After three relentless hours behind closed doors, Ernst finally came out.
He looked completely refreshed, his energy fully restored.
Tina, however, remained sprawled weakly across the tangled bedsheets.
Her magically enhanced body was pushed to its absolute breaking point.
It paled in comparison to his terrifying, limitless stamina.
Downstairs, the evening was already in full swing.
Henry Morgan, the stoic housekeeper, and Abigail, the diligent maid, had collaborated flawlessly.
They prepared a lavish, steaming dinner spread across the long wooden table.
Kyle, Chris, and little Clark were already seated, eagerly awaiting the meal.
To Ernst's surprise, his father sat at the head of the table.
No one had noticed his arrival.
As Ernst entered the dining room, all four of them looked at him.
Their eyes held a mixture of awe and subtle disdain, as if looking at a beast.
Ernst tightened his jaw, struggling to contain a flare of genuine frustration.
If Shaw hadn't been sitting there, Ernst would have taught the three boys a lesson in respect.
But with their grandfather present, the brats felt invincible.
They lacked fear, masking their covert, mocking smirks behind their water glasses.
Frustrated, Ernst cataloged the offense in his mind.
He vowed to settle the score during their next training session.
"Cough," Ernst cleared his throat awkwardly, pulling out a chair.
He turned to his father.
"Dad, why are you here? Have there been issues with the mutant factions?"
Sebastian crossed his arms, his expression stern.
"Why shouldn't I come?" Sebastian demanded.
"You disappeared into thin air for half a year."
"I would have assumed the worst if the Red Queen hadn't told me you were alive."
"The moment I heard you were back on Earth, I had the Red Devil teleport me here."
Shaw shot a complicated look at the children.
"I wouldn't have even known I had two new grandchildren if the AI hadn't briefed me."
Shaw struggled to find softer words, his face caught between anger and relief.
Ernst immediately softened his tone, recognizing his father's genuine worry.
"The disappearance was entirely unplanned," Ernst apologized sincerely.
"It was caused by unforeseen circumstances. It will not happen again."
Shaw's rigid posture relaxed slightly at the apology.
"Tell me," Shaw ordered.
"Where exactly have you been for six months?"
Ernst sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"It is a very complicated story," Ernst began.
He spent the next hour detailing his violent, incredible journey.
He spoke of being dragged across the stars to Asgard, the golden realm of the God-King Odin.
He detailed his brutal studies in the royal library.
He described his departure into the deep void, the chaotic markets of Knowhere, and the brutal clashes with alien predators.
Shaw sat in stunned silence.
He had expected a secret Earth-bound mission, not a cosmic odyssey.
Kyle, Chris, and Clark listened with wide, shining eyes.
They were young, completely blind to the lethal dangers of the void.
Ernst's tales of alien warlords and magical battles filled their hearts with burning envy.
The boys immediately begged to join his next adventure.
Ernst flatly refused. They were far too young and fragile for the void.
Ernst then shifted the conversation to business.
He outlined his grand plan to forge a galactic sanctuary and a mercenary army for their mutants.
Shaw agreed instantly.
He recognized the strategic brilliance of moving their growing population off-world.
Shaw pledged to consolidate the mutant forces under his earthly control.
Furthermore, Shaw committed to eventually leading the mutants into the universe.
The family dined, their minds buzzing with thoughts of their species' future.
Over the next seven days, Ernst barely slept.
He juggled a dozen massive responsibilities simultaneously.
He spent hours communicating with his three sons, shaping their education.
He received encrypted, global updates from Kerry regarding their corporate empires.
But his most crucial task was in the Sanctuary Valley.
He dedicated an entire day to assisting his Phoenix.
He released the wisp of the Eternal Flame he had secured from Odin.
The primordial fire acted as a perfect catalyst.
The Phoenix absorbed the flame, undergoing a terrifying, beautiful rebirth.
It's bloodline linking back to the phoenix force.
When the fire cleared, the undying bird stood over fifty meters tall, radiating an aura of pure, localized sunfire.
By night, Ernst returned to the farmhouse.
He engaged in intense, intimate moments with Tina until well past midnight.
It was a relentless, punishing schedule that would have crushed a normal man's soul.
Finally, the day of departure arrived.
Ernst stood in the massive, subterranean staging area on Skull Island.
The genius doctor approached, holding a glowing datapad.
"Dr. Ernst," the doctor reported briskly.
"Over one thousand candidates volunteered."
"You only requested two hundred, so I streamlined the physical and psychological screening."
The doctor paused. "We still have three hundred perfect candidates. Should we cull the numbers further?"
Ernst shook his head slowly.
"No. Three hundred is acceptable," Ernst decided.
"Celestia can accommodate them, though the quarters will be slightly snug."
Ernst wanted a larger army, but this was their first foray into the dark forest of the universe.
Caution was paramount. A massive group would be too chaotic to manage in an unknown environment.
Under the doctor's command, the heavy blast doors opened.
Three hundred elite mutants marched into the staging area.
They moved with perfect, silent discipline.
They were clad in sleek, pitch-black mutant suits.
The Mystique-spliced armor shimmered with subtle, adaptive scales, exuding a heavy air of lethal mystery.
Ernst stepped up onto a raised platform.
"Fellow mutants," Ernst's voice echoed across the quiet cavern.
"I am genuinely touched to see you standing here."
"This venture is fueled by your personal will, not by my coercion."
"Your commitment to the survival and future of our species is commendable."
Ernst delivered a rare, profoundly heartfelt speech.
He laced his voice with a subtle frequency of psychic power, gently disorienting and inspiring their minds.
He bound their loyalty with hope and awe.
The time for departure was imminent.
Transporting 300 people through a standard space wormhole posed a massive logistical problem.
The Celestia was parked on a dead moon millions of light-years away.
Keeping a portal open long enough for three hundred soldiers to march through would consume hundreds of priceless space crystals.
Ernst opted for a far more efficient, magical alternative.
He reached into his dimensional backpack.
He retrieved an oval, antique-looking mirror.
The back of the silver frame was carved with incredibly intricate magical runes.
The runes formed a complex geometric matrix.
An outer circle represented absolute closure and elemental transformation.
The inner design was an interlocking puzzle of hexagonal and triangular wards.
With a gentle, telekinetic toss, Ernst floated the mirror into the center of the room.
He released the shrinking spell.
The mirror rapidly expanded, growing to over three meters tall.
Ernst extended his hand toward the reflective glass.
A miraculous transformation occurred.
The solid glass rippled perfectly, exactly like the surface of a disturbed lake.
Ernst's arm passed seamlessly through the barrier.
This was not an ordinary artifact.
When Ernst first began mastering the mystic arts, he studied the Mirror Dimension of Kamar-Taj.
He was deeply unsatisfied with the temporary nature of standard sling-ring magic.
He wanted a permanent, supersized pocket dimension that would not collapse if his concentration wavered.
He drew inspiration from ancient mythology.
He researched the legendary artifacts capable of containing entire worlds—beads, pagodas, and mirrors.
Ernst believed mirrors were the ultimate bearers of the innate world.
They could perfectly copy the image of reality and fold space to capture living matter.
He had spent months gathering the rarest alchemical materials from across the globe.
He failed seven times, creating pocket dimensions no larger than a football field.
He destroyed them all in frustration.
This oval mirror was his masterpiece.
On the back, he had carved an abstract Yin-Yang array.
On the front, the glass was bound with genuine space gems.
The interior dimension was permanently locked.
It contained a livable space equivalent to the size of a standard U.S. state.
It was easily one of Ernst's most precious, world-class magical creations.
Yet today, it was relegated to the role of a mere troop transport.
"Step through," Ernst commanded.
The three hundred mutants marched forward without hesitation.
They stepped into the rippling glass and vanished into the pocket dimension.
Once the last soldier was inside, Ernst snapped his fingers.
The mirror shrank back to the size of a coin. He pocketed it safely.
Ernst stepped over to his spatial receiver ring.
He spent thirty Tesseract crystals to tear a momentary hole in the fabric of the universe.
He stepped through the wormhole.
Seconds later, he stood on the cold metal deck of the Celestia.
He pulled the mirror from his pocket and reversed the spell.
The three hundred mutants poured out onto the ship's cargo deck, blinking at their new surroundings.
Ernst sealed the mirror and walked to the cockpit.
He engaged the warp drive, setting coordinates for the rendezvous with Stakar.
The voyage proceeded smoothly, but the ship's interior was chaotic.
The mutants were experiencing deep space for the very first time.
Their intense curiosity about the cosmos and the Vibranium ship quickly became overwhelming.
To alleviate the endless barrage of questions, Ernst activated a ship-wide protocol.
He opened the system permissions, granting all three hundred mutants direct communication access to the Red Queen.
The AI patiently answered their thousands of queries.
Ernst finally sat back in his chair, deeply relieved by the silence.
After half a month of warp-travel, Ernst piloted the Celestia into a dense, floating field of massive meteorites.
He landed the ship on the surface of a colossal, grey asteroid.
Waiting in the shadows of the craters were the battered ships of the Ravagers.
The boarding ramp lowered.
Ernst walked down onto the dusty, airless rock.
Stakar Ogord and his crew stepped forward to meet him.
The Ravagers breathed a collective, massive sigh of relief.
They looked exhausted, paranoid, and hunted.
Ernst had accurately predicted the cosmic fallout of his previous battle.
After Ernst annihilated the mercenary vanguard, the surviving dark syndicates were too terrified to hunt the Vibranium ship.
Instead, they placed a massive, sector-wide bounty on Stakar's crew.
The Ravagers had been relentlessly hunted by furious pirate armadas for weeks.
Facing enemies from all sides, they would have been slaughtered if they stayed in open space.
They had been hiding in this asteroid field, surviving on scraps, desperately waiting for Ernst's arrival.
Ernst knew he was the sole architect of their misery.
He feigned complete ignorance.
He smiled warmly at the battered Ravager King.
"You have proven trustworthy, Captain," Ernst praised.
"You waited. I am satisfied."
Stakar forced a smile. It looked more like a painful grimace.
He tried to maintain his honorable, tough-guy persona.
"How could I renege on the pact, Mr. Shaw?" Stakar replied, his voice tight.
"We are yours. Just let us know what you need."
The other Ravagers nodded frantically in agreement.
They had completely abandoned any thoughts of rebellion. They just wanted Ernst's terrifying protection.
"Excellent," Ernst exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
"I will be counting heavily on your expertise."
Ernst turned back toward the Celestia.
"Everyone, disembark!" Ernst commanded the ship's comms.
"Come down and get acquainted with your future partners. Your cooperation will be crucial."
The heavy cargo doors hissed open.
Three hundred mutants marched out onto the asteroid in perfect, terrifying synchronization.
They formed a rigid, orderly block beside the ship.
Their uniform, black Mystique-suits obscured their faces entirely, rendering them an army of faceless, lethal shadows.
Stakar and his Ravagers took a collective step backward, utterly bewildered.
They looked at the massive army.
They looked at the tiny, twelve-meter interceptor.
It completely defied the laws of physics and spatial geometry.
How could a scout ship hold an entire battalion?
"These are my subordinates," Ernst introduced, gesturing to the silent, imposing army.
"Each one has formidable, superhuman strength."
Ernst looked at Stakar, his eyes burning with absolute ambition.
"I am establishing an elite strike force for interstellar operations."
"They will be known as the Black Shadow Mercenary Group."
Ernst pointed at the Ravagers.
"You will be responsible for their logistics."
"You will gather the intelligence. You will map the political landscape. You will ensure my soldiers are not deceived by the local syndicates."
Stakar swallowed hard, temporarily setting aside his confusion about the impossible spaceship.
"No problem," Stakar reassured him quickly.
"I am intimately acquainted with the major forces in this quadrant."
"I know exactly who to provoke, and who to avoid. That knowledge is how the Ravagers have survived this long."
Ernst smiled. The pieces were finally on the board.
And so, on a dead rock in the middle of nowhere, the Black Shadow Mercenary Group was officially formed.
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