Marvel: A Lazy-Ass Superman

Chapter 541: Chapter 541: Miscalculation

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Quicksilver had thoughts of his own about how his sister’s magic had previously been blasted apart by Cyclops’s optic beams.

Now it seemed that the only people truly worth placing hope in were the mages led by the Scarlet Witch.

As for the mutants—if Magneto had been present, that would have been another matter. But under the leadership of the moderate Professor X, the X-Men had already proven the limits of their offensive power. They simply lacked the ability to turn the tide.

Even Jean Grey, the Phoenix, seemed hesitant and restrained. With a group like this, they’d be lucky if the mutants didn’t become dead weight. Expecting them to play a decisive role at a critical moment? Impossible.

After the two earlier warnings, Scarlet Witch seized the perfect opportunity and decisively activated the magical trap, once again imprisoning the Void together with Superman.

The other mages desperately reinforced the magical barrier as well, layering shield upon shield. Every attribute, every type of magic, every ability they had was thrown in without caring whether it matched or not. They fortified not only inward but outward too—their main concern being Cyclops blasting the barrier apart again.

With the mutants’ comparatively dull senses, even after direct contact with the Void and taking a beating from it, they still couldn’t truly comprehend the monster’s terrifying nature.

But mages were different.

That kind of metaphysical perception was the very first lesson of magic. To them, comparing themselves to the Void was like comparing fireflies to the blazing sun.

Honestly, the fact that these mages hadn’t already fled in panic under such circumstances was partly because of the Sorcerer Supreme’s presence—and partly because the ones who stayed behind had nerves of steel. Otherwise, they would have scattered long ago.

Fortunately, they weren’t the ones standing on the front lines. Even though the Void had nearly broken through several times, the man in the red-and-blue suit resolved every crisis. That at least gave them enough peace of mind to act boldly.

And Superman himself, trapped inside alongside the Void, paid no attention whatsoever to his inherent weakness against magic. He simply clung to the Void with all his strength, firmly pinning him in place within the magical prison.

He didn’t believe this magic formation could be transformed into a true killing array capable of completely destroying the Void. To deal with this thing for real, they still had to rely on Professor X awakening the personality known as ”Robert Reynolds.”

The greatest superhero in Marvel had only one weakness:

Himself.

But when the aura inside the trap suddenly changed, Superman realized the flaw in his thinking.

He roughly knew several versions of the origins of Sentry and the Void, regardless of which version this one was. To defeat the Void, Sentry had to awaken on his own.

Under those circumstances, the only person truly capable of helping was Professor X, the strongest telepath. Only he could delve into the Void’s psyche and bring back the good side buried within.

But the others didn’t know that.

And since they didn’t know, then once the Void had been trapped by magic, wouldn’t the mages naturally try bombarding it with magic to see if they could directly eliminate the threat?

Even though Superman himself was trapped inside too, he had just encouraged them to ”act boldly.”

Scarlet Witch showed no hesitation whatsoever. She transformed the prison into a killing formation, unleashing the purest source of Chaos Magic in a furious bombardment inward!

That gave the people trapped inside a firsthand experience of what ”low magic resistance” really meant.

Ever since being exposed to yellow sunlight, Superman could still feel bullets hitting him regardless of caliber—it just didn’t hurt. Naturally, they caused no damage either.

But magic seemed to attack on a spiritual level.

Pain, heat, cold, injury—none of it was absent. The sensation was so unfamiliar it almost felt nostalgic. It even affected his body through his psyche, causing corresponding wounds to appear on his skin.

Still, low magic resistance didn’t mean Superman could actually be killed by magic.

His absurd vitality hadn’t changed just because magic could bypass his defenses.

The joke about Superman having low magic resistance mostly referred to status-effect spells—weakness, hypnosis, disease, and the like—which always seemed capable of affecting him.

But who had ever truly killed Superman with magic?

The only feat that might count was in Justice League of America #145 back in 1977, where Count Crystal magically killed Superman right at the beginning. Then the Justice League entered the extradimensional ”Soul Carnival” to bring him back.

That case felt more like a plot-driven death for the sake of the story.

Countless more powerful sorcerers and demons had never replicated that achievement.

Sentry—or rather, the Void—was much the same.

Those low-tier mages couldn’t truly harm the Void’s main body. Even the tendrils and shadows extending from him could easily resist such weak attacks.

But Scarlet Witch’s magic was an entirely different matter.

Marvel magic might technically be power ”borrowed” from extradimensional demon gods, but the same spell could vary enormously in strength depending on the caster.

Scarlet Witch was practically the incarnation of chaos itself—the earthly avatar of the Elder God Chthon.

Having mastered the Darkhold, she stood among the absolute ceiling of magical powerhouses in the Marvel Universe.

An attack from her was not something the Void could casually shrug off.

Unfortunately, he and Superman were trapped together, sharing the exact same punishment.

That made the Void burst into triumphant laughter.

Just as Superman was about to release one hand from pinning the Void down and punch him in the face, both of them suddenly felt their vision blur.

The next moment, they had arrived somewhere completely different.

They were no longer inside Scarlet Witch’s magical prison, but in a vast white room.

There were no partitions inside. The toilet, sink, and bed all occupied the same space. It was unmistakably the prison cell in the Siberian underground research facility where the Kryptonian who had descended upon Earth spent his first twenty years.

The difference was that this room had no security locks.

The door leading outside stood wide open. Beyond it seemed to be a stage, filled with lively music and the enthusiastic cheers of an audience.

The interior also differed somewhat from his memories.

At the very least, the rack holding various ridiculous costumes had never existed before. Nor had the cabinet cluttered with superhero movie DVDs and comic books with indistinct covers.

A television atop the TV stand continuously cycled through scenes from old films. Most were black-and-white movies, with only a handful in color.

A closer look revealed that the scenes playing were mostly highlight moments of the female leads. Not only were the dramatic tensions perfectly displayed, but the cinematography made the actresses appear breathtakingly beautiful.

Since most of the films were black-and-white, the women appearing on screen were naturally beauties from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

As for the rare color films, the actress featured in them was, of course, the woman he adored—Charlize Theron.

A half-grown, skinny boy wearing a medical gown sat on the floor hugging his knees, staring fixedly at the television.

Everything here indicated that he had never left this room.

Only new things had occasionally been brought into it.

Behind the boy stood two tall men.

One wore a red-and-blue suit with a crimson cape, black slicked-back hair, and a signature curl hanging over his forehead.

The other wore a yellow-and-blue suit with a sky-blue cape. His flowing blond hair gave him an oddly decadent air.

The Void crossed his arms and looked around the room with great interest before asking:

”So this is the place you could never escape from?”

Wearing Superman’s uniform, Clark instinctively didn’t want to say anything to the Void. He merely stared sharply at him.

But when his gaze shifted toward the television, it inevitably softened.

So he had never truly left this place after all.

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