M Ch 67 (Updated): The Way To Become Even Stronger (Patreon)

The update on this chapter isn't much just added a small fight between Erik and the reality-altering mutant.

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Erik thought that Mastermind had lived for long enough and as per what he said, the mutant boy was broken beyond saving, so he decided that he would end the boy's suffering as well. 

He thought that they would be better off joining his [Ressurected] army than continue living.

Was what he was planning wrong?

Maybe, to most, yes. But he was ultimately doing this for survival. 

Was what he was planning evil?  Not at all. At least, Erik didn't think so... nor did he want to think too about it. 

Mastermind aside, he could guess with surety that the mutant boy lived a miserable life of isolation in a closed facility where his mother conducted tests on him regularly.

And then Mastermind went on to break the boy's mind for months, turning him into a living husk. 

Once a mind is broken in these kinds of ways, it is mostly impossible to turn the person completely normal again, it is a delicate thing after all. And it takes years to repair even with Sceptre.

He knew because Supergiant sometimes used to help Ebony Maw in tortures too. She thought him a pretty good phrase, destruction is always easier than creation.

The mind stone was powerful, true.

However, it needed a medium to be utilized, such as Thanos's gauntlet, Vision, or Sceptre. Erik predicted that out of these possible mediums, only the gauntlet had the power to heal the boy's mind instantly which he didn't have.

Well, he had an infinity gauntlet with [Ressurected] Thanos, but that gauntlet wouldn't work on the infinity stones of this universe.

A pity...

Besides, let's suppose the boy lives, then what... what becomes of him?

Who in this world could handle such an unstable boy who could just will the other person to not exist anymore?

The boy's mother was a no-go. 

Erik wasn't the one to spend years just to patch the boy up. He had other businesses.  

Surely, Emma seemed nice but she couldn't even hope to help such a broken boy with such overpowered and unstable powers.

He doesn't think that Ancient One would want to accept the kid, after all, she sent 'him' here.

Then in the best-case scenario, the boy would be taken to Xavier's school where Charles would most probably lock his powers, wipe his memories, and become his master, just like he did with Jean. 

That was bound to become another world-destroying problem.

And with the state of the boy's mind, Erik could only imagine the worst fate for the boy. There was no saving him... Surely, Erik had done a few good deeds here and there, but he knew that he was not a 'hero'.

However, he also never tried to be a 'villain' as well. Never willingly killed an innocent. Not unless it was for his own survival, like, in High Evolutionary's planet.

But this boy... he was beyond saving. And if he let him live, he would become a threat... Erik sighed, 'Oh well...'

Erik stored Mastermind and his lackeys in [Beelzebuth's Stomach] to conduct some rather interesting experiments on them.

Then he entered the secret bunker where he found the Reality Warper mutant stored in a small glass tube.

The 16-year-old boy was sitting there with dead eyes and was unresponsive to his approach.

Erik simply invoked [Beelzebuth's Stomach] for now. He wanted to test something on him.

But...

As the all-engulfing dark, purplish matter inched closer to the boy, he twitched. His whole body sensed a fear beyond possible, his survival instinct screaming in horror.

"WAAaaaa!!!!, He screamed, his mutant ability triggered itself as a reflexive defense mechanism.

And just then Erik's spider senses buzzed... he quickly enclosed himself in the [Shield].

The Reality Warper's powers activated in a chaotic burst.

The air around the boy shimmered with a strange, iridescent energy, warping the very fabric of reality itself. The walls of the bunker began to twist and contort, transforming into nightmarish shapes as the boy's panic fueled his abilities.

The boy's mind was completely broken, he was only functioning on his instincts and fear which knew only one thing, eliminate the danger to his being.

His powers flared up even more, the Reality Warper's eyes glowed with an unearthly light, his terror manifesting in violent bursts of energy that tore destroying everything in the bunker.

The floor rippled and cracked, jagged shards of concrete shooting up like deadly spikes. But then they disappeared, Erik's spider senses warned him again, and the next instant, the spikes teleported inside the translucent barrier of [Shield].

It was too late to invoke [Beelzebuth] so cursing in his mind Erik flew and dodged the one that was nearest to him.

"Fuck it!" He instantly canceled the [Shield] and using instinct and senses alone, he chaotically avoided the spikes that followed him like homing missiles.

Erik tore off a large chunk of the floor and threw it toward the spikes. The chunk of debris seemed to glitch, it turned into ice then water, then fire, then cotton, all in an instant, and finally, it disappeared.

Erik gritted his teeth, 'I am not going to tank them at all cost.' And then invoked [Beelzebuth], summoning a giant dark vortex that absorbed those spikes as well as a large chunk of walls before disappearing.

What shocked Erik the most was the fact that even [Beelzebuth] glitched a little before it absorbed those spikes.

"WaaaAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" The boy grew even more unstable, his skin started to disintegrate and then turned dark, purplish, almost the same shade as [Beelzebuth].

Erik feared the worst and blasted him with pyrokinesis, which turned to sand upon contact, he then launched large shards of ice at the growing size of the reality-warping mutant which glitched and then transformed into feathers.

'Hm, so he hasn't copied [Beelzebuth],' He analyzed, 'He has just amplified his reality warping to turn into the thing he feared the most to instill the same fear in me.' Erik gritted his teeth, 'You're not Batman, kid.'

Thousands of reality-warping tendrils shot out from the boy's back shooting straight towards Erik.

'I'm going to turn it up a notch!' Thinking so, Erik invoked [Beelzebuth] and dark tendrils manifested beside him and shot towards the reality-warping tendrils.

[Beelzebuth] was a shapeless skill, he mostly created spheres as they were easy to create but this time, just like his opponent he created tendrils that collided with each other.

The dark tendrils of [Beelzebuth] clashed violently with the reality-warping tendrils shooting out from the boy. The collision created a surreal display of energies, each trying to overpower the other.

One consumed while the other tried to change its entire nature.

Erik felt the intense pressure of the confrontation, the air around them crackling with raw power.

However, he didn't just shoot hard to create [Beelzebuth] tendrils for no reason. Its long, thin structure would survive longer even if the tip suffered from reality-altering.

It bought him time.

And even though he struggled greatly, he could summon [Resurrected] Dr. Strange from [Beelzebuth's Stomach], and he ordered him to trap the mutant in the mirror dimension.

[Resurrected] Dr. Strange nodded and weaved his hands, the next instant, the mutant disappeared from the world into a glassy crack in the air.

'Phew,' Erik sighed, but he doubted the mutant would be staying there for long.  

And just as he thought so, the space cracked again, dark tendrils grabbed everything as if wanting to escape from a hole.

The crack grew bigger and the mutant emerged from the mirror dimension completely unharmed, if anything changed then that would be his berserk state amplifying.

But Erik had got all the time he needed to prepare, all the energy-based [Resurrected] soldiers shot a beam of Chaos magic towards the dark purplish monster. War machine and Iron Man shot missiles, Wong and Strange tried to bind him with mystic whips and Wanda bombarded him with a beam of chaos magic.

Chaos magic had some aspects to alter reality as well... and as the two reality-altering energies collided the mutant screamed even more.

His attention was grabbed by [Resurrected] Wanda, he shot a high-speed dark tendril toward her but before it could reach her, it stopped still in the air.

The screaming mutant halted its rampage.

A glowing stick emerging from a small sparkling portal was touching the back of his dark neck.

Erik sighed, "He finally stopped..."

The mutant now under the control of the mind stone, could no longer feel any fear that triggered his abilities... his form reverted to the thin, pale boy he originally was.

Erik descended back to the ground, and a dark purplish vortex followed after him, all the [Resurrected] Soldiers walked into the pulsing vortex which then encompassed the brainwashed mutant who couldn't feel any fear from it anymore.

And then, for the first time in a while, his damaged system buzzed...

[Notice! The Omega-Class mutant stored in [Beelzebuth's Stomach] is sufficient to repair some parts of the damaged system and also upgrade a skill.]

[Do you wish to sacrifice the Omega-Class Mutant for the repairs and upgrade? Y/N?]

'Hmm... that's interesting...' Erik mused, 'But which skill would be upgraded after sacrificing the mutant...'

[Estimating...]

[ The Skill: Shield will be able to have sufficient energy to get an upgrade after processing the Omega-Class.]

[After this Upgrade, you will unlock a sub-skill of Shield: Domain. A limited area Reality warping skill. The area of effect and extent of reality-altering can be increased with increased proficiency. To unlock more sub-skills, please upgrade the skills and repair the system. ]

'Just how many sub-skills are locked, eh?'

[ 3 sub-skills for Shield. Cannot estimate the numbers for the skills named- Ressurrect and Beelzebuth. ]

[ Would you like to proceed with the sacrifice? Y/N ]

'How much time would it take?'

[An instant to sacrifice and process the Omega-Class. However, upgrading the skill would take 183 days. The process would be background and wouldn't affect your daily life or usage of any skills. ]

[ Would you like to proceed with the sacrifice? Y/N ]

The system asked again.

After inquiring the system for a few more queries, Erik got the full picture. It seems the System doesn't just need powerful energy for an upgrade, it needs a powerful living soul as well as energy.

Which meant he needed to consume powerful living beings to upgrade his system. A dead or resurrected mutant couldn't be used as a sacrifice...

This meant he had to choose between a system/skill upgrade or a powerful Ressurected soldier.

Erik thought for a bit, on one hand, he had a reality-warping mutant who he could use as a resurrected soldier... on the other hand, he had the reality-warping skill itself although for a limited area.

But the limited area and extent of reality-altering can be increased!

After contemplating a bit more, he chose to sacrifice the Omega Class after all... Well, there was a ton of boy's DNA samples stored in this facility so there was no use delaying it.

[ Sacrificing of Omega Class mutant... successful!]

[Upgrading skill: Shield: 0.001%]

As the skill upgraded in the background, Erik mulled his next course of action.

'The job's done on this side. The only thing left is to take care of Yui Sasaki... The boy's psychopathic mother.'

Erik stored Strange and Wong and then flew outside the base...

"BEELZEBUTH!!"

A colossal vortex of dark purplish matter materialized in the air and descended on the facility.

The next instant, the whole facility was stored in the [Beelzebuth's Stomach], leaving an enormous hole in the Earth.

As he floated in the altitude, he saw the sun setting between the mountains with a satisfied smile. He has become powerful. In just a few hours, he had taken care of almost everything on his own.

And he would continue to grow powerful as the days went on. And today, he has also figured out a way to upgrade his system and skills... A way to become even stronger.

As he turned towards Dr. Sasaki's house's location, he felt a strong mental probe.

Well now that the device blocking Cerebro's Telepathic probes was inside [Beelzebuth's Stomach], Charles might be able to see the area again.

'But why this soon, was he already trying to reach this area with Telepathy?'

Erik decided to accept Charles's attempt at Telepathic communication.

"Hello, Charles Xavier... for what reason have you contacted me?"

"You know me?" Charles's voice asked with a calm tone.

"You're a bit famous, so I sort of knew," Erik replied.

"Haha, I see, Young Man. Would you introduce yourself to me as well?"

"You can just continue calling me 'Young Man', Charles, I have no problem with it."

"Haha," Charles chuckled lightly, "Anyway, the reason I contacted you is because my friend's child who is a mutant has been missing for a week. I was informed of this just today after her parents gave up on the police. However, for some reason, I encountered a Telepathic dead zone in the whole area."

Charles continued after a sigh, "I was going to send my X-Men there but as they were preparing to leave, I checked again and found out that the dead zone was no more, and at the center of that previous dead zone I found a single man, you."

"I see..."

"Who are you, my boy? I can't read your memories..." Charles asked with such an innocent tone as if invading someone's mind to read their memories was a birthright given to him.

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Thanks for reading!