Chapter 481: The Savior is Here!
Black hair, grey eyes, a dark shirt, and trousers.
No armor, no weapons, nothing that looked like it was prepared for battle.
He just stood there, in the center of the dark red Sun, amidst the torrent of energy from Knull's self-destruction, standing at the edge of death.
Loren Morgan.
He raised his right hand, fingers spread wide, aiming at the center of the dark red Sun.
Black light surged from his palm—not an attack, but a devouring, faster than the all-black the necrosword, deeper, and more thorough.
The dark red energy was compressed, transformed, and absorbed in front of his palm, flowing like Water into a bottomless pit, leaving no sound, no trace, and no residue.
The dark red Sun began to shrink, going from hundreds of meters in diameter to tens of meters, then to a few meters, and finally down to the size of a fist.
That fist-sized energy sphere rotated above his palm, dark red and unstable, like a Beast trapped in a cage.
Loren clenched his fist.
The energy sphere shattered—not with an explosion, but annihilation!
The dark red energy surged from between his fingers, turned into black smoke in the air, and then dissipated.
All the energy from Knull's self-destruction—a power sufficient to destroy the Chaos Space, kill Lazuli Eve, and tear apart the barrier of reality—was completely devoured by Loren alone, with a single hand, and a single clenched fist.
His body glowed in the process of devouring the energy.
Black light surged from beneath his skin, brighter, more dazzling, and purer than before.
His eyes turned black, without pupils or irises, leaving only two pools of warm light burning in the darkness.
His hair fluttered in the energy field, turning from black to nearly transparent White, each strand seeming to be woven from light.
Knull's energy flowed within his body—not as a foreign invasion, but as something tamed, transformed, and integrated into his own power system.
His power grew, leaping upward from the single-Universelevel toward a higher, vaster tier.
He clenched his fist, then loosened it.
The light dissipated.
His eyes regained their color, his hair returned to black, and his body returned to normal.
But his presence—if he wished, he could make himself illuminate the entire Universe like a star.
If he didn't wish it, he could vanish into a crowd like an ordinary person.
In the Chaos Space, the dark red Sun vanished.
Knull vanished.
Only black spots of light drifted in the void, like a silent snow, slowly, gracefully, and irreversibly dissipating.
Lazuli Eve stood in the void, her twin swords hanging at her sides, her blue and dark brown eyes looking at Loren.
There were dark red energy traces on her face, holes in her battle suit, messy hair, and her body was trembling slightly.
But she was still alive.
Loren turned around to face her.
He reached out and tucked a strand of messy hair hanging before her face behind her ear.
His fingertips brushed against the contour of her ear, and her ears turned slightly red at his touch; she was shy.
"You've worked hard," Loren said.
Lazuli Eve looked at him and smiled, saying, "It was no trouble. All of this is what we should do; we just didn't expect Knull to actually self-destruct!"
"So next time you execute a mission, you still need to be a bit more careful!"
"I know."
Lazuli Eve sheathed her twin swords back at her waist. The moment they entered the scabbard, they fused into one, restoring the original form of the all-black the necrosword.
On the black blade, the dark red energy patterns had completely disappeared, replaced by deep blue patterns resembling a starry sky.
That was the very last trace left in the sword after Knull's energy was devoured.
Her body began to glow—not the black of battle, but a soft, warm color like the sky at sunset.
In the light, her body divided, transforming from one person into two: a complete 18 and a complete Eve.
The fusion earrings fell off their ears, spun a few times in the void, and then turned into black spots of light that they put away.
18 stood on Loren's left side, looking at him with a calm expression.
Eve stood on Loren's right side, her dark brown eyes looking at him with a slightly relaxed curve at the corner of her mouth.
Loren extended both hands, holding 18's hand in one and Eve's hand in the other.
Both hands were warm, real, and alive.
"We're going home," Loren said.
He reached out and slashed open a spatial gate in the void.
On the other side of the gate was the study of Morgan Manor, the sunset outside the window, and that cup of tea that had already grown cold.
The three of them walked through the door.
The Chaos Space slowly contracted, closed, and vanished behind them.
Wanda's magic remnants drifted in the void, turning into red spots of light before extinguishing.
Everything fell silent.
In the study of Morgan Manor, the sunset poured in through the windows, casting golden patches of light on the floor.
Loren sat in the high-backed chair, his grey eyes looking out the window.
18 stood by the window, raising her head to look at the first star that appeared in the sky.
That star, which she had named "18", had just emerged in the twilight, faint yet steady.
Eve stood in front of the desk, the all-black the necrosword hanging at her waist, her dark brown eyes looking at Loren with a slight curve at the corner of her mouth.
The door was pushed open, and Tifa walked in carrying a tray holding four cups of hot tea.
She placed the teacups on the desk: one for Loren, one for 18, one for Eve, and one left for herself.
"Is Knull dead?" Tifa asked.
"He's dead," Loren said.
"Will he come again?"
"Never again."
Tifa nodded, picked up her teacup, and took a small sip.
Her black eyes shifted from Loren to 18, and from 18 to Eve, with a small, satisfied curve at the corner of her mouth.
"The tea is ready, drink up."
Loren picked up his teacup and took a sip—Ceylon black tea, less sugar, extra nuts, brewed by Tifa, as always, just right.
The sunset outside the window dyed Morgan Manor in a golden-red glow.
The dew on the lawn glistened with fine light in the sunset, the branches and leaves of the oak tree rustled in the evening breeze, and the water of the Hudson River flowed silently in the distance.
Everything was over.
And yet, everything was just beginning.
The story of Lazuli Eve left an indelible mark in the memories of 18 and Eve.
They remembered the feeling of fusion—not two consciousnesses merging, nor one person controlling two.
Rather, it was a wonderful experience where the consciousnesses of two people existed simultaneously, felt simultaneously, and fought simultaneously.
They remembered that in the fused state, they could feel everything about each other: 18's calmness and Eve's firmness, 18's strength and Eve's swordsmanship, 18's Vibranium body and Eve's all-black the necrosword.
Two completely different existences, at the very moment of fusion, became a complete, indivisible whole.
They didn't say much about the fusion; some feelings could not be described with words.
Loren didn't ask either, because he planned to try it out himself—he planned to have 18 and Eve fuse tonight, and then do that thing!
Chapter 482: Earth Core Quake
On the third day after the death of Knull, Earth began to tremble.
It was not an ordinary earthquake; the epicenter was not at plate boundaries, not in volcanic belts, and not in any position geology could explain.
The epicenter was at the core of Earth, in the deepest part of that liquid metal ocean composed of iron-nickel alloy with a temperature exceeding five thousand degrees Celsius.
There, in a place untouchable by all human detection methods, an entity that had been sleeping for millions of years was awakening.
Its body lay between the Earth core and the mantle, over thirty kilometers in length, shaped like a huge, incompletely developed seed.
Its surface was covered with a silver-gray shell resembling both metal and rock, and the shell was covered with crisscrossing gullies.
Those gullies were its blood vessels, nerves, and energy channels.
While it slept, its body fused with Earth geological structure.
It absorbed heat from the Earth core as an energy source, obtained minerals and elements through mantle convection, and every breath it took synchronized with Earth magnetic field.
But now, it was moving.
It was not conscious movement, but instinctive wriggling before awakening.
It turned over once in the liquid metal of the Earth core, just once.
Its scapula collided with the boundary between the core and the outer core, generating a force equivalent to the simultaneous detonation of hundreds of millions of Tsar Bomba.
Impact transmitted outward from the center of the Earth, passing through the mantle, through the crust, and exploding on the surface of Earth.
A crack thousands of kilometers long split open on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean, magma gushed out from the crack, cooling rapidly in the seawater and forming new submarine mountain ranges.
The Japanese archipelago moved half a meter to the west, and a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck Tokyo.
Skyscrapers collapsed like dominoes, and the tsunami washed away everything in the coastal towns.
The volcanoes of the Andes erupted collectively, volcanic ash covered the sky of South America, and in the following months, the Sun would disappear there.
Plate stress on the North American continent changed drastically, the ground in Yellowstone Park rose by two meters, and steam spewed from cracks in the ground, carrying the smell of sulfur and the portent of death.
Countless people died in the disaster, some buried by collapsed buildings, some swept away by the tsunami, some suffocated in volcanic ash, and some fell into the cracks of the Earth.
More were separated and missing in the chaos, with no one knowing where they were.
Their loved ones would spend the coming days digging in the ruins, identifying bodies in morgues, and waiting in sleepless nights for a phone call that would never come.
The alarm of the Avengers sounded at the very first moment after the disaster occurred.
Tony Stark stood in the ruins of Manhattan, brown eyes beneath his mask watching those collapsing buildings.
Watching the people crawling out of the dust, watching the wounded being carried away on stretchers.
His Mark LIII anti-Symbiote armor gleamed with a dark red light under the Sun, and the red light strip on the mask looked particularly dazzling in the dust.
His fists clenched.
"Jarvis. Earthquake data. Where is the epicenter? What is the magnitude? Aftershock prediction?"
Jarvis's voice rang in his ear, calm but hurried: "Sir, the earthquake data is abnormal."
Earthquakes occurred simultaneously in multiple locations around the globe, with magnitudes ranging from magnitude 7 to magnitude 9.
The focal depth cannot be determined. Sensor data shows that the epicenter is not in any known geological horizon, but in..."
"In the core of Earth." Steve Rogers's voice came from behind Tony.
Tony turned around. Steve walked out of a quinjet, shield on his back, battle uniform covered in dust.
He looked at the ruins of Manhattan, expression grim.
Behind him, Natasha Romanoff and Barton walked out, both of their weapons already grasped in their hands.
"How do you know?" Tony asked.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s geologists analyzed global seismic data." Steve walked over to Tony, took a holographic projector from his pocket, and pressed the button.
Blue light unfolded in the air, forming a cross-section of Earth: crust, mantle, outer core, inner core.
Somewhere between the inner core and the outer core, a huge, irregular, glowing red shape was moving slowly.
"They believe this is not an earthquake, but something that has been sleeping in the core of Earth for a long time, awakening."
Beneath Tony's mask, his expression changed.
"What is it?"
"Don't know. But its volume exceeds thirty kilometers, and its density is three times greater than that of core matter. No energy signature—not that there is no energy, but our sensors can't detect it."
Tony fell silent. His brain was running at high speed, trying to find a reasonable explanation.
Alien creature?
Ancient God?
Or something even more terrifying than these.
He remembered a story, an entry marked as "myth and legend" that he had seen in the deep junk files of S.H.I.E.L.D. archives.
"Celestials." Tony said.
Steve looked at him.
"Celestials, cosmic gods, their bodies are bigger than Planets.
They wander in the Universe, plant seeds in the core of Planets, and then those seeds will hatch into new Celestials.
And the Planet that nurtures the seed will be devoured.
All life, all civilization, all history will all turn into fertilizer."
Steve's blue eyes widened.
"You mean there is a Celestial embryo in the core of Earth?"
"I don't know, but if we don't go and find out, we might lose everything."
Tony's thrusters ignited, his body floating up from the ground.
The black armor gleamed with dark red light under the Sun, and the red light strip on the mask looked like a glowing eye.
"Natasha, Barton, you are responsible for evacuation and rescue, keep communications open, and contact us at any time."
He flew up, and Steve jumped onto the quinjet.
The two aircraft, one high and one low, flew in the direction of the Pacific Ocean.
Deep in the Pacific Ocean, an unnamed island.
The island was not big, with an area of less than ten square kilometers, covered by dense tropical rain forests.
No ports, no airports, no traces of any human activity.
Seen from satellites, it was just an ordinary, inconspicuous desert island not worth anyone's attention.
But inside this island, deep in the volcanic rock and coral reef, there was a spaceship that had been sleeping for thousands of years.
The shape of the spaceship was like a huge, flat seed, about one kilometer in length, and its surface was covered with a silver-gray shell similar to the Celestial embryo.
Inside the spaceship there were dozens of cabins, each cabin being a living space for an Eternal.
Eternal, they were created by Celestials millions of years ago and sent to Earth, with the mission to protect the Celestial embryo and ensure it was undisturbed during incubation.
Their power came from the creation technology of Celestials, every Eternal possessed unique superpowers and was almost immortal.
As long as the Celestial embryo was alive, they would not age or die.
Chapter 483: That Is Not Where You Should Go!
Ajak is the leader of the Eternal.
She stood on the bridge of the spaceship, her dark eyes looking at the seismic data and satellite images on the holographic screen.
Her long hair was tied into a low ponytail, with a few grey-white strands hanging by her ears.
That was the mark of her leadership, the trace left behind as she communicated with the Celestial embryo over thousands of years.
Her expression was calm, but beneath the calm lay a deeply suppressed urgency that only she could feel.
"The Celestial embryo is awakening." Ajak's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached the ears of every Eternal.
"Millions of years earlier than expected, the reason is unknown, but the fact is that it is awakening.
When the embryo at the core of Earth fully awakens, it will break out of its shell, swallow Earth, and turn it into its nourishment."
She turned around to face her people.
"Our mission is to protect the embryo until it hatches, which is the command given to us by the Celestials.
This is why we were created millions of years ago, and we cannot let anyone interfere with the awakening of the embryo."
A man's voice came from the corner of the bridge, deep and lazy: "Then we need to move faster."
He was Kingo, one of the Eternal warriors, skilled in using energy weapons.
He looked to be in his thirties, with dark skin and a head of black curly hair.
In his hand, he played with a short sword condensed from energy, which spun at his fingertips and emitted a humming sound.
"The Avengers have already set out." A woman's voice sounded. She was Sersi, the Eternal who had the closest relationship with humans.
She had long brown hair and amber eyes, wearing modern human clothes, a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
She had lived on Earth for hundreds of years, disguised as a university Professor, an artist, and an archaeologist, using different identities in different eras.
She had deep feelings for humanity, feelings that were rare among her people.
"Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are flying toward the vertical projection point of the Celestial embryo. If they discover the existence of the embryo..."
"They won't." Ajak interrupted her. "We will go stop them."
Kingo stood up from his chair, the energy short sword solidifying in his hand into a physical entity. "A fight? I like it."
Makkari, a young woman with an Asian face, walked out of the shadows.
Her trait was speed, so fast that the naked eye could not catch it.
Her voice was hoarse and urgent: "I'l go, I'm faster than them, I alone am enough."
"No," Ajak said. "Everyone goes. We don't need to hurt them, we just need to make them understand that Earth's affairs do not need the Avengers to manage."
All the Eternals boarded their spaceship, which rose from the interior of the island, silently passed through the clouds, and flew toward the airspace above the Pacific Ocean.
Tony's Mark LIII armor was flying at three times the speed of sound above the Pacific Ocean.
On the screen inside his mask, Jarvis was marking the vertical projection point of the Celestial embryo.
Located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about one thousand kilometers east of Guam, and about eight thousand kilometers below sea level.
There was no land there, only endless seawater and a bottomless oceanic abyss.
"Jarvis, scan the seabed."
"Scanning, the seabed structure is abnormal.
There is a circular depression with a diameter of about thirty-five kilometers, and there are regular energy residues on the edge of the depression.
The energy signature does not match any known technology."
Tony's brow furrowed.
"Does not match? What do you mean?"
"It means this is neither naturally formed nor the technology of any known civilization.
This is a much older, more primitive form of energy, more advanced than most civilizations in the Universe."
Just as Tony was about to ask further, several points of light suddenly appeared on his radar screen.
Not airplanes, not missiles—they were living beings.
Six living beings were rapidly approaching him from the west, exceeding the speed of sound.
Their energy signatures were different from any creature on Earth, larger, brighter, and much older.
"Captain, do you see them?"
Inside the cockpit of the quinjet, Steve's eyes stared at the radar screen. His fingers tightened slightly on the control stick.
"Saw them, six unidentified flying objects... no, not flying objects, they are people, six people flying."
"People? Flying at supersonic speeds above the Pacific Ocean?"
"Jarvis's data won't be wrong, they are people."
Six figures appeared in Tony's field of vision.
They hovered in the air less than one hundred meters away from Tony, lined up in a row like a wall made of flesh and blood.
They wore different styles of clothing; some looked like armor, some like casual clothes, and some like ancient robes.
Their expressions varied, but they all had one thing in common.
In their eyes burned a golden, faint light like embers.
The Eternal.
The leading woman—Ajak—flew forward a few meters.
Her long hair fluttered in the sea breeze, her black eyes looked at Tony's mask, and the corners of her mouth held a lukewarm arc.
"Tony Stark, Iron Man, please stop moving forward. The area ahead is restricted."
Tony's armor stopped in front of Ajak, the red light strip on his mask looking into Ajak's black eyes.
"Who are you?"
"Ajak, leader of the Eternal."
"Eternal? Never heard of them."
"You don't need to have heard of them; you need to leave."
The corners of Tony's mouth raised slightly under his mask in a conceited arc.
"What if I refuse?"
In Ajak's eyes, the golden light flashed.
"You won't want to refuse."
Steve's quinjet flew over from Tony's rear and hovered in the air.
The hatch of the quinjet opened, and Steve stood at the doorway with his shield in hand, his eyes looking at the six people hovering in the air.
His intuition told him that these people were not ordinary super-powered individuals.
There was an ancient calmness in their temperament, one that had experienced long years, like a mountain that stood firm after tens of millions of years of wind and rain.
"What happened?" Steve's voice came through the speaker.
"They won't let us pass," Tony said.
"Why?"
Ajak looked at Steve, the arc of the corners of her mouth growing slightly larger.
"Captain America, Steve Rogers, your integrity and courage are rumored even among our people.
But we cannot let you pass, because the place you are going to is not somewhere you should go."
"What is under the crust?" Steve asked.
Ajak was silent for half a second.
"A slumbering entity that will bring disaster, but its awakening is unstoppable. Going there won't change anything, it will only make things worse."
"That is our Planet. We have the right to know what happens on our Planet."
Ajak looked into Steve's blue eyes for a long time.
In her eyes, something flashed.
Perhaps hesitation, perhaps reluctance, perhaps some emotion that she herself could not explain, one that rarely appeared in her millions of years of life.
"Kingo, Makkari, escort them away."
Chapter 484: Utterly Brutalized!
Kingo and Makkari flew out of the formation.
In Kingo's hands, two energy daggers flashed with golden light in the sunlight.
A hint of a crazy smile played at the corners of his mouth.
"Avengers, I've always wanted to have a fight with you."
Makkari didn't speak; his body turned into a streak of golden light and vanished on the spot.
The next second, he appeared at the hatch of the quinjet, less than a meter away from Steve.
Steve reacted very quickly; his shield spun out of his hand and flew toward Makkari's head.
Makkari's body slightly leaned to the side, dodging the shield. The shield grazed past his ear, cutting off a few strands of hair.
He reached out, grabbed Steve's wrist, and gave it a hard twist.
Steve's blue eyes widened.
The strength granted to him by the Super Soldier Serumfelt like an ordinary person facing a strong man in front of Makkari's grip.
The bones of his wrist made a creaking sound, and his fingers spread out uncontrollably.
Makkari's face was very close to his, with black eyes, brown skin, and that ruthless, machine-like expressionless face.
"You are too weak," Makkari said, his voice hoarse and rapid like a gust of wind.
He threw Steve out of the quinjet. Steve's body tumbled several times in the air, and his shield bounced off the ground, landing back in his hand.
The second before plunging into the ocean, he struck the surface of the sea with his shield, bouncing back into the air with the help of the reaction force.
His arm was trembling, and there was a purplish-black handprint on his wrist left by Makkari's fingers.
Kingo did not charge at Tony.
He hovered in the air with his hands crossed over his chest, two energy daggers floating around his body like two loyal guards.
He looked at Tony, the smile at the corners of his mouth becoming even more brilliant.
"Iron Man, your armor is very pretty. Can I take a look inside it?"
With a gentle flick of his finger, one of the energy daggers turned into a streak of golden light, shooting toward Tony's chest.
Tony's thrusters ignited, and his body dodged to the left, but the speed of the golden dagger was much faster than him.
The dagger hit the left shoulder of the armor, cutting open the plating and revealing the circuits and sparks underneath.
A hint of surprise flashed in Tony's eyes.
His Mark LIII armor was specially designed to counter the Symbiote, and the armor's strength was thirty percent higher than Mark LII.
But the golden dagger cut through his armor as easily as cutting paper.
"Your weapon!"
"It's the technology of the Celestials," Kingo said. "More advanced than all technology on Earth."
"Your armor is very good, but it is built on the basis of Earthtechnology. In front of us, Earth technology is like the Stone Age."
Two golden daggers shot toward Tony simultaneously.
Tony's thrusters operated at full power, and his body moved rapidly in the air along an irregular trajectory, dodging the pursuit of the golden daggers.
But the speed of the golden daggers grew faster and faster, and his evasion space became smaller and smaller.
One dagger hit his right leg, and the other dagger hit his back.
The armor's alarm sounded, and the energy readings were dropping rapidly.
Relying on his thrusters, Steve flew over from the air, his shield smashing toward Kingo's head.
Kingo did not dodge; a layer of golden energy shield appeared around his body, and the edge of the shield struck the energy shield, jarring Steve's arm numb.
The shield didn't shatter, the shield bounced back, and Steve's body was pushed back by the reaction force.
Natasha's voice came from the communicator: "Captain, do you need backup?"
"Not needed," Steve said through clenched teeth. "You guys continue evacuating the crowd, we can hold on."
When he said "hold on", Kingo's dagger hit Tony's armor once again.
This time it was the arc reactor on his chest.
The dagger cut open the surface of the armor and sliced into the shell of the reactor. Blue energy surged out from the crack, drifting in the air like blood.
Tony's armor lost power, and he fell from the air toward the sea surface.
Steve swooped down and grabbed Tony the moment before he plunged into the sea.
The two of them fell into the water together, splashing up huge waves.
Relying on the remaining thrusters of Tony's armor, Stevedragged Tony and flew up out of the water.
The two of them were soaked, hovering in a disheveled state a few meters above the sea surface.
Kingo hovered above them, looking down at them.
The smile at the corners of his mouth disappeared, replaced by a more serious, more ruthless expression.
"Avengers, you are good people, and you want to protect Earth, but some things you shouldn't know and shouldn't interfere with.
This is not your war; this is the plan of the Celestials, which started millions of years ago. You are just latecomers, and you have no right to change it."
Makkari hovered by Kingo's side, black eyes looking at Steve and Tony without speaking.
Ajak flew out from the formation, hovering between Kingoand Makkari.
Her black eyes looked at Tony and Steve with a calm expression.
But beneath the calmness was a deeply suppressed complex emotion that felt like an apology yet wasn't entirely an apology.
"Go back and tell your partners. Don't come again, otherwise next time, I won't let them show mercy."
She turned and flew away, with Kingo and Makkarifollowing behind her.
The other Eternal followed as well, six figures vanishing into the twilight of the Pacific Ocean.
Steve dragged Tony and flew to the nearest island, the two of them sitting down on the beach.
Tony's mask opened; there was blood on his face, and a cut at the corner of his mouth.
"Their technology is far too advanced compared to ours; we can't beat them," Tony said.
Steve looked toward the direction of the Pacific Ocean, watching the sea surface dyed golden by the setting sun.
"But we cannot give up."
"I know." Tony stood up from the beach, the wreckage of the Mark LIII armor falling off his body to reveal the casual clothes underneath.
"We need more information, to know who they are, where they come from, and why they want to protect that thing."
He pressed his communicator. "Jarvis, help me connect to the S.H.I.E.L.D. database and search for keywords: Eternal, Celestials."
"Searching. Results found. Relevant records exist in the S.H.I.E.L.D. archives, but the clearance level is top secret, and only Director Fury himself can access them."
"But Nick is already dead. Isn't there anyone else with this clearance? Authorization needs to be changed; perhaps Director Natasha has a way."
"Then call Natasha."
The Eternal spaceship cruised above the Pacific Ocean, silently passing through the clouds.
Ajak sat in the command chair on the bridge, her black eyes looking at the earthquake data and the vital signs of the Celestials embryo on the holographic screen.
The embryo's awakening speed was accelerating. Every few hours, its body would move once, and every movement would trigger a new disaster on the surface of Earth.
Chapter 485 The Truth
She closed her eyes, trying to communicate with the Celestials embryo.
Not with words, but with consciousness.
Her consciousness passed through the crust, through the mantle, and through the core, contacting that massive presence sleeping in the ocean of liquid metal.
"Why awaken early?" her consciousness asked.
No answer.
Only energy pulses exploded from the embryo's body, like a silent roar echoing deep within her consciousness.
In those pulses, there was anger, hunger, and an unstoppable will that could not be thwarted by any force.
She opened her eyes.
"It is accelerating," Ajak whispered.
Kingo stood up from his chair and walked to her side.
"Accelerating? What do you mean?"
"Its awakening speed is accelerating. At this rate, it will completely awaken in a few days, and by then—"
"By then, Earth will be destroyed," Tina's voice came from the other end of the bridge.
Everyone's gaze turned to her.
Tina stood in front of the bridge's holographic screen, which displayed satellite images of Earth.
Her amber eyes looked at the cities destroyed by earthquakes and volcanoes, at the people struggling in the ruins, and at the coastlines being swallowed by tsunamis.
Her lips trembled slightly, and her hands were shaking.
"We are protecting something that will kill billions of people," Tina's voice was low, but every word was as clear as if carved by a knife.
"We have been here for millions of years, watching humans walk out of caves, learning to make fire, build houses, write, and fly into the sky.
They turned from ignorant apes into a civilization capable of exploring space; they have art, music, love, and sacrifice.
They have emotions, sorrow, hope, and they are living lives.
And us… We are protecting something that is about to kill them."
Kingo looked at her, his expression shifting from lazy to serious.
"Tina, this is our mission!"
"I know our mission," Tina interrupted him. "The Celestialscreated us, gave us power, gave us immortality, and we owe them everything.
But humans do not owe us anything. They do not know of our existence, nor that we have been protecting the seed that will kill them. They shouldn't die."
Ajak stood up from the command chair, walked in front of Tina, and looked at her.
"What do you want to do?"
Tina was silent for a long time. Her amber eyes looked into Ajak's black eyes, both pairs reflecting each other's existence.
"I want to tell them the truth."
The bridge fell silent.
Kingo's mouth opened and closed, and a flash of surprise crossed Makkari's eyes.
Druig, a man of few words, walked out from the shadows, looking at Sersi with a complex expression.
Sprite poked her head out from the corner, her red hair gleaming under the light.
Ajak looked at Tina for a long time.
"If you tell them the truth, they will try to stop the awakening of the embryo. They cannot succeed, because the embryo's power is not something they can fight against.
But you will make our mission fail, you will make the Celestials' plan fail, and you will cause the meaning of our existence to be lost."
A trace of determination flashed through Tina's eyes.
"Perhaps, but at least they will have a chance to choose their own destiny, rather than die in ignorance."
She turned and walked out of the bridge.
No one stopped her.
She flew up from the island's coastline, her body turning into a stream of golden light, flying towards the east.
Her destination was New York, the Avengersheadquarters, and those human heroes she had been secretly observing but had never contacted.
Memories of living on Earth played back in her mind, flashing past like a revolving lantern.
Her shock when she first saw humans make fire, her emotion when she first heard humans sing, and the warmth when she first saw humans falling in love.
She had lived on Earth for hundreds of years, changing identities dozens of times, each time having to re-experience the pain and joy of growth.
She thought she was just executing a mission, just disguising herself, just waiting.
But she was wrong. Every day she lived on Earth made her less like an Eternal and more like a human.
She crossed through the clouds, through the city lights, and landed on the roof of the Avengers headquarters.
The night wind was strong, blowing her long hair and the corners of her clothes. Without hesitation, she walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the conference room floor.
The elevator door opened, and the conference room was brightly lit.
Tony Stark sat at one end of the long table, his gray T-shirt still stained with traces of Pacific Ocean seawater, and the dark circles under his eyes even deeper.
Steve stood by the window, his shield leaning against the wall, quietly looking at the night view outside the window.
Natasha sat in the corner, twirling a dagger in her hand, looking at the incoming woman without any surprise.
Because S.H.I.E.L.D.'s defense system had detected her trace before she arrived.
"Who are you?" Natasha asked curiously.
"My name is Tina, a member of the Eternal." Her voice was calm, but beneath the calm lay a deeply suppressed emotion, resembling both sorrow and hope.
"I have some things to tell you, about the earthquakes, about the Celestials embryo, and about the end of Earth."
"Speak."
Tina stood before the long table in the conference room, and the holographic screen lit up behind her.
Blue light unfolded in the air, forming a three-dimensional image of the Celestials embryo.
A massive, seed-like silver object lay across between the Earth's core and mantle, its surface covered with crisscrossing ravines and pulsating energy light spots.
"The Celestials are one of the oldest beings in the Universe." Tina's voice was clear and calm, like telling a story she had repeated countless times.
"They are the gardeners of the Universe, planting seeds on various Planets.
These seeds will absorb the core energy of the Planet, and after millions of years of gestation, hatch into new Celestials.
And the Planet that gestates the seed will be devoured, and all life, all civilization, and all history will be turned into nutrients for the Celestials embryo."
Steve's blue eyes stared at the image on the holographic screen, his expression grim.
"You mean Earth has been a culture dish for the Celestialsfrom the very beginning?"
"Yes, Earth has been a seed from the very beginning.
The existence of humans was not God's plan, but an accident.
The Celestials did not expect that after they planted the seed, intelligent life would evolve on Earth.
But accidents do not change the plan. The embryo is awakening, and it will break out of its shell within a week, tearing Earth apart."
Tony tapped his fingers lightly on the desktop.
"You say you are an Eternal? You were created by the Celestials?"
"Yes, millions of years ago, the Celestials manufactured us and sent us to Earth.
Our mission is to protect the embryo, ensuring it remains undisturbed during incubation. We possess immortal life and power beyond human comprehension.
We observe the development of human civilization in secret, intervene when necessary, and never expose our identity, until today."
Natasha looked at her. "Why are you telling us this? You betrayed your people."
Chapter 486: Only Loren Morgan Can Solve It
Tina fell silent, her amber eyes staring at the wood grain on the table for a long time.
"Because I have lived on this Planet for too long." Her voice was very soft, as if she were talking to herself.
"For hundreds of years, I have seen the ugliest side of humanity: wars, Carnage, slavery, and betrayal.
But I have also seen the most beautiful side of humanity: love, sacrifice, courage, and hope.
I do not think you should die for the plan of the Celestials, nor do I think a seed is more important than countless lives with dreams, love, and a future."
Natasha stopped spinning her dagger and looked at Tinawith a hint of respect in her expression.
"What can you do?"
"I cannot stop the awakening of the embryo; I don't have that power, but I know someone who can." Tina raised her head and looked at Natasha.
"The person you are talking about wouldn't happen to be Loren Morgan, would he?" Before Tina could speak, Natasha spoke up first.
"Yes!" Tina nodded.
The air in the conference room froze.
Tony's fingers paused on the tabletop, and Steve's brow furrowed even deeper.
Because all of them knew that Loren's power was not something they could influence.
Although they all knew that Loren could prevent this matter from happening, they couldn't directly make him take action; it required his own willingness.
"Loren?" Tony asked Tina curiously. "Do you know him?"
"I don't know him, but I know of him. I know that he killed Thanos, destroyed the Infinity Stones, and defeated Knull, the King of Symbiotes.
His power exceeds the scope of what I can comprehend. If anyone in this World can stop the awakening of the Celestial embryo, that person is him."
Everyone fell silent for a long time.
"Why are you helping us? You have betrayed your people, your creators, and your mission of millions of years. Aren't you afraid of their retaliation?"
The corners of Tina's mouth curved up slightly—not a smile, but a sense of relief close to "I no longer care."
"I have lived on Earth for hundreds of years. In these hundreds of years, I have been a teacher, a Doctor, a painter, and an archaeologist.
I have loved humans and lost humans, attended funerals and weddings.
I have watched children go from learning to walk to growing into adults, and finally to having white hair.
Every time, I am a bystander. I cannot tell them who I am, and I cannot stay by their side when they grow old.
I can only watch them be born, watch them live, watch them die, and then change my identity and start over."
She paused.
"I have lived like this for hundreds of years, and I don't want to live like this anymore.
If I can do something this time, not for the Celestials, not for the Eternal, not for any mission,
but just for humanity, for this Planet, for those lives I care about that I have never truly possessed, I am willing."
Silence.
Tony stood up from his chair, walked over to Tina, and extended his hand.
"Welcome to the Avengers—temporarily, not officially, because we haven't officially passed the background check yet."
Tina looked at his hand for two seconds, and then shook it.
Her hand was warm, slightly lower than human body temperature, but her grip was very strong—so strong that Tony's fingers turned slightly white.
"Can you take me to see Loren Morgan now?" Tina said.
"That's not up to us to decide. You also know that his power far exceeds imagination, so his temper is also a bit eccentric."
"I'll take you!" At this moment, Natasha, who was sitting aside, spoke up. Compared to Tony Stark, her relationship with Loren was much closer.
After all, speaking of which, both she and Hill were Loren's women. With them stepping forward, the other party would give them some face, more or less.
"Then I'll have to trouble you!" Hearing that Natasha was willing to take her to see Loren, gratitude appeared on Tina's face.
Late at night, Morgan Manor.
Loren sat by the study window, holding a cup of tea in his hand.
He looked at the lawn illuminated by moonlight outside the window, watching the oak branches and leaves swaying gently in the night breeze.
His expression was calm, but his consciousness was deep within the system, in that void only he could enter, looking at the beating data on the panel.
Knull was dead, but his death had awakened the Celestial embryo at the core of Earth.
This was not a coincidence. Knull's power was dark, chaotic, and the embodiment of death itself.
The energy fluctuations released at his death penetrated the crust and mantle, hitting the embryo that had been waiting in slumber for millions of years.
The embryo mistook that energy for a signal to hatch, so it awoke.
Loren tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest. Regarding this Celestial embryo, he didn't take it seriously at all.
Because the strength of a Celestial embryo was at the single-Universe level, while he was already a multiverse-level existence.
His strength was an order of magnitude higher than the Celestials, so he had the qualification not to take this Celestial embryo seriously.
However, while he could ignore the Celestial embryo, he could not ignore the Celestial race itself.
Because this was a powerful race, and every single Celestial possessed single-Universe-level strength.
If the entire race came out in full force, even he would have to take it seriously. Not only that, based on his understanding of the Marvel Universe,
the Celestials were created by the multiverse-level super powerhouse—the First Firmament.
Therefore, behind the Celestials was a First Firmament whose strength was no less than his, or even stronger.
This made him have to take it seriously. His fingers tapped lightly on the windowsill as he thought of a solution.
And right at this moment, the door was pushed open.
Tifa walked in, holding a freshly brewed pot of tea in her hand.
She looked at Loren's back, at his slightly tense shoulders, and at his slightly clenched fingers resting on the windowsill.
"Master, someone is here."
"I know."
"You're not going to ask who it is?"
"No need to ask, I already know who has come."
He turned around, took the teapot from Tifa's hands, and poured himself a cup.
The aroma of the tea permeated the study, intertwining with the moonlight outside the window.
"Let them in!" said Loren.
The front door of Morgan Manor opened. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers walked in front, Natasha Romanoff followed behind, and Nick Fury walked at the very end.
In the middle of them was a woman Loren had never seen before: long dark brown hair, amber eyes, a white T-shirt and jeans.
She looked like an ordinary woman in her thirties, the kind you could see everywhere on the streets of New York.
But Loren noticed a faint golden light in her eyes, which was the symbol of the Eternals.
Tina walked into the study and stood in front of Loren.
"Mr. Loren, I am Tina, a member of the Eternals."
Her voice was calm, but beneath the calmness lay a deeply suppressed tremor, resembling nervousness and anticipation.
Chapter 487: Entering the Mantle
"I have something to tell you."
Loren looked at her, the corners of his lips curving up slightly.
"I know what you want to say. You want me to deal with the threat brought by the Celestials embryo, right?"
Tina's eyes widened a little.
"You know?"
"Of course. Earth is trembling, and I can feel it. There is a huge life form awakening at the center of the Earth, and I can feel it as well."
He walked over from the window, sat down in the high-backed chair, and gently tapped his finger on the armrest.
"You guys came to find me precisely because you want me to stop it."
Tina took a deep breath.
"Yes. The power of the Celestials embryo exceeds the scope that the Avengers can fight against."
"It exceeds the scope of everything I've ever seen exist to fight against, but you are the only one who has a chance of succeeding."
Loren looked at her and fell silent for a moment.
"Do your people know you came here?"
Tina pressed her lips together.
"They know."
"Won't they stop you?"
"I think a few of them will."
"You betrayed them."
Tina's jaw tightened slightly.
"Yes, but I don't think protecting an embryo that will kill billions of people is right, no matter whose order it is, no matter what mission it is."
Loren stood up from the chair, walked to the window, and turned his back to everyone.
Moonlight fell on his hair, casting a clear shadow on the study's wooden floor.
"The Celestials embryo—if it fully awakens, Earth will be devoured within a few hours."
"Billions of lives will be wiped out, and human civilization will disappear from the Universe."
"Nothing will be left, not even a stone or an atom."
He turned around, his gray eyes looking at Tina.
"I can go stop it, but I need to know one thing."
"What is it?"
"Why would you, an Eternal, a being created by the Celestials—"
"a being entrusted with the mission of protecting the embryo millions of years ago, betray your creator?"
Tina looked into his eyes for a long time.
In her amber eyes, golden light flickered like two burning stars in the dark.
"Because I've lived on this Planet for hundreds of years. I've seen its sunsets, heard the sound of its rain, and smelled the fragrance of its flowers."
"I've made human friends, attended human funerals, and loved humans."
"The time I've lived on Earth is longer than the time I've lived by the side of the Celestials."
"Earth is not my hometown, but it is the only place I've truly lived."
Her voice paused for a moment.
"I don't want to lose it."
Loren looked at her, the curve of his lips growing a bit wider.
This time it was a real smile—very faint, very brief, but genuine.
"Fine," he said. "I'll go."
He walked to the center of the study, reached out, and slashed open a spatial rift in the void.
On the other side of the rift was that expanse of sea in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the place hidden directly above the vertical projection point of the Celestials embryo.
The waves shimmered with a silver-white light under the moonlight, and the sea breeze howled at the edge of the rift.
"I'll be right back!"
Tony opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.
Steve's blue eyes looked at Loren and nodded.
Tina took a step forward. "I'm going with you."
Loren looked at her.
"Are you sure? Your people might attack you."
"I'm not afraid."
Loren looked at her for a second, then nodded.
The two of them stepped into the spatial rift. The silver-white light contracted behind them, turned into a speck of light, and then disappeared.
In the study, Tony looked at the air that had returned to normal, a complex, indescribable look in his eyes.
The spatial rift closed above the Pacific Ocean. After the silver-white light dissipated, Loren and Tina were no longer on the surface of the sea.
They were falling.
Not falling through seawater, but falling through Earth's crust.
Loren's spatial rift sent them directly to a position hundreds of kilometers below the surface. There was no seawater, no rocks, and no air there.
Only the extremely dense mantle material in a plastic state existed.
The temperature exceeded one thousand degrees Celsius, and the pressure was one million times that of the surface.
Any human, or even most superpowered beings, would be crushed, burned, and evaporated in a few milliseconds in such an environment.
But around Loren's body was a layer of silver-white energy shield, with golden lines flowing on its surface.
The shield blocked the mantle material outside, completely isolating the temperature and pressure.
Tina stood beside him, wrapped in his energy field. The golden light in her eyes flickered in the dark.
"This is... the mantle?" Tina's voice echoed in the energy field, somewhat distorted.
"Still in the upper mantle, far from the core."
Loren's gray eyes looked downward, seemingly looking at something only he could see.
"It's deeper down, at the boundary of the inner and outer core."
His body began to accelerate downwards—not in freefall, but in a controlled, precise descent like a guided missile.
The mantle material was pushed away by the energy field in front of him and closed back together behind him.
He was like a whale stealthily cruising through the deep sea, silently traversing millions of years of geological history.
Tina watched the surrounding mantle material flow outside the shield.
Under the extremely high temperature and pressure, those materials presented a dark red, lava-like color, but were more viscous and denser than lava.
Occasionally, huge, glowing crystals would emerge from the material.
Those were diamonds—not ordinary diamonds, but super diamonds with abnormally compact molecular structures that could only form under extremely high pressure.
They moved slowly in the flow of the mantle, like a school of glowing jellyfish cruising in the deep sea.
She had lived on Earth for hundreds of years, visited the deepest trenches, climbed the highest peaks, and crossed the most arid deserts.
But she had never been here. This was no one's territory, a place no life could reach.
This was the interior of Earth, the womb of the Planet, the abyss of creation and destruction.
"We're here," Loren said.
His body stopped, and the material outside the shield changed.
It transformed from dark red, viscous mantle material into a silver-gray solid that looked like metal yet rock, its surface covered in ravines.
That was not a part of Earth; that was the body of another entity.
It lay across the mantle and the core like a huge, incompletely developed seed, extending its roots deep into Earth and sucking the Planet's blood.
The Celestials embryo.
Tina's eyes widened. She had seen a Celestials embryo before.
In the archives of the Eternal, in Ajak's memory transmission, in the illusions she occasionally caught glimpses of during her millions of years of life.
But none of those were real, whereas what she saw at this moment truly was real.
Chapter 488: What Gives You the Right to Stop Me
The embryo before her eyes was larger, more terrifying, and more like something that should not exist in this Worldthan any image she had ever seen.
Its surface was silver-White, but not with a metallic sheen; rather, it had a more ancient, more primitive texture that resembled both minerals and organisms.
The ravines on its surface were its skin texture, each hundreds of meters deep, and the bottoms of the ravines glowed with a dark red light.
That was its blood, its energy, and its life.
Between the ravines were some protruding, mountain-like structures, which were its bones, its framework, and the pillars supporting its massive body.
Its body was curled up, like an infant waiting to be born in the womb.
Its knees pressed against its chest, its arms crossed over its chest, and its head hung low with its chin resting against its collarbone.
It had no face; its head was a smooth, oval protrusion without eyes, a nose, or a mouth.
But Tina could feel that beneath that smooth surface, a pair of eyes were awakening from a deep slumber, looking at him from the darkness.
Loren hovered in front of the embryo's head, less than a hundred meters away.
His silver-White energy shield appeared exceptionally bright amidst the embryo's dark red glow, like a burning star in the dark abyss.
He looked at the embryo's head, at that faceless existence that was gazing at him.
"The Celestials' embryo, you cannot be born yet." Loren's voice was calm, echoing in the energy field.
The embryo did not respond, making no sound, no energy fluctuations, and no signals that could be captured by senses.
But Loren could feel its consciousness floating up from the depths of sleep.
It was not fully awake, but half-awake.
Like a person startled awake in a dream, whose consciousness still lingered on the edge of the dreamscape and whose body could not yet move.
Yet its instincts were already screaming: danger, someone is approaching.
Its body moved.
Not a large movement, just a tiny wriggle, like an infant turning over in the womb.
Its knees pushed outward slightly, its arms opened slightly, and its head lifted a few centimeters.
Merely this movement of a few centimeters triggered several new cracks in the crust.
Magma surged out from the cracks, forming new volcanic islands on the seafloor.
Seismic waves spread globally; buildings in New Yorkbegan to shake, aftershocks in Tokyo intensified once more, and the Water level of the Thames in London fluctuated abnormally.
Loren felt those seismic waves.
Not through sensors, but through his Silver Supermanperceptual powers.
He could feel the fear of every life on Earth during the disaster.
He could feel the desperate screams within the collapsing buildings, and the cries of the children being swept away by the tsunami.
"You cannot be born here. There are billions of lives on this Planet. They have the right to live, and your birth will kill them."
Loren's words echoed in the embryo's consciousness.
It was not a request, nor a negotiation, but an order.
A tiny human from the surface was commanding an embryo of the Celestials.
An existence planted in the core of the Planet millions of years ago, destined to devour the entire World.
It could not accept this.
Its instincts were stronger than its consciousness, its hunger was more ancient than its reason, and its anger had been accumulating since the first day it was planted on Earth.
The anger of being imprisoned in darkness, the anger of being deprived of freedom, the anger of being buried underground as a seed and waiting millions of years to break out of its shell.
All this anger erupted completely at the very moment Loren said "You cannot be born."
The embryo's body abruptly expanded.
Not a wriggle, but an explosive, fury-filled stretch.
Its arms propped outward to the sides, its palms slapped against the mantle, and five fingers several kilometers long plunged into the rock, slicing into the Planet's flesh like five giant blades.
Its knees kicked downward, and its heels struck the liquid metal of the outer core, sending forth an Impact that caused Earth's magnetic field to shift in that instant.
Its head lifted, that faceless, smooth oval head raising ninety degrees to face Loren directly.
Even without eyes, Loren could feel that gaze.
It was not a gaze, but a crushing.
It was a pure, primitive intent to kill that contained no rational component whatsoever.
"You—" The embryo's consciousness was no longer transmitted via energy pulses, but through a more violent method that exploded directly inside the human brain.
The voice did not come from outside; it exploded from deep within Loren's consciousness, detonating in his soul like a depth charge.
"What gives you the right to stop me?"
Loren's energy shield flickered violently under the Impactof consciousness.
His body did not move, and his expression did not change at all, but Tina's body stepped back several paces.
Even wrapped in Loren's energy field, she could feel the lingering might of that Impact, like an invisible giant hand attempting to drag her soul out of her body.
"Because I am stronger than you." Loren's voice was calm, but beneath that calmness lay an unquestionable, blade-like coldness.
The embryo's mouth opened.
On its smooth head, a horizontal fissure split open from the middle, revealing countless rows of sharp, dark-red glowing teeth inside.
They were not teeth, but attack organs condensed from energy.
The fissure continued to expand, extending from the head all the way to the chest cavity. The chest cavity split open, exposing the internal energy core.
A sphere hundreds of meters in diameter, glowing with White light and as dazzling as a star.
"I am the seed of the Celestials, I am the gardener of the Universe. I was born to devour Planets and incubate into a new God. The meaning of my existence does not need to be defined by you."
Within its chest cavity, the energy core suddenly flared brightly.
A thick, dark red energy beam shot out from the core, passed through its throat, spewed from its mouth, and struck Loren directly.
The diameter of the energy beam exceeded hundreds of times the height of Loren's body. In his eyes, that was not a beam of light, but a wall.
A wall composed of pure, destructive energy pressing toward him at the speed of light.
The temperature of the energy beam directly evaporated the mantle matter along its path into plasma.
The plasma emitted dazzling blue-White light in the high temperature, illuminating the entire Earth's core as bright as White day.
Loren did not dodge.
His right hand lifted from his side, fingers spread, palm facing the torrent of energy surging toward him.
Silver-White energy surged from his palm, condensing before him into a translucent, crystal-like shield several meters in diameter.
The energy beam struck the shield, yet there was no sound.
Because the frequency of the collision exceeded the range of human hearing, exceeded the range that mantle matter could transmit, and exceeded the range that physical laws could describe.
The collision point of the two energies blasted open a tiny singularity on the surface of the shield; the singularity absorbed everything around it in an instant and then exploded.
Chapter 489: The Celestials Embryo is Dead!
Impact spread outward, pushing the mantle material in all directions to form a spherical cavity hundreds of kilometers in diameter.
At the boundary of the cavity, the mantle material was compressed into a ring of dark red, glowing walls, resembling the outer shell of an expanding star.
Inside the cavity, there was no matter, no air, only Loren's energy shield and the embryo's energy beam.
Loren's shield began to heat up under the continuous Impact of the energy beam.
Dark red spots appeared on the silver-white surface, which were the marks left by the embryo's energy on the shield.
His arms were trembling slightly, not out of fear, but because of the power.
The embryo's power was stronger than he expected, so strong that even his Silver Superman body needed to mobilize all its power to maintain the integrity of the shield.
Tina stood behind Loren, covering her ears with both hands.
Even though she knew there was no air deep in the Earth's core, and sound could not travel.
But the vibration generated by that energy Impactpenetrated her body, making her teeth ache, her eye sockets swell, and her internal organs shift slightly in resonance.
She looked at Loren's back, watching his hair remain motionless in the energy storm, and watching his eyes calmly stare at the energy beam tearing apart the Earth's core.
"How long can you hold on?" Tina's voice was barely audible in the buzzing of the energy field.
"It doesn't need to be long." Loren said. "It won't hold out much longer."
The embryo's energy beam began to weaken.
Not because it wanted to stop, but because its energy core needed time to recharge after releasing too much energy at once.
The dark red beam of light went from thick to thin, from thin to weak, and finally turned into a wisp of dark red smoke, dissipating in front of Loren's shield.
The embryo's mouth closed, and the crack in its chest cavity closed as well.
Its body shrank slightly after consuming energy, like a fierce beast that had just failed to hunt, rebuilding its strength.
On its featureless head, two dark red, abyss-like eyes opened.
They weren't revealed from under the skin, but split directly on the skin.
The two eyes had no pupils, no whites, only two clusters of dark red flames burning in the darkness.
"You actually blocked my attack!" The embryo's consciousness fluctuation carried a hint of surprise.
"On the surface, among your kind, no one can do it."
"I am different." Loren withdrew his shield, and the silver-white energy melted back into his body.
His arms no longer trembled, his breathing showed no change, and his eyes looked at the embryo's pair of dark red eyes, as calm as looking at a stone.
"I am the one here to end you."
The embryo's anger erupted again.
This time, it no longer attacked with an energy beam, but with its body.
That huge body, over thirty kilometers long, made of silver carapace and dark red energy.
Its right hand was pulled out from the mantle, with five fingers open, slapping toward Loren like a gigantic mountain.
The shadow of the palm completely enveloped Loren and Tina, and dark red energy leaped at the tips of the fingers, tearing the surrounding magnetic field to pieces.
The falling speed of the palm exceeded the speed of sound. In the vacuum of the Earth's core, there was no sound, but Tina could feel the power carried by that palm.
That was not physical power, that was Planet-level power, power enough to wipe a city off the map.
Loren extended his left hand, not to attack, but to catch.
His five fingers spread open, meeting the embryo's palm.
The moment the palms touched, Tina thought Loren would be flattened into a pancake.
But she was wrong; Loren's palm was like an infinitely thick wall, and the embryo's palm stopped less than a meter away from his palm.
Dark red energy exploded between the two palms, and the Impact pushed the boundary of the cavity outward by tens of kilometers again.
Loren's body sank a few meters slightly in the Impact, but his arms did not bend, his knees did not flex, and his expression remained calm.
"Your power is great, but your power cannot break my defense."
His right hand clenched into a fist, swung from his waist, and struck the center of the embryo's palm.
The fist collided with the silver carapace, producing a dull roar that could be heard throughout the Earth's core, like a massive earthquake splitting open.
The embryo's palm began to split from the center, and the cracks spread outward from the landing point of the fist, covering the entire palm like a spider web.
Dark red energy surged out from the cracks, turning into a patch of dark red mist in the darkness.
The embryo let out a low roar, like a massive earthquake splitting open.
It was not transmitted through consciousness, but through physical vibration.
Its body trembled violently deep in the Earth's core, transmitting the vibration to the entire Earth.
The seabed of the Pacific Ocean split open again, new cracks extended all the way from Guam to Hawaii, and magma surged out from the cracks, forming new underwater mountain ranges.
The aftershocks in Japan intensified again, the rescue work in Tokyo was forced to be suspended, the ground in Yellowstone National Park rose again, and steam and volcanic ash spewed out from new cracks.
Tina's face was as pale as paper. "It is destroying the Earth—"
"I know." Loren said.
He let go of the embryo's palm, and his body turned into a streak of silver-white light, disappearing in place.
The next second, he appeared in front of the embryo's head, less than a meter away.
His right hand had its five fingers together, and a layer of silver-white energy as thin as a blade condensed on the edge of his palm.
The hand blade hacked down.
The embryo's head was cut open under Loren's hand blade.
It was not cut from the outside, but from the inside. The silver-white energy seeped into the cracks of the carapace on the embryo's head, decomposing, tearing, and detonating inside the carapace.
The upper half of the embryo's head slid off its body, spinning a few times in the void.
Then it smashed into the boundary of the cavity, denting a huge pit into the mantle wall.
Dark red energy gushed out from the fracture of the embryo's head, floating away in the void like blood.
The embryo's body twitched violently after losing its head, its arms unconsciously waving in the void.
Its legs kicked in the Earth's core, its chest cavity split open again, and the white light of the energy core flickered wildly.
Loren did not stop; his body moved quickly across the surface of the embryo's body, leaving a new wound on the embryo's silver carapace every second.
His hand blade cut open the embryo's scapula, his elbow strike shattered the embryo's ribs, and his knee strike pierced through the embryo's spine.
The silver-white energy seeped into the embryo's body with every attack he made, rampaging, decomposing, and devouring inside the embryo's body.
The embryo's roar grew weaker and weaker.
Its silver carapace lost its luster and turned dark gray, its dark red lines turned black, the white light of its energy core turned dark red, and then went out.
Its last trace of consciousness exploded deep within Loren's mind, with no anger, no fear, only a pure, primitive confusion like a newborn baby.
"Why... kill me..."
Loren stood in front of the embryo's chest, the silver-white energy field wrapping his entire body into a burning star in the darkness.
He looked down at the embryo's pair of dark red eyes that were about to go out.
"Because you shouldn't have been born here."
His right hand pierced into the embryo's chest cavity, passing through the shattered carapace, passing through the withered energy core, and directly grasped the source of the embryo's life.
A fist-sized, dark red, pulsating ball of light.
He pulled the ball of light out of the embryo's body.
Having lost the support of its life source, the embryo's body completely collapsed at that instant.
The silver carapace shattered into countless pieces, drifting away in the void like a silver-white snow.
Dark red energy surged out from the shattered body, turning into dark red mist, and then dissipated.
Its torso split open from the middle, the two halves tilting to the sides, and then slowly and silently floating in the void.
The Celestials Embryo is dead!
Chapter 490: Such a fine tonic cannot be wasted!
Chapter 490
Loren stood amidst the wreckage of the embryo, holding that dark red ball of light in his right hand.
The ball of light pulsed in his palm, like a still-beating heart.
He could feel the energy contained within the ball of light, the energy the embryo had absorbed from Earth's core for millions of years, all the nourishment it had prepared for its own hatching.
If this energy were released, it would be enough to wipe all life on the entire surface from the Universe.
Loren clenched his fist, and silver-white energy poured out from his palm, enveloping the dark red ball of light.
Under his grip, the ball of light was compressed, transformed, and devoured.
The dark red light struggled, twisted, and screamed within the silver-white energy, and finally, it fell quiet.
The ball of light disappeared.
All the energy was absorbed by Loren's body.
At that instant, his body flared brightly, silver-white light pouring out from beneath his skin, illuminating the entire Earth's core as bright as day.
His hair fluttered in the energy field, turning from silver-white to a nearly transparent white, with each strand seeming to be woven from light.
His power was growing, not growing slowly, but growing in a quantum leap.
His strength was advancing toward a broader level.
Loren clenched his fist and then released it.
The silver-white light faded from his eyes, returning to their natural color.
His hair turned from transparent back to silver-white, and his body returned to normal.
He turned around and looked at Tina.
Tina stood behind him, her amber eyes wide open, her mouth slightly agape, her expression a blank between shock and awe.
In her millions of years of life, she had seen countless powerful entities.
But she had never seen anyone able to easily kill a thirty-kilometer Celestial embryo like killing a chicken.
"You... devoured its energy?"
"Yes, such a fine tonic naturally cannot be wasted!" Lorensaid with a nod.
He turned around to face the wreckage of the embryo.
Those shattered silver carapaces, detached limbs, and split torsos all floated in the void, like fragments of an asteroid.
He raised his right hand over his head with his five fingers spread, and silver-white energy poured out from his palm, forming a huge, rotating energy vortex.
The edge of the vortex was silver-white, and the core was black—not darkness, but the portal of Sumeru space.
Sumeru space, a spatial pocket created by Loren with his own will.
It was not in any dimension, not in any timeline, not in any known Universe.
It existed only in his will and was his private domain.
The vortex began to shrink.
From a diameter of several kilometers down to hundreds of meters, and from hundreds of meters down to tens of meters.
The wreckage of the embryo was sucked into the vortex, disappearing into the black core.
The silver carapace, dark red energy, and shattered bones were all sucked into the Sumeru space, becoming a part of that void space.
The vortex closed.
The depths of the Earth's core returned to darkness, with only Loren's silver-white energy field glowing in the dark, like a star burning at the bottom of an abyss.
Tina recovered from her shock, her amber eyes looking at Loren's back.
"Is Earth... safe?"
"It is safe." Loren turned around and looked at her.
"The Celestial embryo is dead, its energy has been devoured by me, and its wreckage has been sealed by me. Earth will no longer be devoured."
"What about the earthquakes? The volcanoes? The tsunamis?"
"The embryo is already dead, and its body is no longer active."
"The stress of the crust will slowly recover, and earthquakes will gradually decrease, but the damage already done requires humanity itself to repair."
Loren reached out and sliced open a spatial crack in the void.
On the other side of the crack was the study of Morgan Manor, the moonlight outside the window, and that cup of already cold tea.
He stepped into the crack, with Tina following behind.
The crack closed.
The depths of the Earth's core returned to the darkness and silence of Eternity.
Only the mantle material pushed away by the Impact, slowly flowing back, emitted a faint, dark red light in the darkness.
That light, a thousand years or ten thousand years from now, would be erased by new geological movements.
By then, no one would remember that there used to be a Celestial embryo here, and that a silver-haired person had killed it.
Deep inside the Earth's core, nothing was left.
Only a huge, slowly healing void.
Morgan Manor, study.
Loren walked out of the spatial crack and sat down on the high-backed chair.
There were no wounds on his body, no damage to his clothes, and no shortness of breath.
But his sense of presence—Tina felt it had changed the moment she stepped into the study.
He sat there, but he was not merely "there".
His sense of presence overflowed from his body, filling the entire room like a pool of water about to overflow.
Tifa walked out of the kitchen, looked at Loren with her black eyes, glanced at him once, and then turned back to continue making tea.
"Congratulations to Master on your safe return. Master, are you hungry?" Tifa's voice came from the direction of the kitchen.
"Not hungry."
"Then some tea?"
"Okay."
Tifa walked out carrying a tray holding a pot of hot tea and a teacup.She placed the tray on the desk, poured a cup of tea, and pushed it to Loren's side.Then she stood beside him, looking down at him."Master, you've changed; you've become stronger!""Mm!"Loren raised his head and looked into Tifa's eyes.In those eyes was a warm, reassuring light—not magic, not superpowers, but Tifa's understanding and tenderness."I devoured the energy of a Celestial embryo, I killed an unborn God, so my strength has naturally improved somewhat."His voice was calm, but beneath the calmness lay a deeply suppressed weight, like a burden or a responsibility."However, this matter won't end so simply, because the Celestials will know, and they will come looking for me one day in the future."The corners of Tifa's mouth curved up slightly, a flash of murderous intent showing in her eyes."If they dare to come, then slaughter them!"Loren looked at her, and the corners of his mouth also curved up slightly.He picked up the teacup and took a sip.Ceylon black tea, less sugar, extra nuts.Brewed by Tifa, just right as always.The moonlight outside the window spilled onto the lawn, dyeing Morgan Manor a silver-white.The dew on the lawn gleamed with fine light under the moonlight, the branches and leaves of the oak tree rustled in the night wind, and the water of the Hudson Riverflowed silently in the distance.Loren sat by the window, looking at the lawn illuminated by moonlight, looking at the branches swaying gently in the night wind, looking at the silver-white ripples on the river surface in the distance.Light flickered in his eyes—not fear, but anticipation.The Celestials will come, but that was a matter for the future.Today, he just wanted to drink tea.