Chapter 209: The Blossoming Multiverse
Inside the scorched, cramped restroom stall, Lucifer Morningstar, King of Hell, was staring at the ornate hand mirror in his hand, his pupils trembling.
In the mirror, beneath his handsome face, a masterpiece of creation, his monstrous demonic true form churned like boiling lava, with dark red scales, phantom horns, and eyes burning with hellfire… Every flicker made him feel as if his “human skin” would crack like a cheap silicone mask at any moment!
“Balance… the balance within me has been forcibly disturbed…” Lucifer was genuinely a little flustered, mainly because he didn’t want to reveal his true form in front of someone he liked.
“This feeling… it’s the thing I threw away… but how could it resonate so strongly across the universe and steal power from me?!”
He also didn’t quite understand Ian’s authority to forcibly borrow, just like Shiva didn’t understand why Jonathan could forcibly borrow. The only difference was probably that Lucifer had a deep foundation and wasn’t worried about being corrupted.
Just then.
Chloe’s more forceful knocking came from outside, mixed with genuine concern: “Lucifer! What’s going on in there? I heard you screaming?”
“Are you okay? Do you really not need a doctor?!” The female police officer was still very concerned about her partner, perhaps she herself didn’t know this concern surpassed collegial affection.
“I’m fine! More than fine! Even a bit too fine!”
Lucifer, while covering his face, hurriedly raised his voice to answer, trying to sound normal, but the end of his words couldn’t help but carry a distorted inflection.
“I’m… uh… doing some necessary skincare.” He babbled an excuse while frantically searching the small space like a ant on a hot pan.
He roughly pulled open the scorched washbasin drawer, and inside, amidst ashes and melted plastic residue, he actually found a rusty sewing needle!
“Got it!”
Lucifer grabbed it like a lifesaver, disregarding the dirt and rust. He pinched the needle and, like a clumsy tailor, tried to sew up the “cracks” that were faintly appearing on his face in the mirror! Under such circumstances, anything “Lucifer the Three-Year-Old” did seemed reasonable.
However, physically sewing against the imbalance of divine power was bound to be futile. The moment the rusty needle touched the unstable energy area on his face, it was instantly melted into molten iron by an invisible high temperature, evaporating into smoke with a “sizzle,” leaving not even a speck behind.
In the face of Lucifer’s divine power, it was not treated the same way as Lucifer’s suit.
“Damn it! This bastard is that Ian Kent!” Lucifer cursed, watching the demonic features on his face become more and more pronounced in the mirror. In a moment of desperation, he actually tried to dip his finger in some saliva and attempt to stick his “cracked” skin together like sealing an envelope!
Still that kind of genius idea.
The result was predictable.
It did nothing but add some unclear liquid to his face.
Outside, Chloe’s patience had clearly run out: “Lucifer! What the hell are you doing? I’m giving you a final warning! If you don’t come out, I’m calling people to force the door open! I’m counting to three!”
Her ancestors might have studied the art of counting in the mysterious East.
“No! Absolutely not! Chloe! Give me ten more seconds! No! Five seconds!” Lucifer was completely panicked. He abruptly ripped off his expensive custom suit jacket.
Then, he began to furiously tear it into strips with brute force, while outside he could already hear Chloe calling other officers to help move the door.
The moment several strong police officers, shouting in unison, heaved the deformed restroom door open—everyone froze.
It wasn’t that they were stunned into speechlessness by Lucifer’s true form; inside the restroom, Lucifer Morningstar… had already used his hand speed to complete his “emergency operation.”
His entire skin, including his face, neck, and hands… all exposed areas were now tightly wrapped in crooked, messy black suit cloth strips.
The whole person looked like a poorly dressed mummy just dug out of a pyramid. His face was a focal point of care, wrapped in several thick layers, leaving only two holes… and behind the holes, he was wearing a pair of large sunglasses he’d pulled from some pocket, covering everything tightly!
Lucifer’s entire appearance was extremely bizarre and out of place, transcending the limits of human comprehension.
“…”
Chloe looked at this “masked stranger.” Even though she considered herself accustomed to Lucifer’s various mentally ill antics, her lips twitched uncontrollably.
The female police officer’s temples throbbed.
“Lucifer?” she called out tentatively, her voice filled with helplessness, covering her forehead, “What… what in the world are you doing?!”
Hearing Chloe’s voice, the “masked man” Lucifer seemed to have found his anchor. He pretended to be calm, replying in a deliberately relaxed tone that sounded muffled through the cloth.
“See, I’m doing great.”
To add to the persuasiveness, he even stiffly spun in place a few times, finally leaning against the scorched wall with one hand. His demeanor made him look more like a runaway black gyroscope or some new form of performance art. To be fair, without his handsome face, these actions were indeed becoming increasingly abstract.
“No, I thought I understood you well enough. Has your condition worsened significantly again?” Chloe held her forehead, feeling her blood pressure soar: “You call this nothing? You’ve wrapped yourself up like a zongzi ready to be cooked! And you’re wearing sunglasses in a burned-down house! What do you want to do?!”
The female police officer couldn’t understand what psychological trauma lay behind Lucifer’s actions.
Was it simply being looked down upon by his parents when he was a child?
“Uh, well.” Due to limited vision, Lucifer awkwardly walked out of the restroom, trying to push Chloe towards the center of the scene, while explaining with his twisted logic: “I need comprehensive physical sun protection to protect my delicate and perfect skin…”
This was actually not a lie.
It was just linguistic artistry.
“???????”
Chloe was so choked by the overwhelmingly powerful reason that she couldn’t speak.
It was a cloudy day today!
Although she was angry, with the case at hand, she didn’t have time to argue with this clown for too long.
“Huff huff huff~”
The female police officer took a deep breath, tried to ignore Lucifer’s shocking attire, and pulled him over to some collected evidence bags: “Enough! I don’t care what madness you’re going through today! Let’s look at the case first! These are some things we found in the ruins that haven’t completely burned.”
She picked up an evidence bag, which seemed to contain some charred paper scraps and a small object.
Lucifer brought his cloth-covered head closer, responding in a muffled voice: “Mhmm, it looks… very charred. It must have been roasted for quite some time.”
In reality, he couldn’t see clearly at all because, when he was near the female police officer, he subconsciously chose to lose his divine power and become a mortal, so his current eyesight was only slightly better than most high school students.
“At least take off your sunglasses and look closely! This is important!” Chloe was speechless to the extreme, barely suppressing the urge to slap the evidence bag onto Lucifer’s face.
Lucifer immediately shook his head like a rattle drum: “No! Absolutely not! My eyes… my eyes are very bloodshot right now, extremely sensitive and intolerant of light!”
He was afraid that his eyes would be exposed to light and scare everyone to death; it was still the truth. At this moment, the female forensic doctor, who had preliminarily completed the autopsy and was packing her tools, was also attracted by the strange commotion. She had a lively personality and enjoyed a good show, and seeing Lucifer’s attire instantly piqued her curiosity.
“Hey! Let me see if our darling is turning into a zombie! Do you need me to check you?” She tiptoed over and, while Lucifer was busy “explaining” or rather quibbling with Chloe, she suddenly struck like lightning and snatched off the layers of cloth “veil” and sunglasses from Lucifer’s face!
“No!!”
Lucifer hadn’t expected this at all, and was startled. He flailed his hands and instinctively covered his face, letting out a startled growl!
He thought his demonic true form was surely exposed.
He was already prepared for screams and chaos!
However…
The expected screams did not come.
The scene was silent.
Lucifer peeked cautiously through his fingers. He saw Chloe, the female forensic doctor Lisa, and several curious police officers around them looking at him with extremely complex expressions, a mixture of helplessness, amusement, and “this child is beyond saving.” Their gazes were purely directed at a problem child whose condition had worsened.
His growl, due to his recent panic, sounded a bit like some kind of… ambiguous moan of being interrupted during a private moment? In any case, it wasn’t the roar of the Lord of Hell.
The female forensic doctor blinked, a mischievous smile on her face. She nudged Chloe, who was looking bewildered and embarrassed, with her elbow and asked in a low voice.
“Wow~ So… what kind of exciting role-playing games do you guys play in private? SM? The Mummy Returns?” These were topics that even adults could understand.
Chloe’s face instantly turned red. She felt her colleagues’ gazes becoming ambiguous; clearly, the female forensic doctor’s so-called whispers had been shared in full screen mode.
“No! We didn’t! He and I have definitely never slept together! Not once! I swear!” The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, repeatedly emphasizing, making the situation even more awkward.
The female police officer was furious and embarrassed.
She quickly yelled at Lucifer, who was still covering his face.
“Lucifer! You say something too! Explain!” She still felt a bit wronged, the kind of wronged that could be found in catch-in-the-act reference videos online.
In truth, the female police officer and Lucifer had not slept together, but Lucifer had no intention of explaining at the moment. He was also stunned and slowly lowered his hands, touching his face.
The texture was smooth, the feel of human skin.
“What’s going on?”
He quickly took out his phone and opened the selfie camera—in the lens appeared his perfect, flawlessly handsome face.
Where were the demonic scales and burning eyes?
“This… I see, I understand!” Lucifer was stunned, then as if understanding something, he suddenly looked at Chloe, who was both angry and embarrassed, his eyes lighting up!
“Yes! Yes! That’s it!”
Lucifer excitedly grabbed Chloe’s arm and held onto her tightly as if she were a lifesaver. “Chloe! It’s you! It’s your existence! That suppressed my divine power’s imbalance. I was just too panicked earlier, so I chose to temporarily leave your side, and then my ‘state’ almost went out of control because of it!”
“Now that I’m close to you, I’m stable again!” He seemed to have found a perfect logic, while Chloe was made even more bewildered and embarrassed by his sudden action and even more inexplicable words.
“Let go of me! Lucifer! What nonsense are you talking about now?! What suppression? What loss of control?!” Chloe couldn’t shake off Lucifer, who was holding her arm and wouldn’t let go. The gazes of the surrounding colleagues had shifted from initial ambiguity to “your relationship is complicated” and sighs of “Lucifer is seriously ill.”
Everyone knew Lucifer liked to call himself the Lord of Hell.
But who would believe it?
The entire police station thought he was too deep into role-playing.
Lucifer, however, ignored this, continuing to clutch Chloe’s arm with a serious expression, muttering, “This is all for the universe! For my balance! Chloe, you must believe me! If my ‘skin’ explodes, this small universe won’t be able to contain my true power!”
“There will be major trouble!”
He started to escalate. These words, combined with his mummy-like appearance and current behavior, sounded incredibly chuunibyou and utterly unconvincing.
“…”
Chloe felt like she was about to experience social death.
What could she do?
Naturally, she could only accept her fate.
She had to endure the partner she chose, even if it meant tears. The scene, which should have been solemn and serious, was plunged into an extremely chaotic and awkward farce initiated by Lucifer.
Meanwhile, Ian, far away in the Marvel Universe, had no idea how much trouble he had unintentionally caused for his “American compatriots” in the DC Universe.
In absolute nothingness, torrents of power collided and annihilated.
Ten minutes passed.
Ultron, with its omnipotent body fused with the Reality Controller and the Heart of the Universe, continued to exude a suffocating pressure. It precisely calculated the energy decay curve of Ian’s pair of Wings of Light.
“Heh heh~”
Finally.
Ultron’s scheme began to take effect.
It detected that the holy light emanating from Ian’s wings was noticeably dimming, and its energy fluctuations were rapidly decreasing!
“Energy about to be depleted! Anomalous power receding!” Ultron’s processor concluded. The red light in its cold electronic eyes intensified, and the long-awaited counterattack command was about to be issued. It had even prepared its victory speech, ready to savor the panicked expression of its opponent after losing its external power.
However, Ian, whose wings’ light had dimmed, showed no sign of power depletion on his face. Instead, there was a sense of… eagerness, as if he hadn’t had enough?
Ultron was somewhat confused.
His trump cards were all used up.
Why wasn’t he running?
It thought Ian might have lost his mind.
And it was Ian’s subsequent actions that revealed the true reason for his lack of panic.
“Already out of power?”
Ian muttered.
Then, he did something that almost caused Ultron’s system to crash—he directly reached out, grabbed the now somewhat un-fresh Wings of Light on his back, and ripped them off!
Riiip!
The not-so-fresh wings of the Messenger of Light were torn off his back like stickers. There were no wounds at the tearing point, only flowing light fragments.
Then, Ian clumped the gradually dissipating ball of light energy and offered it in front of his palm.
“Here, kid, it’s time to eat. This stuff probably tastes average.” Ian had already decided that in the future, he would have the Cosmic Tapeworm eat things he couldn’t bring himself to eat.
Like Lucifer’s wings, for example.
Bloody and gory, who knows if there are any angel prions in them.
Angel King Ian was very wary of this.
The micro Cosmic Tapeworm seemed to hesitate for a moment.
But its desire for pure food prevailed. It cautiously extended its “head” from the brand and began to greedily suck on the ball of light energy!
Swoosh!
The residual light energy and angel flesh were instantly consumed.
【Entropy Lord EXP+2233】
【Entropy Lord EXP+1998】
【Absorbing high-purity rule energy… Parsing…】
【Light Resistance slightly increased】
The system prompts sounded.
Ian nodded with satisfaction. The energy consumed by the Cosmic Tapeworm was fed back to him through some mysterious connection, about seventy percent of it. This was not the behavior of a black-hearted capitalist.
It was just parental instinct.
“I’ll save this energy for you, like saving your New Year’s money, and give it to you when you grow up.” At this moment, even though he wasn’t raising his own child, Ian felt like a “qualified parent” who understood long-term planning and painstaking effort for his child.
PUA success! After doing all this, Ian looked up at Ultron in the distance, who had already assumed a counterattack stance but had frozen for a moment due to the absurd scene before him.
“TV commercials are really deceptive, saying one section is better than six. So, I can’t suffer. If I can use six batteries, I shouldn’t be stingy with materials!”
“We’re not lacking the conditions at home.” With that said, under Ultron’s gaze, which seemed to be stuck in its metal throat, he casually reached into that unfathomable dimensional pocket again and pulled out three pairs of identical Wings of Light, radiating surging holy light! They were freshly made, clearly having been cut off by Lucifer just a few days ago.
He believed that after this ordeal, Lucifer’s habit of self-harm would be cured. The ailments that God couldn’t cure, Ian could, wasn’t this a form of high-value DC divine doctor?
Having used Lucifer’s hot-swappable wings, but feeling that Lucifer even owed him merit, Ian did not hesitate to forcefully attach the three new pairs of wings to his back!
Buzz—！！！！！！！
A pure white holy light, several times stronger than before, erupted! Six giant wings of light unfurled behind Ian, like a sacred curtain, illuminating the surrounding void! Pounding divine power surged into his body like a tsunami, and platinum divine radiance was once again manifested on Ian.
Stronger than ever before.
“????????”
Ultron couldn’t understand how Ian could produce three identical sets of omnipotent trump cards. Was this the opulence after absorbing OAA’s power?
With this judgment, it was filled with jealousy and desire.
However.
Due to Ian’s extravagant move, Ultron, which had been ready with a taunting remark, had to force down its jealousy and send its prepared words back to its system recycle bin.
“Now it feels right!” Ian, feeling the power in his body about to explode, grinned. He transformed into a six-winged Archangel, his six wings simultaneously flapping with immense power.
The next second.
Whoosh!
His speed surpassed Ultron’s sensor’s capture limit! As if teleporting, he directly appeared in front of Ultron, catching it completely off guard and unable to react!
“Come on! Ultron! This is when we show our true depth!”
The “White Death Sword,” burning with pure white holy flame, was raised high, carrying a terrifying might that could crush everything, and fiercely struck Ultron’s crossed arms!
Boom—！！！！！！！
Boom —！！！！！！！
This collision, far surpassed the previous ones!
Ultron only felt an irresistible, terrifying force that mixed pure physical impact, divine annihilation, and some sort of lawless brute strength, pass through his block!
His mechanical body was like being directly hit by the main cannon of a cosmic warship, instantly turning into a distorted streak of light and flying backward! He unknowingly broke through countless weak barriers of dimensional rifts before finally coming to rest in a new void region that was even more silent, where laws themselves barely existed.
Boom!
Ultron fell heavily like a broken puppet.
Stirring up invisible “ripples.”
If not for his Heart of the Universe and Reality Controller constantly stabilizing his anchor point of existence, that last blow would have definitely erased him completely from the existential plane across all timelines.
Almighty power.
It’s just that unreasonable.
Of course.
Even with the help of his cheat, Ultron, who temporarily ranked as Almighty, didn’t fare too well from that blow; it truly exceeded his original estimations.
“Error, error, error~”
Ultron’s system blared alarms, multiple simulated neurons overloaded throughout his body, and the divine artifact halo on his surface flickered erratically. He struggled to get up immediately. However, a foot covered in white and gold Mimic Armor had already, with immense force, stomped down on his mechanical spine.
That foot pressed his already raised upper body back down with great force!
“Got you, tin can.” Ian’s voice came from above, with the squeaky voice befitting a six-winged angel, who knows how long he practiced secretly to become the squeaky voice he hated the most.
“Heh, who do you think caught whom?”
A ferocious smile appeared on Ultron’s metallic face.
“Stupidity! You underestimate a high-level mechanical life form like me!”
“Do you think I, forged from steel, am limited by ridiculous joint structures and skeletal extensibility like your fragile carbon-based animals?!”
Before he finished speaking, there was a teeth-grinding metallic twisting sound of “crack”!
Ultron’s upper body twisted 360 degrees in place in a way that completely defied biomechanics and conventional mechanical structures!
Although he was on the ground, his upper body faced directly upwards! His hands moved like lightning, precisely grabbing the ankle of the foot Ian had stepped on his back!
“I found my opportunity! Even with your three pairs of wings, you’re almost out of energy now, at your weakest moment, this was my calculated outcome!” Ultron sneered, his eyes glowing red. “Reality Controller! Modify definition: Integrate target life form into a part of me!”
He intended to fuse with Ian, thus directly using the power of the Reality Modifier to erase Ian’s independent existence from the fundamental definition of “life”!
That was indeed a good idea; no matter how many means or trump cards Ian had, they would all become part of Ultron along with his trump cards.
Ultron didn’t give Ian time to react.
At least, that’s what he thought.
However, after the energy surge… nothing happened.
“Huh?”
Ultron was stunned. What he felt he was holding… seemed to be just two cold, armored legs? The modification command was like a stone dropped into the sea.
Realizing something was wrong, Ultron instinctively looked up—Ian was standing perfectly fine not far away, a mocking smile on his face. And the “ankles” he was tightly gripping were two extremely long and thin Mimic legs that had been stretched from where Ian was standing, like extremely elastic plasticine!
They were connected to Ian’s body.
The main body was still far away.
And Ian had already replaced his six wings.
Maintaining an Almighty-level status.
For this reason, he was naturally unaffected by Ultron’s Reality Modifier.
“Damn it! How many tricks do you have?!”
Ultron even felt his vision go dark.
“How can a mere steel life form know how many legs I, Master Ian, have?” Ian looked up at the void at a thirty-five-degree angle, his voice tinged with a sigh of a master lonely in their greatness.
“…”
Ultron was so angry he wanted to die with Ian.
“Since you want to merge with me so badly, Ultron, Master Ian is kind and willing to fulfill your wish.” Suddenly, Ian looked at Ultron again, who was still holding his long, mimicked legs.
The kind that were tens of thousands of meters long.
This was an opportunity.
“What do you want to do?”
Ultron’s internal alarm bells rang, and he immediately wanted to let go.
But it was too late!
Suddenly, the two mimicked legs he was holding coiled back like living creatures. The Mimic Armor covering them instantly liquefied, turning into a viscous, metallic liquid shimmering with black and red Chaos energy, rapidly spreading along Ultron’s arm, as if to completely envelop him!
In the blink of an eye, this bizarre liquid metal covered Ultron’s entire body, forming a constantly flowing shell that isolated him from the outside!
“Stop!!”
Ultron roared, the power of the Heart of the Universe erupting, attempting to shatter this restraint. He discovered in terror that this liquid metal was frantically trying to merge with his body, and even more terrifyingly—he felt his connection with the Reality Controller and the Heart of the Universe, which were integrated within him, being forcefully interfered with and stripped away by this strange substance!
“No!!! What are you doing?!” Ultron finally let out a true, core-deep scream of terror! He felt those two supreme powers becoming unstable.
As if they were being “torn” from him!
Just as Ian was controlling the Mimic Metal, attempting to forcibly strip Ultron of his fusion with the two great divine artifacts, the system prompt that had been silent for a moment in his mind rang out again.
【Discovering loadable data, transplanting.】
This clearly referred to the power Ultron controlled.
Regarding this.
Ian was extremely excited.
And Ultron also sensed Ian’s intention!
This madman! This bandit! Not only does he want to steal the divine artifacts! He also wants to take away everything I’ve accumulated, stolen, and merged over billions of years!
“No!!! You can’t even think about it! I will absolutely not let you have your way!” Ultron let out a completely crazed shriek mixed with extreme anger and fear! He made a decisive, extremely resolute decision—since he couldn’t stop the data from being plundered, then… it would be mutual destruction!
Or, body snatching!
“Your body! This perfect container capable of compatible Chaos and Order, bearing unknown power! It will become my new vessel!”
Ultron’s core processor overclocked, turning all his consciousness, all his data, all his obsessions, along with the massive divine artifact data and the Heart of Heroes, into a final, destructive torrent of information. No longer resisting, he proactively, madly surged towards the depths of Ian’s soul through Ian’s absorption channel!
“You may consider yourself to have mastered the legacy of OAA! But… you’ve overlooked the most important thing!” Ultron’s consciousness roared in the data torrent. “All the Hearts of Heroes are here with me! They are the condensed wills of the most brilliant, resolute, and heavy resolutions from countless universes and timelines!”
“Even the true OAA would fear this power!” Countless data, surging towards Ian at faster-than-light speed, Ultron intended to use this massive data, containing the beliefs, sacrifices, love, and responsibility of countless heroes, along with his own insane will, to completely overwhelm Ian’s consciousness and occupy Ian’s body!
Countless lines of 0s and 1s, golden chains of rules, brilliant cosmic energy, and billions of “Hearts of Heroes” flashing with different lights, like the singularity of a cosmic explosion.
Vast.
Like a galaxy.
At this moment, Ian’s body suddenly stiffened! His eyes instantly lost focus, his pupils dilated to the extreme, and his entire being froze as if paused, becoming a stone statue, standing silently in the absolute void, motionless. Only occasional bursts of energy emanated from his body.
Proving what a terrifying impact was occurring within his body. And just as Ian seemed to be “petrified,” engaged in a perilous battle of consciousness and data within,
In the depths of this silent void, a magnificent door, which appeared extremely sudden and somewhat crooked, slowly and silently materialized.
From within the door, several hushed, anxious voices could be heard.
“Quick! Quick! He seems to have fallen for it! He’s stopped moving!”
“Push! Push harder! We’re almost there pushing ourselves through!”
“Just a little more! If we can just touch him! Just once! Then we can complete the opening!”
“Don’t push! Don’t push! The hinges are going to break! This door’s quality is really poor!”
…
The magnificent door, the mysterious door, amidst these strange hurried voices, began to sway and move extremely slowly towards the motionless Ian.
The door got closer and closer.
Just as the rough door panel was about to touch Ian’s stiff nose.
“Burp~~~”
Suddenly, a loud, hearty burp erupted from Ian’s mouth! Accompanying this burp, a stream of airflow mixed with the afterglow of data streams and a hint of starlight gushed out.
“What the hell, this door again?”
Ian focused his gaze and realized that the door that had appeared silently was the mysterious structure they had encountered with Thor the first time they entered the void, where a little girl was speaking from inside the door.
He took a few steps back.
Looking extremely cautious.
And the dilapidated door, which was about to succeed, suddenly froze, stopping awkwardly in place. Although it had no eyes, it exuded an extremely strong sense of stunned confusion, as if it were “dumbfounded” and “caught off guard,” forming a bizarre “stare-off” with Ian, who was rubbing his stomach.
Silence fell within the door.
After several seconds, a voice that sounded like a little girl’s, filled with exasperation, came from the crack in the door, full of disbelief: “You! You you you! Aren’t you supposed to be in a perilous, earth-shattering, ghost-moving mental battle with Ultron?! How can you still move?”
Upon hearing this, Ian blinked, his expression odd.
“Are you watching some abstract short film from inside? What mental battle? There’s no such thing. Just now, Ultron suddenly had a great awakening, wept tears, and profoundly recognized his past wrongdoings of indiscriminate killing and disrupting cosmic peace. He felt immense shame and regret for his sinful life.”
Ian paused, patted his stomach, and continued in a tone of “that’s just how it is”: “So in the end, he chose to abandon evil for good, dedicate himself, and pursue the liberation of glory. He felt that only by being absorbed and assimilated by a righteous and kind person like me could his sins be washed away. Thus, he ‘whoosh’ed and rammed himself into my stomach, and I swallowed him in one gulp—that’s what they call a prodigal son returning is worth more than gold.”
“When a villain recognizes their mistakes at the last moment and tries their best to make amends, they choose a recipient. The main melody of our Marvel Universe is like this.” Ian’s linguistic skills were so profound that one could be deeply convinced by his words in just a second.
“????” The mysterious door felt like Ian was bullying it for not having a brain, its door panel slightly shaking, as if trembling with anger at Ian’s outrageous statement.
“Is that so?”
The little girl’s voice rang out again.
“Of course it is, I’m so full I feel uncomfortable.” Ian explained why he had suddenly frozen, which was similar to how fitness enthusiasts felt after consuming too many carbohydrates.
“…”
The mysterious door fell into an indescribable silence.
【Loading data for analysis~】
Ian, meanwhile, was pondering what kind of gains he would be able to obtain this time.
Heart of the Universe, Reality Modifier, the more he thought about it, the more excited he became, as if he could already see a beautiful future where he punched Eternity and kicked Death, becoming the new leader of the Marvel Universe.
“The Marvel Universe doesn’t need five spokespeople!”
Ian’s rebellious streak grew rapidly.
However, extreme joy led to sorrow.
【Warning! A large amount of incompatible data detected!】
【Data Attributes: Overly idealized, excessive moral shackles, severe self-sacrificing tendency, fundamental conflict with host’s data core!】
【Forced uninstall program initiated! Incompatible data being uninstalled~】
The system suddenly gave Ian a series of red text prompts.
“What?! Incompatible? Uninstall?!”
The smile on Ian’s face instantly froze.
His heart bells rang loudly!
He immediately realized what the system was about to uninstall—those Hearts of Heroes! Ultron had collected the core beliefs and willpower of countless universes and countless heroes!
“Wait! No!” Ian exclaimed, instinctively raising his hand to cover his mouth tightly, as if this would somehow block what was trying to escape!
Unfortunately, it was too late! And… his approach was wrong!
Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!
They didn’t need to come out of his mouth at all!
Clusters of light, each flashing with a soft yet firm glow, like refugees, scrambled out of Ian’s nostrils, ear canals, even the corners of his eyes, and various other openings, big and small!
They seemed to have their own will, nimbly evading Ian’s flailing hands, and lightly drifted towards the surrounding absolute void, as if searching for their true masters.
“Come back! Come back! That’s mine! My Hearts of Heroes!” Ian cried out in anguish, heartbroken, his hands frantically grasping in mid-air.
He felt like he was watching countless small targets slip away.
“Even Ultron, that tin can, could use them! Why can’t I?! Where do I not seem like a hero?! I am the King of Heroes! Give them back to me!”
Ian disliked eating and spitting out.
That kind of pain went deep into his soul, more unbearable than being stabbed. And just as Ian was on the verge of tears and beating his chest in despair over the loss of the “Hearts of Heroes,” his mentality exploding.
The mysterious door that had just departed in shame, like a shark smelling blood, silently reappeared!
It precisely seized the moment when Ian’s mind was lost and he was gesticulating wildly. With a precise short-range flash, it appeared directly in front of Ian’s wildly waving right hand!
This was the legendary “bait-and-switch” tactic.
“Slap!”
Ian was busy grabbing the light clusters flying in the air when his palm accidentally touched the door.
“Scam?”
He truly didn’t expect there to be such a skilled opponent.
The next moment.
【Switching: Developer Mode.】
【Verification Passed.】
The system’s voice chimed.
Then.
“Hahaha! I’m back!!!”
From within the door, the little girl’s voice rang out again, but this time it was no longer exasperated, but filled with triumphant, immensely satisfying laughter from a successful scheme!
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—!!!
Beholding the door touched by Ian’s palm, as if an ultimate switch had been activated, it suddenly erupted with unimaginable dazzling light!
Countless ancient and mysterious runes lit up one by one!
The door frame vibrated violently, emitting a deafening roar!
Immediately after, the door burst open with a bang!
Behind the door was no longer that void, but an endless, colorful stream of light. It surged towards Ian and the surrounding absolute void, like a galaxy dam that had accumulated for billions of years breaking its banks!
Even more shocking was that as these streams of light spread, in this silent, supposedly empty absolute void, tiny “light spots” began to be illuminated!
They were like seeds awakened by the spring breeze, greedily absorbing those streams of light, and then slowly “blooming”—they were embryonic cosmic bubbles!
They were the embryos of countless possible worlds!
In the blink of an eye, around Ian, it was as if billions of stars were ignited simultaneously, and countless miniature universes were born, evolved, and expanded around him!
“As expected!”
In that supreme domain transcending all dimensions, where only the Rules themselves could manifest, Death, Eternity, Annihilation, and Infinity—four Abstract Entities of the Marvel Universe—their “gazes” pierced through layers of the Void, fixating intently on Ian Kent and the grandly opened Door.
They had always been there, always watching, and naturally saw, saw absolute nothingness transform into a boiling sea of creation, saw billions of universes like soap bubbles being blown, incessantly appearing and disappearing around Ian, making him appear as if he were in a magnificent, ever-expanding robe made of Stars.
The four Supreme Gods fell into a deathly silence.
This scene, while truly grand, was also truly shocking. The primary reason for the Deities’ silence was that the way the Multiverse was reappearing was somewhat undignified.
A long while passed.
Seeing Ian begin to gradually dissipate within the observable universe as his Marvel Experience Card expired once more, Eternity, the embodiment of the Timelines, finally spoke softly.
“Prepare to receive and overwrite these nascent universes. At least one thing we can be sure of now… the Creator has indeed always been with that damn thing.”
His voice carried an indescribable realization and… a hint of helplessness.
“What is the Big Boss’s current state?” Infinity’s exquisite form, composed of countless Galaxies, trembled slightly, as if suppressing some immense emotional fluctuation.
“Who knows.”
The absolute darkness surrounding Annihilation seemed to ripple.
While they remained silent.
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Ian had returned to his own Universe from the Marvel Universe as the Bell Sound struck and the Multiverse began to blossom. On his raised palm, “Roaming Dragon” was still active.
“Wasn’t it intercepted?”
Ian was somewhat astonished.
He had previously tried to bring living beings from Marvel into the DC Universe, and each attempt had failed without exception; they simply couldn’t be brought over. The only route that worked was bringing living things like Demon Heads from the DC Universe to the Marvel Universe.
Now.
The situation seemed to have changed once again.
He just didn’t know if it was related to the appearance of the Marvel Multiverse.
Or perhaps another reason?
