chapters 101-105

chapters 101-105

"I am so incredibly stupid..." I lamented as I smacked my head lightly against the concrete wall in front of me over and over. I could have gotten Sif and I out of there easily! I had the perfect skill to refill my MP easily and there were thousands of zombie mooks in Times Square too!

The skill I was talking about was [Mana Replenisher]. It restored 10x the mana for each level of enemy I defeated. There were thousands of level 1 or 2 zombies surrounding us in that last fight. Each of them would have given me 10 to 20 MP! I could have carpet bombed Times Square with exploding [Lightspears] and instantly refilled my MP. Then I could have grabbed Sif and warped us back to Earth DxD.

"Is the Angel girl alright over there?" I heard the new woman whisper to Sif.

"I think she is just upset that we didn't emerge victorious. As an Asgardian, I am ashamed we had to flee. Especially upon seeing what had become of Thor. I should have stayed and put him out of his misery..." Sif trailed off

"Oh, so you are an Asgardian. I wasn't quite sure. My name is Andrea Stark. People used to call me the Iron Woman. Nice to meet you. And you as well, Angel." Andrea called out to me.

I spun around and faced her. "Sorry about that display there. I just realized I fought that last battle stupidly."

Andrea nodded. "Hey you were up against the Hulk. Not many ever face him and walk away. Let alone walk away perfectly unscathed." Andrea said, looking me up and down. "Do you have a healing factor? I was watching the nearby camera feeds as I flew towards the fight and the Hulk hit you pretty hard a few times."

"Layla was blessed by her father with a powerful healing sacred gear! None of the other Angels got one from him." Sif bragged for me excitedly. Well, that was the story going around at least.

I suppose from an outsider's perspective I would look like I had a healing factor since I never take actual physical damage. Gamer's Body for the win!

Andrea coughed before looking at me in shock. "You're father? You're an actual Angel? God's real?" She asked with some sadness. "Then why would he allow all this to happen..." She trailed off. She was obviously talking about the zombie apocalypse.

I pat her on the shoulder. "I'm not sure if he's in this dimension, but we're not actually from your dimension, Andrea. We're from one that's sort of similar but..."

"Another dimension... That's a thing? And everybody is still alive?" Andrea asked hopefully.

"Yeah. There's a bunch of them. Some people think the number of them is infinite." I explained.

"That's crazy. Well, welcome to our shitty dimension then! Once again I'm Andrea Stark. I'd offer you some cookies, but unfortunately I ran out recently and all the factories are full of zombies."

I laughed. "Nice to meet you. I'm Layla of the Fallen and my friend is the Goddess Sif of Asgard. Also you're a dude in our dimension. Everybody knows Tony Stark aka Iron Man." I added with another laugh.

Andrea bit her lip before looking at me pleadingly. "Please take me with you when you leave! I can't take it here anymore! I lost the Avengers... I lost my best friend Pepper...I lost Bruce..." Andrea looked defeated as she listed everything off. I felt bad for her. She was basically Will Smith from 'I Am Legend' at this point. Except her zombies had super powers...

"I would like to leave as well if Miss Stark is leaving." A robotic voice echoed out inside the bunker we were in.

"Is that you Jarvis?" I asked.

"Indeed. I assume there's no gender bent AI version of myself in your home dimension."

"No. Just another Jarvis as far as I'm aware." I said. I don't think Tony even bothered making Friday until the original Jarvis became Vision.

"I've never met another AI, let alone another me. It will be interesting to meet him."

"Did you guys not have Ultron here?" I asked.

"You know about Ultron! I never got to finish him before the outbreak. I was so close too!" Andrea said.

"Probably for the best then. In most realities he turns evil and tries to destroy the world. In some he even succeeds." I said.

Andrea blanched. "Oh... Well that's unfortunate."

I was kind of glad I panicked when seeing the zombie Hulk and forgot that skill now. Otherwise, Andrea would have been left to die in this world. I looked around her bunker. She barely had any supplies left. Her Iron Woman armor was also very scuffed and banged up. I'm surprised it was even flying anymore as it looked like it'd gone through a bunch of patch jobs.

[Yeah, had you remembered the gender-bent Tony Stark of this world would have been left for dead. It was a good thing you forgot. Imagine Tony's reaction when he meets the girl version of himself.]

That will be absolutely priceless...

"So when are you two leaving this dimension?" Andrea asked.

That was a good question. I checked on my MP and found that I was at about 400 MP so far. That was only the second time my MP had ever completely dropped to zero. I didn't want to have to rely on HP to MP Conversion either because each of the Hulk hits hurt like hell. Towards the end of that fight I only had around 2000 HP left. A couple more hits and I would have been suffering another Game Over. I only had 3 revives left after saving Raynare and I wanted to save them for absolute emergencies.

[Name: Layla of the Fallen]

[Title: Angel of Hope]

[Level: 15]

[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Anywhere]

[HP: 8200]

[MP: 413/2100]

[Vigor: 220]

[Strength: 70]

[Intelligence: 210]

[Luck: 100]

[Skills: Observe 3, Angelic Mastery 4, Acting 3, Light Manipulation 5, HP to MP conversion]

[Perks: Never Tell Me the Odds, Mana Replenisher, Lucky Shot, Mana Burst]

[Drawbacks: Sin of Lust]

[Available Free Stat Points: 0]

[Skill Up Point: 0]

I'd figured out that my MP recharged the same amount as my [Intelligence] Stat per hour. That meant I'd gain back 210 MP every hour. Unless I took down a whole bunch of mooks and refilled it that way.

"We can go in about 8 hours, Andrea." I said to the woman.

"8 hours..." she said with a faraway look. "Then I can finally escape this hell." Andrea ran up to me and gave me a hug. "Thank you so much for coming here!" She cried out with tears in her eyes. I could hear her sniffling over my shoulder. I patted her back and reassured her that everything would be okay.

She released the hug after a minute and wiped away her tears. Her look of sadness turned to panic. "I only have 8 hours to completely pack up all my stuff and download all my data! I have multiple petabyte hard drives worth of designs here!"

"Ma'am, I've already started the process so we can leave." Jarvis said calmly. "Everything should be uploaded to your portable storage drives within a few hours."

"Whoo! You're the best, Jarvis." she said as she took a seat to calm down. I giggled at her antics. Looking around her bunker, she really didn't have that much stuff. It was mostly supplies we could leave behind and scrapped machine parts she could replace easily enough.

I noticed Sif was staring off into the corner with a frown on her face. "Are you alright over there, Sif? You look upset."

Sif turned to me with a determined look on her face. "I don't want to leave yet. Not when this dimension's Thor still walks the earth as a Draugr. As an Asgardian, it would be incredibly shameful to leave my crown prince in that state!" Sif declared.

"WHAT!?" Andrea shrieked. "You want to go fight him!? He's not going to be alone. You two could barely take on the Hulk, and you want to take on all the Avengers now!?" She exclaimed.

"Yes." Sif replied bluntly.

"I guess that's that then." I said.

If Sif is staying, then I wouldn't mind taking on the Hulk again. It should be a different fight when I come at him with full MP. I could actually try out Mana Burst and immediately refill my MP reserves from all the nearby zombies. I wonder if I could then stack another Mana Burst on top of that one? I could be like Goku using Kaioken!

[Mana Burst isn't Kaioken...it doesn't stack.]

'Lame!'

"Fine!" Andrea pouted reluctantly. "I'll go with you two and help fight them as best as I can. Just don't expect much though. My suit hasn't had any really proper repairs in months, and my arc reactor is also running low," she said, pointing to her chest. "I can't let this thing run out of juice or else I'll die."

She had a reactor in the same spot that Tony did before I healed him. That just wouldn't do! My [Purger of Darkness] appeared on my wrists...

A moment later, Andrea marveled at her exposed chest, the arc reactor now resting on the floor beside her. Healing even faster than Tony, thanks to my potent Sacred Gear, I struggled not to ogle as she examined herself, having completely removed her shirt.

"This is amazing! Layla, you're incredible! Thank you so much!" Andrea embraced me once again, giving a grateful, shirtless hug.

"Ufufu. No problem." I welcomed this kind of gratitude. Having a pair of naked breasts thrust up against me was some appreciation I could get behind!

"Get off, Layla, you harlot! What kind of woman undresses so readily among strangers?" Sif exclaimed in clear jealousy. She was glaring at Andrea.

Andrea blushed at me before breaking the hug. She turned towards Sif with a red face. "What are you even talking about!? I I don't even like girls like that!" She retorted, glaring right back at Sif.

"Then don't jump into the arms of the woman I love when you're half-naked!

"I couldn't help it! I was so happy to finally be healed!"

"Liar, I know your kind. You're just trying to seduce Layla!"

"No I'm not!"

The two of them continued to bicker as I walked toward a nearby monitor. "So, Jarvis, any entertainment in this bunker? We'll be stuck here for a while after all while my mana recharges."

"We have all of the entertainment, Miss Layla."

Jarvis explained that, to preserve culture, he had downloaded every movie and song ever created and uploaded to the internet.

I whistled. That was quite the collection. I wondered what Star Wars in another dimension looked like. Time for an interdimensional pirated movie marathon!

XXX

In other places...

–Frank Castle–

"Please Frank! Don't do this!" The Colonel pleaded as he scooted backwards with his hands. A small trail of blood followed him on the hard cement floor. Frank Castle had double kneecapped the man to prevent him from running.

"You lied to us. You told us our missions were sanctioned by the government! And then when I found out they weren't and chose to leave peacefully and not report you all, you tried to kill me and my family! You killed my wife!" Frank yelled angrily as he leveled his assault rifle at the Colonels head.

"That wasn't my decision. I swear! This goes so much higher than you or me Frank! You can't kill me you. You don't know the organization you're messing with!"

Frank scoffed. "And what is this mystery agency? Hydra? The people who ran away scared from Layla?" Frank asked. He noticed the look of fear in the Colonel's eyes when he mentioned them. Frank put his finger on the trigger and snarled. "Absolutely disgusting. To think the man I respected and followed all this time was a disgusting Nazi..."

"Frank! Wait no!"

BANG!

Frank lowered his rifle with a tired sigh of relief. He'd finally avenged his wife and made sure his children would be safe. If Hydra ever reared their ugly heads to come after he and his, then he'd put them down too.

...

Frank limped his way out of the secret safehouse/bunker that the Colonel and the other members of his former squad had been hiding in. Once they had heard he survived and was on a warpath aiming for their heads, they had all turtle up and hid from him here in the middle of nowhere. He made his way up the stairs and emerged to fresh air and sunlight. This place was in the middle of woods bordering Canada. The perfect place to hide if they needed to quickly flee the country.

That was why Frank was surprised when he saw an obvious suit waiting for him just outside. There were a couple other agents behind him sweeping the area. None of them had their weapons drawn on him though so he figured he might as well hear them out.

"Frank Castle I presume. Are you alright. Your limping and covered in blood." The Agent asked.

Frank glanced down at his left leg. A bullet was stuck in their alright, but he had had worse. "I'm fine. Most of the blood is not mine." Frank said.

The agent nodded. "If you're sure. I've read your file and I suppose you've had worse. Anyway I came with an offer for you. I'm Agent Coulson of Shield."

"SHIELD?" Frank asked. He'd heard whispers of them in the military. They became a bit more known when Hydra was exposed to the world recently in the "Race Track Incident" that happened overseas. "What do you all want from me? I ain't joining you guys to be an agent. I have two kids to raise now." Frank said dismissively.

Coulson waved him off before presenting him with a folder. "You're not exactly subtle enough to be an agent. We'd like to offer you a spot in an upcoming initiative we have. We call it the Avengers."

...

–Yasaka–

"Mom! Check out this awesome move Sif taught me!"

Yasaka was sitting under the kotatsu watching her daughter swing her practice sword in the yard. Her daughter had rarely been so enthusiastic about anything, but she was really liking swordsmanship. Yasaka would see about getting her a proper full time teacher. Sif gave Kunou a decent foundation, but Yasaka knew she couldn't be her daughter's teacher now. Not until Kunou was older at least and could travel. Layla and Sif both struck Yasaka as women who were constantly on the move.

Yasaka envied them a bit. She wasn't able to leave Kyoto for long because she was linked to the Leylines. If she did, she would lose a massive amount of her power and wouldn't be able to protect her daughter. Nine tailed fox Yokai like them were incredibly rare after all. Yasaka had no doubt some evil devils had their eyes on her young daughter!

Yasaka continued to watch her daughter practice sword moves for a few more minutes while she enjoyed a calming cup of tea.

That was until someone knocked on her door and interrupted her relaxation.

"Lady Yasaka! The Fallen who poisoned Lady Kunou have returned. They are claiming to have the antidote to her poison and are acting very arrogant. They clearly do not know that she has already been healed." One of Yasaka's servants spoke to her through the door.

Yasaka's eyes narrowed into slits and a wicked grin formed on her face. The ones who had dared poison her daughter had finally come. Just like layla had predicted they would.

The air vibrated around Yasaka as natural energy laced with her killing intent started to leak out of her. She stood up and headed out to go visit her guests/future prisoners. She had promised Layla that she wouldn't kill them, but she never said anything about some casual torture. She'd find out who gave those Fallen the poison and who sent them after her daughter. Once she found out she'd send them back to the Grigori where Layla had promised her they'd be further punished.

...

And then I did so. Below me I rained death from above. Every single [Lightspear] crashed down towards the zombie filled streets below me...and exploded.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

I think I may have overdid it a bit...

A large chunk of the City...simply vanished from existence. The explosive purple Light Energy was so hot and bright that the concrete, steel, and zombies below all simply turned to ash. The resulting shockwave was so strong I was flung back hundreds of yards before I could properly stop myself. It looked like I honestly just dropped a nuke on the city...

...I'm glad I aimed that attack away from where Sif and Iron Woman were fighting.

[You have defeated the Hulk! You have gained the Hulk Serum! You have slain 1583 level 1 and 2 zombies!]

+22560 MP!

"Ugh!" I grunted as a massive wave of power suddenly entered me. This was insane! 'Over 22000 MP!' That was a number I couldn't even fathom before today! This much power felt like I had liquid fire coursing through me. I felt like I was going to EXPLODE!

This was not good. I was in so much pain that I could barely stay in the air. I was forced to descend to the now ashen ground. As soon my feet touched the ground I doubled over in pain. Painful shudders ran through me!

[Warning! Mana Burst has been forcefully halted due to an influx of too much power! The host's body has taken on far more Mana than it can safely handle! Host must undergo emergency evolution! The Host will be forcefully leveled up so they don't explode!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

...

[Level: 15→40]

[Name: Layla of the Fallen]

[Title: Angel of Hope]

[Level: 15]

[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Anywhere]

[HP: 8200]

[MP: 2100]

[Vigor: 220]

[Strength: 70]

[Intelligence: 210]

[Luck: 100]

[Skills: Observe 3, Angelic Mastery 4, Acting 3, Light Manipulation 6, HP to MP conversion]

[Perks: Never Tell Me the Odds, Mana Replenisher, Lucky Shot, Mana Burst]

[Drawbacks: Sin of Lust]

[Available Free Stat Points: 250!]

[Skill Up Point: 0]

...

[The host is in too much pain to properly distribute stat points. All 250 points will be allocated to Intelligence.]

I let out a scream as another pair of wings burst out from my back!

XXX

[Host has reached Ultimate Class. Congratulations!]

[Name: Layla of the Fallen]

[Title: Angel of Hope]

[Level: 40]

[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Anywhere]

[HP: 13000]

[MP: 23000/9200]

[Vigor: (400 X 2 Ultimate Class Bonus) = 800]

[Strength: (70 X 2 Ultimate Class Bonus) = 140]

[Intelligence: (460 X 2 Ultimate Class Bonus) = 920]

[Luck: 100]

[Skills: Observe 3, Angelic Mastery 4, Acting 3, Light Manipulation 6, HP to MP conversion]

[Perks: Never Tell Me the Odds, Mana Replenisher, Lucky Shot, Mana Burst, Perfect Muscle Control]

[Drawbacks: Sin of Lust]

[Available Free Stat Points: 0]

[Skill Up Point: 0]

[For reaching 100 Strength you have gained the perk Perfect Muscle Control! You can perfectly regulate how much force you use in combat or daily life.]

I took a deep breath to steady myself as I took everything in. I felt...stronger. A lot stronger. Physically and magically.

And Holy Crap look at my freaking stats! They all almost double once again. That fifth pair of wings came with a X2 multiplier! No wonder my Ultimate Class siblings were able to throw down with Gods!

Why was my Vigor so high though?

[Your Vigor has been properly adjusted to match your HP after the doubling of your stats from taking on your second Sacred Gear. Your 800 Vigor matches your 8000 HP and paired with the 5000 extra HP you received for each set of your wings, you now have 13000 HP total.]

That made more sense.

I could hear intense fighting a few blocks away, but I took a moment to stretch out and adjust to once again having such an influx of power. That was also when I realized I was currently stark naked...

The influx of all that power I gained had completely destroyed the outfit I had on...

Iron woman flew down and landed next to me. "Layla! Are you ok! I just took care of Clint and Natasha when the whole city shook! What the hell was that explosion–WHY ARE YOU NAKED!?" Iron Woman's robotic voice called out in panic.

"I won." I said while gesturing to all the destruction around me.

Iron Woman stared directly at me and I felt like Andrea was deadpanning at me underneath her armor. "Oh? You won did you? OF COURSE YOU DID! YOU BLEW UP NEW YORK!"

I pouted. "I didn't blow all of it up. Only like one third..." I said as I gestured to the rest of the city that was mostly intact. What did it matter anyway? The city was abandoned and filled with death.

"There is beauty in Death you know..." I heard a voice whisper in my ear. I jumped and spun around in a panic. "Andrea, did you hear that!? Andrea?"

I turned to Iron Woman and saw that she wasn't moving. That was also when I noticed something strange. Everything else wasn't moving either. The wind blowing the remnant ashes of the destroyed city had completely stopped. Sif's background battle against the zombie Thor had also gone completely silent. "It's like the whole world is just frozen." I muttered.

"That's because it has." The voice of a woman whispered again. And then an inky black void materialized in front of me.

I immediately put my guard up, but gulped when I saw the figure that emerged from the dark void. It was a woman with hair even darker than me and pitch black eyes. She was obviously supernatural and she was sinfully beautiful as well. Her body was free of any imperfections at all. I would have started flirting with her immediately if she didn't feel like...

"...Lady Death." I said her name almost instinctively.

"Layla, of the Fallen. The lover of one of my champions. You are a long way from your home." Lady Death said. She then casually waved her hand and a pitch black dress materialized over my body. It hugged all my curves perfectly and felt like I was wearing nothing at all. As a Fallen I loved the dichotomy of that.

I also blushed when I realized that I had been standing completely naked in front of one of Marvel's strongest beings... But what was she doing here?

[Heh, heh... about that...]

'System! What the hell did you do!?'

"Consider that garment another gift from me. It has the ability to hide you from the gaze of higher level beings when you enter a new dimension." Death explained. That almost sounded like a dress version of the Deathly Hallow cloak.

"Another gift?" I asked.

Death smirked. "Yes, your body had taken in too much power and you were on the verge of something not good... I offered the entity within you a small token of my power to aid you in your ascension." death explained casually.

[Yeah...As a system, I have built in rules and can't just hand you 25 levels of power in one go...but her?]

I shifted uncomfortably at that. She obviously wouldn't do this out of the goodness of her heart. She'd want something in return.

She spoke again. "As I said earlier, there is beauty in Death. But not in undeath. I do not like undeath..." She said as she glanced around with a sneer on her perfect face. The action caused me to shudder. It was not good when a being of her near limitless power was upset.

"So you want me to? Save the world or something?" I asked. "I think it's a little late for that. How many people are even left alive?"

"1354." Death answered casually. "They are beyond saving though. The virus has gone airborne. They will soon all turn as well. The only non-infected human left in this world is standing right next to you. She was infected as well, but when you healed her earlier, you also cured her." Death gestured to Iron Woman.

Woah! That was a lucky coincidence! Good thing I did that or I would have brought a plague back to my world...

"So what do you want me to do? Cure them all? I don't think I can get to that many people scattered across the world quick enough." I said. Maybe I could save a few dozen at most, but that was it if they were all truly infected already.

She shook her head. "This world is dead. There is no saving it. I want this world gone. Destroy it! That is the payment I ask. For granting you my boon when you needed it."

Destroy the world!?

How in the hell am I supposed to do that? I just reached Ultimate Class, not Super Class! I wasn't even sure if a Super Class could destroy a whole planet either. At my full power with 9000 MP I'd struggle to destroy this whole city! How much MP would it take to blow up a planet!?

Death noticed my frown before giving me a coy smile. "I care not how you do it. Just that it gets done. I cannot stop you from leaving this reality as I've already bent the cosmic rules enough by aiding you. But know this. If you leave this dimension without completing this task for me...I will be displeased." She said as she stepped back through her inky black portal and vanished.

"OK! OK! I'll do it! I'll destroy this planet!" I exclaimed. I did not need to be on her bad side. I wasn't a supreme masochist. I wasn't Thanos!

Now I just had to figure out how to do it. "Any ideas system?"

[You could use an Infinity Stone I guess.]

"That could work! Where do you think the Power Stone is?"

[With...Thanos?]

Fuck.

"We're gonna need another idea."

...

The world unfroze as I was talking to the system and discussing how to destroy the world.

"Woah! Thank you for putting on some clothes. Where'd that dress come from though? It's like I blinked and it was suddenly on you." Iron Woman's voice called out next to me.

Whoops. I almost forgot she was there.

I turned towards her. "Andrea? Do you have any ideas on how to blow up a planet? Cause we're gonna have to do that before we leave..." I said to her.

Her face plate lifted up and she gave me an incredulous look. "WHAT!?"

XXX