Bound by hundreds of magical ropes around her hands and feet, Carol immediately exerted force in an attempt to break free.
However, when Doctor Strange had used this move on the Mad Titan, even he had only been able to break free in a short amount of time thanks to the Power Stone.
Thus, despite struggling against hundreds of solid illusions for over ten seconds, Carol soon realized that unless she could instantly shatter the magical ropes, her ability to exert force was severely limited. While dozens of illusions were indeed weaker than her, the moment she tried pulling with her right hand, the illusions on the left side would counteract her movement, disrupting her leverage. Even the ropes around her feet would suddenly tighten or loosen, further ruining her balance.
This made Carol increasingly frustrated, and the energy surging within her grew stronger and stronger, to the point where William felt he was on the verge of losing control over her.
But he was reluctant to expose a trump card like spatial confinement so easily. Left with no choice, he withdrew his magic and dispelled the ropes. Just as Carol was about to feel smug about forcing William to surrender, a clone of him suddenly spoke urgently:
"Stop! The plane carrying the mummy princess to the U.S. has just deviated from its course and is now headed straight for London.
You must handle the mummy immediately, or else we'll be facing large-scale undead summoning and thousands of civilian casualties!"
Carol had been pleased at making William back down, but upon hearing this news, her satisfaction quickly disappeared.
"Why would the plane change course to London?"
Why?
Should he tell her that nine hundred years ago, the Dagger of Set and the Jewel of Set were seized by the Knights Templar of England and have since been kept in their church and cemetery?
That in order to summon the god Set to Earth, the mummy princess had no choice but to come to London?
"My guess is that there's some kind of artifact in London that aids in summoning Set," William said, feigning a thoughtful expression.
"Or maybe because I set up a magic circle to trap her, and she's coming to cause me trouble."
Carol didn't buy it. The clone hesitated for a few seconds before shrugging and outright lying:
"My magical prowess is considered among the best in England. Sealing the mummy must have drawn Set's attention.
That makes me the ideal vessel for Set to descend upon Earth.
And since mages are naturally disadvantaged against demon gods, if you don't deal with the mummy princess, I'll have no choice but to take her on a world tour.
Once the death toll reaches a certain threshold, those old monsters in hiding will be forced to show themselves and take care of the crisis."
Carol was stunned for a moment, then looked at him with disdain.
"A world tour? Aren't you afraid of being cursed and scorned by everyone, called a coward?"
William shamelessly replied, "Doesn't matter. If Set really descends upon me, that would be the real disaster."
As he finished speaking, a thought suddenly occurred to him—what if the mummy princess and Set really were targeting him?
Damn, good thing I'm still busy fooling Captain Marvel. Otherwise, who knows what kind of special tricks a demon god like Set might have up his sleeve?
The version of Set in the movies might not have seemed that powerful, but even when possessing an ordinary person, he could still pull the dead back from the afterlife.
That ability alone was enough to qualify him as a top-tier entity.
If not for the fact that borrowed power was unreliable, William might have even considered pulling a Tom Cruise and injecting Set's power into himself.
As he mulled over this, Carol, who had been watching him closely, noticed that he wasn't showing the slightest sign of lying.
He really would run away just to save his own skin.
Furious and exasperated, she cursed, "Damn coward! Tell me where that plane is. I'll take care of this first, and then I'll deal with you!"
Hah, deal with me? If I don't want to see you, you won't even catch a glimpse of my shadow.
Still, since Carol was willing to step up as the fighter, William didn't mind whatever she said.
He tossed her a phone and an earpiece.
"I'll be supporting you from the rear. As long as it's within my power, whatever you need, I'll provide."
Carol put on the earpiece, checked the communication, then shot William one last look of contempt before blasting through the ceiling and roof of the building, heading toward the U.S. transport plane according to Sunday's guidance.
Watching the large, dust-filled hole left behind, William smirked, then waved his hand to open a portal.
Engineering robots and repair materials started passing through, beginning repairs on the manor's main building.
Meanwhile, in the dining room of the Devonshire Manor, William casually used his telekinesis to lift and slice some floating fruits, neatly plating them into a salad.
Carrying the plate and a few forks, he returned to the mahjong area in the living room, grinning as he asked Lena and the others if they wanted some salad.
Since William had made it personally, none of the women present refused. Even if they weren't hungry, they took a few bites out of courtesy.
While William and his family were enjoying a warm and cozy moment, a hundred kilometers away, Carol was still searching for the transport plane. In a matter of minutes, she had scoured nearly half of England but hadn't found a single trace of the aircraft.
Just as she was growing increasingly anxious, Sunday's voice reported:
"My apologies, Ms. Danvers. We may have underestimated the abilities of the demon god Set.
A few minutes ago, someone called in to report a plane crash. It appears the transport plane did not fly directly to London as expected but crashed 120 kilometers south of your current location."
"This situation is either a freak accident or a deliberate move by Set, who foresaw your strength and had the mummy land early to hide and regain her power.
If it's the latter, then I suspect civilians are already being harmed.
So, your time is running out."
"Give me the coordinates," Carol ordered.
She then shot southward at high speed.
Moments later, she arrived above a small town. Following Sunday's guidance, she located the crash site.
The area was strewn with debris from the transport plane, and a golden sarcophagus lay split in two from the impact. Nearby, five or six U.S. soldiers in uniform had already withered into dried-up husks.
Carol immediately understood—the mummy princess had not only awakened but had drained human life force to regain mobility.
She looked toward the town a kilometer away, about to head there to search for the princess, when suddenly, the shriveled corpses on the ground began to tremble.
They let out eerie howls and slowly stood up, staggering toward the town.
Carol felt a surge of relief—if she followed these newborn mummies, she would surely find the mummy princess.
But just as she started feeling pleased with herself, William's mocking voice came through her earpiece:
"Carol Danvers, are you an idiot?
You can't even see through such a simple ploy?
These mummies are moving so slowly—by the time they reach the town, either all the people inside will have been drained and slaughtered, or the mummy princess will have used the distraction to escape far away.
Got it, dumbass?"
Though she had to admit William made sense, no one had ever dared to insult her like that since she became Captain Marvel.
But this wasn't the time to fly back to London and beat him up.
Suppressing her fury, she redirected all her anger toward the mummies on the ground and the fleeing mummy princess.
(End of Chapter)
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