Arbitrators' fighter jets sliced through the clouds, their engine roars sounding particularly low in the thin high-altitude air.
Inside the cabin, Chen Tian stood before a holographic projection, blue data streams reflecting on his stern face.
In the projection, an ancient castle stood among the mountains of Sokovia, the HYDRA symbol faintly visible under infrared scan.
"Intelligence shows that residual energy from the Mind Stone is hidden here," Chen Tian's voice was calm.
"This might be HYDRA's new weapon factory."
Steve stood to the side, his brow furrowed: "Are we sure Bucky is here?"
Chen Tian's fingertip glided across the holographic image, switching the display to the castle's underground structural map, with several red dots marking potential detention areas.
"Not certain," he said lightly.
"But HYDRA won't abandon any valuable 'assets,' especially the Winter Soldier."
2B stood by the hatch, her silver hair gently fluttering in the airflow, her pupils flickering with data streams, rapidly analyzing the terrain and potential threat points.
"Action plan?" Steve looked at Chen Tian.
Chen Tian crossed his arms, his gaze still fixed on the projection: "You and 2B will infiltrate from the ground, clear the perimeter guards, and find the Mind Stone's storage location.
Once you secure the Mind Stone, then you can go find Bucky." He paused, "I will observe the overall situation from the air, adjusting tactics at any time."
Steve nodded, reaching to adjust his vibranium shield's straps: "Understood." He slightly turned his head, looking at Chen Tian: "Chen Tian, you're not coming with us?"
Chen Tian's lips curved into a faint, almost imperceptible smile: "I will watch the overall situation, and if any emergencies arise, I will join the battle."
Steve keenly sensed the deeper meaning in Chen Tian's words, but before he could speak, the fighter jet's AI voice sounded: "Arriving at target airspace, hatch preparing to open."
The hatch slowly slid open, and the cold high-altitude air surged in.
Steve took a deep breath, looked back at Chen Tian: "Give me some time, I will awaken Bucky and retrieve the Mind Stone."
His words carried a hint of a plea.
Chen Tian merely smiled faintly: "Good luck, Captain."
2B took one last look at Chen Tian, then leaped out of the hatch, her silver hair arcing in the wind.
Steve followed closely, his vibranium shield reflecting dazzling light in the Sun.
The fighter jet's hatch closed again, Chen Tian stood alone before the projection, his gaze locked on a red dot deep within the castle.
"AI, lower altitude, maintain stealth mode," he commanded softly.
The fighter jet slowly descended, clouds swirling outside the window.
Chen Tian's fingertip lightly tapped, the projection switched to real-time monitoring—Steve and 2B had landed and were rapidly advancing towards the castle.
"Steve, I hope you guys move slowly," Chen Tian murmured to himself, a hint of coldness flashing in his eyes, "Because I… won't wait."
Chen Tian's hair turned black and white, and his eyes changed into the Eyes of the Sky.
"Bucky Barnes…" Chen Tian softly uttered the name, his tone icy, "Sorry, this time, no one can save you."
— — — —
Steve's vibranium shield sliced through the air, smashing heavily into a HYDRA soldier's chest, sending him flying several meters.
Alarms blared, echoing piercingly throughout the castle, and red warning lights illuminated the corridor as if stained with blood.
"2B, left corridor!" Steve low-roared, sidestepping bullets, then backhanded his vibranium shield out, knocking down three armed Agents.
2B's figure flitted like a ghost, her silver hair trailing afterimages in her high-speed movement.
Her mechanical arm unfolded, her slender fingers easily tearing through the thick armor of a tank as if it were thin paper.
HYDRA soldiers watched in horror as the seemingly frail girl single-handedly flipped a steel behemoth weighing over ten tons, then had their weapons severed by her blade's flash.
"Target cleared," 2B's voice was calm, as if she had merely completed a simple data entry.
Castle Command Room
Baron Strucker slammed his fist on the control panel, the holographic projection flickering from the impact.
"It's just two people! What are you panicking about?!" he roared.
"Officer, Captain America and that silver-haired girl have already breached the outer defenses!" The Agent's voice trembled with fear, "The tank we sent… she dismantled it with her bare hands!"
Strucker's face was terrifyingly grim.
He stared at the two individuals moving through the monitor feed as if no one was there, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.
"Go to the Underground Room," he said coldly, "Release those twins."
The Agent was startled: "But Baron, their abilities are still unstable—"
"Now!" Strucker roared, "Send them to deal with the invaders!"
Castle Perimeter
Steve and 2B stood back to back, piles of fallen HYDRA soldiers surrounding them.
In the distance, more enemies were setting up heavy weapons, their muzzles aimed at them.
"Looks like they don't plan to surrender," Steve gasped for breath, gripping his vibranium shield tightly.
Data streams flickered rapidly in 2B's pupils, and she suddenly reached out to stop Steve, who was about to advance: "Captain, abnormal energy fluctuations detected underground, suggest delaying advance."
Steve frowned: "What's the problem?"
"My shield system requires 3 minutes and 42 seconds to recharge," 2B calmly reported, subtly adjusting her stance to guide Steve's gaze away from the castle's core area, "Suggest clearing outer firing points first."
No sooner had she spoken than the ground suddenly shook violently.
With a thunderous boom, a large hole exploded in the castle's west wall.
"Damn it!" Steve raised his vibranium shield, "It's a tank unit!"
2B quickly scanned the battlefield: "Detecting four T-90 main battle tanks approaching." She deliberately paused, "My shield cannot provide effective defense at the moment."
Steve gritted his teeth: "Can we find a way to break through?"
"Calculating optimal solution…" 2B's pupils flickered with blue light, secretly prolonging the analysis time, "Still need 2 minutes and 15 seconds."
On a distant high tower, Baron Strucker sneered as he pressed the communicator: "Bring up the Maximoff siblings, it's time to let the Arbitrators witness true power."
At the same time, Castle Basement Level Three.
Chen Tian's figure moved like a ghost through the corridor, the HYDRA guards along the way silently falling.
He stared at the red dot flickering on his tactical eyepiece, a cold curve on his lips.
"Found you, Bucky."
Chen Tian's fingertips condensed a pale blue Cursed Energy, the energy of the Cursed Technique Reversal: Blue slowly swirling in his palm, emitting a suffocating sense of oppression.
Tiny ice crystals began to form on the glass surface of the cryogenic chamber, Bucky Barnes's face appearing particularly pale in the low temperature.
"Farewell, Winter Soldier," Chen Tian's voice was as cold as an arctic wind.
Just as the Cursed Energy was about to erupt, his Eyes of the Sky suddenly constricted—a sharp whooshing sound came through the air, and a silvery-white afterimage struck with terrifying supersonic speed!
"Boom!"
Chen Tian instinctively dodged, the ground where he had been standing exploding into a three-meter-deep crater.
Amidst the flying debris, Pietro Maximoff's figure gradually solidified, the boy's silvery hair still carrying the ionized sparks from breaking the sound barrier.
"Stop! Don't you dare touch him!" Pietro's pupils glowed with scarlet light, his voice trembling with anger, "Baron Strucker said this Winter Soldier is ours—"
His voice suddenly choked.
The moment he clearly saw Chen Tian's face, Pietro's expression froze.
His lips trembled slightly, the hostility in his eyes replaced by incredulous shock.
"This… impossible…"
At the same time, hurried footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
Wanda Maximoff, surrounded by swirling scarlet chaos magic, rushed over: "Pietro! What's happening—"
Her question abruptly stopped.
Scarlet energy solidified in the air, Wanda's pupils contracting violently.
Her lips trembled, her voice filled with near-collapse shock: "Chen Tian? You… weren't you dead? By S.H.I.E.L.D.…?"
Chen Tian's fingers paused slightly, the pale blue Cursed Energy slowly flowing in his palm.
He narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the stunned and speechless siblings before him, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver…
"Apparently, we don't know each other," his voice was low, but the Cursed Energy at his fingertips did not dissipate, "Move aside, if you don't want to fight, then don't stop me."
Pietro's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice dry: "But that explosion… we saw you with our own eyes…"
"Pietro!" Wanda suddenly shrieked, chaos magic fluctuating violently around her, "Watch out!"
The ceiling exploded with a roar, and amidst the flying debris, Steve descended, holding the Mind Stone.
His vibranium shield sparked brightly upon landing, and Captain America's eyes burned with angry flames.
"Chen Tian!" he roared, slamming the Mind Stone into the ground, "You promised me time!"
The glass of the cryogenic chamber developed spiderweb-like cracks under the sound wave vibration.
Chen Tian looked at Steve, who was blocking the cryogenic chamber, his black and white hair fluttering in the energy turbulence.
"Captain," he said calmly, his gaze fixed on the Mind Stone in Steve's hand, "It seems you've found one of our objectives."
Steve stepped forward, staring intently at Chen Tian, the Mind Stone at the top of the Mind Stone beginning to glow with an ominous yellow light: "Bucky needs help, not execution!"
2B's figure appeared silently around the corridor corner, she stood behind Chen Tian, "Sorry, Master, I couldn't stall for time."
"You've been deceiving me all this time?" Steve's voice trembled with hurt, "Having 2B deliberately stall for time?"
Chen Tian did not immediately answer Steve's question, but instead slightly turned his head to look at 2B: "Situation inside the castle?"
Data streams flickered rapidly in 2B's pupils: "Master, 72.3% of HYDRA's armed forces have been eliminated, including their leader Baron Strucker." She paused, "The remaining 27.7% of armed forces are converging on Basement Level Three."
Chen Tian gently nodded, his gaze returning to Steve: "Captain, there are still HYDRA remnants here that need to be cleared." His voice was calm to the point of being cold, "I suggest you deal with them first."
Steve's fists clenched, his vibranium shield's edge gleaming coldly in the Mind Stone's light: "Answer me! Did you plan to kill Bucky from the very beginning?" His voice echoed in the empty underground corridor, "2B stalling for time, you acting alone… was all of this your plan?"
The Maximoff siblings stood to the side, watching the two suddenly arguing, somewhat at a loss for what to do.
Chen Tian's eyes slightly closed, and a hint of crimson flashed within his Heavenly Eyes. When he opened his eyes again, his voice was so soft it was almost inaudible: "I'm sorry, Captain."
A blue energy orb slowly condensed at Chen Tian's fingertips, and the surrounding air began to twist and deform. The small orb appeared tiny, yet it seemed to contain the gravity of the entire Universe; even light bent around it.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Blue."
As Chen Tian's cold voice fell, the entire Underground Room suddenly fell into an eerie silence. Everyone felt their bodies sink, as if pressed into place by an invisible giant hand.
Steve grunted, his knees slightly bent. The vibranium shield suddenly became incredibly heavy, and Captain America had to exert all his strength just to barely hold it. Wanda's scarlet hair floated without a breeze, and she struggled to maintain her standing posture, her chaos magic becoming erratic in the powerful gravitational field.
"...Damn it...Chen Tian...doesn't he use...a greatsword?...How does he...know this?" Wanda gritted her teeth, fine beads of sweat seeping from her forehead.
Pietro tried to move but found his super speed completely unusable. His legs felt like they were filled with lead, making even the simplest step incredibly difficult. "Damn it..." Quicksilver's pupils constricted violently, "My body...is so heavy..."
2B's internal mechanical core hummed, her gravity regulation system working at full capacity to counter the sudden change in gravity. Confusion flashed in the silver-haired girl's eyes: "Master...this gravitational field..."
Her core computer couldn't figure out why her Master's skill was affecting her.
Steve struggled to raise his head, seeing Chen Tian standing at the center of the gravitational field, his black and white hair wildly dancing in the energy storm. Captain America's eyes were filled with shock and bewilderment: "Chen Tian...what are you doing?"
The cryo-pod emitted an ear-splitting metallic screech in the gravitational field of "Blue," and spiderweb-like cracks began to appear on the surface of the thick tempered glass. The entire metal cabin seemed to be dragged by an invisible giant hand, slowly sliding towards Chen Tian's direction, plowing a deep furrow in the ground.
"No! Bucky!" Steve roared, releasing the vibranium shield without hesitation. Captain America lunged forward, his hands gripping the emergency handle on the side of the cryo-pod. His knuckles turned white from the exertion, and his military boots scraped two scorched Marks on the ground.
"Crack, crack, crack––" The metal handle began to deform under the dual forces. Steve's muscles were tensed to their limit, every vein bulging beneath his skin like coiling dragons. His temples throbbed, and sweat dripped down his taut jawline, tearing into fine mist upon contact with the gravitational field.
The cryo-pod was still moving slowly. Steve's feet had already sunk into the concrete ground, and the back of his combat suit was torn in several places by the invisible force, revealing bleeding skin underneath. But Captain America gritted his teeth, a Beast-like growl rumbling in his throat, resisting the space-warping cursed energy with pure physical strength.
"Chen Tian...stop..." Steve squeezed out the words through gritted teeth, his pupils bloodshot, "Are you...insane?"
"Insane? No, these are all necessary sacrifices." Chen Tian's voice was inhumanly cold, and a trace of red light coiled within the azure pupils of his Heavenly Eyes.
2B's pupils constricted violently, data streams cascading like a waterfall. She looked at Chen Tian's cold, emotionless profile, and a stinging alarm blared from her core processor—this wasn't the Master she knew.
"Master!" Her voice was sharp for the first time, almost tearing the limits of her vocal cords, "Please stop!"
The silver-haired girl stumbled forward, ignoring the tearing force of the gravitational field. Her mechanical joints groaned under the strain, and her artificial skin began to crack under immense pressure, revealing the sparking metal structure beneath.
"You said...you wanted to create a World where no one needed to sacrifice!" 2B's voice trembled, carrying a near-human sob, "Is this the future you want?"
Chen Tian's fingertips paused slightly.
2B's voice was like a sharp blade, piercing deep into his chaotic consciousness. The crimson light in his Heavenly Eyes fluctuated briefly, and Chen Tian's expression wavered for a moment, as if struggling within a distant memory fragment.
"2B..." His lips trembled slightly, a nearly imperceptible waver in his voice.
But the next second, that crimson tide swept back into his pupils. Chen Tian's expression became cold and unfamiliar again, as if that momentary wavering had never existed.
"I'm sorry, 2B." His voice was low and hollow, as if coming from a great distance, "This is not a war you should be involved in."
Before he finished speaking, Chen Tian raised his right hand, drawing a quiet blue trajectory in the air. 2B's mechanical pupils contracted sharply; she saw her data core begin to uncontrollably decompose into countless points of light.
"Master...no..." Her voice trembled, her fingertips grasping futilely in the void, only touching cold air.
The silver-haired girl's outline began to blur, like a sand painting scattered by the wind, with quiet blue data streams glowing beneath her artificial skin.
In the last moment before her dissipation, an uninterpretable complex light flashed in 2B's electronic eyes—a tremor of the soul, indefinable by any program code.
Her body transformed into myriad points of light, like stars extinguishing in the night sky. Before completely vanishing, those light points still stubbornly tried to piece together her Master's outline.
"I will...wait for you to summon me again..."
With this almost inaudible whisper, 2B completely disappeared from her spot, leaving only a few scattered silver hairs and a few drops of blue coolant on the ground, proving her past existence.
Chen Tian slowly lowered his hand, the blue afterglow of the summoning technique still lingering on his fingertips. His expression remained unchanged, as if he had merely shut down an irrelevant program.
"Now," his gaze refocused on the cryo-pod, and the crimson light in his Heavenly Eyes intensified, "it's time to end this."
The gravitational field suddenly intensified several times, and the entire Underground Room trembled. Steve let out a painful groan; his arm muscles had reached their limit, yet he still clung desperately to the cryo-pod.
"Chen Tian!" Captain America's voice was hoarse and inhuman, "Wake up! This isn't you!"
But Chen Tian seemed to hear nothing. He slowly raised his hand, and the blue energy orb began to spin at an astonishing speed, tearing small spatial rifts in the surrounding air.
"Rest in peace, Winter Soldier."
Just as the energy was about to erupt—
A long sigh suddenly echoed in the air, as if from the distant ends of time. This sigh carried an indescribable weariness and vicissitudes of life, yet also contained a wisdom beyond the mundane.
"Enough."
As this whisper fell, a circle of golden sparks suddenly appeared beneath Chen Tian's feet, like ripples on water. The sparks rotated, outlining ancient and mysterious runic patterns. Chen Tian's pupils constricted sharply; he immediately tried to activate his technique to float and evade, but then he suddenly discovered that an identical golden halo had appeared above his head at some unknown point.
"This is—"
Before he finished speaking, the upper and lower halos simultaneously contracted, completely enveloping Chen Tian.
The next second, the golden halos, along with Chen Tian within them, vanished into thin air, leaving only a few scattered sparks slowly dying out.
The entire third Underground Room fell into an eerie silence, with only the cryo-pod's alarm echoing in the empty corridor.
In an instant, the distorted gravitational field within the third Underground Room disappeared without a trace, as if erased by an eraser. The cryo-pod crashed to the ground, and Steve staggered back a few steps, looking at the scene before him in shock.
Steve stood rooted to the spot, his gaze shifting from where Chen Tian had disappeared to the equally shocked Maximoff siblings.
"What was that just now...?" Pietro's voice trembled slightly; he instinctively touched his neck, as if confirming he hadn't been taken away by the same magic.
Wanda's chaos magic unconsciously swirled around her, her eyes flickering with wariness and confusion: "I can't feel any energy fluctuations... It's like, like he was never there."
Steve bent down to pick up his shield, his brow furrowed. He looked at the severely deformed cryo-pod, Bucky's pale face faintly visible behind the shattered glass.
— — — —
Within the golden Mirror Dimension, Chen Tian's figure suddenly appeared. He stumbled to his feet, crimson and azure light fiercely intertwined in his Heavenly Eyes, like two tearing waves.
"This is..."
The surrounding buildings folded and twisted in ways that defied physical laws, and the sky presented bizarre geometric patterns. Chen Tian raised his hand to touch the glass curtain wall beside him, but his fingertips passed through the seemingly solid surface—everything here was an illusion reflecting reality.
"The Mirror Dimension?"
"Mm, yes, this is the Mirror Dimension." A gentle voice came from behind him.
Chen Tian's pupils contracted sharply. He spun around abruptly, seeing Sorcerer Ancient One step out as if from a shattered mirror, her orange-yellow robes gently fluttering in the windless space.
"Ancient One?" Chen Tian's voice was dangerously hoarse, and the crimson in his Heavenly Eyes spread further, "You shouldn't have stopped me."
Ancient One did not answer immediately. She walked closer, her gaze falling on Chen Tian's corrupted right eye. The pure azure there had been largely stained by crimson, spreading like ink dropped into clear water.
"I've been helping you ward off the Dimension Demon God from finding your whereabouts." Ancient One said softly, drawing a golden trajectory in the air with her finger, "But I didn't expect that there would still be a fish that slipped through the net."
"Have you... not slept well for a long time?"
------------------------
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(End of Chapter)