It had been a month since the vampire family had received these quite unusual visitors.
Damian could only say that the past month had been one of the most exciting in a long time.
Initially, Hela and Wanda weren't so thrilled about going to Madripoor, but it turned out they hadn't returned to their places and had only sent their companions to take care of matters.
Wanda was immersed in her magic practice, and in just a short month, she managed to create her second magic circle.
Damian found it really interesting to teach her magic; it was different from his family, where things often had double meanings or were full of jokes.
Wanda's serious and admiring face greatly satisfied his ego.
So, despite everything, he ended up becoming a real master for Wanda.
Hela, on the other hand, kept tempting him for sex, and he couldn't resist the lovely goddess.
He had to admit that playing the game of not being discovered was a bit interesting for both him and Hela, even if Carol already knew and thus maybe everyone else knew too.
The portals continued to appear and were eventually destroyed by the Spartans.
Jane had fulfilled what she had said and had explored the portals with the help of the Spartans and Monica.
Using drones, she photographed what the world on the other side looked like.
Although Damian had said he wasn't too interested, the information they gathered turned out to be quite interesting, although not very useful.
It turns out that the place these creatures came from was some sort of post-apocalyptic Earth from an alternate universe.
That conclusion was reached after seeing the surrounding ruins; interesting to know but useless.
And perhaps the most important thing that happened that month, the second event was about to end.
The map of events was getting smaller and smaller as people were disqualified.
Damian and Cortana were in front of a large screen, observing the 24 zones scattered around the world.
Half of them were active, and the other half were not; usually, every hour, a new one would activate, and another would end.
Right now, there were 3,000 people left in the zone with the fewest participants, and both Damian and Cortana were waiting.
"So, as planned, once there are 100 people left, I'll close the zone while all the others finish," Cortana said, looking at Damian.
"Hm, but they're really crazy; look at how those numbers are dropping," Damian said, resting his head on his hand while looking at the screen.
The number of participants was dropping quite fast.
"Of course, many are really agitated; they can surely feel it, there are few people left, and the event can end at any moment," Cortana said, smiling.
"It's also because time passes 8 times faster inside the event," Damian said, looking at Cortana.
"There are really interesting characters," Damian said, looking at different people who appeared occasionally.
A good part of them were mutants, but there were also witches, sorcerers, and mostly normal humans.
Although the definition of normal humans had completely changed.
Time passed, and the numbers kept changing.
That day, the zones didn't disconnect people after 8 hours; Damian and Cortana planned to finish everything that same day.
In most zones, the number of participants was close to 100, so they didn't see a reason to wait another day.
Time kept passing, and more and more zones were lighting up; it was the first time that so many were active at the same time.
Suddenly, a previously active zone turned off. Damian immediately opened the participant list and saw that there were exactly 100.
The other zones were getting close to the same result as more and more lit up.
After several hours, all the zones had finished, and it was time to announce the rewards.
Originally, they had wanted to do a third part with the 2,400 finalists, but they ultimately decided not to.
They wouldn't name a winner or make any top lists.
They decided to score each participant based on how long they lasted and how many participants they cleanly eliminated.
With that, they would open a kind of store where people could buy whatever they wanted.
Using a simple search engine, Cortana would provide options for people's desires or the closest possible thing.
It wasn't very difficult to predict what people would ask for: power, longevity, or self-modification.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
So, Cortana started tallying points; it was a bit regrettable for the Avengers who didn't eliminate people, so they would have fewer points.
Still, Damian understood that if they eliminated too many people, their reputations would be completely ruined, and they would no longer be heroes in people's eyes.
With the points tally ready, Cortana sent a global message to all participants.
(The event has ended, and points have been counted. Now, in addition to your status, a new option called Store will be added.)
(In the store, you can find almost everything you could wish for; you just have to search for it and make sure you have the required number of points.)
(Points can be transferred, but any forced exchange will be penalized by the system, so don't hesitate to report it.)
Everyone in the world seemed to have stopped what they were doing and just looked at the messages in front of them.
They immediately said "Store" in their minds, and a simple search engine appeared in front of them.
Tentatively, they began to think about things they desired: rejuvenation, changing appearance, increasing their magic or physical strength, special medications, etc.
Cortana laughed seeing that more than one person was looking to buy baby Titans.
If only she had them, she wanted one too.
"Master, are you sure we should make the points exchangeable?" Cortana asked, looking at Damian.
"I plan to turn the points into a new currency; lately, the appearance of portals has increased considerably, and the Spartans have had to run around every day."
"We'll give different points for killing each creature; that way, we'll take advantage of their labor, and the Spartans can focus on other things," Damian said, smiling.
"Also, in the future, points might become the global currency; wouldn't it be more convenient to pay that way?" Damian said, smiling.
"You just want to see the world burn; many countries won't be happy with this new currency," Cortana said, laughing as she shook her head.
"Well, we finally finished with this; show me the people with suitable personalities to have the option of becoming vampires," Damian said, looking at Cortana.
"Select several people, even among those who did not survive until the end, the requirements you gave me are not very strict," said Cortana.
"It's just that I really don't know what to think; a good person can easily be corrupted by power. It's better to just choose, and if someone turns out to be unfit, we can simply eliminate them," said Damian, shrugging.
"Alright, here are the candidates," said Cortana, displaying a long list.
Damian looked closely; the list consisted of a small picture of the person, their name, place of origin, gender, and the amount of points they had.
"Wait, why are they all women?" Damian asked, quickly stopping Cortana as he noticed that 30 people had already been selected, all of whom were women.
Cortana looked surprised at Damian, with an innocent expression.
"Master, I'm just catering to your preferences. Perhaps in the future, I might open a harem," Cortana said, smiling.
"You think I don't have enough problems? Just do the list correctly," Damian said, massaging his forehead with a sigh.
Cortana chuckled softly before reordering the list, making it more diverse.
"How many do you think we should choose?" Damian asked, looking at the list.
"Hm, perhaps one Noble Vampire and five Regular Vampires per continent?" Cortana suggested thoughtfully.
"Not a bad idea," Damian agreed.
"Let's do it then. Choose the five Noble Vampires from the finalists, and as for the 25 regular vampires, you can be more lenient and choose even from those who are not finalists," Damian said casually.
It was also normal for someone to reject becoming a vampire; in such cases, they would simply choose another person to fill the position.
''Fine, then I'll leave it to you," Damian said and started to get up.
Cortana pouted at Damian before appearing in front of him and pushing him back onto the sofa where he was sitting. Then she gave a little jump before sitting astride Damian.
"Doing those things is very arduous; I'm tired. You always ask me to take care of your tasks," Cortana complained.
Damian just rolled his eyes; he was sure she could do those things while sleeping. He knew she just wanted to exaggerate.
"Besides, it was terrible having to endure your escapades in these past two months. When will that woman leave?" Cortana complained, referring to Hela. Sometimes it was terrible being able to detect everything that was happening around her.
"Are you jealous?" Damian asked, looking at her.
"I... I'm not jealous," Cortana said, her cheeks flushing. She had said before that she wasn't jealous, so she couldn't change her mind now.
"It's just that I don't like her; that woman is only interested in your body," Cortana said.
Damian couldn't help but let out a light laugh at hearing her say that.
"And you? You're not interested in that then?" Damian asked, giving her a smile.
"Well, I... I'm just a little bit," Cortana said, looking away with a slightly embarrassed expression.
Damian just looked at Cortana with a slight smile; he had to admit that Cortana had the most beautiful face he had ever seen, although she was a bit mischievous about it.
Her eyes were golden with a delicate nose, and her lips always remained red like rose petals. Her white hair framing her face gave her an otherworldly appearance.
"How long has it been since I infused you with the Mind Stone?" Damian asked, smiling as he stroked her hair.
"It's been two years," Cortana said, thinking about it.
"Hm, it doesn't seem like it has been that long," Damian said, smiling slightly.
"At this point, Vision would have been created if everything had gone according to plan," Cortana said, smiling as she extended her hands and took Damian's hand that was stroking her hair.
"I stopped thinking about that a long time ago," Damian laughed lightly.
Cortana rubbed her face against Damian's hand as she closed her eyes.
"Master," Cortana said as she opened her eyes and looked at Damian, the side of her face still pressed against his hand, and her charming eyes looked provocatively at Damian.
Damian shook his head before pulling Cortana toward him and hugging her waist.
"Master, I'm already a big girl," Cortana said, lifting her head and looking at Damian.
"At two years old?" Damian asked, looking at her.
"So, how many years do you plan to wait before taking me seriously?" Cortana complained.
"How about when you turn a thousand years old?" Damian said, looking at her with a smile.
"Master!" Cortana complained aloud as she hit Damian's chest.
"I'm just kidding," Damian said, laughing softly before leaning his face closer to Cortana's and gently kissing her lips.
Cortana's eyes widened in surprise before her face turned completely red as she pressed her forehead against Damian's chest, trying to hide her face.
Damian could only shake his head; that's why he didn't do anything to Cortana, even though she pretended to be seductive, she was actually embarrassed by anything that crossed the line.
"Come on, big girl, let go of me, and let's take a nap. It's four in the morning, we can rest a bit," Damian said, gently squeezing Cortana's cheeks.
Cortana's eyes, hidden from Damian, immediately brightened a bit at hearing Damian's words.
Her face lifted, and she looked at Damian happily, with only a little blush left on her cheeks, giving her a charming look.
A large heart-shaped bed immediately appeared next to them as Cortana floated out of her master's lap before falling heavily onto the bed.
Damian just chuckled as he saw the bed; his little AI had become quite naughty.
Cortana lay on her side and looked at Damian with a smile; the lights in the place began to dim before going totally dark.
Damian was unaffected and reached the bed before lying down next to Cortana.
Cortana smiled before grabbing onto Damian's neck and closing her eyes.
Damian also hugged her and pulled her close before closing his eyes.
With the event completed, the world entered a stage of great development; magic had become part of the world, and everyone was looking for ways to exploit it.
In an instant, a year had passed.