Jean's POV
Corvus unleashed his domain the moment the ship fell apart. Demonic power mixed with something I couldn't quite place billowed out, settling over everything and everyone for dozens of miles around the ship. Massive spires of bloody muscle, bone, and sinew shot out from the ocean around us, and the turbulent water turned to blood.
Thankfully, it did not penetrate the dome protecting New York City, but the pressure on Wanda mounted suddenly and quickly.
The Novans and agents in ships and carriers let out a collective grunt of pain that sent Maria Hill into a panic.
"Status report, Romanoff. What is going on?"
"Corvus created some kind of field, Deputy Director," Romanoff said. "It's eating at our shields."
"It's the Red Death," one of Tony's AI drones pronounced. "Or at least a heavily modified version of it designed to wear down organic matter and demonic energy."
Corvus raised his staff.
"What are you waiting for, an invitation? Give me your best shot."
Ordinarily, his declaration would've been enough to get me to attack, but a voice at the back of my head advised caution. Corvus was surrounded on all sides, and that made him dangerous... so much so that fighting him on his terms was almost a mistake.
"I need some space," I sent via telepathy. "I need everyone without Arcanite armor to move to the edges of the domain and take on the empowered beasts."
"With all due respect, Jean Grey, I don't take orders from you," Maria Hill said through the telepathic comms.
"Maybe you should," I said. "At least for the duration of this fight. I can't protect them and fight him."
A GDF soldier's mouth twisted into a sneer.
"Don't insult us, we—"
Blood gushed out of the Ascendant standing beside Corvus. It formed into thousands upon thousands of microscopic spell formulas that merged with the domain, exponentially increasing the pressure the Red Death put on us.
Meanwhile, Corvus went on the offensive, firing an armada's worth of blood projectiles. The other Ascendants supported him. One went after Sentry specifically, and the last wove a spell I didn't recognize, tethering him to Corvus and the other Ascendants.
I went after him first, lashing out with my rings soaked in psychic energy. They moved so fast the air turned to plasma. There was nothing left of the waifish Ascendant when I was done with him.
But then energy exploded out of him, and the damage reversed itself. His skin grew denser, his body larger, and he seemed to radiate more energy. The tether arcing out from him hummed, and I sensed all of the Ascendants benefiting from the change, growing more resistant to my unique brand of magic.
With a snap of my fingers, I combusted the air between us with a flash of Phoenix fire, burning away the blood bullets. Corvus and the other Blood Ascendants used that opportunity to strike. Flesh and bone exploded from the micro-spells surrounding us, entombing everyone touched by the Red Plague beneath tons upon tons of flesh, bone, and blood. Hundreds would've died if I hadn't teleported them into the city. Empty ships tumbled from the sky into the bloody water.
Sentry and every major hero tore through the fleshy prison before it fully formed, but the damage was already done, and they went on the offensive.
A small Ascendant drove a fist into Sentry. It shattered, much to her surprise. Sentry punched back, launching her into the stratosphere. The tether linking her to the evolving Ascendant snapped.
A GDF soldier teleported after her as beams of fire, dimensional blades, force, and other elemental attacks coverged on Corvus and his little apprentice, but he rebuffed them, manifesting a massive turtle shell with enormous bony spikes jutting out from it.
The attacks tore through it easily, but it held long enough for Corvus to vanish and reappear behind Jessica Jones, his hands lined with some kind of spell. I stopped him dead with a burst of telekinesis that I felt slowly weakening as the milliseconds ticked past.
Jessica spun around and drove a fist wrapped in purple fire into his chin. The air cracked, but his armor didn't. And that pissed Jessica off. The next cross made her first strike feel like a love tap and nearly broke his breastplate.
Corvus snarled, and blood rose from the sea, massive spouts reaching for weak and recovering soldiers, while a gigantic twister built up and moved toward the shield defending New York. The Ascendant seemed to be pulling out all the stops.
And so did I.
I came down on him with the full force of my psychokinesis. My order choked the very air and splintered his domain.
STOP.
He lost control of all of his spells at once. The Red Plague, the blood twisters, the tentacles—everything.
He screamed, but I wasn't done.
A casual wave of my hand shattered his armor and pulled him into my waiting grasp. With a closing of my fist, I crushed his apprentice and the adapting Ascendant they were tethered to. The Ascendant tried to come back, but I burned her this time, reducing her to ash.
I felt despair blossom inside him, and I fed it, letting it overtake him until it choked him and he wept. His armor shattered around him, and his domain collapsed while I stared down at Corvus with white rage burning through me.
"You cared for them," I said, "at least in your own way. And if I were a little less angry, I would've spared them."
Corvus looked up at me, eyes wide, mouth blubbering. I wrapped my telekinesis around his throat.
"But you took my friends, my mentor, and corrupted her. I had to watch her die because of you... You do not deserve a quick death, but I'll grant it to you all the same."
But it would be far from painless.
I reached into his mind and pulled, hollowing him out completely. I took everything he was. All of his memories, skills, and knowledge of demon magic, spells, and techniques. A great deal of it was directly useless to me, but it gave me a greater understanding of the threat we all faced.
I snapped his neck and incinerated his body once I was done with him.
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