MCIM Ch. 155

The waystone had deposited them inside what Mephisto referred to as his "pillow." To the Hell Lord, this was just part of his true body. To Mario and his companions, it was a goddamn mountain with a cave carved into it.

The pitch-black cavern had only a sliver of light bleeding in from the entrance about thirty meters away. The air smelled like sulfur.

Uuuuhhh...

That familiar groan sent Mario's hand flying to his inventory on pure instinct. He pulled out his diamond sword as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Several skeletons and zombies had spawned in the small cave. At least no creepers had materialized. In a confined space like this, one of those green bastards would be a nightmare.

"Stay back," Mario called out, pulling a torch from his inventory with his free hand. He jammed it into the wall, and light flooded the area.

The monsters recoiled from the sudden illumination, giving him the opening he needed. Three quick strikes took down the nearest skeleton. Two more swings dispatched the zombies.

He planted torches around the entire cavern, transforming the darkness into a well-lit chamber.

"Where are we?" Xavier asked. "I tried scanning the area with my telepathy, but... nothing. It's like there's a massive psychic presence suppressing my abilities completely."

Mario picked up the loot drops from the monsters.

"Didn't you read the waystone destination? Mephisto's Bedroom."

Peter was staring at the spots where the monsters had dissolved into nothing. "Where's their power source? And why did they turn into smoke?"

The rapid-fire questions told Mario that Peter was either nervous or fascinated.

Footsteps echoed from the cave entrance. Everyone turned to see a middle-aged man in an impeccably tailored suit strolling toward them.

When Mephisto's eyes landed on Mario, his smile shifted from polite to warm. "Mario! What brings you here? Having some trouble you need help with?"

In his own realm, he radiated confidence. He had the power to back up that attitude.

Mario walked forward to meet him. There was no conflict of interest between them, at least not yet. They had a mutually beneficial arrangement going. Not quite friends, but definitely more than acquaintances.

"Yeah. I need your expertise on something."

Mario laid out Harry's situation in straightforward terms. Mephisto listened without interrupting. When Mario finished, Mephisto turned his attention to Harry.

"There's the scent of a curse here."

With a wave of his hand, he lifted Harry's unconscious body into the air. Peter's spider-sense didn't even trigger, the movement was so smooth and controlled that it registered as non-threatening.

"Harry!"

His instincts kicked in anyway. He grabbed onto Harry's body, trying to pull him back down. His super-strength, capable of stopping a moving bus, might as well have been a child tugging on a flagpole for all the good it did.

Mephisto smiled at Peter's efforts. "Your soul has quite the unique signature."

Peter found himself lifted into the air along with Harry, dangling from his unconscious friend.

Mario watched the display. "So? Can you fix him?"

"Very simple."

Mephisto extended one finger and tapped Harry's forehead. An invisible pulse of energy radiated from the contact point. Harry's soul was forcibly ejected from his body. The translucent, blue-tinted form of Harry floated in mid-air. It looked exactly like him, but there was something wrong with it. Dense red threads ran through the soul like a contaminated circulatory system.

Mario frowned. He'd seen souls before when using his Ghost Rider transformation, but never anything like this. "That's the curse you mentioned?"

Mephisto nodded. "A demonic curse, specifically. It appears one of his ancestors made a deal with a demon and then broke the contract. The demon's revenge has been passed down through the bloodline."

Mario blinked. Hold on. This is supposed to be the Spider-Man universe. Since when do demons get involved?

Harry's soul stirred. His eyes, or whatever souls used to see. went wide as he took in his surroundings.

"Where am I now? What's happening?"

Two blackouts in quick succession had thoroughly scrambled his sense of reality. He looked down and saw Peter still clinging to his body, then noticed his own transparent, floating form.

"That's... that's my body. And I'm..."

"That's your soul," Mario explained. "The curse affecting you manifests on the spiritual level. Those red threads you see, that's the problem we're trying to fix."

Harry stared at the crimson contamination running through his essence. Everything about this situation was so far beyond his understanding that he couldn't even process it properly. He'd thought Spider-Man was the peak of what was possible. Then Mario had appeared, seemingly even more powerful than Peter.

Who is this guy?

But Mario had moved on to a different concern. "Mephisto, I have an ability that removes any status effect. I used it on him earlier, but it didn't work. Why?"

Mephisto studied the red threads carefully, then raised one finger and shot a beam of crimson energy at Xavier, who'd been quietly observing from the corner of the cave.

"Now he's cursed too. Try your ability on him and let me see what happens."

Xavier's eyes went wide. "What? I was just standing here..."

Mario pulled out a bucket of milk and handed it to Xavier. Xavier drank it down, and Mephisto's eyebrows rose slightly.

"My curse was removed. Interesting. The power of rules... by all logic, the curse on the boy shouldn't be able to resist it. Give me a moment. Let me increase the intensity."

Mario nodded and preemptively pulled out another bucket of milk, along with a totem of undying for good measure. He pressed both items into Xavier's hands.

"I want you to know that I see your sacrifice here. I appreciate it. When this is done, not only will I give you the latest armor model, I'll let you custom-design one too."

Xavier, who'd been looking distinctly uncomfortable, straightened his posture and spoke, "Don't worry."

Mario clapped Xavier on the shoulder. Then he turned to Mephisto and gave him a nod.

"Alright, let's see what you've got."

Mephisto smiled. "Take them outside first. My true body is out there. Around this stone, my power is being heavily suppressed."

He sounded frustrated about that fact. The mighty Hell Lord, having his abilities constrained by a simple stone monument in his own domain. His avatar turned and walked toward the cave entrance. Mario gestured for the others to follow.

"Come on. I'll show you guys something impressive."

Harry's soul remained floating in place, looking bewildered. "What about me?"

He made swimming motions with his arms, which did nothing.

Mario suppressed a laugh. "You're in soul form now. Just think about moving forward and you will."

Harry hesitated, then focused his will on moving. His soul glided forward smoothly.

"This is incredible..."

He floated over to Peter. "Hey, look at me! I can fly too now. Better than you, I don't even need web shooters!"

Peter managed a weak smile. "Yeah, that's great."

Harry had finally worked through his anger. Seeing his own dissociative episode recorded, understanding what had really happened to his father, and receiving Peter's honest confession... it had all combined to break through the wall of hatred.

The fact that Peter was his best friend helped. That bond had proven stronger than vengeance.

As they emerged from the cave, a sound like distant thunder rolled across the hellscape. The group looked up, searching for the source, but all they could see was a massive dark-red mountain dominating the landscape.

Xavier scanned the environment. Then his face went pale.

He hurried forward and pressed close to Mario. "When you said Mephisto, did you mean the Mephisto? Hell Lord, demon king, that Mephisto?"

Mario nodded. "Yeah. When it comes to souls and curses, he's the best there is."

He glanced at Xavier's expression. "From the look on your face, I'd say you just figured out that the mountain isn't a mountain."

Xavier swallowed. "That's... that's him. His true body. We're standing at his feet."

The realization hit the others a moment later. What they'd assumed was a geographical feature was a giant sitting cross-legged on the ground. They were simply too close and too small to comprehend the scale immediately.

The sound they'd been hearing was Mephisto's voice as he recited his own full name. A pillar of red light descended from above, striking Xavier. What was a thin beam from Mephisto's perspective was a torrent from Xavier's.

"Mario, I changed my mind! Keep the armor, I don't need... AAAHHH!"

The energy engulfed him completely, and for two excruciating seconds, Xavier experienced what felt like being simultaneously crushed and torn apart. Then the beam vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

Xavier stood there, trembling, looking like he'd just gone ten rounds with a heavyweight boxer.

Mephisto's avatar approached. "Try your cure now."

Mario handed Xavier the milk. Xavier chugged it desperately, and the curse energy evaporated instantly.

Mephisto had been expecting this result, but he still looked thoughtful. "There's nothing wrong with your ability. It works perfectly."

Mario nodded and tossed Xavier a golden apple as a bonus reward. "Then what's the deal with Harry?"

Mephisto's expression turned serious. "Only two possibilities. Either the demon who cursed him is watching him at all times, or the medium sustaining the curse has been with him constantly."

Understanding dawned on Mario's face. "I wasn't failing to remove the curse, the moment I removed it, it got reapplied immediately."

He muttered a few choice Italian curses under his breath, then looked up at Mephisto.

"Can you handle this or not?"

"Of course."

Mephisto reached toward Harry's floating soul and made a grasping motion. Harry screamed as the red threads were forcibly extracted from his essence, writhing like living things as they flew into Mephisto's palm.

He examined them briefly, then tossed them into his mouth.

"Mmm. Not bad. Pure and smooth."

Harry, however, was far from smooth. His soul had become noticeably more transparent, almost fading from view. Peter, still holding Harry's body, saw his friend's spiritual form flickering and rushed forward, only to pass right through the intangible soul.

"Harry's..."

"He's fine. Don't worry."

Mario pulled out a vial of soul essence from his inventory. "Will this help stabilize him?"

"It would."

But instead of taking the vial, Mephisto flicked his finger. A single drop of essence flew from his fingertip and merged with Harry's soul.

Harry's soul solidified, becoming more substantial than it had been even before the curse removal. An invisible force wrapped around him and guided him back into his body.

"Ugh..."

Harry's eyes fluttered open. He looked up at Peter's worried face and smiled weakly. "I'm okay."

"Thank God. I didn't know what I'd do if..."

Xavier, still munching on the golden apple Mario had given him, raised his hand. "Can I head back now? I just remembered I have some things at the school that need attention. The armor design can wait. I'll work on the blueprints first."

Mostly, he'd realized that sticking close to Mario tended to result in increasingly bizarre and painful situations.

Though this golden apple is incredible. Definitely need to acquire more of these from Mario somehow...

Mario considered for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. When you finish the design, give the blueprints to Raven and she'll bring them to the company."

After Xavier departed through the waystone, Mario turned to Mephisto. "Time to track down the source of this curse."

Mephisto's avatar smiled. "Lead the way."

---

One moment they were in Hell, the next they were standing in Harry's living room.

The moment Mephisto's avatar fully materialized, his expression shifted.

"Come out."

BOOM!

The wall where a family portrait had been hanging exploded outward. A long, black tail lashed out from the newly created hole.

Mephisto's smile widened. "A succubus tail. How interesting. It seems your ancestors made some very creative deals with the infernal realm."

He made a crushing motion with his fist, and the tail disintegrated into fine powder. Thick, oily smoke poured from the remains, coalescing into the shape of a grotesque demonic head.

The apparition roared. "WHO DESTROYED THE CURSE OF A HELL LORD? I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER FOR THIS!"