"This counts as a success, right?"
After returning, Artoria didn't go home immediately. Instead, she found a lab to begin studying the unconscious Wanda siblings. Their genes had stabilized, appearing to have finished merging. She just didn't know if they had obtained superpowers yet; it seemed she would only know once they woke up.
"Why did you come here instead of going back?"
While she was thinking about how to study the two, a sudden voice startled Artoria. Looking in the direction of the sound, she breathed a sigh of relief. The person who had suddenly appeared was Gaea. With Gaea's abilities, finding her and quietly bypassing Saturday's defense system was a piece of cake. At this moment, Gaea was curiously questioning Artoria, but when she noticed the siblings, her expression suddenly changed, and she stared intently at Wanda.
"What's wrong? Is there something special about her?"
Seeing Gaea's expression, Artoria thought that she must have discovered something. Although she knew about Scarlet Witch's powerful abilities, she didn't say it. She wanted to see if Gaea had discovered the uniqueness of Chaos magic. If she had, Artoria wouldn't need to explain too much to her.
"This child is very special, very special."
Not noticing Artoria's slightly mischievous look, Gaea looked at Wanda. She could feel the power emerging from Wanda's body. If it were ordinary power, she wouldn't care, but this power indeed made her a bit concerned. She felt that once this energy grew, it could destroy the world in an instant. This made her hesitate. If it were before, she would have directly obliterated this person, but now, she was curious whether this girl would destroy the world or protect it in the future. No one could predict that.
"Are you collecting this now, Artoria?"
Ignoring Pietro, who was with Wanda—poor child! Although he was fast enough, he didn't receive the gaze of a big shot and was completely overlooked. A bit pitiful. Gaea turned her head and spoke to Artoria. As she spoke, Loki's Scepter on the table floated toward Gaea and Artoria as if it had lost gravity. As it floated, the scepter began to automatically decompose, and a pale yellow gem flew out from it, stopping quietly in front of Artoria.
"Yes, I am currently collecting the Infinity Stones."
Reaching out to hold the Mind Stone in her palm, Artoria observed it. Compared to the golden-orange of the Soul Stone, the Mind Stone's color was much paler. But just by holding it in her hand, Artoria felt her telekinesis increasing and her thought processes accelerating. Her usual perception was now like a radar, especially the ahoge on her head, which was now standing straight up like a lightning rod as if it had taken stimulants.
"I now understand why every Infinity Stone can trigger a planet-destroying war."
Closing her eyes to feel this rapidly increasing power, Artoria opened them and said to Gaea. This feeling was truly wonderful. People with weak wills would have no way to escape such temptation. A way to increase power without needing to train or pay a price was the most tempting thing in a Universe where strength was everything. However, Artoria released the Mind Stone without hesitation, letting it float quietly in mid-air. It wasn't that she was so noble or didn't want the Infinity Stones! It was just that she didn't have a controller like the Infinity Gauntlet yet, so it was more appropriate to store it away for now.
"Did you also foresee the crisis from the future?"
Gaea didn't know why Artoria was collecting such power, but she assumed that Artoria must have also foreseen some fragments of the future. She felt that the usually salted fish Artoria wasn't the type of person who urgently needed to increase her power. But since even Artoria wanted to become strong quickly, she must know something. Although Gaea could feel some things by virtue of her status as a god, it wasn't her forte; creating life was her primary role.
"How can future events be certain? Is it really a crisis?"
Without answering Gaea directly, Artoria put away the Mind Stone and said something trivial. This made Gaea understand that Artoria wasn't very willing to talk about it. She wasn't foolish enough to keep questioning her. The future isn't set in stone; otherwise, she wouldn't have been sealed for so long. If everything could go according to the future she knew, she wouldn't have become an Old God.
"How do you plan to handle this child?"
Poor Pietro was completely ignored by Gaea. Gaea pointed at Wanda lying on the experimental table and asked Artoria. Actually, she advocated for eliminating this unstable factor, but it all depended on Artoria's intention. After all, this person was brought here by Artoria. If her actions made Artoria resent her, Gaea wasn't very keen on doing such a thing.
"Let's just leave them like this for now! Anyway, they probably won't wake up for a couple of days."
Artoria didn't have a particularly good solution to Gaea's question. After all, Wanda's power would definitely be a huge help in the future. Whether in movies or comics, Chaos magic was like a cheat code. In the movies, she almost solo-killed Thanos. In the comics, while in a frenzy, she uttered a single sentence that nearly drove Mutants to extinction. So Artoria highly appreciated Wanda's power. If guided well, she wouldn't even fear the Celestials, let alone Thanos.
"Then let's go with your decision! However, I'm curious, Artoria—instead of searching for dangerous powers like the Infinity Stones, why don't you use this sword?"
Saying so, Gaea directly took out an ornate long box. The moment she saw the box, Artoria instinctively took two steps back. She hadn't expected Gaea to bring this out. Ever since receiving memories from her clone, Artoria understood what kind of thing the Ancient One had sent her. But she hadn't broken the seal on the box to take out the excalibur inside. This was a bit unusual for the current Artoria who urgently needed power, but that's what she did. She ignored the box; even as the Holy Sword inside called out to her, she didn't respond. She had a feeling in her heart that once she picked up excalibur, she would regret it.
She had never touched the box, so she didn't expect Gaea to bring it out and place it in front of her. Facing Gaea's confusion, Artoria didn't know how to explain or what to say, but her heart was in a mess. Although she always referred to herself as a King, when it came to actually picking up excalibur and being crowned, Artoria still felt some inner unease. That's why she had never used such a powerful weapon.
"This sword—though I don't know why you resist it, it is your possession after all. If you're worried about being unable to control its power, why not try to bond with it? I can feel that it's a good child."
Gaea could see Artoria's reaction; she could feel that Artoria was instinctively resisting, yet there was still a sliver of longing. This mixture of emotions made Gaea curious, but it was truly a waste to leave such a powerful force idle without using it. Especially since she had recently felt that the sword's spirit was calling out to Artoria. She decided to help. With this thought, Gaea moved her hand, and the box slowly shrank until it finally turned into a necklace.
"When you need it, undo the seal! The Sorcerer Supreme should have taught you how. Communicate with it more often in your daily life."
Gaea, clearly having misunderstood, put the necklace on Artoria. This left Artoria completely bewildered. What was going on? That wasn't what she meant! Could they not just have a conversation without all the mental gymnastics? Could they just stay on the same page? And why was she so fast with her hands? However, Artoria had no choice but to accept Gaea's kindness, as Gaea left the laboratory with a look on her face as if she had done a great deed, likely heading back. Artoria could only look at the necklace buried in her cleavage with a wry smile, then at the empty laboratory, finally accepting Gaea's kindness with resignation.
After covering Wanda with a blanket, Artoria left the laboratory. Inside the entire lab, only the peacefully sleeping Wanda and the still slightly shivering Pietro remained in their dreams; it seemed the weather had turned cold.
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.