Symbiote 0323: A Safe Haven
The core of Earth-21798B started imploding in on itself as if a black hole had formed at its center and was sucking in all forms of matter around it. As the outer layer also collapsed in on itself, the semi-liquid material of the mantle that surrounded the core started gushing toward the center, also affected by the attractive force emitted by the eldritch entity within. However, instead of following the outer layer of the Earth's core, the viscous material encountered an invisible blockade that prevented it from moving any further than its initial position. It was as if an invisible barrier took the place of the Earth's outer core, ensuring the planet's stability in everything.
More and more of the core continued to implode as a hollow void was left in its place. Since an invisible barrier prevented anything outside from taking its place, the thousands of miles of matter from the Earth's core were hollowed out, forming a vacuum. Everything coalesced into an absolutely compressed mass on the verge of forming an actual black hole.
Going even further, it all converged into an infinitesimal point, a super-compressed sphere of highly dense matter that defied the laws of physics and should have formed a black hole. Then, with a cataclysmic eruption that resulted in a resounding bang, shaking the planet itself, a torrent of misty crimson Chaos Energy was released, expanding through the thousands of miles of the vacuum of the planet's core. The energy permeated all throughout, spreading rapidly and being absorbed by the invisible barrier, turning it into a red hue.
Within seconds, the misty red energy spread all around the vacuum, slowly solidifying the barrier.
As for the core that had become a sphere no more than a few tens of meters in diameter with more than a trillion metric tonnes of compressed matter, once the misty Chaos energy permeated through the entire vacuum of the hollowed-out core, it started stirring and slowly expanded. It lost its spherical shape and swelled in multiple places as the deformed blob continued expanding further. Minutes passed as the new core of the planet elongated and turned into a tower more than two miles high.
Every single wall of that tower was engraved in complex runes that seemed to give out a sense of dissonance as if they didn't belong in the universe. They looked to be constantly morphing around and moving like snakes across the surface of the tower.
On the top floor of the tower, a ten-foot-tall monster was kneeling, its arms supporting its position as its tongue drooped out of its sullen maw. It was panting violently as if it had been holding its breath for the past few hours.
Once the tower was finished, Apex's form shifted as its skin separated itself from its host, their minds desyncing once again as the black material fell from her skin, forming a puddle under her.
[W-what … the … hell, Wanda …] Alex wheezed while panting, too tired to even take a humanoid shape and speak normally.
Wanda was in even worse shape as she curled up on top of Alex's slime body, not caring that her clothes had essentially melted off her body, leaving her naked. She groaned as her breathing grew faint.
[I just … don't want to leave home anymore …]
Alex didn't respond, but his tired, slime body shifted under Wanda as if holding her. Her eyes naturally closed as she hummed with a peaceful smile on her face.
'You can just go to sleep … what about me?'
Alex was forced to consume even more Soul Energy to empower his soul so that he could continue to function at full capacity without passing out. If he passed out, far too many things would go awry at the moment. His current situation was no longer the same as before, where he ended up passing out when he got rid of his weakness against heat and sound. At that time, it was just his hosts that panicked in worry. This time, he would end up losing multiple identities on the different Earths that he'd infiltrated, a few widows would probably end up dead in the downtime, and his Farm would also see a couple of deaths at the very least, considering Gaia's systems were still being developed, needing him to supervise things for now.
As Alex recovered, he rose up and formed himself into a bed while directly infusing a modified version of EP into Wanda's blood that was designed to improve recovery. She weakly groaned and turned around, curling up while grabbing the blanket that appeared to cover her.
"Alex~," she mumbled in her sleep, calling out to him.
"Needy baby …" Alex mumbled as he formed another body beside Wanda to hold her in his arms.
As the contrasting woman who was simultaneously a needy baby and a witch capable of destroying planets on a whim recovered, Alex focused on the changes he'd experienced after the spell that Wanda had utilized.
«Skill Acquisition»
«EP/Bioenergy»:: 13454 Units
«Cosmic Energy»:: 0.0000 -> 0.2347 Units
«Soul Energy»:: 3357 -> 768 Units
«Manipulations»:: ‹Lightning Divinity› ‹Basic Blood Manipulation›
«Innate Abilities»:: ‹Biological Manipulation› ‹Host Enhancement› ‹Devour› ‹Copy›
«Derived Abilities»:: ‹Cosmic Physique Creation› ‹True Sixth Sense› ‹Inventory› ‹Advanced Camouflage› ‹Elemental Immunity› ‹Hypnosis›
«Magical Abilities»:: ‹High Magic Affinity› ‹High Chaos Affinity› ‹Host of the Scarlet Witch› ‹Wielder of Chaos› ‹Soul Devour›
«Authorities»:: ‹Time (2.5%)› ‹Mind (2.5%)› ‹Soul (5%)›
«Cosmic Abilities»:: ‹Low Cosmic Manipulation (Incomplete)›
He had used quite a bit of soul energy to keep himself afloat and make sure that he and Wanda were able to handle the taxation exerted on them when executing such a complex spell. While it set him back by more than two thousand points, the gains were more than worthwhile. For one, Alex finally had a semblance of Cosmic Energy within himself once again, and while it may seem low, that was only because all of the cosmic energy in the Celestial's core went into the construction of the tower, leaving him with what could be considered as even less than scraps for experimentation. The main gain, however, was the qualitative change in the relationship that he had with the Source of Chaos and his mystical connection with Wanda.
The ‹Wielder of Chaos› ability incorporated aspects of both his Chaos affinity and the abilities he got from being bonded with Wanda and magnified them by a large amount. At the moment, his connection with the Source of Chaos was second only to his Wanda's. The authority he possessed over the Source was enough to directly cut off access to Chaos energy and magic for anyone if he wanted. Not only that, he was essentially equivalent to any variant of Wanda in how he could pull a nigh-infinite amount of Chaos energy from the Source without any issues. For all intents and purposes, Alex was also a Scarlet Witch from now on.
Everything that allowed him to become the ‹Wielder of Chaos› was done while he and Wanda were synced together, which meant sharing their consciousnesses in a limited fashion that was allowed because of Alex having formed a level 6 organ bond with her. As a consequence of that, something happened that Alex didn't expect.
{ «Status- Host #4»
«Name: Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) (MCU Earth)»
«Bonding Rate: 70% -> 80%»
«Bonding Level: 6»
«Powers: Cosmic Physique—Chaos Magic (Source of Chaos)»
}
Considering the ridiculousness of the feat that was just performed, the conversion of Wanda's physique from low cosmic to cosmic was a given. Even being in the presence of the core of a dead Celestial meant that some stray cosmic energy would affect her and Alex. It had naturally improved the quality of both their physiques. The main thing to focus on was that their Bonding Rate had shot past the 75% threshold and settled at a solid 80%. In their synced state, Alex's self-imposed limits had directly been broken through, making their connection that much deeper.
While Alex had fixed the issue of the split personality of Scientist Gwen, that didn't change the fact that he was still very apprehensive about the unknown state that he achieved at the 75% threshold. While he and Wanda were synced, just as the Bonding Rate shot past 75%, they had achieved a state of oneness, giving both of them a deeper insight into the mind of the other. While Wanda got a slight insight into what drove him and what pushed him to do what he did, he also understood that Wanda, who had been a stray girl, having lost everything and everyone she ever held dear, who held him closest to her heart as her crutch and obeyed all his whims without question, had also healed. Her repressed desire to have a normal life with him was slowly being released. That was the reason that she was pushing herself so far just to create a safe haven.
That is what led to her using an inordinate amount of resources to create a home for them, one that she hoped was infallible.
"I literally cut off most of my body to create this tower, Wanda …" Alex mumbled as he looked at her peaceful expression while she slept in his arms. "It better have been worth it."
***
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