The price increase for secondary Kryptonite alloy caused an imdiate uproar.
Mostly in the United States.
Russia and China barely reacted at all. At that level, money wasn't the issue anymore. The real problem was supply.
As long as Drex Valen was still willing to sell, they would keep buying.
After Urd sent the Arican representatives away with a polite explanation about limited production capacity and possible future shortages, Washington finally stopped pushing the issue.
They had offered to assist with manufacturing, of course.
Urd wasn't stupid enough to fall for that.
The mont Arica obtained the production formula for secondary Kryptonite alloy, Blade Tech Industries would beco obsolete overnight.
anwhile, Drex wasn't sitting idle.
Once again, the Dark Knight armor appeared in public during an armored truck robbery in Los Angeles.
The sight of Dark Knight Drex descending onto the scene imdiately triggered cheers from nearby civilians.
Several police officers visibly relaxed in relief.
Their captain, on the other hand, looked like he was developing a stress fracture between his eyebrows.
Because every ti Dark Knight Drex solved a crisis before the LAPD could respond, it made them look as incompetent as the Washington tropolitan Police during earlier incidents.
Taxpayer-funded spectators.
That was the reputation they were drifting toward.
People also quickly noticed that the Dark Knight armor had changed again.
The magnificent eight-bladed wing system mounted on the back was gone.
In its place sat an unfamiliar device crackling with arcs of electricity.
Drex had upgraded the high-frequency blades and floating cannon system into a full electromagnetic generator array, allowing him to openly manipulate electromagnetism and gravity without needing to conceal the source of his abilities.
At this point, there probably weren't many enemies left who could overpower the Dark Knight armor through brute force alone.
The robbers barely had ti to react.
Drex spread his hands slightly.
Every firearm in the street twisted violently into spirals of warped steel, tangling around the criminals' wrists and fingers like tal vines.
Then the electromagnetic currents invaded their nervous systems.
Artificial signals hijacked their bodies.
The robbers collapsed instantly, limbs twitching uncontrollably as their own muscles stopped obeying them. Terror flooded their faces, but even screaming beca impossible.
Then the explosion hit.
A deafening blast erupted from the side of the street.
Drex reacted instantly.
Electromagnetic force compressed into a containnt ring while gravitational distortion twisted the fire and shockwave inward. The explosion that should have flattened the entire block vanished almost imdiately, crushed into nothing before it could spread.
Even so, one civilian had still been caught in the edge of the blast.
A young woman.
Beautiful. Late teens, maybe early twenties.
Drex caught her before she hit the ground.
The mont he touched her, he sensed sothing violently changing inside her body.
A mutant?
An Inhuman?
Random mutation?
He couldn't tell.
But the transformation fascinated him imdiately.
And the bombing itself was suspicious. The blast had been far too powerful to be accidental. Soone had clearly targeted him.
"Black Queen," Drex said calmly as he lifted into the air with the unconscious girl in his arms, "trace the origin of the explosive. I want everything."
During the flight back, Drex noticed the ends of the girl's hair beginning to crystallize.
Blue.
Glowing.
Translucent strands spread through her black hair like frozen neon veins.
Without hesitation, Drex shielded himself with electromagnetic force and instantly teleported back to the base.
The girl was placed carefully onto a dical platform while Black Queen began a full-body scan.
"There's nobody like this in the comics," Drex muttered thoughtfully. "Did my interference create her?"
By then, the transformation had fully completed.
The lower half of her long black hair had beco luminous blue crystal-like strands. Strangely, the material emitted no radiation at all, and despite its appearance, it remained as soft and flexible as normal hair.
Then the girl opened her eyes.
Even her irises had changed into a cold, crystalline blue.
"Where... am I?"
She sat up slowly, pressing a hand against her forehead.
"This is a dical facility owned by Blade Tech Industries," Drex explained evenly. "You were caught in the explosion during my confrontation with the robbers. I brought you here to make sure you weren't injured."
The girl blinked.
Then her eyes widened.
"Drex Valen?!"
"Yes," he said with a nod.
Recognition worked wonders.
A mont earlier, she'd been tense and frightened. Now her anxiety evaporated into excitent so quickly it was almost amusing.
To her, this probably felt like winning so impossible cosmic lottery. Soone like Drex Valen existed in an entirely different world from ordinary people.
And unfortunately for her privacy, Drex could hear every thought running through her head.
He's even more handso in person.
This can't be real.
Drex didn't look remotely embarrassed.
Instead, he picked up a data report from the nearby console.
"Well," he said, "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
The girl hesitated.
"This is about my body, isn't it?"
"Correct."
Drex handed her a mirror.
"The bad news is that you look like this now."
The girl stared at her reflection in shock.
She had already been attractive before the transformation.
Now she looked almost unreal.
The glowing crystalline hair gave her an ethereal, dreamlike beauty.
"…That's the bad news?"
She turned the mirror slightly, examining herself from another angle.
"This looks incredible."
Drex paused.
Fair enough.
"The good news," he continued, "is that your body underwent an unknown mutation. There's a strong possibility you developed superhuman abilities."
During her unconscious state, Drex had already taken biological samples. Black Queen was still analyzing them in the background.
"Superpowers?" she asked excitedly. "Seriously?"
If anyone else had said that, she probably would've laughed it off.
But this was Drex Valen.
The man practically redefined impossible on a weekly basis.
Still, after the excitent faded slightly, uncertainty returned.
"How would I even know if I have powers?"
"I can arrange testing."
Drex was genuinely curious himself.
After a series of controlled examinations and stress tests, the girl's abilities finally awakened.
And the results surprised even Drex.
What she possessed didn't seem to be superpowers at all.
It was magic.
A strange energy hidden deep within her body had been activated by the explosion. Drex imdiately suspected her lineage wasn't ordinary.
Maybe sothing cosmic like Star-Lord and the Celestials.
Or possibly sothing darker.
Demons. Hellspawn. Dinsional influence.
He made a ntal note to ask Ancient One about it later.
The girl's magical abilities were terrifyingly unique.
The first was molecular disintegration lightning.
She could release blue lightning-like energy that carried neither voltage nor electrical current. It only mimicked the appearance and speed of lightning.
But anything struck by it began disintegrating at the molecular level.
Even vibranium could theoretically be broken apart.
Under different circumstances, that power would've been horrifying.
Fortunately, Drex already possessed mastery over electromagnetism and gravity, making him far less vulnerable to such attacks.
The second ability was barrier creation.
She could surround herself with crystalline blue polygonal constructs possessing imnse defensive power. Even Drex's psychic abilities failed to penetrate the shield completely.
The third ability was the most disturbing.
Soul Drain.
Targets captured by her magic could have their strength, life force, mories, and even souls extracted directly from them.
Drex stared at the test results for several seconds.
Honestly, only the future Scarlet Witch might be able to challenge her once her powers matured.
Then reality rippled quietly beside him.
A familiar figure stepped through space itself.
The Ancient One had arrived.
Apparently, she had once again sensed magic originating from beyond Earth's dinsional structure.
Drex looked at her appearing out of thin air and resisted the urge to say the first thing that ca to mind.
Do you seriously have nothing better to do?
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