Soren stood before mountains of harvested herbs and rare cosmic plants, far more than he had ever possessed at once.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been elated. But the ticking countdown in his mind stripped away any comfort.
Three days.
Three days to craft enough medicine to elevate an army of heroes to their highest potential.
Three days to prepare the Earth for the most devastating vanguard Thanos had ever unleashed.
Even for him, it was daunting.
He inhaled slowly, steadied his pulse, and began sorting the herbs with precise flicks of his fingers.
"Healing potions… Essence Mystery… Strength Elixirs… Body Reinforcement tonics," He muttered. "These are the foundations."
"The basics, they're indispensable and I need a lot."
His decision made, Soren lifted both palms.
A brilliant time sigil burst beneath his feet, expanding until it enveloped the entire chamber.
Glass instruments trembled. Reality itself bent and stretched as he forcibly accelerated the flow of time.
He felt the drain immediately but ignored it.
Light flickered at his fingertips as he crushed, separated, powdered, and distilled ingredients with supernatural speed.
Under the amplification of time magic, batches of herbs matured, withered, and transformed into shimmering potions by the dozens.
Hours bled into days… inside the sealed chamber, at least.
Outside, only one day passed.
Inside, Soren had lived through nearly four.
By the time he completed the last bottle of basic elixirs, his body trembled with fatigue, but his eyes gleamed with manic energy.
What sat before him wasn't ordinary medicine…
Each potion was dozens of times stronger than their normal variants, bordering on forbidden alchemy.
"These alone could turn the tide of a small war…" he murmured. "But against Thanos, it's not enough."
After resting his fingers for a moment, he scanned the shelves of ingredients again, mentally listing every formula in his laboratory repertoire.
Then came the thought that always gnawed at him.
The Resurrection Potion.
The most miraculous and most blasphemous creation available to him.
A medicine that spat in the face of the universe and dragged the freshly dead back into life. A miracle in a bottle.
But miracles demanded impossible things.
He held up one of the required herbs… only barely matured after months of accelerated growth. The rest?
Years. Decades. Some even centuries.
Nowhere near enough.
"Not this time," Soren whispered, gently closing the drawer
He exhaled sharply, letting go of regret. "Then we move on. There are other options."
A moment later, his gaze spotted it. "Yes. That potion."
A lesser-known formula, often dismissed as trivial by the stronger races of the cosmos. But in the coming battlefield, it might save countless lives.
A Flight Elixir.
Temporary yet indispensable. The Black Order commanded soldiers who dominated from the air. Many Earth defenders had no such advantage.
With this, they would.
Thor's inability to fly freely after losing Mjolnir had weakened him more than he cared to admit. His strength remained, his courage remained, but the sky was no longer his domain.
A temporary Flight Elixir would change that. And not only for him.
If Hulk, the X-Men, and even Mutants without natural mobility gained aerial maneuverability, the battlefield would tilt dramatically.
Survival rates would double. Retreats would no longer be suicide missions.
Soren knew it the moment the idea surfaced. Then I'll make it happen.
He plunged into the work with renewed urgency.
One by one, herbs transformed into shimmering sky-blue potions, their surfaces rippling like liquid starlight.
In only a few hours, though within his time-dilated chamber, 'hours' meant something else entirely, he forged enough Flight Elixirs for the entire army.
Another day passed in the outside world.
Three days had nearly come and gone, and throughout that time, Macaluso Island thrummed with the energy of preparation.
Heroes trained, Mutants meditated, magicians erected wards… everyone honed body and mind for the inevitable arrival of Thanos's vanguard.
Inside the sealed chamber, Soren looked far worse.
Even with Essence Mystery Elixirs supporting his mind, his spiritual energy was nearly drained. He had squeezed every drop of strength into his craft.
He knew he couldn't continue producing high-level potions without risking collapse.
So he changed strategy.
If I cannot strengthen us further… then I will weaken them.
Potion after potion was replaced by vials of fine, shimmering dust… poison powder. Not to enhance allies.
But to kill, if inhaled by almost any creature in the universe, it would paralyze and rot the body from the inside unless countered quickly.
He crafted the antidote as well…
Every ally who consumed it would walk through clouds of poison unharmed.
Every enemy who didn't… wouldn't walk at all.
By the time he corked the final vial, the outside world had reached the end of the second day. Inside, he had lived nearly a week.
Squeak
The time-seal dissolved. The heavy chamber door drifted open.
Jean and Freyja were the first to rush in, anxiety and relief tangled on their faces.
"Soren!"
Despite the exhaustion lining his eyes, he stepped out with a steady stride.
With a flick of his wrist, hundreds of crystalline potion bottles materialized around him, clinking as they stacked into a gleaming hill of liquid power.
The gathered heroes stared.
"You… made all of that?" Tony said slowly. "In three days?"
"Two and a half," Soren corrected tiredly. "Time was short."
"…" A silence followed.
"Call everyone," Soren said. "We need to distribute these immediately."
…
Soon the palace courtyard filled with Avengers, X-Men, Mutants, sorcerers, and more. Soren stepped before them, holding a handful of potions that radiated like captured constellations.
He started explaining.
"This blue elixir is your healing potion. Concentrated a hundredfold. Drink it, and no matter how severe the injury… bone, organ, or blood you will regenerate completely."
"The effect lasts fifteen minutes."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"This crimson vial is a Strength Enhancer. It adapts to your maximum potential and pushes it further."
"Hulk, this will multiply your raw power by at least two or three times. Maybe more."
Hulk grinned, pounding his chest.
"Next is the Essence Mystery Elixir." Soren lifted a silver-white potion glowing like moonlight. "This amplifies your mental power and focus."
"Telepaths, sorcerers, and sensory-based fighters will see dramatic improvements. It lasts an hour."
He held up the last of the general potions, a dark-gold bottle that pulsed like a heartbeat. "This is the Body Reinforcement Elixir."
"It hardens your skin, enhances your bones, and elevates your durability beyond anything you've ever experienced."
"Combined with the others," Soren said confident, "It will let you perform miracles."
By now, every hero stared slack-jawed. Even veterans like Magneto and Wolverine looked as though they had forgotten how to blink.
"And finally~" Soren gestured to the shimmering sky-blue vials at the far end of the table, "Flight Elixirs."
"Temporary, but effective. If you couldn't fly before, now you can. If you could… now you can fly faster."
Soren concluded. "Three days ago, Thanos planned to cleanse this world."
"Now?" He swept his gaze across the fortified army gathered before him.a
"We are ready to make him regret it."