Chapter 2312: Gotham Music Festival (14)_1

Wanda was not discouraged, she knew that as long as this method existed, she would find it one day.

At this moment, she recalled a previous encounter with an alternate version of herself who had suffered a great deal of misfortune. Among the many tragedies was the fact that the Great Shadow Xeseon, exploiting her love for children, impregnated her with his soul fragments, leading to a catastrophic event.

So, the question arose: how did Xeseon manage to impregnate the Wanda of that universe?

The more Wanda thought about it, the more convinced she became that the solution to her problem lay hidden within this mystery. After all, Xeseon was not a human; he didn't even have a physical body, just a mass of energy, yet he could impregnate a human female. If she and Jarvis could just figure out this method, wouldn't that solve everything?

Thus, Wanda reached out to Xeseon, whom she hadn't contacted in a long time.

At first, Xeseon was quite pleased when he received her call, thinking Wanda had finally come around. But Wanda's question baffled him completely.

For a moment, Xeseon even wondered if he had heard wrong. Did the woman before him just ask how he impregnated her? Had the woman finally gone insane from devouring too much Chaotic Power?

The Xeseon of this universe had not even thought about that, because, due to Shiller's influence, Eternity was constantly traveling, and that gave Xeseon the chance to wander around. Relying on his indestructible nature, he had now become the biggest street loiter of this universe, busy enjoying his freedom.

With the opportunity to build his career, Xeseon had no desire to enter the grave of marriage so soon. It was as if he believed that after the Scarlet Witch bore his child, she wouldn't chase him for child support like a madwoman—considering he might not be able to best Wanda now.

After Wanda's explanation, Xeseon still didn't quite understand. Mainly because he had never entertained the thought, he also had not researched this particular area, so he currently didn't know how to make a human pregnant.

That made Wanda unhappy. Other Xeseons in different universes knew how, so why didn't he? Couldn't he learn if he didn't understand? And she wondered, what could be so interesting about wandering around such a small place?

Wanda directly warned Xeseon that if he didn't come up with a solution in three days, she would poke a hole through the sky with Chaotic Power and let Eternity deal with him upon his return.

Poor Xeseon really was unlucky. At present, he could be considered the most innocent Big Shadow across all universes. How true is the saying that the good are bullied?

But after careful consideration, Xeseon decided that he really needed to study the issue. Because Wanda's point did make sense, having a child might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Just imagine if one day Eternity changed his mind again and confined him to some godforsaken place, conventional methods wouldn't allow for escape. But if there were a child left on Earth, the natural channel for communication through the resonance of soul and bloodline would be established. A simple phone call and the child's cooperation from the inside would surely make breaking out easier than managing it alone.

And why Earth? Need that even be asked? To Eternity, this place was a restricted zone, the farther away the better. Although having the Supreme Magician there was a bit troublesome, in the end, that wouldn't stop one from having children, would it?

With motivation at hand, Xeseon began his research. But really, who studies the creation of children? It turned out to be quite difficult.

Xeseon racked his brain but couldn't come up with any good way to impregnate a human woman with his child.

It sounded simple, like all it took was to infuse some energy into the mother's body, but that was far from the reality.

He could replace the consciousness of a fetus with his own after a woman was already pregnant, essentially becoming the infant using the naturally produced body from the combination of male and female.

He could also insert a mass of energy into a woman's womb when she wasn't pregnant, mimicking the shape of a child. He could condense the energy so heavily that the woman would have to mimic the process of childbirth to release it, but energy was just energy—without independent consciousness once born.

Xeseon spent several days observing how humans created offspring from Earth's surface. His perspective was different from that of humans; the activities in his view were not the key. The real challenge was how to ignite the soul of an infant.

The collision and resonance of two human souls naturally ignite the infant's soul flame. But for the Big Shadow to resonate with a human soul was far too difficult—it was impossible to coordinate.

Then Xeseon suddenly remembered that Wanda mentioned an alternate universe Xeseon had once impregnated her. It might not be that he had found a special method, but rather, their souls could naturally synchronize and ignite just like humans.

Things were getting interesting. If Xeseon conveyed this to Wanda, other than earning a beating, he couldn't see any other outcome. However, he felt that since they were naturally in tune, it would be a huge loss not to have a child together.

After much deliberation, Wanda arrived. Xeseon thought about it and felt there was no need to rush. How long could love stay fresh? In just the few days he observed from above Earth, nine out of ten couples were loveless. Maybe it wouldn't take long for the two of them to split. Anyway, he had a long life and could afford to wait.

So he shared his discoveries with Wanda. He described from his point of view how soul synchronization worked and what the moment of ignition really looked like.

As Xeseon and Wanda harnessed the same power, their communication was seamless. After listening to Xeseon's explanations, Wanda nearly understood the entire process.

After a few trials, they finally got joyful news—Wanda was pregnant.

And according to checks by Stark and Strange, the child's vital signs and soul status were normal, meaning that Wanda could finally embark on the family life she had dreamed of.

"They didn't tell him," Shiller began, "and he didn't ask, did he?"

Professor X looked up at Magneto, his smile fading slightly, but still looked at Wanda's belly and said, "I don't know, but if he didn't ask, maybe it proves that Erik was forgiven."

Professor X and Shiller both knew what they were referring to. After a pause, Shiller still asked, "Assuming there really is an X-Gene, what do you think the child's mutant ability will be?"

"It's a rather complex proposition, as the strength of the parents' mutant abilities doesn't necessarily ensure that the child will become a powerful mutant; otherwise, Magneto's wishes would have been fulfilled long ago."

"However, the more unique the mutant ability, the greater the likelihood of it being passed down. That's the case with Magneto. His children, though not exactly like him in ability, are all as powerful as he is."

"We once speculated that mutant abilities could also be a manifestation of positional ranking. If you are the only person in the world to possess a certain powerful force, without anyone else to share the jackpot, you naturally have complete freedom to manage your prize money."

"Have you ever thought about managing your own income?" Shiller asked with a smile.

Professor X also looked down with a smile, then shook his head and said, "I'll tell you privately, if you spend every day with so many children, you'll never again have such frightening thoughts."

Shiller responded with a smile as well, gently clinking his glass with that of Professor X. It appeared that Charles was unaware that he had a son. But that was normal; even though several years had passed, it was still early in the Marvel timeline. Charles's biological son should still be living a peaceful life in Paris.

While recalling the details in his mind, Shiller saw Loki walking toward the table. It seemed like he wanted to talk to Natasha, but through Loki's expression, Shiller could tell he seemed a bit depressed.

So he got up immediately and walked towards the restroom. Sure enough, soon after, Loki walked in as well.

Standing together at the washstand, Shiller looked at Loki's face through the mirror and asked, "What's wrong? You look a bit unhappy."

Loki let out a deep sigh and said, "The plan failed."

Shiller understood what happened through Loki's narration.

Loki's plan, naturally, involved both Talya and him having a child each. The offspring of a human and a Frost Giant usually do not have robust constitutions and would likely look like Loki did when he was a child, thus garnering the full attention of Frigga and Thor.

Of course, not being robust was relative to the Aesir's monsters, even compared to Thor and Odin. Although often called the sickly one, Loki was merely not as strong as Thor; after all, he had the blood of the Frost Giant King. In relative terms across the cosmos, there weren't many who could be stronger than him.

And with Helen, who might even be stronger than Thor and Odin, Loki felt that sometimes it was quite nice for children to be a bit weaker. Ever since Helen had grown up a bit, she was always rushing around the cosmos, either absorbing the sun or on her way to do so, and she hadn't returned home to date.

The plan progressed smoothly up to the point of going to bed with Talya. Talya was a very sensual and wild beauty, and Loki's appearance was classically handsome, not as rough as most of the Aesir. In short, both met each other's aesthetic criteria. With a spark and fire, the entire process was surprisingly smooth.

After it all ended, things also went well. Although Loki wasn't sure what the reproductive customs of the Aesir were, he was able to control when to reproduce, so as expected, Talya told him the next day that it was a success.

Both thought the hardest step was over, but before even a day had passed, Talya called Loki saying there was a problem. The previous test results might have been inaccurate; after another check, they discovered she was not pregnant.

Loki wasn't surprised, given that he had never used this power before, and it was normal for there to be a hitch on the first try. Fortunately, they had spare time, so why not just get together again and give it another go?

Both of them were in good physical condition, and so they did it again the following night. After testing, it was confirmed she was pregnant again, and this time Loki was present. He used magic to check, and it was confirmed she was pregnant. Still, in less than a day, the child vanished into thin air once again.

Now both Talya and Loki were baffled: how could this be a failure?

They refused to believe it and tried once more the same night, then almost immediately went to Stark to borrow his nano-ultrasound machine for a thorough, scientific check, which confirmed she was indeed pregnant.

However, neither of them had even been happy for ten hours when the next morning it was discovered that it was still a no-go.

Talya was close to breaking down. While they say there is no field that's been ploughed poorly, and Loki's physique was stronger than a human male's, they couldn't just stay tied to the bed every day and do nothing else, right?

What was going on with the child, anyway? Did it just peek in, see something wasn't right, and slip away?

After half a day of blank stares from two people with no experience in this matter, they finally decided to each find someone experienced to ask.

"So you came to me?" Shiller asked in surprise. "I've never had children."

"Then how did you bring Helen into being?"

"Uh..."