CH 15: Marvelous World

Raphael was a skill that allowed Lex to think at impossible speeds. Entire conversations could occur within his mind while not even a fraction of a second passed in the real world, and the moment he realized that, he immediately began questioning it.

What exactly was Raphael? How did it function? To what extent could it assist him?

This was his first time dealing with an artificial intelligence so overwhelmingly advanced that calling it an AI almost felt inadequate. More than that, he could already tell Raphael was incomplete. Powerful, yes, but still capable of growth. If he provided it with more abilities, more systems to analyze and integrate, then perhaps it could evolve alongside him.

With that thought in mind, Lex began using more cards.

Milim Eye, Ray Tracing, Divine Eyes of Depth, Nihil Light, and Heretic Magic were activated one after another. Then came the templates—Darth Vader and Max Payne.

The changes were immediate.

Milim’s Eye and the Divine Eyes of Depth expanded his perception so violently that the world itself seemed to crack open before him. Reality was no longer reality as he understood it. It became layers upon layers of hidden truths suddenly forced into his awareness all at once.

If not for the Essence of Transcend Self, he might have fainted instantly.

No… he definitely would have.

The sheer amount of information flooding into his mind was horrifying.

Earth was not simple. It was not ordinary. This world was an absurdity beyond comprehension.

He could perceive dimensions folded over one another like overlapping reflections. He sensed entities existing in the spaces between those dimensions, beings that did not properly belong anywhere he could understand. Countless forms of magic covered the planet like interconnected ecosystems, each operating under different laws while somehow coexisting together.

And compared to all of it, he felt impossibly small.

For the first time since gaining his powers, even immortality stopped feeling reassuring.

When he looked toward the sky, he saw things that shattered his understanding completely. A radiant rainbow bridge stretched across existence toward somewhere unimaginably distant. Behind reality itself stood the outline of a colossal tree so vast that Earth felt less significant than dust beside it. Layers of magic wrapped around the planet like protective veils, overlapping one another in a chaotic balance.

Space and time looked damaged.

Broken.

Yet somehow still functioning perfectly.

Reality itself appeared as though it was constantly tearing apart and repairing itself at the same time.

Then he noticed it.

A gaze.

Something was watching everything.

Including him.

Instinctively, Ray Tracing activated, trying to follow the source, but the moment he attempted to trace it, the sensation intensified. It was as though his efforts had only made the watcher more aware of him.

And not just one.

Even through the overwhelming chaos of perception, he could faintly sense another presence somewhere beyond his understanding.

All of this happened within a single instant.

Then suddenly, everything disappeared.

Raphael had forcefully suppressed his enhanced senses. Not because Lex lacked the ability to keep perceiving those things, but because somewhere deep inside himself, he no longer wanted to.

Just moments ago, he had started feeling confident. Maybe he truly had become someone important now. Maybe he could change the world. Maybe he could even accomplish the impossible dream his father once pushed onto him and conquer it entirely.

Now the world itself had answered that arrogance.

It had shown him reality.

Compared to what truly existed out there, he was less than insignificant. A dust particle drifting through an ocean he could never fully comprehend.

And somehow, he had already drawn attention from things far beyond him.

“Raphael… any idea what we should do?” he asked internally.

<Precautions are currently being calculated. All perceived phenomena are being analyzed. It is recommended that the Essence of Transcend Self be used to regulate emotional instability. You are unconsciously utilizing Ray Tracing in a manner that attracts the attention of unidentified entities.>Raphael’s calm response only made the situation feel more real.

Immediately, Lex used the Essence to stabilize himself, forcing his emotions and thoughts back under control.

“What happened to you?” Sharon asked suddenly, staring at him with concern. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Lex let out a slow breath before replying quietly, “It’s nothing… I just realized how big the world actually is.”

“Oh.” Sharon gave him a knowing smile. “Yeah. Been there.”

Donna snorted lightly from nearby. “Same here. Especially after all my reincarnation memories merged together.”

Sharon blinked at her. “Wait, reincarnation is actually real?”

Donna shrugged helplessly. “I honestly don’t know. Something like that happened to me, but I still don’t fully understand it myself.”

Meanwhile, Raphael had gone mostly silent, dedicating its processing power toward analyzing everything it had perceived. Since there was little else he could do about that for now, Lex decided to focus on more immediate matters instead.

“Sharon, I’m giving you Super Strength along with something that can amplify it even further,” he explained. “And Donna… for you, I’ve got a skill that makes anyone weaker than you collapse under fear. The downside is that it doesn’t distinguish between allies and enemies, so only use it when it’s just the two of us.”

As he spoke, he used Monstrous Strength and Quirk—Assault on Sharon, while Donna received Dragon’s Fear.

“It won’t affect you because you’re stronger than me?” Donna asked curiously.

Lex shook his head slightly. “No idea whether I’m stronger than you or not. I’m just naturally immune to this kind of thing.”

The moment the cards settled into them, both women felt the changes immediately.

For Sharon, strength flooded through her body in waves. She instinctively understood that she could amplify her physical power dozens of times beyond normal human limits whenever she desired. Yet the Quirk felt entirely different from the skill. Monstrous Strength behaved like an external enhancement placed under her control, while Assault felt biological—like a mutation that had always existed within her body and was only now awakening.

Donna’s experience was stranger.

She felt a deep energy stirring inside herself, ancient and primal. It had always been there, buried beneath the surface of her existence, but now it finally had shape. Direction. She could feel it gathering within her throat and chest, ready to erupt outward as a roar powerful enough to overwhelm weaker beings through pure presence alone.

At the same time, Lex retrieved the teleportation staff, the artifact capable of directly transporting them into the basement itself.

“Also,” he continued, “I found out that both the Brotherhood and the X-Men might make their move tonight. I’m thinking we go in too. Either help if things get messy… or use the chaos to teleport inside and rescue the girls directly.”

Donna grinned immediately, slamming one fist into the other with clear excitement.

“Great,” she said. “Let’s finally see what this world’s really about.”

Meanwhile, inside the farmhouse, Jason and Azazel were conducting an experiment so dangerous that even Jason himself barely understood half of what was happening anymore.

Jason was not a scientist. His talents lay elsewhere—manipulation, illusions, control. Complex machinery and advanced research were far beyond him, which was why he had brought in Steven Lang, a former government researcher with ties to Sebastian Shaw and Project Wideawake. Buying Lang’s expertise had cost Jason a fortune, but the results had still been worth it.

At least initially.

Now, however, as Jason stared across the chamber that should have contained several restrained mutant captives, all he saw were bodies collapsing onto the floor in agony. Veins bulged beneath their skin as their mutant abilities spiraled out of control, powers activating erratically while violent headaches left them screaming and convulsing helplessly. Some were visibly withering before his eyes, their bodies deteriorating as if something inside them was consuming them alive.

Most of the blame, according to Lang, came from the poor quality of the subjects.

Their minds were already fractured before experimentation had even begun.

“Fresh subjects wouldn’t degrade this badly,” Lang had explained more than once. “Healthy mutants would survive for far longer.”

Project Wideawake’s technology was already terrifying on its own. The research Steven had salvaged from it bordered on revolutionary, capable of interacting directly with mutant biology in ways most governments could only dream about. Yet even that technology had been incomplete, missing one crucial component necessary to push it beyond conventional science.

Then Azazel had appeared.

And with him came something far worse than science.

The Brimstone Connector.

Jason still did not fully understand what the thing actually was. Some kind of infernal bridge, perhaps. A living conduit tied to dimensions humanity was never meant to touch. Whatever the truth, once Azazel incorporated it into Lang’s work, the results had changed completely.

Which was precisely why Jason’s emotions toward the arrangement were so conflicted.

On one hand, the power Azazel offered was extraordinary.

On the other hand, the price was irritating.

To secure Azazel’s cooperation, Jason had agreed to supply mutant girls to be bred by creatures called Neyaphem. Personally, Jason could not care less what Azazel did with them afterward. They were assets, nothing more.

The real problem was that Azazel had specifically requested the two newest captives.

At first Jason had not considered them especially important. Useful, certainly, but still replaceable. That assumption had died quickly, especially after dealing with the girl capable of phasing.

She was a nightmare to contain.

Every conventional restraint failed against her eventually. Physical cages were meaningless. Energy barriers barely slowed her down. Sedatives lost effectiveness over time. The only thing that consistently worked was trapping her inside illusions so immersive that she never attempted escape in the first place.

And that made her invaluable.

If Jason successfully brainwashed her completely, he would gain far more than a subordinate. He would gain the perfect escape mechanism. A mutant capable of bypassing nearly any defense imaginable was the kind of insurance a man like him could never ignore.

Which was why he had been staying inside the farmhouse almost constantly these past few days.

No one else could reliably keep her contained.

The other girl, while less troublesome, was hardly ordinary either. An Alpha-level mutant still had tremendous value, whether sold, controlled, or weaponized.

Jason had already begun conditioning them both using the same methods that had worked countless times before.

Illusions.

Simple in concept, devastating in execution.

He gave people perfect lives.

Those who had lost family members would see them alive again. Victims of abuse were given power over their tormentors. The lonely found love. The broken found happiness. Every desire, every regret, every buried fantasy could be crafted flawlessly within his illusions.

And once someone experienced that perfection long enough, reality itself became unbearable by comparison.

That was when dependency formed.

That was when Jason offered his deal.

Stay loyal to him, return to reality when needed, fight for him occasionally… and afterward they could always go back to paradise.

Most accepted eventually.

Those who resisted usually disappeared into the black market instead.

Sometimes they ended up in Azazel’s plates.

Deep beneath the farmhouse, entire chambers were filled with mutants trapped inside cylindrical containment tubes. Nutrient-rich fluids sustained their bodies while sedatives derived from Jason’s own genetic material kept their minds permanently submerged inside artificial dreams.

Rows upon rows of sleeping captives remained suspended there in silence, each one smiling faintly as they hallucinated the perfect life they would never truly have.

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