least more than anyone else Akeno knew.

Then something even stranger appeared on TV—a replayed clip of what had happened in China hours ago.

Akeno stared in disbelief, jaw dropping slightly. Was that... the legendary apocalyptic beast, Trihexa, fighting Aunt Layla on international television? When the anchor clarified that the footage wasn’t live but had happened hours ago, Akeno’s eyebrows shot up even higher.

"Holy shit," she muttered incredulously. "Were we seriously too busy having sex to notice the literal apocalypse happened—and ended—already?"

Jean and Ororo exchanged sheepish, amused looks.

Ororo shrugged lightly, looking both amused and mildly embarrassed. "Well… at least it looks like Layla handled it, right?"

Jean groaned softly. "We really do live in the weirdest possible timeline."

Akeno shook her head, sighing quietly. Ever since Layla had freed her from slavery, her life had become progressively stranger. She smiled wryly. Strange as her new life was, she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Jean and Ororo lifted off into the sky, heading toward Xavier’s mansion.

Akeno watched them until they became tiny specks in the distance before unfurling all twelve of her black wings behind her. She flew into the air, heading straight toward FallCorp’s impressive headquarters, easily one of the most iconic skyscrapers in the New York skyline.

FallCorp’s security personnel—almost all of whom were Fallen Angels these days—recognized Akeno instantly and respectfully stepped aside. She gave them friendly nods as she passed, heading directly toward the executive elevator.

When she opened the large office door, she immediately spotted Emma Frost seated behind her elegantly sleek desk. Emma was not only Penemue's personal secretary but, as Akeno knew it, her aunt's lover and even Azazel’s mistress as well.

…Her family really were freaky weren’t they?

“Is Penemue available?” Akeno asked.

Emma nodded, looking thoughtful. "Yes, but we’ve got a very strange guest here at the moment, along with Miss Romanoff..."

“Who?” Akeno wondered curiously.

Emma sighed. “...You’ll have to see her to believe it. Your Aunt Layla is crazy by the way. I’m kind of glad we never became ‘a thing’ after seeing her newest conquest…” Emma said with a shudder.

– Layla –

Unohana had been more than a bit upset with me, and I promised her we would have a conversation later.

I arrived back in Hong Kong with Unohana after we left the Bleach universe. The city streets were in ruins and the lingering smoke made everything look grim. Unohana stood beside me, a thoughtful expression on her face as she scanned the damage. She let out a soft sigh.

“So much work to do,” Unohana said quietly, looking around at the rubble and the injured survivors. “I can sense many people who need healing.”

I frowned, wishing I could just snap my fingers and fix everything. But when Unohana turned to me and asked why I didn’t use my cosmic powers to restore the entire city, I hesitated. “I’m trying not to flex that much power on Earth these days,” I explained. “I want to protect my world, but I also don’t want to become the goddess who solves every little thing with magic. People need to do some of the rebuilding themselves.”

Unohana gave me a small nod. “I see. You already did quite a bit for the Soul Society.”

“Yeah,” I said, shrugging. “I might have gone a bit overboard there. I’m trying to do better now.”

She smiled at me, then pulled out a gigai—a temporary body that let normal humans see her clearly—and slipped into it. “I will begin,” she said. A moment later, she vanished in a blur of flash steps.

I closed my eyes briefly, checking in on other parts of the globe with my senses.

I wondered if Asia Argento had come here as well, but I sensed her healing people in Los Angeles instead. That was where the Hulk had lost his mind, leaving a bunch of devastation. It was less severe than Trihexa’s rampage, but there would still be plenty of wounded I imagined.

I wanted to stay and quietly help Unohana, healing people personally, but I had one last urgent thing on my list to fix all this crazy shit.

Doctor Doom had declared war on Europe, and I needed to shut that down before it officially started. I spread my sixteen black wings, preparing to take flight.

Then my phone buzzed in my pocket. I dug it out, noticing a text from my niece, Akeno. My eyes widened when I read it.

Akeno: You fucked TRIHEXA!!!???? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU????

I stared at my screen, my face warming a little. A small laugh escaped me, and I quickly typed a response.

Me: Yeah, and she was amazing…

I turned my phone off, still grinning. There was no time to explain everything to Akeno right now. Besides, I’d told the truth—Trihexa was incredible. Strange, but incredible.

I flapped my wings and shot into the air. I could have just opened a portal to get to Europe, but at this point, the difference in travel time was maybe half a minute. I felt like flying for a while, just to clear my head before I had to deal with Doom’s grandstanding.

…

I flew across Eastern Europe until Latveria’s borders came into sight.

I was high above the country when my flight path led me over the capital city, and I felt my stomach clench at the sight. Thousands—maybe hundreds of thousands—of flying robots were swarming the sky, each one armed to the teeth. And below them, on the ground and rising through dark portals, were countless red, imp-like demons.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this Doctor Doom had joined forces with Mephisto, or at least whoever was running Mephisto’s dimension these days.

“This is insane,” I said, mostly to myself. “How did he amass all of this so quickly?”

[It wasn't quick, you lost track of time. You were busy sleeping with Trihexa.]

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not helping.”

I glared down at the swarm.

Taking down a few hundred thousand robots and a million or so imps… this was just another tuesday.

I summoned a purple lightspear into my hand. It crackled with divine and cosmic energy, humming against my palm.

“Time to clear the skies,” I murmured.

I concentrated on my shadow clone technique next. Ten perfect copies of me appeared in the air around me, each wielding a similar lightspear. They gave me confident grins, and I nodded back at them. I’d have summoned more, but ten was enough to handle all of this.

[Show-off…]

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I replied.

I shot forward, the wind exploding and whipping around me. My wings flapped once, and the speed pushed me into a blur. My clones followed, radiating power as they arranged themselves in a formation behind me. The nearest wave of robots took notice.

I saw thousands of red sensors swivel in my direction, and an instant later, beams of plasma hurtled through the air.

I spun, raising my lightspear to intercept the plasma. In one fluid motion, I slashed downward, sending a wave of divine power that sliced through a whole thousand of them. Sparks rained from the shattered metal, and fragments of circuits plummeted toward the ground below.

I felt bad for the citizens screaming in terror, but I was already holding myself back enough to not wreck another city today. For now.

My clones darted off in different directions, each engaging a chunk of the army. Every time a group of the metal soldiers tried to gang up on one of us, a clone would blast them apart with a wide sweep of a lightspear or a burst of amaterasu flames.

Below, I heard the guttural shrieks of the imps. They were flying lower, pouring into the streets, probably searching for anything they could kill or terrorize. I paused in midair, watching the chaos spread through Latveria’s capital. Imps screeched, latching onto innocent civilians and ripping them apart in the streets. My stomach turned at the sight of so much bloodshed. They tore into anyone within reach, feeding on the terror and pain.

[What are you going to do about this?]

“They have to be stopped,” I muttered, glancing at the armies of flying robots and the swarms of red imps below. “There’s no time to play nice.”

I raised my hand high, giving the signal. My shadow clones caught sight of me and immediately adjusted their strategy. No more holding back. In seconds, they dashed off at speeds that made sonic booms echo across the city. People screamed. Streets cracked under the force of their wings. Windows blew out from the turbulence. Each clone targeted clusters of tens of thousands of demons and robots.

Latveria never had a huge population, and from what I saw, Doom or whoever was commanding the demonic forces wasn’t doing anything to protect these people. It wouldn’t take long for the imps and killer machines to wipe out the entire country if I didn’t stop them. My clones tore into them without hesitation, leaving mangled demon bodies and shattered robots in their wake.

I hovered above, taking it all in with a resigned sigh.

I spotted a few clusters of survivors cowering behind overturned vehicles or barricaded in buildings. Some peered out cautiously. I made a mental note to provide aid once the demons were gone.

For now, eliminating the threat was priority number one.

I glanced toward the largest spire in the city—the palace. Doom’s seat of power. Even from here, I could see the flicker of energy shields around the upper towers. He’d probably sealed himself inside, expecting his army to slow me down long enough for whatever evil scheme he had going for him.

He was going to be disappointed.

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