novelraw Chapter 508
Chapter 508
The technique Rowan had been thinking about had a name.
High-interest lending.
It came from a dangerous mystic named Shen Chong.
The principle was simple and ugly.
You lent your power to someone else.
They used it to kill.
Every kill generated energy.
A portion of that energy flowed back to the lender as interest.
The more they killed, the more interest you earned.
And the more they killed, the more desperate and addicted they became.
It worked.
But the side effects were catastrophic.
Turn enough borrowers loose across enough worlds and you didn’t get followers.
You got homicidal maniacs.
That was how demon gods did business.
Rowan could use the same framework.
But it would need heavy modification.
Otherwise, every universe he touched would start hunting him as a cosmic crime boss.
If he could stabilize that system and combine it with building his own dimension, true universal-tier power would stop being a distant fantasy.
It would become a schedule.
"What’s your name?"
Cassandra stepped closer, studying Rowan like a new pet.
"Rowan Mercer," he replied calmly.
His mood was excellent.
Every universe he’d anchored today was a future investment pool.
Potential borrowers.
Potential returns.
"Rowan Mercer?" Cassandra repeated, glancing back at her enforcers.
They all shook their heads.
"Interesting. You don’t exist in any of the timelines I know."
Deadpool. Wolverines. Magnetos.
Every powerful figure echoed across realities.
Names shifted. Faces changed.
But the constants stayed constant.
Rowan didn’t.
That alone made him dangerous.
"You really are special," Cassandra said lightly.
"So I’ll be generous."
She raised two fingers.
"Option one. You and your people kneel and serve me."
"Option two. You die."
Rowan flicked his hand.
Deadpool shot out of the dirt like a cork, his twin katanas dragging him back beside Logan.
Cassandra stared at Rowan.
Then burst out laughing.
"Serve you? Do you have any idea who I am?"
Her eyes hardened.
"Magneto said something similar once. I crushed his helmet. Then I crushed the head inside it."
Rowan didn’t move.
"I think you’re the one who doesn’t understand where you’re standing."
Cassandra lifted a finger and pressed it down.
The air collapsed.
A mountain of invisible force slammed into Rowan’s body.
Gold light flared around him.
The pressure vanished.
Before Cassandra could react, Rowan blurred forward and seized her by the throat, lifting her off the ground.
Her psychic power was monstrous.
She had killed Magneto.
Killed Professor X.
Her regeneration rivaled Wolverine’s.
But she wasn’t the Phoenix.
She wasn’t cosmic.
And Rowan wasn’t playing in her league.
"You’re fast," Cassandra rasped, eyes cold.
"But you think this hurts me?"
She shoved both palms into Rowan’s chest.
The psychic pressure surged.
A hundred times stronger than before.
Enough to turn a tank into paste.
Rowan didn’t budge.
The golden barrier trembled once... and held.
"That’s it?" Rowan said quietly.
"Disappointing."
Cassandra’s eyes widened.
"That’s impossible."
She unleashed everything.
Wave after wave of crushing force.
Nothing broke through.
"Then die!" she screamed.
Rowan’s hand crackled with lightning.
White-blue arcs ripped through Cassandra’s body.
She convulsed as her flesh burned black, healing and burning again in a loop.
Rowan leaned closer.
"You rely on your body too much."
He opened his mouth.
"Ha."
A white blast struck her square in the chest.
Her soul tore free.
Cassandra screamed.
Her spirit hovered above her charred body, reaching desperately for it.
Then her body collapsed into ash.
Her regeneration died with her connection to it.
"No... my body..."
Rowan raised his hand.
Black energy coiled around her soul like chains.
She thrashed.
She failed.
Her spirit was dragged into his grasp.
He exhaled once.
Then turned.
"Done."
He swept both hands outward.
A storm of pale light burst from his fingers.
Every one of Cassandra’s enforcers collapsed where they stood.
Unconscious.
Silent.
The forest went still.