Chapter 157: The Bifrost, Goodbye Earth!

A long night passed.

The manor’s main building was damaged to the point of near-collapse. The heavy stench of blood and gunpowder lingered throughout the first and second floors, where roughly a hundred corpses were piled up in various corners inside and outside the estate.

Just as dawn broke in the early morning, personnel from S.H.I.E.L.D. secretly cordoned off the area, recovering the bodies from the battle, identifying them one by one, and taking care of the cleanup and disinfection.

A newly developed helicopter landed in the courtyard with a deafening hum, its rotor blades kicking up countless grains of dust and gravel. Before it had even fully settled, Fury—distinctive with his fierce expression, bald head, and single eye, dressed in a black trench coat—jumped out from the cabin, closely followed by Natasha in sleek black tactical gear.

"Director! Commander!"

The armed guards standing watch with rifles at the manor gates, along with the autopsy doctors and nurses, quickly set aside their work and greeted them respectfully.

Only a man in a business suit, dressed like a secretary, stood on the manor steps, one hand gripping the doorframe, looking somewhat dazed.

"Secretary Martin, how are the inspections inside coming along?" Clearing his throat, Fury stepped forward and asked in a deep voice.

"Ah, Director, you're here." Startled by the voice, the secretary turned around. Seeing Fury, his already pale face turned even whaiter, and he stammered, "Well... so far, one hundred and five bodies have been counted. The causes of death are gruesome, and their identities include Soviet agents and Japanese ninjas."

"Oh? It sounds like you left something out," Fury stared straight at him, saying with profound meaning.

"What did I leave out?" The secretary asked, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

Fury continued, "There should be members of the Hydra organization in there, shouldn't there? You've known about that for a long time, haven't you?"

"Director, stop joking. How could I have known all along?" The secretary forced an ugly smile. Fury patted him on the shoulder and said, "Alright, cut the act, Executive Sami. As for the other S.H.I.E.L.D. insiders, I've already eliminated them. That leaves just you, the Hydra spy."

Before he could even finish the sentence, all the color drained from the secretary's face, and his legs went soft as he collapsed onto the manor steps.

Natasha was very proactive; without needing a prompt from Fury, she walked over and locked the man in spare handcuffs, while nearby armed guards helped escort him to the helicopter.

"He should be leaving today, shouldn't he?" Pausing at the door, Fury said with a sense of inexplicable emotion.

"It's about time," Natasha beside him nodded, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Fury on the steps, quietly gazing at the manor before them.

"The people of this world perhaps still haven't realized one thing," Fury shook his head inexplicably, a trace of undeniable sorrow in his tone:

"Today, February 11, 1945. A god belonging solely to humanity has left."

***

Meanwhile, deep in the Atlantic Ocean, a dragon-turtle island was disguised as an iceberg through a holographic projection.

On the rooftop at the very top of the fortress building, Kyle stood alone in the center. Beside him were Lucy, Yutong, Logan, and Howard.

For Kyle, there was no need for a large crowd of farewells; having these four present was more than enough.

"Kyle." "Boss." "Boss." "Chief."

The four of them used different names, but their expressions were uniformly heavy and sorrowful, their fists clenched tightly to suppress the grief and sentimentality of parting.

"Words of farewell are unnecessary. Look after the home for me," with a carefree smile, Kyle took a deep breath and stepped forward.

With a slight shift of his will, Kyle drew out card after card, materializing them into physical form.

First was Venom, which immediately bonded with him, transforming into an integrated night-combat suit. Then, he slipped a Sling Ring onto the fingers of his left hand, equipped his vibranium vambrace on his right arm, and placed a pair of energy pistols at the sides of both calves.

Finally, a single-handed sodium-carbon steel sword with a leather scabbard was strapped across his back.

"Now... I'm truly fully armed," exhaling softly, Kyle—under the watchful eyes of Lucy and the others—focused his mind into the card space and drew out the card that had always been stored at the very highest tier.

That card manifested into a physical object, held between the two fingers of Kyle's right hand. It was crystal clear, radiating a dazzling, crystalline brilliance.

[The Space Stone]

In the old era of Earth, if one wished to cross the boundless starry sky and travel to other planets on the far side of the universe, the only way was to attempt to control and rely upon it.

"Kyle, is that the thing that can take you away from Earth?" Howard stared fixedly at the crystal card, asking on behalf of the other core members of the Karl family.

Kyle nodded solemnly, explaining, "Since the creation of the heavens and the earth, the universe was formed in a great explosion. The system remnants that turned into the cosmos condensed into solid masses, and among them appeared six mutant entities containing infinite power. Those are the Infinity Stones."

"And what I hold in my hand is the Space Stone, one of them. Only cosmic-level extraordinary life forms can control and wield it."

With that, Kyle stared intensely at the crystal card in his hand. He had no way of knowing for sure whether his current self could be considered part of the extraordinary life-form category, or if he could withstand the surging power unleashed by the Stone.

Yet he had no choice. If he wanted to cross the stellar domain swiftly, attempting to master the Space Stone was his only path.

Having made his decision long ago, Kyle hesitated no longer, instantly converting the card in his hand into reality.

Amidst the uncertain and astonished gazes of Lucy and the others, a small blue gemstone appeared upon the palm of Kyle's right hand, which was encased in the vibranium vambrace. It radiated a dazzling, brilliant blue glow, along with an unfathomable and peculiar magic.

***

At that moment, separated by the distance of a hemisphere, in a spacious hall within a distant Kamar-Taj residence.

The Ancient One sat cross-legged upon a meditation cushion, speaking in a gentle tone. Below her, dozens of robed monks sat on the clean floor with closed eyes, listening patiently as they immersed themselves in the profound mysteries of magic.

As if sensing something, the Ancient One abruptly stood up. Amidst the startled and bewildered gazes of the monks, she gazed solemnly toward the west. At that moment, her gaze seemed to pierce through walls, cross oceans and borders, and land upon a blue gemstone.

On the island base, the gemstone's dazzling blue brilliance nearly formed a pillar of light, about to engulf Kyle.

"No matter what happens, do not come near me! Yutong, Logan, watch over Lucy!" Leaving behind these words, Kyle poured his entire being into the Space Stone, decisively raising his left hand and pressing it without hesitation onto the gemstone resting in his right palm.

The Space Stone was acutely sensitive to organic carbon. In a mere split second, wisps of spatial energy seeped into Kyle's left hand. Unable to bear it, the Venom symbiote retreated toward his left shoulder, completely baring his entire arm.

Clasping his hands together, Kyle remained in the state of physically touching the gemstone with one hand while using both hands to grip the continuously radiating Space Stone tightly.

Violent energy poured fiercely into his left palm. Kyle clenched his teeth, enduring the agonizing sensation of half his body tearing apart and collapsing.

His left arm and the left half of his face became semi-transparent, allowing the intricate network of blood vessels within to be clearly seen. The deep blue energy of the Space Stone continuously seeped in and infected him, while his long-suppressed healing factor struggled desperately against it.

Externally, the energy tide and beam emitted by the Space Stone had already covered Kyle's entire body, forming a vortex of light that shot straight up into the sky and the stellar domain of the galaxy.

"Ahhhhh!" Kyle could not help but let out a low roar. His muscles were decaying, his skeleton grinding into powder, his blood evaporating, his genes dissolving—the sensation of his body completely falling apart far surpassed any pain of trauma he had ever experienced.

Despite this, he still gripped the Space Stone for dear life, refusing to let go.

"Kyle!" Tears streaming down her face, Lucy could not help but rush toward the pillar of energy, only to be promptly stopped by Logan and Yutong, whose expressions were grim.

Upon the island, under the illumination of the soaring pillar of light bit by bit, a brilliant image of the starry sky finally took shape and manifested in mid-air...

The next instant, a beam of the Bifrost washed down from above, enveloping Kyle's body.

His physical form slowly dissolved into thin air like mist under the sunlight, until it ceased to exist.