American comics: Starting with Luke the Maker

"So, what do we do now?" Nick tentatively sent out several energy attacks with his ring, but when these attacks landed on the five monsters chasing from behind, it was like a gentle breeze, not even causing them to slow down, let alone stop momentarily.

Unwilling to give up, Nick changed his approach. He shaped the energy into ropes, lassoing the foremost black monster with loop after loop, but the energy dissipated into nothingness the moment it touched the opponent's body. Nick took a step back with a grim expression.

"It devoured my energy." Nick was unwilling to believe this possibility, but the reality was reminding him. He now understood Stephen's headache.

"What else can we do? Can we even escape? If only Dr. Banner were here, he and the Hulk might be of some use. Maybe these monsters are afraid of simple physical attacks?" Stephen waved his hands, and two red fan-shaped shields appeared in his hands.

The Rings of Raggadorr.

He hadn't used this magic in a while.

"You want to play close combat with this thing?" Nick was no longer a novice in the mystic arts. Although he couldn't do it himself, he had dealt with the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj enough to understand the combat methods of the Kamar-Taj magic system to some extent. Seeing the two familiar fan-shaped rings in Stephen's hands, he widened his eyes, feeling that Doctor Strange was simply crazy.

Those black monsters clearly could only exert their corresponding lethality in close combat. Their safest approach should be to stay away from them and keep a sufficient distance, even if it meant kiting them. In any case, fighting them up close was too risky.

"I just want to test their strengths and weaknesses." Doctor Strange waved his hands, and several magical duplicates appeared around him. Some held the Rings of Raggadorr, while others rushed forward, releasing the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, binding one of the approaching black monsters. At the same time, the remaining illusionary mages charged forward, attacking the bound monsters with the Rings of Raggadorr.

But soon, Doctor Strange Stephen's face was filled with helplessness, because his attacks did not have the desired effect, only pushing the opponent back again. It seemed that the opponent hadn't suffered much damage, or rather, was completely unharmed.

"This is troublesome." Stephen smiled wryly.

Their actions seemed to have angered the black monsters, or perhaps their attacks exposed their figures, leading to the joy of finally being found. The five black monsters almost accelerated their speed and rushed over. The leader even dragged several of Stephen's mage illusions. The chains of crimson dimension power binding them seemed to only wrap around them, without having the corresponding effect.

"Save the sighs for later, I think we need to start running! If we can't go to Luke's core laboratory, I think Luke's collection room is a good place." Nick took two steps back, his body levitating in mid-air with the help of the energy suit.

"That is indeed a good place." Stephen nodded in agreement. His Cloak of Levitation immediately couldn't wait to drag its master towards a certain direction. The curves of their movements drew one arc after another in the air.

Seeing the prey escape once again, the black monsters shrieked angrily. A silent force spread around, and the leading black monster burst into flames of black fluff all over its body. The flames dripped onto the ground like oil droplets, immediately spreading around.

"Huff, huff, huff."

After successfully reaching their destination, Stephen, who staggered many steps due to inertia from the extreme speed before finally steadying himself, gasped for breath.

"We have activated the monitoring mechanism of the collection room. Whether it is running or not can directly tell us whether the situation here is dire or controllable." Stephen stood on the open space in front. The ground had crisscrossing lines, and these lines formed a complex and magnificent pattern. As he and Nick stood on it, colorful energy rays began to spread along their respective patterns.

"It seems the situation isn't bad, is it?" Seeing this, Nick also breathed a sigh of relief. This meant that the monitoring and protection mechanisms of Quiet City were still running. They could temporarily hide in the collection room and then think of a solution. Even if they couldn't leave, they could find many good things in the collection room to enhance their strength. Thanks to that capital·Luke's love of showing off, Nick was not completely ignorant of some of the things and their uses in the collection room, as well as how to use them.

"I think they might be targeting you." Looking at the figures chasing after them again from afar, Stephen suddenly said thoughtfully to Nick beside him.

"Me?" Nick pointed to himself in astonishment. He didn't know how Stephen could see this. Did it mean that because he had dark skin, the same color as those monsters, he was being treated as a partner to play with?

"More precisely, it's the energy of the psionic ring on you. You're just an incidental." Stephen glanced at the psionic ring on Nick's finger.

"I'd rather your guess is wrong." Nick said with a dark face. Maybe what Stephen said was true, but he couldn't just throw away the psionic ring he was wearing to verify it, right? What if he guessed wrong? What if the other party devoured all the stored energy in the psionic ring and relentlessly chased them again? Then he, who had lost the protection of the ring, would definitely be the first to be sacrificed on the spot.

The black monsters had already wandered close. The leader raised its head, revealing a wide-open mouth full of scabs under its hood. The silent shriek rang out again, spreading and echoing in this space.

Nick and Stephen both felt a dizziness in their heads. The energy patterns about to be completed under their feet stagnated. Nick even felt a chilling despair and powerlessness. He knew he shouldn't be like this, but this sudden negative emotion swept over his spirit in a way he couldn't resist. He had the idea of ​​pushing Stephen out to block the disaster for himself, to buy himself time to escape.

The worst side of human nature began to take over at this moment. Nick's mental consciousness at this moment was like an evil personality split from his mind.

If it weren't for the cushioning and protection of the crumbling energy suit on his body, Nick even thought that he wouldn't even be able to engage in a battle between heaven and man in his heart now. He was afraid that he would implement it immediately, giving his partner a deep betrayal and blow.

Just then, Stephen also turned his gaze over, and the black glimmer in his eyes made Nick's heart skip a beat, almost unable to control his evil personality, allowing it to completely dominate.

Nick now somewhat believed that these monsters were really coming for him, or rather, for the psionic ring on his hand. Because strands of energy particles were being rolled up by a strong suction and fell into the bodies of those black monsters.

Stephen pointed to the psionic ring on Nick's hand, and then pointed to the black monsters floating over in front. Stephen made these simple movements extremely jerky and difficult. At the same time, various emotions flashed across his eyes and face. And these emotions were also being devoured.

Nick understood the meaning Stephen wanted to express. Taking advantage of the fact that the energy suit could still protect him and allow him to maintain his last sanity, he ignored the various instigations in his mind by that evil personality, such as "He wants to kill you", "This is betrayal", and so on. He was afraid that if he continued to listen, he would really lose control completely under the domination of negative emotions such as despair, and do things that he would regret for the rest of his life.

Under the power of courage given by the psionic ring, he chose to believe Stephen. While resisting the influence of the other personality, he struggled to take off the psionic ring from his hand. Until the moment he threw it out, another kind of energy protection shone on his body. And those black monsters all restrained their silent howls for a while, and turned to pounce on the ring that Nick had thrown out, merging together in a chaotic manner like black mist.

The stagnant energy patterns under his feet also resumed operation. In the light of teleportation, the figures of Nick and Stephen disappeared in place. A black monster that had not snatched the psionic ring and was squeezed out wandered back and forth where the two disappeared, seemingly sensing something.

"Are you okay?"

Waking up after being unconscious, Nick only felt his body light and fluttering. He remembered the moment he fainted, his will seemed to have been replaced by another personality. He quickly looked around, but found his illusory body floating in mid-air, and Stephen sitting on the ground. Seeing his gaze, Stephen waved to him and asked the greeting he heard after he woke up.

"Where am I?" Nick looked at his illusory body floating in mid-air. He began to think he was already dead, but soon, he realized that this situation was somewhat familiar to him.

"Astral projection." Stephen confirmed Nick's guess. "If you had released a dangerous object to kill me just now, I almost would have been hit."

"Then I have to say sorry, that wasn't my intention." Nick apologized. He had already guessed what the evil personality might have done. Seeing Stephen's embarrassment and the mess around him, he knew.

"You're in trouble." Stephen didn't pay attention to Nick's apology, just looked at him and sighed somewhat.

"I think my condition is good, except for seeing my body in a soul state. It always makes me feel like I'm dead." Nick's heart sank, but he forced a joke.

"You've been infected by some kind of negative psionic energy." Stephen said something that changed Nick's face, but soon, he comforted him: "It's not the abyss, at least it hasn't reached the point of abyss infection. As long as we can find Luke, it won't be difficult to clear this infection. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that I'm not suitable now, I could also try to help you solve it."

"So, we still have to find Luke, right?" Nick sighed, he followed Stephen's gaze to his left hand, where a black spot was spreading towards the entire soul little by little. Nick knew that it didn't need to spread to 100%, as long as it spread more than half, his current consciousness would be completely dead. When he was alive, he would just be a mutated monster in human skin.

"What do you need my dad for?" A crisp female voice suddenly sounded in the ears of the two, and in a flash of lightning, Becky jumped out of the void.

"Oh, God! Becky!" Seeing the person coming, Nick, who was in a low mood, and Stephen, who was in deep thought, became excited.

"What exactly happened here? Why are there so many wandering black monsters outside? How did they appear? Also, where's Luke? Why hasn't he appeared?" Nick asked in one breath.

"Nothing happened here?" Becky glanced at Nick strangely, "What could happen here? As for those wandering black monsters outside, they're not monsters! They're called Dementors, they're my pets!"

"Pets?" Nick and Stephen's faces instantly turned black.

"That kind of dangerous creature, how can it be a pet? They are too dangerous! Shouldn't they be locked up?" Nick took a deep breath. Imagining that he was almost killed by Becky's pet, he had a strong urge to curse.

"Those Dementors should be related to the abyss, right? Is it really okay to let these monsters wander outside?" Stephen also had a headache.

"It's playtime now. I always have to let my pets come out and move around. Everyone is unwilling to play with the Dementors, so I can only temporarily throw them outside to let them out. They won't run away." Becky blinked her eyes and said confidently.

"Your Uncle Nick almost died." Nick sighed again. "They chased us all the way! Also, where's Luke?"

"They should be hungry, looking for food. They feed on all kinds of positive psionic energy, and also on the emotions of life. Generally, they won't kill people directly. They don't have that concept." Becky rummaged in her pocket while answering, "Dad is of course in the laboratory."

"Found it!" Becky suddenly shouted, and pulled out from her pocket a creature that made Stephen and Nick shudder. It was a monster exactly like the black creatures that chased them all the way, the only difference was that the monsters outside were black, like death, this one was pure white, like the Holy Spirit.

As soon as the white Dementor came out, it pounced on Nick as if smelling a scent. Before he could react, he was approached and given a deep sucking breath. Nick only felt that his whole person was purified from the inside out, and an involuntary smile mixed with happiness and joy appeared on his face.