The shock brought by the words "Young God" quickly faded from Leon Lake's expression.
Dr. Kondraki had explained the origins of these powers, but not what had actually happened.
When Leon finally asked, "So—what happened?"
Dr. Kondraki hesitated. His face showed rare embarrassment, as though recalling something too painful to describe. A trace of pity flickered in his eyes.
After a long silence, he sighed and muttered under his breath,
"Clef… this isn't my fault. You were the one who asked Leon for help."
He seemed to convince himself with that.
Then he looked up and said helplessly,
"Honestly, this might be the most painful memory Clef has."
Under Leon's calm, watchful gaze, Kondraki's tone grew awkward.
"In truth, Clef's wife always held the upper hand in their marriage."
Leon frowned slightly. "You mean…"
"Yes," Kondraki nodded grimly. "Dr. Clef endured years of abuse—physical and psychological."
Leon froze. Even he hadn't expected that.
Kondraki forced an awkward smile.
"It's true. Clef, the man who could execute Keter-class entities without hesitation… was trapped in an abusive relationship for years."
---
The livestream erupted.
> "WTF?! Did I just hear that right? Dr. Clef was abused?"
"Impossible! Clef is one of the coldest men in the Foundation!"
"Even if he couldn't fight back, couldn't he just escape? He's a reality bender!"
"This world is insane…"
"I shouldn't laugh… but damn, this is surreal."
Kondraki shrugged.
"It's possible to hate, fear, and still love your abuser. That's how deep it went. Eventually, he managed to break free."
Leon's eyes narrowed. "So that was the cause of the disaster?"
Kondraki shook his head. "No. The source of the disaster was SCP-2317."
Leon's pupils constricted. "The Devourer of Worlds?"
Kondraki gave an even more terrifying answer.
"No—the Crimson King."
---
The entire Marvel Universe seemed to freeze.
Kamar-Taj
"The Devourer of Worlds… the Crimson King?" the Ancient One whispered.
Her voice trembled on the last words.
A wave of dread rippled through her soul.
How could a Euclid-level SCP tie into the Crimson King himself?
Nothing about this made sense anymore.
---
The Watcher's Realm
Uatu's eyes widened in disbelief.
"The Crimson King? How could he be connected to this?"
Even he—who had witnessed countless multiversal horrors—felt a chill run through him.
---
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
"2317?" Natasha Romanoff exclaimed. "Wait—does that mean SCP-2317 wasn't contained by the Foundation at this point?"
Nick Fury frowned deeply, his mind racing.
What could possibly link 2317 and the Crimson King?
Maria Hill quickly projected data onto the main screen. Kondraki's earlier words appeared again:
> "The only survivors were eight humans—six pregnant women and a man holding an infant."
Nick Fury's breath hitched. His eyes widened in sudden realization.
"The Seven Brides of the Scarlet King…" he whispered.
The thought hit him like a thunderbolt. Pure fear rippled through him.
---
On the screen, Leon Lake lost his composure for the first time.
After several deep breaths, he steadied himself and waited.
"SCP-4231," Kondraki said. "That's the Foundation's designation for the anomaly."
Leon leaned forward. "And what is it?"
Kondraki sighed.
"I'm sorry, I can't show you the full file. Clef personally asked the O5 Council to seal it. But in short, SCP-4231 is a three-story mixed-use building located on the site of the destroyed town of Northgate, Cornwall."
He continued,
"It's classified as Euclid. The structure has been fenced off under a government cover story. Reinforced doors. Boarded windows. Just a house… on the surface."
Leon frowned. "A house?"
Kondraki's tone darkened.
"Yes. The house where Dr. Clef and his wife once lived."
---
He took a slow drag of his cigarette.
"Inside, we found Clef's wife."
Leon's gaze sharpened.
"SCP-4231-A: female, 28 years old, 5'7", 150 pounds. Light skin, blonde hair, brown eyes.
Pregnant—had given birth shortly before death. Cause of death: a single gunshot wound to the head. Found upstairs in the bedroom. Signs of long-term physical abuse inflicted on SCP-4231-B."
Kondraki exhaled heavily.
"Her name was Lily. She'd just given birth… and then someone put a bullet in her head."
---
The livestream exploded again.
> "WHAT?! A 'Young God' level reality bender—dead?!"
"So she was SCP-166's mother!"
"Who killed her?!"
"That's insane…"
No one could believe that the woman who had tormented Clef for years had met such a brutal end.
---
"SCP-4231-B," Kondraki continued, "male, 27 years old, 5'3", 145 pounds. Light skin, blond hair, heterochromatic eyes—one blue, one green.
Upon recovery, he was in extreme mental distress, barely able to speak."
Leon stayed silent as Kondraki sighed.
"Yes… that was Clef."
"His nose was broken multiple times. His body showed blunt-force trauma to the skull and spine. He kept vomiting water and blood—residual effects from the flood they created."
"Lily's control over him had escalated from mental to physical torture," Kondraki said grimly.
"His reality-bending ability began to manifest under that trauma—in ways that hurt him as much as they hurt the world."
Leon's expression softened slightly.
Who could have imagined that one of the Foundation's four Apocalypse Doctors, a man feared by gods and monsters alike, had suffered so much?
But despite the sympathy, Leon's mind stayed focused on what mattered most—the Crimson King.
---
"SCP-4231's anomalous properties," Kondraki continued, "were a direct result of the extreme violence and the high concentration of Type Green entities in that house—exacerbated by SCP-2317's influence."
Leon's heart skipped a beat.
"SCP-2317 was originally sealed beneath the lakebed—directly under that house."
---
The entire livestream froze in collective horror.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Wait, what?!" Natasha shouted. "You're telling me the Devourer of Worlds was underneath Clef's home?!"
Nick Fury was speechless. Living over the literal gateway to hell…
"Could all of this have started because of 2317?" he muttered.
---
Kondraki nodded slowly.
"Possibly. Two reality benders—one unstable, one tormented—living right above a cosmic abomination. That house became a wound in reality itself."
"The upstairs, SCP-4231-2, was their living space—a pocket dimension scarred with Type Green residue and active phenomena. The basement led to SCP-4231-3, a medieval tomb buried under the lakebed."
He lowered his voice.
"The tomb was divided into eleven sections. Chambers 1 through 7 were sealed with iron doors and magical locks. It took our thaumaturgists a week to open them."
Inside, they found something terrifying.
> "SCP-231-2 through 231-7."
Leon froze. "The… SCP-231 series?"
Kondraki nodded grimly.
"Yes. The Seven Brides of the Crimson King."
He looked up, his voice trembling slightly.
"They were all there, Leon. The seven brides—and what they carried within them was the offspring of the Red King himself."
---
The world fell silent.
An invisible fear seemed to suffocate the entire Marvel Universe.
Kamar-Taj
The Ancient One's expression went rigid.
"The Seven Wives of the Crimson King… they're real?"
Her voice quivered as realization hit.
The Crimson King—the Supreme God of Malice—had seven brides, each bearing his corrupted bloodline.
The thought nearly froze her heart.
---
The Watcher's Realm
Uatu's pulse stopped for an instant. His expression twisted in horror.
"All seven brides… pregnant? And this world still exists?"
He could barely process it.
---
S.H.I.E.L.D.
Every agent in the room was speechless. Eyes wide. Jaws dropped.
Nick Fury's mind spun wildly.
Seven brides… but Kondraki had mentioned six found in the tomb.
His pupils shrank.
"Wait… six were found. But there should be seven."
He stiffened. A horrifying thought flashed across his mind.
His breath caught in his throat.
There was only one possible conclusion—one that made his blood run cold.
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