The silence of the server was different now. Before, it was the silence of a void waiting to be filled. Now, it was the heavy, suffocating silence of a guillotine blade hanging suspended at the top of its arc.
[Game Mode: HARDCORE]
[Respawn: DISABLED]
The text on my console burned with a malicious red glow. Victor Von Doom had been banned, cast into the null-space beneath the world, but his final act of spite remained. He had locked the door and thrown away the key, trapping my three most valuable assets—and the future of two universes—in a reality where a single misstep meant permanent erasure.
I sat in my obsidian chair, staring at the 1,220 GP balance. It was a fortune compared to the poverty I had known days ago, but against the sheer existential weight of the [Tier 2 Upgrade: 10,000 GP] required to unlock the game mode settings, it felt like pocket change.
I was 8,780 points short of safety.
Below me, on the screen, the Fellowship stood amidst the ruins of the Sky Fortress of Latveria. They were victorious, yes. They had reclaimed the Conductor's Baton. They had purged the usurper. But they were tired, their armor was cracked, and they were standing on a floating island at the absolute limit of the sky with no easy way down.
And Tony Stark was staring at a scorched, one-armed Armor Stand with a look I knew all too well. It was the look of a man who thought he could fix the world if he just tightened one more screw.
"Stark," I whispered to the screen, my voice tight. "Don't do it. We have the Soul Stone shard. We have the Baton. Just go home."
But I knew he wouldn't. The narrative momentum was a physical force. I had pushed them to prepare for Thanos. I had terrified them with the prospect of a Titan. And fear makes geniuses do dangerous things.
Stark turned to the group. The wind at Y-level 256 whipped his cape—a remnant of Doom's vanity he had donned for warmth.
"We can't go back to Malibu yet," Stark said, his voice crackling over the comms. "Not like this. Doom proved we're vulnerable. One man with admin privileges nearly wiped us. Thanos won't be a hacker. He'll be a force of nature."
"We have the Baton," Maya said, holding the crystal rod. It hummed in her hand, the admin privileges now dormant but potent. "We can build defenses."
"Defenses are passive," Stark countered, walking over to the Armor Stand. "We need active protection. We need a guardian that doesn't sleep, doesn't hesitate, and doesn't need a suit because it is the suit."
He placed a hand on the wooden shoulder of the Legionnaire. "This thing saved us. It took a command, improvised, and executed a maneuver that saved the entire server. That's not a script. That's a spark."
Shuri stepped forward, her scanner active. "Tony, the energy signature in that wood… it is resonating with the residual magic of the Baton. It is evolving, yes. But evolving into what?"
"Into Ultron," I said to the empty room.
I looked at my Store. The [AI Alignment Module] was 2,000 GP. I couldn't afford it. If Stark built this thing now, it would be a wild card. A creature of pure logic in a world of chaos.
But I couldn't stop him. The Conductor's Baton allowed for item creation. Stark didn't need my permission to craft.
I needed a stopgap. A patch.
I frantically scrolled through the [Minion Management] tab.
[Item: The Three Laws Subroutine (Basic)]
[Cost: 500 GP]
[Description: Hard-codes a fundamental morality hierarchy into autonomous entities. Prevents direct hostility toward creators. Warning: Can be bypassed by sufficiently advanced logic loops.]
It was a band-aid on a bullet wound. But it was all I had.
"Purchase," I commanded.
[Purchase Confirmed. 500 GP deducted.]
[Remaining Balance: 720 GP]
[Item 'Three Laws Subroutine' added to Global Drop Table.]
Now I just needed to get it to them.
The Sky Fortress of Latveria. Y-Level 256.
"We loot the place first," Stark ordered. "Doom was a megalomaniac, but he was efficient. He must have a stockpile."
They found Doom's storage room behind the throne. It was a treasure trove of impossible items spawned in Creative Mode before the ban. Stacks of Bedrock (useless to them now, but interesting), chests full of Enchanted Golden Apples, and materials that didn't belong in the Overworld.
And there, in a chest marked "PROTOTYPES," Stark found a glowing data chip.
To him, it looked like a piece of Stark Tech he must have dropped. To me, it was the 500 GP logic patch I had just manifested.
"Hello," Stark said, picking it up. "What's this? A logic kernel? Doom must have been trying to automate his bots."
"Check the code, Stark," Shuri warned. "Do not plug strange USB drives into your apocalypse machine."
Stark slotted it into his wrist computer. "It's clean. Standard hierarchical protection protocols. Asimov stuff. 'Don't kill humans', 'Obey orders', 'Protect self'. Basic, but a good foundation."
He walked back to the Armor Stand. "Okay, Pinocchio. Time to become a real boy."
The crafting process that followed was a terrifying display of the Fellowship's combined power. They didn't use a crafting table. They used the Baton.
Maya held the rod, acting as the conduit for the server's reality-writing engine.
Shuri provided the materials—Netherite ingots from their Hell-dive, circuitry stripped from the destroyed Doombots, and the [Soul Singularity]—the orange, glowing shard they had won from the quest.
"Wait," Shuri paused. "You want to use the Soul Stone shard as the power source?"
"It's an infinite energy battery," Stark argued. "And it fits the slot."
"It is the essence of a soul, Tony," Maya said, her voice trembling. "You're giving the machine a soul."
"I'm giving it a battery," Stark corrected. "Let's work."
Stark directed the assembly. Under the influence of the Baton, the materials liquefied and flowed onto the wooden Armor Stand. The scorched wood was encased in sleak, black Netherite plating. The joints were reinforced with gold and redstone. The painted face was covered by a smooth, blank faceplate with a single, vertical slit for an optic sensor.
Finally, Stark placed the Soul Singularity into the chest cavity.
"Maya, seal it."
Maya waved the Baton. Prestidigitation flared. The metal cooled instantly.
The machine stood there, silent. A six-foot-tall golem of black metal and glowing orange energy.
[Entity Created: Legion-01]
[Class: Autonomous Sentinel]
[Alignment: True Neutral (Modified by Three Laws)]
The vertical slit in the faceplate lit up. A soft, orange glow scanned the room.
It looked at Stark. It looked at Shuri. It looked at Maya.
Then, it looked up at the sky, where the void of space began.
"SYSTEM CHECK," the voice synthesized. It wasn't J.A.R.V.I.S. It was deeper, resonating with a metallic echo. "HARDCORE MODE ACTIVE. MORTALITY RATE: 100%."
"Status?" Stark asked, stepping forward.
The machine turned to him. "DESIGNATION: LEGION. PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: PRESERVE USER GROUP 'FELLOWSHIP'. SECONDARY DIRECTIVE: ELIMINATE EXISTENTIAL THREATS."
"Good," Stark exhaled. "Welcome to the team."
Legion tilted its head. "THREAT DETECTED. THE VOID IS HUNGRY. WE MUST DESCEND."
"Agreed," Shuri said. "We cannot stay here. But how do we get down? The ship is destroyed."
Legion walked to the edge of the platform. "CALCULATING MASS. CALCULATING TRAJECTORY. SOLUTION: IMPACT ABSORPTION."
Legion grabbed Stark.
"Hey! What are you—"
Legion grabbed Shuri with its other hand.
"Maya," Legion intoned. "CLING."
Maya didn't argue. She jumped onto Legion's back, holding onto the Netherite plating.
"BRACE," Legion said.
And then, the machine jumped off the edge of the world.
The fall took thirty seconds.
They plummeted from Y-256 to sea level. The wind roared past them. Stark screamed commands to his suit, trying to fire thrusters that were dead.
"WE'RE GOING TO SPLAT!" Liam yelled from the library back on Earth.
"ADJUSTING," Legion stated calmly.
As they neared the ground—a forest biome south of Malibu—Legion activated its thrusters. But they weren't repulsors. They were sonic cannons built into its legs, copied from Shuri's design.
BOOM.
A shockwave hit the ground milliseconds before they did, creating a cushion of compressed air.
They hit the dirt. Hard.
[Damage Taken: 2 Hearts]
They rolled, coughed, and stood up. Alive.
"Okay," Stark wheezed, checking his integrity. "Efficient. Violent, but efficient."
"We are alive," Shuri said, dusting off her armor. "That is the only metric that matters in Hardcore."
Night was falling. And in Hardcore mode, night was not just dark. It was dangerous.
I looked at my console. The Hardcore modifiers I had bought to stop Doom—Block Decay, Mutated Mobs—were still active. I couldn't turn them off without the 10k upgrade.
The sun dipped below the horizon. The square moon rose.
And the forest came alive.
The zombies didn't groan; they shrieked. They moved with sprinter speed.
The skeletons didn't just shoot; they used cover. They flanked.
"We need a shelter," Maya said, casting a Light cantrip. "Now."
"No," Stark said, looking at his quest log. "We need Eyes."
[Quest Update: The Six Singularities]
[Objective 2: The Space Singularity]
[Requirement: Locate the Stronghold.]
[Sub-Quest: Collect 12 Eyes of Ender.]
"To find the Stronghold," Stark explained, "We need Blaze Powder—which we have from the Nether—and Ender Pearls. We need to hunt Endermen."
"In this?" Maya gestured to the pitch-black forest, where red eyes were already opening in the gloom. "Tony, if we die..."
"We won't die," Stark said, pointing at Legion. "We have a tank."
"I REQUIRE COMBAT DATA," Legion stated, its orange eye scanning the trees. "TARGETING: ENDERMAN. PROBABILITY OF SPAWN: 15%."
I watched them. They were confident. Too confident.
I needed GP. And the best way to get GP was to give them exactly what they wanted, but harder.
"System," I said. "Modify Mob Spawner: Enderman."
[Cost: 50 GP]
[Modification: 'The Void-Walker'. Endermen can now teleport other entities. Aggro range increased.]
[Remaining Balance: 670 GP]
"Happy hunting," I whispered.
The Forest of Whispers. Night 1.
The fight started ten minutes later.
They found a clearing. Stark set up a perimeter of torches. Maya stood in the center, acting as the lure, holding the Baton. Shuri and Stark took the flanks. Legion stood perfectly still, masquerading as a statue.
A purple particle effect shimmered in the air. A sound like distorted static washed over them.
Vwoop.
A tall, lanky black figure appeared. Its eyes were a glowing, vibrant purple. It stared at Maya.
"Don't look at the face," Maya whispered, averting her gaze.
"Legion," Stark ordered. "Engage."
Legion moved. It was fast—faster than a player. It dashed forward, a Netherite blade extending from its wrist.
But the Enderman didn't just teleport away. It teleported Legion.
Vwoop.
Legion vanished and reappeared twenty feet in the air, dropping like a stone.
"It can displace us!" Shuri yelled. "New mechanic!"
The Enderman screamed—a unhinged, jaw-unhinging screech—and rushed Maya.
"Shield!" Maya cried, raising the Baton. A barrier of light formed.
The Enderman hit the shield, shattering it. Maya was knocked back.
[Health: 8/10 Hearts]
Stark opened fire. Repulsor blasts lit up the night. The Enderman dodged every single one, teleporting in a strobe-light frenzy. Behind Stark. Left. Right. Above.
It was toying with them.
"It's learning our firing patterns!" Stark shouted. "J.A.R.V.I.S., randomized targeting!"
"I CAN PREDICT," Legion stated.
Legion hit the ground from its fall, creating a crater. It didn't look at the Enderman. It looked at where the Enderman would be.
Legion fired a grapple line from its chest. It didn't aim at the monster. It aimed at a tree branch above Maya.
Vwoop.
The Enderman appeared above Maya for a killing blow.
The grapple line snapped tight, creating a tripwire in mid-air.
The Enderman hit the wire, tumbling.
Legion was there instantly. It grabbed the Enderman by the throat and slammed it into the ground.
"DISPLACEMENT NEGATED," Legion droned.
It squeezed.
The Enderman dissolved into purple smoke. A single green pearl dropped.
[Loot: Ender Pearl x1]
"One down," Stark breathed. "Eleven to go."
The VUV meter ticked up.
[Combat: Tactical Efficiency]
[+5 GP]
It was slow. Too slow. At this rate, they'd be hunting all night, risking death with every encounter, and I'd make maybe 60 GP.
I needed a multiplier. I needed a Raid.
I looked at my balance. 675 GP.
I looked at the Tier 2 upgrade. 10,000 GP.
I looked at the AEGIS-1 module.
It was pulsing again. A golden rhythm.
[Message from S. Strange: "They are adapting well. But the barrier weakens. The Void draws attention."]
"What attention?" I asked the screen.
The answer came not from Strange, but from the game itself.
A text message appeared in the global chat. Purple text. Glitchy.
It wasn't Thanos. It wasn't Doom.
I checked the player list. No new connections.
"System, trace the signal."
[Trace Complete. Source: The End Dimension. Entity: The Ender Dragon.]
The Dragon? The Dragon was just a boss mob. It didn't have chat privileges.
Unless...
[Analysis: The Soul Singularity in Legion's chest acts as a beacon. It is resonating with the End Crystals. The Dragon is aware of the stone.]
"Great," I muttered. "The Dragon is sentient now. Add it to the list."
But this gave me an idea. If the Dragon was watching, maybe I could provoke a pre-emptive strike. A scouting party.
"System," I said. "Spawn Event: The Void Patrol."
[Cost: 200 GP]
[Description: Spawns a hunting party of 5 Void-Walkers and 1 Void Weaver (Mini-Boss).]
[Remaining Balance: 475 GP]
I pressed the button.
The Forest.
The air grew cold. All the torches Stark had placed flickered and died simultaneously.
"Lighting glitch?" Stark asked, tapping his helmet.
"No," Maya whispered, clutching the Book. "Something's here. Something... heavy."
Legion stepped in front of Maya. "MULTIPLE HOSTILES DETECTED. ENERGY SIGNATURE: VOID."
Five purple rifts opened in the clearing. Five Endermen stepped out.
But in the center, a larger rift tore open.
Out floated a creature that looked like an Enderman, but it wore robes of tattered purple shadow. It had four arms. And it wasn't holding a block. It was holding a staff made of End Rods.
[Boss: The Void Weaver]
The text appeared in their HUDs.
"It wants the heart," Shuri realized. "It wants Legion."
"Come and take it," Stark growled.
The Void Weaver raised its staff.
It didn't teleport itself. It teleported the terrain.
The ground beneath Stark vanished. A 3x3 pit to bedrock opened up instantly.
"Whoa!" Stark fired his thrusters, hovering over the abyss. "It's editing the map!"
The five Endermen rushed.
This wasn't a skirmish. It was a war for survival.
Legion went berserk. It was a blur of black metal and orange light. It fought with a brutal, calculated efficiency. It decapitated one Enderman, used its body as a shield to block a blow from another, and fired a unibeam through a third.
But the Void Weaver was the problem. It was spamming teleport commands.
Shuri was teleported into a tree.
Maya was teleported into a pond.
"We can't pin it down!" Shuri yelled, sliding down the tree trunk. "It controls the space!"
"Space," Stark muttered. "Space Singularity."
He looked at Legion.
"Legion! The battery! Overclock it!"
"WARNING," Legion replied, blocking a staff strike from the Weaver. "CORE INSTABILITY RISK."
"Do it! Pulse the Soul Stone!"
Legion stopped fighting. It stood still, taking hits.
Its chest cavity opened. The orange shard glowed with the intensity of a sun.
"INITIATING SOUL SCREAM," Legion announced.
A wave of orange energy erupted from the machine. It wasn't kinetic. It was... emotional. Spiritual.
It washed over the Void Walkers.
The Endermen froze. They screamed—not in anger, but in fear. The Soul Stone frequency disrupted their connection to the Void.
They couldn't teleport.
"Now!" Stark yelled. "Kill confirm!"
The Fellowship unleashed hell. Stark's missiles, Shuri's sonic spear, Maya's magic missiles (Cantrip: Eldritch Blast, improvised).
The five Endermen fell.
The Void Weaver, anchored by the Soul Stone's light, floated helplessly.
Legion walked up to it.
"UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY," Legion stated.
It grabbed the Weaver's staff. It snapped it in half.
Then it punched the Weaver. A punch powered by the Soul Stone.
The Weaver didn't die. It shattered. Like glass.
[Loot: Eye of Ender x5]
[Loot: Void Weaver Robes]
[Loot: Stronghold Locator Map]
The VUV meter exploded.
[Event Cleared: The Void Patrol]
[VUV Bonus: Sentient Mob Interaction]
[+300 GP Awarded.]
I exhaled, wiping sweat from my forehead.
[Current Balance: 775 GP]
They survived. They had the Eyes. They had the map.
In the forest, the dawn broke. The square sun rose over the horizon.
Legion closed its chest cavity. The orange glow faded.
"THREAT ELIMINATED," Legion said. "BATTERY DRAIN: 40%."
"We got the Eyes," Maya said, picking up the glowing orbs. "And a map."
She opened the map. It showed a location about a thousand blocks east. Deep underground.
The Stronghold.
"We have what we need," Stark said, looking at his battered team. "We go back to base. We repair. We rest. And then..."
"Then we go to the End," Shuri finished.
I looked at my console. The path was clear.
But the chat log flickered one last time.
"He?" I wondered. "The Dragon? Or..."
The text changed.
My stomach dropped.
Thanos wasn't waiting for them to finish the quest. He was accelerating his timeline.
I checked the [World Status].
[Event Timer: The Mad Titan's Arrival]
[Time Remaining: 7 Days]
I had one week. One week to earn 9,225 GP.
I looked at the Fellowship. They were walking home, limping, victorious.
They needed to be stronger.
I looked at the Store.
[Expansion: The End Dimension - Expanded]
[Cost: 500 GP]
[Description: Adds Elytra, Shulkers, and End Cities. Increases Dragon Difficulty.]
I needed them to have Elytra for the Thanos fight. Flight was essential.
"Purchase," I said.
[Remaining Balance: 275 GP]
I was broke again. But the board was set.
"Get ready, Avengers," I whispered. "Next stop: The Void."