~ [Ding!
Thanks to your excellent guidance, Wanda has begun to master her Chaos Magic!] [Reward received: The Power of the Twelve Talismans!] [Ding!
You have intimately exchanged ‘energies’ with Wanda, taking her to absolute paradise!] [Reward received: Phoenix Force Fragment (Consciousness-Free)!] Early the next morning, the system’s mechanical voice chiming in his head jolted Holden awake.
The bedsheets were an absolute disaster.
Beside him, Wanda was still fast asleep, her exposed skin flushed a healthy, rosy pink.
Listening to the delayed reward notifications, Holden’s heart leaped with joy.
“A second Phoenix Force Fragment?!” He honestly hadn’t expected his luck to be this insane.
Getting a second fragment this quickly was an absolute jackpot!
A second later, a massive, overwhelming surge of cosmic energy erupted out of nowhere, flooding his entire body.
The raw power raced through his veins, expanding out to his limbs.
His already peak-human physique was forcefully upgraded and reinforced even further.
Limitless strength pulsed from every cell in his body, instantly washing away the lingering exhaustion from last night’s ‘workout’ and leaving him buzzing with limitless vitality.
“Haaa!” Holden couldn’t help but let out a long, satisfied exhale as the euphoric rush of power settled.
He could acutely feel the volcanic energy currently simmering inside him.
With a second Phoenix Force Fragment added to the mix, his total energy reserves had skyrocketed.
Combining two fragments wasn’t just a simple one-plus-one addition; the power multiplied exponentially.
Even his precise control over the fiery cosmic energy had significantly deepened.
“Now this is true power!” Holden marveled inwardly.
He had gotten some amazing drops before, but absolutely nothing compared to the Phoenix Force.
With just one fragment, he estimated he had reached the Sub-Skyfather level.
But now?
With two fragments, he was absolutely confident he could go toe-to-toe with Skyfather-level heavyweights like Odin!
If he managed to collect all the fragments and form the complete Phoenix Force, calling himself the strongest being in the multiverse wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
A complete Phoenix Force could weave causality and rewrite destiny itself.
It could effortlessly deconstruct, transmute, rebuild, create, and obliterate anything—from a single microscopic organism to an entire infinite universe!
“System!” Holden called out in his mind.
The translucent blue interface instantly materialized in front of him.
On the glowing screen, his current collection progress was clearly displayed: [Phoenix Force Fragments: (2/12)] “I still need ten more fragments?” Holden frowned slightly, studying the numbers.
He hadn’t actually paid attention to the collection requirements before.
In his head, he had optimistically assumed that two fragments would put him at least a third of the way there.
“Looks like the complete Phoenix Force is way more terrifying than I imagined!” he mused.
His current strength was already absurd.
Even a Skyfather-level threat like Thanos would have to fight tooth and nail just to draw with him!
And that was only with two out of twelve pieces!
“Wait…
The Twelve Talismans…” Holden blinked, his attention finally shifting back to the first reward notification.
When he fully processed what the words actually meant, he was genuinely stunned.
‘Wait, these are the Twelve Zodiac Talismans from Jackie Chan Adventures?
And they’re already fused together?!’ Holden knew their powers perfectly; each one was absolutely terrifying in its own right.
Just the Dog Talisman alone granted eternal youth and true immortality—an ability countless people would kill for!
Possessing even one talisman basically made you a nerfed Superman, and he had just acquired all twelve!
‘She really is my lucky star!
The drops I’ve gotten over the last two days are worlds apart from my usual rewards!’ he marveled, his mood skyrocketing.
“Nnngh…” Beside him on the pristine white bed, Wanda let out a soft groan.
She stretched her arms, unwittingly exposing a generous amount of pale skin.
As her eyes fluttered open, she found Holden sitting beside her, wearing a wicked smirk.
“Wanda!” He suddenly grabbed her hand.
“What is it?” Used to his antics by now, she simply felt the warmth of his palm and blinked up at him.
“You really are my absolute lucky star!” Without another word, Holden flipped over, pinning her against the mattress.
“Wait, it’s morning—” Before she could finish her protest, the bedroom once again became a playground for their boundless energy.
At the dining table.
“You really don’t know how to stop for a single second, do you?” Wanda grumbled, glaring at the man across from her.
Her entire body felt like jelly.
She had lost count of how many rounds they’d gone.
She always thought her enhanced powers gave her superhuman stamina, but even she couldn’t handle this level of relentless torment.
“What?
You think that wasn’t enough?” Holden casually twirled a leftover sausage with his silver fork.
“Screw you!” Wanda snapped, eyeing the meat on his plate.
“If you aren’t going to eat that, give it to me!” “Here you go.
It seems my little witch really loves a good sausage!” Holden teased, dropping the link onto her plate.
“Shut up!
If you keep talking like that, lose my number!” Thanks to Holden’s ‘guidance,’ Wanda instantly caught the double entendre.
Her face flushed completely red with a mix of anger and sheer embarrassment.
This guy went from zero to a hundred with the dirty jokes in a heartbeat.
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop teasing.” Holden watched her finish eating, then gently wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin.
“How about we go out for a drive?” “No…” Wanda shook her head without hesitation.
The public vitriol against her was at an all-time high.
If she stepped outside, those rabid protesters would probably chase her down the street like maniacs.
It wasn’t her own physical safety she was worried about; she was terrified of accidentally losing control and causing an even bigger disaster.
“Don’t worry.
You have me,” Holden said softly, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand, easily reading the fear in her eyes.
Feeling his reassuring warmth, the anxiety churning in Wanda’s chest subsided significantly.
“O-Okay…” she finally nodded.
On the way into the city, the maple leaves along the road were already taking on a faint yellow hue.
A crisp, cool breeze slipped through the cracked car window, brushing against Wanda’s face.
She couldn’t help but let a small smile touch her lips.
It had been so long since she felt this relaxed.
Maybe this was what true safety felt like—with Holden sitting right next to her, it felt like she didn’t have to worry about a single thing in the world.
But as the Cayenne merged into the bustling downtown traffic, surrounded by a concrete jungle of towering skyscrapers and crowded sidewalks, a heavy sense of oppression settled back over her.
She nervously glanced at Holden, taking deep breaths to force her rising panic down.
Sensing her distress, Holden reached over and wrapped his hand around her left hand.
That simple, grounding warmth immediately sent a comforting wave through her chest.
Holden brought the car to a stop at a red light.
Outside, a massive digital billboard attached to a skyscraper was looping a news broadcast.
Looking up, they saw a figure in a sleek white-and-black hooded suit swinging across the screen—Ghost-Spider.
The skintight suit perfectly accentuated the heroine’s athletic curves, particularly the black sections of the webbing design, which were enough to make Holden’s blood pump a little faster.
The broadcast made it clear that Queens had fully embraced Gwen as their friendly neighborhood superhero.
In this universe, there was no Peter Parker swinging around; Ghost-Spider was the one and only web-slinger.
“Tsk, tsk.
You gotta admit, she has an incredible figure,” Holden mused aloud, admiring the view.
The sleek design of the Ghost-Spider suit definitely enhanced her appeal.
“Hmm?!” Hearing his blatant admiration, Wanda’s previously relaxed mood instantly soured.
Like a universal reflex ingrained in all women, she reached over and ruthlessly pinched the soft flesh at his waist.