Kamar-Taj was silent for a heartbeat.
"Kill the Solar Harbinger?!… And he killed nine of them?"
The Ancient One finally broke the silence, her voice shaking for the first time in centuries.
A chill ran through her soul.
Her breath stopped.
Her pupils tightened.
The idea that the ancient First Empire possessed magic strong enough to resist gods was shocking already…
But this—
They didn't just resist divine beings… they could destroy them.
The Ancient One leaned closer to the floating screen, her expression tense.
She wanted—no, needed—to know how the First Empire had gained such terrifying power.
And more importantly:
Why did this power vanish from history?
---
Stark Industries Tower
"WHAT?!"
Tony Stark jumped out of his chair so hard he almost knocked his coffee into Colonel Rhodes's lap.
"What kind of era was this?" Tony shouted.
"Bronze-age people making advanced technology… humans who can transform into half-serpent forms through magic… and weapons capable of killing the Solar Harbinger, the literal sun deity?!"
Rhodes stared at the screen, dumbfounded.
Compared to the First Empire, modern humans suddenly looked… unimpressive.
Tony swallowed hard.
"This is insane. We aren't the peak of civilization. They were."
A notification flashed on the screen.
[Research Note: "Yutai" refers to SCP-2481-1. "Ebony Blade" refers to SCP-2481-2. — Chief Researcher]
The screen shifted again, revealing a translated passage.
[(I wish to die, but if I do, the story of the First Empire will be lost forever. So I must endure.)]
The live chat exploded with emotion.
Even ignoring the impossible technology and unscientific powers of the First Empire…
The loyalty in the writer's words was undeniable.
The sense of duty was overwhelming.
---
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
"So history of the First Empire disappeared after that?"
Natasha Romanoff asked softly.
"Did the Solar Harbinger cause their downfall?"
Nick Fury rubbed his chin and shook his head.
"No. That doesn't track. If nine Solar Harbingers were killed by the Ebony Blade, the last one shouldn't be stronger."
He exhaled slowly.
"The First Empire must have been unbelievably powerful..."
A new segment appeared on the screen:
[The Snake-Father taught our ancestors writing and the art of making machines. This knowledge was called the Bagua. The Emperor learned it, gained the spirit of metal, and defeated the enemy Chiyou. Later, King Yu gathered metals from nine provinces and forged the Yutai. The gods feared it, and ghosts cried at night.]
The entire Marvel audience froze.
"WAIT—
Their advanced technology came from the Snake-Father?"
"Yutai could scare gods away?? What kind of ancient super-weapon is that?"
Tony Stark's voice came through again: "This is thousands of years old? Humanity back then was doing THIS while the rest of the world didn't even know what writing was?"
The chat was chaos.
"How did this civilization disappear?!"
---
More Ancient Text Appears
[When King Yu united the Four Seas, barbarians bowed to him. Someone said, "We must worship the gods."
But the king said, "Gods are eaten by dragons. Humans come from dragons. We shall not fear gods."]
[So he gathered metals and built nine towers to repel gods. Later rulers placed god-killing blades atop the towers. By the last king's rule, there were forty-nine towers and more than ten of these blades.]
The room erupted in shock.
Even Nick Fury's jaw nearly dropped.
"The gods are the food of dragons," Natasha whispered.
"What kind of dragons eat gods?"
Nick Fury narrowed his eye.
"And the Snake-Father… the machine god who taught them technology…"
Maria Hill spoke softly:
"That sounds like the Broken God."
Natasha snapped her head toward her.
"You mean the Machine Deity? The god of civilization and technology?"
Maria nodded.
"It fits the description perfectly."
If the Broken God had empowered the First Empire with forbidden technology…
It suddenly made sense why their weapons looked like SCP artifacts.
Tony Stark muttered, "So… humanity once worked with a literal mechanical deity to build god-killing weapons?"
Natasha suddenly thought of something.
"Then—the downfall of the First Empire… could it be connected to the destruction of the Broken God?"
Nick Fury froze.
The hypothesis was terrifying… because it made sense.
But before he could speak, new text appeared.
---
The Truth Behind the Ebony Blade
[The Ebony Blade does not destroy. It erases.
It removes form, mind, beginning and end, cause and effect—so the target never existed.]
[When nine blades were used together, the sky and earth shook as if the world was burning. The Solar Harbinger vanished, but the First Empire suffered as well. All turned to ash except me and the broken blade I carried. When the outsiders arrived, they mistook me for a god.]
The Marvel world went completely silent.
Tony Stark whispered:
"The burn marks on SCP-2481-3…
They weren't from the Solar Harbinger."
He swallowed.
"They were from the Ebony Blade."
The Ancient One took a sharp breath.
"A weapon that erases cause and effect… created by ancient humans… this is far beyond anything modern sorcery possesses."
She shook her head with a heavy expression.
"Power like that… was never something mortals were meant to control."
---
S.H.I.E.L.D. — Confusion Deepens
Natasha pressed her palm against the table.
"So the fall of the First Empire wasn't because of the Broken God? They destroyed themselves?"
Nick Fury shook his head.
"No. He said the First Empire was 'affected,' not destroyed outright. We still don't know the true cause."
Before Natasha could argue, new text appeared.
---
The Rise of the Shang and Betrayal
[The Shang were merchants, a low class. They rejected the ways of dragons and machines. They worshipped the Solar Harbinger instead. They rebelled.]
Everyone stared at the screen.
"Wait—
They worshipped the very god-creature the First Empire hunted?"
Natasha asked.
New text appeared:
[During King Kongjia's rule, barbarians prayed to gods seeking magic. The king scattered them with machines and executed them. Only the Shang survived, protected by the Solar Harbinger.]
[Many times the First Empire attacked the Shang, but they could not destroy them.]
Kamar-Taj was stunned.
"Praying to the gods actually granted magic?"
The Ancient One whispered.
"No god I know answers mortal prayers—unless they intend to manipulate or torture them."
Yet in the First Empire era…
Gods personally intervened.
Gods fought.
Gods walked among mortals.
---
The Final Catastrophe
The last text appeared like a death sentence.
[Jun, leader of the Shang, betrayed his people and summoned the Solar Harbinger through fire and sacrifice. Ten appeared together. The First Empire was in mortal danger.]
[King Jie ordered ten officials to wield the Ebony Blade.
Ten blades were raised.
Nine Solar Harbingers were erased.
One escaped.
And with it, the final hope of the First Empire vanished.]
The Marvel universe fell into stunned silence.
People blinked at the screen, unable to speak.
Tony Stark whispered:
"Those weren't suns.
They were weapons of extinction."
Natasha felt goosebumps rise across her arms.
The Ancient One slowly closed her eyes, whispering:
"When the Ebony Blade appears… all gods will be unmade."
------------------------------
🕷️ End of Chapter
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