With the preparations finished, everyone boarded the vehicles. Since there weren't enough seats, three people squeezed into the cargo area in the back with cushions laid out. Looking back, they seemed to be having a really hard time, so I had no choice but to take out another Hummer from my inventory.
"This is a vehicle I'm fond of. But no choice."
I should probably stock up on more vehicles next time. It was decided that Elektra would drive the Wrangler and I would drive the Hummer to follow behind.
"Let's depart now."
In the Hummer I was driving, Deadpool was sitting in the passenger seat, and Gambit and Blade were in the back seats. Wolverine was riding in the Wrangler because of Deadpool.
"But are you confident?"
"About Cassandra Nova?"
"Yeah."
"Don't know, honestly I've never fought her."
It's true that I've never met a telekinetic user before, but gravity and scientific laws should be similar. When we arrived somewhat near Cassandra's base, I contacted them using the communicator I had given them beforehand and told them to stop for a moment. Elektra asked why we were stopping.
"Why? You said to stop?"
"Wait, I'll go deliver the first blow and come back."
"How?"
"You'll see when you look with teleportation."
We stopped the vehicles for a moment, I handed over the driver's seat to Deadpool and told them to wait for a while.
Cassandra Nova's base was made from a giant-sized Ant-Man's corpse. Inside the suit, all the flesh had been cleaned out, leaving only bones, and it was lying in a Superman pose, using both arms as fences and both hands as doors. And the skull in the center was being used as Cassandra's quarters.
I teleported to a high point in the sky above Cassandra's base and looked down. Several people were doing some kind of work and patrolling, and among them, the large-framed Juggernaut could be seen giving some instructions.
I immediately took the cane sword from my inventory, teleported behind Juggernaut, cut off his head in an instant, stored it in my inventory, then threw five iron balls filled with mana to their limit using the [Energy Bomb] ability onto the ground and immediately teleported back to the location where the resistance members were waiting with the vehicles. All of this took less than a second.
KABOOM~~!!!!
Ding~!
[[(S)Healing Factor], [(S)Super Strength], [(S)Throwing], [(S)Energy Weapon], [(A)Telepathy] abilities have been acquired.]
Along with a tremendous explosion, the shockwave reached us even though we were some distance away.
Summarizing the abilities obtained, I definitely took out Cassandra Nova's lieutenants: Bullseye (Daredevil villain), Sauron (X-Men villain), and Juggernaut (X-Men villain). But the [(A)Telepathy] ability was a bit ambiguous. The setting says it's an ability Sauron possesses, but since I haven't seen him use it in the movies, it might have been from another mutant who died.
"Let's depart now. They'll be disoriented. Huh?"
When I turned around and spoke, our side was also unable to come to their senses and was watching the scene of Cassandra Nova's base exploding.
"Oh~ my god!"
Deadpool was holding his cheeks with both hands and continuously exclaiming in admiration, and the other members were also staring with their mouths open.
"Hey! Everyone, snap out of it. Cassandra won't die from something like this."
When I spoke loudly, the members finally came to their senses and started the vehicles.
"Ah right! This."
I took Juggernaut's head out of my inventory and gave it to Deadpool. I had already finished analyzing the helmet's structure. I could make something similar anytime.
"Ugh... you should have given it without the head. Even for an R-rating, this is too much."
"Didn't have time for that."
We boarded the vehicles again and moved toward Cassandra Nova's base. Looking at the base while moving, the giant Ant-Man's arms that served as fences were almost completely blown away, and only the head seemed intact, perhaps because Cassandra Nova blocked it with telekinesis.
We drove the vehicles right up to the front of the base, parked, and got out. About half of Cassandra's gang had survived. I don't know how they survived that explosion.
The resistance members each said something as if steeling their resolve.
Blade drew his sword and said,
"This should be fun!"
Gambit fiddled with his cards and said,
"You know how long I've been waiting for this? I finally get to make a name for myself."
Wolverine seemed amazed that about half had survived.
"It's amazing how they survived in that explosion."
Johnny...
"I already miss the ice cream."
Elektra spoke to me last.
"Jin, I leave Cassandra to you. I'll finish up here and come help."
"Got it."
With those words, the standoff ended and the battle between both sides began. I immediately teleported into the eye socket of the Ant-Man skull.
"Oh~ a handsome man has arrived? Was that explosion just now your doing too?"
Cassandra Nova was sitting in a chair, drinking tea as she spoke. Her face was quite beautiful, but she was a bald woman with flat chest. Just as Johnny had cursed.
"I should be saying that. Such a beauty but with a completely trash personality."
"Calling me a beauty. How about it, want to live here with me? The Void is heaven. Living here wouldn't be bad."
"Thanks for the offer, but I have guys who trusted and followed me."
I pointed with my thumb toward the back where they were fighting fiercely.
"A shame but no choice. Then you must die."
I utilized [Observation Haki], [Kenbunshoku Haki], [Thought Acceleration], and the [Gura Gura no Mi] all together. Around me, I always maintained a gravity field, constantly sensing the force of telekinesis and defending against attacks from that direction. Cassandra was quite surprised by this.
"It's been a while since I've seen a strong one. Handsome face too, really sure you don't want to join hands with me?"
"Think about it if you come under me."
Although we were both just standing there, an incredible offensive and defensive battle was taking place between us. Where our powers clashed, space was distorted enough to warp. Even Cassandra, who always smiled leisurely, seemed tense as her expression became serious. Clearly, the intensity of power was higher on my side, but Cassandra's technique was extraordinary. When I pushed with powerful gravity, she was flowing it away with telekinesis.
The battle continued with neither able to let their guard down for even an inch, and gradually, perhaps because Cassandra was getting used to flowing the power away, she slowly took one step forward at a time. Her expression also gradually became more relaxed, while I was sweating cold sweat and focusing only on defending against telekinesis.
"Kheup..."
"To make me struggle this much, your power is definitely superior. If I had met you any later, I definitely would have lost."
Now Cassandra Nova had come right up to my nose. She reached out her hand to touch my head.
"Got you! You're mine."
But Cassandra's hand grasped nothing but air, waving around emptily. The image of me in front of her eyes was an illusion created using the [Witch Magic] learned from Frigga, Odin's wife.
"What is this!"
The real me was hiding behind her. No matter how powerful Cassandra's ability was, [Stealth] was an EX-grade ability. If I decided to hide, no one could find me. This was something I had planned and prepared for even before entering Cassandra Nova's quarters.
I immediately released stealth and cut Cassandra Nova's throat with my sword, and just in case she might regenerate in that short moment, I grabbed her head and used gravity to press down on the separated body, blocking regeneration at its source.
Ding~!
[[(S)Telekinesis], [(SSS)Control], [(S)Mental Intrusion], [(SS)Mystic Arts] abilities have been acquired.]
"Whew... this was truly a formidable opponent."
I held Cassandra's head in one hand and wiped the cold sweat that had flowed down my face with the other. This was the first time I had fought one-on-one while being this tense. If I had fought recklessly without a plan, I would have really died.
Then someone tapped me on the back. Even though I was relaxed and didn't notice, this was enemy territory. I immediately turned around and aimed my sword, but what I saw before me was Doctor Strange's [Levetation Cloak].
In the original work, Cassandra Nova received numerous challenges in the Void, among which was a Doctor Strange from another multiverse. This was the cloak obtained then, but it wasn't recognized by its owner and was just being used as a chair mat.
"Whew... you surprised me."
I put away my sword. Then the [Levetation Cloak] circled around me once and attached itself to my back.
"So you've recognized me as your master. I'll be counting on you from now on."
It was an unexpected acquisition. Wearing the [Levetation Cloak] allowed flight, though not fast, and it had its own consciousness, being able to think for itself and attack or defend against enemies.
I searched Cassandra Nova's corpse and found the [Sling Ring] embedded with the Reality Stone and Time Stone, putting it in my inventory. Then I went outside holding Cassandra's head and shouted.
"Cassandra is dead. Surrender!"
When I came out and looked at the situation, it was almost cleaned up. Still, the reason the gang didn't run away and kept fighting must have been because Cassandra was there. She was that powerful. When I appeared and showed Cassandra's severed head, the remaining gang completely lost their will to fight and all dropped their weapons.
Our resistance members cheered.
"Wow~!!"
"As expected of Jin!"
"Bald hell!"
But Deadpool ran to me like crazy and protested.
"Why did you kill Cassandra!!! Aww~! Now we're screwed..."
Deadpool, thinking he couldn't return now, held his head and shook it.
"Don't worry. I found something good."
I showed the [Sling Ring] from my inventory.
"You see, I also learned Doctor Strange's magic. There's a reason I'm called the strongest Avenger."
I put on the [Sling Ring] and used [Mystic Arts] to open an 'Eldritch Gate' leading to the universe where Deadpool originally lived.
"Ooh! Marvel's sparkly circle! This lovely thing! I'll give you a kiss."
Deadpool was happy and suddenly tried to hug me, but I stopped him. Then, dark clouds gathered in the distance and Alios could be seen approaching. Wolverine saw that and said to us.
"Let's go, if we stay here longer, we won't see a good end."
"Right."
The resistance members all went through the gate, and when Cassandra Nova's gang tried to come through too, Blade aimed his sword and blocked them.
"Not you guys."
Then the gang looked around, started scattering in different directions, and began to flee. I checked if there were any more abilities to gain, but the surviving gang members no longer included any important mutants. The last remaining Blade asked me.
"Jin! Aren't you coming?"
"I still have business here, so I'll follow soon."
"Got it. Take care."
And so Blade went through the gate. I also went to the vehicles before Alios arrived. Fortunately, both were intact and fine. I put both vehicles in my inventory and immediately teleported to a faraway place to avoid Alios.
"They'll handle the rest well on their own."
The reason I stayed here was to raise [Healing Factor] to EX. Since there were 100 Deadpools, I thought I could raise it sufficiently while dealing with them. I took out [Jack Sparrow's Compass], set the direction to where the Deadpools were, quickly moved, entered the Deadpool hideout, and began slaughtering. Since they were Cassandra Nova's subordinates, I felt less guilty conscience.
After maintaining [Stealth] and killing about 30, it rose to EX. The reason I had to kill so many was because they had [Healing Factor] of various grades from C to S, so I had no choice. Of course, I didn't touch Nicepool and Dogpool. And honestly, it seemed better for Nicepool to be taking care of Dogpool than the irresponsible Deadpool, so I left them alone.
Now that I had gained everything, I cleaned the blood-splattered clothes and cloak with [Life Magic] and crossed over to the original work's world.
After crossing over like that and moving to the TVA temporary headquarters, Paradox was unconscious and sprawled on the floor, and the other members were looking at the screen with worried eyes. Come to think of it, Deadpool and Wolverine were nowhere to be seen.
"What happened?"
Johnny explained.
"Well, when we arrived and tried to dismantle the Time Loom, this guy (Paradox) made the Time Loom go out of control. So Wolverine and Deadpool went down below to stop the overload."
"Then why does everyone have that expression?"
Elektra supplemented the explanation.
"They say to destroy the Time Loom, you need to short-circuit matter energy and antimatter energy, but anyone caught between will be annihilated."
"So that's why Deadpool and Wolverine with [Healing Factor] went down."
"Right. But they say this time is different. Since it's matter and antimatter, the body will be decomposed into atoms. [Healing Factor] won't work."
"Then..."
"Yeah... sacrificing themselves to save the world."
Unlike the original work, it seemed Paradox, not Cassandra, was unable to give up his ambition and caused this trouble.
Looking at the monitor attached to the Time Loom's control console, the Temporal Loom status now had less than 10% remaining. I was thinking that if, unlike the original work, Deadpool and Wolverine failed, I would put the Time Loom itself into my inventory.
Since time is stopped inside the inventory, storing it wouldn't cause any major problems. But if that happened, the world would be left with only 10% of the Temporal Loom and wouldn't last long before disappearing.
'Now all I can do is hope they succeed...'
It gradually dropped from 10%... 9%... 8%... I had no choice but to prepare to put the Time Loom into my inventory, but it stopped at 5% and then the numbers started rising again as the Temporal Loom began to recover.
We cheered when we saw that. It seemed Deadpool and Wolverine had succeeded as in the original work after all.
Yes~!
The Temporal Loom numbers rose past 100%, and then as if the Time Loom ultimately couldn't withstand the overload, an explosion sound and dust rose from underground.
BOOM!
We were silent for a while. This explosion meant that while we had stopped the end of the world, it also meant that the heroes who stopped it, Deadpool and Wolverine, had died. Laura was shedding tears and quietly saying 'Dad'.