American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Chapter 461 Magic-Side Reform (Part 5)

Upon hearing Rune's words, Raven's body stiffened for a moment.

Looking into Rune's eyes? But Raven had been avoiding doing that; she was afraid of seeing a weak version of herself reflected in Rune's eyes.

Raven still looked at Rune, her savior and the man she had always admired. How could she bear to refuse?

As their eyes met, Rune felt an urge to hug Raven. He saw a deep loneliness and sorrow in those profound violet eyes.

After merging with Professor X's abilities, Rune has limited his telepathy as much as possible, but he can still see other people's emotions.

Constantine's torment beneath his debauched exterior, Naboo's insatiable greed, and Stark's hidden sorrow—

However, Raven's emotions kept fluctuating between happiness and contentment. Only then did Rune truly realize that perhaps this was why Raven could consistently express these two emotions when facing him.

But at this moment, he had hurt her.

"Raven—" Rune didn't hesitate. He followed his heart and hugged Raven. All the explanations he had prepared before seemed so pale and powerless at this moment.

Raven felt enveloped in warmth; this intimate physical contact instantly shattered all the defenses the little girl had painstakingly built.

Her frozen heart is melting rapidly.

Raven tried to break free from Rune's embrace, but Rune's strength far exceeded her expectations. Not to mention that he was holding Raven, even Clark would have had a hard time breaking free.

"I—I saw you with her—" Raven's voice trembled, so faintly that Rune could barely hear it, "You were—you were laughing, that kind of—I—"

The sadness made Raven unable to even speak a complete sentence. She still wanted to ask many questions, such as why Rune wouldn't accept her, why he wouldn't accept her kiss when he came back, and why Jonathan and Martha were so fickle.

Am I unworthy of love and family?

"You think I like her more?" Rune whispered, picking up where Raven left off. "But have you ever considered whether I spend more time with her or with you?"

"I have to be honest, I feel a bit more relaxed when I'm with Zatanna." Rune restrained Raven's struggle and continued, "But that's because I know that my feelings for her are limited to friendship. There aren't many complicated feelings between us, but for you—"

Rune explained again, "You need to understand, your feelings for me might just be because of our age difference. I've said it before, as long as—"

"But we've known each other for a long time, haven't we?" Raven looked up at Rune. "I know your personality very well, and I know what kind of person I've fallen for."

"I didn't fall for someone who saved my life. The person I fell for is named Rune. He always loves learning magic and always complains about not having enough time, but he's still willing to make time for me."

"He taught me how to deal with the bullies at school, he helped me live a carefree life for so many years, and he would occasionally take me to other universes to play."

"He seems to know everything and is always able to plan ahead, as if everything is within his expectations."

After saying this, Raven hugged Rune's neck and nuzzled the boy who had only recently come of age. "You always say that no mage is stupid, but why do you always think that my feelings for you are because of the age gap and the lack of experience, mistaking admiration for authority for love?"

Rune was speechless. This was the first time Raven had opened up to him. He had always regarded Raven as a child. The long period of time they spent together had not only failed to change his opinion of Raven, but had also reinforced his stereotype that Raven was still just a child.

But in reality, as she grew up, Raven had long since become a person with independent thinking ability, and her teacher was the Scarlet Witch Wanda, whose attitudes toward life and love had a great influence on her.

Rune sighed.

Raven said he knew almost everything, which was indeed true. Rune had read the comics and knew the personality traits and abilities of every hero and villain, and knew a lot of cosmic secrets.

The fact that everything Raven said was within Rune's expectations was utter nonsense. He was merely making reasonable inferences based on the characters' personalities, abilities, and various secrets, but even inferences can be wrong.

Moreover, in the foreseeable future, when Rune faces the Forsaken, his deductions will frequently be flawed.

After all, those forgotten ones must have helped and strengthened each other during this time, perhaps once or even several times over.

For example, with Brainiac whom we met before, Rune had reason to suspect that his ability to pull himself into the data space was a technique he obtained from Dr. Zola in the Marvel Universe.

Dr. Zola is famous for developing consciousness transfer technology to achieve immortality. After his physical body is destroyed, his consciousness remains in the robot body and can be transferred infinitely through the consciousness register, which perfectly matches the data space technology used by Brainiac.

But is Rune really confident in dealing with these enhanced Forgotten Ones?

He was unable to give any answer.

But he was still able to answer the raven's question.

"You don't understand the enemies we'll be facing in the future," Rune said softly. "They are incredibly powerful, their abilities unfathomable. I'm trying to fight them, but so far with little success."

"In the process of fighting them, I had to gather all the forces I could and eliminate all possible hidden dangers, but even so, I still had several close calls."

"But just recently, I learned that there are only three years left—only three years. After three years, our enemies will launch a full-scale invasion. Under such dangerous circumstances, I cannot make any promises to you, Raven. I am not confident in dealing with those people."

After saying this, Rune couldn't help but sigh. "It's not that I don't like you, Raven. Believe me, you're beautiful, but you're not yet an adult, and the hope for the future is so slim—"

Hearing this, Raven felt a surge of warmth and sorrow welling up inside her, a feeling that made her eyes well up with tears.

So she pressed down hard on Rune's neck, and Rune obediently lowered his head.

She gently kissed Rune's cheek and whispered in response, "No, Rune, you're blinded by your worries about the future. Isn't the present the most important thing?"

Yes, the most important thing is now—