Chapter 217

"I think we haven't met before, who are you?" Damian asked, looking at Wanda's group.

"I'm Wanda Maximoff, this is my brother Pietro, and she's Circe," Wanda said with a stoic expression.

"Those zombies are heading to my country," Wanda added, also stating the reason they were there.

"I would also like to know the cause of all this," Wanda said, looking briefly at Hela, wondering if this was some sort of counterattack.

"Girl, don't look at me like that, I'm not to blame for this," Hela said, looking at Wanda before turning to Pietro.

"Even if I were, I wouldn't be wrong to do it," Hela said with a playful smile.

Pietro couldn't help but feel uneasy as he looked around, ready to run with his sister and Circe.

"In reality, no one is to blame for this; it was a natural event caused by humans themselves," Cortana said.

"Magic is influenced by the will and feelings of people; the resentment formed from unjust deaths kept accumulating until it was unleashed in one person who started it all."

"We didn't foresee this," Cortana said, looking at Damian.

"Before magic existed, this resentment had no way of accumulating, but now it does; from now on, these kinds of things will happen occasionally."

"That's indeed the cause," Hela said, nodding; she saw the zombie army differently from the others.

She could clearly see the resentment on the zombies and the funereal aura, as well as traces of demonic energy.

"But it's not that simple; there's probably a third party involved," Hela said after seeing traces of dark magic.

"What if you give them to me?" Hela said, looking at the zombie army.

All eyes inevitably focused on Damian, wanting to see how he would respond.

Damian remained silent for a few seconds, thinking, before finally nodding.

"Fine, I'll give them to you to take care of," Damian said, nodding.

Hela gave a smile before a large wave of dark energy, resembling mist, emanated from her body and quickly spread over the zombie army.

When the mist returned to Hela's body, all the zombies had disappeared.

Damian raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise, as he didn't know she could do that kind of thing.

"Alright, then I'll be going," Hela said, looking at Amelia, who quickly nodded before creating a portal.

"Um, see you," Damian said, nodding casually.

Hela gave one last look to everyone, lingering a bit longer on Wanda before entering the portal, followed by Amelia.

Seeing Hela disappear, Damian focused his gaze on Wanda and her group.

"Don't worry, she wasn't to blame for this," Damian said, smiling at the group to reassure them; he had noticed some tension between Wanda and Hela.

"Okay," Wanda said, not entirely sure what to say.

Circe, on the other hand, approached Damian and Cortana with a smile, much to Wanda's annoyance.

"Hello, I'm the witch queen, Circe; the world you've created is quite interesting," Circe said, approaching them both and greeting them.

"Witch?" Damian said, nodding slightly.

"Yes, surely you already know, but Arishem destroyed the Earth in the past; we hid in another dimension and returned when magic returned," Circe said, nodding amiably.

"And what are you? I'm really curious," Circe said, looking at Damian attentively.

"I'm a vampire, and she's Cortana, the system administrator," Damian said, dropping two bombshells, both for Circe and Wanda.

Wanda rigidly looked at Cortana, who smiled knowingly at her.

If it weren't for the character she had developed over time as the leader of Sokovia, she would have definitely blushed.

"So you're a vampire," Circe said, nodding as she placed her hand under her chin, exchanging glances between Wanda and Cortana with a smile.

When she looked at Wanda, it almost seemed like she was asking with her eyes if she herself should tell.

Wanda looked annoyed at Circe before approaching Damian a bit.

Pietro just watched the situation, a bit confused, while also looking at his sister with suspicion.

"I learned a magical system from a man named Harry; the system, or perhaps she... said a vampire had created it, is it you?" Wanda asked, extending her hand and creating a magical circle.

Damian looked at the familiar crimson magical circle with surprise before wordlessly looking at Cortana.

She just stuck out her tongue slightly.

"How's Harry?" Damian asked, nodding, admitting he had created the system of magical circles.

"He's dead," Wanda said uncomfortably.

"Oh," Damian said, nodding without really caring; his role had clearly been fulfilled perfectly, even going further than he thought.

He wouldn't have expected to end up teaching magic to Wanda.

"Don't feel guilty; he was a criminal, an experiment; the next time I saw him, I probably would have eliminated him if he hadn't changed who he is," Damian said, noticing Wanda's slight emotional agitation.

"What do you mean?" Pietro asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

Damian looked at Pietro before looking at the others, who seemed curious.

Taking a deep breath internally, he began to speak.

"Before creating the system, I experimented with hundreds of criminals to discover how to give people magic; he was the last survivor."

"I let him go knowing he would try to increase his strength; I was sure he would teach magic to others, which was my goal."

Wanda and Pietro almost seemed petrified at the thought of all the praise used on Harry; in the end, he turned out to be a criminal.

"Third circle?" Damian said, nodding as he thought for a moment.

Just as he was about to create the fourth formula of the magic circle and give it to her, Cortana stepped forward and spoke.

"Why don't you come to Madripoor when you're free? I'm sure we can help you improve your magic; after all, you only have half," Cortana said, smiling at Wanda.

Damian just looked at Cortana but didn't say anything to contradict her.

"Is that okay?" Wanda asked, looking between Damian and Cortana.

"It's fine," Damian said, regaining his smile and nodding.

"Great," Circe said, clasping her hands with a happy smile; this development was entirely favorable.

"Let's go back then," Damian said, looking at Cortana, who nodded back before making them reappear in the palace.

Wanda, Circe, and Pietro remained in place.

"Anything I don't know, sister?" Pietro asked, looking at her.

"Damian is the creator of the magical system we use; it would be good to complete it," Wanda said.

Pietro then looked at Circe; they had met and developed a certain level of trust.

"Are you trying to sell my sister?" Pietro asked seriously.

"Because if you are, I deserve at least 70%," Pietro said, smiling as he looked at Wanda.

"Pff," Circe couldn't help but laugh, taken by surprise as she had expected Pietro to be upset.

Wanda also showed a slight blush now that they were alone before punching his shoulder.

....

Hela returned to her base through the portal with Amelia.

"Mistress, why did you bring those zombies?" Amelia asked curiously, considering them quite useless in her opinion.

"Open another portal a couple of kilometers from the city," Hela said without answering.

Amelia was confused but still created the portal.

Both of them stepped through the portal until they arrived at a clear open space.

Hela surveyed the surroundings before extending her palm to the ground.

From her hand, black lines extended, creating a circle of over 10 thousand square meters.

The ground trembled as the entire area sank almost 10 meters deep.

With the place prepared, black mist emanated from Hela's feet again, spreading throughout the hole. When the mist returned to Hela, the entire place was once again filled with zombies.

"I'll make them kill each other, leaving only the strongest," Hela said, looking at Amelia and finally explaining her actions.

The zombies, who wouldn't normally attack each other, suddenly began to eye each other hostilely.

Unlike before, their eyes had a sickly green glow as they started attacking and devouring each other, presenting a rather repulsive spectacle.

Even Hela, who had seen all kinds of things, preferred not to watch and waved her hand, creating a cloak of darkness that covered the hole.

Looking beside her, she saw Amelia with her hand over her mouth, suppressing the urge to vomit.

She could only look at her disdainfully, feeling that she lacked experience.

Even so, she approached and took her hand before creating a dark portal back home.

"How strong do you think the zombies will be in the end?" Amelia asked after taking a sip of water and recovering.

"I don't know, it can vary a lot, so don't expect too much; I got them for free," Hela said, smiling slightly.

"I guess," Amelia said, shrugging before sitting down.

"Why the hostility towards that girl, Wanda?" Amelia asked, looking at Hela.

"The silver-haired boy was the one snooping around here a while ago," Hela said.

"Oh, I see, we couldn't teach him a lesson since Damian was there," Amelia complained, unsatisfied with how he infiltrated so casually.

"But we know where he lives," Amelia said, giving her a suggestive smile.

"That's why I stayed with you," Hela said, laughing lightly.

"I'm not a pet," Amelia complained.

....

Damian, who had just returned home, was also questioned by Cortana.

"Why did you give her the zombies?" Cortana asked, looking at Damian.

"I'm a bit curious about what she can do with them," Damian said honestly.

"Maybe I should also ask you why you invited Wanda?" Damian said, giving her a slight smile.

"There are some things I need to set up to alert us about these kinds of situations, so I'll leave first," Cortana said, coughing lightly and escaping.

Damian just chuckled as he watched her flee; his gaze was suddenly drawn to the side, a young woman was walking by in a robe with a tub of ice cream.

"And you, when did you come back?" Damian asked, looking at her.

''An hour ago, I think,' Jane said, shovelling a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.

"I thought you forgot where your home was," Damian said, giving her a smile.

"Don't be sensitive, I only left for a couple of months," Jane said, laughing as she approached Damian.

"Why did you come back?" Damian asked, opening his arms for a hug.

"I had a fight with that idiot Odin; he can be really annoying to listen to," Jean said, annoyed as she hugged Damian.

"And Thor, that idiot, even though I can see he's not entirely in agreement with his father, he doesn't say anything to contradict him; the atmosphere was really toxic, so I came back," Jane said with dissatisfaction.

"It was also really annoying the way he referred to me, calling me mortal, even though it's a fact, from his mouth it almost sounded like an insult; I wanted to ask him if he had seen himself in a mirror, he clearly looks like a middle-aged man entering old age,"

"Even if he magically rejuvenated, he can't fool me."

"You must avenge me, if you ever meet him, you must refer to him as mortal, okay?" Jane said, looking at Damian, who had no traces of time on his face.

"Sure," Damian said, chuckling to himself, amused by her rant.

"I heard you rushed out with Cortana; did something interesting happen?" Jane asked, curious, stepping back from Damian's hug.

"Something really unconventional, it turns out zombies appeared," Damian said, smiling ironically.

Jane's expression was first surprised before filling with interest.

"It seems magic and resentment don't get along very well," Damian said before creating a detailed illusion of the zombies that had appeared.

"Are they dead?" Jane asked, looking closely at the illusion.

''They have no soul,'' Damian said, not finding his question stupid.

"Well, with the existence of magic, the existence of zombies isn't too far-fetched; I just wonder how long they can function, do they absorb magic from the environment to sustain themselves?" Jane asked, letting out her scientific curiosity.

"If I had known you had returned, I would have brought you one," Damian said, chuckling slightly.

"Did you destroy them?" Jane asked casually; there was no point crying over spilled milk.

Damian hesitated for a moment before shrugging it off and just saying it.

"I gave them to Hela," Damian said.

"Hela?" Jane said, confused.

"Odin's eldest daughter, she tried to rebel and was exiled," Damian said, seeing clearly how Jane's eyes widened in surprise.

"I'm not surprised; he's a terrible father, just look at Thor and Loki, both were a mess," Jane quickly recovered from the news.

"Is she nice?" Jane asked with a smile, imagining some kind of shining Valkyrie blonde full of kindness, more like Frigga.

"Uh... not really," Damian said, making a slight grimace.

Jane could only look confused at Damian, not knowing that her image of Hela was completely different from reality.

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