Chapter 228: Panthers

Chapter 228: Panthers

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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23rd March 2012, New York City

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't even realize that I had stayed silent for five minutes straight. Selene had given me a knowing look, understanding that I was just lost in thoughts, Wanda though, looked at me worryingly, "Are you alright?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm ready. It's time."

"Where are we going?" Rose asked.

I gave her a cheeky smirk, one that was a bit forced, "Why, we're going to the most advanced country in the world?"

Rose looked confused and I didn't blame her. After all, I was going to perform a ritual, not visit a country. Still, she played along and tried to guess the country, "Latveria?"

Huh, not a bad guess, "No, we're going to Wakanda." This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

Selene really hated that place too. The arrogance that every single citizen there had towards outsiders, even ones as powerful as Selene and myself, was very grating. Not to mention how stupid it was to antagonize people who could raze your entire country to the ground on a whim. Still, it was one of the most advanced locations on the planet, and Selene and I thought to check it out. The place was extremely advanced for its time, but the xenophobia was so irritating that we ended up leaving after just a week. After that we only dealt with the royal family. But even then, their smug tones of superiority had almost gotten Selene to burn the place to the ground more than once.

With that in mind, I chose to elaborate on Selene's explanation, "There's a place, in the middle of a hill of Vibranium in Wakanda that people avoided like the plague. They called it the empty chasm, a cavern fully surrounded by pure vibranium, that absorbed any kind of energy that got released inside. This is, as far as I know, the only place in the world that's completely untainted by ambient magic. The point of me doing the ritual there, is that it simplifies the ritual enormously. Not only does no energy whatsoever contaminate the ritual, but it also provides a place for my magic to be absorbed after my magic is fully drained. I could have done so artificially, but it would have made an already extremely complicated ritual increase its complexity exponentially, that's not to mention the higher risk of failure."

Rose exclaimed, "So, you're using the fact that it's a magically clean room, and that the vibranium around you will also absorb your magic after it's drained, to your advantage, meaning that you didn't have to take that into account when you designed the ritual. Merlin, that is absolutely genius. I never thought that something as simple as the location of a ritual could simplify or complicate it."

I shrugged, "A ritual is, at its core, a spell. In this case, the ritual is based on alchemy, I'm sacrificing the celestial seed to alter my magic core into a core of cosmic energy. An equivalent exchange, but for me to alter my core, it must be empty of energy, and hopefully of Death's imprint. It's only logical; if you want to repaint a bowl, it cannot have any food inside it. It's the same thing with the core."

Rose then asked me, "What about the magic that is actually used to perform the ritual, how are you going to supply it without any ambient magic around?"

The question was quite logical, even if one was an expert in ritual magics. It didn't stem from a lack of knowledge but from a consensus that spells are never used to alter a wizard's own magic. It was logical in a way, a magic that casts a spell that affects itself creates a paradox that would undoubtedly kill the caster in an effort to resolve itself. Since I was stuck in changing my own magic, by that logic, the ritual couldn't be powered by my own magic, which is why it's a purely alchemical ritual meaning that my own magic isn't used. Alchemy is based on the concept of equivalent exchange, but in a permanent way. It isn't powered by a wizard's magic, but with the ambient magic. The wizard merely sends a spark to activate the ritual, nothing more. In an environment without ambient magic, I merely needed to substitute the power source to ensure that the alchemical exchange happens without issues.

I gave her a proud look, "A very good question, Rose. It's quite simple, like I said, vibranium is a metal that absorbs energy, including magic. I have in my possession an ingot of vibranium that I have filled to the brim with magical energy. I put it over a few ley lines and made sure that no other types of energy except for magic gets absorbed by the ingot itself. I will be using it as a power source for the ritual. With that said, the ritual itself will be isolated magically from the rest of the area, right after my magic is drained. This way, I will have no chance of contamination, a viable power source for the ritual, and a viable alchemical sacrifice."

With that said, I steeled myself and nodded, "Alright, I've put this off for long enough. It's time for me to get going."

The moment I said this, Wanda and Rose had leapt to give me a hug. Jean just gave me a respectful nod. The redhead still hadn't gotten over the fact that I was her teacher and she never acted familiarly with me, especially since she's 'secretly' dating Wanda, my daughter.

I stifled the idea of messing with her. It wasn't the time for this. Bucky offered me his hand and I took it, "Thank you."

I nodded at him. I looked towards my love, Selene, who was a lot paler than usual and looked quite green. She had unshed tears in her eyes. She jumped at me and kissed me. She gave me an intense look but didn't say anything. She didn't need to. I could feel it through our telepathic bond. Feelings of unconditional love, fear, and worry.

I gave her a hesitant smile and turned away. I created a portal towards Central Africa, "See you on the other side."

I stepped through and went forward. I could only hope that tomorrow, I would still be myself when I came back to them.