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After collecting all the data from Thanos, Nolan locked him away inside the Dark Dimension.
At present, Oscorp had no way to permanently restrain Skyfather-level beings. Both Surtur and Hela had already been thrown into the Dark Dimension as well.
Surtur wasn't worth dissecting like Hela, his power came from being bound to a realm, becoming its ruler. His strength reached Skyfather levels only because Muspelheim itself was fused to him through the Eternal Flame.
The World Tree truly was extraordinary.
Any being fully merged with a dimension wielded godlike power. If one could master the entire Yggdrasil, one might not reach true universal omnipotence, but one would stand dangerously close.
That, however, was not Nolan's chosen path. His path was already set: to embody the Infinity Stones themselves.
He would analyze their nature across different universes, fuse their essence into his own body, and perfect his powers.
It wasn't enough to enhance the body; the soul had to be elevated as well. That meant pushing deeper into dimensional forces like with his current subject, the Zombie Gladiator.
---
The corpse of the once-invincible Gladiator lay dissected. The standard serum to cure ordinary humans of zombification had already been perfected civilians infected in that universe were back to normal, undergoing only therapy to recover psychologically.
But superhumans were different. Those below Captain America's level, street-level fighters like Kick-Ass, could be restored. Yet enhanced beings like Storm or Juggernaut remained unchanged.
Death Spores helped, but not enough. Nolan needed a refined cure, especially for high-tier infected like the Zombie Gladiator. If he could cure him, nine out of ten zombie heroes in that universe would be solvable.
"Death Spores are working," Dr. Connors reported, eyes fixed on the monitors. "The virus is collapsing, but something inside him is resisting some kind of power counteracting the spores. Concentration levels are dropping…"
"Keep injecting," Nolan ordered. He was already studying the Gladiator's genetic sequence.
The Imperial Champion's powers came from his unique physiology, granting him:
Superhuman strength,
Near-invulnerability,
Supersonic-to-lightspeed flight,
And devastating energy-charged breath.
In truth, Gladiator was a mirror of Superman but with a fatal flaw. His power waxed and waned with his confidence.
If he believed himself stronger, he grew unstoppable, pressing on without fear. But once doubt crept in, his power crumbled, leaving him vulnerable just as he had been when facing Nolan.
---
Holographic analysis scrolled across the screens:
Gene sequence partially similar to Invisible Woman (Susan Storm).
Another sequence resembling Hulk's physiology.
Both are latent due to a protein shield preventing expression.
Lines of psionic energy patterns mapped out his powers: super strength, durability, flight, hyper-breath, and even microscopic vision. All of it came from genes that could absorb psionic energy.
That was the truth: Gladiator's confidence-based power was rooted in psionics. When he believed in himself, his body secreted a special factor like a hormone that dissolved the protein barriers, unlocking access to the psionic dimension. His cells then absorbed the overflow of energy, enhancing his every ability.
"Absorbing psionics to strengthen himself… interesting."
Nolan's eyes gleamed. This meant the Gladiator's genome contained coordinates to the psionic plane. But the energy he tapped wasn't from this universe it originated from the Zombie Universe's psionic dimension.
By tracing it through Gladiator's genes, Nolan could pinpoint that dimension and eventually devour it into his own dominion.
---
Still, Nolan wasn't reckless. He wouldn't directly absorb the Zombie Gladiator's DNA until he stripped away the flawed protein sequences that destabilized it.
At last, the lab's work concluded. A vial of darkened serum was placed into Nolan's hand. It still contained traces of the zombie virus, but that no longer concerned him.
After absorbing the Death Spores, Nolan himself had become their living embodiment. No virus, no serum, no pathogen could corrupt him now.
The Zombie Gladiator had become more than an experiment he was a gift, a stepping stone. With his psionic-fueled genome and dimensional coordinates, Nolan had just added yet another weapon to his arsenal.
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