Chapter 21

I was too tired to let myself stew in rage at Shin's antics, so I focused on the portal. It was finally closing.

The dark portal shrunk until it was a dot in reality and vanished.

A few Angel Lifts and Demon Pulls later, I found myself at the base of the Stone Seal.

Standing there, I was starting to second-guess my choice of Ophion over Arbiter.

But then I reminded myself that Arbiter was twice the cost of Ophion, and choosing it would've probably gotten me killed in the fight against the brute.

It took over twenty Demonic Energy Burst strikes, and my hands were raw at the end, but the stone seal finally shattered, and the chain fell into the endless Sea.

The Bronze statue in the distance turned its head in my direction, and suddenly, I found myself back in Blackbird like I never left, a layer of sweat covering my brow.

Congratulations: You've unlocked the Epic Skill: Paradise Simulacrum (Basic)

Visit a mental plane fashioned by the Legendary Sparda for limited periods during which no time passes in the physical world. You can bring people in and out of your mental Slice of Limbo at will.

Available once a week for 12 hours.

"Fuck me. That was intense," I gasped.

Shin's antics pissed me off, but I had nothing to do with that anger for now. He was Multiversal-level. Unless I somehow found a way to match that power, I knew I'd be under his thumb for a while.

Since I arrived in this world, it'd been one ordeal after the other. At first, I thought I'd been incredibly unlucky, but I was starting to suspect that Shin had a hand in it.

He'd let an Eldritch Outer God follow me for the heck of it. Who was to say reality manipulation was beyond him?

Everything I'd gone through could've been a plot to bring me closer to Jean years before I intended to make contact.

I was certain he still wanted me alive, at the very least. However, my stay in the Marvel Universe would be one big fighting game if Shin had a say in the matter.

Too bad I wouldn't be letting him have his way.

If there was something Dante and I had in common was that we didn't take shit from anybody.

"Are you okay?" Jean turned to me, a mix of concern and surprise in her eyes.

I'd gone from an open, albeit dangerous, book to completely shut in the span of a second, not to mention that my stats had also gone up by a few points.

Name: Axel Warren (Dante Sparda)

Species: Nephilim

Class: None

HP: 120/440(Health Point)

SP: 220/400 (Stamina Point)

AE: 50/ 240 (Angelic Energy)

DE: 20/240 (Demonic Energy

Strength: 21 +3

Dexterity: 22+ 3

Vitality: 42+ 2

Endurance: 37+ 3

Angelic Energy: 22+ 2

Demonic Energy: 21+3

Abilities

Skills

Shop (Locked) One of Two Keys

Devil Arms

********

Souls: 62

Even Wolverine seemed to notice the change as he sniffed the air and looked in my direction.

"You're different," he announced. "What did you do?"

"People underestimate the benefits of meditation," I shrugged, a bit more confident in my seat.

I didn't think I could beat Logan and Ororo because I now had Ophion and could throw a superpowered punch, but I had a new skill that ensured Jean or Xavier wouldn't be getting into my head without a fight.

I wasn't exactly sitting pretty, but I was getting closer.

Scott brought his hand to the side of his visor. "What's going on, Jean?"

"His mind," Jean said, "it's walled off."

"Take your hands off that visor, Scott," Storm ordered before she looked in my direction.

"Walled off? How is that possible? Didn't Hank say he wasn't a telepath?"

"He did," Jean confessed, looking genuinely bewildered. "But I can't read his mind."

"And that's the way I want it," I folded my hands and narrowed my eyes. "You and the Professor have no business in there in the first place."

"He's obviously trying to hide something," Scott declared, throwing me what I assumed was a dirty stare. I could only see half of his face. "The professor needs to scan him, and all of a sudden he's protected?"

That comment got everybody looking at me suspiciously.

I snorted. "So, I am the bad guy because I don't want to get skull-fucked by some bald guy?" I got some surprised looks for my colorful language.

I've experienced enough of that for one lifetime and will not be letting anyone inside my head, no matter how nice their students promise that they are. Strap me up to a polygraph or send me away. It ain't happening."

Despite my warning, Jean was the first to speak. "The professor is not like that. He—"

"Not. Gonna. Happen."

She pursed her lips and frowned, clearly upset. Surprisingly, it was Beast that came to my rescue.

"Telepathy is not the only way we can determine your honesty. Body language, voice inflection, and years of experience have turned Charles into a human lie detector. If you're uncomfortable with telepathy, we don't plan to force you, though I'd point out that assenting to it would certainly help your case."

"I'll take that under advisement," I said.

Everybody mostly stayed quiet until we reached the hidden hangar of the Blackbird jet.

I tried to play it cool when I saw the basketball court open up, but I found myself peering out of the window.

"I've seen it hundreds of times, and I still haven't gotten over it," Storm said, and I smiled.

"I don't think you can get over a hidden launchpad underneath a basketball court, of all things."

"If you're already drooling, then your mind will explode when you see the Danger Room," Scott scoffed.

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "What's so special about it?" I, of course, knew what the Danger Room was, at least topically. The particulars were still a mystery to me. I was not much of a science guy, but the thought of hard light constructs got my juices flowing.

"It's the best training facility in the world," Scott declared, confidently folding his arms. "It simulates complex scenarios, enemies, and terrains. Professor Hank can even program in enemies, so we're never entering a situation completely flat-footed. It's why we're the best team in the world."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Wow," I muttered, genuinely impressed by the Danger Room, but the phrasing ensured Scott and a few other X-men thought I was impressed by them. "So, you can create hard light avatars of every bad guy the X-men have ever fought?" I turned to Beast, who was carefully landing the plane.

"More or less," Professor Hank answered. "Although we'd need exhaustive data on the target before we can create a combat clone."

"What sort of data?"

(A/N: Read 7 chapters ahead on my Patreon. We just finished an incredible fight with Logan, and we're looking forward to leaving the X-mansion. Catch up at Pat.reon.com/Artandcreativewriting. BTW, we already decided on a Class. Spoiler, it's probably exactly what you think it is.)