American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Chapter 354 Raven: Who said it's easy for a woman to pursue a man?

Rune had been trying to teach Clark a lesson: never reveal your identity when doing good deeds. This wasn't some Eastern martial arts world, and there was no such thing as blaming family members.

"Why would Spider-Man, whom you're on good terms with, wear a mask?" Rune asked softly. "Because he knows that if he takes off the mask, his aunt and his love will be affected."

In the Civil War event in Marvel Comics, Spider-Man, persuaded by Iron Man, revealed his true identity in support of the Superhero Registration Act. And what was the result?

As a result, Aunt May was seriously wounded by a bullet. Unable to afford the high medical expenses, Peter was forced to seek help from Mephisto, the Lord of Hell, in exchange for Aunt May's resurrection, sacrificing his marriage with Mary Jane and the existence of his future daughter.

Because of these events, Peter eventually joined Captain America's anti-registration faction, but became a wanted criminal. He was seriously injured during his escape, and would have almost died if it weren't for the Punisher.

This is what happens when your true identity is exposed.

To prevent others from being affected by him, Rune gave Jonathan and Martha puppets protection, and in recent years he has been constantly updating the versions of the puppets they have. Even Clark has the latest version of the Guardian Puppet.

However, Clark felt that these puppets were no match for him, so he naturally didn't bring them along.

"I see."

Clark looked dejected in front of Raven and Rune. He knew it was entirely his own fault. He had brought Lana to this world to prove to her that he wasn't lying, and he had stopped at this sanctuary because he saw other Terminators hiding inside.

"Please, I'll do anything to save Lana—"

Rune nodded. He hoped Clark would learn from this lesson, but he didn't want Superman to become corrupted by it; otherwise, he wouldn't have taken back the Kryptonite necklace Clark was wearing.

That's right, the necklace Clark lost was taken by Rune, otherwise, if Lana had died right in front of Clark, it's hard to say how Clark would have reacted.

Lana was almost in shock at this point. Rune said nothing more, but instead began to cast his magic. Reattaching a severed arm required extremely precise magical manipulation. Magic as fine as a hair wrapped around the poor girl's severed arm, and a faint buzzing sound filled the air, as if countless needles were stitching flesh together.

The itchy and painful sensation made Lana tense up. She made a sound of crying and laughing at the same time, and she also stabbed her left hand hard into the soil.

After the bones, nerves, and skin regrown back together, the mage finally withdrew his magic. At this point, Lana's right arm was completely healed, without even a scar.

Lana bent her fingers in disbelief, then clenched them tightly, and then released them. She repeated this action several times before finally looking up at Rune. "Thank you—"

Nodding, Rune said "You're welcome" and then slowly left with Raven, leaving the couple alone.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault—." Clark wiped away his tears. He had been learning how to become a superhero, but he forgot that before becoming a superhero to save others, the most important thing he should do was to protect his family and friends first.

Clark couldn't help but recall Steve's words to him: "Because your strength is innate, I worry you'll lose your reverence for power. Only the weak understand the value of power, and also understand love and compassion, Clark. Never forget who you are. Don't be a superhero, be a good person."

At the time, Clark thought Steve's words were absurd, but today, he seems to understand what Steve meant.

Lana brushed Clark's hand away and wiped away his tears with her own right hand. "Look, I'm fine now. Don't worry, you did nothing wrong. You're just doing something great. You're bringing hope to everyone in this world."

"I'm proud of you, just like your parents would be proud of you if they knew what you're doing—"

"They're kissing." Raven watched the two adulterers from afar, then turned to look at Rune, her eyes filled with resentment.

But Rune just shook his head and turned to leave.

His real age is far too different from Raven's. If he were truly only seventeen, as his physical age suggests, Rune might not be able to handle it and might fall in love with him.

But counting his past life, he's already over fifty. What do you call a man in his fifties enjoying the body of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl?

That's a crime!

"But why?" Raven grabbed Rune's hand. Seeing Lana and Clark kissing, she was both angry and envious. Raven just couldn't understand why Rune wouldn't accept her and wouldn't want to have a proper relationship with her.

"Am I not pretty enough?"

Rune turned to look at Raven. Even without any makeup, her natural beauty shone through, and the dark magic she practiced added to her mystique. To simply describe Raven as beautiful would be an insult to her.

So he shook his head.

"Is that a problem with my body shape?"

Upon hearing this, Rune even wanted to roll his eyes. You're not even grown up yet, and you're already thinking about this?

Seeing Rune shake his head, Raven swallowed hard. "Then—it's because of age, right?"

"If you were forty, we could be together; if you were thirty, that would be alright too," Rune said, looking at the raven. "But you're only fifteen or sixteen. You don't understand love at all. You'll regret it."

"I don't understand—" Raven shook his head; Rune and he were clearly not that different in age—

"You don't need to understand, Raven. As you get older and meet more people, you'll eventually realize how different I am from everyone else. You're still young and don't understand, but I'm different."

After saying this, Rune shook off Raven's hand; he had to make a clean break.

Raven will become a superhero, but Rune won't; their positions are fundamentally different. Look at the love story between Batman and Catwoman—a superhero, a supervillain—.

The elopement at that grand wedding broke more than just Bruce's heart.

"But you didn't reject me, did you? You just—" Raven said, but Rune seemed not to hear her and walked away.

So Raven said no more and turned to chase after Rune's figure, but the gap between her and Rune was too big, and the distance between them did not seem to decrease because of Raven's efforts.

So, she exhausted her magic and strength in the long chase and finally collapsed to the ground.

The sound of crying came over, and Rune pursed his lips.

If it were anyone else, he definitely wouldn't care, but the one crying was the raven he'd watched grow up. "Don't cry—"

However, the raven then grabbed his hand.

"Got you!"