Ch 58- Cooking Zod
Right, Kryptonians have zero magic resistance?
Then let's use magic.
"Seraphim Shield!"
Layers of magical shields connected together into a polyhedral structure, protecting Marcus inside like a diamond.
Boom!
Zod's fist slammed into it, but this time it didn't even cause the slightest ripple.
This was a defensive spell capable of protecting a spaceship even during a crash landing.
Seeing that brute force wasn't enough, Zod's eyes quickly turned red and fired his Heat Vision.
At the same time, he took a deep breath and unleashed a freezing breath.
Ice and fire at the same time!
To his surprise, it actually shook the Seraphim Shield, causing cracks to appear.
Marcus remained completely calm as he formed hand seals.
Countless arms extended from behind him.
He looked like a thousand-armed bodhisattva.
One after another, shadows split off and transformed into copies of Marcus.
Each clone had a heartbeat and was a real physical existence.
"The Shape of Ikonn!"
All of the Marcus clones pulled out scarlet chains and hurled them toward Zod, binding his hands, feet, head, and torso.
"Crimson Bands of Cyttorak!"
Relying on his tremendous physical strength, Zod tried to break free.
But he quickly discovered that the scarlet chains were unbelievably durable.
Not only that, even Marcus clones possessed immense strength.
He couldn't break free at all.
Before he could think further,
Marcus formed a ball of purple light in his hand.
The moment Zod saw it, alarm bells rang in his head.
He couldn't let that hit him!
Otherwise...
He would die.
Marcus threw it forward.
The ball of purple light transformed into a bolt of purple lightning that bounced back and forth toward Zod.
Zod's eyes glowed red as Heat Vision fired continuously.
But he couldn't hit the bouncing lightning.
He could only watch as it drew closer and closer before leaping straight at his face.
Under normal circumstances, he could have dodged such a slow attack easily.
But now...
Boom!
The purple lightning exploded, blooming into a giant purple flower in the sky.
All the clones released their Crimson Bands and rapidly merged back into Marcus.
Only then did the purple flower dissipate.
But Zod was nowhere to be seen.
...
He had been reduced to ashes.
The entire exchange happened so quickly that some people in the arena were still cheering for Zod.
Then suddenly...
He was gone.
Wait!
Their General Zod...
Was dead?
Before anyone could react,
Marcus waved the [Power of Time], reversing the time in the area where Zod had been destroyed.
The ashes flowed backward.
Zod's body was reconstructed.
Now the Kryptonians who were about to get angry froze again.
Uh...
Dead, then revived?
Zod's expression wasn't looking good either.
He hadn't expected himself to be so fragile.
Marcus hadn't even moved.
He had just cast a few spells and killed him.
"Sorry, I hit a little too hard," Marcus said calmly. "This is a newly developed magic system that will eventually be used by the Transformers. I didn't expect Kryptonians to have practically zero magic resistance. It causes real damage."
Everyone: "..."
That was a lot of information to process.
After sorting through the important parts, they fell silent again.
Are you sure...
This wasn't magic specifically designed to counter Kryptonians?
Whether it was or not,
The Transformers they had previously viewed as insignificant would become terrifying if they mastered this kind of magic.
It was just too effective against Kryptonians.
After several seconds of silence,
Zod still didn't know how to save face.
Fortunately, Marcus changed the subject.
"Didn't you say you wanted to show me your collection? Let's go."
Zod immediately took the opportunity.
"Right! Let's go!"
He turned and flew away as if escaping.
Marcus followed behind, trying not to laugh.
Zod was the one who wanted to fight.
Now he was the one running away.
From now on, Zod probably wouldn't challenge Marcus to a duel again.
The upper limit of Kryptonians was S-Class.
More specifically,
Probably around S-.
Even with Zod's genetic enhancements, he was still far behind Clark.
"Still, the environment here is excellent. Once the wives receive the Kryptonian Blood Serum, they can come here occasionally."
Shopping around New Krypton while their super cells absorb solar energy.
That didn't sound bad at all.
After a while,
Marcus noticed that Zod still hadn't stopped.
Instead, he had led him into a villa district.
Huh?
Why were they here?
Marcus accelerated and caught up, intending to say goodbye.
"It's here," Zod said first. "My collection is inside. If you like anything, take it."
Marcus: "..."
Huh?
He had only given Zod an excuse to change the subject.
He hadn't expected Zod to actually offer his collection.
"Since you're being so generous, I won't be polite."
Marcus pushed open the door.
Inside was a long corridor lined with floor-to-ceiling windows.
Display cases of various sizes filled both sides of the hallway.
Each one contained a different item.
Zod had already adjusted his mood.
After all, he had always considered himself the loser.
Even Krypton's technology tree had come from Marcus.
Losing to him wasn't embarrassing.
Not at all.
He enthusiastically began introducing the exhibits.
"This pile of ashes came from the native species I exterminated on one planet."
Marcus thought for a moment.
Could it be...
The Hive?
"This damaged battle suit came from another planet we merged with. The natives refused to communicate, so I fought them alone for ten days and ten nights before wiping them all out."
...
As expected of General Zod.
Ten days and ten nights.
He had practically erased the entire civilization.
"This device..."
"This electronic panel..."
To Marcus' surprise,
Zod had already accumulated quite a collection in such a short period of time.
Eventually, they reached the final display case.
Inside was a black creature covered in writhing tendrils, snarling at them viciously.
"Huh?"
Why did this thing look familiar?
Venom?
"This is a symbiote I found on another planet," Zod said. "It requires a host to function. While I wasn't paying attention, it snuck into my body and tried threatening me through my internal organs."
He laughed.
Unfortunately for it,
Kryptonians were practically made of steel from the inside out.
Their internal organs were only slightly less durable than their skin.
Ordinary creatures couldn't threaten them at all.
However...
Marcus released a strand of the Phoenix Force and forcefully read the black symbiote's memories.
As expected...
It wasn't Venom.
Things weren't that coincidental.
But!
This was the King in Black, the strongest symbiote.
That was why it had chosen Zod as a host.
After all, only a king deserved such a powerful body.
Unfortunately, it ended up attaching itself to a living steel fortress and was captured as a collectible.
But what interested Marcus even more was something else.
He turned toward Zod.
"Do you still remember the coordinates of the symbiote planet?"
If nothing else,
The All-Black the Necrosword was definitely worth getting.
Zod nodded suspiciously.
"The coordinates of that planet should still be recorded."
"But that planet only has those symbiotes. They're weak, have no useful resources, and can't even be used to fill a planet."
The implication was obvious.
Going there would be a waste of time. It was basically a garbage planet.
"I'll go take a look when I have time," Marcus said casually. "Give me a copy of the star map and mark the location."
A star map was similar to a nautical chart, used for navigation and positioning in space.
Zod didn't waste any time and directly handed over what Marcus wanted.
After putting away the star map,
Marcus looked at the King in Black.
The strongest symbiote was definitely going to belong to him.
But...
The King in Black was too aggressive. His wives might not be able to control it.
So...
The [Phoenix Force] forcefully entered its mind and directly erased the King in Black's consciousness, leaving behind only its combat instincts and experience.
Then he programmed a new obedient female personality.
This way,
It became nothing more than a simple tool. It couldn't speak, had no self-awareness, and could be used purely as a battle suit.
Marcus raised his hand.
The specially made glass case was sliced open, and the King in Black rushed toward him.
It was stopped by a layer of [Phoenix Force].
"Don't get the wrong idea," Marcus said with disgust. "I don't need weird things crawling in and out of my body."
The King in Black immediately behaved itself.
It obediently rolled into a ball and landed in Marcus' hand.
Tossing it casually, Marcus nodded to Zod.
Then he teleported back to the silo building, stored Strike inside the Gate of Babylon, and returned through the Black Teleportation Monolith to Earth.
Another teleport later,
He arrived at the former Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, now Dawn Headquarters.
"Mental Scan!"
It was easy to find Lorna.
She was busy with something, and Marcus appeared beside her instantly.
"Ah!"
Aurora-like lights flickered around Lorna in fright, like a broken light bulb.
When she saw it was Marcus, she immediately rolled her eyes.
"Can't you just open a portal like a normal person?" Lorna complained. "You're always appearing out of nowhere. One day you're going to scare someone to death!"
"I'll be more careful next time."
Marcus grabbed Lorna's hand.
"Come on. I've got a nice gift for you."
A flash later, they arrived at the plaza.
Marcus opened the Gate of Babylon on the ground.
A golden curtain of light rose slowly.
From within it, a giant figure gradually emerged, like some holy messenger descending from the heavens.
The ceremony was impressive.
Lorna had already seen Transformers before.
But the Strike Freedom Gundam was known as the most handsome Gundam.
It instantly hit every one of her interests.
She trembled with excitement.
Who said only boys liked giant robots?
Girls liked them too.
When the entire Strike Freedom Gundam finally appeared,
Its height of 18.8 meters made it even taller than Optimus Prime.
Just standing there gave off immense pressure.
Lorna grabbed Marcus' arm excitedly.
"Is this for me?"
"Yep. Go try it."
The moment he finished speaking,
Strike knelt on one knee.
The cockpit opened, and a boarding cable was about to lower.
But Lorna couldn't wait.
Using [Magnetic Field Manipulation], she controlled the metal plates beneath her feet and flew straight into the cockpit.
With Marcus Super Hearing, he could hear Lorna's excited conversation with Strike.
After a brief introduction,
Strike spread its wings and shot into the sky.
Weapons rotated into position all over its body.
Even without activating them, they were enough to make people give way.
Below,
A large number of Mutants stared up at the sky with envy in their eyes.
Everyone lived alongside Transformers.
Who hadn't dreamed of owning one?
And now Lorna not only had one,
She had one this cool.
Andy was instantly jealous.
"Lauren, you're hopeless," Andy said seriously. "You already have the saviour's phone number. Why haven't you contacted him?"
"Hey! I'm a girl!" Lauren replied weakly.
Andy stared at her in disbelief.
Are you serious?
"Well... I just don't have the confidence," Lauren admitted. "His light shines too brightly. Maybe... maybe I misunderstood everything?"
"Come on! What are you afraid of?" Andy said in frustration. "Look at all those girls trying to get close to you lately. They all want the saviour's number. Are they scared?"
Lauren lowered her head and remained silent.
She looked at the business card in her hand.
Her eyes flickered.
Maybe...
She should find an opportunity to try.
Seeing that Lorna was having fun, Marcus sent her a message and left.
He arrived at Kamar-Taj.
Because of the competition earlier that day,
The Ancient One noticed him immediately.
She smiled and nodded before continuing to teach Darcy.
Among Marcus many wives, aside from Jean, who was practically cheating with her talent, Darcy Lewis had the greatest magical aptitude.
Even the Ancient One had developed an appreciation for her talent and was teaching her seriously.
"Gwen, come here," Marcus called.
Gwen immediately stopped drawing circles and ran over.
"Marcus, what's up?"
Marcus handed her the King in Black and explained its origins.
A symbiote naturally belonged with Spider-Man.
Female Venom plus Spider-Gwen equaled double the happiness.
Obviously.
"Keep it as a pet," Marcus said casually. "I've erased its emotions. You can give it a new name."
Gwen was delighted.
She gave Marcus a sweet kiss.
Then she picked up the King in Black.
"If it doesn't mind being called Lil black, let's go with that," Gwen said. "How do I use this symbiote?"
The moment she finished speaking,
The little black ball transformed into liquid and flowed into her palm.
"Interesting... Symbiote form!"
Black liquid spread across Gwen's body, forming a battle suit.
Because of its amplification abilities,
Gwen immediately felt the difference.
After testing it briefly, she nodded with satisfaction.
Her strength and speed had both increased.
Combined with her Spider-Sense, she didn't have to worry about reaction speed.
It could also transform into various weapons.
The match was perfect.
"It's a shame. I still prefer my white suit," Gwen muttered.
Lil black immediately turned white.
What?
Could its color be changed freely?
As the King in Black, it naturally had some tricks.
"Huh? You can change colors whenever you want?" Gwen asked in surprise.
She immediately began modifying the details, adjusting it until it matched the appearance of her previous suit.
As she kept making adjustments,
The suit became more and more form-fitting.
Marcus enjoyed the view.
The combination of Spider-Gwen and a female symbiote really was something.
But...
After the Ancient One finished teaching Darcy, she walked over.
Marcus could only abandon that line of thought.
The Ancient One clearly wanted to discuss something.
She was just about to summon a tea set.
Instead, Marcus handed her the star map.
"Can you open a portal to these coordinates?" Marcus grinned. "It's too far away. I can't lock onto it myself."
The Ancient One's hand froze.
Then she calmly continued drawing a portal.
A gateway appeared.
On the other side was a barren wasteland.
"Thanks."
Marcus stepped through.
He arrived on the symbiote planet.
His mental scan spread outward.
Beneath the barren surface,
Countless symbiotes were clustered together.
There seemed to be no end to them.
They had been dormant before.
But after sensing the presence of a living being, they immediately became active.
Then they fell silent again.
Because...
Marcus presence made them tremble.
And that wasn't all.
The Ancient One also stepped through the portal and arrived on the symbiote planet.
The symbiotes nearly lost their minds.
How had they managed to attract two terrifying beings at the same time?!
Ch 59- New Moon
Marcus glanced at the Ancient One and didn't pay much attention.
The range of his mental scan was limited, so he directly used X-ray Vision to look deep underground and search for the target.
This symbiote planet was roughly the size of the Moon. The surface looked solid, but it was actually made of ash-like powder compressed by extremely high gravity.
No wonder Zod didn't like this place.
What was this stuff even useful for?
Mixing ashes into cement?
"What you're looking for is at the planet's core," the Ancient One suddenly said. "I didn't expect the ancient god-slaying weapon, the All-Black Necrosword, to be buried here."
Marcus immediately stopped searching and looked directly toward the core.
As expected,
He saw a blood-red figure imprisoned inside a cage at the center of the planet, while the All-Black Necrosword was embedded directly above it, suppressing the entire cage.
"Do you know who that is?" Marcus asked.
He had a rough guess, but that was based on comic lore.
He needed confirmation.
The Ancient One thought for a moment before speaking slowly.
"In ancient times, there was a god named Knull who slaughtered a member of the Celestials. Using the weapon that killed the Celestial and the Celestial's blood, he further forged the god-slaying sword."
"Knull created the symbiote army and symbiote dragons through the All-Black Necrosword, then used them to conquer civilizations across the universe."
"Back then, he caused countless massacres throughout the cosmos. Just when he was on the verge of unifying everything, Knull suddenly disappeared, along with his symbiote army."
The Ancient One looked at the symbiotes emerging from beneath the ground.
"I didn't expect they were all here. It seems they were the ones who imprisoned Knull."
Marcus nodded thoughtfully.
This mostly matched what he knew.
So...
This universe contained parts of both the Marvel movie setting and the comic setting?
Thinking about it this way...
Marcus had thought he was already invincible.
Turns out he was only strong enough to protect himself.
Wanda's [Chaos Force] might eventually reach the point where she could say "No more mutants" and erase an entire race.
There were also beings like the Celestials, the Living Tribunal, Galactus, and the One Above All.
If they truly existed in this universe...
"That just makes it more interesting."
"Being completely invincible would get boring."
Marcus swept his Heat Vision across the surrounding area, forcing back the restless symbiotes. The intense heat made them retreat in fear.
"Portal!"
A portal opened directly to the planet's core.
Marcus stepped through.
The Ancient One followed closely behind.
The sleeping Knull sensed their arrival and slowly opened his eyes.
He looked directly at Marcus.
"Mortal," Knull said in a deep voice. "Release me from these chains, and I will grant you eternal life."
The classic villain temptation speech.
Wrong target.
The Ancient One's expression became strange.
Offering eternal life to a Time Mephisto?
More likely Marcus would be the one deciding whether Knull kept his immortality.
"Eternal life doesn't matter much to me," Marcus said calmly. "I'll give you one chance. Submit, or die."
Knull immediately became furious.
He forced his weakened body upright.
Boundless evil energy surged outward like a tsunami toward Marcus and the Ancient One.
But Marcus was protected by the [Phoenix Force].
This kind of mental pressure was completely ineffective.
The Ancient One had faced Dormammu directly before.
She didn't move an inch.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Knull's weakened body couldn't handle the strain.
He coughed up blood.
His momentum immediately collapsed.
"Don't waste your energy," Marcus said while holding the [Power of Time]. "I am the new Time Mephisto. Put away those little tricks."
Knull froze.
After waiting countless years,
Had he really encountered a Time Mephisto?
He looked at the Ancient One.
"My future Sorcerer Supreme," the Ancient One said modestly. "One of the disciples under Lord Mephisto."
Since Marcus intended to recruit Knull, she didn't mind helping.
Knull fell completely silent.
Although the Ancient One's aura wasn't obvious,
His instincts as a god told him that even at his peak, he might not be able to defeat her.
After all,
Not all gods were equal.
Someone like Marcus, a Time Mephisto,
Controlled time itself.
Even people dead for decades could be brought back to life.
As the God of Symbiotes,
Knull couldn't even get close to Marcus, let alone injure him.
"So," Marcus said calmly, "submit, or die?"
Knull's expression shifted repeatedly.
He definitely didn't want to die.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have endured imprisonment here for thousands of years.
But...
If he submitted to someone else, what would happen to his dream of universal conquest?
He couldn't accept it.
"It seems you've chosen the second option."
Marcus shook his head regretfully.
He condensed a sphere of [Power of Time] and threw it through the gap in the cage.
Knull's already weakened body began turning gray at a visible rate.
Time itself was eroding his body.
Yet he had no way to resist.
How could anyone stop time?
As the gray color spread throughout his body, Knull forced out a smile.
He was a god.
Time alone couldn't kill him.
At most, it would continue weakening him.
"Very confident," Marcus said with a smile. "Let's try this instead."
The [Phoenix Force] in his hand transformed into Phoenix Flames, the power capable of disintegrating all things.
The flames landed on Knull's left arm.
The arm instantly disintegrated into nothingness.
For the first time in ages, true fear appeared in Knull's eyes.
"No! I can't die!" Knull shouted in panic. "I surrender! I surrender!"
The spread of the Phoenix Flames slowed, but did not stop.
"So you are afraid of death after all," Marcus said.
Then he opened the Gate of Babylon and took out a green book.
[Book of Soul Contracts]!
It had been recreated using the original [Book of Contracts] as a template and transformed into a soul-binding contract.
Marcus pushed the book in front of Knull.
"Sign this soul contract, and your life and death will be in my hands."
Knull looked at the Book of Soul Contracts.
Then he looked at the gray decay spreading across his chest and the Phoenix Flames consuming his shoulder.
He smiled bitterly.
Did he really have a choice?
In the end, Knull used his soul as the medium and signed the contract.
Immediately,
He felt a connection form between his soul and Marcus.
He could communicate with Marcus directly through this connection.
And Marcus could also use that connection to...
Kill him at any moment.
Knull completely lowered his head.
All of his former arrogance was gone.
The ambitions and dreams of conquest that once drove him had become nothing more than the past.
Even the Ancient One was speechless.
Marcus had only glanced at the original Book of Contracts once, then recreated it on the spot.
And even improved it.
If the Vishanti saw this, they would probably have something to say about it.
Now that Knull had surrendered,
There was no reason to leave him rotting here anymore.
Marcus condensed the [Phoenix Force] into a blade and added [Vector Control] to it.
Wherever the blade passed,
Every shackle was cut apart.
At the same time,
The [Power of Time] fell upon Knull.
Time reversed, restoring his left arm, and continued reversing without stopping.
Knull's emaciated body gradually filled out, and his aura grew stronger and stronger.
After reversing time for half an hour, Marcus finally stopped in satisfaction.
Knull was stunned by the discovery.
He had actually returned to his peak condition.
You had to remember...
He had been imprisoned for thousands of years!
That meant...
In just half an hour,
Marcus had reversed thousands of years of time on him.
At that moment,
Knull finally understood just how terrifying Marcus truly was.
The Ancient One beside them was nearly speechless.
Reversing thousands of years?
Even with the [Time Stone], she could only safely reverse a little over ten years.
Beyond that,
Time branches would begin forming in reality.
But Marcus hadn't caused any.
All she could say was...
As expected of a Time Mephisto.
After recovering,
Marcus handed the star map to the Ancient One again.
"Open a portal and move this symbiote planet over there."
The Ancient One: "..."
So not only did she have to get shocked all day,
Now she had to do manual labour too?
But there was no helping it.
Who told her she was one of his followers?
"This planet isn't that large. I'll give it a try."
The Ancient One stepped through the Space Gate behind her.
A magic circle appeared beneath her feet, lifting her into space.
She drew a circle with her right hand.
A [Portal] appeared and rapidly expanded.
It continued growing until the entire symbiote planet could fit through.
Then she pushed the portal forward.
The entire symbiote planet vanished from its original location.
The Ancient One let out a breath.
Then she opened another [Portal] and followed it through.
Marcus and Knull had already returned to the surface.
"ROAR!"
Knull roared and summoned countless symbiotes.
At the same time, symbiote dragons flapped their wings and flew over.
The sky was filled with them.
The visual impact was immense.
And this was only what remained after thousands of years.
It was hard to imagine how massive Knull's army had been during his conquest of the universe.
"My king," Knull said bitterly, "these creatures betrayed me back then and caused my downfall. Please allow me to destroy them!"
Marcus was examining the [All-Black Necrosword] when he heard that.
He looked up at Knull.
No wonder the system hadn't reacted yet.
This guy still wanted to slaughter his own troops.
Wouldn't that reduce Marcus rewards?
Knull had been betrayed by his own army and imprisoned for thousands of years.
The resentment in his heart needed an outlet.
Otherwise, he wouldn't work wholeheartedly in the future.
After all,
Even if Marcus controlled his life and death, if Knull worked half-heartedly, Marcus couldn't just kill him.
Sometimes people needed a way to vent.
More importantly...
Symbiotes could reproduce on their own and could also be created through the [All-Black Necrosword].
Even if they were killed, replenishing them was only a matter of time.
"Kill half of them," Marcus said, softening his tone. "After all, these belong to me now. Leave me some troops."
Knull was surprised.
Marcus was actually this reasonable?
These symbiotes now belonged to Marcus.
Allowing him to destroy half of them was already extremely generous.
Some of the resentment in Knull's heart faded away.
"Yes, my king!" Knull said respectfully. "Please lend me the All-Black Necrosword. I can absorb the energy of these creatures and directly create a new symbiote army."
"Oh?"
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
"One dead symbiote creates one new symbiote?"
"Yes!"
That changed things.
Marcus looked at the endless swarm of symbiotes in the sky.
Looks like they couldn't stay.
"Where's Venom?" Marcus shouted. "Come over here."
The symbiotes shared a hive-like consciousness network, similar to the Five-in-One's shared mind.
The symbiote army immediately parted.
A black ball of liquid rolled all the way over and stopped at Marcus feet.
Without a host,
An ordinary symbiote was basically a puddle of mud.
Marcus grabbed Venom with the [Phoenix Force].
Then casually tossed the [All-Black Necrosword] to Knull.
"Other than this one, kill the rest."
Knull froze.
Then he became overjoyed.
Knull stood up with a wide grin and immediately began slaughtering the symbiotes with the [All-Black Necrosword].
Dark creatures continuously emerged.
They were the Dark Legion created by the [All-Black Necrosword], mainly responsible for cleaning up the countless ordinary symbiotes.
Knull's true targets were the symbiote dragons.
Marcus wasn't interested in watching a one-sided massacre.
He flashed over to the Ancient One and looked toward a Kryptonian spacecraft flying nearby.
This was where Jane Foster and the Transformers planned to resurrect Cybertron.
Opening a Space Gate,
Marcus stepped directly into the Kryptonian ship.
He immediately heard Jane muttering to herself.
"That's strange. Why is there an extra moon over there?"
"I sent it," Marcus replied. "It's the symbiote planet. It'll become one of Cybertron's moons in the future. I'll explain later."
Jane turned around in surprise.
Then she threw herself directly into Marcus' arms.
"It's great that you're here!"
Marcus couldn't help smiling.
"This way, we don't have to wait for you anymore. We can start setting up the teleportation array and open the Space Bridge immediately!"
The smile on Marcus face froze.
So she was happy because it saved time?
If he'd arrived later, would she have ignored him completely?
Looks like she needed a proper lesson later.
Completely unaware,
Jane excitedly began giving orders.
"According to the plan, begin deployment!"
"Yes!"
One hundred and eight thrusters ignited on the Kryptonian spacecraft.
Unmanned fighters carrying [Transport Pillars] launched into space and deployed them at predetermined coordinates.
A few minutes later,
Optimus Prime reported,
"The installation is complete. The Space Bridge can be activated at any time."
Jane excitedly walked over to the control console and reached for the activation button.
"Cough."
Megatron cleared his throat.
"Queen Jane, shouldn't you let my king activate it personally?"
That reminder finally brought Marcus back to Jane's mind.
She immediately turned toward him with pleading eyes.
She really didn't want to miss this moment.
Marcus couldn't help laughing.
Honestly,
He wasn't particularly interested in this so-called historic moment.
Ch 60- Unexpected Reward
The chance to start it was ultimately given to Jane.
Jane excitedly gave Marcus a wink, "I'll thank you later!"
She rubbed her hands together and solemnly pressed the button.
The [Teleportation Pillars] operated in sync, each one sequentially emitting beams of light to the adjacent [Teleportation Pillar]. In the end, all the light waves gathered into one point and shot into a section of space hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.
The wormhole opened!
The Space Bridge was established!
[Space Bridge] construction complete!
Cybertron emerged from the [Space Bridge]. It seemed to pass through both slowly and quickly at the same time, descending bit by bit into this region of space.
Its size was several times larger than Earth!
Optimus Prime and the other Transformers were all excited.
After wandering the universe for so many years, they were finally going home!
Jane watched the incoming data with fanatic focus, carefully recording everything.
"Let's go," Marcus ordered. "Head to the AllSpark Well and reignite Cybertron's spark!"
"Yes, my king!"
The Kryptonian spacecraft accelerated and dived toward Cybertron.
As they got closer, they could see that the steel planet was completely silent, like a dead world without a single light.
Optimus Prime and Megatron looked at each other, remembering their years of conflict.
They had never expected...
That one day they would reconcile and return together to reignite the [AllSpark Well].
The Autobots and Decepticons were equally emotional.
For a while, the atmosphere was quiet except for the sound of Jane typing on the keyboard.
Until the Kryptonian spacecraft landed.
Optimus Prime and Megatron stood up at the same time. They exchanged a glance and each stepped half a pace back, giving way to Marcus.
Marcus floated into the air and flew out of the Kryptonian spacecraft.
Only by truly standing on Cybertron could he feel the silent desolation surrounding everything.
Only then could he understand the sorrow of a fallen civilization.
How many people ever get the chance to return to their homeland?
He flew forward.
Stopping before a mechanical abyss, he looked at the massive wellhead more than ten kilometers across.
This was the [AllSpark Well].
Optimus Prime and Megatron opened their chests, removed their respective halves of the [AllSpark], and offered them to Marcus while kneeling on one knee.
Megatron respectfully said, "My king, please activate the AllSpark Well. All future Cybertronians will recognize you as their king."
Optimus Prime lowered his head.
"Once Cybertron is restored, it will never again fall into endless civil war. We will become my king's right hand."
Marcus nodded and accepted both halves of the [AllSpark].
Wrapping them with the [Phoenix Force], he threw them into the [AllSpark Well].
After falling for more than ten seconds,
A flame ignited within the [AllSpark Well].
Like a spark setting off a fuse, the entire AllSpark Well erupted!
Towering AllSpark energy burst forth and rained across all of Cybertron.
Megatron, Optimus Prime, and the other Transformers opened their arms and raised their heads to receive the baptism.
"Hahaha!"
"AllSpark Rain!"
"Cybertron is back! It's really back!"
"Woooooo!"
The Transformers were overwhelmed with emotion. Some even cried tears of joy.
As a human, Marcus felt a sense of accomplishment, but remained relatively calm.
He scanned Cybertron.
The [AllSpark Rain] fell across the planet's surface.
Many Transformers who had died in battle were granted life once more and rose from the ground.
Although they still bore Decepticon insignias, there were expressions of excitement, joy, silence, and curiosity.
The only thing missing was any sign of violent behavior.
It seemed that
What Marcus had set within the [AllSpark] had been perfectly inherited by the reborn Cybertronians.
That saved Marcus a lot of trouble.
After a brief period of adjustment, these newly revived Transformers all began moving toward the [AllSpark Well].
As they approached,
They knelt around the perimeter and lowered their heads toward Marcus.
Paying homage to their new king.
The Transformers either ran or flew. Within a short time, they formed dense circles around him.
One ring.
Then a second.
Then a third.
And more.
Until there seemed to be no end in sight.
A rough estimate...
This wave of [AllSpark Rain] had revived more than 100,000 Transformers!
The only thing missing
Was the truly massive class of Transformers.
There were none at the scale of Trypticon.
Not even ones on the level of Devastator or Omega Supreme, let alone star-sized or planet-sized Transformers.
But now that the [AllSpark Well] had been reignited, producing those giants was only a matter of time.
Right!
Marcus used [Dragon Language] to create three cubes.
He copied the spatial array structure within them and expanded their internal space.
Then he threw them into the [AllSpark Well], allowing them to absorb a portion of the [AllSpark Flame] and form new [AllSparks].
He kept one for himself.
The other two were given to Optimus Prime and Megatron.
Marcus just wanted one as a collectible.
For Optimus Prime and Megatron, however, the [AllSpark] could serve as an energy source to power stronger weapons and equipment.
More importantly,
Marcus placed both hands on the ground and activated [Dragon Language] with all his strength.
"Vibranium Transformation!"
"Uru Metal Transformation!"
Using Marcus as the dividing line,
The surface metal of Cybertron on the left transformed into black Vibranium!
It could absorb all kinetic energy, giving it nearly unmatched physical defense!
The surface metal of Cybertron on the right transformed into Uru metal!
A top-tier magical metal with extremely high elemental affinity, ideal for magic defense and magical equipment!
Unfortunately,
Cybertron was simply too large.
Marcus only managed to transform about one-third of the planet before reaching his limit.
Even so,
The transformed area still exceeded the size of Earth itself!
It was hard to imagine...
Once these Vibranium Transformers and Uru Metal Transformers were born, learned scientific magic, and were equipped with symbiote dragons...
Thanos?
They could charge straight at him!
Just as Marcus was imagining the future, Knull descended surrounded by dark energy.
He looked over the endless ranks of Transformers, his expression becoming serious.
Even his symbiote army would be hard-pressed to deal with this steel tide.
Knull hesitated for a moment.
Instead of kneeling on one knee, he bowed slightly and offered the [Necrosword] with both hands.
"My king, the traitors have been eliminated."
Marcus casually accepted the [Necrosword].
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the "Necrosword" and acquiring a god-killing weapon!]
[Congratulations to the host for gaining the allegiance of "Knull, God of the Symbiotes" and obtaining the Symbiote Legion!]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining "Cybertron" and reigniting the AllSpark Well, gaining the Transformer race!]
[Family strength is increasing. Comprehensive reward calculation in progress...]
[Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward!]
Name: [Return to the Ancient World]
Grade: [SSR]
Description: Can regress a specified civilization to any era in its past and maintain that state for half a day. Cooldown: one day.
Slogan: Who needs high technology? Just fight hand-to-hand!
An SSR-tier reward!
Not bad.
As for the effect...
Wasn't this basically causal magic?
"Regress a specified civilization" to "any era"?
For example, Earth.
Marcus could directly regress it to the Stone Age. Then anything that did not belong to the Stone Age would become unusable!
Not to mention advanced technology, even alloys would lose their effectiveness!
Because in the Stone Age, even metal refining was impossible, let alone producing high-purity metals and alloys.
"Holy shit!"
"That's a great ability!"
Although it would not pose much of a threat to the Celestials or OAA, it would be a dimensionality reduction strike against the Kree Empire and the Nova Empire!
Also...
If Cybertron or the Symbiote Planet ever rebelled in the future,
Marcus could simply revert them to their planetary dormant period and shut them down on the spot.
Then again...
Time could always be reversed again to restore them to their former peak.
Not bad.
Marcus was very satisfied with this reward.
He looked at Knull and casually asked, "Do ordinary symbiotes have to bond with carbon-based lifeforms? Can't they work with silicon-based lifeforms like Optimus Prime?"
Knull froze.
Uh...
He had never tested that before.
But looking around at the Transformers, none of them were under five meters tall, with most averaging around seven.
A normal symbiote definitely couldn't cover one completely.
But if it were only used as a weapon, that would be more than enough.
"According to the way I designed the symbiotes, as long as they receive the energy they need, they can function independently."
"For example, the Symbiote Dragons can absorb energy on their own, so they're fine."
"As for ordinary symbiotes..."
Knull shook his head awkwardly.
That would probably be difficult.
Marcus, however, fell into thought.
The energy symbiotes required was phenethylamine, which was commonly found in the human brain and chocolate.
Marcus raised his hand and condensed a large block of chocolate.
The Venom symbiote, currently rolled into a ball, immediately became eager.
"Eat it. It's for you," Marcus said.
Venom instantly opened its mouth and swallowed the half-meter-tall chocolate in one bite.
Then it rolled itself into a ball and lay quietly.
"Burp!"
It couldn't help letting out a satisfied burp.
Marcus glanced around and tossed Venom at Bumblebee.
It landed directly on his face.
The symbiote crawled across Bumblebee's body before settling inside his chest cavity.
Bumblebee scratched his head in confusion.
"Try imagining a weapon," Knull instructed. "The symbiote can read the host's mental activity... Do you even have a soul?"
Bumblebee looked even more confused.
Soul?
Mental activity?
Cybertronians didn't really use those concepts.
Instead, Optimus Prime offered a suggestion.
"Replace radio transmission with brainwave communication."
Bumblebee understood instantly.
The next second,
Venom flowed out from his left arm and formed a massive sword!
Every Transformer present immediately focused their optics on it.
In close combat, this could easily catch an enemy off guard!
Bumblebee swung the sword twice and then tested its sharpness by slashing at the ground.
Unfortunately, he forgot...
The ground beneath them had been transformed into Vibranium!
Screech!
Amid the painful sound of metal grinding against metal, Venom's head emerged from the sword hilt and glared at Bumblebee.
"Are you crazy?" Venom shouted. "Why would you cut something that hard? That hurt!"
Bumblebee scratched his head awkwardly.
"Sorry. I forgot my king transformed it into Vibranium..."
Even though Venom's blade failed to damage the Vibranium, the fact that it could even cut against it proved how durable it was.
More importantly,
It could transform into any weapon imaginable!
Megatron suddenly had an idea and walked over to Knull.
"If a symbiote learns weapon schematics, can it replicate different weapons too?"
Knull was confused again.
It could do that?
After thinking for a moment, he shook his head.
"The symbiotes don't have their own energy source, so they..."
Megatron immediately opened his chest, revealing the [AllSpark] and his blue energy core.
"We Cybertronians all have our own energy cores. If we reserve an energy transfer channel, would that work?"
Now Knull was completely stunned.
Thinking carefully...
It actually seemed possible.
"Interesting. Let's test it," Marcus said, becoming interested. "Ratchet, modify Bumblebee a little. Someone else, teach Venom the structure of a basic firearm."
The others weren't worried.
Marcus had both healing and resurrection abilities.
Ratchet confidently stepped forward and began modifying Bumblebee.
Megatron personally trained Venom using an old-fashioned energy cannon.
The precision structure that would normally be difficult was trivial for a symbiote.
The hard part was...
Getting it to remember the structure.
If Knull hadn't been there supervising, Venom would probably have complained nonstop.
Why learn when sticking to people already worked?
Just because symbiotes liked eating brains didn't mean they had any.
Megatron explained it several times, but Venom still couldn't remember.
Finally, Megatron grabbed Venom and ran off to the Kryptonian spacecraft.
Half a minute later, he returned.
Optimus Prime asked curiously, "What did you do?"
Megatron proudly replied, "The ship has a genetic recording device. I directly engraved the blueprint into its genetic memory."
Good grief.
Symbiotes plus Transformers plus Kryptonian technology?
Meanwhile, Bumblebee's modifications had been roughly completed.
Venom re-entered Bumblebee's body and immediately formed a shoulder-mounted cannon.
Blue energy gathered.
Boom!
The cannon fired at the ground.
This time it targeted the Uru metal section.
The blast wasn't absorbed, but instead reflected and flew back toward Megatron.
Megatron casually raised his arm.
The golden shield on his arm absorbed the energy like nothing.
"Excellent!" Megatron said happily. "Cybertronians are large enough to host three to five symbiotes each! That's basically three to five extra intelligent weapons!"
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
Knull finally realized it too.
Right!
Transformers were so large that one symbiote couldn't cover them completely.
So just use several!
As for the energy issue...
"It looks like we need to start purchasing chocolate on a large scale from Earth."
Marcus turned toward the Ancient One.
"If I remember correctly, Kamar-Taj has a permanent portal, right?"
The Ancient One, who had been watching the entire show unfold, fell silent.
Sure enough,
Watching the show was never free.
Ch 61- High cortisol Stark
"The Portal requires some special materials..."
"Tell me what you need," Marcus asked.
The Ancient One immediately listed a series of materials.
Marcus used [Dragon Language] accordingly and created all of them.
Even the Ancient One
Could not help showing a trace of envy.
Many of these...
Were extremely precious materials!
Marcus could create them just by opening his mouth. It was simply...
Forget it.
Marcus looked at Megatron again.
"The symbiotes need phenethylamine, which can be found in Earth's chocolate. Contact the relevant people yourselves, trade for it, and start planting it."
"Yes, my king!"
Megatron was more excited than ever!
Not only had Cybertron been revived, but it had also gained such powerful support from the symbiotes!
And he, Megatron, was now the second most important citizen of Cybertron!
Judging from Marcus usual behavior, he had little interest in giving orders and only appeared when necessary.
Wouldn't that make Megatron the one in charge most of the time?
He never expected...
After wandering for so many years,
He would regain control of Cybertron like this!
It felt like a dream!
At this moment,
A [Portal] opened, and the Ancient One stepped out.
"I placed the Portal on the other side to prevent the AllSpark Well from being threatened after its activation," the Ancient One reported.
Marcus gave a thumbs up, then held out his hand.
The Ancient One was confused at first and raised her hand suspiciously...
But halfway through, she paused, opened a [Portal], took out the [Book of Contract], and placed it in Marcus' hand.
Marcus did not hesitate. He opened the [Book of Contract] and wrote down [Return to the Ancient World].
As for the price,
Only half of one's vitality or spiritual power.
This magic
Would probably never be used by most Mages in their entire lives.
Whenever it was needed,
It would be a major battle. A small cost would not be worthy of the card.
The Ancient One took a look...
Even though she was mentally prepared, she still felt shocked.
A regression spell for an entire civilization?
Holy crap!
Was this also considered time magic?
Just imagine...
If Marcus cast this on Kamar-Taj and reverted it to the era before the [Book of Contract].
Including the Ancient One himself, everyone would instantly become ordinary people!
Silently, ahe marked it as a forbidden technique, only to be learned by the Sorcerer Supreme.
After all...
For future invasions such as Dormammu, Kamar-Taj could no longer rely solely on the [Eye of Agamotto]. It also had this trump card, [Return to the Ancient World]!
Before Dormammu became the Lord of the Dark Dimension, he had only been an ordinary Mage.
If Dormammu lost the power of darkness, or even regressed into a Mage apprentice...
That would be quite a sight.
The Ancient One immediately shook her head in admiration.
The more she interacted with Marcus, the more she felt that the gap between mortals and gods was unimaginably vast.
"That was fast," Marcus praised. "As expected of the Sorcerer Supreme."
The Ancient One smiled modestly.
She really did not know how to respond, so she chose to remain a silent.
"Whoosh!"
Jane carried a pile of instruments and descended from the sky.
Marcus raised his hand and created a [Space Ring].
"Take this. Use it to store your equipment."
Jane took it and tested it, loading all her instruments inside. Her eyes lit up.
"This is so convenient!"
"The portal is open anyway, so I'll leave the rest to you," Marcus said. "I'm heading back."
"Hey, wait! I'll go back with you!" Jane grabbed Marcus arm. "The data collection here is finished. I'm going back to Earth to continue my experiments."
"Alright, let's go."
Marcus opened a [Space Gate]
The two left hand in hand.
Behind them,
Megatron took the lead in kneeling on one knee, followed by the rest of the Transformers, seeing their king off.
Even Knull bowed slightly in respect.
Seeing this,
The Ancient One understood that before long, this universe would experience a major upheaval.
At the same time...
A thought quietly formed in her mind.
"Perhaps..."
"Darcy is more suitable to become the Sorcerer Supreme than Strange?"
After all, she had Marcus behind her.
If there was ever a problem she could not solve, she could simply call her husband.
Yes!
There were still several years before Strange would come to study.
During that time, she could focus on training Darcy. If she was willing, she might be the better choice.
The [Portal] on Earth's side had been placed inside the Transformer base.
"The Ancient One is very thoughtful," Marcus praised.
Jane released Marcus arm and was about to fly away.
But Marcus pulled her back.
"you've been getting a bit too wild these days." Marcus raised an eyebrow. "You've actually put scientific research above me?"
Jane smiled awkwardly and lowered her head.
"I'll make it up to you!"
"Hiss..."
Back at Dawn Tower,
Marcus had to admit...
As expected of a high-IQ girl. Even without much combat experience, she could still come up with tricks on her own.
It was daytime, and all his wives were busy.
Marcus enjoyed some time alone, taking out his phone and chatting with Wanda through voice messages.
It was quite relaxing.
Until...
Boom!
The rooftop of Stark Tower exploded!
Marcus was startled.
What happened?
Beep!
A voice message arrived from Wanda.
Marcus opened it.
[Wanda: Why are there explosions over there?]
Marcus did not reply.
He simply teleported.
Appearing directly in front of Wanda.
"Ah!"
Wanda was so startled she sat upright in bed. Through the neckline of her pajamas, a tempting view appeared.
A feast for Marcus eyes.
"Part of Stark's building blew up. I figured you'd be interested."
Wanda's eyes lit up!
Although Stark was not exactly her enemy, he had invented missiles!
She definitely wanted to watch.
Immediately, she grabbed Marcus arm.
"Let's go! I want to see!"
Marcus looked down at her with an amused expression.
Wanda followed his gaze.
"Ah!!!"
Whoosh!
Pietro appeared at the door and shouted from outside.
"Wanda? What's wrong?"
"N, nothing!" Wanda clutched her chest and avoided looking at Marcus. "Give me a minute. I'll change clothes, then I'll take you to watch the show!"
"Oh, okay. Call me when you're ready. I'm still here."
Pietro quickly ran off.
Wanda cautiously looked up, met Marcus eyes, and immediately looked away as if shocked.
"I, I need to change clothes!"
"Go ahead," Marcus said, crossing his arms.
Shy Wanda was really something.
It made Marcus want to tease her.
As expected,
Wanda's neck immediately turned red.
The blush spreading across her skin looked especially beautiful.
"If you're any slower, you'll miss all the excitement," Marcus continued.
Wanda gritted her teeth.
Then slowly lowered the hand covering herself.
Outside Stark Tower, three figures appeared in a flash.
Marcus held Wanda, who had changed into a leather outfit, while Pietro floated behind them, suspended by the [Phoenix Force].
Boom!
A violent explosion
Made the shy Wanda and Pietro immediately look over.
They saw Stark, wearing a [Steel Battle Suit], launching pocket missiles one after another at a young man in front of him.
The young man's body glowed with a fiery red light, like red-hot metal. Waves of heat could be felt from far away.
Facing the incoming missiles, he arrogantly caught them with his bare hands.
Boom!
Half of his arm was blown off instantly.
"Ah!"
The brutal scene made Wanda scream in shock.
But then,
The young man's arm visibly wriggled and regenerated completely within a single breath.
Wanda's scream also drew the attention of both fighters.
The young man's pupils contracted!
He had obviously recognized Marcus.
Instinctively, he thought
Marcus was a "superhero" and a "saviour", so he would definitely side with Stark.
However...
Stark glanced at Wanda and Pietro and immediately knew Marcus was only here to watch the show!
"Pepper's in his hands!" Stark shouted. "She's innocent. Please, save her!"
"Go ahead and fight," Marcus said casually. "And Killian, don't worry. I won't interfere. Go kill him."
Although Killian did not understand what was going on, he immediately laughed.
"Tony Stark!" Killian roared. "Even your teammates are here to watch you make a fool of yourself. You're still as arrogant as ever!"
The corner of Stark's mouth twitched beneath the helmet.
This idiot didn't know anything!
But,
Now that Pepper was protected by Marcus, he could finally fight without holding back.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., release all battle suits!"
The next moment,
Panels in the surrounding walls opened, and numerous [Steel Battle Suits] flew out.
Two-thirds of them flew downward.
There were still other Extremis soldiers inside Stark Tower that needed to be eliminated!
Sensing trouble, Killian charged toward Stark.
Stark was about to retreat, but then remembered Marcus words about fighting properly...
He clenched his fist!
Boom!
The two fists collided.
Killian was forced back half a step.
Then he counterattacked at even greater speed.
Facing Stark's whip kick, Killian grabbed the leg tightly and slashed downward with his blade-like right hand!
Seeing the danger, Stark detached the leg armour beforehand.
Like a hot knife through butter,
Killian sliced straight through the leg section of the [Steel Battle Suit]!
If Stark had reacted a moment later...
Killian tossed away the severed armour piece and punched toward Stark's chest reactor.
"Get lost!"
Stark ejected backward from the suit and rolled across the ground.
Looking extremely miserable.
But when he saw Killian punch straight through the [Steel Battle Suit], even his expression changed.
This was ridiculous!
Fortunately,
J.A.R.V.I.S. quickly directed several [Steel Battle Suits] to surround Killian.
Preventing him from chasing Stark.
"Quick! Get me another suit!"
A silver battle suit flew over, opened up, and immediately equipped itself onto Stark.
Stark confidently charged back into battle.
But within ten seconds,
He had already jumped out of the suit again, running to a faucet and pouring cold water over his blistered arm.
Wanda and Pietro both laughed at his misfortune.
"F*ck! Getting scratched can burn you too?" Stark roared. "J.A.R.V.I.S.! Has the latest experimental model arrived yet?"
"Sir, the Anti-Marcus Battle Suit is approaching from your six o'clock position."
Stark: "..."
He turned toward six o'clock.
And met Marcus amused gaze.
"Uh... I can explain." Stark sounded awkward. "It was just a random name. You know..."
Marcus only smiled.
Whoosh!
A black and gold battle suit flew past Marcus and landed in front of Stark like a javelin, blocking Killian's punch.
Clang!
It wasn't pierced through?
The back of the black and gold suit opened, and Stark immediately stepped inside.
After the armor closed,
Stark rotated his wrist confidently.
"This suit was originally prepared to deal with... Killian. Die!"
No fancy tricks.
Just a simple punch forward!
The same punch exchange,
But this time Killian was blasted backward and smashed through the bar counter!
The suit's strength far exceeded all of Stark's previous models.
"Not good..."
The burning ruins exploded apart as Killian rushed out completely unharmed.
Stark immediately followed with another kick!
Killian instinctively grabbed Stark's leg.
But the force behind the kick made his face twist.
He opened his mouth and spat out molten material, melting a huge hole into the floor.
Even so,
Killian continued clinging tightly to Stark's thigh.
Gritting his teeth, he brought down his blade hand!
Clang!
The hand that had previously cut through armour like paper now struck solid metal and failed to leave even a scratch.
"Idiot, this suit contains Vibranium!"
Stark slammed an electric punch into Killian's eye socket, sending him stumbling backward.
There was no doubt that from this point onward,
Unable to break through the armour, Killian became Stark's punching bag.
Every blow landed solidly.
But this made Wanda unhappy.
She had come to watch Stark get beaten up, not dominate the fight!
Subconsciously,
Wanda looked toward Marcus, planning to leave since there was no longer anything interesting to watch.
But Marcus misunderstood.
Instead, he spoke up.
"That suit doesn't have enough Vibranium. The coating is only on the front. The back still can't take much damage."
Stark froze!
Turning toward Marcus,
Even through the steel helmet, his resentment was obvious.
You didn't have to expose that!
And Killian, who had already lost who knew how many teeth, immediately became furious!
Taking advantage of Stark's distraction, he lunged forward and wrapped his arms tightly around him.
His hands glowed like miniature suns as he pressed them against the back of the black and gold armor.
Sizzle!
The metal on the suit's back rapidly turned red from the heat!
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
"Hot! Hot! Hot!"
"Fck! Fck! F*ck!"
Stark cursed loudly.
Two short blades suddenly extended from his forearms, one green and one black.
They were made from Kryptonite and Vibranium.
With a crossing slash,
He decapitated Killian.
Marcus suddenly raised an eyebrow.
[Danger Sense]!
Ch 62- Devious Pierce
[Danger Perception]!
Marcus silently raised a layer of Phoenix Shield.
The next second,
Killian's headless body lit up with a bright red glow, then exploded. The shockwave carried light and heat in every direction, melting everything in its path!
The Stark Building itself was heavily damaged, and three floors collapsed!
As for the steel battle suits, aside from the one Stark was wearing, all of them were destroyed in the flames.
Wanda smiled happily.
Perfect!
With so many steel battle suits destroyed, even Stark had to feel the pain, right?
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Flames erupted across multiple floors of the Stark Building, while shattered glass rained down from above.
Magnificent, but brutal!
Stark opened his helmet and looked at the burning Stark Building with an ugly expression.
Money and property losses...
He didn't care.
But the innocent people caught up in this attack...
Stark looked toward Marcus.
This guy had dug up Obadiah, who had been dead for more than half a year, resurrected him, and killed him again.
Restoring the Stark Building should be easy for him.
But...
He saw Wanda and Pietro and fell silent.
If Stark saw one of his enemies suffer like this, he would probably applaud too.
As for the dead victims...
Wanda and Pietro weren't saints. They hadn't caused this, so why should they care?
At most, after the enemy fell, they might donate some money out of humanitarian concern.
Even so...
Stark still gritted his teeth and flew over to Marcus, opening his helmet.
Awkwardly, he pleaded, "Marcus, please save my employees! They're innocent! Whatever price you want, I'll pay it!"
His attitude was extremely humble.
For someone as proud as him, death would be easier than acting like this.
But he did it anyway.
Behind Stark, Marcus vaguely saw a figure raising his right hand high and snapping his fingers decisively.
Tony, have you already realized it?
Although Marcus admired him, he didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked down at Wanda.
"Wanda, Pietro, our civilization generally doesn't interfere in the affairs of other civilizations, unless... it affects the people around us..."
The meaning was clear.
Unless Wanda and Pietro spoke up, Marcus wouldn't interfere.
Tony had already expected this and continued pleading awkwardly.
"Why don't you beat me up again?"
"It doesn't matter if you kill me a few more times!"
"My employees are innocent. They have families. You were... sorry, that's not what I meant."
Tony had never begged anyone before, and he was starting to lose his train of thought.
Wanda couldn't stand it anymore and looked at Pietro.
Pietro nodded decisively.
Wanda let out a breath, and an invisible burden finally lifted from her shoulders.
Ten years of hatred had finally been released.
"Marcus, save them," Wanda whispered. "They really are innocent."
Marcus smiled.
He waved and Power of Time.
It spread out and enveloped the entire Stark Building.
Everything began moving backward.
Aside from Killian's Extremis explosion, whether it was dead people or damaged structures,
everything returned to its original state.
...
Tony, Wanda, and Pietro were completely stunned.
They had assumed Marcus would resurrect people one by one.
Who would have thought he could reverse time on such a massive scale?
"Om..."
[Danger Perception]!
Marcus looked toward the rooftop below.
A portal opened at four corners, and a squad from the Time Variance Authority quickly stepped out.
What a coincidence.
It was the same squad that had escaped last time!
"Whoosh!"
Marcus teleported beside the four-corner portal and was about to step through it...
"Shh!"
The portal and the TVA squad vanished instantly, as if someone had cut the scene.
Marcus rushed to the rooftop's edge.
"Hey! These people are fast!" Marcus complained.
Weren't they here to arrest me?
I was already walking right into it. Why shut the door and refuse entry?
Wanda, who was in his arms, looked puzzled.
"Who were those people just now?"
"They're from the Time Variance Authority," Marcus explained casually. "I reversed time on a large scale just now, which created a new parallel universe. They came to erase the new timeline."
Tony landed nearby, his eyes widening.
"Erase the timeline? You mean..."
He pointed at the ground beneath his feet.
"Erase us?"
"Yeah, that's right." Marcus shrugged. "They're just too cowardly. I wanted to go there myself, and they didn't even dare leave the door open."
Tony opened his mouth but didn't know how to respond.
An organization capable of erasing entire timelines...
was afraid of Marcus?
It felt like a robber showing up outside, and everyone immediately locking the doors.
"Marcus, why do I get the feeling you really want to go there?" Wanda asked suspiciously.
Marcus took out the Mind Scepter, crushed the disguise at the top, and revealed the glowing yellow Mind Stone.
He turned it into a necklace, engraved a Mirror Space Array onto it, and placed it around Wanda's neck.
"This Mind Stone will help develop your abilities, so keep it with you," Marcus said. "There's only one Mind Stone in each universe, but the TVA has entire boxes full of Infinity Stones collected from different timelines."
Just that tiny glimpse of information left all three of them stunned.
Infinity Stones...
And he talked about them by the box?
Suddenly it made sense.
No wonder Marcus wanted to get arrested so badly.
To Marcus, the TVA was basically a free supermarket.
Was that really an arrest?
It was stocking up on supplies!
But thinking about it...
An organization that powerful avoided Marcus like the plague.
Just how ridiculous was Marcus?
For a moment, none of them knew what to say.
Marcus was thinking too.
Marvel's timeline had already changed beyond recognition.
While watching the battle earlier,
he had used Telepathy to read Killian's thoughts.
The A.I.M. organization Killian created had been researching Extremis, and its financial backer was actually HYDRA.
Another Super Soldier Project.
But Pierce now possessed a Yellow Lantern Ring, so he had no interest in the unstable Extremis program.
Instead, Killian had been sent to assassinate Tony.
And Marcus suspected...
Tony wasn't the only target.
Marcus called Pierce.
"Beep... Marcus? What can I do for you?"
"Send me a list of everyone being targeted, like Tony Stark," Marcus said directly.
Pierce paused.
This was basically like a CEO from another company calling and asking for a list of people being laid off internally.
Completely ridiculous.
Unless...
People were going to die.
"Marcus, there are no women involved in this purge operation!"
Pierce said seriously.
"And as you said, you won't interfere in Earth's internal conflicts, so..."
"Stop." Marcus interrupted. "I'm not interested in getting involved. I'm only interested in the list, and the operation results attached to it."
Pierce relaxed when he heard that.
As long as Marcus wasn't getting involved, everything was fine.
As for the list...
"No problem. I just received the mission report. I'll forward it to you now."
"Good."
After hanging up, Marcus pulled up the file, only to discover it was the original mission report.
Rumlow, the mission reporter, had obtained details about the Insight Project because of Rogers and tried to gather a large number of superheroes.
Pierce decided to strike first.
He targeted those who were vulnerable and not closely connected to Marcus, such as Tony.
Below was the action list:
"Batman" Wayne (failed);
"Green Arrow" Queen (killed);
"Daredevil" Murdock (killed);
"Iron Man" Stark (failed);
All male superheroes.
They hadn't touched Catwoman or Jessica, despite having no known connection to Marcus.
Who knew whether Marcus had some private relationship with them?
He was a man who could teleport across the entire planet.
So Pierce would rather miss a target than risk offending him.
"Tsk." Marcus chuckled. "Should I call you bold or just cowardly?"
Tony, who had been listening the whole time, looked grim.
Pierce had planned all of this?
"Has Pierce gone insane?" Tony asked in confusion. "Isn't S.H.I.E.L.D. supposed to handle this? Why didn't he just reject the proposal and send assassins directly? And what the hell is this Insight Project?"
Marcus didn't answer. Instead, he looked to his left.
A portal opened.
Natasha stepped out first, followed by Rogers, Wayne, and even members of Dawn such as Lorna and Xavier.
The crowd that emerged nearly filled the entire platform.
"Lorna?" Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Why are you here too?"
Lorna looked furious.
"Star, do you know what the Insight Project actually is?" she asked through gritted teeth. "It's a crime prediction algorithm."
"It uses big data to determine whether someone might become a threat to HYDRA. If they cross a certain threshold, they're eliminated immediately."
"And every Mutant in the world, except those around Dawn, has been directly placed on the blacklist."
No wonder Lorna was so angry.
After all, she was effectively the leader of Mutants worldwide.
HYDRA was planning to kill her people. There was no way she could ignore it.
Tony's eyes widened.
"Has Pierce completely lost his mind? S.H.I.E.L.D... wait, HYDRA?!"
Tony practically jumped.
"Pierce is HYDRA? HYDRA isn't dead?!"
Pietro answered him.
"There's a HYDRA base in Sokovia. Baron Strucker experimented on us there and gave us our powers so we could take revenge."
Tony felt numb.
What kind of situation was this?
Then he started shouting.
"That idiot Nick Fury has been Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. for all these years and didn't realize HYDRA had infiltrated it?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"More like the Snake Shield Bureau!"
"Where is Fury? Get him out here and make him explain this!"
Phil Coulson, standing behind the crowd, stepped forward silently.
He set down a suitcase and opened it.
Inside was a pile of white ashes.
Tony stopped mid-rant and stared.
Holy hell.
Could that be...
Phil Coulson spoke sadly.
"Director Fury originally planned to fake his death. He even prepared the GH325 resurrection formula."
"But after his death was announced, Rumlow had him cremated immediately. They were even planning to scatter the ashes into the Pacific Ocean."
"Fortunately, Captain Rogers arrived in time and managed to recover this much."
Marcus had to admit, Pierce was impressive.
Marcus had promised not to interfere, and he had assumed Fury would have some backup plan, either fake death or resurrection.
Who would have thought Pierce would be so decisive?
He cremated Fury immediately and was even going to dispose of the ashes.
That was ruthless.
At that moment, Hill stepped forward.
She placed another suitcase on the ground and opened it.
Inside was a light blue vial and a USB drive.
Phil Coulson explained:
"This is the GH325 formula. Injecting it into a recently deceased body can reactivate cellular functions and bring the person back to life."
"The process causes intense suffering and can even make the subject lose the will to live."
"But those side effects can be reduced through memory modification."
"We know it won't be useful for someone like you, but you'll eventually have countless subordinates. You can't personally resurrect everyone forever."
"This could serve as a replacement."
"All the research data for the GH325 formula and the memory modification procedure are stored on this USB drive."
"We hope... this information can be used to bring Director Fury back."
The resurrection formula was definitely worth collecting.
And Phil Coulson had a point.
His organization would continue growing. He couldn't handle every problem personally forever.
The Phoenix Force closed Hill's suitcase and stored it inside the Gate of Babylon
Marcus casually used the Power of Time on Fury's ashes.
Time reversed.
The ashes gathered together and formed...
Two skulls.
Instantly, everyone's heart skipped a beat.
Could it be...
The skulls rapidly reconstructed themselves into complete skeletons.
Flesh and blood followed.
Eventually, two living people stood there.
Sitwell and another unfamiliar man.
Neither of them was Fury.
Marcus stopped the resurrection process and looked at Phil Coulson and the others in confusion.
Did you grab the wrong ashes?
Everyone fell silent.
Rogers and the others looked awful.
Apparently, they hadn't expected this outcome either.
Pierce had probably anticipated someone trying to steal the ashes and mixed them together beforehand.
After all, Marcus resurrection abilities weren't exactly a secret.
"What do we do now?" Wayne asked gravely. "Without Fury, there are many superheroes we can't even contact."
"With just us..."
"Hydra's Yellow Lantern Corps is too large," Hill continued. "We don't have enough people."
"The Yellow Lantern rings are a difficult power to deal with," Rogers said helplessly.
The atmosphere became heavy.
"What's with all of you?" Lorna snapped. "Are you already ready to give up?"
"Pierce has the Yellow Lantern Corps, sure. But Sharon has already gone to Oa to seek help from the Green Lantern Corps. We don't know who'll win yet."
Everyone was stunned.
"Really?" Rogers asked. "Compared to the Yellow Lantern Corps, how strong is the Green Lantern Corps?"
That question left Lorna stumped.
She instinctively looked at Marcus.
Everyone else followed her gaze.
"The Yellow Lantern rings are generally stronger than the Green Lantern rings, right?" Marcus rubbed his chin. "After all, Green Lantern rings require strong willpower, while Yellow Lantern rings only need to feed on fear."
"The barrier to entry is completely different."
Everyone's mood immediately sank again.