Faced with the White Demon's gentle, warm smile, Colonel William Stryker felt the blood in his veins completely freeze over.
The world around him suddenly lost all its color. Everything felt surreal, like a bizarre, suffocating nightmare.
How? How could the White Demon traverse parallel universes?! Didn't Mr. Fantastic explicitly state that it was mathematically impossible for him to do so, let alone pinpoint their exact coordinates amidst an infinite sea of realities?!
So what the hell is happening right now?!
"This is a dream. Yes, that's it! This must be a dream!"
The apocalyptic, crushing pressure radiating from the White Demon, combined with the absolute terror of impending death, violently tangled and warped inside Stryker's mind. The sheer psychological strain completely shattered his sanity, plunging him into manic, babbling madness!
Seeing Stryker's mind break, Su Mu frowned slightly, genuinely dissatisfied.
"Mr. Stryker, please don't worry. I'll cure you right up!"
Su Mu was simply too kind-hearted. He absolutely couldn't bear to see Stryker's will collapse like this.
After all, if his mind was broken, the torture would be entirely too boring, wouldn't it?
Su Mu slowly strolled toward the babbling Colonel, preparing to use the Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his shattered psyche!
At Level 4, the conceptual restoration of the Reverse Cursed Technique could cure any affliction, returning the target to its absolute pristine state. It could even repair inanimate objects, so repairing Colonel Stryker's broken sanity was as easy as breathing.
As Su Mu walked toward Stryker, The Leader and Ivan Vanko silently and desperately tried to inch away into the background.
Noticing Su Mu's crystalline blue gaze casually drift over to them, The Leader forcibly contorted his already grotesque, oversized face into an incredibly sickening, ingratiating smile.
"Lord White Demon!" The Leader stammered, bowing deeply. "I beg of you, please spare my life! With my peerless intellect, I can serve you! I can be of immense use!"
"Yes! Exactly! Me too..." Ivan Vanko immediately chimed in, nodding frantically.
Su Mu paused, appearing to consider the offer for a moment, before nodding in agreement.
"You're right. You are both incredibly intelligent. Bringing you two under my command would indeed be quite a significant asset..."
Hearing this, absolute ecstasy erupted on the faces of The Leader and Vanko.
SPLAT!
Without a microsecond of warning, a terrifying wave of spatial repulsion violently crushed The Leader! Copious amounts of glowing green blood and brain matter violently exploded outward, completely drenching Ivan Vanko and blinding his vision!
Trembling uncontrollably, Vanko frantically wiped the viscous green gore from his eyes. He stared at the pulverized, unrecognizable remains of The Leader, and then heard the demon's cold, lazy whisper.
"Such a pity. You're simply too ugly. I don't like it..."
Vanko's heart nearly exploded from his chest. He desperately slicked back his greasy hair, frantically wiped the green slime from his face, and forced an incredibly stiff, terrified smile at Su Mu.
"Lord White Demon! I-I'm not ugly! Look, I'm not ugly!"
Su Mu looked Vanko up and down. As the Russian physicist's heart pounded against his ribs in absolute, suffocating terror, Su Mu finally spoke.
"You're a bit ugly..."
Vanko froze in sheer panic.
"...But you at least pass as human!" Su Mu finished cheerfully.
Vanko let out a massive, trembling breath, completely slumping in relief. Like a desperate, beaten dog begging for scraps, he wagged his metaphorical tail.
"Yes! Yes, thank you, my Lord! I will spend the rest of my life serving you—"
But before he could even finish his sentence, a twisted gravitational field violently swallowed him! Crimson blood and glowing green gore violently mixed together on the floor, indistinguishable from one another!
The demon's voice drifted through the air once more.
"Such a pity. You just stepped forward with your left foot first. That is a massive taboo of mine, so you have to die!"
Completely ignoring the puddle of red and green gore, Su Mu finally arrived in front of the shivering Stryker. He injected a surge of positive energy via the Reverse Cursed Technique, instantaneously restoring the Colonel's shattered sanity to perfect, agonizing clarity.
Su Mu looked down at the fully aware, utterly terrified Colonel Stryker and flashed a brilliant, radiant smile.
"We have plenty of time, Mr. Stryker. Let's take it nice and slow!"
...
The blood-curdling screams and the sickening sounds of bones being methodically crushed echoed for a very, very long time. It was only after several hours had passed that the chamber finally fell dead silent.
Opening a portal and stepping back into his original universe, Su Mu felt incredibly refreshed. The air tasted sweeter, and his entire body felt perfectly relaxed!
The single, irritating thorn that had been stuck in his throat ever since he crossed over into this world had finally, completely been plucked out!
Returning to his Malibu cliffside mansion, Su Mu didn't do anything else. He simply laid down on his luxurious bed and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
At this current point in time on Earth, every single entity that actively opposed him had been completely eradicated. There was absolutely no one left on the planet who could pose even a microscopic threat to him!
For the first time in a long while, the restless, chaotic energy in Su Mu's spirit completely settled down.
For the next several days, aside from casually grinding his skills, Su Mu did absolutely nothing. He enjoyed a long-overdue, completely relaxing vacation.
The primary skills he chose to focus on during this downtime were Vector Manipulation and the Unknown Wings.
During his training, Su Mu discovered a distinct, conceptual link between the two wing manifestations. Whenever he actively trained the White Wings, the experience bar for the Black Wings would passively increase alongside it!
After a brief moment of thought, Su Mu understood exactly why.
In the original canonical lore, the White Wings were the evolved, perfected state of the Black Wings. They existed in a direct hierarchical relationship. Therefore, by mastering the superior White Wings, his proficiency with the Black Wings naturally increased!
Over a dozen days later, all three skills underwent massive evolutions:
[System Notification: Vector Manipulation EXP +1]
[System Notification: Congratulations, Skill 'Vector Manipulation' has leveled up!]
[Vector Manipulation Lv.3 (1/3000): Grants absolute control over the direction and magnitude of all comprehended vectors. Includes force, velocity, acceleration, momentum, electromagnetic fields, etc. The user can now passively analyze observed phenomena to decipher their fundamental essence!]
[System Notification: Unknown Wings · Black EXP +1]
[System Notification: Congratulations, Skill 'Unknown Wings · Black' has leveled up!]
[Unknown Wings · Black Lv.2 (1/300): Manipulates phase power in space to manifest pitch-black wings. Exponentially amplifies the user's calculative capacity and overall combat strength!]
[System Notification: Unknown Wings · White EXP +1]
[System Notification: Congratulations, Skill 'Unknown Wings · White' has leveled up!]
[Unknown Wings · White Lv.2 (1/300): Manipulates phase power in space to manifest flawless, holy white wings. Exponentially amplifies the user's overall combat strength!]
Because Energy Absorption had reached Level 5, granting him absolute, molecular-level control over energy flow, the speed at which he accumulated skill experience had skyrocketed exponentially.
During these dozen or so days, his primary focus had been Vector Manipulation. Now at Level 3, he could flawlessly reflect absolutely any vector he mathematically comprehended. Furthermore, simply by observing a phenomenon, he could actively analyze its composition. Once he fully understood its essence, he could effortlessly reflect it!
Unlike the original Accelerator, Su Mu didn't just rely on his super-computer brain; he possessed the absolute perception of the Six Eyes.
The Six Eyes allowed Su Mu to physically see the intricate, microscopic flow of energy pathways, assisting him in breaking down their fundamental nature. Paired with Accelerator's calculative capacity, Su Mu's speed in deciphering unknown energies was vastly faster than the original esper's!
However, his Template Synchronization was currently only at 36%, meaning he only possessed 36% of Accelerator's absolute peak calculative power. He couldn't quite surpass the original's maximum theoretical output yet, but as his synchronization percentage climbed, it was an absolute certainty that he eventually would!
Controlling the three Infinity Stones to orbit his body, Su Mu continuously devoured the boundless cosmic energy radiating from them to steadily increase his Template Synchronization.
With a casual wave of his hand, he drew a sparking circle in the air, stepping through a portal to a remote coastline.
He was currently standing at the summit of an active, towering volcano. Utilizing the Six Eyes, he peered deep down through the churning, molten magma core.
In a few days, the Celestials could descend upon Earth at any given moment. He absolutely needed to prepare a proper "greeting gift" for them before they arrived!
And the nascent, embryonic Celestial currently incubating deep within the Earth's core—Tiamut—was undoubtedly the most perfect vessel for this gift!