110- Avengers (16)

Mason moved a moment before Supergiant could fully emerge from Bailey’s body, reaching her when she was only halfway out. He could not touch her, even with Chi, but that did not mean he could not affect her.

He first unleashed his Spiritual Domain, layering it with the Fire Dao instead of the usual Gravity Dao, since something needed a mass to be affected by Gravity. The usual crushing weight was replaced by a volatile, searing heat. It also cost more energy than usual, but seeing Supergiant writhe under the pain as her spiritual body slowly burned away was worth it.

At the same time, Mjollnir reached Loki, smacking him in the chest and sending him flying, while Jean attacked Supergiant. She did not have to move as she created a long spike of Spiritual Energy and fired it at Supergiant.

Distracted by Mason’s own attack, Supergiant’s spiritual body was impaled on the spike, which then exploded, tearing Supergiant’s body apart. The scattering of her spiritual body also caused the effectiveness of Mason’s attack to skyrocket, the little, weaker pieces getting burned away much faster.

Finally, Jean created a sphere around Mason and Supergiant, completely entrapping her. She had a look of absolute focus, and even a slight nosebleed as she visualized the sphere in her hands, slowly closing it in to both contain and crush everything within.Mason was feeling the pressure too, but his Spirit was currently far more solid than Supergiant, so he held on, drawing on the last of his reserves of Spiritual Energy to keep his Spiritual Domain up.

Although most of the others could not see what was happening, they could see the looks on Mason’s and Jean’s faces, and watched tensely. With the only exception of the Hulk, who had started beating Loki to unconsciousness on the side.

They had very nearly obliterated her when the inevitable happened.

Doom moved in an instant, firing a green beam of mystical energy at Spider-Man. The spider hero, thanks to his Spider Sense, successfully dodged the beam and closely guarded the Tesseract, but as arrogant as Doom might be, he also understood that he could not face all the heroes present on his own if he wanted to snatch the Tesseract.

So, he cast a second spell, hitting Jean’s sphere. It was tougher than he expected, so it did not explode, but he still managed to poke a hole through it, and it was enough.

Jean had been containing both Mason’s Spiritual Domain and Supergiant’s spirit body, and while most of the latter had been crushed and burned, the spiritual energy had not dissipated as it normally should have. Her imprint had disappeared, but the raw energy remained, trapped by Jean’s sphere.

And it was precisely in that moment that Supergiant proved her superior skill to anyone present in the mind arts. She knew she was dead, even if no one did anything, her will would dissipate on its own. Her spiritual body had been far too damaged for recovery to be possible.

She also realized that Earthlings were far more dangerous than they ever thought, and if put together, could pose a real danger to her father’s plans. So, she sacrificed whatever little was left of her, and used the remains of her Spiritual Energy and even Mason’s own energy to attack.

Like the pressurized air inside a balloon, when Jean’s sphere around them popped, Supergiant released all that energy outward, targeting the closest targets. She did not have much control after that, so she gave a simple order: kill everyone else, starting with the man who killed her.

The author did not permit this reproduction, which came from their publication page; the official chapter supports them when read there.

The blast would have normally included well over half of the heroes present, including the Hulk and Thor. However, it just so happened that the Invisible Girl was one of the few capable of seeing spiritual bodies and spiritual energy.

The moment the breach appeared, she drew on her power to create a barrier of her own, shielding the whole group. The only ones she could not protect were Mason, who was in the midst of the storm, and the Hulk, who had separated to beat the living out of Loki.

Supergiant’s last attack did not simply bounce off Invisible Girl’s barrier, it latched onto it, infiltrating her shield and rapidly spreading like ivy. The Invisible Girl could see it, but she could also see that the onslaught was not finished, so she kept it up, even as the malignant energy crept towards her, to protect everyone else.

At the same time, a good part of the energy infiltrated Mason, but it was helpless before his Spirit, being utterly incapable of harming it. The Hulk did not fare as well, unfortunately.

He was angry, and that rage was powerful enough to resist the possession. However, that was not enough to completely erase the influence of the devious attack, as instead of fighting against the rage, it warped the Hulk’s mind to give him a new recipient for that rage.

The attack lasted a few seconds before things finally calmed down. Jean had already retrieved her barrier and had even created a secondary shield to protect the X-Men, since she could not see the Invisible Girl’s creations.

While this was happening, the rest of the heroes had not been completely motionless either, as they all turned to Doom. They mostly attacked from a distance, and Doom drew some distance from them, exchanging blows with Iron Man and Cyclops mostly. His sight was still set on Spider-Man, though, and the Tesseract.

For a moment, he looked like he was ready to escape, even creating a portal, thinking his plans had been foiled. It was then that the Hulk roared and attacked Mason.

Mason had already been ready for it, thankfully, so he ducked under the giant fist and returned a punch to the liver. He clad it in Chi, as he understood that the only way to deal with this was to anger the Hulk badly enough that his rage would erase the mental manipulation.

And thankfully, this time, he was not alone.

His Divine Sense on Hulk, Mason tried to step back, but found an invisible wall blocking him. And behind, the Invisible Girl cackled.

Mason had not seen the influence of the mental energy on her shields, or how it had spread, since they were invisible to him too. Still, he understood Susan had been turned, and so did everyone else. That caused Doom to pause, as he watched Mason curiously.

With no way to dodge the punch now, Mason braced himself, and the Hulk showed no mercy. His fist ruptured the air itself with how much power had gathered within.

Cladding his whole left arm in Sunfire, Mason decided to meet the punch with one of his own, slowing down the Hulk and accelerating himself with the Gravity Dao as he pushed off the invisible wall behind.

Mason’s bones broke instantly. Hulk’s fist did not move an iota. But Mason did not intend to win the clash. As his bones and muscles ruptured, and his hand and forearm folded inward, he moved.

Ignoring the physical pain, he grabbed onto the Hulk’s shoulder blade with his good hand as he leapt above him, using him as an anchor and the rebound from the punch to spin forward, reaching the Hulk’s back and driving a knee into the base of his skull.

The Hulk’s head only moved slightly forward, and he easily shook Mason off, gnashing his teeth as he turned.

By this point, though, Mason had joined the other heroes. Thor, the Thing, and Colossus from the X-Men stepped forward. "We will take care of him."

Audrey was the only one to rush to Mason’s side, though, looking at his hand in panic. "Are you okay?"

Mason grunted, already channeling Chi through his hand. "I’ll be fine after a few days. I just won’t be able to use it until then. Focus on the fight, Audrey."

She bit her lip, wanting to say more, but seeing the look of absolute focus on his face, she only replied, "The name is Luminary."

Mason chuckled lightly, remnants of a laugh that had been drowned out by the Hulk’s punch, and stared at the Invisible Girl slowly rising in the air. Her invisible barrier that had been surrounding the battlefield gained a light visible sheen, twisting around her like a living thing.

Her expression had changed. Susan Storm was gone, and whatever had replaced her was staring directly at Mason.