Chapter 0197: All-Out Assault (4/5)

Meanwhile, as Apex and Captain America fought within the isolated barrier, Wiccan finally confronted his possessed mother.

"Mom, I know you're in there," Wiccan said as he stabilized the distorted reality around him that was caused by Wanda's spell.

Wanda gave Wiccan a scornful smile, "Demiurge." She said with a motherly tone, though her eyes were devoid of any warmth, "You should listen to what your mother tells you." She released a torrent of crimson energy below herself as it propelled her upwards, spreading the energy all around. Wherever the wave of crimson passed, pitch-black cracks that seemed to rip apart reality itself appeared.

Those cracks seemed to be swallowing anything and everything around them like black holes, even light. This led to them having a distorted view that made them seem illusory.

Within moments, the wave had spread outward and some of the cracks had swallowed some Hydra grunts along with a couple of the people from the side of the Underground.

"Dispell," Wiccan reacted as fast as he could and cast his spell on the spreading red glow to envelop it with his blue energy, making the increasing torrent halt in place as it shrunk, reducing the cracks that had appeared in reality to nothingness. He started floating upward himself as he looked at Wanda who had a disdainful expression on her face.

Wiccan then cast a spell to pull Wanda into the Mirror Dimension to stop their battle from affecting the weaker people and wiping everyone out. Wanda also didn't resist and allowed him to pull her into the Mirror Dimension.

The moment Wiccan followed Wanda in, he found himself in an expanse of pure white nothingness. As if the Mirror Dimension had been altered on a fundamental level. He couldn't see or feel the existence of anything around him.

Turning to face the woman who had an immense presence of red Chaos Energy around her, Wiccan took a breath and spoke, "Halt."

His words were followed as if some kind of absolute decree as the large number of red spikes that appeared out of thin air seemed to impact some kind of invisible shield. Instead of impacting Wiccan like they were supposed to, they all stopped in their place without moving even the slightest.

"Repel," Wiccan spoke and, the spikes all turned around in their place before being teleported right in front of Wanda, who made them disappear before they could get close to her.

"Dammit, Mom," Wiccan shouted and released a huge amount of his energy into his surroundings, "Come back to me."

Following his words, Wiccan's surroundings changed and he found himself in what seemed like some sort of dark corridor. He tried to use his energy to illuminate his surroundings but found that he didn't have access to any of his energy as if it had been sealed away from him.

Wiccan looked around his dimly lit surroundings, thinking of the current situation, 'I'm in its mindscape…' He concluded as he tried some magical ways to probe his surroundings.

Having understood the situation, he took a breath and spoke again, "Show me my mother, demon." There was an imperceptible tremble in his voice as if he was almost afraid of what he would see.

His surroundings changed once again and he found himself in front of a black wall, "Mom…" Wiccan called out, trying to look around, but all he saw was darkness.

"Billy…" He heard a familiar voice that roused his spirit. The voice was hoarse, weakened, and in pain, but it was without a doubt the exact voice that he had longed to hear for so long.

"Mom!" Wiccan shouted as he desperately looked around, but it was still all darkness.

"Billy…" He heard the voice clearer this time and quickly started approaching the source.

"Mom!" He tried to use his magic to influence the demon's mindscape to reveal his mother to him.

His words seemed to have had the necessary effect as the darkness faded with a dim light that didn't seem to have any source. It was then that Wanda's current state was revealed to Wiccan, horrifying him down to his bones. Wanda was stuck to a crimson wall that had multiple spikes protruding out of it, having stabbed through Wanda in multiple parts of her body. They were still dripping with her blood as her face seemed to have lost most of its previous rosiness, seeming mummified.

She'd been crucified cruelly as those spikes pierced through her body, two spikes each coming through each of her arms and legs, followed by two through her shoulders, one straight through her stomach. The ones that horrified him the most were the ones that went through her eyes, stabbing her through the back of her head and coming out of her eyes.

As he saw the blood dripping down from her body, William felt as if his heart was about to explode. He screamed in pain and knelt on one knee, supporting himself, "Mom…" He said with a hoarse voice.

"Someone as weak as you can never contend against the might of one such as myself." Wiccan heard a demonic-sounding voice right beside his ear and stiffened up.

"Cthon." He said with a voice dripping with fury as he turned around, only to see nothing.

"What?" The same demonic voice asked, right beside his ear. Wiccan turned once again, but he only came to face his mother's crucified form.

"Free my mother," Wiccan spoke, trying to use his unique brand of speech-based magic.

"Pitiful," He heard the demonic voice speak again, "Did you think you appeared in my mindscape because of your weak ability? It's because I let you enter."

"You think you have everything under control, don't you…" Wiccan spoke with a tone of defiance as he looked upon his mother's crucified form with bloodshot eyes.

"Why yes I do, actually," The voice spoke in Wiccan's ear once again, "Even a strand of the greatest Dimensional Ruler's will isn't something that a mortal such as you can contend against.

"Maybe not," Wiccan spoke, though his tone was strangely devoid of hopelessness, "It's good that I decided to use more than just mortal means to deal with you."

Before the voice could speak in his head once again, Wiccan spoke, "Exorcise this demon from my mother's body."

Following his words, He could feel the voice that spoke beside his ear panicking, "What is going on?" There was a clear tremble in that voice that conveyed its fear.

Following the demon's panic, Wiccan felt reality warping and found himself appearing within the Mirror Dimension once again, this time it was the real deal unlike the white expanse fabricated by Cthon's will. As he opened his eyes, he looked at Wanda's floating visage. In his hand, he held a staff that glowed with a blue light that originated from the gem at its tip. It was the Mind Stone.

"Banish Cthon's will from my mother's body." Wiccan's repeated chant was followed by a concentrated blue glow that shone on Wanda, resulting in a demonic screech being released from her mouth as a red aura escaped her body.

Wiccan groaned in pain, feeling his life itself being consumed in order to channel the stone's power in conjunction with his magic.

Eventually, the screech stopped and the red energy ceased escaping from Wanda's body. It caused her energy to be completely exhausted and she fell down from her levitating position. Wiccan didn't care about the Infinity Stone on the staff and dropped it before floating toward Wanda's unconscious form, catching her before she impacted the ground.

"We're free, Mom…" Wiccan hugged her in his arms, "You'll be fine. We'll look for Tommy together," Tears escaped from his eyes as he hugged Wanda tightly.

Sadly, he was aware that he was still needed outside. He quickly grabbed the staff with the Mind Stone before moving out of the Mirror Dimension while holding Wanda tightly.

Just as he appeared back on the battlefield, he heard a loud explosion reminiscent of multiple simultaneous sonic booms, and his vision was dyed blue.

***

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