X-Force: Beyond Omega
Ch: 161 [Wanda’s training]

[Outer Rim – Dead Star System]

[Time doesn't flow here]

[One Year Later> By Earth's standard] 

The ground cracked as a wave of raw magic tore through the landscape.

Wanda blinked forward, her white cloak trailing behind her like smoke. Her hands moved fast, casting a complex glyph in midair. Dozens of flaming sigils spun out from her palms and circled Aron like a magical minefield.

He didn't flinch.

The moment she launched them, Aron waved a single hand. All of them turned to dust before reaching him. "Still using that old trick?"

"Show-off," Wanda muttered.

"Why are you holding back?" Aron asked, rolling his shoulders. "Come on. I'm wide open."

Wanda smirked and launched herself forward, feet barely touching the scorched rock below. Her hands pulsed with light. Pure white, refined, controlled. She'd evolved far past the witch she used to be.

Aron met her charge head-on.

He raised both arms, fingers splayed wide.

From the air, dozens of translucent shields formed like petals, spinning around him. Wanda's strikes landed, blasting through a few, but each time she broke one, another took its place. He wasn't just blocking her. He was reading her.

"Don't tell me this is your magic style," Wanda teased, slipping behind him with a teleport and aiming a hex at the back of his head.

"It's evolving," Aron said calmly.

He spun, caught her wrist, and slammed his palm into her chest. The impact sent her flying across the canyon. She twisted midair, hit the ground, bounced once, and rolled to her feet.

"Still no Phoenix?" she asked.

"Nope. No Death either," Aron replied. "Just good old-fashioned magic. Like you wanted."

Wanda brushed a streak of dust off her shoulder. "You're getting cocky."

"You're the one who said I couldn't beat you without my crutches."

"Oh?" She smiled darkly. "Let's see if your new tricks survive this."

She raised her hand.

Lightning crackled.

The sky above darkened.

Seconds later, a storm ripped into existence. Bolts of energy rained down like missiles. Aron raised both hands, muttered a few words, and the lightning curved away from him, bending unnaturally before crashing into the canyon walls.

Wanda didn't wait.

She appeared right in front of him, hand glowing with runes carved from forbidden languages.

She drove it forward.

Aron caught her again, but his face twitched. That one hurt.

The rune had bitten through his shield and burned through his arm guard.

"Finally," he muttered. "You're trying."

She kicked him.

He slid across the ground, stopping near the edge of a crater they'd made twenty minutes ago.

He stood, wiping a smear of blood from his lip.

Wanda floated above the crater now, eyes glowing, hands alive with white fire.

"You're getting better," she said. "But you're still not there."

Aron gave a small smile.

Then vanished.

Wanda's eyes narrowed. She snapped her fingers, casting a detection spell in all directions.

Too late.

He reappeared behind her.

One rune, glowing blue, etched in the air.

"Bind."

Chains of light wrapped around her midair. It was a high-level magic that was anchored to her own aura signature. Her own power couldn't tear it apart immediately.

She gritted her teeth. "You copied my signature? You bastard."

Aron floated in front of her, hands at his sides.

"Knowledge is power."

Wanda laughed. "Okay. That's new."

He closed his fingers into a fist.

The chains tightened, sealing her magic for a moment.

He stepped close.

"Say it."

Wanda smiled.

Then her body broke apart.

White butterflies exploded from her skin and scattered into the sky, each wing beating like a war drum. The chains wrapped around her clattered to the ground, empty.

Aron looked up. "You always did love theatrics."

Above him, thousands of butterflies twisted midair and formed Wanda's body again. Her hair whipped around her face as her eyes glowed like twin stars. She held out both hands.

Magic tore the sky apart.

A lance of pure energy came crashing down from the clouds.

Aron's eyes narrowed.

He raised one hand.

The lance hit.

A shockwave ripped across the dead world.

The ground cratered beneath him. Mountains in the distance shattered. The sky flashed white. For a second, everything went quiet, then the pressure snapped, and dust rose in all directions like a wall.

When the smoke cleared, Aron was still standing.

But he was bleeding.

A long cut ran down his chest, his shirt torn, skin burned.

He looked up.

Wanda was already in motion.

She dropped from the sky, faster than a missile, fists glowing. She slammed into him like a meteor. The ground cracked beneath them, then exploded. Aron hit the rock hard but grabbed her wrist mid-swing and twisted.

She flipped, landed behind him, and kicked him in the back.

He flicked his fingers, opening a portal and redirecting her kick back at her face. Wanda staggered back as her kick hit her own nose. But it didn't hurt her, but the force made her stagger back.

Aron's body was already healed. He took a deep breath.

"You have become stronger than I imagined. And your ability to maintain that limitless raw magic is just incredible. But, it's time to get serious."

Aron raised his hand, and the ground stopped shaking. He let out a slow breath. Then moved.

Fast.

Wanda blinked, and he was already in front of her.

He didn't say a word. His hand slammed into her stomach, hard enough to blast her through the canyon wall. She barely had time to gasp before Aron appeared above her, palm open.

He cast six spells at once.

One summoned a wave of gravity, pinning her down.

Another froze the space around her so she couldn't teleport.

The third was a beam of kinetic force that smashed into her side, slamming her into the wall again.

The fourth carved a rune into the air, Seal of Silencing, and dropped it on her, muting any verbal spell.

The fifth exploded beneath her, pushing her upward like a blast from below.

And the sixth?

A spear of pure, condensed magic.

Aron threw it.

Wanda twisted midair, just barely dodging, but the spear exploded behind her and caught her in the shockwave, hurling her higher into the sky.

Aron blinked.

Appeared above her.

He grabbed her ankle and yanked her down.

She hit the ground like a meteor, carving a trench fifty feet long in the rock.

Dust and stone flew everywhere.

She didn't get up right away.

He floated down slowly, arms folded.

"You told me not to hold back."

Wanda spat blood.

She smiled.

"Good."

Then she clapped her hands.

A pulse of raw magic burst out, shredding the silencing rune. She vanished in the flash and reappeared behind him.

She struck at his neck, but he'd already cast a shield.

It blocked her.

He grabbed her arm, twisted, and muttered, "Break."

A shatter rune formed along her arm and sent a shock through her nerves. It didn't break her bones, but it numbed her long enough for him to twist behind her.

Aron cast four more spells at once.

Mirror Bind: her magic turned on her for three seconds.

Silence Glyph: again.

Gravity Press: he dropped her to the ground like a lead weight.

Pulse Shock: a pulse of sound slammed her chest, knocking the breath out of her.

Wanda hit the rock hard.

Aron stood over her, eyes glowing.

"You're amazing. But you made a mistake."

She coughed. "What?"

"You tried to copy my fighting style instead of developing your own style. That's where you messed up. You already have power, and I've taught you all the spells. Now all you need is to find your own style. So," He extended his hand toward her. She took it, and he yanked her up. "Keep practicing."

...

...

[Wanda's first-person POV]

It started small.

The first seven months we trained together in that timeless realm, he was still… Aron. Annoying. Sharp. Wickedly smart. He teased me when I slipped up mid-spell, stole bites from my lunch, pushed me in the middle of a cast just to "test my reflexes." I hated it. I loved it.

We laughed a lot.

We talked more than we fought, sometimes. About the past. He told me things he'd never said before... about the guilt, the weight of having so many people depend on him. About losing pieces of himself every time he used a new part of his power.

And then month eight came.

And things started… slipping.

He stopped laughing. First, it was little things. No smart comments when I caught him off guard. No smirks when I tried to out-magic him. Then he stopped eating with me. Said he didn't need food anymore. Said taste was "a distraction."

I told him he was being dramatic. He didn't even blink.

By month nine, he barely looked at me when I talked. His eyes, once full of sarcasm or spark, started to look… still. Not calm. Just empty.

He could still fight. Still cast magic. Still break mountains in half with one hand if he wanted to. But when I told a joke, he didn't even smile. Not even a twitch.

So I started watching him closer.

I noticed how long he could go without blinking. How he stopped breathing when he wasn't thinking about it. How he'd stare into the sky sometimes, not just looking at stars, looking through them. Like they weren't even there. Like nothing was.

"Do you feel anything?" I asked once. Just blurted it out after a long duel. He'd won, of course. He always won now.

He stared at me, not surprised. Not offended.

"I remember what it's supposed to feel like," he said.

I didn't ask again after that.

Month ten? I caught him standing in the middle of a still-time bubble. He wasn't moving. Just floating. Silent. Eyes closed. I stepped inside. He didn't notice.

I touched his hand.

Cold.

Like a statue.

He didn't flinch. He didn't speak.

It was like he'd paused himself.

I stayed there for three hours. Just holding his hand. Trying not to cry.

When he finally came back, all he said was, "Sorry. I was trying to understand something."

"What?"

"What it means to be human."

And that broke me a little.

Month eleven, I tried everything. Jokes. Music. Fighting dirty. I slapped him once. Not hard. Just to see. He blinked, looked confused for a second, then nodded like I'd reminded him of something he'd forgotten.

But I could see it.

He was slipping.

He remembered emotions like a scholar remembers facts. "I loved once." "I feared once." "I was happy once."

Not feeling. Just remembering.

I told myself he'd come back.

I told myself I could pull him back.

But…

Month twelve, the day before we returned home, I found him sitting on a cliff, staring into the void beyond the stars. Not thinking. Just existing. Light pulsed under his skin in soft waves. Phoenix. Death. Time. Power. All of it, moving like a calm sea beneath his flesh.

I sat next to him.

Didn't speak at first.

Then I whispered, "Do you even remember what it feels like to love someone?"

He didn't answer right away.

Then…

He simply stopped all his power. It was like a remote switch that he just turned off. Now, I can't sense any power for him. 

"Phew! That was weird," Aron said while scratching his head. 

"What the...?!" I was confused by his sudden normal reaction.

"Oh, sorry for making you worried. I used my power to isolate a part of me into another spectrum, or you can call it an isolated dimension, exclusive to me. I was just training my new powers and my emotions," He explained, and then paused for a moment as if he was arranging his thoughts. "Eew! I looked like an emotionless creep, huh?"

I swear to God, I'm gonna hit him someday, real hard.