I sparked a mysterious resurgence in Marvel.

Chapter 261 Ancient One Makes a Move

"Finally made it!"

Watching the dazzling fireworks bloom, "Hawkeye" Clinton, with half his body emerging from the sunroof of the car, breathed a sigh of relief and then tossed the man-portable rocket launcher aside like trash.

After seeing the man-portable rocket launcher that Clinton had casually tossed aside in the rearview mirror, Coulson slammed on the brakes and stopped the car at the edge of the Thorn Cage. He said thoughtfully, "Now I understand why you always have more weapons than you need after a mission."

Upon hearing this, "Hawkeye" Clinton, who had retreated back into the car, patted the equipment he had placed on the back seat and said, "Believe me, compared to the research funding for these little cuties, that rocket launcher is nothing."

After saying that, "Hawkeye" Clinton patted Coulson on the shoulder earnestly and whispered, "For the sake of that mission where you dragged me back to the hospital, Coulson, let me teach you something. If I hadn't had such a large budget for each mission that made the director feel the pinch, where would I have gotten so many vacation days to spend with my wife and kids?"

"Look at me, and then think about how long it's been since you've had a proper vacation, and you'll understand why I did it, Coulson..."

Done.

"Hawkeye" Clinton grabbed his special equipment, quickly got out of the car, and ran towards a vantage point he had previously identified.

After listening to "Hawkeye" Clinton's experience, Coulson recalled his own miserable experience of being relentlessly exploited by Nick Fury, constantly on the go, and never having enjoyed a single day of vacation.

And the fact that Clinton often takes vacations.

He couldn't help but show a look of sudden realization.

It turned out to be the case.

Thinking of this, Coulson glanced at his left arm, made of superalloy and brimming with technological sophistication, and said thoughtfully, "With this mechanical arm, it seems I can take charge of Barton's path. In that case, my belated vacation might not be impossible to fulfill..."

With hope for the future.

After Coulson got out of the car, he took another fully loaded rocket launcher from the back seat and pulled the trigger on another robot that was rushing toward the exit of the Thorn Path.

"No!"

Just as it was about to escape this terrifying thorny cage, the mechanical life form was directly locked onto by an oncoming rocket. After letting out a roar of unwilling anger, it rolled to the side of the thorny path.

They were trying to dodge the oncoming rockets in this way.

boom!

As the oncoming rocket grazed the steel body of the mechanical lifeform, flew past it, and finally crashed into the side of the thorny jungle, causing a violent explosion.

The mechanical life form that had narrowly escaped death hadn't even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief.

Hundreds of thorny vines, like javelins covered in thorns, shot out from the thicket of thorns and instantly wrapped around the "sinner" who dared to stray from the thorny path with incredible speed.

His body was swallowed up by the thicket of thorns.

Accompanied by several piercing screams and a sickening metallic scraping sound.

The mechanical life form that was dragged into the thicket of thorns was no more.

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When they saw their compatriots, who were about to escape the thorny cage, having their escape route repeatedly blocked by cunning humans.

The tall, silver-white mechanical lifeform looked at its body, which was tightly bound by thorny vines and riddled with holes from corrosion, and a hint of madness flashed in its beady electronic eyes.

"I'm giving you a chance, so stay away from me."

After saying something to his companions who were opening their cages with mechanical blood and walking out, he left.

Hidden within the chest of the silver-white mechanical lifeform, a special bomb occupying most of its chest, immediately started the countdown.

"3······"

Upon hearing the words of the silver-white metallic lifeform, the surrounding mechanical lifeforms seemed to realize something and all took off running.

"2······"

Seeing the robots' reactions, those who were the first to follow Natasha and the mechanical beings, watering the thorn flowers with their blood and walking barefoot on the thorn path, as well as the humans who hesitated and had not yet opened the thorn cage, were all stunned.

"1······"

After a brief moment of stunned silence, some of the quicker-witted humans realized something was wrong and, enduring the intense pain in their feet, frantically ran towards the exit of the thorny path.

But they hadn't run very far before...

It was accompanied by a "beep" sound.

Inside the silver-white robot's chest, the countdown on the special bomb had completely reached zero.

"0······"

"Blood and flesh, suffering and pain, only machines endure forever!"

With a soft murmur, a burst of intense white light erupted from the silver-white robot's chest.

･･････････････････････････････････

"Oh no, retreat quickly!"

After the silver-white robot made up its mind to self-destruct in order to buy a chance for its comrades.

Erin keenly sensed a terrifying crisis rushing toward him.

When he saw those mechanical lifeforms running wildly outwards, Erin seemed to understand something and shouted something.

In a flash, he appeared beside George Stacy, forcibly picked him up, and ran wildly behind a relatively sturdy building.

Erin can ignore everyone else on this battlefield.

But Erin couldn't ignore George, who was about to become his father-in-law.

Otherwise, if George were to die in this war, Gwen, who had just become his girlfriend, would be devastated.

As for Kiris on the other side.

Erin believed that as a witch, she had her own means of survival.

really.

The moment she received Erin's warning, Kiris, who already had a bad feeling, quickly put her hands on Steve and Natasha's shoulders and dragged them into a mirror next to them.

Almost at the very moment that Kilis and the others' bodies disappeared into the mirror, creating ripples on its surface.

In a cage of thorns.

Thousands of dazzling white beams burst forth from the silver-white mechanical lifeform.

An incredibly dazzling, bright white light instantly illuminated the night sky.

From a distance, it looks like a pure white little sun rising gently from a cage of thorns.

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Despite wearing sunglasses, Coulson's eyes were still stinging and tears streamed down his face under the blinding white light.

Driven by a strong sense of crisis, Coulson instinctively lunged back towards the car that had driven him.

But before Coulson's body could even hit the ground.

Then a terrifying explosion occurred.

Just as that rising "pure white sun" broke free from the shackles of that silver-white mechanical life form and fully blossomed.

A terrible disaster struck.

In that blinding light.

The terrifying light and heat instantly ignited the entire thorn cage.

The immense power caused even the Thorn Cage itself, hidden among countless thorn flowers, to tremble slightly as if it had come alive.

Driven by intense danger and a desperate desire to "live".

A ghastly green light suddenly burst forth from the entire thorny cage, enveloping the police officers, agents, and the group of frantically running mechanical beings who had not yet escaped the thorny creatures.

All living beings exposed to that ghastly green light had their flesh, blood, and life essence instantly drained by the thorn cage, becoming its most primal nourishment and fueling the cage's frenzied growth.

Even the frantically fleeing mechanical lifeforms had their "life" mysteriously extracted by that almost rule-like power.

Apart from a few mechanical lifeforms that managed to escape the thorn cage's range, the remaining, frantically running mechanical lifeforms, having lost their "life," collapsed and rolled on the ground as if they were dead. The humans trapped inside the thorn cage fared even worse.

Not to mention flesh and blood, even the withered bones were squeezed dry of their last bit of value by countless thorny vines.

After absorbing the life essence of all living beings in the cage, billions of dark green thorny vines rose from the ground and lashed out at the pure white sun, as if trying to extinguish it before it could ignite everything.

The power that the thorn cage unleashed at this moment.

A hint of surprise flashed across Erin's face as he caught a glimpse of this scene while fleeing.

However, before Erin's surprise could last even a second...

That sudden burst of "pure white sun" ignited everything.

The billions of dark green thorny vines blocked the terrifying "pure white sun" for less than a second before being burned to ashes by the pure white flames radiating endless heat.

After burning away the countless thorny vines, the remaining pure white flames spread wildly in all directions.

The ground, streetlights, houses, cars, steel—everything was ignited in that terrifying white light.

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"Um?"

When that silver-white mechanical life form self-destructed, lighting up the New York night sky with a pure white sun.

Ivan Vanko, who had swiftly captured the nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Ontario with his men, looked up at the pure white orb in the distance that resembled a small sun.

"Pure White Sun, has the battle over there reached the point where Silver Edge is forced to self-destruct?"

When Ivan Vanko recalled the mechanical beings he had sent to New York to destroy Stark Industries and attract the attention of the human government, his electronic voice seemed to dim slightly.

After a moment of silence, Ivan Vanko, who was over three meters tall, angrily crushed the head of a human in his hand.

"Don't worry, your deaths won't have been in vain!"

"Your sacrifice will completely illuminate the glory of machinery. When the glory of machinery shines in this night sky, history... will remember your contributions."

He slammed his bloodied right hand hard against his chest.

Ivan Vanko then led a group of mechanical lifeforms deeper into the nuclear power plant he had conquered.

Ivan Vanko could sense that there were immense energies waiting for him there.

Once he has absorbed that enormous energy, he will be able to revive more mechanical life forms.

Then, relying on a continuous stream of mechanical life, it grew rapidly, like a snowball rolling downhill.

Finally, the glory of machinery will spread throughout the world.

Just as Ivan Vanko, leading dozens of mechanical lifeforms, was about to approach the depths of the nuclear power plant.

The space around them suddenly shattered like pieces of broken mirror.

Before they could react...

It was as if they had entered another dimension, and everything around them underwent strange changes.

Even though everything around seemed the same as before, as if nothing had changed, the whole world seemed to have completely lost its vitality and become deathly silent.

The corpses that had been behind them, which they had killed during the attack on the nuclear power plant, had all mysteriously disappeared.

Although traces of crimson blood still stained the wall, they could no longer see a single corpse.

And at the edge of their line of sight.

The whole world seemed to be distorted, constantly changing.

Just as high-tech weapons suddenly appeared all over Ivan Vanko's body, a slightly neutral voice suddenly rang in their ears.

"The glory of machinery? You have no chance, and history will not remember you."

"To be honest, I didn't expect that after just a short rest, you guys, whoever was created by some dimensional demon, would start popping up from every corner of the world."

"This is really... troublesome!"

As the neutral voice rang out, a figure dressed in a yellow monk's robe with a strange pendant hanging on his chest appeared before Ivan Vanko.

"attack!"

The moment they saw the figure, and recalling the strange and suddenly changing environment around them, Ivan Vanko and the mechanical lifeforms behind him began to unleash a barrage of firepower at the figure without saying a word.

But amidst the deafening roar of gunfire, Ivan Vanko seemed to faintly hear a sigh, and then... nothing more.

"Time... stands still!"

After the Ancient One formed a mysterious hand seal, the Eye of Agamotto hanging around her neck suddenly emitted a mysterious green light.

As the green light burst forth, an invisible wave swept across the entire mirror space in an instant.

As this invisible wave swept across, time seemed to freeze, and everything in the entire mirror space fell into stillness.

(End of this chapter)