The thick fog dissipated a bit, and finally, the guests could see each other. Although the situation seemed bizarre, they could only sigh inwardly, the wedding needed to go on.
Father stood at the podium, feeling very complicated. This section of the reading had already been recited twice, and with this, it would be the third time. He truly doubted whether God disapproved of this union.
But there was no choice, he was just hired for the job. During the rehearsal, he realized that if any of these superheroes truly believed in religion, they wouldn't need him, a mere mortal. However, even if some might have met Jesus resurrected, there wasn't a single true believer among them.
"Today... we... uphold... the Lord..." He slowly enunciated each word, taking the opportunity to look around observing if anything unexpected might happen, preparing to swiftly duck under the podium to avoid being affected.
This time it went smoothly, he was one sentence away from finishing. Just as that last sentence was about to fall, the church doors were suddenly blasted open and a fiery red figure appeared outside.
Everyone turned their heads, unable to see clearly who it was, violent forces swept through, nearly tearing the entire church apart. The superheroes deployed their various tricks, retreating as quickly as possible.
In the endless storm of power, the silhouette of a woman appeared indistinctly. Magneto swiftly grabbed Anya beside him and shouted, "Wanda! Stop!"
Hovering at the door was Scarlet Witch Wanda from this universe. Her eyes flickered with boundless rage, resonating even in the ferocious power of Scarlet with bitterness and sorrow. She had almost completely transformed into an Evil God, and the primary target of the storm attack was the colossal cross standing at the center of the church.
Bruce hurriedly descended, shouting as he went, "Why are you attacking me? I'm not truly Jesus!"
Bruce indeed served as a defense tower, but defense towers also have blood volume. When a heavily equipped core from the late game comes to strike the tower, he wasn't actually a legless defense tower, he had to run.
Luckily, he remembered there was a Father under the podium, not forgetting to protect the believer before running, he snatched up the Father with him. In the next instant, the power of Scarlet swept through like a tornado, tearing the podium, the cross, and the stained glass behind into fragments.
"Stop her!" Captain America shouted, "This is the city center! We can't let her..."
Without his prompt, the superheroes had already taken action. But most of the superheroes were not magicians, and close fighting was ineffective in front of Scarlet Witch. The mutants made a move, but Wanda had already entered a berserk state, not even Magneto could penetrate that frantic power of Scarlet, unable to even approach Wanda.
"Why is she doing this again..." Iron Man was baffled, "Could this be the powerful hand of destiny again?"
In the Central Universe, Wanda revealed an understanding expression as she felt the emotions within the opponent's power. Wanda's appearance here from this universe was no coincidence; she might have known about destiny's existence.
Among so many universes, so many superheroes, whose experiences under destiny's arrangement had been the most tragic lesson, it would be Scarlet Witch. Batman lost both parents, The Flash lost his parents too, but Scarlet Witch Wanda lost her parents young, was displaced as a child, in adulthood her husband was killed, her children gone too, and after the "No More Mutants" event, was thoroughly ostracized by the mutants, completely isolated and helpless.
Yet precisely because of this, she became invincible, having no attachments whatsoever. Once she learns that everything she's been through was orchestrated from behind, it would be strange if she didn't go berserk.
If the church were truly the stairway to Heaven, Wanda would surely ascend like a Hobgoblin from Hell, tearing apart everything in sight step by step.
Wanda of the Central Universe wanted to stop her, trying hard to counter those scarlet energies. Due to her presence, the flesh and blood superheroes were not torn apart, and the church wasn't completely wrecked. But this wasn't a viable solution.
"Franklin!" Reed from the Central Universe shouted. A small figure in a suit beside him floated into the air, frowning at Wanda.
Franklin certainly could stop Wanda, but having grown close with Wanda Aunt from the Central Universe, he didn't want to hurt any Scarlet Witch. If he were to use brute force, although he could calm the storm, Wanda would surely get hurt, maybe even die.
Franklin pondered, the small figure vanished from the scene—he directly traveled through time back to the past, reminding Wanda Aunt before going to the Fusion Universe to bring her two sons.
Originally, Wanda felt the Fusion Universe was crowded and didn't want to bring the kids. Mainly, Billy and his brother were at a very mischievous age, Wanda feared they might cause trouble at the wedding, so she simply sent them to Battleworld Base, having other universe Wandas help look after. Yet actually, the brothers were eager to go.
Franklin spoke on their behalf, Wanda found it reasonable. They used to play together, so not wanting to separate was normal too. Wanda hesitated for a moment and eventually decided to bring them along.
With the past timeline altered, naturally, the two brothers appeared in the church. As frequent visitors to Battleworld Base and interaction with other Scarlet Witches, the brothers called mom upon seeing Wanda. Therefore, when Wanda from the Fusion Universe blasted open the church doors and briefly appeared, Brother Billy instinctively shouted, "Mom?"
Suddenly, the berserk power of Scarlet seemed to stagnate, those eyes shimmering with crimson light turning to look at the two children in the church. But what followed wasn't joy and affection, it was a deeper fear instead.
This time, the church was completely torn apart, and all the superheroes soared into the sky. The arrival of the two brothers did not calm Wanda's emotions; instead, it further provoked her.
Franklin was really speechless. He brought over the other Scarlet Witches and brothers from Battleworld, thinking they would get along nicely, but who knew this one went completely mad.
He had no choice but to travel back to the past again. However, he still let the two brothers come. Because their mutant ability can affect emotions, as long as they're forewarned, and they suppress Wanda's angry emotion the moment she appears, things should be fine.
After hearing Franklin's explanation, the two brothers also felt pity for this universe's Wanda. So when the wedding started, they were on high alert, just waiting for Wanda to appear.
With a bang, the door was blown open, and the power of Scarlet, carrying a furious rage, rushed in. Billy opened his mouth in a silent scream—at that moment, time stagnated.
"Report! Unresolvable rules have been observed! The decoder, the decoder is about to..."
Lucifer rushed backstage like a whirlwind, looked at the chaotic data, and let out a howl: "Why is the decoder broken again?! What is it this time?!!"
"The emotional rules section has displayed an unprecedented power model," the angel reported. "The decoder isn't fully repaired, and it's overloaded again..."
Lucifer closed his eyes tightly, as if he was on the brink of death. He rushed over for a closer look; wasn't this the Scarlet Witch's two sons, Shamanistic and Quicksilver?
But upon closer inspection, something felt off. These were the only Scarlet Witch's sons in all universes, not Shamanistic and Quicksilver. The origin of these two children in the Central Universe was different from other universes, not fragments of Mephisto's soul, but truly born of Scarlet Witch and Jarvis, thus their abilities were different.
These two kids, who knows whether due to mutation or otherwise, possessed the power to control emotions. Coincidentally, DC's emotions do have power, manifested as the Emotional Spectrum, yet they aren't Lamp heroes, and their powers conflicted with the rules of the Emotional Spectrum.
At the wedding, in front of so many people, they were using their mutant abilities; the decoder couldn't decode it yet needed to decode it hard. Previously, observing the Creator God's instructions at the Mother Model Factory had already somewhat damaged the decoder, and now it worsened. Lucifer watched helplessly as the entire Great World's decoder shattered.
This will have a very severe consequence—namely, the collapse of the entire universe's cognition.
The so-called decoder is essentially involved when something is observed, defining and expressing it in the universe system. For instance, when a newly emerged superhero uses his power for the first time, the use process requires the decoder's participation.
Once this thing breaks, it means that everything new appearing in the universe can no longer be recognized; the observed information cannot be accurately written into the universe's system, which basically equates to the complete breakdown of the universe system.
Lucifer made a flash and arrived on-site. At this time, the entire universe's time and space were stagnant. He looked at the chaos on-site, not knowing where to start.
He opened his eyes, and countless timelines appeared before him. He began to search through them one by one, trying to understand how this accident happened and find a way to fix it.
After a careful search, unsurprisingly, each different accident record had the same name—Shiller.
Lucifer clenched his fist, Anatoli!!! Look at your good student!! How do you plan to repay me?!!!
But because it was Shiller, Lucifer dared not act rashly. If he changed something and caused an issue for Shiller, he'd have to face that Soviet's Iron Fist again.
Standing among the wreckage, Lucifer, in utter helplessness, yelled up to the sky, "Dad!!!!"
In the instant God descended, time and space reversed, all things revived. The bewildered awakened, the grieving calmed. The surging tides settled, the unsolvable problem was solved. All things returned to their perfect state.
"Bless you, Richard Grayson and Coliantha..." A deep voice echoed through the church. People seemed to hear it, seemed to see it, but all they could actually see was bright light.
"Happy wedding." He said.
Then something shattered. Everyone felt an inexplicable lightness, as though some invisible shackles were broken, the burden of fate they carried vanished without a trace.
(End of Volume)