Ryan glanced at the white void around them and smiled. "Haven't you seen enough along the way?"
"I have already made up for all the regrets I thought I had, crushed every enemy who stood against me, and won the hearts and bodies of the women I love. So, naturally, none of those things are my fear."
Hearing this, Wanda thought about it and realized it seemed to be true!
This guy, whose mind was just as terrifying as his strength, was already doing well enough by not leaving others with regrets. How could he possibly have any of his own!
But she didn't believe that a living person could truly be without weaknesses!
Even if he was stronger than a god, there had to be something he feared; she just hadn't discovered it yet!
Wait!
Wanda, who had been lowering her head in deep thought, suddenly seemed to realize something. She abruptly snapped her head up to look at Ryan, and a wild grin spread across her red lips!
Because she had found the answer!
He lacked nothing, had no regrets, and didn't fear any powerful enemy, but he must fear one thing, and that was...
Wanda waved her delicate hand, and red light immediately swept across the entire white space with her as the center, shrouding it in a thin layer of red mist.
Having done all this, Wanda looked at Ryan with her chin raised and an expression of certain victory.
"Heh heh, I told you no one is without weaknesses, and I have now found your only one!"
"You fear nothing, but you fear yourself!"
"An... ordinary version of yourself!"
As she spoke, Wanda pointed her index finger above Ryan's head. Huge boulders suddenly appeared out of thin air and fell, crushing Ryan beneath a pile of rubble with a thunderous 'rumble,' leaving only his head exposed!
Ryan: ...
Why do I feel like a damn monkey pinned under the Five Elements Mountain?
Wanda slowly walked over to Ryan, who was pinned beneath the rocks, and crouched down.
"How does it feel? Do you feel an unprecedented sense of powerlessness? You've found that none of your abilities can be used, and you're pinned down and can't get out, right?"
"So, give up. As long as you say you give up, I will pull you out, return all your abilities to you, and make you a better version of yourself!"
"Now, take my hand and say those two words!"
Wanda's eyes glowed with an intense red light. She tilted her head and extended her hand toward Ryan with a smile of uncontrollable excitement.
She had found his weakness. As long as he took her hand, she could completely control everything about him!
Whether it was his body or his thoughts, they would be under her permanent control!
Ryan: ...
He looked at her, thought for a moment, and finally reached out his hand, but...
Slap—
Ryan's hand didn't take Wanda's; instead, he pressed it against the ground!
The next moment, CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—
Before Wanda's wide eyes, the pile of boulders weighing at least hundreds of tons that was crushing Ryan actually moved!
In the end, he actually pushed them up by sheer force. Ryan easily tossed aside the boulders and stood up from the ruins!
Wanda stared blankly at Ryan, who had stood up as easily as if he were rising from a pile of pillows. Her brain had completely stalled!
Had her Chaos Magic accidentally changed the matter into the wrong substance, turning the stones into cotton?
Whoosh—
It wasn't until the next second, when Ryan kicked a boulder beside his feet—one over two meters in every dimension—sending it flying past her ear with a gust of wind that made her face sting, that she believed she hadn't made a mistake!
Those were real boulders, not cotton!
Wanda looked up at Ryan, who was looking down at her after casually kicking away the 'pebble' by his foot, and asked in disbelief:
"I modified the reality of this space. You shouldn't be able to use any superpowers; you should be just an ordinary person! Why do you still have this kind of strength?!"
Ryan looked at Wanda with an indifferent gaze and said calmly, "You're right, you did do that. But sorry, you can strip away the superpowers I obtained later, but you can't strip away my Innate Strength."
"In... Innate Strength? Is there such a thing?" Wanda's mouth hung open, unable to close for a long time.
She didn't understand!
And Ryan didn't care whether Wanda understood that his Spider Abilities were brought over from his previous life.
He grabbed Wanda by the neck, lifted her into the air, and a slow grin spread across his face.
"I believe I told you before, if you looked at me with that high-and-mighty gaze again, it wouldn't be as simple as a warning. I'd have to spank your butt!"
"Eh?" Before Wanda could react, she felt herself being hoisted up.
Pia! Pia! Pia! Pia! Pia! Pia!
Then, within Ryan's consciousness space, the loud sound of repeated spanking rang out.
Feeling the sharp pain on her bottom, Wanda naturally couldn't endure it. With tears in her eyes, she shouted:
"You bastard! Don't think you can do whatever you want just because of your innate strength! You lost your other abilities, but I didn't!"
Shouting, Wanda tried to use her Chaos Magic to escape Ryan's clutches.
But when she tried to summon her Chaos Magic, she discovered to her horror that nothing happened!
The Chaos Magic didn't appear in her hands, nor did she turn into red mist to disappear!
This caused Wanda to turn pale with shock. "My... where is my magic?!"
Ryan held Wanda's waist under his arm, his hand never stopping its work, and said disdainfully, "magic? What magic?"
"What makes you think you can silence the owner of the house while you remain unrestricted?"
"You can change the rules of the room, and as the owner, I naturally can too. Now, we are both 'ordinary people'!"
If Wanda had looked closely, she would have noticed that besides the faint red mist she had initially spread, there was another layer of faint golden light shimmering beyond it!
It was just that Wanda had assumed she held the dominant position, so she hadn't noticed it before.
It wasn't until now, due to the sharp pain on her bottom, that she noticed these anomalies!
Realizing the situation, the terror in Wanda's eyes deepened. She looked back at Ryan and said tremulously, "You... you let me into your thoughts on purpose?!"
Ryan's expression was as calm as a still well.
"You didn't trust me, so how could I possibly trust you? I don't even trust my own people, let alone a zombie like you..."
"Your Chaos Magic is indeed troublesome. While your soul is within your body, the Mind Stone might not necessarily be able to modify your thoughts. But it's different once you've voluntarily fallen into my territory!"
"Now, I can train you into whatever I want you to be!"
"Now, I'll return the words you just said to me: Give up. As long as you say you give up, I will let you out, return all your abilities to you, and make you a better version of yourself!"
"Say those two words!"
Hearing this, how could Wanda not know what Ryan meant?
If she said she gave up, wouldn't she become his puppet?
She would be under his control for the rest of her life!
Therefore, even though her butt hurt, Wanda still gritted her teeth and said stubbornly, "You think this little trick can make me give up? In your dreams!"
To this, Ryan shrugged noncommittally.
Spanking someone like a child to make a World-Ending Witch submit would indeed be too childish.
So... let's have some adult content!
Ryan looked at Wanda and revealed an evil smile.
Then...
He performed a windmill spin on the spot to build momentum and threw Wanda into the sky with all his might!
Wanda instantly turned into a shooting star. Without even saying 'I'll be back,' she crashed headfirst into the boundary of this space, breaking through the golden light and red mist, and flew out from the deepest part of Ryan's consciousness!
And the place where Wanda landed was exactly the passage she had come through earlier!
In those memory fragments, the Many of faces of those Ryan had killed in the past all looked toward Wanda as she returned to the memory passage, their eyes filled with hair-raising resentment!
It was as if Wanda, who had just crashed out from the depths of his memory, was the real culprit who had killed them!
This terrified Wanda so much that she immediately wanted to flee this place that made her feel uncomfortable all over.
But before she could escape, those people casting resentful looks at her from the memory fragments actually grabbed the edges of the frames and crawled out one by one!
And with expressions more hideous and terrifying than zombies, they pounced on her!
"No, no, no, don't come over here!!!"
In her terror, Wanda instinctively gave a hard push with both hands. To her surprise, a wave of red mist spread from her, actually annihilating all the people pouncing toward her!
Looking at the red light on her hands, Wanda's face lit up with joy. Her abilities had actually returned?
Oh, right. She was no longer in the depths of his consciousness, so she was naturally no longer within the range of the ability seal!
Thinking of this, the fear in Wanda's heart lessened slightly, but she didn't dare go back into the depths of Ryan's memory to seek revenge. Instead, she turned and flew toward the exit of the memory passage!
Right now, she only wanted to escape this terrifying place!
Along the way, Wanda didn't know how many people Ryan had killed that she had annihilated.
By the end, she was numb.
Even as the Zombie Queen, the number of people who had died because of her wasn't even a tenth—no, not even a hundredth—of the number this guy had killed!
The number of people this guy had killed was simply calculated in the hundreds of millions!
Good God, is he some kind of reincarnation of Satan?!
Fortunately, along the way, she hadn't encountered any difficult memory characters; they were all just ordinary people!
Otherwise, with an onslaught of so many memory constructs, even she would have had trouble escaping!
Seeing a multicolored passage ahead, Wanda knew she was about to reach the shallow layers of Ryan's consciousness—the passage where those beautiful memories resided!
Once she reached the side of the beautiful memories, there would be hope!
Since becoming a zombie, Wanda had never felt a moment where she yearned for light and hope so much!
But...
This was Ryan's memory space, and Wanda stood in opposition to Ryan!
Looking back at the past, which of Ryan's enemies had ever had a good ending?
Even hope was just a setup Ryan used to bring the other party into deeper despair!
Don't forget, besides his great strength, Bully Ryan was also best at psychological manipulation!
So, just as Wanda drew closer and closer to that multicolored place of light, several figures suddenly appeared at the entrance of that passage called 'Hope.'
Green Goblin, Rhino, Abomination, Laufey, Ares, the Inheritor Family... one by one, the supervillains and even Superheroes who had died at Ryan's hands blocked Wanda's exit to 'Hope'!
***************************
Thoughts on where the plot is heading? Let me know in the comments! If you're enjoying the ride, please leave a quick review and toss a few Power Stones my way. Every bit of support means the world! 🙌