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Norman just stood there thinking a bit about the implication that his theory had been confirmed by seeing the woman in front of him.
A bit of nervousness began to surge throughout his body as he wondered what the hell had happened to the second life Lux had mentioned.
The grip he had on a saber he had taken from one of the many skeletons he had just defeated grew stronger.
Though it was completely obvious that if the woman wanted to attack him then he wouldn't even be able to defend against a few of her attacks.
"Who are you?" he asked, though he already knew the answer at this point, "Did you send them?" he questioned pointing to the corpses of the skeletons and zombies all over the ground, "Besides where am I?" he continued to play the ignorance card.
The woman smiled at his questions as she slowly approached Norman with a small sway of her hips that many would consider hypnotic, "Don't you already have the answers to those questions?" was the response she received similar to a soft whisper.
"I'm not confident enough in this situation to give my theory" Norman mentioned to her as he tried to keep a distance from the woman who seemed to be toying with him.
A tender smile spread across the woman's beautiful face at Norman's words, "You may call me Lady Death, it is one of the names I have been called by most, and you are currently in my domain" she replied shortly, "As for them" she addressed the skeletons and zombies scattered on the ground. "They were a test, it's been a long time since anyone alive entered my domain" he finished by saying.
"Death?" asked Norman, "You mean like the death?" he continued in disbelief that could pass for true.
"I recommend you stop lying or trying to deceive me, for years many have tried, but no one has succeeded, you are not an exception" this time Death's voice was serious and with a small tone of anger.
"Is my acting that bad?" asked Norman dropping his mask anyway it hadn't been of any use.
Death shook her head, "It's a good performance, but for beings of my level it's as easy to see as a child's lie" she explained.
"You mentioned I was alive didn't you?" began Norman a brief nod from Death confirmed that fact, "Then why am I in your domain?" he asked.
At his question Death only moved her hand slightly and from the floor two thrones formed, though one more magnificent than the other, Lady Death waved her hand at Norman indicating for him to sit down while she did the same.
"You are in a gray area to say the least" she began to say and Norman seeing that the other side had no intention of harming him followed her directions, "Due to your little experiment you died for a few minutes before your heart started beating again, due to the combination of those events you ended up in my domain" she explained in detail.
A beautiful smile with a small hint of mischief formed on Death's face, "With this time it would be twice that you have escaped from my hands" she commented casually, "You should feel proud of that fact" she added.
'Twice?' thought Norman trying to remember on what other occasion he was in mortal danger, but there was only one answer, "Should I have died because of the car accident?" he asked to nothing.
"You should have, or maybe you did" Death told him even if she knew he didn't expect her to answer him, "After all your soul changed dramatically since that time, it really is a beautiful soul" she continued to say fondly.
Because of that new information Norman was surprised maybe it was because of that Yao knew he didn't belong to the Marvel universe and had acted that way because it was his responsibility as a possible protector of the earth.
"How about making a deal?" the question came from Lady Death to Norman who stopped being lost in his thoughts.
"No" instinctively a single word came out of his mouth.
Lady Death was surprised at the quick and firm denial, "You don't even know what I'm willing to offer" she told him.
"That's true" Norman mentioned with sincerity, "But a deal with death is never a good thing even if it promises you many benefits" he continued, "Besides considering that your last words were about my soul I could deduce what you want, and I'm not willing to give it" he continued to finally stop talking.
Lady Death seemed to show no reaction, after a few seconds she spoke, "Every man has a price, so tell me what is yours?" she asked as she stood up from her throne and walked towards Norman who had been tied to his seat.
"Power?, then I will make you one of the most powerful men in the universe, Wealth?, or perhaps Lust? Anything you ask of me could be at your hands, you only have to ask" she mentioned to him as she had placed herself on Norman's lap and whispered in his ear as if she were a lover while she pressed her seductive body to the man.
Even Norman's usual impassive mind was beginning to become clouded at the woman's actions, "Are you sure you're not a succubus with more power than usual?" he asked with a bit of amusement, though a part of his mind questioned her seriously.
Death flashed a smile as she brought her red lips to Norman's ear and gave him a short kiss and a light nibble on his earlobe, "You just have to ask, and I will be it for you" she told him with a tone of sincerity mixed with desire.
Before Norman could answer he began to feel how his body was losing strength and with the few he had left he could see how it began to turn into a kind of gas, the last thing he heard before losing consciousness was the furious scream of a woman.
…
She had it so close, perhaps closer than she had ever been and missed it, a once in a lifetime opportunity, and she had squandered it completely.
The entire domain of Death was in a state of chaos while the mistress of those lands was in a state of rage and full of disappointment. She was only seconds away before the man lowered his defenses completely and surrendered to her, and she could hold him in her hands.
His soul was as beautiful as any she had ever seen in her whole long existence and now that she could hold him so close to her, she only wanted him even more than she previously could have desired him.
It would be so easy if she could only take it by force, but she knew she couldn't do that even she had rules that she had to follow, her previous manifestation on earth had caused several gazes to fall on her, so she had to be careful in her movements.
If it hadn't been for the damned wizard planning to banish Norman from the universe then she wouldn't have to manifest and save him, which would mean she could move with more freedom.
Her mind soon drifted to her little interaction with Norman, most beings in the universe would be glad to have her attention, throughout her entire existence there had been hundreds of people who tried to woo her, but she never looked at them. And this time when she was the one who initiated the "courtship" she was rejected.
Oh, but at least she knew he was not immune to her charms in the last few seconds she could feel the pure look of desire in the man's eyes, so if she had only had a few more seconds he would have been completely hers.
"Norman Osborn" she called even if no one answered, "Someday you will be completely mine" she continued, the statement was heard all throughout her domain.
…
When Norman awoke he was able to let out a sigh of relief at finally seeing a recognizable ceiling, although he wondered to himself why he was in a different room from where the serum had been injected.
His gaze went to a recognizable white-haired woman who was asleep with her arms as a pillow on one of the edges of the bed, Norman shook his head at that fact and wondered why she was doing such a stupid thing.
The beautiful woman almost as if sensing the man's awakening began to stir and even with traces of her drowsiness she began to stretch.
'Cat' thought Norman as he saw Felicia's actions being similar to those of the small feline.
Soon Felicia's gaze fell on Norman and her eyes practically opened in surprise, "You woke up!" she exclaimed happily and then the white-haired woman pulled Norman into her arms while the latter for fear of not controlling his new strength decided to leave her be.
"I'll go and get dad and the others" she commented quickly as she separated from Norman, but before leaving she turned to see Osborn once more, "It's good to see you wake up" she mentioned to him with a smile.
…
It didn't take long for his small team to arrive in the room where he was, the conversation he had with them was what happened after he fainted.
The first thing he discovered was that it had been about five hours since he had fainted, plus the first time they saw the result of the room they had assumed the worst, but miraculously or not his heart was still beating strongly.
After checking and monitoring his body for a while they considered that there was no danger in moving him to another room and that was why he was in another room and Felicia volunteered to take care of him and after much persuasion on her part to Walter he ended up accepting it.
He was currently in the gym and training camp of The Shelter, first of all, he needed to learn to control his new strength and do tests to know how much was his limit, although those could be done later.
The most important thing now was to assimilate Val Armorr's knowledge into his brain, something much easier said than done, as there were years and years of martial arts some of which he had already been trained in and others he had no idea even existed.
From modern martial arts, to martial arts that were completely lost in the annals of history to those used by intergalactic empires to train their soldiers.
He even had knowledge of martial arts used by Amazons when these are supposed to be known only to Amazons or those women they consider worthy.
It would really be a challenge to learn and master all the martial arts he had unlocked, while thinking about that Norman was meditating as he always used to do.
Suddenly he found himself in a completely white space, the only distinctive thing in the space was a young brown-haired man in a somewhat peculiar white and gold outfit.
Before Norman could even react the man immediately moved towards him, the next thing Osborn felt was a series of hard punches connecting in his stomach and chest before a kick sent him flying several feet in the air
However, it seemed that the man would not give him even the slightest break, as he jumped up to continue his assault towards Norman. Osborn wanted to use his teleportation to get away from his attacker and be able to recover a little, but it didn't work.
In less than a second the man was at the same height as Norman, who seeing that his ability did not work only prepared to try to counterattack.
The next instant and again a loud bang was heard and both men went in opposite directions, although both had connected with their targets it was clear who had been the winner.
The brown man approached Norman his eyes showed no emotion at all, "Knowledge without experience or practice is completely useless" were his only words before striking Osborn again.
"Cough" a loud cough accompanied by blood was what Norman felt when he opened his eyes, with his gaze he quickly discovered he was in the gym.
Norman brought one of his hands to his mouth and wiped the blood draining from his lips with it, he could feel how his regeneration factor was quickly working on healing the internal damage.
"At least you could have given me a warning that this would happen Lux" commented Norman to nothing.
But it was no time to complain, he had recognized the man, even if it took him a little while, Val Armorr or at least a version of him, although much more ruthless and lethal.
At least with that he knew he would have no trouble finding someone to have a fight with, though the Spartan method was ultimately not his favorite, but perhaps it was a good option to grow up quickly.
'Damn' thought Norman knowing it would be awhile before he wouldn't be a punching bag and could defend himself from the attacks of one of the best martial artists even if you took Marvel into account.
The sunbeam soon came through one of the gym's windows and Norman realized it was time to go home, so shortly after thinking about it, he teleported back to his home.
