Reborn as the God-Emperor in Marvel

Solomon could swear to anyone that in the fifteen years of his life, he had never been as shocked as he was today—not even when he first discovered his ability to use magic. He could even swear to the Vishanti, from whom he had borrowed power, that he had never imagined the Supreme Sorcerer's true identity was actually King Arthur. The news hit him like a ton of bricks, leaving him dizzy and disoriented, as if the wool carpet beneath his knees had turned into a soft, orange fireman's rescue cushion. Even maintaining his balance suddenly became difficult.

"I... uh... you..." He looked up, momentarily at a loss for words, but the Supreme Sorcerer didn't stop speaking.

"Maybe you should change your last name to Pendragon, so your name won't be so long," the Supreme Sorcerer said as she helped the wobbling Solomon to his feet. "Solomon Messiah Damonet—that's a name made up of different languages, meaning 'peaceful anointed ruler.' If you change it to Pendragon, you'd lose a middle name. I think 'Anointed Peaceful Pendragon' sounds good, though the word order is a bit odd. Of course, if you don't want to change your last name, then 'Anointed Pendragon's Peaceful Rule' sounds too cumbersome, but at least 'Pendragon' remains the subject, and I can live with that."

"Teacher, you know that's not what I meant," Solomon sighed, but the Grandmaster seemed to have discarded her earlier awkwardness, as if she had just shrugged off not just a title or a secret, but a heavy burden.

"Well then," the Supreme Sorcerer said, clearly enjoying the feeling of unloading responsibility, "Morgan le Fay—my royal sister—will be your problem to deal with from now on."

"What about the Merlin school?" Solomon asked.

"Let them keep playing Merlin's little game," the Grandmaster replied with a smirk. "It's better they don't wake up from that dream, especially after all they've invested. Sure, Merlin gave Balthazar a spell for eternal life, but finding out you've been deceived for over a thousand years wouldn't be good for anyone—he might just die of a broken heart."

"I mean the spell copied from the Darkhold!" Solomon was growing anxious.

"Now I can tell you some things you didn't know," the Sorcerer explained. "The so-called Darkhold was actually compiled by Morgan le Fay. She gathered many Dark Scrolls and bound them into the Darkhold. What Merlin possessed was merely a single Dark Scroll that Morgan didn't have when she made the book. So calling it the Darkhold isn't entirely wrong."

"But this isn't a small matter, is it?" Solomon asked seriously. "We need to follow up. Balthazar is still busy training a kid. Merlin must have enchanted that ring of his, because it chose Dave, who seems a bit clueless."

"According to Balthazar, Morgan le Fay or one of her allies already has that spell. Let the Merlin school handle their own issues. If they can't, we'll step in later." The Sorcerer waved a dismissive hand. "Also, don't talk about Dave like that. You're my successor, and if necessary, Dave can help you safeguard the Holy Sword. Didn't you hear me? You're the heir to Excalibur."

"Excalibur? You mean the Excalibur?" Solomon suddenly realized something. "Didn't you return it to the Lady of the Lake?"

"The legend is only part of the truth," the Sorcerer said with a grin. "That sword will be yours in the future. Taking it up means you inherit Britain. But before that, you'll need to learn how to use it. It's the best sword in the world, and I don't want to see you swinging it around like an amateur. I'll only let you wield it when I think you're ready. Besides that, you need to learn proper riding—real riding, not just sitting on a horse and letting it carry you. I've already spoken with Pegasus, and you don't know how much he looks down on your riding skills."

"Hey! That stupid horse! It eats an entire box of apples every day! And a basket of off-season strawberries from New Orleans!" Solomon was fuming, hearing that Pegasus had been bad-mouthing him. "It even wants roast beef! And it demands to be summoned just to eat, even though it's a celestial creature!"

Elsewhere, Pegasus, who was strolling around the Kamar-Taj compound, snorted and shook his head in confusion, looking around. But soon it forgot about this and continued moving toward its target, having caught the scent of fruit.

"A horse, a weapon, a shield—you've got it all. As for armor, I think the Shroud of Saint remains will be enough," the Sorcerer said, pinching Solomon's cheek affectionately. "Now, you've been demoted. Study hard, apprentice knight."

"Teacher, what does that mean?"

"It means you've got two more lessons added to your schedule," the Sorcerer shrugged. "After all, you're not planning to show off at Eton's science fair, are you? The time you save can be spent practicing. I'll personally teach you swordsmanship."

"But I've been learning fencing!"

"I'm not talking about the civilized fencing games the Saxons play in the cities," the Sorcerer said thoughtfully. "I'm talking about swordsmanship for killing enemies on the battlefield. Actually, you could watch some online videos to learn the basics of sword fighting. The internet is quite advanced now, and Kamar-Taj has Wi-Fi..."

"I can imagine how upset my teammates will be when they find out I skipped Call of Duty to practice swordsmanship," Solomon joked, shaking his head. "I suppose every pigeon has its reason."

"Remember, also work on your riding," the Sorcerer reminded him. "Feed Pegasus more; he really likes you."

"Let's put that dumb horse aside for now. I'm hungry. Teacher, would you like to join us for dinner?"

"I'm too old to hang out with you youngsters."

"Teacher, stop pretending," Solomon rolled his eyes. The Supreme Sorcerer was still as lively as ever, showing no signs of aging. Solomon had no doubt she could easily twist his head off if she wanted to.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Get some rice rolls, and make sure they add extra soy sauce."

"How about some shrimp dumplings?"

"Yes, two servings!"

After delivering some takeout to the Supreme Sorcerer, Solomon headed back to his apartment to pick up Bayonetta and Jeanne for dinner at the sanctum. He even got a black dress for Bayonetta. Jeanne, while somewhat unhappy to be the "tag-along," still came along, since Solomon wasn't cooking tonight. If she refused, she'd be stuck eating Hawaiian pizza instead.

Wu Guiyue's daughter, Alice Gulliver—a shy little girl—was also dragged along by her mother. In fact, the whole family came. Wu Guiyue's husband, Gulliver, was a gentle man. Though a regular human, he understood the life of arcane sorcerers well, even volunteering to help the "old" (Master Hamir) and "weak" (Solomon and young Master Wang) at the table. As for the greedy Cheshire Cat, Bayonetta seated it on another chair, where it was even treated to shrimp peeled by Gulliver—something not even Alice got.

Bayonetta enjoyed the dinner immensely, conducting herself with elegance and charm. She got along particularly well with Kamar-Taj's sorcerers, especially Wu Guiyue. Since most of the people present had watched Solomon grow up, they didn't hold back when recounting his embarrassing childhood stories.

Solomon knew that Bayonetta had learned a few more things to tease him with. Even worse, Jeanne, who didn't get along well with him, was also there, casting mocking glances his way throughout dinner. She seemed to be relishing imagining him doing those silly things, and just her sarcastic gaze was enough to make Solomon uncomfortable.

"I never imagined you were so adorable when you were little, Boya. Though you're still quite cute now," Bayonetta teased when they got back to the apartment. While Jeanne was in the shower, she stood in front of Solomon and playfully lifted his chin with her finger. "I saw pictures of you as a chubby little kid. Tell me, where did all that baby fat go?"

"That's a sad story, Bayonetta," Solomon replied, blinking. "I burned it away—literally. If you're interested, we have all night."

"In your dreams."

---

"Stop crunching those cookies into the mic!" Solomon threw down his controller in frustration and yanked off his headset. The noise his teammates were making in Call of Duty was driving him mad. But his irritation wasn't really about the game. In fact, with his reflexes, Solomon never struggled in FPS games. His frustration stemmed entirely from the wizards of the Merlin school.

He had no idea what instructions Balthazar had given Dave or how Balthazar was enforcing the rules, but the chaos they'd caused in New York lately was anything but discreet.

Turning all the cars on a street into taxis was one thing, but Balthazar had even animated an eagle statue to carry him around the city. At least he had the sense to only do it at night. Dave, on the other hand, lacked any such awareness. After using magic to stop a robber, he didn

't even bother cleaning up the scene, just left the criminal for the police. Who knew what the robber would say when he woke up!

Did that idiot want to get noticed by S.H.I.E.L.D.? Solomon was sure that after he'd revealed his magic in front of Nick Fury, the man was definitely looking for ways to neutralize him—and one of those ways was undoubtedly "finding other wizards."

All the trouble caused by the Merlin school would inevitably fall to Kamar-Taj to fix. Solomon, who had stayed in New York to spend more time with Bayonetta, got roped into helping the sanctum steward handle minor tasks—duties sorted by rank, with no relation to his magic skills.

Nobody even knew where Balthazar and Dave were hiding in New York, making it impossible to track them down and bring them back to Kamar-Taj. By the time Solomon finally got home to play some video games, his teammates were already annoying him.

"Shut up, Koenig, shut up! Sam, you too!"

"It's not me eating cookies, it's Eric!"

"Eric, shut up too!"

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