X-Force: Beyond Omega-Chapter 146: Chthon Awakened

The Flickering Realms/K'lay

Chthon's Domain

The darkness pulsed. It breathed.

For a long time, there had been only silence in the Flickering Realms. A twisted place beyond mortal understanding. The sky above flickered like broken glass, shifting between colors that had no name. The ground cracked and bled black light. Mountains floated. Oceans screamed. Time itself bent like soft metal.

Then...

A deep rumble echoed through the void.

Something old had awakened.

From the center of a massive, floating spire made of bone and shadow, two eyes opened. Burning red. Eyes that had not seen the living world in thousands of years.

Chthon had awakened.

His giant form sat on a throne made of writhing flesh and stone. Horns curved from his skull. His body shimmered with dark power, covered in ancient runes that seemed to crawl across his skin like insects.

He breathed in slowly. The air here was thick with madness and power.

"Earth..." he said, his voice like the sound of cracking ice mixed with thunder. "I still feel it... my magic... my chaos..."

He raised his clawed hand, and from his palm, wisps of Chaos Magic began to swirl... red, black, and glowing with raw, wild power.

"I left a piece of myself there. A seed. And now... it grows strong again."

His eyes narrowed.

"Wanda..."

He felt her. A faint pull, like a thread tugging at his mind. She was powerful now. More than he expected. But she was only a vessel. A stepping stone.

"You still haven't awakened your real power. I don't see the power of the Scarlet Witch. I guess, I'll have to kill that brother of yours and everyone close to you... Hehehe..."

He grinned.

"Come to me," he whispered.

And then, the ground trembled.

The air around him shimmered and from the cracks in the void, they came.

Swarms of them. Crawling. Flying. Screeching.

The N'Garai.

Thousands. Millions.

Creatures of pure nightmare. Skin like rotting stone. Wings like torn parchment. Eyes glowing with endless hunger. Some were as small as wolves. Others were the size of buildings. And all of them bowed before Chthon.

"Your master has returned," Chthon said, rising to his full height. His shadow stretched across the broken land, larger than any mountain.

The N'Garai hissed and shrieked in joy.

Chthon raised his arms. Magic poured from his body like molten blood. The sky cracked. The land split open.

"The older Gods are no more. The walls between worlds have weakened. My realm will touch theirs. Soon... K'lay will bleed into Earth."

He closed his eyes.

"And I... I will take back what is mine."

The air twisted as Chthon stood at the edge of his throne, his massive form towering over the realm. The N'Garai still hissed and crawled beneath him, waiting for his command. He stared into the void, reaching out with his mind, feeling for the power he left behind long ago.

And then... he felt it. A faint heartbeat. A dark whisper carried by the wind across the realms.

"The Darkhold."

His book. His creation. Still hidden on Earth. Still filled with his chaotic will. But something was wrong. He reached for it, trying to connect, to draw strength from it, and felt resistance. Like trying to push through a wall of light.

A voice echoed in his mind.

'The Ancient One.'

The guardian of the mystic arts.

"ARGGG!! That old crone still lives," Chthon snarled.

The Ancient One had placed a seal. A barrier that blocked him from claiming the Darkhold again. He slammed his clawed hand into the ground. The land cracked beneath him, and a storm of red lightning surged into the sky.

He knew he was still weak. The long slumber had drained much of his strength. His body was whole, but not yet complete. His chaos magic was wild but unfocused. It would take time to regain what was lost.

Time he didn't have.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to hide himself from Death's eyes, and the moment she found out that he was this weak, she would drag his soul to her realm and torture him for eternity.

"The vessel is still weak," Chthon said, his voice shaking the very air. "But I can't waste any more time. She's the only one who can break the seal."

His eyes glowed brighter.

"Wanda."

He felt her again. Her magic. Strong. Buried. Unawakened.

She had power, but she was still holding back. She needed to be pushed. Shattered. Broken open. Only then would The Scarlet Witch rise. Only then could she destroy Kamar-Taj and take the Darkhold.

Chthon reached into the void again. This time, he aimed for her mind.

He whispered through the cracks of reality, sending his will into her dreams. Images. Nightmares. Promises of power. Of truth. Of destiny.

But the moment he touched her soul...

Something pushed back.

A blinding force exploded inside her mind. Chaos energy, pure and wild, lashed out at him. It wasn't just Wanda.

It was something else.

Something older.

Something stronger.

The Phoenix.

Chthon didn't even have the time to react or scream. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

His entire right side burst apart, torn flesh, and chaotic magic flew into the air before turning to ashes. His runes faded. His magic wavered. He stumbled back, clutching his disintegrated arm. The N'Garai backed away in fear as red and golden fire poured from the rift between realms.

He barely managed to seal the connection.

He fell to one knee, shaking. Breathing heavy.

"The Phoenix..." he said, his voice trembling with disbelief. "Impossible. Why is it on Earth? Why is it protecting her? Chaos and Phoenix are like oil and water... Then, why?"

He looked at the burned, broken remains of his arm.

"She's protected..."

His eyes narrowed.

"No matter. I will awaken her. Even if I must break her mind piece by piece. Let her suffer. Let her lose everything. Let the world turn against her."

His lips curled into a cruel smile.

"And then, she will come to me... begging for power."

He stood tall again, broken body slowly repairing itself with dark magic.

"Soon," he whispered.

And the sky above K'lay crackled with red lightning again.

...

[Earth] [S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Above the Atlantic]

Nick Fury stood in the center of the command deck, jaw tight, eye narrowed, watching the holographic display flicker with rising red markers across the globe. Fissures. Dozens of them. Flickering pulses of energy that didn't match anything in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database.

"Give me a report," Fury barked.

Agent Hill stepped forward, tablet in hand. "Twenty-seven confirmed spatial anomalies. Five of them were sealed by Kamar-Taj operatives. The rest are... unstable. And sir, one of them ruptured."

The holo-map zoomed in on France. Or what was left of it.

A wide swath of devastation spread from the outskirts of Lyon... no buildings remained. Just scorched earth and shattered ruins. Surveillance drones caught only fragmented footage before they were torn out of the sky.

"Fifty entities. At least. Possibly more," Hill continued. "Unidentified species. Non-humanoid. Aggressive. Fast. We've lost all comms in the area. Estimated civilian casualties are over ten thousand. It's a ghost zone now."

"Ten thousand?" Fury clenched his fist.

"According to the footage, they released a wave of energy that killed everyone in less than a few seconds. There was nothing we could have done," Hill replied.

'Aron. Where are you? You couldn't even witness a few hundred dead civilians and expose yourself without thinking twice... Now, it's over ten thousand. If you were here, you would have saved them... Are you really dead, or are you fighting another war somewhere else beyond our understanding?' Fury exhaled slowly, as if trying to hold back the storm in his chest. "Who's on the ground?"

Hill tapped her earpiece. "Romanoff, Barton, Banner, Stark, Logan, Illyana... and Jubilee. Kamar-Taj is assisting, but they're tight-lipped. Refusing to share source data. They said it's a cosmic-level threat beyond our understanding."

Fury's voice dropped to a near growl. "They always say that when shit's about to hit the fan."

...

[France]

Fires raged across the remnants of the city. The destruction was spreading fast. Hulking N'Garai beasts tore through buildings like tissue, their screeches echoing for miles. Some flew overhead on leathery wings, while others crawled like spiders through the wreckage.

Tony Stark, suit scorched and dented, fired up into the sky, unleashing repulsor blasts. "Okay, I've fought Chitauri, outsiders, a couple of superhumans, rogue mutants, but what the hell are these things?!"

"Demons," Magik said coldly, teleporting in with her Soulsword dripping dark ichor. "From a realm you don't want to visit."

"Too late for that!" Jubilee yelled, launching plasma bursts from her hands, blasting apart two winged N'Garai as they dove toward a group of survivors.

Down below, Hulk roared as he tackled one of the massive ones, slamming it through what remained of a museum. Blood and bone splattered in all directions.

"Banner's doing fine," Clint muttered over the comms, firing explosive arrows from a rooftop. "Wish I could say the same for the rest of us."

"More incoming! Eleven o'clock!" Natasha shouted, spinning and shooting a snarling N'Garai straight through the skull. Its body collapsed in a heap of claws and rot.

Logan stood near the edge of the battlefield, claws extended, breathing hard. His suit was in tatters, but his expression was focused... predatory. "I've seen a lot of weird crap, but these things? They're not just killing. They're eating the dead."

Illyana nodded grimly. "They're drawn to magic. Chaos magic. They're here because something... someone is calling them."

"Hey, Jubilee... Now, might be as good time as any to call him," Natasha said over the comms.

"Him? You do know he's gone, right?" Jubilee threw another blast.

'Yeah, right. As if I haven't seen what he can do.' Natasha thought. She refused to believe that Aron died in Genosha. "If one fissure can cause this much damage, just imagine what would happen if a couple of more of these open..."

"Yeah, that's why we gotta find a way to stop it," Jubilee replied.

...

[Meanwhile] [Asgard]

Aron and Hela stood in the main hall of Asgard, surrounded by the Asgardian army. They were pointing their weapons at them even though they just saved their asses from Thanos.

Odin was sitting on his throne, holding his Gungnir by his side. Thor, who was now healed, stood beside Odin.

"Is this how you Asgardians treat your saviors?" Aron said with an arrogant smile.

**[POWERSTONES & Reviews]***

If you like my work, you can support me on:-

www.patr eon.com/UnknownMaster

[14 advance Chapters] [No double billing]

[17 chs of Two and a Half Men: Waking up as Charlie Harper]> [All chs available for all tiers]

---