Chapter 187

Ophelia was spinning a dagger in her hand while yawning; the history class for children could be really boring.

She was on a tower, keeping an eye on her daughters. She could see them attentively watching the teacher. From this distance, she could be by their side in an instant if needed.

She didn't know why Damian had asked her to do this, but he must have his reasons. She couldn't think of a threat that could kidnap her daughters in the middle of the city with Ana nearby.

Suddenly, she felt a strange movement in her daughter's classroom, causing her to appear immediately in the location while remaining invisible.

She saw a rectangle opening in the air before several people with staff emerged.

Ophelia didn't even give them a chance to speak before she passed like a flash, dismembering them and taking them out of the classroom.

With her magic, the children only saw the rectangle before everything disappeared.

"Ana, pay attention," Ophelia said, sending a telepathic message to Ana while quickly taking the people to the laboratory.

Ana also felt everything that happened, appearing in the classroom invisible.

The suddenly appearing rectangle caused some chaos, but seeing that nothing happened, the teacher also calmed the children before reporting what happened and continuing with the class.

Ana felt a large amount of temporal energy from the people Ophelia captured. There was no reason to doubt that they were enemies; they arrived immediately when Damian was unavailable, and moreover, where her daughters were.

She immediately suspected that these people were from outside her universe. The problem was that she couldn't contact Cortana. Nevertheless, she sent a message, putting the city on alert, and providing information about possible targets and their priority elimination.

On the streets, Spartans were seen patrolling the area for the first time, causing some surprise. Everyone was especially excited to see them after the battle the night before.

The debris from the streets had already been cleared, and most people had returned to their normal lives.

Soon, a week passed, and the whole family had defended against several enemy attack attempts.

Many times, they were sent from various directions or tried to create problems throughout the city.

Everyone was already very frustrated with the situation, but they had no choice but to keep waiting.

...

Bruce was in the small laboratory of his house, analyzing various samples.

With Tony's help, it wasn't too difficult to get Sterns and Ross's old research data.

He had never really investigated his blood for anything other than neutralizing it. Now, it was the opposite; he wanted to be able to create a perfect transformation.

Ross's data also indicated that there didn't seem to be any negative side effects after injecting the blood.

Bruce sighed, understanding for the first time why scientists fell into human experimentation.

It would be very useful to have several humans test the size of the doses and what happens if they are exposed to different types of energy during the transformation.

He could only continue experimenting; it would definitely take some time before Betty could transform, which would earn him several disapproving looks from her.

Taking off his lab coat, he left his laboratory to find Betty sitting on the couch, eating ice cream while watching television.

"Oh, hi," said Betty, smiling at him.

"What are you watching?" Bruce asked, smiling before sitting next to her.

"Madripoor, it seems to have been chaotic lately. Many are talking about the appearance of rectangular portals," Betty said, looking at the television.

"Hmm, first that alien invasion and now this," Bruce nodded.

"There are many theories online; the most viewed one is that the king used too much power during the invasion, so other extraterrestrials are attacking his city," Betty laughed.

"Hmm, that could make sense. In the end, we know almost nothing about that man; maybe Tony knows more," Bruce said casually.

"How's that going?" Betty asked, looking at Bruce.

"Hmm, not many results yet. Give me some time to run various tests," Bruce said, looking at Betty.

"Hmm," Betty nodded, knowing that Bruce wanted to feel confident about it.

...

At that moment, in Central Europe.

Harry was on top of a building, watching the news from Madripoor while taking small sips from his glass.

After Damian teleported him in the middle of the sea, he had to swim while conserving his magic.

Fortunately, a cargo ship passed after half a day of swimming and resting.

Using his magic, he quickly infiltrated and reached Europe.

While looking for a failed state to take over, he suddenly realized that there was one quite nearby.

Sokovia.

A country with many conflicts that seemed perfect for him to arrive and take over.

It was quite easy to gather some men and gradually make his group grow. They easily took over an entire city without anyone caring.

Unlike other armed groups, he constantly tried to improve the impression people had of him.

Distributing food and providing security.

Gradually, he gained the admiration of the people before making his campaign continue to advance.

After half a year, he had managed to capture the entire small country, catching many forces by surprise.

Before they could react completely, he established order in the country before setting up his government.

The army took shape and was stationed at the borders.

As people lived a much better life, most countries with strong interests in annexing Sokovia couldn't do anything without a valid excuse to illegally enter the country.

Protests gradually calmed down with the improved quality of life, and he gained a lot of support from the entire population.

He quickly started selecting young people who had lost everything in Sokovia's previous situation.

In batches, he tested their magical abilities by injecting magic. Depending on how the body responded, he could tell if they at least had the possibility of becoming wizards.

From all those people, he finally selected 10 before starting to teach them magic.

To his great surprise, a young woman named Wanda took only a week to master and create the first magic circle, astonishing him and making him feel threatened.

When she asked to continue learning, he simply told her that she wasn't ready yet.

He had not made his third circle yet, he was afraid to die trying, but if she went to the second circle, she would be on the same level.

He could only entertain her with small tricks while asking her to teach them to her classmates.

After that, he dedicated himself entirely to improving the third circle, feeling that his position was being threatened.

Wanda was in a room with her brother as she tried to explain how it felt to enter your inner world, where the magic circle is created.

"It's difficult," Pietro frowned, a little discouraged by the vast difference between him and his sister.

"It's okay; I'm sure you'll get there eventually," Wanda said, smiling at him.

"Didn't the master want to teach you more?" Pietro asked, looking at her.

"No, I'm starting to doubt a bit. I think he's afraid I'll surpass him, that's why he doesn't want to teach me more. Lately, he spends the whole day practicing. I guess he's in the second magic circle. If I reach that too, I could be a threat to him," Wanda said, looking at her brother.

"I'll keep practicing," Pietro sighed.

"Hmm," Wanda nodded, distancing herself a bit from him and looking out the window.

Returning her attention to her hand, a crimson gaseous energy surrounded it.

Suddenly, she made a blue magic circle appear in her hand before using this crimson gaseous energy she had discovered when creating her first magic circle.

Not knowing exactly what it was, she never told anyone. Now that her master is suspicious of her, she can tell him even less.

She made this crimson energy come out of her hand, and to her surprise, it was attracted to her magic circle, which quickly adopted this color, turning crimson.

Looking at her magic circle, she opened her eyes in surprise as it was much stronger than her master's, even though she was only in the first circle.

Wanda was full of doubts about what to do. She wanted to keep learning to protect her brother, but it was very likely that her master wouldn't agree.

Now that she knew the magic and her talent, she only wanted to strengthen herself to be free, and looking at the sky, she could not help but wonder if the day would come when she would be able to fly freely.

Suddenly, as if responding to her desires, she felt like she was flying out of her body.

Looking down, she saw her body with closed eyes but maintaining her position.

She wondered if she was in some kind of astral projection, though it didn't seem like something a First Circle wizard could do.

Using her thoughts, she realized that she could move freely.

With a little childish joy, Wanda fluttered around the room while waving her hand in front of her brother.

Looking at the ceiling, she extended her hand and saw how it passed through the structure. With a little more confidence, she advanced through the roof and reached another room.

She saw a boy, whom her master had also accepted, looking at the sheet with the first circle and trying to understand it.

Suddenly, she looked up and flew quickly to her master's room.

She saw him comparing two papers, approaching with curiosity from above; she saw that they were the formulas for the second and third circles.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the papers, trying to memorize everything she saw.

To her surprise, the content on the papers seemed quite easy, and she quickly simulated in her mind how to do it.

After learning the content, she quickly left and returned to her body a little scared that she would be discovered.

Upon returning to her body, she tried to bring out the red gaseous energy again, but to her surprise, she couldn't do it anymore. It had completely merged with her magic circle, causing it to change.

Trying all sorts of things with her new magic circle, she felt that it was many times stronger than before.

Out of curiosity, she tried to detect her surroundings when an overwhelming amount of magic hit her forcefully.

She stared into the distance in horror, feeling as if something terrible was brewing.

Her face turned a little pale as she wondered what that was. She quickly stopped the detection spell before looking at her brother, who apparently hadn't felt anything.

Then she understood where the phrase "ignorance is bliss" came from.

"Sis, let's go to lunch," Pietro said, standing up and looking at his sister.

"What happened to your hair?" Pietro asked, surprised as he looked at her.

"Hm?" Wanda said, confused, before taking a strand of her hair and seeing that it had several red lines.

A color very similar to her energy and now her magic circle.

"If they ask, say I dyed it," Wanda said, looking at her brother.

"Something magical?" Pietro asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Something like that, let's go eat something," Wanda said, smiling at her brother and hugging his arm.

...

Alice, Emma, and Ivy walked down the street with small backpacks on their backs.

They were chatting animatedly and occasionally returning the greetings of people on the street.

It had been three weeks since their father had left, and they had reluctantly had to endure it.

School had helped them get through it as it distracted them.

The three soon reached the place where the bus passed and waited a few minutes before it arrived.

The bus drove for almost 15 minutes until it reached its destination.

Upon getting off, the three entered a building that was the train station to school.

Since there were still 10 minutes before it left, the three found seats and waited.

As time passed, more people entered the train.

Among these people, two girls boarded, Sharon and Aminah.

"Hi," Sharon said, smiling as she ran to sit next to her friends.

"Hi," Aminah also said, smiling, following Sharon.

The three little ones greeted the two girls happily before starting to chat.

"So your father still hasn't come back?" Aminah asked, remembering that the three had been complaining every day.

"Not yet," Emma complained, making a pouty face.

"He must be doing something important; after all, he's the king," Sharon said, consoling her.

Emma just pouted, turning her head without saying anything more.

"Where's Brian?" Alice asked, looking at Aminah.

"I don't know, maybe he's with his friends a few cars ahead," Aminah said, unsure.

"Lately, he doesn't hang out with us," Alice said, putting on an annoyed expression.

"Maybe he's embarrassed; Mom said that boys are strange at that age," Ivy said, not fully understanding what it meant, just repeating what her mother said.

The others also looked at her confused, not understanding.

The train soon sounded an alarm before starting to move towards the school. It gradually gained speed until the landscape blurred through the windows.

10 minutes later, the train stopped at the school station, where everyone started to get off, from children to teenagers walking to their classrooms.

"See you later; I'll go to my classroom," Aminah said, saying goodbye to the four.

The four said goodbye before continuing their way while chatting.

Upon reaching the classroom, the four sat in their respective seats before waiting for their classmates and the teacher to arrive.

"Good morning," said the teacher with a smile as she put her things on the desk.

"Good morning, teacher," the children chorused.

"All right, then let's start the class," the teacher said with a smile to the children.

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