Chapter 162

Soon, it was time for Pietro's metamorphosis. He was so squirrely the moment leading up to it that I was sure he would back out. I didn't blame him, though. I would have to stab him with a glowing sword, literally. His metamorphosis took the most energy. 500,000 AE and DE. Yao was so exhausted by the end that she excused herself, exiting the pocket dimension to rest. But that was only after I stabbed Pietro, of course.

He screamed when the blade went through him and continued to do so while he was remade. At some point, he started to discharge red lightening, reminiscent of the scarlet speedster, but eventually, it all stopped.

A lot had stayed the same physically, as far as I could see. He was barely an inch taller and had filled out some, but as I analyzed him, I realized that most of the serum had gone to strengthening his healing factor, durability, and speed.

Pietro Maximoff A.K.A Quicksilver

Pietro Maximoff is one of the two speedsters and the brother of Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. He used to be a loyal member of the Mutant Liberation Front; however, due to your actions, you've slowly won him over. Time will tell which side he'll end up on.

Weaknesses: Extreme Cold

Strength: Improved Superspeed, Superhuman physiology, Adamantium skin, Lightning Discharge, Superhuman regeneration.

His new parameters made me itching to race him, but I put aside my curiosity for now and returned to work. There was still so much to do but so little time.

I brought up my status screen for the first time in a long time and raised my class until I reached level 7.

My smithing spree guaranteed I hit the work threshold for the class.

Name: (Dante Sparda) Axel Warren

Class: Arcane Forgemaster Lv7

HP: 1940

SP: 2110

AE: 2100/2100

DE: 2100/2100

Strength: 178

Dexterity: 193

Endurance: 211

Vitality: 194

Angelic Energy: 210

Demonic Energy: 210

Skills

(T)Death Symphony

(T)Promethean Body

Devil Energy Manipulation (Adept)

Advanced Burst (Adept)

Wave of Desolation (Basic)

Angelic Energy Manipulation (Adept)

Gust (Basic)

Wind blade (Basic)

(L)Paradise Simulacrum (Adept)

(R)Momet of the Sage

(R)Telepathy

Arcane Weaponsmithing (Basic)

Arcane Blacksmithing (Basic)

Explosive mastery (Basic)

Class Skills

(L) Decode and Forge

(E) Arcane Lexicon

(E) Harvest

(E)Enchant

After Pietro's upgrade, we were well into the second day, leaving me just over two days to finish the mountain of protection seal requests I promised Fury.

50 Infernal metal bracelets later, I was exhausted but done, leaving me time to focus wholly on training.

Everyone was back on their feet by now and seemed extremely excited about their upgrades, even Logan.

"I haven't felt this good in years," he said, closing and opening his fists several times. "Feel like a new man." With a flex, his claws emerged. They were slightly longer and darker in color, but Logan observed them with intense scrutiny, mesmerized by the change.

"Don't ever said I didn't do anything for you," I laughed. "Wanna spar? I know you're itching to put those babies to use."

----

I stood on a floating platform with all members of my strike team standing across from me, ready for our final confrontation. It'd been two long days of relentless practice and sparring. They were all wearing bodysuits made from SHIELD proprietary armor and devourer scales and were moments from attacking me with everything they had. 

Individually, they were strong and had grown even stronger under my and Mordo's shared guidance. Mordo was a master tactician, and I had the most experience manipulating heat energy, which was what they all expelled now, except for Pietro and Rin.

However, despite their improvements, they lasted only a few seconds with me in a straight fight. While they were ten times stronger than the average man, they still couldn't keep up.

Together, I hoped they'd stand a chance. After all, if they couldn't take me down. How would they fare against the monster squid?

To make this fight fair, I deliberately barred myself from using my most hax abilities—Angel Evade and Telepathy. Both made intelligent opponents useless against me…as long as they were not faster and smarter than me. I also decided not to use my new armor and protection runes. Those were meant for the actual fight.

Logan moved first, claws unsheathed, burning at extremely high temperatures. His feet were bare, propelled forward by heat energy pouring out.

My Twilight Devourer Skin Suit wrapped around me, replacing my casual clothes, and Severance appeared in my hands.

I parried his strike with a grin, and Logan feinted another strike as Mordo opened up a portal beneath me, but I was already in the air, gliding to another platform with Gust.

Death Symphony roared to life, and my sensory skill, Predator Gaze, flared out. Several portals opened up around me, and heat energy and electric bursts surged from them. I flipped and tumbled through them all, assisted by Gust. I rapidly shifted directions at the last second with Burst, giving me a clear shot of Mordo.

An upgraded Thunderer appeared in my hand. It now had a storage rune, a slightly shorter barrel, and Precision II and Arcane Amplification. I stalled long enough to give him a fair warning.

Lightning exploded from the barrel, carving a brutal path toward the slightly startled sorcerer. Pietro whished him out of the path of the attack before it was too late, and the platform he formerly stood on exploded.

All but one portal remained, and it was unsurprising who came through.

Rin.

He was in his new armor, eyes devoid of emotion and oozing demonic energy. He just figured out his cloak, and, as you'd expect for somebody as unique as him, it was totally busted.

It gave him more control over his techniques and granted a passive aura that allowed him to absorb energy. It only extended a few inches off his skin for now, but it would grow monstrously strong with upgrades.

His powers countered mine naturally, and his new cloak gave him range, but it wouldn't ultimately change the outcome of this fight.

Rin hefted his big sword, pumping energy into his body, and threw himself at me, swinging. I dodged at the last possible moment, activating Moment of the Time Sage, and switched my sword for my electric whip. I wrapped it around Rin's slowly reacting form.

Rin managed to raise one of his arms to stop me, but it was too late. I began to tie him into a complicated knot even as he siphoned energy from the whip, but it wouldn't be enough to break through the bind. I'd switched out the infernal metal bits for Twilight Adamantium, and they were unbreakable as far as I knew.

I didn't get the chance to complete my knot before a lightning-quick punch connected to my jaw, sending me sprawling. I barely caught it despite my extensive sensory range.

Pietro had come to the rescue again.

Rin grabbed hold of me before I landed somehow, even though he was still tangled up, and started draining energy from my body and armor.

"Not bad," I said to Rin. "You're doing better than I expected. But you have to know grappling with me is a mistake. "

"I do, boss," Rin smiled back. I could've read each of their minds, unraveled their plans, countered them in seconds, or gone intangible, but that would rob them of this experience.

Almost as soon as I thought that, my face exploded in pain. Pietro was back, and this time, he was not holding back. Blows rained down on me like an avalanche. My armor readily drank in the damage, but my head whipped in every direction.

I dug my elbow into Rin's side, sending him to double over. A kick whipped me to the side, unbalancing and untangling me from Rin.

He held on for dear life while a portal opened up in front of me.

Dozens of Eldritch whips snapped around my limbs and torso, rooting me in place, but I still wasn't worried.

A small-scale wave of desolation exploded from my body, sending Rin sprawling. He absorbed much of the explosion, but it achieved what I had intended. Rin let go.

I sensed a ripple in my sphere of influence and knew Pietro was coming again for another round of beating. Logan trailed behind him. It was barely anything to go off, but it was enough to help me turn the tides.

First, I activated my demonic aura, causing everybody to stumble. I took the sudden change to buy myself enough time to activate my Gravity Cloak.

My energy output exploded as I activated Devil Trigger and went to work immediately.

PUSH.

A repulsive blast poured out, sending everyone flying. I switched my Gravity Cloak for Density and started moving. I snapped both of Pietro's femurs before he could recover and went after Mordo. He hopped through a portal when he sensed me approaching, but I was waiting for him at the portal exit with Devil Trigger deactivated. Eryx materialized around my hand. It slammed into his gut like a runaway truck and sent him flying into the distance.

I shuffled to the side, dodging a kick from Rin, who was moving even faster than before, and Logan joined in seconds later, unleashing a wave of heat energy that splashed against us both. The heat rolled off me because I was immune, but Rin eagerly soaked it up. His muscles swelled, his grin widened, and he became increasingly ferocious.

It still wasn't enough. I dodged every last one of Rin's attacks, activated Demon Evade and Moment of the Time Sage at the end of a string of combos, and grabbed him by the hands.

His look of confusion barely registered before I unleashed a point-blank Demonic Roar into his face. His ears popped, and his eyes glazed over, and he dropped immediately.

My attack also had the convenient benefit of startling Logan, causing the constant fire stream to break. Density Cloak switched out for Gravity Cloak, and I tagged Rin with five gravitational touches.

Rin was strong, but it'd be too late by the time he came to and ate through the attacks.

Logan and I locked eyes, and instantly, he knew the momentum had shifted. I sensed rapid movement in the distance and knew Pietro was closing in, but that didn't stop me. I switched out my stack to emphasize speed and activated Density Shift, Gust, summoned Osiris, and used multiple Bursts. I got to Logan before Pietro reached me, and I swung with my bare hand charged with Gravitational Touch. A portal sprung out in front of me at the very last moment, diverting the blow and sending it straight into my side. I unleashed a small-scale wave of omni-direction energy, parrying my attack and the brutal double stab to the gut that Logan was about to land.

Pietro reached me a moment later, and I exploded with a full force Wave of Desolation layered on top of an omnidirectional Gust. It was not as powerful as a Devil Trigger attack, but it synergized enough to send them all flying. 

I spied Mordo pushing to his feet on a distant platform, and I opened fire on Thunderer. He opened a portal that reflected the first few hits but ultimately raised an Eldritch shield to protect himself. I attacked Logan while he was preoccupied.

He was ready for me this time, but it made no difference. I landed five hits, all carrying gravitational Touches, and grounded him.

"And then there were two," I said, turning around. Pietro and Mordo exchanged looks before heading in different directions. Pietro charged me while Mordo went after Rin.

"Bold strategy," I said as he lunged for me. He tucked and rolled just before we connected, sliding underneath my swing and sped up, hopping from platform to platform as he picked up speed.

After completing the first loop, he racked up a charge of electricity that only grew with subsequent loops. I could've used Devil Trigger and sent him flying in the air, but my curiosity got the better of me. I didn't forget about Mordo, though. He'd found Rin by now and was trying to push through the technique I was using to keep him grounded.

Soon enough, Pietro was a blur. I couldn't keep track of him, even with my perception. He beelined straight for me after his fifth loop, and I predictably shifted into Devil Trigger. The world slowed down, and Pietro's blurry figure now registered as a fast sprint. He came at me with a lightning-wreathed fist.

Parrying it would've taken off his arm and possibly caused him to implode, so I chose to tank the damage. It predictably speared through my mid-section scale armor, but it left the speedster vulnerable to an avalanche of Gravitational Touches that sent him face-first into the ground and kept him there.

I deactivated Devil Trigger.

Mordo, who looked like he'd actually begun to make headway with the spell, was forced to dodge when a hot bar of heat energy suddenly speared toward him.

By the time he came up, I was in front of him. With my full-speed stack, it was child's play closing the distance. He produced his enchanted weapon and swung at me. I parried it, sending it flying, and shut him down with several Gravitational Touches.

"Maybe using Devil Trigger was not such a good idea," I thought out loud as I looked on at the devastation.