Issue #6

Seeing this new power, Jack couldn't help but feel excited. He thought he had already understood all the basic aspects of his power but this was the first time he had gotten a title.

'So Powers are completely mine and can be active or passive, Skills are completely mine and are passive, and Abilities are not mine so they can hurt me and can be active or passive. What about Titles then?' Jack pondered

Unlike all the other things that appeared as orbs within the Dark Space, the title appeared as golden words in a language that Jack could not understand. Even with the Allspeak, he still couldn't read or understand the golden words.

'Something that even the divine language of the gods can's even understands. I am becoming more and more of a mystery every day.'

Jack wanted to figure out what Titles were but since he had no other reference, there was not much that he could do with it. Instead, he turned his attention to the golden casket on his desk. This was the true prize that he had won.

This was the Casket of Ancient Winters. It was one of the twin caskets alongside the Casket of Future Winters created by the primordial being of ice, Ymir. These basically contained all the winters that the 9 Realms had ever and would ever experience. (I know the number but most don't. Don't say it.)

Inside of it, it contained enough winters that it could freeze over the Earth millions of times by the winds and storms it would unleash if used to its fullest powers and so could its counterpart, the Casket of Future Winters.

But this was not the reason that Jack wanted the caskets. Instead, it was because of a rumor he heard.

From the knowledge that Qilip had given him and rumors circulating around in Limbo, there was talk that these were not simply powerful objects created by Ymir. Instead, they were Horcruxes disguised as powerful objects.

It was said the original Ymir had long since been killed off during an earlier Ragnarok. But later on, a human became the embodiment of winter and cold like Ymir was and took on the original's name. But fearing he would suffer the same fate as the original, the new Ymir splintered his power into these two caskets.

Although this made him much weaker than the original Ymir and he was constantly defeated by Thor or other beings of Norse Mythology, Ymir had never stayed dead and would always return even if he wasn't killed during Ragnarok.

Many wrote this off as just a rumor but Jack could see some truth in it. Even if some things were not correct, the story should be correct for the most part.

That was the only way he could explain why Surtur, a being that should be equal to Ymir, rarely ever lost to the Asgardians or whoever else challenged him yet Ymir was the Team Rocket of the 9 Realms.

And now that Jack had half of the Ymir's soul in his hands, he was eager to get the other half and the chance to take his powers for himself.

Jack put the casket into his desk before locking it and placing several spells on it for safekeeping. Although he wanted to kill Ymir using it, it was useless without the other. And he was far from being able to get the second casket.

'From Qilip's memories, the Casket of Future Winter is locked away in Odin's armory. So that means, I need to steal from a Skyfather in order to achieve my goal. That... is just perfect,' Jack thought to himself sarcastically

After storing the casket, Jack went to the professor's office where, as he had expected, Scott was complaining about him.

"He literally killed over a hundred giants! So what if they were not humans? He killed them without even giving them a chance to surrender!" Scott said for the 4th time since they had been in the room

"Enough, Scott," Ororo interrupted "Their reputation proceeds. They do not take prisoners, only trophies. They also aren't known for surrendering. While Jack's methods may seem harsh, he was only doing what we would have had to eventually do."

Scott glared at Ororo but the woman ignored him. Lately, there had been many rumors of Ororo being the next leader of the X-Men leading to tension between the pair. The tension mainly came from Scott as Ororo was fine leading or following, as long as she was doing her part as an X-Man.

Jack silently walked into the room and watched as Scott, Ororo, and Logan argued about the appropriate response. After kissing Emma, Jack stood behind her with his arms around her waist.

It was only then that the others noticed that Jack had entered the room. Scott turned his glare from Ororo to Jack but, just like he had done outside, Jack ignored him.

"Jack," Xavier said as he held a hand to his head to try and ease the headache that Scott had caused. "Please explain to them the new team you are planning to lead."

Jack shrugged his shoulder indifferently before telling them all about the idea he had come up with. He noticed that the X-Men were severely lacking in one department, and it was one he specialized in.

"Mojo, Spiral, Selene, Azazel, Madelyne Pryor. All of them are magical threats that pretty much just ruin your entire month when they come around.

My new team will be composed of those specialized in dealing with magical threats. It would also be the ones that train students who have magical potential in using their magical powers. I'm thinking of calling them Excalibur.

As for the members, I planned on having Magik, Scarlet Witch, and Zenith as the initial members. If we find anyone else, I will add them to the team later."

Hearing that her father wanted her to be on a team with him, Stella felt ecstatic. If not for Rachel holding her back, her ice queen persona would crumble in front of the other X-Men.

As for Illyana and Wanda, they had already been informed of Jack's plan days ago. Both had agreed to his being on his team since they both wanted to help other mutants like themselves, those with magical powers that did not know how to control them and caused them many issues.

While there were a few objections to this decision, most of the X-Men agreed with it. (Even if no one asked their opinion on the matter.) They all knew that they were there to help mutants master their natural abilities but magic was an entirely subject that needed specialists to teach them.