A golden ahoge—like a tiny antenna—slowly rose from behind Wanda Maximoff's shoulder.
It swayed left.
Then right.
And then—
A small head popped out from behind her.
"…A cat?"
Pietro Maximoff, who had just taken two steps back in fear, froze on the spot.
Under his stunned gaze, the creature fully revealed itself—
A floating blue cat sitting atop a hovering book.
It yawned, stretched lazily, then complained in a very human tone:
"I've gone through all this trouble…"
"Are we getting fish this time?"
"Or is it going to be another empty trip again?!"
The cat leapt lightly and floated over to Adrian, hovering in front of him.
It was Yuumi.
"Relax," Adrian said, patting Yuumi's head.
"I already removed the seal restriction."
"You can eat as much fish as you want now."
Yuumi's eyes lit up instantly.
"Really?!"
"I'm starving! I want fish—right now!"
She immediately floated onto Adrian's shoulder, staring at him with exaggerated pitiful eyes.
Adrian sighed helplessly.
"Fine."
"You stay here and protect them."
"I'll go catch some."
He glanced briefly at the dim glow on Yuumi's ahoge.
It had clearly lost a lot of energy.
Earlier, to stabilize Wanda's condition, Yuumi had expended a significant amount of her own magic.
Right now—
She desperately needed food to recover.
The reason Wanda had collapsed was simple.
The cost of summoning exceeded her limits.
When she activated the so-called "magic lamp," what she actually triggered was Adrian's system-linked entity—
Zephrys.
Normally, summoning Zephrys required only low-tier magical energy—something even an unawakened Wanda could barely sustain.
But the problem wasn't the summoning itself.
It was the wish.
Wanda didn't ask for gold.
Or safety.
Or food.
She asked for a "JK."
And due to a ridiculous coincidence—
That wish aligned with Adrian's newly obtained transformation:
Galakrond — Father of Dragons.
Unlike previous avatars, Galakrond's manifestation wasn't free.
It required high-order energy input.
And Adrian himself—
Had no magical energy.
So the system defaulted to the summoner as the power source.
Which meant—
Wanda paid the full cost.
[Avatar — Galakrond, Father of Dragons]
Effect: Consumes high-tier energy to transform into one of Galakrond's five aspects
Duration: Until manually canceled
Cooldown: 1 second
In Marvel Universe terms—
This level of energy was comparable to the upper spectrum of Scarlet Witch's abilities.
But that was the future Scarlet Witch.
Not the current Wanda—
A malnourished, untrained child.
If not for Yuumi's emergency healing—
She might never have woken up again.
"Take this."
Before leaving, Adrian flicked his fingers.
A black scale appeared in his hand.
He handed it to Pietro.
Then he picked up a damaged submachine gun from the ground.
A faint radiance gathered in his palm.
The weapon reshaped itself—
Condensing into a silver-white revolver.
Pietro's eyes widened.
"This is…?"
The moment he touched the items—
Information flooded into his mind.
After a few seconds, he nodded slowly.
"…I understand."
This was one of Adrian's passive system traits:
First Transformation → Permanent Derived Ability
For example—
After becoming a War Star Spirit, he gained the will-based ability similar to the "Unyielding Spear."
And from Galakrond—
He obtained Invocation Authority.
He could grant others a ritual.
Those who performed it could:
Temporarily borrow power
Amplify Adrian's next transformation
Of course—
There was a catch.
It required energy.
Right now, neither Pietro nor Adrian had any magical reserves.
So the "ritual" was essentially…
A pager with no signal.
As for the revolver—
It came from another transformation-derived ability:
Demon Gun Modification
Any firearm Adrian touched could be converted into:
A Holy Gun
Or a Demon Gun
Each loaded with six special rounds.
Others could use them normally.
But in Adrian's hands—
They had no ammunition limit.
"I'm heading out."
A beam of starlight descended from the sky.
It engulfed Adrian completely.
His form shifted—
As he entered a Star-Spirit state and shot upward like a comet.
Far away—
Over the ocean—
A streak of light crashed into the sea.
BOOM!
Moments later—
Adrian emerged, holding a massive tuna impaled on a spear of light.
"I can't believe I'm using a star-piercing attack…"
"…to catch fish."
He tossed the fish into his system storage.
Then paused.
"…Maybe I should stop using spears."
His expression darkened slightly.
"There might actually be some truth to that cursed saying…"
"Lancers really do have terrible luck."
After catching enough fish, Adrian returned.
Meanwhile—
Back in the forest—
Pietro stood behind a tree.
One hand gripped the black scale.
The other held the silver revolver.
His breathing was tense.
In the distance—
A squad of Hydra soldiers advanced cautiously.
Searching.
Tracking.
Closing in.
Then—
A streak of starlight fell from the sky.
BOOM!!!
It struck the ground like a meteor.
The impact carved a trench nearly a hundred meters long.
The shockwave blasted outward—
Like a bowling strike.
The soldiers didn't even have time to react.
They were wiped out instantly.
Not one survived.