Nightfall.
For once, Luca wasn't busy in the laboratory. After handing off all the miscellaneous tasks to Hajimi, he curled up leisurely on a beanbag chair, casually flipping through a book, accompanied by a swarm of Haros.
Although a quiet environment might be more conducive to studying...
Luca actually enjoyed the feeling of having these noisy little guys around him.
Especially watching Baymax carefully protect the bouncing little bots with his soft, large hands, separating the different colored Haros to prevent them from colliding and making even more noise.
Luca would always smile at the sight, his copy of Quantum Physics staying open on the preface page for ages.
Sigh~ If only I could live like this forever.
But thinking about the messed-up world he lived in, Luca shook his head helplessly.
"I wonder how the reconstruction over at Osborn's is going? Maybe it's time to start pushing the project to get Baymax into every home."
Thinking back to the Osborn Group's recent misfortunes, Luca felt that old Norman Osborn was truly unlucky.
Unlike the Aurantius Tower, which had remained mostly intact during the last massive riot of otherworld criminals sparked by Hydra, the Osborn Group's headquarters had suffered heavy losses.
Not only were their offices destroyed, but their employees also suffered heavy casualties.
It was only because the two companies had previously collaborated on a project to mass-produce Baymax robots...
Under the cover of that "army" of semi-finished robots, the Osborn Group managed to avoid total destruction.
Later, they even had the capacity to send some replica Baymax units to assist New York citizens in post-disaster reconstruction.
It served as a highly effective advertisement for the project before it had even fully launched.
However, the Osborn Group's bad luck didn't end there.
Just as they began post-disaster reconstruction, they were attacked by several otherworld villain groups in succession.
Although the damage wasn't severe, it caused the reconstruction work to be delayed again and again.
According to Luca's intel, the mastermind organizing these villain attacks on Osborn seemed to be the fugitive villain known as Mister Negative.
He didn't know if the guy had a screw loose or what. Even though Mister Negative was an otherworld visitor himself, he harbored a deep hatred for the Osborn Group.
Even while evading S.H.I.E.L.D.'s pursuit, he was constantly trying to make life difficult for Osborn.
This resulted in the original Baymax promotion plan being indefinitely postponed.
Forget it. The whole US is in chaos right now anyway. Even if we started promoting it, it's hard to say how many people would be willing to pay for a medical companion robot.
Let Osborn worry about that headache himself.
Luca casually grabbed a demonized Haro that had been relentlessly headbutting his calf and tossed it onto Baymax's round belly.
Watching the little dark red bot flap its wings and wobble into the air, the smile on Luca's face deepened.
"It's a pity. The enhancement effect of the Ascension Ceremony is so good, but without opening the Hell Gate, I don't even have basic materials anymore."
---
"Haha! With so many delicious materials, it won't be long before I can open a dimensional gate directly to Earth!"
At this very moment, amidst the radioactive wreckage of Washington D.C. after the nuclear explosion.
A refined middle-aged man in a white suit stood in the center of the ruins, enjoying the "sweet" atmosphere around him with intoxication and delight.
Evil, despair, confusion, pain.
A scene that others would avoid like the plague was, in Mephisto's eyes, a massive treasure trove.
It was filled with inexhaustible resources everywhere.
Yes, it was Mephisto.
Or rather, the avatar that had escaped from the Aurantius Tower!
As an old schemer who had lived for god knows how long, realizing his power was insufficient and his weakness had been discovered, he naturally wouldn't stay put and wait to die.
Dignity meant nothing to Mephisto.
He had abandoned the cane made of temporary demons right then and there and fled the scene.
In reality, with Mephisto's abilities, he could have easily stolen away the most important power and souls while splitting the demons to distract the enemy.
But to make his avatar's "death" look more convincing, Mephisto only took a small amount of power to maintain his existence, leaving everything else behind at the Aurantius Tower.
Of course, part of the reason was that the moment this Hell Lord arrived on Earth, he clearly sensed the countless "high-quality" souls gathered in the direction of Washington.
Although these souls weren't enough to allow Mephisto to descend in his true form...
Or rather, even if he did descend, without the Fallen Holy Spirit as a vessel, he couldn't unleash his full power.
But at the very least, using these souls to open a Hell Gate and transport a demon army to Earth would be a piece of cake for him.
How big of a rift could he tear? How many minions could he summon?
"Come to me, children..."
As he spoke, Mephisto made a grasping motion with his hand.
From the empty air in front of him, waves of shrill wails suddenly erupted, and ghostly afterimages converged toward his palm like a tide. A satisfied smile appeared on Mephisto's face.
However, even Mephisto failed to notice that the moment he stepped into the ruins of Washington, a green ripple had appeared around the perimeter.
Subsequently, the entire site of Washington D.C. seemed to be completely isolated from the outside world.
Outside the pale green glow, everything was normal.
But within the blast zone of Washington, the flow of time for all objects seemed to be slowed down countless times over.
Especially Mephisto, who was striding toward the center of the ruins.
In his own senses, he was walking leisurely.
But if anyone outside the ruins were watching him, his pace was slower than a crawling tortoise.
It was like he was performing the "Drax Invisibility Technique"—taking a good long while just to move a fraction of an inch.
As the viewpoint pulled back and time passed...
No matter how the sun and moon cycled outside, or how the weather changed...
Everything inside the Washington nuclear ruins—and the sole Mephisto avatar existing within it—remained completely isolated from the world, unaffected by anything, operating according to its own infinitely slowed timeline.
Like a... bonsai... existing independently outside the world.
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