As he finished speaking, Leon ignored the two on the terrace and turned to walk back into the Villa.
On the terrace, only a bewildered Pietro and Wanda remained.
The sea breeze blew, carrying a hint of coolness.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
Pietro leaned on his knees, panting heavily.
It wasn't exhaustion, but shock.
His body was still trembling slightly.
Just a few minutes ago, he had run at an incredible speed.
Four kilometers round trip, in just a few seconds.
It was a speed he never dared to imagine even in his dreams.
But what he got was not praise, but Leon's understated comment: "Too slow."
"Slow…"
Pietro chewed on the word.
"This is slow?!"
He looked at Leon's disappearing back.
"You don't even have the qualifications to make me look at you directly."
Leon's calm gaze made Pietro even more frustrated.
"Is this guy a monster?"
Pietro was a little lost.
He hated the feeling of being controlled.
But… he couldn't refute it.
Because Leon had casually bestowed upon him the power he had always dreamed of.
"I need this power." Pietro's eyes gradually became determined.
"Yes, I need it. I need to become faster! Fast enough to protect Wanda. Fast enough to one day break free from him!"
He thought he was hiding it well, but he didn't know that all his mental activity was within Leon's perception.
Beside him, Wanda's state was completely different.
She knelt on the ground, staring blankly at her hands.
Pale palms, slender fingers.
It was these hands that had just erased a pot of flowers.
Wanda recalled the feeling from earlier.
When Leon induced her to release her emotions, she felt something inside her body come alive.
It responded to her will.
"You don't deserve to bloom."
Then, the pot of flowers ceased to exist.
"What did I do?"
She wasn't Pietro.
Pietro gained speed, gained power.
But she gained a curse.
"Am I a monster?" Wanda became even more confused.
She remembered the way the neighbors in Sokovia looked at her, the whispers, the ominous rumors.
They were right.
She was a monster.
"Don't be afraid."
A hand suddenly rested on her head.
Wanda froze, looked up, and found that Pietro had knelt in front of her at some point.
Pietro's face was slightly pale, but he suppressed his humiliation and gazed at her with determination.
"I'm here. No matter what you become, no matter what I become! I will protect you."
"Brother…" Wanda's eyes reddened, and tears streamed down.
"I'm scared, Pietro, I'm scared…"
"I know." Pietro's tone was steady.
"I'm scared too."
"But fear is useless." Pietro's gaze went over Wanda's shoulder, looking into the Villa.
"Here, weakness is the original sin. Leon taught us the first lesson today."
"We must learn everything from him. And then, survive."
...Night fell.
Inside the luxurious Villa, the lights were bright.
Jarvis, as per Leon's instructions, prepared a sumptuous dinner for the siblings.
But neither of them touched it.
They each stayed in their own rooms, processing everything that had happened.
In Pietro's room.
He tried his speed again and again.
"Whoosh!"
He disappeared from the bedside, reappearing in front of the window the next instant.
"Whoosh!"
He disappeared from the window again, appearing at the bathroom door.
The furnishings in the room became blurry blocks of color in his eyes.
"Not fast enough! Not fast enough!!"
His heart roared.
Leon's words haunted him.
He sprinted repeatedly until the muscles in his legs began to ache, then he stopped clumsily, falling onto the carpet.
Pietro panted, his eyes lost.
"Can a god play with other people's lives like this?"
He recalled Leon's gentle smile, but behind the smile was an arrogance colder than winter."
"Just you wait, Leon Odinson, one day, I will be so fast that you won't even be able to react!"
Next door, in Wanda's room.
She curled up on the carpet in front of the French window, hugging her knees, quietly looking at the sea outside the window.
The moonlight fell on her face, making her appear pale and lost.
She didn't dare to sleep.
She was afraid that if she closed her eyes, the things in the room would be erased by her like that pot of flowers.
"Chaos Magic…"
She whispered softly.
"Am I a monster?"
She tentatively stretched out her hand, trying to guide the power, mimicking Leon from memory.
A faint wisp of red energy swirled around her fingertips.
It was very weak, but Wanda could feel the terror contained within it.
"Leon, why isn't he afraid of me?"
This was what Wanda found most puzzling.
In Sokovia, everyone feared her abnormality.
Only Leon, he not only wasn't afraid, but even induced her to release her power with appreciative eyes.
"Your potential far exceeds your imagination."
"Don't disappoint me."
His words echoed in her ears again.
Wanda's heart skipped a beat.
"He's expecting me?"
This realization was like a glimmer of light, shining into her heart filled with fear and inferiority.
"He knows what I am, he knows this power, he even gave me a name."
Wanda didn't know what the awakening of power meant for this Universe.
She also didn't know that the newly awakened Chaos Magic was like a beacon in the dark Universe.
At this moment, it was wantonly emitting its sweet fragrance towards countless dimensions... Downstairs, on the terrace.
Leon reclined on the sofa, swirling a glass of red wine in his hand.
The moonlight spilled on his golden hair, enveloping him in a soft glow.
He closed his eyes, but everything in the Villa was within his perception.
He saw Pietro venting his frustration in his room.
"Good energy. It seems Tony's treadmill plan can be intensified tomorrow."
He also saw the red light on Wanda's hand.
"Is it already leaking unconsciously?"
Leon slowly opened his eyes, his gaze somewhat playful.
"What an astonishing talent. Truly worthy of being a natural Chaos carrier."
As the Sun god, his perception of energy far exceeded that of ordinary people.
He could see the Chaos Magic tearing open the veil of reality, reaching into deeper dimensions.
"It's like throwing a piece of bleeding meat into the ocean."
Leon took a sip of wine.
"Now, the rats and flies that smell blood should be unable to resist coming out of their holes."
He knew very well who stood behind Chaos Magic.
Chthon.
Just think of that fool Baron Strucker, holding a treasure but only daring to hide in the Underground Room in Sokovia to conduct research, and in the end, he was wiped out by Ultron.
What a waste of natural resources.
"And I…" Leon chuckled softly.
"I'm going to do the opposite."
He would even put it in the most conspicuous place, so that those who coveted it would actively come to him.
Consider it their after-school assignment.
Leon enjoyed the comfort.
As for Asgard… "Thor is probably still watching the stars with his Jane Foster.
With Father King around, he can't cause any trouble for now.
He raised his wine glass and took a light sip.
In the sky, the moonlight remained… Meanwhile, in Asgard.
Unlike Leon's thought of stargazing, the atmosphere in the Heavenly Palace observation room was somewhat anxious at this moment.
Inside the observation room, star charts flowed on the walls, and the Bifrost Bridge's energy core emitted a halo in the distance.
Jane Foster anxiously wrote and drew on a crystal board.
"No! The energy readings are stable, but I just can't build a model! Thor, your magic makes no sense at all!"
They had been in Asgard for some time.
Thor, at this moment, was scratching his head with an embarrassed expression.
"Uh… Jane, magic is just magic. You just need to believe in it?"
Oh god, she looked charming even when she was angry. But what was she talking about? Data? Models?"
Thor's heart was filled only with confusion.
He was very happy because Father Odin and Mother Frigga had accepted Jane.
Of course, this was partly due to his desperate efforts to protect Midgard.
But Thor always felt that it also had something to do with Leon.
Leon seemed to have recommended Jane's research to his father before coming.
"Leon's judgment is always so accurate, although his arrogant nature can sometimes be unbearable."
Thor thought gleefully.
...
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