Many watching the broadcast couldn't help but feel their hearts ache.
"Wanda is so pitiful. She lost her parents when she was a child, and now she doesn't even have a brother anymore."
"Death itself isn't scary. What's terrifying is when someone else dies for you."
"But just now… was Ultron actually caring about Wanda?"
"Wanda's power seems stronger than before, doesn't it?"
"So what? Without any family left, she's completely alone."
"Pitiful…"
"Ultron is dead, completely gone, so why can't she be happy?"
"Even if Ultron is dead, the city is still flying!"
"If the city falls, the destructive impact will annihilate the entire planet! 99"
"No! Ultron isn't necessarily dead; those robots are Ultron too!"
Everyone was stunned. Yes, Ultron's essence had never been confined to a single body. Only by smashing every last robot could Ultron truly be erased.
Suddenly, the screen shifted.
[Outside the city, Tony pushed his suit to descend rapidly when Friday's urgent warning rang out: "Sir, power levels are about to drop below the safety threshold…"]
[Tony clenched his teeth and replied firmly, "Reroute all systems. We can't miss this chance."]
[The suit accelerated beneath the city. Tony activated the arm-mounted laser cutter, slicing open the chassis. Inside, a complex and delicate anti-gravity structure was revealed.]
[Tony immediately opened the channel. "Thor, I need you to head back to the church. I told you I could. There's a chance we'll all need to get clear."]
[Thor responded calmly, "Probably not."]
[Just as Thor was about to move, a robot that hadn't been fully destroyed suddenly twitched. Clinging to the edge of the core machine at the center of the church, it struggled upright and crawled directly toward the control mechanism.]
[Then, with a violent twist, it reversed the switch. The anti-gravity system embedded in the city's core immediately reacted. Instead of lifting upward, it accelerated in the opposite direction. Energy jets reversed, and the massive city plunged downward at terrifying speed. Under the effects of free fall and active acceleration, the destructive force multiplied exponentially.]
Viewers watching the broadcast sprang to their feet.
Inside the Administration, the director and countless experts turned pale. No one expected that, in the end, everything would be ruined by a single half-destroyed robot. Despair and disbelief spread through the crowd. The colossal city was accelerating straight toward Earth. If no solution was found, doomsday was imminent.
"It's almost impossible to stop a city of this scale once it starts falling," Odom said grimly. "If it were still rising, there might be a chance. But once it falls, the pressure increases exponentially. It's already tough, and it's only going to get harder."
All eyes remained fixed on the rapidly descending city. The massive structure fell like a mountain pressing down on everyone's heart.
[Beneath the city, Tony bore the terrifying weight alone. Friction generated immense heat. Sparks erupted as metal scraped violently. It felt as though Tony was carrying the entire city on his shoulders. Desperately, he searched for a way out. The suit began to glow red-hot, flames bursting from several sections.]
Viewers couldn't bear to keep watching.
"Is Tony going to save the world again?"
"He's already carried too much…"
"I don't want to see this."
"This city is even worse than the nuclear missile back then!"
"If it hits the ground, the shock alone will shatter everything!"
"Damn it! Without Ultron! Without Wanda's help this time!"
"I just hope they can all return safely."
People prayed for Tony. Or perhaps, they were praying for Earth itself.
"In the end, it's Tony again."
"Why is it always him?"
"He's the only one thinking and acting!"
"He's afraid Rogers and the others are really gone, so he's trying to finish Ultron himself."
"Every single time, Tony steps up at the last moment."
"He is always walking on the edge of death."
[In the chaos, the city fell faster and faster. Tony endured the overwhelming impact. With great effort, he adjusted his position, aligning the Ark Reactor in his chest with the core of the device he had just cut open.]
"Is Tony planning to destroy the anti-gravity device directly?"
"He asked Thor to go to the core machine earlier. Are they attacking together?"
"That's insane! Thor's fine up there, but what about Tony?"
"Thor is from Asgard; his body can handle it. But Tony…"
[A massive beam of energy erupted from Tony's chest, striking directly into the heart of the anti-gravity device. The beam blasted upward with ferocious intensity, causing the entire structure to surge toward overload in an instant.]
["Thor! Lock onto the target! Now!" Tony held on tight; releasing energy at that level took a brutal toll on him, especially with the entire city pressing down from above. The crushing pressure nearly suffocated him.]
Every viewer held their breath. Whether this meteor-like city could be shattered, whether a world-ending catastrophe could be averted, all depended on Tony and Thor.
[Above the core machine, upon receiving Tony's signal, Thor raised Mjölnir high. Terrifying thunder gathered around the hammer. In the next instant, it smashed down with divine force.]
[Boom! A deafening explosion erupted. Blinding light burst through the rock like countless blades, tearing the city apart. Violent energy waves engulfed everything.]
[In the next moment, the colossal city shattered midair. Rocks broke apart and rained down from the sky. The explosion resembled an immense firework display as countless fragments crashed into the ocean.]
[Thor was blasted unconscious by the shockwave, his body plunging into the sea. Tony pushed his suit to its limit, weaving desperately through falling debris.]
The audience gasped in unison. Thankfully, Tony was not hit directly. A collective sigh of relief swept through the crowd. The threat capable of destroying the world was finally neutralized.
The falling rubble was terrifying, like the silence after the end of the world. Nothing remained.
Inside the Administration, the people followed the collapse of rubble in tense silence, as if the falling debris echoed the turmoil in their hearts.
Hawking smiled faintly and said, "Tony's wisdom is truly remarkable. From beginning to end, he was the only one who came up with a genuine solution."
The crowd nodded in agreement; even Xiaotian could not help but feel admiration rise within him.
"If someone like Tony existed within the Terra Federation, many problems would surely be resolved far more quickly," Johan said slowly. "I have a strong feeling that, in the era of Terra's Earth Age, a clue most closely connected to the historical fracture has finally surfaced."
The director turned to Johan and asked in a low voice, "The Infinity Stone?"
Johan nodded heavily, his expression solemn, "That's right, the Infinity Stone."
Their exchange immediately drew the attention of the other experts in the room.
Darwin frowned and said, "If that's the case, then your reasoning does make sense. The Cosmic Cube once appeared on Terra, but it was eventually taken back to Asgard, wasn't it?"
Kasey nodded. "Yes. It was returned to the realm of the gods. And the Infinity Stone represented by the ether particle," someone added, "is currently in the hands of that Collector."
Xiaotian followed up, "Tivan, the Collector of the Universe."
"Yes, that Tivan," the director confirmed.
"There's also the original stone embedded in Ultron's head, the Mind Stone," he continued. "It appears that these raw stones do not share identical properties. Each possesses a different function."
Odom frowned deeply. "Then what exactly is this so-called Infinity Stone? Three of them have already appeared on Earth during the Earth Age. Do we still possess one here on Terra?"
The director shook his head. "At the very least, none have been discovered so far."
Odom forced a bitter smile. "Of course. Every one of them was taken away. I don't even know how much time has passed since then," he muttered, "yet I was the one who photographed it."
Johan spoke again, his tone distant and contemplative. "No one knows how these Infinity Stones were born. Each of them seems to carry power capable of tearing apart the universe."
The director watched the discussion unfold without interrupting. As everyone understood, the Infinity Stones were forces that could destroy entire civilizations. Yet they had repeatedly appeared during the Earth Age. For a human society incapable of fully controlling such gems, this phenomenon was deeply abnormal.
"Thor once said that the moment you begin studying the Cube," the director recalled, "you are already preparing yourself for war. The Chitauri invasion followed soon after. Then came the Dark Elves. So… will that purple monster we saw last be the final executioner destined to descend upon the Terra Earth Age?"
The director's mind was heavy with unease. From the very beginning, the Earth Age had faced the so-called AI crisis. That threat escalated into the emergence of the Infinity Stones. Life from multiple planets became entangled in a single web of destiny. The Earth Age seemed to have become an inevitable crossroads for all major cosmic forces. Such a place was naturally fragile, easily shaken, easily exploited. The dangers surrounding the Terra Earth Age were, in that sense, unavoidable. Yet Terra was not destroyed.
No one knew how many thousands of years had passed since then. According to what King Odin once said, beings of Asgard possessed a lifespan of five thousand years. Two or three generations alone would be enough to span over ten thousand years. Far too long. If that were the case, then danger must still lurk around Terra. Especially now, when new clues had already begun to surface.
Within the Council, the Councilors remained seated around the round table. The others had departed to make arrangements within their respective fields.
Gladwin said calmly, "Since the Webb Telescope discovered that massive shadow cluster, there hasn't been any new progress."
Hyeon replied solemnly, "That's good news, but also not entirely. Just now, we received information from the Administration. Back during the Earth Age, a particularly important clue appeared."
Another Councilor spoke up. "The Infinity Stone."
Hyeon nodded. "Repeated memory fragments confirm it. We can draw a clear conclusion: without the Infinity Stone, many of the major conflicts might never have occurred."
The Councilors nodded one after another. Everything was finally beginning to connect.
Kennedy suddenly let out a quiet sigh. "There's another issue that worries me."
All eyes turned toward Kennedy.
"Have we misunderstood something from the very beginning?" he asked.
The others were puzzled.
"We've placed enormous resources and hope against unknown forces onto that person."
Silence followed.
Kennedy slowly scanned the room. "But who can guarantee that even if someone awakens memories from countless reincarnations, they truly know how to construct an arc reactor or synthesize new elements? Do they know how to create the Extremis virus or build Ultron and Vision? And even if they know… who can be sure they'll tell us?"
The Councilors were shaken. Their expressions darkened almost instantly.
One Councilor said hesitantly, "Judging from his previous life, Tony sacrificed himself. He shouldn't refuse to contribute his strength, should he?"
Kennedy shook his head. "Who can say for certain?"
The chamber fell into silence. Those words were like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing the last remaining spark of optimism. No one truly knew the answer.
Beneath the helmet, Tanner had long grown numb to the surging numbers scrolling across the background. The speed of accumulation far exceeded his expectations. At this point, money no longer mattered to him; what occupied his mind was organization. The complete construction process of the Iron Suit, along with the synthesis of new elements, played repeatedly in his thoughts. Although he couldn't remove the helmet, he could still think.
"Come on," Tanner muttered with anticipation, "it'll be my turn to show my skills soon."
"It's very possible…" he smiled, "…that I'll become the first person in the Terra Federation who can truly go beyond."
That thought alone was enough to make him grin.
The images continued to unfold.
[After the city collapsed and the danger was eliminated, Tony was not killed on the spot. High in the sky, just before leaping into the fighter jet, Hulk, who had been thrown away by Ultron, stared into the distance through the cockpit glass. Suddenly, a video link appeared; it was Black Widow.]
["Hey, big guy," she said with a gentle smile. "We made it. The mission's over."]
[Hulk slowly approached the screen.]
[Black Widow continued softly, "Now I need you to turn around, okay? We can't track stealth jets. I need you to help me…"]
[Hulk raised his massive hand, just about to touch the screen, and suddenly slammed the close button, causing the connection to be severed.]
[He sat heavily on the cockpit floor. His enormous body gazed through the small window, staring out at the endless sky. From behind, his figure looked unbearably lonely.]
The audience was stunned.
"Did... the Hulk leave?"
"Why does it feel like he was being used?"
"I don't know where he's going. That back view is heartbreaking."
"Is Hulk afraid he'll bring disaster to Earth?"
"Whether he leaves or not, Hulk losing control is terrifying…"
[After the shattered city, within the massive crater left behind, a broken robot slowly climbed upward. Vision descended from the sky. Looking at the machine, he asked calmly, "Are you afraid?"]
[Ultron's voice echoed from within the robot. "Afraid of you?"]
["Afraid of death," Vision replied. "You are the last one."]
[Ultron stepped forward. "You're the last one."]
["Stark searched for salvation," he sneered, "and found only a lackey."]
[Vision answered softly, "We are both his mistakes."]
[Ultron laughed. "I think so too."]
[Vision continued, "Humans are strange. They believe order and chaos are opposites. They try to control what cannot be controlled. But their downfall is graceful."]
["I think you overlooked something," Ultron said coldly. "They are doomed."]
[Vision nodded. "Yes, but things aren't beautiful because they last. It's an honor to stand among them."]
[Ultron roared angrily, "You're hopelessly naive!"]
[Vision tilted his head. "Actually… I was born yesterday."]
[Ultron lunged forward and was instantly destroyed by a beam from Vision's eyes.]
"I'm dying laughing, 'I was born yesterday!'"
"So Tony's Ultron's father and Vision's grandfather?"
"That was a pure battle of philosophies!"
"I'm still a baby!"
"Is world peace achieved now?"
"Ultron's gone, of course, it's world peace!"
Indeed, the citizens of Terra finally breathed a sigh of relief. But the government bodies of the Federation remained on high alert; no one dared to relax.
And the audience's calm did not last long. When the next segment appeared, across the Terra Federation fell silent.
[Amid the hum of mechanical rotation, a beam of light ignited. On an array of intricate machinery, a golden glove slowly rose. Multiple sockets were embedded across its back.]
[A towering armored figure stepped forward. He raised his arm and put on the glove.]
["Fine," he said calmly. "I'll do it myself."]
[He clenched his fist.]
Everyone recognized him instantly. The one who once commanded the Chitauri, the purple-skinned monster. As the image spread across Terra, cold sweat drenched countless backs. The entire planet flared.
"Damn it, I knew it wouldn't end this easily!"
"He's going personally?! Is he coming to Earth?"
"That glove… It's terrifying!"
"What a nightmare, why does the Earth Age face so many disasters?!"