Advance chapters on P@treon.com/Saintbarbido.
It's been months without a chapter update, sorry about that. Here's a mass release.
1/4.
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(General P.O.V)
A black portal, dark as unlight, opened up in the middle of the hall. A massive magical circle was intricately drawn on the floor. On the 6 corners of the pentagram were the bodies of young women. The 6 women were dressed in white robes and had slit throats, dead eyes looking up at the sky, unfocused on anything while they lied in pools of blood.
Around the room, figures dressed in red robes with hoods hiding their faces away, chanted. And as the chant increased in crescendo, the portal got larger and larger until...
A gasp rang out as something fell out of the portal. A humanoid figure with long wavy black hair and a purple symbol shining on his head. He was tall, his body muscular underneath the light from the lanterns on the wall. And handsome as well. His most notable feature were the completely black eyes.
Chaos landed on the opulent hall, a pulsing grey heart on his left hand and Equity on his right.
"Hey bos..."
He went silent as a dumbfounded look crossed his face.
He looked around and blinked.
"Clearly, I took a wrong turn somewhere."
Then his gaze shifted to the bodies lying around him. Chaos narrowed his eyes.
"Master Satan, finally! You have answered our call!"
One of the robed figures walked closer to Chaos, removing the hood to reveal an elderly man with a well trimmed white beard.
"We have been tirelessly toiling to bring you to the material world, all so that you can unleash your full might on these peasants!"
The robed figure raved, spittle flying from his mouth.
Chaos raised Equity.
"Quiet."
The word was silent yet carried with it an unbearable weight.
Chaos tore his eyes away from the sacrifices and turned to look at the gathered robed figures.
"What is this? A cult?"
He walked around the elderly man.
An air of nervousness gripped everyone gathered. The elderly man's heart begun pumping fast.
"Settle down, old boy. We don't want you to die just yet."
Chaos told him, turning around, fully taking in the building's layout.
He was in the middle of a stage surrounded by the aforementioned red robed figures. Past that were even more robed figures, the only difference being that these ones had on blue robes.
Chaos facepalmed. It was clear. He knew without even being told, this was infact, a misguided group of fools who had no idea the kind of powers they were calling upon.
And from their leader's words, it wasn't the first time that they had done this.
Chaos exhaled forcefully. The cheer he had from earlier after going up again Chthon, Dormammu, Mephisto and other Realmlords dying away.
"Hear me," he spoke out into the chamber, sending Equity and the grey heart into the hammer space.
"You will all die."
Terror gripped everyone present.
"Wait..."
The elderly man begun before black flames consumed him. Commotion rose as the agonizing cries from the leader rang out across the chamber.
"You're right to be afraid...of the dark."
Chaos' eyes flashed purple. Then his body broke into shadows. Shadows that consumed almost everything in the room.
A few minutes later, Chaos sat on a throne in an almost empty chamber. Empty for there were still the dead corpses of the girls along the magical circle.
He sighed, shifting to lean his cheek on his right hand instead.
"Fuck it."
His left hand disappeared into the hammer space and with it, out came the grey heart, still pumping.
A prize, acquired after wresting control of Mephisto's realm before devouring his will. Equity was now full of the refined essence of several Realmlords. The weapon was so powerful it was getting hard for even Chaos to use. Chaos speculated that only Aden could wield it. Equity was his divine weapon after all.
Chaos had also found out the deal with the cult. The cult of Bloodhaven, had been sacrificing young girls and even whole villages in the past to Mephisto. And because Mephisto had died under Chaos' hands, that meant that when he felt a distortion in space, it had been the souls of the young girls being funneled into the heart of the realm for Mephisto's use.
Chaos looked at the heart then at the girls. Again, fuck it. He couldn't exactly bring them back without having their souls get affected by Chaos energy, but he knew someone who could.
(X-mansion)
It had been 4 weeks.
4 weeks in which I had lived the mutant life. Interacted with them and generally been there for everything.
By everything I mean an attack from a little known splinter group of the U-men. Splinter group because these fools were not the real deal. They loved the idea of having powers and their way of actually getting some was attacking the institute head on while using outdated, old model exoskeletons.
Apparently, many governments had begun projects on how to fight the mutant 'menace' and creation of power armor was among them. Funnily enough, the exoskeletons seemed to be modelled after the Crimson Dynamo, a Russian supervillain from the comics. Then again, this world was not strictly the M.C.U and my presence had also changed a lot.
The group was quickly dispatched by Storm calling down a literal storm down on their asses. It was a spectacle to watch. I clapped along with the others. Of course that's when SHIELD arrived to pick them up. Contrary to most fanfiction tropes, the SHIELD agents that arrived were ones I didn't recognize. No Fury, or Coulson or Widow... actually that reminds me...
I opened my eyes from my meditation, a portal manifesting before me. I waited for a few seconds and Chaos walked through.
"Boss, I would ask if you were psychic but I already know the answer to that."
He stated, looking around at my room.
"Cozy."
He commented, grabbing an apple off the bowl.
"Wait, what do you mean?"
At my question, Chaos frowned mid bite.
"You... didn't know I wanted to talk to you? I thought that's why you created a boom tube right infront of me."
I shook my head.
"I called you in because there's something I needed your help with."
Chaos widened his eyes.
"Then you're not gonna believe what I found boss!"
3 minutes later, we were on the beach in Energia.
"Chaos, what is this?"
I wondered, somberly looking down at the corpses of what turned out to be six girls, probably between the age of 18 to 22.
"I know. Fucked up right?"
He stated before explaining everything to me.
Once done, I revaluated him.
"Wait, you took down some of Marvel's big baddies all by yourself?"
He waved me off.
"Oh it wasn't easy. They couldn't really kill me and I had Equity. Plus, it took me about 1600 years to deal with them."
I raised an eyebrow. Time was indeed wonky in other dimensions when compared to Earth.
I knelt on the ground before one of the girls.
"Thank God Geb is not here to see this."
I muttered.
It was a Saturday and I had dropped him and Nagini off at Shuri's, his best friend. It had become a sort of ritual. Every weekend I would leave him with the Wakandans, who I was steadily forming a good relationship with.
The only other person around, apart from Chaos and I, was Lindy. And she was yet to wake up. Each night I would meditate with her, trying to find out why her soul activity was so low. It was what kept her in a coma. So far, I had not found any answers.
"I know what you want."
I sighed at Chaos.
"Oh come on Boss, this is nothing for you. If I do it, they'll come back...wrong."
He insisted.
"Plus, I think having a few priestesses in this world to preach about you is a good idea. We can gain another foothold in this world."
"Whether you like it or not, we have all formed connections here. You with the X-Men, Geb and his little girlfriend and then there's me, I just loooove pissing off cosmic entities. This isn't a one off world."
He concluded and his words managed to stir something in me.
"Okay."
I sighed in defeat. He was right. We had formed connections here. Strong ones. Storm and I...we had gotten closer over the few days. And the kids at the institute, they reminded me of my own kids. Still...I had let it become a distraction. The connections we had formed did not mean that we forgot our main mission. It didn't mean we forgot about Kori, Sai, Kai, Breeze and Vor. Knowing Gaea and the rest, they were trying their best to find a way to bring me back.
"I have been too content. Too slow."
I told Chaos, looking up.
He lost the wide smile on his face upon seeing my expression.
"Boss?"
He said, unsure.
I merely grunted, getting up. Chaos had given me the grey heart containing not only the girl's souls but also the souls of trillions other beings. The thing reeked of hatred and despair as they were made to suffer unending pain.
I focused on the grey heart, drawing out the most recent dead, the girls' souls. 6 pale blue silhouettes, appeared in the sky, gently almost as if pulled by gravity, they flew down to each of their individual bodies.
I called upon my flame divinity, white flames washing down their forms, healing the slit throats and dead bodies. Then I stepped forward and pulled on the water from the lake, bending it so that it surrounded me before it spun and launched off, covering each of the women before glowing with light.
Water healing was different from my white flames of healing. It eased stress on the soul and mind while white flames only dealt with the body. This way, they wouldn't come back 'wrong' as Chaos had put it.
The water pulsed around them, acting as a glowing cocoon while I turned to Chaos.
"This, is not our world."
I spoke up.
"I know that..."
Chaos begun but I interrupted.
"No. I don't think you do."
I shook my head.
"Where's the urgency huh? Where's the drive? The passion!?" I pointed at the sky.
"I have my Homunculi Puppet flying towards the wider galaxy, getting D.N.A and looking for other ways we can use to leave this universe. I'm betting that if this doesn't work, then Ego's celestial energy might be the key."
I stepped closer to him.
"You have forgotten the mission. Even I had to a degree. But each night, I leave for the Nexus, trying to decipher how exactly we can use Cosmic Energy to get back home."
"Boss...no one has refused that."
Chaos placed a hand on my shoulder.
"You're doing the best you can."
"The best?" I chuckled.
"Well, It doesn't feel good enough."
I turned away as a boom tube manifested behind Chaos.
"They will be completely healed in a few minutes. Oh and see if you can do something about the Red Room. Might as well save Black Widow and the rest of the girls now that you're in the business of being a White Knight."
I threw over my shoulder, leaving Chaos to stare at my back in confusion.
Meanwhile, it felt as if I'd woken up. These past few weeks had lulled me into this...false fantasy. I had a kid on the way for crying out loud. Something had to change. I needed to make it back before it was too late.