The Maximoff siblings both possessed extraordinary talent.
Especially Wanda—chaos magic was considered one of the most powerful forces in the Marvel world.
Lyon had long thought of bringing Wanda into Kamar-Taj.
There was still one spot open for the duel with Asgard a few months later.
Having the Scarlet Witch join would be just right.
However, ever since their rather unpleasant first meeting at Columbia University, he hadn't gone out again, and naturally, hadn't seen the siblings since.
After closing the portal, Lyon realized that their residence was actually right near his own apartment.
At the moment, the two of them were sitting in the living room, taking study notes.
Pietro was still complaining, saying that he had clearly signed up for a physical training program that didn't require much thinking, yet somehow ended up in sports management. All these written assignments were giving him a headache.
Meanwhile, Wanda was reading an economics theory book, taking notes as she read.
This scene was quite different from what Lyon had imagined.
Tony really had helped this pair of siblings undergo a remarkable transformation.
It wasn't until Lyon walked closer that the siblings finally noticed him.
"Ly… Lyon!" They widened their eyes in shock, gasping as they fell back against the sofa, as if they wanted to sink right into it.
It was obvious that their last encounter had left a deep psychological shadow.
Especially since it was late at night, and Lyon suddenly appearing like this, anyone would have thought he was taking advantage of the dark to silence them for good.
It wasn't until Lyon explained his purpose that the tension in the two of them eased slightly.
"You're saying you want to help us awaken our powers, and then have us help guard the Sorcerers' Sanctum? Sanctum… what is that?"
Although they still didn't fully understand Lyon's talk of sorcerers and sanctums and these strange terms, the siblings exchanged a glance, hesitated, and then followed Lyon through the portal.
The moment they crossed the portal, the entire world in their eyes changed.
Night turned to day, and the concrete jungle of steel and glass became ancient temples built of bricks and glazed tiles.
On the stone-paved paths between the temple buildings, many people in uniform robes were moving quickly in small squads.
Some were carrying strange and unusual weapons, while others were pushing what looked like old-fashioned cannons, the kind only seen in wars from the last century.
These people came in all kinds of skin tones and appearances—there were even minotaurs among them.
With just a flick of their wrists, they could summon strange orange energy whips, or open circular portals capable of traversing space.
At a glance, they looked like the kind of mysterious figures that only appeared in fantasy tales.
Yet whenever they saw Lyon, they would all pause, bow their heads, and address him as "Sorcerer Supreme."
Wanda and Pietro were momentarily stunned by the scene.
It wasn't until Lyon snapped his fingers and simply said, "Let's go," that they snapped out of it and followed him, dumbfounded, toward a grand hall.
Inside the hall were four people, and the siblings only recognized Tony.
Through the conversation among the group, they roughly understood that this was a sanctuary protecting Earth, that it was about to be invaded by an evil demon god, and that Lyon intended to face the demon god alone.
The siblings were instantly overwhelmed by an unprecedented sense of shock.
This Lyon—who seemed a bit domineering and unreasonable at times—was not only the superman but also shouldering the responsibility of defending Earth?
They looked at the five people in front of them, discussing how to defend the Sanctum.
Then they looked at the sorcerers outside, moving between buildings as they prepared for battle.
Wanda and Pietro suddenly felt a tightness in their chests, realizing that their previous actions of seeking revenge now seemed ridiculously childish. A wave of embarrassment rose inexplicably from deep inside them.
The way they looked at Lyon also became much more complicated in an instant.
Inside the hall, the group quickly finalized their plan.
Lyon set the timeline. "Next, head to your assigned Sanctums, gather the sorcerers, and prepare for battle. We regroup at the library in two hours to begin the operation!"
The four of them all nodded in agreement.
Wong and Mordo opened mystical portals and left.
Tony lightly tapped the arc reactor on his chest and massive amounts of mycelium instantly surged out from it.
The ten rings on his arms began to light up one after another, and he started assembling a massive battle suit.
But then, he pointed his wand at himself and cast Vera Verto, using a Transfiguration spell.
The armor, which had been expanding, suddenly compressed and transformed into a suit of armor perfectly fitted to his body.
"Mark 10," Tony announced proudly. "A condensed version of the Mycelium God Armor, fused with Transfiguration magic. Power output increased tenfold. Not bad, right?"
Lyon glanced at him and shook his head in disdain. "Basic-level Transfiguration. You still need more practice."
"This is advanced Transfiguration that changes only the appearance without affecting power! I've practiced it for half a month. How is it basic!? You just don't appreciate it, Humph."
Tony flew toward the library, planning to use the fixed portal there to head to the New York Sanctum.
Banner jogged after him. "I'll wait for you all at the library!"
Lyon watched the two leave, then turned back to the Maximoff siblings.
"Alright, let's begin awakening your powers." He placed his hands on their shoulders.
In the blink of an eye, their surroundings shifted, and the three of them appeared inside his inner world.
"Oh my god, this is…" Wanda looked around in astonishment.
Before her stretched an endless expanse of land. In the hazy distance, towering peaks loomed, shrouded behind a blue mist.
Those mountains were at least ten thousand meters tall, piercing high into the sky and vanishing into the thick, heavy blue clouds above, their summits unseen.
"Wanda, look—look over there!" Pietro suddenly cried out, his voice caught in his chest.
In the direction Pietro pointed, there was an enormous pair of bare feet, the toenails so large their ends could not be seen. The ankles soared straight into the clouds, disappearing into the mist overhead.
It must have been a giant of unimaginable size.
At the feet of that giant stretched a vast, endless ocean.
At this moment, Lyon spoke. "You can think of this as my own little world."
"The air here is filled with a special energy that can help you awaken extraordinary powers."
"Do you feel anything unusual right now? Like something in your body slowly waking up?"
He planned to use the energy of the Space Stone to help the two of them awaken their abilities.
Although in the movies it was the Mind Stone that awakened their powers, that didn't mean it couldn't work without it.
Wanda's chaos magic was innate.
When she was ten years old, the bomb marked "Stark" that failed to explode had done so because she had unconsciously used her power to alter the probability of detonation.
Now, with just the guidance of the Infinity Stones' energy, it would be easy to fully awaken her chaos magic.
As for Pietro, there shouldn't be any problem either.
His ability was super speed, along with the enhanced physiology that came with it.
Such an ability seemed far more suited to being developed using the power of the Space Stone.
"Slowly awakening? Are you talking about possession by a demon?" Pietro shuddered, suddenly connecting it to what he had heard earlier about dimensional demon gods.
"There's no demon involved. Looks like you're not feeling anything yet."
Lyon guided thin strands of blue gemstone energy to slowly come into contact with Pietro's body.
"What about now?"
"Still no—wait, no! I think my heart's speeding up!" Pietro's expression changed as he suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed to the ground.
Something had entered his body, triggering a chain reaction.
His heartbeat pounded rapidly, blood furiously surging into his heart and then being forcefully pumped out, every cell in his body undergoing transformation. His temperature spiked, and his skin visibly turned bright red.
"Pietro!" Wanda panicked and tried to help him up.
But Lyon moved even faster, suddenly appearing in front of Pietro and exhaling a breath of freezing air.
The cold mist wrapped around Pietro, swiftly lowering his body temperature and stabilizing it at a normal level.
"Don't worry, this is normal. His body is undergoing a transformation. In about ten hours or so, he should successfully awaken his extraordinary ability."
The inner world had always been running at accelerated time thanks to the Time Stone.
Ten hours in here would be less than a minute in the outside world.
Since Pietro kept wailing, Lyon simply knocked him out.
"Next is you."
"Ah… me?" After Pietro lost consciousness, Wanda looked at Lyon, suddenly feeling a bit nervous.
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