Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1650 Kamar-Taj: A Sense of Security

The coronation ceremony proceeded as scheduled. Phoenix, who rarely appeared before outsiders, arrived at Kamar-Taj, his wings ablaze. Marbus, the chief scientist from the Martian Foundry, and Rodan, the head of the Immortal City Foundry, were also present. In addition, there was a young man in a pink suit, a young man named Dave in a simple robe carrying a sword sheath, and a group of psychic cults in similar starlight robes—a group the Kamar-Taj sorcerers had never seen before. Insiders indicated that this was a cult with Merlin's legacy, residing on a planet called Engal, which didn't exist in any worldly records, and had built a castle there. Their duty was similar to that of the sorcerers Kamar-Taj dispatched to the pocket dimension of the dimensional gap: eternal surveillance and protection.

The most significant part of the ceremony was Athena placing the golden laurel wreath on the Emperor's head. When the Sorcerer Supreme's final creation finally found its destined user, even the Emperor was astonished by the Sorcerer Supreme's wisdom. This was a Noble Phantasm built on the concept of defense, designed to interfere with spacetime, and could only be used by the Emperor himself—because the concept it embodied was humanity itself, and only someone who would bear the burden of humanity and be imbued with that concept in the long future could activate it. The Sorcerer Supreme had discovered the Emperor's origins from the very beginning, which is why he created such a divine artifact, which, along with the Eye of Agamotto, was bestowed upon the Emperor as a coronation gift.

Although the Noble Phantasm appears to be an artifact crafted from pure gold and steel, that is merely the shape bestowed upon it by the material universe after the Sorcerer Supreme imbued it with real-world significance; no similar material exists in the universe. The Sorcerer Supreme named it "The Wheel-Turning King," and its core function is to eliminate any possible parallel universes. Therefore, this Noble Phantasm can essentially be viewed as a massive chaotic model calculation machine, acting upon the Emperor himself and his inhabited spacetime to correct causal discrepancies caused by spacetime deviations—in short, this Noble Phantasm can maintain the continuity of history for time travelers and sever the influence of parallel universes. It can be said that this function was specifically designed for time travelers, and even though it's merely a derivative function without offensive capabilities, this Noble Phantasm possesses extraordinary power.

The crown burned with a blinding psionic glow behind the emperor's head, like a flame.

A colossal golden halo, invisible to the naked eye, unfolded in the sky, then rapidly contracted and vanished. The Emperor deliberately withdrew his psychic radiance so that the Kamar-Taj sorcerers below, the psionic academy comprised of the School of Subjugation, and the Merlin School psionicists from Engal Castle could clearly see his face. The crowd below, including the sorcerers returning from the dimensional rift fortress, remained solemn, awaiting the new Sorcerer Supreme's address. Only an elderly man in a floral shirt smiled, seemingly unconcerned about what was happening. Even it couldn't see through the Emperor's concealment spell, even though it had invented the psionic formula itself. Anyone in this universe looking at the Emperor would only see the most magnificent and noble face in their own mind, leaving it with mixed feelings. It possessed foresight but wasn't omniscient, yet as time passed, it gradually glimpsed the trajectory of fate, foreseeing the future the Emperor was about to experience. A figure that spans human history emerges from the water; even if the name, appearance, and gender are different, the psychic radiance remains unchanged.

Bayonetta pointed at the blurry psionic light behind the Emperor's head on the screen, then listlessly shut down the live stream. The Cheshire Cat, sprawled on the sofa, glanced up, then buried its head in the blanket again and began purring. Suddenly, its leg was grabbed, Bayonetta yanked it out of the blanket, gave it a couple of hard pats, and tossed it back down, making it howl in anger. Clearly, the Cheshire Cat's insults weren't pleasant; the foul-mouthed cat was clearly unhappy.

"Shut up, you stupid cat, you have to clean the litter box yourself!"

Bayonetta pressed down on the fluffy cat's head, forcefully suppressing the Cheshire Cat's objections. She and Joan of Arc had been away from the South American island for several days. To ensure their safety, all service drones in the mansion, except those operating in the core functional areas, were shut down. This also prevented Laura Crawford and Milia from unintentionally harming themselves or going to places they shouldn't.

"Don't forget you were created by him using my toys. Your true master is me, you silly cat, so you have to do whatever I say." Bayonetta held back the girl who was pouncing on the Cheshire Cat. "Milia, don't even think about ice cream. It's almost dinnertime. Laura, did you give her a lot of ice cream?"

"It's because there's a portal to that manor here," Laura Crawford shrugged. "There's no chef here now."

The South American island had a hot climate. Although she could cool down in the mansion's pool or the sea at any time, the ever-present bright sunlight still forced her to constantly apply sunscreen. And because of its extremely secluded location, she didn't have to worry about annoying tabloids or paparazzi, so she was perfectly happy to run around in a noticeably oversized black shirt, even now. She held a book in her arms, a pile of empty pizza and Chinese takeout boxes in the armory beside her, her gaze never leaving the ancient book.

She wasn't worried that Milia would pull out her USP pistol or anything else from the armory. As far as she knew, Milia's education at the Oxfordshire estate was all about weapons handling, and she was certain that no girl under ten, even in Texas or Alabama, had Milia's experience with firearms. It was less about Milia hurting herself and more about her hurting others, since Milia now had a laser pistol for self-defense.

She had only seen news reports of similar weapons being gifted to Castro by the Federal Government of Yugoslavia. It was said that information about that weapon was fetching exorbitant prices on the dark web, and military intelligence agencies from many countries wanted to know how its batteries worked and obtain a sample for research.

"You know, I'm busy learning new things and I like to fill my stomach with ice cream, Chinese food, and pizza," she complained. "Since you guys went out on your mission, the only thing still working in the whole kitchen is the automatic nutritional paste maker, which I only found after yelling at that AI. Luckily, the protein jelly and other emergency food it makes taste pretty good. You'd better tell me what's going on outside, Bayonetta. All those automated anti-aircraft missiles have activated on their own, and the sirens have been blaring all night. Something terrible must be happening out there."

"Don't think we know any details." Joan of Arc popped a spoonful of red wine jelly straight from the refrigerator into her mouth. Dinah was still in Kamar-Taj, with only pre-made food available, even the desserts were left behind by the Emperor before his departure; she didn't have many choices. Even so, she refused to settle for mass-produced sponge cake. "The Sorcerer Supreme is dead, the whole world is going to be in chaos, and who knows how many more things will come to this world. He didn't know how much poison those things left behind, which is why he demanded we return to this island and take control of the nuclear launches."

"A nuclear bomb?" Laura Crawford exclaimed in horror. "As far as I know, there's an artificial intelligence in this mansion."

"You didn't know?" Joan chuckled. "What do you think those missile silos on the ridge are for, Laura? They're filled with nuclear missiles ready to launch at any moment, capable of striking any corner of the earth. Even if the US president hid in Cheyenne Mountain, we could still blow him up. But the real weapons aren't on this island, they're in orbit and underwater. Don't give me that idiotic look. Any regime in this world that doesn't possess weapons of mass destruction is doomed to perish."

"You know, I've always believed his warnings. We humans really will face an alien invasion. Not some small-scale conflict like in New York or London, but a large-scale war." Laura Crawford reluctantly looked up, put down the bookmark, and closed the book. This book, describing rural miracles during the Tudor period, seemed very interesting to her. Although it was just a handwritten copy, she felt it still had some credibility; after all, the owner wouldn't keep any meaningless book in a library. "In such a future, what's the point of preserving history? I know his answer—preserving history equals preserving civilization, preserving civilization equals preserving humanity, and humanity without civilization is just beasts—but I still don't see the importance of preserving history. The Avengers can't defeat a large-scale alien invasion, cooperation between governments on Earth is getting worse, how can we win and protect humanity? Is only a bloody war of unification able to unite all of humanity?"

“You’re pessimistic,” Bayonetta pointed out. “Even though many of Trinity’s powers have been destroyed, you’re still pessimistic about the future of humanity.”

"Perhaps that's why I don't want to leave," Laura Crawford shrugged. "I'm increasingly insecure. There are still so many secrets in this world waiting to be uncovered, but if we're destined for destruction, what's the point of preserving civilization?"

(End of this chapter)