166. New Problem

(3rd POV)

- Stop Lex! - When the spell was a millimeter away from Azmuth, who had accepted his fate, a new voice was heard that sounded like the one Lex spoke with after starting his transformation.

- Late. - with a bloodthirsty smile, Lex replied, not even turning to the owner of the voice, when the spell overtook Azmuth and he limply fell to the ground, holding his head, from the obvious pain that he experienced from the literal burning of the seal on his brain.

- What have you done… - said the owner of the voice, who was late and did not have time to stop the spell, now hovering over the body of Azmuth, who gritted his teeth in pain.

- Punished an arrogant asshole who can't even listen when asked for help. - Lex said dismissively, and then looking at his interlocutor, he said: - You better worry about what you have done, Gwen.

- I just did the same as you. - replied Gwen, who out of desperation completely shed her skin and turned into a full-fledged Anodite composed of dark purple mana.

- It was stupid. - said Lex calmly, who, unlike the girl, retained some skin on his legs.

- What was I to do? You were completely mad and didn't want to listen to me. - the girl yelled, struggling to think rationally, which she wasn't very good at due to exposure to Anodite's wild bloodline.

- You just shouldn't have climbed where you weren't asked and waited for me to finish. - Lex said indignantly, who was trying his best to calm down, but it wasn't working, especially since Gwen was turning him on again.

- Wait?! Do you even understand what you've been doing? From the outside, you looked like a psychopath who mocked an innocent alien. I tried to stop you, but you just dismissed me several times, and in the end, I just had no choice. Only by shedding my skin could I stop you, although it's too late… - Gwen said emotionally, causing magic to thicken around her and her luminous hair to move like snakes.

- Innocent alien? Do not joke so. He may look harmless, but this old man is one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe, who also irresponsibly creates the most dangerous things in the world. You know, how much destruction is on his conscience? Or how many innocents have suffered because of him? You can't even imagine, so don't say he's innocent. - Lex said furiously again.

- But this is not a reason to do this to him, especially since it was we who came to him for help. - Gwen yelled, standing up abruptly.

- From that stubborn bastard, we would never get help. It was initially a failed undertaking and only out of the slightest respect for him, I did not immediately dissect his memory with my telepathy to find out all the useful knowledge! - Lex said aggressively, again releasing a powerful wave of magic.

But, unlike in the past, this time, Gwen didn't care about Lex's magic, and she just released an equivalent wave of magic that neutralized Lex's magic, while it was not difficult for her because everything is magical, she is stronger than her boyfriend, but usually this is not visible due to Lex's control over his mana and its density, which in this form when he practically does not control himself, is reduced to nothing and Gwen begins to dominate.

- What you ended up doing is no better! Now Azmuth will never agree to help us, and the Omnitrix is ​​now useless, and we won't even be able to help Tetrax! - Gwen disagreed, hitting Lex with her hair in a fit of rage.

- We'll see. When his allotted time comes to an end, Azmuth will completely despair and come running to ask for help, begging on his knees. It remains only to wait. - Lex said confidently, ignoring the blow with hair.

- And if not? What if Azmuth never learns his lesson and just out of stubbornness doesn't come to you? Or can't? Have you thought about it?! - Gwen asked angrily as she approached Lex's face.

- Then I'll think of another way. - Lex assured him, though not even a child would have believed him.

- Oh, and what is it? Can you fix the Omnitrix yourself? I can't believe it, since there was a problem with him, the first thing you did was run to Azmuth for help, even though IT WAS INITIALLY YOUR FAULT! - Gwen screamed with emotion, without having time to comprehend what was said.

Only when Gwen saw the look on Lex's face (it's just not clear how she could understand something from the face, which consisted entirely of mana), the girl realized that in this one she went too far and stabbed the guy in the heart.

- My fault, right? - the guy asked quietly to himself, after which, looking at Azmuth still lying on the ground and at Gwen, he added: - Of course, this is my fault.

- Lex… -Gwen tried to say something to correct the situation, but she was interrupted by the sound of a bell, issued from Lex's miraculously survived pants, which, after he began to shed their skin, were torn and fell to the ground.

Picking up his pants with telekinesis, Lex pulled out a phone that was ringing from his pocket, and pressing on the screen, he said: - What is it, Tetrax?

- [As we thought, Vilgax is here. His robot army is entering the planet's atmosphere.] - Tetrax said quickly, not even paying attention to Lex's voice.

- I will now. - Lex said calmly and turning off the call, he threw the phone aside, clearly intending to fly away, but Gwen stopped him by grabbing his hand.

- Lex, stop! Don't act recklessly. You can't do it alone. Not in this condition. - Gwen said pleadingly.

- We'll talk later. - Lex said coldly tearing his hand away and emitting a wave of magic that finally destroyed the remnants of his human essence, in the form of skin on his legs, shot out of Azmuth'' hideout like a bullet, simply breaking through the ceiling with his body.

- LEX! - Gwen yelled, looking into the hole Lex had made, from which light was already visible.

When Gwen was about to follow the guy, she stopped when she felt someone touch her leg and said quietly; - Wait, girl.

- Azmuth! Are you okay? - Gwen exclaimed, lifting the alien's body.

- Khe, then, it's been better, but I'll live. - Azmuth said with a little cough, still grimacing in pain.

- I'm sorry this all happened. Lex didn't want it, he just couldn't control himself, and… - Gwen began to apologize quickly, but Azmuth stopped her by raising his three-fingered hand.

- Nothing, from snippets of your conversations, I understood the general situation. It's nobody's fault, we all blundered and didn't start the way we should have. - Sincerely, Azmuth said.

- Yes you are right. Everything went to hell from the very beginning and it was too late to stop it. It just wasn't worth it to let Lex leave Earth while he was in this state from the start. - Gwen said sadly.

- That AI was dear to him, wasn't it? - Azmuth asked, looking away.

- Yes. And very. I think Morgana loved him and Lex loves her. - Gwen said, not knowing what to think about it herself.

- And I said I would never give it back to him, right? - Azmuth asked in annoyance, closing his eyes.

Gwen decided not to answer anything, as she knew that the question was purely rhetorical and Azmuth was talking to himself, apparently actively considering the whole situation.

- Ah, again I went too far with my games. - Sighing heavily, Azimus said quietly, and then, deciding something for himself, opened his eyes and said to Gwen: - We must stop him before it's too late.

- Don't worry, I may have said that Lex couldn't handle Vilgax, but that was just an attempt to dissuade him from acting hastily. In this state, he could easily crush Vilgax's army and himself without even breaking a sweat. - Gwen said confidently.

- That's not the point. Vilgax is our lesser problem right now. - Azmuth said, not a little surprising the girl.

- And then what?

- You two are Anodites, right? - Azmuth asked to make sure, and receiving an affirmative nod from Gwen, he added: - I don't know much about your race, but I have heard stories about male Anodites, who, besides, are as scarce as decent people in the universe, they also have a high chance of not living for many years.

- What? Why? - Gwen asked quickly.

- Unlike female Anodites, for some reason, when in stressful situations, strong emotions take over them, as happened with your boyfriend, they begin to lose control of their magic. As a result, if this is not stopped in time, their magic completely uncontrollably bursts out, which leads to a terrible explosion, which, although it does not kill them, literally burns all the reserves of magic, leaving only a shell, that would never be able to use magic again and would live no more than ten or twenty years. - Azmuth said darkly.

- This is terrible, we need to urgently stop Lex. - Gwen said impatiently.

- What am I talking about all this time? - Azimus said irritably, unable to restrain himself, after which he added more calmly: - I hoped that the boy would cool down after he put his seal on me, and after that, we would be able to talk like a human beings, but this is no longer an option. Moreover, what I have told is not the worst outcome of events…

- What could be worse?

- The Omnitrix is ​​still on his arm. If the boy's body still makes an explosion, then a chain reaction will occur and the core of the Omnitrix will also explode, which will entail the destruction of half the universe. - Azmuth said darkly.

- Then let's not waste any more time. We flew. - Gwen said hastily, and grabbing Azimus tighter, flew into the hole in the ceiling.

- I hope you manage to stop him and calm him down. And then your attempt was not very impressive. - Azmuth said grumpily.

- I couldn't fake anything with myself. I've shed my skin too, and now I'm not quite sane. Stupid mental protection does not help. - the girl said unhappily.

- It's not just a matter of the mental plane, your very body and soul influence you, and this is not easy to resist. - Azmuth said with a sigh, to which Gwen remained silent because she doesn't understand much about this.

- Hey, about the seal… - Gwen started, but Azmuth cut her off.

- Now it is not so important. Let's deal with the main problem first. - Azmuth said calmly as he and Gwen just flew out of the hole and into the fresh air.

- Damn it… - Gwen said involuntarily when she saw what is going on in the world right now.

- My garden… - Azmuth said sadly, seeing that everything was on fire, and the giant robots of Vilgax were falling from the sky like meteorites. Looks like the apocalypse has come sooner than expected...