Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Marvel Comics, MCU or any related content.
Chapter 10 is already released on my discord. So hop on for an early read and news about updates and such. The invite link is on the Profile, hope to see you there!
A great many thanks to Lordlexx and SilvOFire for all the work they did on the Chapter!
"This doesn't look like a realm of demons. There's a lot less fire and smoke than I was expecting," was his first comment as he passed through the portal Morgan had created, his swords pointed downwards in a lax but ready grip. His eyes roamed over the greenish-brown rocks jutting out of the land, the purple-green sky and the reddish-brown sand before he turned towards the witch beside him. Within the few moments he had taken to travel from Earth to here and take stock of their destination, Morgan's attire had completely changed. She was now wearing a robe similar to her previous one, except this one had a metallic shine to it. Faintly, he could detect subtle traces of magic interwoven into the fibers. There was also a scabbard strapped to her back with a longsword sheathed in it; its pommel contained a giant emerald and the hilt was made of a bone-like substance.
"That is Excaliburn," Morgan spoke as she turned towards him causing him to snort as he glanced from her to the covered sword.
"Who named it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. Morgan smiled bashfully as she started walking forwards, Harry keeping pace with her, slightly behind her.
"I merged Excalibur and Caliburn before traveling back in time to gift it to my six-year-old self and charmed myself to remember the sword only when in great need." She gave a heavy sigh before she looked at the hilt forlorn, regret flashing through her eyes for a moment. "However, six-year-olds cannot be trusted to name great weapons with great originality and hence, Excaliburn was born."
Given all the shit he had seen since coming here, he wasn't even going to comment on the casual drop of time travel. A chuckle erupted from his throat, remembering the tales of Astoria's hellion-like tendencies and the weird sense of naming she had. The memory made him pause in his thinking for a moment as he remembered holding the corpse of the girl he had loved as his own sister, the girl felled by a sniper shot to the head. Shaking his head to banish the images of Astoria and others, Harry focused on his surroundings, his knuckles growing white from the grip he had on his swords. As he traversed the landscape, Harry realized something which perplexed him quite a lot.
"Lady Morgan, why does this realm feel more devoid of magic than a non-magical human?"
"Oh, I am a lady now?" she asked in surprise, causing Harry to look pointedly at her cleavage shamelessly. Morgan only laughed at that, causing Harry to shiver inexplicably at the sound before she raised her arms and waved towards the world around them.
"This isn't a demonic realm at all, and Annihilus is neither a demon nor a magical being in the first place."
"Then why did Calypso refer to him as such?" He asked, bemused at the fact that Calypso had termed this Annihilus with an epithet of the Great too.
"That is because his powers seem magical–and coupled with his looks–many ancient texts have named him as a demon. I have no doubt that Calypso found one of these texts and came to know about Annihilus," Morgan explained.
"And how does this… Annihilus seem magical?" Harry asked, kicking a stray rock out of his path and continuing forwards beside Morgan. He kept his eyes peeled for any foreign movement.
"He has a... device you can say. It is called Cosmic Control Rod; it gives him control over matter and energy. He can manipulate anything and everything," She said nonchalantly, even waving away with her hand as if controlling matter and energy was no big deal.
'Considering she has traveled through time for a gap of years at least, I don't even want to know the topmost improbable and powerful thing she has done or dealt with.'
"And does he possess any other powers other than this Cosmic Rod?"
"His body is covered by a strong armor that is fused to his skin. His strength is hundreds of times more than a human's. Oh, and he can fly," she added as an afterthought. Thinking for a moment, she continued, "Also, he can fire energy beams and he has an army to do his bidding and conquering."
"Have you fought him before?" he asked as he looked towards a speck on the horizon, the black dot rapidly growing.
"I have not, though not out of fear. I never had any reason to tangle with him and I do not have a habit of attacking people in their center of power. However, I suppose there is a first time for everything," she said as she unsheathed her sword and immediately buffered his senses with the amount of magic in that blade. His eyes tracked the milky-white sword's movement as Morgan spun it around in her hand expertly. The magical longsword left streaks of white in its wake; its sharp blade cutting through the air with nary a sound.
By the time he turned to his front, the specks were no longer indistinguishable dots on the horizon, instead they were flying monsters of some kind. The bat-like wings and chitinous bodies made them look like flying insects. There were dozens of them, with more streaming in behind them, their shrieks now audible to his ears as they flew swiftly. Before he had a chance to do anything, Morgan slashed once in front of her and Harry felt the magic leave the blade in the form of a massive, invisible blade which cut apart the first wave and some behind them. Their bodies were torn apart as the metaphysical blade passed through them like a hot knife through butter. Their blood and other pieces of them falling upon the terrain as they screamed shrilly at the pain and their impending death. Blue blood rained down from the sky and the creatures stopped for a moment before, with a warcry-like scream, they once again charged at the two mages.
Slamming his sword on the ground, Harry made spires of rock erupt skywards, the sharp tips spearing many of the low flying ones before he dropped his swords and raised his hands, forming a churning ball of flames between them. After a few moments, He released the fireball into the air and it exploded into a circular wave of fire that spread outwards, obliterating every creature flying in the air.
"Duck!" Morgan's voice came a moment later and he immediately went flat on his torso and turned towards her. She raised her blade and slashed through the air in a circle, causing a magical blade to once again launch outwards just like his fire spell, the attack felling all the creatures who had the mind to land on the ground around them. Standing up, Harry went forwards towards one of the corpses and looked down at the bluish-green creature beneath him, its wings shredded and its body torn apart by their attacks.
"So what more can that blade do?" He asked Morgan as they once again started walking towards Annihilus' now visible castle, the spires nothing more than a group of thin lines in the distance. Morgan gave a glance at him before she spoke
"Excaliburn can be used as a magical focus, much like the swords you have, although it can't change forms as those do. Aside from that, this sword is lighter than Vibranium and stronger than it due to the enchantments and the runes upon it. Though it is the base metal of the alloy the sword is made of. It can cut through anything from diamonds to adamantium however it will struggle against pure Vibranium."
"What is Vibranium?" He asked cluelessly, his interest piqued by the unknown metal's properties. Perhaps it was like mithril? Morgan stopped and looked at his face like she was looking at an abomination created through a peculiar science experiment before she started laughing madly. Excaliburn dropped from her fingers as she clutched her stomach, the sword returning to its sheath even as Morgan almost fell into the dirt, her fall only stopped by Harry grabbing her shoulders and keeping her straight. Not at all amused by what Morgan had got Morgan is such hysterics, Harry shook her lightly, causing her to stop laughing and look at him with barely concealed humor, and pity?
"Under which rock have you been living that you don't know about Vibranium? Everyone over the age of 15 nowadays knows about it!" She exclaimed as she calmed down, her emerald eyes sparkling with mirth and tears from her laughter. Harry just shook his head at her antics before Morgan spoke.
"It is one of the most valuable as well as the most versatile elements in existence. It can absorb vast amounts of kinetic energy and is the lightest metal found on Earth. It is not magical itself like mithril so it cannot amplify magic, but it can channel magic nearly as well as any magical creature, even the likes of dragons." She drew her sword and leveled it in front of his eyes, allowing him to see the barely visible edge and the minuscule runes engraved throughout the blade's fuller and along its edges. As it was, Harry wasn't able to feel a lick of magic from the metal itself other than the runes, yet it was able to act as well as the finest of wands when Morgan attacked using it.
"And I assume that your robe is also made of the same metal?" he asked, his eyes tracing the metallic shine of Morgan's robes, the fibers bending and conforming to fit snugly around her curves, yet unmistakably made of Vibranium now that he was able to understand its properties and why she wasn't wearing armor at all.
"Yes, it was a gift from the Wakandan Royalty when I helped them centuries ago. And I will tell you about that when we get my Kitsune back!" Morgan finished in a sharp voice when she noticed him open his mouth. As she started walking forwards, Harry couldn't help but think back to the legends that had surrounded this legendary witch's counterpart in his universe. Morgan Le Fay had the reputation of being one of the darkest sorcerers to have ever walked Europe, her acts of magic painting a picture of a witch who delighted in suffering and was the only one rumored to have been equal to Merlin in power and knowledge. The Canyon of Crystals, a magisightsite in the ruins of Avalon, was the result of her final battle with Merlin, a confrontation from which neither of them walked away. Even after all these years, the echoes of the magic thrown around remained in the area, the sheer heat and pressure during their clash resulting in the growth of thousands of crystals like it usually happened in the magma ducts deep below the Earth. For all that Dumbledore and he had been called the next Merlins, one glance at the ruined yet hauntingly beautiful landscape of Avalon had easily reminded of his place at the age of twenty.
Shaking his head, Harry tried changing into his thunderbird form, only for his throat to open in a soundless scream as every cell of his body stopped changing mid-way, leaving him almost unconscious in agony. His condition caught the attention of Morgan, who came over to him and froze his body using magic before she murmured something and ran her hand over his form. Warmth seeped to his muscles as Morgan's magic healed his jerky muscles within moments, allowing him to stand back up properly. Using occlumency to dull the remaining sensation of the pain, Harry looked at his hands in confusion and this time slowly tried changing his hand into a claw. He was able to make out the beginnings of fur on his hand when the vestiges of pain turned into an increasing pulse of agony, making him stop immediately and his hand return to normal.
"What the fuck is happening to me?" He asked no one in disbelief, his eyes staring at his hands in bemusement and anger.
"Power," Morgan said, causing Harry to turn towards her in askance. "I will explain afterward, but suffice to say, I think your changing magic and body are preventing you from changing into your animal forms." With that said, Morgan rose in the air and flew towards the castle. Cursing slightly, Harry glared after her rapidly diminishing form and started running in the same direction, now wondering why the hell did he decide to come with the witch in the first place.
Running at his full speed, the distance between him and the castle shrank rapidly. Along the way numerous insect-like creatures came crawling and flying towards him from all around, their cacophony of shrieks filling the otherwise soundless area. Morgan was a force of nature in the air, launching attack after attack ceaselessly with Excaliburn and her free hand, setting creatures on fire, bringing them close only to cut them down or crushing them into nothing but paste with revolving rocks flying at high speeds. On the ground, Harry was slashing and hacking continuously with his swords while launching blasting curses at the creatures whenever they came in groups. Transfiguring the bits and pieces of rocks and dead around him into spikes, Harry shot those at breakneck speed towards the encroaching horde, killing dozens in a single attack before Morgan finished them all off with a single slash from Excaliburn. Both of them were sweating at the exertion, the silence broken only by their heavy breaths and the dying cries of those fallen around them.
A few seconds later, both of them got their breathing under control and started walking forwards towards the looming castle in front of them. Made of a bluish-green stone, Harry looked around at the simple architecture and the lack of any decorations before hurrying after Morgan. His eyes widened in surprise when the witch abruptly stopped and turned to her right before laying her palm over the wall. Feeling the buildup of magic, Harry took a step back before the wall blasted inwards, creating a circular hole through which Morgan walked in, Harry following a second later. They emerged into a large room, this one giving him a pause for a moment at the number of those bugs gathered inside here. At a cursory glance, Harry was sure there were more than thousands of those in front of them, with more and more present above them in the multi-floored chamber.
"What is the meaning of this?" A loud voice boomed, the words accompanied by a clicking sound coming from all around them. His eyes turned towards the source of the first voice and he saw a large green and purple mass standing at the left end of the hall. Wings extended behind it, along with two horns on the top of its head as its pupil-less gold eyes glared at them.
"Annihilus!" Morgan hissed, a white and violet aura once again exploding around her as her temper flared visibly. The bugs around them started clicking and shrieking at once, reminding him eerily of his stunt at Aragog's lair for a moment before Morgan brought out her sword and pointed it at Annihilus.
"You will return my familiar to me, or I will kill you and your army right here right now! Do not play with things you don't understand, you jumped up insect!" Annihilus just looked at them for a few moments before he raised his head and screamed loudly, causing every single one of his soldiers in the room to respond with their shrill cries and swarm towards the duo. Before Morgan could do anything, Harry raised his palms outwards and shouted.
"FIENDFYRE!"
An enormous hydra made of red and black fire erupted from his hand. The flames churned and rolled within themselves as the hydra grew in size, letting out a humongous roar before it swept over the army before them. Three seconds, that is all it took for the magical flames to completely vaporize the enemies on the ground level before Harry ended the spell with a gasp, his mind more tired out than his body due to the control and concentration required to maintain the spell. All that was left behind in the wake of his massive Hydra was a completely melted floor with not even a single trace of the thousands of creatures that had been standing there just a few seconds ago.
"That is what will happen to you Annihilus if my familiar isn't returned to me." Morgan proclaimed without missing a beat as she floated off the ground and started moving towards Annihilus, Excaliburn unsheathed and glowing white in her hand. In response, Annihilus raised his hand, something orange glowing in his forearm before the glowing floor beneath them rose up and solidified into a dozen copies of Annihilus himself with swords and clubs in their hands. Morgan immediately flew towards one of them and ducked underneath its sword arm before cutting it off with a single swing of Excaliburn. However, the next second the detached arm flew sidewards at an impossible speed and slammed into Morgan, sending her careening towards the far end before it reattached to the giant golem.
"Of course, he controls matter and energy," Harry muttered as he raised his sword behind him and sent it forwards spinning towards the nearest golem before hurling a blasting curse at it too for good measure. His sword sank into the stone and erupted out of the other side effortlessly before his blasting curse struck the same spit and made a hole into its chest. Before he could do anything else, the giant repaired itself and with a speed that should just not be possible for its size, picked him off the ground by his torso and threw him into the ceiling. A split second later, he slammed into the ceiling and felt almost every bone in his body shatter at the impact, Annihlus making full use of his Cosmic Control Rod to turn the stone into metal.
Groaning painfully, Harry felt his healing factor from his animagus forms and the rituals he had performed go to work as his bones righted themselves and his muscles knit back together with sharp stinging all over his body. Using a sticking charm, Harry kept clinging to the roof until his body healed completely before he apparated down. Upon his arrival, He immediately had to move to avoid a golden beam of energy coming from Annihilus, only for a stone arm to enter his vision.
"PROTEGO MAXIMA"
Harry grunted as the floor cratered around him from the force of the blow before he apparated one again to appear directly above Annihilus. Once again the green and purple insect launched an energy beam at him instantly, this time scoring a hit and sending him skipping and rolling over the stone floor. Before he had even gotten his bearings back, Annihilus appeared above him and kicked him into the air towards a stone golem who slammed him down into the floor. His broken arm healing within seconds, Harry wasted no time in launching a beam of superheated fire towards the golem above him, turning it into molten slag within moments as he kept on moving in between the legs of the giants around him. Before Annihlus could once again do anything to the molten rock, Harry vanished it completely and ran towards the raised dais on which Annihilus had been standing.
Annihlus immediately shot towards him, his elbow raised for a brutal overhead swing which coupled with his astronomical strength would have turned most beings into a paste. Turning his body to allow the blow to swing by, Harry slammed his fist into the armor Annihilus wore and let loose the most powerful blasting curse he could. Annihilus' armor shattered immediately at the point of contact, the rest breaking off in portions as he flew backwards, his shrieks making him wince at the sharp sound. Before anything else could happen, a hand grabbed his elbow and pulled him backwards causing him to lose sight of the flying insect and his stone replicas before he was standing in a forest. A small yip caused him to turn around and his eyes grew wide as he looked upon a sight that would have caused even the most stone-hearted of people to coo and smile. Morgan was standing in front of him with a massive smile on her face as she held up a small fox in her hands. The animal had golden fur all over its body and two tails sprouting from its back. Even at its tender age and small size, it was radiating more magic than some breeds of adult dragons!
A small pink tongue kept on licking at her face, causing her to giggle and laugh at the Kitsune in her hands before she cradled it to her chest and looked towards him. Struck dumb momentarily by the beauty of the moment and the woman herself, Harry took a few seconds to realize that Morgan was saying something. Pushing down his embarrassment at his frankly childish and hormonal actions Harry looked towards Morgan and spoke.
"What were you saying?" He cursed as he felt his voice hitch for a single moment and given the knowing look Morgan gave him, she was fully aware of the effect she was having on him.
"I was saying that you can inside the castle if you want and take a look if any of the eggs respond to you."
"Thank you for the offer Lady Le Fay, but...I have some other things I need to take care of at the moment," he said as he shook his head lightly. Nodding at him, Morgan raised her right hand, causing him to roll his eyes internally as he grasped it lightly and kissed the air above her knuckles lightly, before disappearing silently to the X-Mansion.
It was around 3 AM that Jean finally decided to go on a walk around the premises after not being able to find sleep. Her thoughts haunting her with the images of the butchered children in Ethiopia and the subsequent massacre by Magneto. Within seconds Friends of Humanity had come out on the streets in droves, with Anti-Mutant slogans and actions. On their way back, she had felt the hatred and fear radiating from the masses up in the stratosphere and for a moment, she considered broadcasting the images of those innocent children who were quartered like livestock in each of the minds below her. Given the storm that had followed them to America from Africa, Ororo was also in a similar mood.
Shaken up by the events of the night himself, Professor Xavier had welcomed them all and talked to her and Scott regarding what they had seen. His focus was especially on her since he himself knew the perils and cons of being a powerful telepath. She had tried articulating all that she thought of the situation but she could only sit there numbly as the terrified and tear-streaked faces of the whole family swam in her mind. She had even closed off her mind the best she could during the talk, for she knew her thoughts were much too close to Magneto's at the moment for the Professor to know. She tossed and turned the whole night, unable to find even a wink of sleep as imagined cries of fear and shouts of anger echoed through her head. Shaking her head to dispel the thoughts, Jean moved towards the to fix some dinner for her, having had none the night prior. Going outside to sit in the cool wind of the garden, Jean had just bit into her burger when she caught a flash of purple coming from the forest. Her interest piqued, Jean stood up and walked the established trail deeper into the woods, the recurring flashes lighting up the foliage around her every few seconds.
It took around ten minutes for her to emerge in a large clearing, a heavily charred and wet clearing with burnt and uprooted trees also present at one edge. At the center stood Harry his whole form cloaked in water as he made various shapes out of lightning in front of him. One second the purple-white lightning was shaped like a random alphabet, the next it was a small eastern dragon flying in coils. For how long she watched him do this she didn't know, her awe-filled gaze broken only when Harry collapsed on the ground with a series of coughs and jitters, the water falling with him while the lighting dispersed in the surroundings with a wave. She immediately rushed to him, the sounds of her slippers alerting him to her presence. A soft yellow light blinked into existence above them and Jean paused for the moment at the condition Harry was in. His teeth and lips were stained with fresh blood and he had gotten a lot paler than she remembered seeing him just hours ago.
"Hey," he began with a grimace, sitting up shakily and giving her a semblance of a smile.
"What the hell are you doing at three in the morning?" She asked with bewilderment, her eyes looking around once more at the destruction around her.
"Practicing," he said, before he stood up and cracked his neck, the blood disappearing entirely from his face and shirt.
"What kind of practice requires this?" She motioned towards the clearing, her tone exasperated and annoyed at the same time. Harry chuckled a little before he raised his right hand, the hand crackling with lightning, beneath the skin!
"When I was fighting Loki, I gained some new powers for the lack of a better word. I could use electricity and thunder before, but not to this level and proficiency. And for my water constructs, I always had to specify what I wanted or how I wanted it in my head, but now? It comes to be as easy as breathing."
"But?" Jean prompted, sending the frustration and a small amount of anger coming from the wizard.
"But, those powers augmented and mutated my animal forms beyond my current power levels and control. In short, I cannot change into those animal forms until my body gets strong enough to withstand the stress and not self-combust in a magical bomb. Even worse, my transformations had passively enhanced my body due to their magical nature and by the way, I had bonded with them but due to this sudden and extreme powerup, I won't be able to use those transformations until I train my body physically but even then I am back to normal within a few hours and once again I have to get stronger!"
"I don't understand." Jean scrunched up her face and floated a log over to sit upon it. "You are unable to even use those passive abilities of yours? Why?"
"Because the energy which mutated my animal forms will also travel through my muscles due to the passive enhancements. Since my body will not be strong enough to handle it for a long time, I will be unable to sustain those changes continuously and thus I will have to continuously get stronger normally so that I reach that level soon. The best way to do that is to practice the new powers." He finished with a shrug. "It will change my physiology permanently but slowly, making my muscles, bones, and every cell strong enough to live and function under the pressure of the extra energy which will flow through me."
"And won't other people and organizations pick up on these night-time excursions of yours?" she questioned, her hand waving towards the charred ground and then the electricity still lighting up his hand.
"No," he shook his head with a smile and then floated into the air. He reached his hands out to his sides and a golden dome became visible over their heads, the bubble touching the ground just at the edge of the clearing.
"That is a Fidelius charm. I cast it two weeks ago with Charles' permission. Basically, this clearing can be found and seen only by those who already know of its location and have been told by me."
"Wait? When did you tell me about the location?" Jean asked, her eyes tracing the golden dome with amazement in her eyes. Harry dropped down to the ground and sat on the log beside her, the golden shield around them becoming invisible once again.
"I spoke it during the training the next day. Only Charles, Logan, Ororo, and you are aware of it, and Scott too now that I think about it. So, why are you walking around in forests at this time? Shouldn't you be in bed?" He asked curiously and Jean felt her heartbeat just a little bit faster at the way the light above them made his emerald eyes shine like gemstones. Then the words were spoken by him registered and her mood plummeted down the drain instantly. She immediately felt her throat close up a little and she curled up as much as she could, to prevent Harry from seeing the tears that were sure to come. She jumped a little when a hand came upon her shoulder and Harry hesitantly scooted a little closer to her. When she didn't move even a little he finally hugged her to his side, Jean pressing her as close as she could to his warmth.
"This is about those children in Ethiopia right?" He asked in a gentle tone, his hand squeezing her shoulder lightly. She nodded into his chest and the next second she felt someone lightly tap the borders of her mind. Confused slightly, Jean immediately reached out towards him in the astral plane. She examined his mind's defenses closely, having not had the chance to do so previously. His mind's walls were strong, impressively so considering he was no natural telepath. And when she extended a tendril of thought towards his mind, she yelped at the feeling of shock which coursed through her mind, giving her a feeling of getting a brain freeze
"Now that wasn't a nice thing to do Ms. Grey," Harry chided her playfully as he appeared back in front of her as she came back from the astral plane before he barked out a laugh at the look Jean threw at him.
"So why are you blaming yourself?" He asked as he walked towards the boundary of her mind, the grey walls parting a simple thought from her to provide him entry as she materialized in front of him with her arms crossed.
"I could have saved all of them had I been just a little faster or if I-", her rambling was cut off as Harry shook his head and said, "You couldn't have done shit with the circumstances. You need to realize Jean, that sometimes you just cannot do anything but watch as things happen."
Anger immediately overcame her and she snarled as she turned around, fuming as she said, "How can you of all people say that? If I had been more powerful and more trained I would have stopped those people from killing the children, maybe even prevented the deaths at the hands of Magneto!"
"Please, what would have you done? Harry scoffed, his own arms crossing together as he walked towards her. "Control their minds to stop their actions? Telekinetically stop their weapons? You have no training in the former and you might have very well crushed their minds into soup, turning them into vegetables at the best and dead at the worst! On the other hand, your control to do the second is abysmal at the moment! You cannot hope to pinpoint and stop bullets or blades moving at high speeds amidst the situation you were in! So yes, they were going to die whatever you would have done today!" His words stung her and her pride more than she could bear, and the truth in them hurt her even worse. In a fit of anger and embarrassment, Jean returned all of the day's frustration and feelings in a single sentence as she snapped at him.
"Like Daphne and Altaria died in your arms?" She wanted to take back the words before they had even properly left her, but so mortified and ashamed she was of herself that she could do nothing but look as Harry threw her an impassive look. Thunder boomed in the background and Jean felt a chill invade her senses as Harry disappeared immediately from the edges of her mind. When she came to her physical senses with an apology ready on her lips and tears in her eyes, it was only to watch Harry stand up and look at her with his eyes glowing an ominous scarlet, crimson electricity sparkling over his form even as grass and trees died around them with frost spreading over them.
"Goodnight, Ms. Grey,' he said as he shot up in the air, disappearing from her sight in the darkness above, a gigantic bolt of crimson lightning streaking through the heavens. As she walked back towards her room, the heavy rains did a perfect job of masking her falling tears, if only they could have washed away her sorrow too.
There are some points to be addressed now…
No, I don't do requests and I won't do them so stop pming me about that.
Harry's fight with Annihilus may seem 'nerfed' to some, but that is the truth of things right now. Harry isn't OP and neither he is the top dog. He is leagues above the likes of CA and SpiderMan and he can even demolish Tony easily, but Cosmic Control Rod is a big thing, something right up there with StormBreaker, Gungnir and I think even the Infinity Gauntlet if the user is creative and Powerful enough.