Marvel's master of cosmic magic

Chapter 560

High above Nason Island, Rowan Mercer hovered in silence, studying the land below.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

The island wasn’t just terrain. It felt... self-contained. Like a living domain. Beneath the forests and stone ridges, an enormous, ancient energy pulsed in slow, steady tides.

Interesting.

If the legends were true, the World Tree at the island’s core might help stabilize and accelerate the growth of his personal pocket world. If he could understand how it converted ambient life force into a self-sustaining ecosystem, it could shave centuries off his long-term plans.

His attention shifted outward.

Warships.

Dozens of them sat beyond the island’s distorted sea perimeter. Most bore the insignia of Behemoth Corporation.

Rowan’s expression turned mildly amused.

Behemoth was a conglomerate backed by ultra-wealthy investors, operating with influence comparable to major supernatural regulatory bodies. Their specialty was dissecting awakened humans and reverse-engineering genetic enhancement serums.

Their latest product, Generation Twelve, could sometimes awaken latent abilities in ordinary people.

Sometimes.

Failure meant death.

Nason Island, however, produced awakened individuals naturally. Every child born here manifested abilities. To corporations like Behemoth, that made the island more valuable than any oil field or weapons program.

Normally, the island’s surrounding anomaly field prevented large-scale invasions. Only elite awakened individuals could push through. And small teams could never overpower an entire population of awakened natives.

But things had changed.

The island was open.

Nason tradition allowed outside access whenever a succession challenge was triggered. If someone broke a Golden Branch from the World Tree and challenged the ruling monarch, the island had to open until the ritual concluded.

Rowan smiled faintly.

Perfect timing.

He suppressed his presence and slipped through the barrier like a ghost.

The current Nason Monarch was still just a teenage girl. Under normal circumstances, she’d never allow an outsider to study the World Tree. And Rowan had no interest in stealing from a child, even if he easily could.

But with every global faction converging, negotiations would be chaos anyway.

He landed silently within the forest canopy.

"Locate target... Elias Voss."

A golden arrow of tracking magic formed before him and shot forward through the trees.

Rowan followed.

Minutes later, he sensed combat.

Four figures.

Two versus two.

One pair wore Behemoth combat suits. Based on Curton’s intelligence files, Rowan immediately recognized them.

Sean. Codename: Hero Sean. The only successful survivor of the SP-1 gene serum.

Superhuman strength. Extreme durability. Rapid regeneration. Elite combat training.

Publicly hailed as a hero.

Privately described by Curton as "a well-meaning idealist being used like a tool."

His partner, a smaller support operative nicknamed Bug.

Opposing them were two island fugitives. One was clearly a reptilian mutation case. The other used stealth-based combat techniques resembling ninjutsu variants.

Sean ended the fight quickly, knocking the reptilian mutant unconscious. The other fled immediately.

Rowan lost interest and continued flying overhead.

Then Sean attacked him.

"Another accomplice!"

Sean launched upward like a missile, fist cocked.

Rowan didn’t even slow down.

"Sit down."

One casual backhand.

Sean slammed into the ground hard enough to crater the earth.

Rowan continued flying without looking back.

If Sean were malicious, Rowan would have turned him into paste. But the man’s intentions were fundamentally good, even if naïve.

Behind him, Bug rushed to Sean’s side.

Sean coughed blood, stunned.

"There’s... someone else on this island. Someone far beyond us."

Bug stared at the swollen side of Sean’s face in disbelief.

Sean’s body could shrug off rocket fire. Yet one strike had nearly knocked him unconscious.

Sean slowly stood, wiping blood from his mouth.

"...It was a misunderstanding. He was just passing through."

Bug hesitated.

"Do we keep going?"

Sean sat down heavily and pulled an energy bar from his pack.

"We continue. I’ll recover in thirty minutes. We find the Monarch and stay near them. Once Behemoth lands, we push for controlled negotiations."

He paused.

"I don’t like how the executives operate. But if we don’t intervene, someone worse will."

...

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