The lab was newly built massive, state-of-the-art, and engineered for experiments bordering the arcane. It was here, in this facility bridging science and magic, that the team prepared to dissect a god.
Gathered around Nolan were five of Earth's brightest minds: Curt Connors, Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, and Hank Pym.
This was Oscorp's next great leap forward.
Nolan had even reached out to Reed Richards but as expected, there was no reply.
"Boss," Connors said, handing over a data sheet. "We're detecting energy fluctuations inside the containment. At times it surges… but then crashes."
"Where are we now?" Nolan asked.
"Stabilizing at around Tier-7… but still falling."
Connors continued. "The energy signature was originally chaotic and massive like overlapping magnetic fields. Now it's shifting slowly, condensing… almost like it's becoming biological."
Otto stepped in. "We've tracked a drop from 150 Spectral Units to below 100. It's still falling. The subject is transitioning from a pure energy entity to a physical, flesh-based being."
"Perfect," Nolan said. "That means we can cut it open."
"What about the heart-shaped herb?" he added.
"Already synthesized and prepared," said Norman.
Nolan dispelled the last magical seals from the frozen sarcophagus.
Without that magic, the extreme cold holding Bast frozen would require heat near a star's core to melt.
Otto activated the restraints.
Outside the chamber, Wanda Maximoff and Max Dillon stood watch. Their presence was precautionary Nolan wasn't taking chances, even if Bast seemed powerless.
The containment unit, a vibranium-forged coffin, opened. Magnetic inhibitors pulsed, and nullifying gas poured in, draining what remained of Bastet's energy.
Otto calibrated the siphoning systems.
Golden divine energy dense and syrup-like poured from the creature's form, more concentrated than any previously recorded "dragon force" or godlike power.
Nolan observed silently.
His theory was being confirmed:
Divine energy, unlike traditional magic, seemed to bridge the gap between metaphysics and raw physics. A literal conversion agent.
Magic was a conduit yes.
But divine energy… it might be the source.
"The way Bastet passed her power to T'Challa through the herb... it means divine force can be stored, transferred manufactured."
"This could be my cornerstone for building a true magic engine."
"We're ready," Otto said.
The ice had fully melted. The panther-goddess, once so majestic, now lay unconscious on a massive surgical platform.
Nolan oversaw every control panel.
Otto manned the main interface. Pym, Osborn, Gordon, and Connors handled dissection protocols.
Their vibranium scalpels sliced precisely through the divine tissue.
As skin and muscle peeled away, Bast's golden eyes shot open, rage and despair flashing through them.
She tried to move but couldn't.
The gods had left her. Wakanda's belief no longer reached her. Her powers had been severed.
Even her mouth was sealed shut, with a vibranium muzzle locked in place.
"Musculature resembles feline patterns, but at the cellular level... this is something else," Connors muttered.
"No mitochondria. No organelles. Just… floating quantum particles."
"They're moving in highly ordered circuits," Pym noted. "They're... evolving. Trying to form more efficient energy matrices."
Each finding was logged and transmitted to Nolan's core database.
He absorbed everything in real time, analyzing it inside his upgraded neural interface.
"Energy-based tissues detected," Otto called out.
"Switch to dragonbone scalpel. Prepare to open the skull. Increase localized magnetic suppression to block telepathic waves."
They swapped out the vibranium tools for experimental dragonbone instruments crafted using energy templates Nolan had reverse-engineered from mythical skeletal remains.
These blades were infused with demonic energy, perfect for dissecting intangible matter.
The demonic power came from a dimension Nolan had tapped into a Hell Realm he now accessed via stabilized runic circles.
One of the lesser demons, code-named The Beast, still hadn't realized its power was being siphoned daily into Oscorp's weapons and instruments.
And now, with those tools, they would dissect a god.
In all her existence, no mortal had dared this.
Not even the Sorcerer Supreme had dissected gods he merely defeated them.
He was researching them.
"Why do gods like Bast exist?" Nolan mused aloud. "Are they born of nature? Or of belief?"
He stared at her twitching body.
"If magic is the method… then divine energy is the source."
And he would make that source his own.
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