Chapter 235: Devouring Ego, Something From the Ancient One
"This brain right here, this has to be the infected planet's core, doesn't it?"
Inside the living planet, Matthew hovered in midair, staring down at the brain pulsing steadily beneath him.
The brain in front of him was staggering in scale, its entire surface glowing with a faint blue light.
It looked exactly like a colossal mountain of flesh, built up out of countless layers of brain tissue.
The massive brain sat buried deep at the very center of the living planet's core, pulsing without pause.
The tissue that should, canonically, have glowed a nebula-like blue was, right now, covered everywhere in thick, dark red sludge.
That sludge coated the entire surface of the brain, oozing outward with every pulse of the tissue beneath it, an utterly disgusting sight.
What caught Matthew off guard was that, perched at the very top of the brain, was a zombie reduced to nothing but a head and a chest cavity.
The thing was unrecognizable as whatever it had once been. Its skin had cracked and flaked away entirely, its eye sockets sunken deep, two rows of jagged teeth jutting outward, a textbook example straight out of any standard zombie movie.
Right now, the zombie's mouth kept opening and closing, mindless and unconscious.
Beneath it, embedded in the brain's outer tissue, was a fist-sized gap.
It looked like this was exactly how the zombie had infected Ego in the first place, through that opening.
Matthew's gaze swept across the brain below him, already corroded through by the Quantum Zombie Virus, and he didn't hesitate for a second.
His eyes flared red.
The next instant, his heat vision cut across the brain, tearing a gash straight through the energy shield protecting it.
But the moment the shield cracked open, energy surged back in from all around, trying to repair it.
Not that Matthew was about to give it that chance.
Before the shield could fully heal—
The next instant!
Matthew spread both arms wide, invisible gravity coalescing into a pair of massive hands, forcibly wrenching the half-healed shield apart.
Then, his evolution field unleashed at full power!
A visible field of force spread outward from him in an instant, engulfing the entire brain.
The moment the evolution field made contact with the brain, its wrinkled surface convulsed violently, like a monkey's brain doused in scalding oil.
The entire planet seemed to react to the shock as well, shuddering violently, letting out a strange groan like tectonic plates grinding together somewhere deep below.
Matthew ignored the sound entirely, absorbing at a frantic pace.
Enormous quantities of vital essence were being forcibly stripped away, converting into hundreds of streams of pale blue light pouring into Matthew's body.
At the same time, Ego finally registered the mortal danger he was in.
This Celestial, his mind already stripped away entirely by the Quantum Zombie Virus, still instinctively struck back against the agonizing pain of having his life core devoured.
The instant the evolution field made contact, the entire living planet began shaking violently!
The rock and stone that made up the planet's surface cracked and shattered, and the surrounding magma began flooding backward.
Deep within the core.
The streams of pale blue energy, condensed from Ego's own original power, sensed the mortal threat and surged in from every direction, converging on Matthew in an attempt to tear him apart!
Everywhere that energy passed, rock shattered and light itself bent out of shape.
Seeing the zombified Ego finally pulling out a new trick, Matthew let out a cold laugh, and the gravity torrent already circling him surged stronger still.
That gravity torrent hardened into an invisible shield, twisting and blocking every incoming strand of energy.
The energy torrent slammed against that gravity shield, its grasping tendrils forcibly deflected aside, pulverizing the surrounding rock strata into dust.
Matthew stayed perfectly still, the evolution field running at full power.
His rate of absorption didn't slow down. If anything, it climbed higher.
The two forces collided violently across the outer surface of the brain!
The entire living planet shook under the strain of that collision, countless massive fissures opening across its surface.
Time passed, second by second.
But no matter how hard Ego's torrent of energy crashed against him, it couldn't touch Matthew inside his gravity field.
And as Matthew's absorption dug deeper, Ego's attacks, frantic at first, gradually grew more and more sporadic.
The pale blue streams of energy began to dim one by one, like a stream cut off from its source.
The brain tissue, once pulsing violently, began shrinking and collapsing in on itself, its color fading from luminous blue to a dead, ashen grey. Only the fluid the virus had stained red was left behind entirely, discarded by Matthew like so much garbage.
Matthew hovered at the center of the collapsing core, the evolution field still running around him.
Every thread of stripped-away life energy was greedily devoured by the Blacklight Virus, fusing and reorganizing with his flesh, bone, and nerves, pushing his already formidable body up another entire tier.
No one could say how much time passed.
By the time the last thread of light sank into Matthew's body, the brain below had shrunk down entirely, like a walnut with every last drop of moisture drained out of it.
With that done, Matthew slowly tilted his head back and let out a long breath.
Beneath his skin, a faint thread of blue light flickered briefly, then sank deep out of sight.
Ego, the Living Planet—
Dead.
The being who'd once claimed the title of Celestial, wandering the universe without purpose, endlessly scattering seeds, trying to bring the entire universe under his control.
Now, he was falling apart like any ordinary planet reaching the end of its natural lifespan.
Across the planet's surface, fissures of every size began spreading at a visible rate.
The massive face, built from mountains and swirling mist, twisted and collapsed in on itself, wildly.
Finally, in complete silence, the living planet shattered outright.
Countless fragments of rock and stardust scattered outward in every direction.
No one could say how much time passed before those fragments settled into an asteroid belt stretching for thousands of miles across space.
Matthew stood in the void, his gravity field silently grinding the last few approaching fragments to dust.
His gaze swept across that newly formed asteroid belt, his brow furrowing slightly.
There was a lot of debris packed into that belt right now.
Rock, magma, and the crushed remains of his own ship.
But beyond that... there was still an undestroyed remnant of the Quantum Zombie Virus lurking somewhere in there.
"The Quantum Zombie Virus..."
"Dealing with this thing is going to be a real headache," Matthew murmured.
After a long moment of thought.
He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out the Orb.
The Orb opened in his palm.
The Power Stone rose out of it, hovering free.
Its purple glow washed over Matthew's face, shifting light and shadow across his features.
The energy radiating off the Stone pushed the surrounding cosmic dust away entirely, forming a ring of pure vacuum around him.
Staring at the Stone in front of him, Matthew drew a deep breath.
The next instant!
He snapped his hand up and closed his fist around it.
The moment he grabbed it!
The Power Stone's energy surged instantly into Matthew's body.
Pale purple light poured violently along the surface of his skin, spilling out from between his fingers.
At the same time, a layer of purple flame erupted across the surface of his arm.
That flame crept up his arm toward his shoulder and neck, as if trying to burn straight through his flesh.
If he hadn't already absorbed Ego's Celestial life essence and pushed his body's toughness up another notch beforehand, an energy surge at this level alone would have been more than enough to put him through hell.
Feeling the Infinity Stone's power surging violently through him, Matthew slowly lifted his gaze.
His eyes swept across the shattered asteroid belt stretching out before him, thousands of miles wide.
His other hand rose slowly.
Then—
Snap!
A single, crisp finger-snap bloomed silently in the vacuum.
The next instant, space and gravity around the asteroid belt collapsed violently inward!
A black hole appeared in that stretch of space without a shred of warning.
An invisible pull poured out from that darkness, bending the starlight around it and dragging the entire asteroid belt in with it.
Every scrap of matter caught up in that black hole, along with every last trace of Quantum Zombie Virus that might have been clinging to it, was swallowed and annihilated by that irresistible force.
The black hole spun silently.
A few seconds later, the massive black hole abruptly collapsed in on itself and vanished without a trace right in front of Matthew.
Along with it, the asteroid belt that had just been sitting there moments earlier, and the virus-ravaged Chitauri homeworld, both vanished as well.
The asteroid belt and the Chitauri homeworld were now both completely gone, leaving behind nothing but an empty stretch of space, as clean as if neither had ever existed at all.
He pulled the Power Stone back into the Orb.
Sweeping his gaze across the now-silent, empty space around him, Matthew let out a resigned sigh. "Didn't expect the Power Stone to actually scale its output based on how fast my body adapts to it, every time I touch it again."
"Well, at least there's no exploiting that as some kind of bug..."
He gave a short scoff.
Matthew turned to look behind him, at the spot where his ship had once been, now long gone. "Damn it. All that work, and I lost my ride."
He pulled the Bifröst-summoning crystal from his pocket, channeling magic into it.
The crystal activated instantly.
On Asgard, Heimdall, who'd been half-heartedly using his all-seeing eye to browse celebrity gossip instead of working, suddenly seemed to receive some kind of signal. He snapped his head up, and without a moment's hesitation, drove the blade in his hand into the pedestal beneath him and gave it a sharp twist.
The Bifröst opened instantly!
A streak of light shot out from Asgard, tearing across the universe, and pulled Matthew, still drifting through the void, back to Asgard.
"Thanks."
Back on Asgard, Matthew looked up at Heimdall, who'd been watching him the entire time, and spoke, unhurried.
He paid no mind to Heimdall's continued stare.
Simply gathering up the Uru alloy Odin had set aside for him, Matthew turned and gave Heimdall another instruction. "Send me back to Earth, would you?"
"..." Heimdall said nothing, simply drawing the blade slowly out of the pedestal, then driving it back in again.
Just as Heimdall was about to twist the pedestal, Matthew spoke up again. "...Heimdall."
"I've got somewhere more specific in mind."
"Would you mind sending me to the New York Sanctum?"
"The New York... Sanctum?" This time, Heimdall spoke up. "To keep the Dark Dimension from breaching through, there's a magical ward the Sorcerer Supreme has set up in the space around the New York Sanctum."
"And beyond that, that ground belongs to the Sorcerer Supreme. The Bifröst can't open directly on top of it."
"The best I can do is set you down just outside the Sanctum."
"Outside the Sanctum works fine!" Matthew nodded.
With Matthew's agreement secured, Heimdall didn't waste any more words, and twisted the pedestal.
The Bifröst activated once more.
Matthew was pulled straight into it.
When he reappeared, he was standing just outside the New York Sanctum.
Earth. Outside the New York Sanctum.
Matthew looked at the familiar street in front of him, an unexpected wave of nostalgia settling over him.
He hadn't even been gone that long, really, but there was still something genuinely nice about the feeling of coming home.
He walked up to the Sanctum's door.
Just as he was about to knock, the door swung open on its own.
Wong again.
"You, again, of course..."
That line hadn't come from Matthew. Wong had said it.
The New York Sanctum usually didn't see a single visitor in an entire year. And now, Matthew was showing up practically every few days, and every single recent visit had been to see the Ancient One specifically.
Which had left Wong more than a little curious about him.
"Mr. Lawrence, here again to see the Sorcerer Supreme?"
"That's right." Matthew nodded. "I've got a few questions I'd like to ask the Ancient One."
"Does she have time to see me right now?"
Even as he said it, Matthew didn't bother waiting for Wong's answer, walking straight into the New York Sanctum ahead of him.
Watching Matthew stroll in like the place was his own home, Wong let out a resigned sigh. "Even though you've already let yourself in, Mr. Lawrence, the Sorcerer Supreme genuinely is busy right now. She doesn't have time to see you."
"So I've made another trip out here for nothing, then?" Matthew raised an eyebrow at Wong.
"Not entirely for nothing, actually."
Wong went on to explain. "The Sorcerer Supreme doesn't have time to speak with you in person, but she did leave something with me ahead of time."
"It might answer whatever questions you've got."
With that, Wong patted his pocket and pulled out a USB flash drive.
Honestly, Matthew had half expected Wong to produce some kind of scroll, or a magical recorded memory.
He hadn't expected him to fish out a USB drive after all that searching.
"...Do all you sorcerers really keep this up to date with the times?"
Wong looked at him, puzzled. "Mr. Lawrence, you don't think we sorcerers are cavemen, do you?"
"I might be stuck inside a Sanctum most of the time, but I do read the news every single day. I keep myself thoroughly online."
"If a simple USB drive is enough to impress you as 'keeping up with the times,' I imagine it'd really shock you to hear I play video games in my downtime too."
Hearing Wong's complaint, Matthew just shrugged, said nothing, and tucked the drive into his pocket.
He glanced around the room.
A wave of psychic force swept through the Sanctum like a tide.
Confirming there really was no one else in the Sanctum besides Wong, Matthew turned to Wong, who was already halfway to seeing him out. "Wong, is the Ancient One not seeing me because she's still off cuddling up with Dormammu somewhere?"
With that, without waiting for Wong to respond, Matthew took a single step forward.
And vanished entirely from inside the Sanctum.
Staring at the spot where Matthew had just disappeared, Wong walked a slow circle around it.
"Was that a portal spell?"
"That fast?!"
"I didn't even catch the start or the end of it..."
Meanwhile.
Umbrella Corporation, the top-floor office.
Inside the empty office, a figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Matthew weighed the USB drive in his hand for a moment, then settled comfortably into his chair, powered on the computer, and plugged the drive in.
The drive connected.
Doudou scanned through the files on it first.
Finding only a single video file, it asked Matthew whether he wanted to view it.
Naturally, before asking, it couldn't resist opening with its usual "no need to dance around it, let's just be blunt" style of announcement first.
"View it." Matthew's words settled.
The curtains in the office snapped shut instantly, the projector flickered a few times, and a figure slowly appeared on the screen.
The Ancient One.
Except the Ancient One in the footage wasn't in the Dark Dimension at all. She was somewhere else entirely, in a different dimension altogether.
The moment Matthew took in exactly what dimension he was looking at, he sat bolt upright from where he'd been leaning back in his chair, an unmistakable weight of seriousness and gravity settling over his face all at once.
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