"Hey Ultron?" Tony asked while appearing beside him through a phase shift. "What are the chances of us actually winning against him?"
Ultron kept his gaze fixed on Luke in the distance while damaged sections of his armor slowly reconstructed themselves.
"Low," he answered. "Even if this sword is capable of harming him, the advantage of surprise no longer exists."
The crimson blade vibrated faintly in his hand.
"And his regeneration appears abnormal," Ultron continued. "From my observations, the restoration process does not originate from his biological structure."
Tony's expression darkened slightly.
"The void itself is rebuilding him," he realized.
"Yes."
That answer alone was enough to make Tony annoyed.
"So killing him normally is out of the question," he muttered.
Ultron remained silent for a brief second before replying.
"Current probability suggests complete destruction of the body would still fail to terminate him permanently."
Tony cursed under his breath.
"But running is also no longer an option," Ultron continued while watching Luke. "Initially he did not classify me as a significant enemy."
The machine's voice became colder afterward.
"Now he appears intent on killing both of us."
Tony slowly looked sideways toward him.
Ultron turned his head slightly in return.
Even without facial expressions, the meaning was obvious.
You dragged me into this disaster.
Tony sighed inside the armor.
"Well," he said dryly, "in my defense, I thought the genocidal robot with universe-killing experience would perform a little better."
"Yeah," Luke said while suddenly appearing directly in front of both of them, "you two are honestly pretty lackluster."
Before Ultron could react, golden horizon-like rings formed around him instantly.
A singularity expanded at the center of the rings while distorted gravity crushed inward from every direction, trapping Ultron completely inside the collapsing space.
Ultron immediately swung the crimson sword against the forming prison, but the dimensional blade failed to cut through it this time.
"Now even that sword won't help," Luke said coldly. "Your regeneration can't escape this."
Tony instantly realized something was wrong and opened his mouth to say something—
Luke's hand pierced straight through his chest.
The black void surrounding Luke's arm ignored the armor completely before punching through Tony's heart from the front and tearing out through his back.
Tony froze.
Then Luke crushed the heart in his hand.
"Yeah," Luke muttered, "no more clever speeches."
Tony's body twitched once before Luke ripped his arm back out violently. Blood scattered through the void while the damaged armor sparked uncontrollably.
Then Luke grabbed Tony by the head.
And tore it off.
The body drifted downward lifelessly while Luke held the severed head in one hand.
[Avatar of Virtuoso Eliminated]
The system notification appeared briefly.
Then the void around Luke shattered.
Shattered.
The endless black-white emptiness collapsed apart like broken glass while overwhelming pressure descended across existence itself. Luke immediately looked upward and saw something enormous standing beyond the collapsing void.
A massive humanoid figure surrounded by red cosmic destruction energy stared down at him.
Its body looked partially formed from burning stellar matter while enormous rings of crimson-gold energy rotated around it like dying galaxies. Entire sections of nearby dimensions warped from its presence alone.
Its eyes burned like collapsing suns.
And the moment Luke looked at it—
He felt the difference instantly.
The gap in power was absurd.
For the first time in a long while, Luke genuinely felt small.
Like an ant standing before something incomprehensibly ancient.
"You are nothing more than another chosen insect," the massive being said, its voice shaking reality itself. "Yet you dared destroy my chosen destroyer."
The red cosmic energy surrounding it expanded violently.
"Humanity is nothing more than temporary filth before eternal destruction."
Luke immediately frowned.
"…Okay," he said while looking up at the cosmic entity. "Why the fuck is there suddenly another cosmic motherfucker involved now?"
System notifications exploded across his vision.
[Warning: Cosmic Manifestation of Destruction has appeared]
[Competition temporarily suspended]
[Initiating the Tier-0 Judgment Call]
[The Judge requests permission to deploy the Cosmic God-Killing Chains]
[Requested Armament: Eternal Spear of Annihilation]
[Do the Manifestations agree?]
"What the fuck is going on?" Luke muttered while staring at the notifications appearing one after another in front of him.
Behind him, the massive energy portal continued opening wider while gigantic chains slowly emerged from inside it, wrapped around something enormous that had not fully appeared yet.
Then the responses began appearing.
[Evolution opposed the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
[Virtuoso opposed the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
[Destruction opposed the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
[Corruption opposed the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
[Humanity agreed for the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
[Domination agreed for the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
[Trailblaze agreed for the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
[Peace agreed for the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
[Creation agreed for the manifestation of the Annihilation Spear]
The giant crimson cosmic figure suddenly froze.
Then destruction energy exploded outward from its body violently enough to crack the surrounding dimensions again.
"You trashes!" it roared furiously. "How dare you choose him over me?!"
Its burning eyes locked directly onto Luke.
"He is nothing more than an insignificant ant beneath eternity itself! How dare you even think—"
The cosmic manifestation never got to finish.
Behind Luke, five massive cosmic figures appeared silently.
Each one radiated a different authority powerful enough to distort the surrounding dimensions simply by existing there.
Blue energy, golden light, silver distortion, green creation currents, and white domination waves spread outward behind them while the collapsing void trembled under the pressure of multiple manifestations appearing together.
Luke slowly turned his head slightly.
"…Okay," he muttered. "This day officially became insane."
One of the figures stepped forward slightly.
Its body was surrounded by deep blue energy that flowed like endless cosmic rivers through space itself.
"Do you truly believe yourself above consequence merely because you embody destruction?" the figure asked calmly.
The crimson manifestation glared toward it furiously.
"You always lacked understanding," the blue figure continued. "You think only of destruction itself and never of what follows afterward."
The surrounding blue energy expanded slowly around it.
"And this," it said while glancing toward the chains emerging from the portal behind Luke, "is the consequence born from your own actions."
The crimson manifestation's aura exploded violently again.
"I am destruction itself!" it roared. "No consequence can stand above me!"
Another cosmic figure laughed softly.
Golden energy flickered around this one.
"That arrogance," it said calmly, "is exactly why you continue losing."
*****
A/N: If you'd like to read ahead of the Webnovel release schedule, you can join my Patreon!
The Patreon version is 50 chapters ahead.
👉 patreon.com/Universal_Peace