Following Petra's lead, Alex jumped straight out of the shattered window and began tracking the mysterious outsider.
"Even though I don't know who opened that portal," Petra said as she moved quickly along the dirt path, "if we can find that person, we might be able to gather some useful intel."
After exiting through the window, the two arrived behind the church. It was a ruined estate, overgrown with weeds—some of them tall enough to reach a person's waist. In the distance was a forest, with a dirt path leading toward its center, destination unknown.
"I don't think the person will know anything useful. If it were me behind this, I definitely wouldn't expose my identity. I'd just grab the person and bring them straight into this universe," Alex replied casually.
Petra nodded slightly. "That makes sense. But we could still learn something about the universe that outsider came from. If someone is truly orchestrating this from behind the scenes, then whoever they sent here wasn't chosen at random."
With Petra leading and Alex following, the two pushed through the dense weeds and arrived at the forest's edge.
Gazing at the lush and shadowy woods, Petra crouched down and touched the ground, as if sensing something.
"How is it?" Alex asked upon seeing her action.
Petra closed her eyes in thought for a moment, then suddenly opened them wide, her gaze fixed on the depths of the forest.
"Yes. It's this way. I can tell that the person didn't stop at all—just ran straight in. But…"
"But what?" Alex frowned.
"But something feels off," Petra turned her head. "The traces in the dirt are fading, like the person deliberately did something to shake them off."
"Maybe they took off their shoes? Or maybe they can fly?" Alex quickly thought of Angel from the X-Men—a powerful mutant with wings.
Petra understood what Alex was implying but soon shook her head. "Possibly, but I'm not sure. What I am certain of is that they're trying to avoid something. You may be right, my lord."
"So they really are being hunted, and that's why they came to this universe. Which means something followed them here and is still after them," Alex said, rubbing his chin, his expression growing serious.
"That seems to be the case. If they weren't in danger, they wouldn't have fled into a forest. I checked earlier—while the church is in a remote location, there's a road not far from here. There are still traces of human presence nearby."
Seeing Alex fall silent, Petra couldn't help but ask, "What are you thinking about, my lord?"
"I'm thinking, what kind of person would run into the wilderness to escape pursuit?" Alex replied absently.
People usually flee because they can't resist their pursuers. In that case, the best move would be to head toward populated areas and rely on others for protection.
But this person had done the opposite. And judging by how they wiped their footprints from the window sill, they clearly weren't some reckless fool. In fact, they had enough time to plan out their next move.
So here's the question: in that situation—an outsider from another universe, completely unfamiliar with this world—why flee into the wilderness instead of toward signs of civilization?
Without lingering much longer, Alex and Petra plunged into the forest.
Although the environment was eerie and unsettling, neither Alex nor Petra was an ordinary person. Entering an uninhabited forest in the middle of the night—if anything truly terrifying was lurking there, it'd probably be more afraid of them than the other way around.
They followed the dark, quiet path, moving one behind the other as they entered the forest's boundary.
A chilly night wind blew through the gaps between the branches. The temperature dropped drastically compared to the daytime, and the air was thick with mist.
As the two advanced quickly, Petra suddenly stopped, as if she had sensed something.
"What is it?" Alex stopped too and looked at her in confusion.
"Something feels wrong," Petra replied, then lay down on the ground, pressing her ear against the earth in a posture that looked almost like worship.
Alex didn't say anything. Instead, he released his magical energy.
Magic, after all, was a form of natural energy. In worlds rich with magical essence, even plants and trees often carried faint traces of it. That was where the druidic tradition of sorcerers came from.
Although this universe wasn't particularly rich in magical energy, Alex was still able to communicate clearly with the surrounding natural forces.
"There was some kind of struggle here,"
Petra said uncertainly. Then she started looking around, as if searching for something.
After taking a moment to sense the area, Alex nodded slightly. "You're right. There was a battle here… but not in 'reality.'"
"How do you know?" Petra asked, curious.
"The wind told me," Alex said with a crooked smile.
Hearing that, Petra couldn't help but roll her eyes.
Just as Petra was about to say something, her expression suddenly changed dramatically. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared fixedly behind Alex.
Seeing the look on Petra's face—as if she had just witnessed something utterly terrifying—Alex froze for a moment.
He spun around abruptly, but before he could even see what was behind him, a massive force slammed into him, launching him into the air.
"Death Crow!" Petra shouted as she saw Alex get struck by a black blur and sent flying.
But she didn't dare act rashly. The moment she tried to take a step forward, she felt a crushing pressure descend upon her—as if a predator had locked onto its prey.
Slowly shifting her eyes, Petra turned her gaze back to where Alex had just been standing.
There, hidden among the dense shadows of the overgrown grass, stood a bizarre humanoid creature over two meters tall. It was dressed in a suit jacket, with tattoos covering its chest—tattoos that could be mistaken for a tie if one didn't look closely.
What stood out the most was the creature's face—it wore a white mask with black markings in the shape of a sinister smile. The mask was eerie beyond words, and Petra had no idea when this thing had even appeared.
The humanoid glanced in the direction Alex had been flung, then slowly turned its head to look at Petra, emitting a piercing screech from its mouth.
Petra couldn't even describe the sound—it was like fingernails dragging across a chalkboard. Just hearing it made her skin crawl.
But she was still an X-Man, after all. Petra didn't feel any fear.
Or rather, compared to the horrors she had experienced before, this twisted scene felt like child's play.
"I don't know whether to say you're brave or just plain insane," Petra muttered under her breath, stealing a quick glance in Alex's direction.
Staring at the terrifying, grinning demon-like figure before her, Petra felt an unexpected flicker of pity rise in her heart.
Of all the people you could ambush… you picked the wrong one.
Clearly unaware of the shift in Petra's expression, the creature locked onto her and suddenly lunged from the shadows, shrieking wildly as it charged.
Without hesitation, Petra slammed her palm into the ground.
In the next moment, sharp spikes of earth suddenly shot up from beneath the monster's feet—jagged shards of stone burst forth, piercing straight through the creature's chest.
The monster let out a horrific scream of agony, but it wasn't destroyed. Even the spikes driven into its body didn't draw a single drop of blood.
The impact knocked the white smiley-face mask off its head, revealing the face beneath.
It was an extremely gaunt face—no pores, no hair, not even eyes, a nose, or ears. There was only a massive gaping mouth that stretched to the sides of its head, filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
The faceless man's appearance gave Petra a start, but she quickly recovered. No longer restraining her mutant powers, she raised both hands.
In the next instant, the earth itself seemed to come alive. The ground shook violently as the terrain around her began to shift—trees swayed wildly, and thick roots from beneath the soil were yanked to the surface.
And at that moment, several more figures emerged from the shadows—each one identical to the faceless monster, as if they had all been carved from the same mold.
It seemed they had all been lying in ambush, but Petra's display of power had forced them out into the open.
"Well then—come on!"
With a leap, Petra sprang onto a floating chunk of stone, launching herself into the air and dodging an incoming attack from one of the grinning demons. With a graceful wave of her hand, she shattered a massive boulder and sent its fragments crashing toward the charging creatures.
The monsters charged at Petra with open mouths, screeching. Even when forced back by the stones, they got up again in twisted, inhuman movements that no ordinary being could replicate, resuming their assault without hesitation.
In all her years, Petra had never encountered anything so bizarre.
Realizing her stone attacks were having no lasting effect, Petra immediately switched tactics.
She extended her hand and focused.
In an instant, the earth split open beneath the monsters—an enormous fissure, like the maw of a bottomless abyss. The creatures couldn't react in time and tumbled straight in.
Then Petra clenched her hand into a fist, and the chasm sealed shut as quickly as it had opened, restoring the solid ground. If not for some churned-up soil, one would never guess a battle had taken place there.
Landing back on the ground, Petra exhaled lightly, catching her breath.
Just then, a sound came from behind—the same direction where Alex had been hurled earlier.
"Hey, Death Crow, you alright?"
She turned her head out of habit, about to say something.
But when she saw the demon behind her, its mouth agape as it slowly moved toward her, Petra's expression suddenly froze.
...
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