Chapter 172: Chapter 172: Black Panther’s Death! Captain America Joins Wakanda! Romance Officially Revealed!
By noon, Lorien still hadn’t waited for Wanda and Gwen to wake up when a text from Natasha came through.
[Natasha: Lorien, the Black Panther of Wakanda, King T’Challa, has passed away. Incurable illness.]
Really gone?
Though Lorien knew the real reason, he still asked out of curiosity.
[Lorien: Wakanda claims its technology is a hundred years ahead of the world, with advanced medicine. How could Black Panther still die like this?]
[Natasha: I don’t know. But what I do know is that Cap has officially joined Wakanda. He’s now the Captain of the Royal Guard, with Winter Soldier following as a captain as well.]
[Natasha: Wakanda will even forge them a full set of vibranium equipment—on the condition that they pledge loyalty to Black Panther’s younger sister, the royal faction.]
As expected, after Black Panther fell victim to true Fourth Wall damage and died, internal upheaval broke out in Wakanda.
With the extinction of the Heart-Shaped Herb, there would never be another Black Panther.
So Wakanda needed to cultivate a new source of superhero power.
Cap and the Winter Soldier, who had been staying in Wakanda, were the obvious choices.
The royal family urged them to stand with Black Panther’s younger sister, siding with the Wakandan royal camp, and become the nation’s new superhero allies.
And of course, there were benefits.
A full set of vibranium gear was enough to make anyone drool.
Vibranium is worth more than diamonds! Wearing a full suit of it was like covering yourself in gemstones from head to toe.
Of course, that wasn’t Cap and Winter Soldier’s goal.
Cap wanted to use Wakanda’s strength to redefine the rights and status of superheroes in the world.
In short: freedom.
Both sides quickly reached an agreement, leading to this outcome.
[Lorien: Everyone makes their own choices. The Avengers stopped being the same team long ago. I just hope that when we meet again, it won’t be as enemies.]
Natasha fully agreed.
No matter what, as long as it didn’t end in hostility, it was enough.
But then she added—
[Natasha: The internet is flooded with talk about you, Wanda, and Spider-Woman. Hmm, what’s your plan?]
At that, Lorien chuckled.
[Lorien: We already decided last night. Wanda will open her personal TikTok account this afternoon, share her story, and later use it for lifestyle posts.]
[Lorien: I don’t mind. Gwen and I won’t be appearing anyway, so it won’t affect us. But... watching the crowd online wailing? That actually makes me happy.]
Wanda’s joy came from sharing, flaunting affection, and seeing people’s reactions.
Lorien’s joy came from watching others cry in frustration while he and his sweethearts lived happily.
So... he actually felt even more delighted.
[Natasha: That’s twisted, Lorien. Casually playing with other people’s goddesses.]
Lorien: ...
Don’t bring it up.
Those two were still sprawled in bed. Who knows if they’ve even woken yet.
And Natasha wasn’t wrong.
He was casual...
And he did mess around...
With a twisted sense of humor, too.
Damn. He really had turned into the big villain.
Lorien gave a wry smile.
[Lorien: You can’t put it like that. It takes two to tango. We love each other. Why make it sound like I’m forcing her?]
[Natasha: You need to force? What woman doesn’t fall for you? Enough flattery. Last night’s incident in Chinatown was supernatural. I need to investigate it.]
Seeing that, Lorien replied with one last "ok," then shut off his phone.
But another thought tugged at his mind—
Was Eddie Brock, host of Venom, in this universe?
He turned to his computer, opened Google, and searched: Eddie Brock journalist.
Sure enough, there he was.
"Eddie Brock: A top-tier reporter at a news company, skilled at digging up extreme stories, with sharp and compelling interview questions."
The page contained his full profile.
Even past records—like which major events he’d covered and so on.
But what intrigued Lorien was this:
Was Eddie already in this universe before the Multiverse Chaos, with his timeline scrambled?
Or did he arrive only after the chaos?
If he came after, how could such a complete record exist?
That would only make sense if he had always been part of this universe.
Yet from what happened yesterday, this seemed to have surfaced only after the chaos.
Could it be... this multiverse chaos worked differently?
Lorien thought it over.
"Maybe this time, the universes are being merged directly into the timeline, not just inserted in~?"
If it were insertion, it would be like Stephen traveling through the multiverse—an outsider, not a native.
But merging was different.
That meant becoming a native instantly.
Plot fusion.
And now, Lorien’s universe was undergoing it. Timelines merging, stories fusing, newcomers instantly becoming natives—all while the timeline itself was thrown into chaos.
Which meant...
Even though this was already after Avengers Phase Four, it was still possible for Spider-Man to brawl with Doctor Octopus.
Or for last night’s Venom storyline—something originally from a parallel universe—to suddenly merge in, ignoring any timeline progression altogether.
Lorien sighed, chuckling helplessly.
"This is fucking fascinating... and a total mess."
Who knows?
He might end up seeing all sorts of new things.
"Beep~"
Another message popped up on Lorien’s phone. He glanced at it—it was Natasha again.
[Natasha: Oh, and I’ll have TikTok officially verify Wanda as a superhero and give her some promotion. That’ll make things easier for her.]
Lorien nodded and replied with a simple "ok."
...
By the time afternoon neared 1:00 PM, Wanda and Gwen finally came downstairs carrying lunch.
As they walked down, it was obvious from their gait that their legs still weren’t moving quite naturally.
When they set the food on the table, Wanda lowered herself into her seat carefully. Gwen, however, seemed fine—she had mostly recovered and showed no real aftereffects.
Even so, despite using the Horse Talisman, Wanda still felt something off... not burning exactly, but a strange, hard-to-describe sensation. Almost like a faint, lingering touch that refused to go away.
Once the food was set down, Wanda immediately shot Lorien a sharp glare.
"Big pervert."
Gwen, already digging into her rice, nodded fiercely in agreement.
"Super big pervert!"
Lorien’s mouth twitched. He picked up his own bowl and tried to defend himself.
"You can’t put it that way. You weren’t suffering last night, were you?"
"In fact, you even asked me to press deeper."
The words made both Gwen and Wanda flush red at the same time.
They couldn’t understand why that sort of thing could still feel so good. And when it reached the peak, it was even more overwhelming than before.
Because of his size, both their stomachs had even bulged out slightly. That had truly wrecked the two of them.
In the end, they’d been left trembling uncontrollably, forced to sleep on their stomachs all night. They could barely even shut the door.
Was Lorien cruel? Definitely.
His first time on that battlefield, and he’d gone all out—charging straight in, leaving nothing standing!
Because of that, the two girls had been left in that painful-but-pleasurable state.
So, in the middle of eating, Wanda suddenly raised her head, glared at Lorien, and said with determination,
"You’re getting nothing tonight. Gwen and I are switching rooms!"
"Huh?" Lorien looked completely puzzled.
He turned to Gwen.
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Yeah. Wanda and I are switching rooms tonight. You can’t keep tormenting us—we can’t take it anymore. Down there needs a break!"
Uh... did this even count as a day off?
Lorien froze for a moment. But after thinking it through, it made sense.
Both of them were already worn out, thoroughly defeated by Lorien in every possible way. If he tried again tonight, they’d probably end up so "happy" the next day that walking would be impossible.
After a moment of thought, Lorien nodded.
"Alright. Rest for a day. Do whatever you want."
He actually agreed.
When Wanda and Gwen heard that, they exchanged a look. Relief and a mix of love and fear flashed in their eyes.
It was like knowing that pleasure awaited them, but so did the exhaustion afterward.
Still, a full day of rest was better than nothing. Far better than being left unable to move tomorrow.
...
After finishing their meal and tidying up the dishes, Wanda came over to Lorien.
"I’m about to post the video, Lorien. Can you check if there’s anything wrong with it?"
Lorien took her phone and tapped on the video.
There were no special effects—just a series of clips edited together into one cohesive piece. But the quality was excellent.
It began with Wanda filming herself, vlog-style. She introduced herself as Wanda and explained her current situation.
For example: she already had a partner, had retired from the Avengers, was a semi-retired superhero, was close friends with Spider-Woman, was excited for her new life, and hoped she could remain a homemaker for her partner forever, and so on.
Wanda didn’t waste words.
Every line of Wanda’s self-introduction hit on the points people cared about most.
After that opening segment came a montage of short clips: her and Lorien holding hands, everyone snuggled together in the garden watching the stars, Wanda watering flowers, and more.
Pieced together, those fragments formed a complete video that conveyed all of Wanda’s thoughts.
In it, she spoke about why she loved this kind of life, her views on superheroes and ordinary people, and other things she could never fully express at a press conference or in a newspaper interview. Those always risked being edited or sensationalized.
But on a short-video platform, Wanda was able to share everything she wanted in a direct, personal way.
After watching, Lorien nodded in approval.
"No problem. Post it."
The video didn’t show Lorien or Gwen’s faces or full bodies—only hands, feet, or partial shots at most. Gwen barely appeared at all, aside from maybe a heel or hand. Everything else was just her voice.
Wanda, however, could appear on screen. She was already a public figure, known everywhere. But Lorien and Gwen weren’t, so the video avoided any exposure.
There were no risks of revealing locations through windows or accidentally filming parts of the Little Universe either. Wanda had been very careful.
Satisfied, Wanda nodded.
"...Alright, I’ll post it."
She quickly registered a TikTok account. The moment she signed up, an official "Scarlet Witch – Superhero" verification badge appeared.
"Huh?" Wanda blinked in surprise.
Lorien glanced over and immediately understood.
"Natasha arranged it for you—saves you from unnecessary trouble."
Indeed. Without verification, the internet could be chaotic, filled with trolls and drama. But with it, a lot of hassle was avoided.
Wanda nodded and uploaded the video.
Thanks to her verified status, TikTok’s staff noticed it right away, and the system pushed it out with free promotion.
"Alright~! I’m going to water the plants and practice magic, Lorien."
"Mm, go on."
Wanda tucked her phone away and went upstairs. She watered the plants first, then began her magic training.
When Wanda practiced, she was fully absorbed—she usually wouldn’t stop until Lorien got home from work. Every afternoon, the time between lunch and his return was her dedicated training period.
...
At three in the afternoon, Lorien felt bored and decided to scroll through TikTok. He was also curious to see if Wanda’s video would show up.
The very first video on his feed was hers.
"...Well then."
He wasn’t sure if it was the algorithm targeting him, or if the system was blasting it out to everyone. Either way, he watched.
The video wasn’t short—several minutes long. Lorien rewatched it a couple of times.
It had only been posted for an hour or two, yet it already had 230k likes, 54k comments, and 49k shares and saves.
On TikTok, "k" meant a thousand. That meant in just two hours, Wanda’s video had pulled in 230,000 likes, 54,000 comments, and nearly as many shares and saves.
The push was insane. Was it really being shown to everyone?
Lorien found it almost ridiculous. He didn’t particularly care, but by normal standards this was outrageous. Like crafting a wooden sword yourself—it had value, but not much. Yet finding a random piece of wood shaped exactly like a sword? Suddenly it’s priceless. Same idea.
...
By 4:00 PM, the likes had doubled.
By 5:00 PM, the numbers weren’t slowing—they were skyrocketing.
Lorien gave the video a like, then shut the app. Time to finish work.
...
When he got home, he found Wanda and smiled.
"Guess how many likes your video has, Wanda."
"You saw it?" Wanda asked curiously.
"Yes." Lorien nodded.
Wanda tapped her foot, thinking. "Five thousand?"
"Five thousand?" Lorien couldn’t help laughing.
"That much?" Wanda frowned, slightly disappointed. She was one of the most famous superheroes—if her video had fewer than 5k likes, it would be embarrassing.
But Lorien shook his head.
"For 5k, you’d have to multiply it a few hundred times."
"A few hundred?!" Wanda froze, doing the math in her head. "Over a million?!"
Lorien nodded. "Exactly."
Wanda shot up, grabbed her phone, and opened TikTok. Lorien glanced over her shoulder at the dashboard.
Good lord. Every counter was maxed out: 999+ followers, 999+ messages, 999+ comments—everything showing 999+.
Wanda was ecstatic. She turned to Lorien, beaming.
"Do you have a TikTok account? I want to follow you—you’ll be the only one I follow!"