No one dared hesitate when the Supreme Intelligence issued a command.
The four men and one woman, so-called "Dimensional Travelers," were quickly removed from the military exclusion zone and thrown into a sealed chamber somewhere in Hala, the capital.
They looked human, Earth-human to be precise.
Though still alive, most of them were visibly dazed, their minds scrambled by the memory-scanning device. Only one, the man clearly acting as the leader, retained some measure of lucidity.
Rather than rushing in to confront them, Lucius accessed the Kree Empire's intelligence network.
As one of the most technologically advanced empires in the universe, the Kree's intelligence system was unmatched. Their surveillance spanned from vast empires like the Shi'ar and the Asgardian Realm to minor governments on planets like Earth.
Now, with the Supreme Command directly linked to every Kree database at the highest clearance level, Lucius had unrestricted access to all of it.
Thanks to the Supreme Intelligence's prior insight into Thanos's scheme, the past week had seen the entire Kree Empire, including Hala and all its colonies, on high alert, closely monitoring the Mad Titan's movements.
At present, Thanos and his Black Order were en route to Knowhere, home of the cosmic collector Taneleer Tivan.
That meant only one thing: Thanos's next target was the Aether.
After Thor had defeated Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves, the Aether, known to be the vessel for the Reality Stone, was entrusted to the Collector by the Asgardian sentries, who believed it safer there.
But Lucius, with foreknowledge of the original timeline, knew that despite the Collector being the brother of the Grandmaster and one of the Elders of the Universe, he was no match for Thanos, especially with two Stones already in hand.
Beyond Thanos's trajectory, Lucius also discovered that the Supreme Intelligence had already begun mobilizing Kree warfleets across the empire in a massive campaign to intercept the Black Order and wrest the Stones from Thanos's grip.
Simultaneously, elite warriors were being dispatched to Earth, targeting the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead and the Time Stone held by Doctor Strange.
Having assessed the plan, Lucius saw no need to interfere. He chose instead to execute it in full.
The Aether, being the physical form of the Reality Stone, posed a dire threat once in Thanos's possession, granting him overwhelming power, the ability to transcend space, and reshape reality at will. Every moment counted in striking first.
Lucius also understood that both Vision and Doctor Strange were "main cast" figures, high-value protagonists. Taking the Stones from them wouldn't be easy. The Kree's elite squad, the Accusers, likely wouldn't be enough.
He'd have to intervene personally.
With the next steps decided, Lucius teleported to the sealed chamber where the five Dimensional Travelers were being held.
The room was seamless with walls, ceiling, and floor all forged from solid bronze alloy without a single gap. Even a neutron bomb wouldn't scratch it.
Inside, the team's leader, Frank, was attempting to revive his unconscious comrades.
Invisible viral strands wove through the air. A single glance told Lucius all he needed to gauge their power levels.
In terms of Pokémon world scaling, they would be classified as Leader-tier. In the data-driven hierarchy of the Celestial Council, they'd land at roughly B- rank.
Frankly, in terms of raw personal power, they far outclassed most Kree. But in a society driven by hyper-advanced tech, brute strength alone rarely triumphed unless it was overwhelmingly superior.
Although Lucius had already accessed the surface intel about them through the Supreme Intelligence, he sensed something different.
These five carried an unusual system, something embedded with a faint trace of Ruleforce, a higher-order power signature.
Such systems could not be fully unraveled by the Kree's cerebral scan tech.
Lucius's virus extended tendrils, silently infecting and penetrating each of them.
Whether conscious or not, their memories unfolded before him.
Most of what he saw matched the intelligence gathered by the Kree. But as a conceptual entity, Lucius noticed a faint, concealed anomaly.
According to surface-level scans, these "travelers" came from an alternate Earth, where certain comic book artists had unknowingly captured fragments of cosmic events from this universe. These glimpses, transformed into entertainment, spread as stories and comics on their home world.
Due to a spatial-temporal distortion, the five had arrived here, and used their comic-based knowledge to reap significant advantages.
Interdimensional travel and inspiration-capture weren't exactly unheard of. The Kree themselves had technologies capable of spatial transference.
As for inspiration, it could be explained as the resonance of significant "vibrations" caused by major universal events. The more impact an event had, the broader its ripples through the cosmos.
These "vibrations" didn't stop within their home universe. They resonated across dimensions. Minds attuned to such frequencies could receive them as "inspiration."
This was how the Supreme Intelligence rationalized their presence.
But buried deep within their subconscious, Lucius found a hazy void, an area cloaked by Ruleforce.
Following this lead, he uncovered fragmented memories, ones intentionally obscured.
Lucius began applying his own Ruleforce, bending the outer structure of their system.
Thanks to his divine status and recent assimilation of the Supreme Intelligence, Lucius now effectively was the Kree Empire, and thus could wield its full force and systemic rule architecture.
The sealed region faltered.
In a flash, the Old One Virus pierced the blockade.
"Dimensional Reincarnators?"
The term surfaced in Lucius's mind.
According to this hidden memory, there existed something beyond even the multiverse, a place known as the Dimensional Reincarnation Space.
Its origin was unknown. It drew participants from across realities and assigned them missions in various worlds, each challenge tailored to the difficulty of survival within that universe.
Success brought rewards. Failure led to punishment, or erasure.
These five had already survived several cycles, making them relatively seasoned.
Lucius stared in silence, stunned.
"An infinite loop survival system?"
"System, what the hell is this Dimensional Reincarnation Space?"
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