Chapter 442: Allen Sacrifices Himself to Save the World
"A god is about to be born."
Locked away in a special prison, Ajak cackled with near-madness. "Once the Celestial descends, you're all going to die."
The tremors in the earth were the harbingers of the god's emergence.
Ajak had experienced this many times before and knew with chilling clarity that the final moment had arrived.
Once the Celestial was born, everything would be reset.
At that time, she would once again become the leader of the Eternals' squad, and her betrayal of her teammates would be wiped clean—memories reformatted.
The three Eternals assigned to guard her immediately contacted the Avengers.
Meanwhile, Faora, imprisoned alongside her, pounded her fists against the reinforced glass.
But the red warning lights were actively weakening her power. She roared in frustration, "Let me out..."
In truth, Kryptonians didn't particularly care whether Earth was destroyed—they just didn't want to die with it.
Pacific Ocean.
The previously calm sea suddenly churned violently, vortexes forming one after another.
From the ocean's depths, a colossal arm hundreds of meters long burst through the surface—comparable in size to a skyscraper.
And this massive arm was clad in armor, as if it had been born with it.
This was the new Celestial that the Justice League and Avengers had been desperately searching for.
And now, it was finally being born.
Once the new Celestial emerged, it would unleash endless natural disasters across the globe.
Humanity would be powerless to escape death, their life energy harvested en masse.
The Celestial would absorb this life energy to reach its complete form, then destroy the world to meet its own energy needs.
At that moment, forces from all directions rushed toward the Pacific.
Not only were there heroes representing the side of justice, but even powerful villains had arrived.
Regardless of their past alignments, they all shared one goal: to stop the destruction of Earth.
The magic faction led by the Ancient One.
The mutants led by Professor X.
The Justice League, summoned by Superman.
The Avengers, assembled by Iron Man.
…
It was practically a gathering of every power Earth had to offer.
Under the eyes of the entire world, the Celestial's arm broke through the surface.
"That one arm is taller than the tallest building on Earth…"
The sheer size of a single limb made everyone feel utterly insignificant.
"Everyone, give it everything you've got—we have to kill the Celestial!"
With that rallying cry, the heroes unleashed their full might.
Superman's eyes erupted with heat vision.
Iron Man's palm cannons flared.
The Ancient One wielded forbidden magic.
Wonder Woman swung her blazing sword.
Mutants fired a kaleidoscope of energy attacks.
…
The combined power was nothing short of nuclear in scale.
BOOM!
Thor's eyes turned white as he raised Mjolnir and unleashed a cascading thunderstrike.
Everyone gave it their all—no holding back, using their most powerful abilities.
But when the dust settled, to their horror, they found that the Celestial's arm was completely unharmed—not even a scratch.
Their attacks had no effect!
In an instant, the once-confident crowd was gripped by fear.
Magic, technology, divine power, superpowers… not a single one could touch the enemy.
What was the point of resisting if all efforts were meaningless? Were they just waiting to die?
"Damn, how many years has this guy been single to have an arm that jacked? Makes me feel a little self-conscious."
A sudden, jarring voice broke the tension.
Everyone turned to see Allen flying in sword-riding style atop Nanaue.
Nanaue was dragging an inflatable boat carrying Morgan and the comic relief trio toward the battlefield.
Back in the real world, Allen was still clutching his side—Sadako had just kicked him dead center, leaving him breathless.
Seeing the main heroes depart, and support-type heroes staying behind to guard the cities, the rest gathered to confront the true threat.
"Master, can I eat that thing?" Nanaue asked, licking his lips.
"Nanaue, stop trying to eat everything. You'll upset your stomach," Allen scolded.
At the same time, he picked up Mimi, who had been perched on Nanaue's head.
If it weren't for the global surveillance satellites flagging something happening in the Pacific, Allen would be flying around like a headless chicken.
He summoned a magic carpet using the Fear Lantern ring and soared high into the sky to join the others.
"Allen, do you have a plan?" Bruce stepped forward.
Despite Allen's usual madness, he always managed to offer a solution at critical moments.
"Bats, don't pressure a patient."
Allen confidently flicked his hair and declared, "Of course I have no idea."
No idea—yet so confident?
Everyone immediately deflated.
Suddenly, a spatial rift tore open, and a figure stepped out.
His entire body was enveloped in symbiote, making his face unrecognizable.
"Old man! You're here!" Allen beamed and waved.
Steve had secretly helped him many times—he'd recognize him anywhere.
That he'd shown up openly this time was… intriguing.
"Allen."
Steve peeled away the symbiote mask, revealing a face many knew well—
Captain America, long missing.
"Old pal, how are you still young?" Tony flew over, stunned.
He clearly remembered Steve using the time machine to return to WWII. The man should be in his 80s or 90s by now, but he looked exactly as he had before.
Meanwhile, Tony's own beard had gone gray—truly infuriating the more he thought about it.
"It's a long story. Let's handle this crisis first."
Steve nodded, then turned to Allen. "To stop the Celestial, we need to gather all six Infinity Stones. Otherwise, we'll have to abandon Earth."
"Infinity Stones!"
Allen looked down at his hospital gown and sighed, "Do I look like someone who has them?"
"…"
In truth, no one here had ever seen the Stones—just heard about them.
"I remember you already had four of them," Steve said solemnly.
"When? How come I don't know?" Allen looked genuinely baffled as he reached into his pants, thinking he'd left them in his dimensional backpack.
Steve twitched at the sight and quickly explained: "You took the Space Stone during WWII, the Time Stone from Kamar-Taj, the Power Stone from a thousand years ago, and your Arkham Fortress's AI core is the Mind Stone."
Sure enough, Allen did have four Stones.
Problem was—aside from the Mind Stone—the others were inside Mimi's stomach.
"Mimi."
Allen turned to Mimi and pleaded, "Spit out the stones. I have to save the world."
Meow!
PLOP—
Just like that, Mimi spat out three objects: the Orb (Power Stone), the Tesseract (Space Stone), and the Time Stone.
Instantly, hungry gazes fell upon them.
Infinity Stones—who wouldn't want them?
"Old man, who has the Reality and Soul Stones?" Allen asked.
Four Stones weren't enough. The remaining two were critical.
As for Unita, she could be summoned at any time.
"I don't know. You'll have to figure it out," Steve replied. "According to the Turin computer, the Celestial will fully awaken in two hours."
He added gravely, "My backup plan is to move humanity into the Quantum Realm. Save as many as possible. The Imperial Iron Curtain's twenty-six battalions are limited."
"Remember—you have two hours."
With that, Steve opened a portal and left for a city in chaos.
"Imperial Iron Curtain… that sounds familiar."
Allen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Then he noticed a symbiote head on Steve's back winking at him.
Suddenly, realization dawned. "Oh crap… the Phantom Legion! No wonder it sounded familiar—it's one of the fake groups I made up when forming the Guardians of the Galaxy."
The Avengers all looked like they'd just bitten into a sour plum.
Their revered Captain America had long since gone rogue, even commanding a force capable of relocating all humanity. The scale was staggering.
"So annoying."
Allen clawed at his hair. "Where am I supposed to find the other two Stones?"
Most of the others had never left Earth—how would they have any leads?
"I've got it!"
Suddenly, Allen thought of someone.
"Thanos must know! In the movies, Purple Grape collected all six Stones and wiped out half the universe—he might know something."
Thanos was currently with Uxas, rebuilding Apokolips. It wouldn't be hard to find him.
Without hesitation, Allen opened an interstellar portal.
On the other side was a completely different cityscape.
As Allen crossed tens of thousands of light-years in one step, a crowd quickly followed to join the fun.
The alien streets were nothing like when Allen had rescued Uxas.
As soon as the visitors stepped onto this foreign world, the planet-wide defense alarm was triggered.
Instantly, Amazo soldiers deployed, flying in on aircraft and surrounding the Earthlings.
Clack!
"Greetings, Princess."
Just as the heroes prepared to fight, they were stunned to see all the soldiers kneel in unison.
"I'm a boy, not a princess…" Allen mumbled shyly.
But the lead general ignored him and looked at Morgan with respect. "Welcome back to Apokolips, Princess."
"I remember now—this must be Grandpa Uxas!" Morgan said with a big smile.
Tch…
Even Tony couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy toward his daughter. All the good stuff went to her.
"Allen, welcome to Apokolips."
From afar, Uxas and Thanos arrived on a craft.
They'd seen the alarm feed and recognized their visitors—naturally, they came to greet them.
"No time for small talk. Earth's about to be wiped out."
Allen got straight to the point. "Purple Grape, do you know where the Infinity Stones are?"
"Infinity Stones?" Thanos narrowed his eyes. "What do you want them for?"
"To kill a Celestial and save Earth," Allen said bluntly.
Thanos opened a spatial vault and pulled out a golden gauntlet. Embedded in it were two Infinity Stones.
"The Infinity Gauntlet. Purple Grape, I see you never gave up on population control," Allen said meaningfully.
"I need their power to deal with the Eternals," Thanos replied helplessly.
"No time to explain."
Allen stepped forward, snatched the Gauntlet, and—since it was too big to wear on his hand—put it on his head.
With righteous conviction, he declared, "I'll make the sacrifice and save the world."
The Gauntlet, oversized for a human hand, fit perfectly on his head.
Allen even posed it with a thumbs-up.
Hiss…
The look was… hard to stomach.
The Infinity Stones were gathered way too easily—it felt like the script had planned it all along.
The heroes returned to Earth at once. Thanos followed as well—he had to retrieve the two borrowed Stones afterward, or he'd be left defenseless.
Of course, he wouldn't dare flaunt them too openly. If word got out, every cosmic faction would come sniffing around.
Click!
The Time Stone was set in place.
Allen pried open the Orb—violet Power Stone energy surged wildly.
He grabbed it and embedded it in the Gauntlet.
Then he handed the Tesseract to Thanos. "Smash it for me."
Crack—
With a pinch, the cube shattered into the Space Stone.
Once embedded, five Stones resonated in unison, glowing with dazzling brilliance.
"Unita Sun Sun, combine with me!"
"Understood, Commander."
Through a hidden earpiece, Allen summoned the Arkham Fortress AI.
With a thunderous boom, a beam of light shot down from above.
As the light faded, Unita made her first appearance—wearing a professional outfit, her proportions exaggerated to an extreme.
She had seized a nanomechanical body from Skynet and had undergone multiple upgrades and evolutions. Now equipped with liquid bionic metal capabilities, she could perfectly simulate human texture and temperature.
Unita walked straight up to Allen. With a single embrace, she melted over him like mercury, coating his entire body.
The sixth Infinity Stone was successfully embedded!
At the same time, a suit of silver armor enveloped Allen, the energy of the Infinity Stones coursing through every corner of his body.
"I feel terrifyingly powerful right now."
Allen casually reshaped the Infinity Gauntlet into a hand sign for "I love you."
"I can grant you one wish."
"Nanaue wants a pink dolphin. A female one."
The innocent longing in Nanaue's eyes was unmistakable.
"Your wish is granted."
Snap!
With a snap of Allen's fingers, Nanaue vanished from where he stood and reappeared in the dolphin breeding pool at a marine sanctuary thousands of miles away.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!
Sensing the power of the Infinity Stones, the new Celestial began to grow agitated, attempting to accelerate its emergence.
"Allen, stop messing around."
Thanos shouted, "Using multiple Infinity Stones together will damage your body!"
"Got it."
Allen cast Light of Healing, Healing Spell, and a stack of other restorative skills on himself.
Using a single Infinity Stone had no backlash, but wielding all six simultaneously—no matter how strong your regeneration, even someone like Hulk would have to sacrifice an arm.
"I'll turn it into vibranium."
Snap!
With another snap, the Celestial's arm began to slowly petrify.
But as soon as about five fingers had turned to vibranium, the transformation began to slow drastically.
"The Celestial's life force is that tenacious? It's withstanding the power of the Infinity Stones?"
Allen's expression darkened. He growled, "Today, it's either you die—or you die."
Snap! Snap! Snap...
Again and again, Allen snapped his fingers, utterly ignoring the consequences.
The wild, scorching power of the Stones coursed through his veins, burning them black at the edges. The charred spread continued despite his constant healing—his regeneration could no longer keep up with the damage.
"Stop it!" Thanos shouted in alarm. "You'll die!"
"A real man… isn't afraid of death."
Allen's skin was completely scorched. Not a single inch of his body remained unscathed.
Everyone watching felt their hearts clench at the sight.