Demonization, Pepper’s Guidance

"This is why I forbid magicians from interfering with the mundane world and secretly suppress magical families."

Sensing Kaecilius’s condition, Ancient One sighed. "With magicians around, it is difficult for humanity to develop a mature civilization, because magicians can seize and destroy human civilization at any time."

"Suppress magical families? No wonder those magicians all became comic relief."

Wang Bert laughed. "Master, you’re not going to kill me to keep me quiet, are you?"

"Once human technology develops to a certain level, the restrictions on magicians can be lifted."

Ignoring Wang Bert’s antics, Ancient One said, "However, I definitely won’t live to see that day. When the time comes, you can decide for yourself."

"Master, are you planning to go to Heaven or Hell?"

Wang Bert asked curiously. Ancient One’s death would not be a true death; she would merely use it to escape.

"That depends on how things develop."

Ancient One said, "After I die, the burden of Earth will be handed over to you and Strange."

"I will never disappoint you, Master."

Wang Bert said. Now, he had enough strength and confidence to take on this responsibility.

At the Sky Base, Kaecilius had Dreykov stand to one side while he took out the Darkhold, the book that made people want to tear it apart, and asked, "I’ve already obtained Dracula. What should I do next?"

The Darkhold answered, "Very simple. Use Dracula’s blood to draw a Magic Array, then recite the incantation."

"That simple?"

Kaecilius was overjoyed. It was so simple that he could barely believe it.

"It is that simple. Once you finish reciting the incantation, all of you will die along with every Vampire."

The Darkhold said with absolute certainty, "There will not be a single living person left in this Sky Base either."

Kaecilius was stunned. "What do you mean? Why would we die?"

"Because you are not strong enough. If the Sorcerer Supreme recited this incantation, they would at most suffer severe vitality loss. But you cannot do that. You must pay with your own lives and souls."

The Darkhold said, "There’s no helping it. Who told you to be such trash? Speaking of which, trading the lives of you worthless fools for the Blood God’s life is an incredible bargain."

"What bargain, my ass."

Kaecilius cursed. He was the future Lord of the Dark Dimension. How could he die like this?

The other magicians shook their heads repeatedly as well. They had followed Kaecilius for immortality, not to become sacrifices.

Kaecilius asked, "Is there any way to avoid dying?"

The Darkhold asked, "You really won’t reconsider? Dormammu would be grateful to you."

"What use is that puppet’s gratitude?"

Kaecilius cursed, then suddenly realized something. Turning to the other magicians, he said, "Don’t tell anyone about what was just said, including the part about sacrificing ourselves."

"Understood. We absolutely won’t tell anyone."

The magicians nodded again and again. They had no respect for Dormammu at all. After all, he was merely a puppet who worked all year without rest or pay.

Kaecilius turned back and asked, "Darkhold, is there another method?"

The Darkhold said, "Yes. Have a Demon God supply the energy. However, this can only be done after the Three Sanctuaries are destroyed. Otherwise, Kamar-Taj will discover it."

"We have to destroy the Three Sanctuaries first? Fine. With the Blood God’s personality, he won’t come hunting me down anyway."

Kaecilius said with some self-mockery, "He has no interest in such trivial matters. His time is reserved for chasing women."

The Darkhold said, "You really do know yourself. You know that you are just a nobody."

With a slap, Kaecilius angrily shut the Darkhold. Thinking of something, he asked Dreykov beside him, "Have you sent anyone to seduce the Blood God?"

"Of course, but it was useless. The Blood God never gets emotionally involved. Once he pulls up his pants, he refuses to recognize anyone."

Dreykov said.

"I really don’t know why Ancient One chose someone like him as a guardian. I’m better than him, and far more disciplined."

Kaecilius snorted coldly and said to Dreykov, "Prepare the materials. I’m building an Altar."

Next, Kaecilius built the Altar as quickly as possible and contacted the Spider Demon God, asking him to demonize the men and women in the base.

Simply put, spider eggs would be implanted into their bodies, after which they would fuse with spiders and become half-human, half-spider creatures.

The Spider Demon God said, "Kaecilius, I can help you, but after these people die, their souls must belong to me."

"Whatever. I don’t care about that. I only want subordinates with strong combat power."

Kaecilius said. The Spider Demon God laughed. "No problem. I happen to have several new products that I can test on them. These women have excellent aptitude. They are prime test subjects."

"Do as you wish."

Kaecilius waved a hand, ordering the other magicians to cooperate with the Spider Demon God. As for himself, he found a room and focused on cultivating Black Magic, while waiting for Mordo to come looking for him so he could give him a huge surprise.

However, what surprised Kaecilius was that Mordo, who had been hunting them relentlessly before, did not appear at all over the next month or so.

Kaecilius thought to himself, perhaps Mordo could not locate them because they were in the sky? Then I’ll let him live a little longer. Once the operation begins, I’ll lure him out and destroy him.

Kaecilius snorted, then summoned a Magician and asked, "Is the demonization proceeding smoothly?"

"Very smoothly. Only five agents went mad during the demonization process. We dealt with four of them, while the remaining one fell from the base."

The Magician replied, "At this altitude, she must already be dead."

"Only five went mad? It seems the quality of these women is quite good."

Kaecilius did not care. He said, "Hurry up with the demonization. I can’t wait to see Ancient One and the others’ despairing faces."

"So can I."

The Magician grinned viciously. The power of darkness had greatly magnified the evil thoughts in their hearts. They were completely different from how they had been over a month ago.

Both their strength and their temperaments had changed completely.

On this fine, sunny day, Wanda followed Mindy and the others to visit Iron Man. The moment they entered, they saw Chang Wei beating Lai Fu… Ahem, wrong. The moment they entered, they saw Pepper beating Tony up.

This was no joke. She was truly beating him up. Pepper’s fists flew rapidly toward Tony, while Tony could only hold his head and defend himself, unable to fight back at all.

As the saying went, constant defense would eventually fail. An opening appeared at Tony’s chest, and Pepper spun around before kicking him hard in the chest, sending him flying more than a meter away.

Pepper let out an excited shout. This felt amazing. She had never known fighting could be so fun.

Everyone was stunned. "What is this, a domestic violence scene?"

"Fighting isn’t fun at all."

Tony climbed up from the ground while clutching his chest, then asked Madame Gao beside him in dissatisfaction, "Madame Gao, did you leave something out when teaching me? Why can’t I ever beat Pepper?"

Madame Gao said frankly, "I told you long ago that Pepper is a martial arts genius. As for you, you are rotten wood."

"I, Tony Stark, am rotten wood?"

Tony was so angry his nose nearly went crooked. Jarvis’s voice sounded from the side. "Mr. Stark, based on your combat results over this period, you truly are rotten wood. You have no talent for hand-to-hand combat. I suggest that you write a combat program and let Friday handle close-range combat for you."

"Shut up, Jarvis. I’ll dismantle you sooner or later."

Tony cursed. Looking at the excited Pepper, not only did his chest hurt, but his waist hurt a little too. How was he supposed to live like this in the future?

At this moment, Mindy and the others walked over. Pepper had always liked Mindy, so she immediately went to greet them. Tony breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged a few polite words, and hurried off to the lab to develop a combat program.

Tony Stark was going to use technology to defeat talent.

After chatting with Pepper for a few moments, Mindy pointed at the somewhat nervous Wanda and introduced her. "This is Wanda, my future master’s wife."

Wanda blushed. "Mindy, what nonsense are you talking about?"

Pepper extended a hand to Wanda and smiled. "You’re Wanda? Hello, I’m Pepper."

Wanda shook Pepper’s hand and asked in surprise, "Ms. Potts, you know me?"

"On the night you moved into Blood God Manor, someone thoroughly investigated your background."

Pepper said frankly, "Many people study every move the Blood God makes."

Wanda looked incredulous. "Is it really that exaggerated?"

"It isn’t exaggerated. The Blood God is the World Guardian. He is extremely important. Put it this way: if the Blood God sneezes, Earth trembles three times."

Pepper smiled. "Wanda, you came specifically to see me, didn’t you?"

"Am I really worthy of such an important man?"

Wanda nodded somewhat uneasily. "Yes. There’s something I want to ask your advice about, Ms. Potts."

"You don’t need to be so polite. I’ll spar with Mindy for a while first, then we can have a proper talk."

Pepper said. Wanda thanked her gratefully. Given Pepper’s status, such warmth toward her left Wanda feeling deeply flattered.

Of course, Wanda also knew that this was not because of herself, but because of the man behind her.

Pepper was naturally no match for Mindy. Rather than sparring, it was more accurate to say that Mindy was teaching her.

Pepper was highly enthusiastic. On one hand, she was gradually coming to enjoy fighting. On the other hand, she could exercise and lose weight—she wanted to regain her former figure as quickly as possible.

An hour later, Mindy and the others went to play with Morgan and Murphy, while Pepper, having finished her shower, spoke alone with Wanda.

Wanda asked somewhat awkwardly, "Ms. Potts, how did you make Mr. Stark become a good man?"

"I knew you wanted to ask that."

Pepper smiled. "The answer may be different from what you imagine. Reality isn’t a movie. It isn’t that simple.

"To turn Tony into a good man, I spent nearly twenty years. During those twenty years, not only did I have to serve him every day, I also had to deal with those damned women—taking their clothes to be washed and calling cars for them."

As she said this, Pepper gritted her teeth slightly. It seemed she needed to find a chance to spar with Tony a few more times.

"Huh?"

Wanda was dumbfounded. This answer was completely different from what she had imagined; even the whole style was different. Wanda had imagined something like a movie or fairy tale, while what Pepper described was reality.

"Child, playboys in the real world do not become good so easily. Making them give up an entire forest to cherish only one tree is not simple at all."

Pepper said, "Your situation is even worse than mine. Tony is merely a rich man, but Bert is the guardian god of this world. Most forces want him to keep playing with women. They even take the initiative to send women to him.

"Put it this way: the more women Bert has, the more reassured they are. To them, this concerns world security."

"Huh?"

Wanda was stunned. She even wondered whether she had misheard. The Blood God playing with women was related to world security? That was too absurd. "On one hand, they hope women will increase Bert’s attachment to Earth. Last time, America nearly organized a group of beautiful women to go to another planet and snatch him back. They are very worried that the Blood God will be taken away. Earth cannot do without his protection now."

Pepper said, "On the other hand, the major forces need a god with weaknesses. If the Blood God had no desires or wants, they would not be able to sleep soundly."

Wanda shook her head. "I don’t understand."

"You will understand in the future."

Pepper said, "Wanda, if your love for Bert is not that deep, I suggest you throw everything aside, enjoy two carefree years with him, then dump him and marry someone who loves you."

Wanda’s face instantly turned red. Twisting the corner of her clothes, she said, "When did I ever say I loved him? Also, isn’t that a bit inappropriate?"

Wanda had never been in a relationship before, so she was extremely serious about the Blood God.

Pepper smiled and said, "If you love him deeply, then I suggest you work hard to improve yourself and strive to become Bert’s only wife. I mean his only wife, not his only woman. Bert is a god. He is different from Tony."

Wanda frowned. "His only wife? I have to strive for that?"

"The Blood God controls an empire. Becoming his wife is not a simple matter. You need the abilities of a Queen."

Pepper said, "Just like me. To become Tony’s wife, I had to possess the abilities of a president."

Wanda could not help asking, "Ms. Potts, isn’t that too much to give? Devoting your entire life to one man, even living for that man?"

"That depends on just how much you love that man."

Pepper said, "If your love is deep enough, what is wrong with devoting your whole life to him?"

Wanda was a little at a loss and deeply shaken. She asked, "Ms. Potts, have you ever regretted it? And are you happy now?"

"I have never regretted it, and I am very happy now. From the moment I first saw Tony, I swore that I would become his woman."

Pepper said happily, "So I studied hard and became his assistant. Then, step by step, I made sure he could never leave me."

Wanda fell silent. What Pepper had said was too realistic, and she could not process it all at once. In her heart, love should have been like a fairy tale, where the prince and princess lived happily ever after.

Pepper smiled. "I happen to be short an assistant. If you are interested, you can work part-time at Stark Industries."

Wanda said gratefully, "Ms. Potts, thank you, but I’ll think about it. My thoughts are a little muddled right now."

"It’s fine. I’ll keep this position open for you."

Pepper smiled. She thought highly of Wanda. This innocent young girl might truly become the mistress of the Blood God Family.

This was also why Pepper was so warm and friendly toward Wanda—if she built a good relationship with Wanda, the Blood God Family and the Stark Family would become even closer.

There was no need to say how many benefits came with being tied to the World Guardian.

After thinking hard for three days, Wanda chose to work at Stark Industries. Do not misunderstand—it was not for that damned Blood God, whose sleeping with women was somehow related to world security. Wanda merely wanted to learn more and see more of the world. Yes, that was all.