Hydra

After settling on a direction, Fury and Captain America fought as they retreated.

They fled toward Tony Stark's luxurious villa. As Iron Man, a B-Class Hero of the "League of Heroes," Tony Stark was now quite famous in New York.

"Spirit detected—Hermit. Disaster level: Demon!"

"Traits: gentle, timid, afraid of strangers."

"She is currently the only Spirit that can be captured. Change targets immediately!"

Winter Soldier, who had been pursuing Fury, suddenly spotted Yoshino playing in the water. After weighing his options, he immediately abandoned his original target.

Among all the Spirits who had appeared in the world, nearly every one possessed the terrifying power to destroy a city. The slightest mistake could bring catastrophic consequences.

But "Hermit" was an exception.

No matter what attacks she endured, she would only panic and flee, never fighting back. She was practically the ideal target for capture.

"Whoosh—"

Winter Soldier took the ** handed over by his companion and fired directly at Yoshino.

The shell trailing a crimson tail flame exploded beside the blue-haired girl.

Boom!

The blast wave from the ** sent Yoshino tumbling to the ground.

Thanks to the protection of the "Divine Astral Dress: Fourth," she was not injured.

"Careful! Are you okay?"

The rabbit ** in her left hand asked anxiously.

"Mm..."

The girl answered in a voice barely above a whisper. Her pale little face was filled with terror, and her eyes darted around in search of an escape route.

As the youngest of all the Spirits, she hated fighting and only wanted to play quietly when she appeared in this world.

Yet every time she showed herself, she would be attacked by unknown people.

Although ordinary ** could not penetrate her Astral Dress, the impact of ** still stung—like being lightly pricked by the tip of a pencil.

"Stop it, Bucky! She's just a child!"

Captain America, who had been preparing to retreat, suddenly threw his shield and split the ** in Winter Soldier's hand in two.

To be willing to strike so ruthlessly at such a young girl was simply inhuman!

Fury, hiding behind cover, helplessly rubbed his forehead.

The hard-won chance to escape had vanished again because of Captain America's impulsiveness. Now, they were surrounded once more.

Fury had a curse lodged in his heart that he desperately needed to let out.

The most troublesome part was that without ** Captain America guarding him, how was he supposed to deal with the traitors in S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra's elite forces? Fury was only a rigorously trained agent, not some superhero who could sweep through an army!

"Run, Yoshino! They're fighting over there!"

"Mm."

Yoshino timidly climbed to her feet and immediately turned to flee. Even though she possessed Demon-level Disaster strength, she hated conflict and hated seeing bloodshed and pain even more. She gathered spiritual power beneath her feet and leapt lightly into the air.

The blue-haired girl walked through the air and vanished from the edge of the battlefield in the blink of an eye.

"Don't think you're getting past, Bucky! I can keep you tied up all day!"

"Please step aside. Hermit is the priority target."

"I don't care about that. Bullying such a little girl isn't something to be proud of."

Captain America had no idea that the pitiful little girl in his eyes could crush him with a single finger. It was only because Yoshino feared battle that she had never taken the initiative to attack anyone.

"Brother, if you don't get here soon, I really can't hold on!" Fury roared.

The moment he showed his head, he would definitely be riddled with bullets.

"Hang in there. The distress signal has been sent. Heroes patrolling nearby will arrive to support us soon."

"God, I hope I can last that long."

Yoshino rode her spiritual power away from the battlefield and finally stopped in an alley. The drizzling rain was blocked by her Astral Dress, making her seem like a fairy in the rain.

However, she failed to notice the slippery ground beneath her feet and stumbled forward.

Bang!

Her face and stomach hit the ground heavily, splashing water everywhere. The puppet in her left hand slipped free and flew ahead of her.

The blue-haired little girl lay motionless on the ground, like a fallen baby animal.

"Dust, look! A child fell down."

"Where?"

Li Chen, who had just left a maid café, turned the corner and immediately spotted the figure on the ground. He stepped forward, picked up the puppet, and gently lifted the drenched little girl into his arms.

"Are you okay?"

"Thank you..."

Yoshino replied in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz. Her seaweed-like blue hair was fluffy and soft, her cherry lips were lightly pursed, and her lashes hung low as her gem-like blue eyes secretly studied him. Though she had always feared strangers, she now felt an unusual closeness toward Li Chen.

In fact, the feeling she had toward Mio and Yatogami Tohka was quite similar.

As the Ice Spirit born from Mio's Spirit Crystal, Yoshino possessed the authority of "Mercy" among the Kabbalah Sephirot. "Um... could you... give the puppet... back to me..." Like a frightened little animal, she timidly made her request.

Li Chen naturally had no reason to refuse such a simple request. He handed the puppet back to Yoshino and gently set her down.

After putting the rabbit puppet back on, Yoshino visibly relaxed. "My, my, you really helped us out, big brother!" the puppet said in a shrill, lively voice.

Li Chen knew perfectly well that the voice came from Yoshino's other personality. Since she herself was not good with words, the puppet usually spoke for her. "Be more careful next time."

"Mm-hmm~ But when big brother saved her just now, he seemed to touch Yoshino's soft little body, didn't he? How did it feel?" The puppet swayed as though clutching its stomach in laughter. Clearly, it did not mind Li Chen's "carelessness" at all.

"Since you helped, let's call it a special bonus! After all, it's Yoshino's first time not resisting someone's touch. Maybe she even likes you..." Before it could finish, the blushing Yoshino covered the puppet's mouth with her right hand.

"Yoshino, you're a Spirit, right?"

"Mm..."

Feeling the familiar aura around Li Chen, she nodded honestly. This was the third Spirit Li Chen had encountered, and the gentlest one so far.

Though she disliked fighting, taking in a Spirit girl with Demon-level power was still an unexpected gain. "Would you like to come with us?"

Mio and Tohka also invited Yoshino. "Wow, you want to take someone home the first time you meet? Big brother is really bold!"

"It's not a joke. They're Spirits too."

"Dust has lots of delicious food there."

"Come with us."

Tohka's invitation came purely from her closeness to one of her own kind, while Mio looked at Yoshino as though she were her child. Letting a child wandering outside return to a family was undoubtedly the best choice—with her timid personality, she truly was not suited to living alone.

"Can I... really?"

"Of course."

With the natural closeness between Spirits, Yoshino quickly let down her guard.

Perhaps following this big brother and the other two Spirits was the best choice. At least she would not be attacked for no reason.

"Wanda, are you ready?"

"Mm. Target confirmed: 'Hermit.' There are also two unknown individuals and one ** hero."

"I'll snatch 'Hermit' later. You handle the control."

"Fine, but with a ** hero present, we should end this quickly."

"Don't worry. When it comes to speed, I've never lost." Quicksilver was full of confidence.

After locking onto the target, he instantly turned into an afterimage and rushed out. In the blink of an eye, he dove down from high above, reaching for the defenseless Yoshinon.

Smack!

An arm suddenly blocked his path.

Quicksilver's pupils shrank. Before he could react, he was slammed to the ground. No matter how he struggled, he could not break free from the black-haired, red-eyed young man's restraint.

"Your speed's decent, but you're still lacking." Li Chen pinned down the man who had tried to ambush them. "Quicksilver? Is Scarlet Witch your little sister or your older sister?"

"What's it to you? Let me go!"

"If you know what's good for you, you'll suffer less."

"...She's my sister." Feeling the sharp psychic power at his neck, Quicksilver immediately gave in.

After learning that Wanda was his younger sister, Li Chen confirmed that this was the Marvel movie version of Quicksilver—the heavily weakened version, whose speed was only three times the speed of sound and who had even died to ordinary ** while fighting Ultron. He was truly one of the most pathetic superheroes around.

According to the original plot, the siblings should have gained their powers through Loki's Scepter, the Mind Stone. But Loki was currently fighting the awakened Thor and had not yet arrived. That meant their powers might have awakened by another method—perhaps the Mutant X-Gene, or perhaps the Monster Factor had triggered their abilities.

"Let him go!"

Scarlet Witch Wanda floated down from the rooftop, energy surging around her. Though her movie version possessed astonishing potential—her chaos magic could warp reality, and she had once nearly twisted off Thanos's head—she was still inexperienced now that her powers had only just awakened.

"Oh? Buy one, get one free?" Li Chen raised an eyebrow and smiled as Scarlet Witch Wanda floated down.

The Scarlet Witch from the comics might have been absurdly powerful, but the movie version? She was far behind. One came, he beat one. Two came, he got a pair.

"Let Quicksilver go!"

"And if I say... no?"

"Then I'll... snap your neck."

Scarlet Witch had not wanted to hurt innocent people, but the black-haired, red-eyed young man before her gave her an unprecedented sense of oppression. Crimson energy bloomed around her body and condensed into a gigantic hand that fiercely clutched Li Chen's throat, attempting to snap his neck through brute force.

Yet no matter how much force she used, the dark crimson energy coiled around Li Chen's neck did not budge in the slightest. The gap between their strength was simply on another level.

Not to mention the vast energy contained within Li Chen's body, even his physical strength alone was enough to crush the likes of Thanos and Boros.

"Save it. You're still far too weak."

Li Chen flicked a finger, and Scarlet Witch's body was drawn toward him against her will before he lightly set her down on the ground—treatment completely different from Quicksilver's.

Quicksilver had just been hurled away at high speed and smashed face-first into the ground. Now his entire body was in agony, screaming from head to toe.

"Hydra? They're nothing but a bunch of ants. Stop running with them."

"You don't understand Hydra's power at all!" "Hydra's influence spans the entire world!"

Still influenced by Hydra's brainwashing, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch instinctively retorted upon hearing Li Chen belittle their organization. But their loyalty to Hydra had not reached fanaticism. A little "socialist education" combined with "capitalist counseling" might be enough to wake them up.

"So what? Other than you two test subjects and Winter Soldier, what else can Hydra bring out?" "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place? That works in myths. In reality, they're just a cannon-fodder production line."

Li Chen's tone was filled with disdain. Aside from mass-producing expendable tools, such an organization had no value at all.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver wanted to argue, but under Li Chen's absolute suppression, they found themselves speechless.

They had to admit that he was right—Hydra as a whole probably could not match a single true hero.

"We will never betray the organization."

"That's right. We'd rather die than become traitors!"

Li Chen listened to the siblings' lofty words and smiled dismissively. "That's not up to you."

With a casual wave of his hand, invisible telekinesis transformed into sturdy ropes and tightly bound them. With the speed of the Marvel movie version of Quicksilver, even if he had started running a minute early, he still would not have escaped Li Chen's grasp.

"Zero, please take Tohka and Yoshino back."

"Understood."

Zero accepted the order and handed Yoshino a League of Heroes Member Bracelet. Although her affinity with Zero was very high, she apparently did not want to wear the bracelet until all the Spirits had been gathered—otherwise, with her Quasi-God-Level spiritual power, Li Chen could break through to God-Level at any time.

Their originally romantic date had been ruined by one unexpected incident after another. Li Chen added this debt to Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tab.

"It's too tight!"

"Prisoners don't get to be picky." Li Chen formed protective layers over both of their bodies with spiritual power, then shot into the sky at two hundred times the speed of sound. In just a few seconds, he arrived at Hero Academy.

The blast wave from his landing made Quicksilver's stomach churn, while Scarlet Witch was unaffected due to her special treatment. Suddenly, out-of-control laser beams came screaming toward them. Li Chen easily caught the beams with two fingers, while Cyclops Scott, who had caused the trouble, hurriedly put on his special glasses and suppressed his rampaging power.