Chapter 443: Allen Accidentally Fell into Warhammer
"Allen, stop it! You'll die!"
"Stop! The Celestial is already dead!"
"That's enough. You can stop now."
"…"
Despite the crowd's frantic shouts, Allen remained unmoved, continuing to snap his fingers again and again.
The newborn Celestial, just about to emerge, had already halted its ascent. What had once been a brilliant, radiant exoskeleton was now turning a dull, stone-like gray.
Clearly, under the force of the Infinity Stones, it had been completely transmuted into vibranium ore.
But Allen himself now looked charred beyond recognition—"skinless" would be an understatement.
At that same moment, his movements ceased.
As if sensing something, the others fell silent.
It was because they could no longer feel Allen's presence.
Dead.
He was actually dead!!!
Usually, Allen came off as unserious, even flippant. None of them had imagined he'd willingly sacrifice himself to save the world.
A heavy, inexpressible sorrow hung in everyone's heart.
Yet at that very moment, the global earthquakes finally subsided.
Humanity was submerged in the joy of survival and rebirth.
The Imperial Iron Curtain's rescue units ceased transferring people into the Quantum Realm.
The world had narrowly escaped an extinction-level event.
Tears streamed from many faces—having brushed so close to death, even their faith in superheroes had been shaken.
Seeing that the crisis was over, Steve immediately returned to the Pacific to regroup with the others.
"Bat-sissy, where's Allen?"
Steve glanced around but didn't spot the person he was looking for. From the look on everyone's faces, though, he could already sense something was wrong.
"He's dead," Thanos replied.
"…"
But Steve caught the brief flicker of a shocked gasp escaping Thanos's lips.
Given that the Imperial Iron Curtain traversed countless universes, they'd naturally fought the Black Order before.
To discover that this universe's Thanos was actually on their side—shocking didn't even begin to cover it.
"Dead?!"
Steve couldn't believe it. "There's no way he's dead!"
But right there—at the end of Thanos's finger—lay a scorched corpse encased in silver armor.
Burned inside and out. About as dead as one could possibly be.
Crack!
Just as everyone was swallowed by grief—
A sudden cracking sound came from the burnt corpse.
What's going on?
Resurrection?!
Before everyone's stunned eyes, Allen's arm slowly lifted. He reached up and peeled away the charred skin on his face, revealing baby-smooth, unblemished skin underneath.
"Oops… Looks like I fooled you all again."
Allen smirked. "Did you forget? I've got a resurrection skill, heh heh…"
Turns out, it had been more than a year since he last used his Ultimate Resurrection spell.
So, in advance, Allen had cast it on himself before going all-in.
Otherwise, why would he have dared to snap his fingers so recklessly?
Allen might be crazy, but he wasn't stupid.
"You psychotic pansy, I almost cried!" Steve barked angrily.
"My dearest firstborn, your old man missed you too much. Your sincerity called me back from the depths of Hell." Allen responded with mock affection.
"…"
When it came to verbal sparring, Allen was still king.
"Now that it's over, I'm taking the Stones back," Thanos interjected.
The Infinity Stones were far too valuable to be given away freely.
Only six existed in the whole universe. Frankly, if not for their friendship, Thanos might have already made a move.
Slurp...
Just as Allen reached to remove the Infinity Gauntlet from his head, Mimi suddenly extended a tentacle from its mouth and swallowed the entire thing.
Meow!
Mimi nonchalantly licked its bell collar, completely unfazed by the burning stares around it.
"Damn Devourer Beast!"
Thanos grew agitated. "Mimi! Spit it out! Stop eating random crap!"
But Allen gave Mimi an approving look.
Just like that, both the Gauntlet and the Stones were now his.
"Purple Yam Freak, don't blame me." Allen grinned wickedly.
"You'll pay for this!"
Thanos lunged forward, grabbing Allen by the shoulders and shaking him furiously. "You'll pay! You'll pay! You'll—!"
Allen flopped around like a dead fish, tongue hanging out and eyes rolled back, totally unbothered.
While the two squabbled, a spatial rift silently opened.
A pale, slender arm reached through and snatched up Mimi, who was still lazily grooming itself.
"Mimi's gone!"
At Steve's shout, everyone's gaze shot toward Illyana, who was now holding the cat in her arms.
Strangely, Mimi was purring peacefully against her chest.
Thanos stopped shaking Allen, and both of them turned to look.
"You horny cat, get off my waifu's chest!" Allen said sternly.
Mimi snuggled in deeper, a mischievous glint flashing in its eyes.
Illyana scoffed, visibly irritated. "Allen, consider this cat your compensation for disappearing without a word back then."
With that, she slashed open a portal with her Soulsword and stepped into Hell without looking back.
"Magik acted on her own. The X-Men take no responsibility."
Professor X immediately distanced the team, and the nearby mutants raised a teleportation field and retreated as a group.
The Infinity Stones were bound to stir up chaos.
Several supervillains present were clearly eyeing them with ill intentions.
"You were in on it!" Thanos growled. "You even called her your wife!"
"Unjustly accused!" Allen grimaced.
There was no explaining his way out of this one.
Who would've guessed Illyana would jump in mid-operation? Judging by her expression, there was no chance of getting the Gauntlet back now.
"Come on, Purple Yam Freak, you know me—I only like eighteen-year-olds," Allen said, feigning innocence.
Hmm...
Suddenly, a chorus of deadly glares was thrown his way.
Diana, Wanda, Agatha, and the Ancient One all stared daggers at him.
So he likes eighteen-year-olds, huh? And yet he keeps hanging around us?
Tch. Scumbag.
"Everyone, please, let me explain!" Allen declared righteously.
"I, Allen, love 'em all—eighteen to eight thousand!"
"…"
The more they listened, the angrier they got.
They were done. Everyone turned and walked away.
The crisis was over. Time to go home.
Heroes and villains alike quietly took their leave.
Thanos, however, refused to let it go. He insisted Allen pay him back.
Two Infinity Stones—there wasn't enough wealth on Earth to compensate him.
"Purple Yam Freak, how about I forge a divine weapon for you?" Allen shamelessly offered. "But you'll have to provide the materials."
"No way! You're paying me back."
To Thanos, divine weapons were nothing. In a universe this vast, plenty of civilizations could forge them—just needed the right tech level.
Take Apokolips's world, for example. They had Mother Boxes.
"If we're done here, I'm heading back to the Quantum Realm," Steve said.
"Hey, man, aren't you going to invite us over first?" Tony slung an arm around him.
A fair request—many Avengers were curious how Cap had been living.
"No problem."
Steve readily agreed.
A miniaturized quantum transporter began to glow, shrinking everyone down and drawing them into the quantum tunnel.
The strange, complex material transformations were dazzling.
Before long, the journey ended.
They found themselves in a bizarre world—
A hyper-futuristic city, teeming with strange and exotic creatures.
"Don't be afraid. These are native to the Quantum Realm. Anyone allowed to live in Iron Curtain City is harmless," Steve explained.
"Captain Symbiote, these are humans from the surface."
A blob-like creature, resembling jelly, stared at them in awe. "Your faces have such pretty little holes!"
"This is Hole-Hole, a guide here in Iron Curtain City."
While Steve gave a cultural rundown, twenty-six Iron Curtain task forces returned one by one.
"Darling."
A violet symbiote approached, revealing a mature, elegant face.
Seeing an old friend, Allen waved excitedly. "Carter!"
That's right—one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founding members, now a part of the Iron Curtain. It made perfect sense, especially considering Allen's return during WWII.
"Allen, it's been a while."
Confident and poised, Carter walked to Steve's side. "I'm now the captain of the Symbiote Vanguard."
Most likely, her symbiote form was one of her offspring.
If Venom could spawn a whole clan, why not the others?
"Let's chat on the way. Headquarters has tech you might find useful."
Steve pointed toward a towering structure. The various task forces all converged there.
Tony was shocked again—his suit's scans revealed that one armored soldier's combat power wasn't inferior to his own.
"The Iron Guard—three different enhancement serums, equipped with liquid metal armor. They're designed for large-scale battles…"
There were hundreds of Iron Guards, enough to steamroll anything on Earth.
The Ultra Mage Corps—high-level magic users, experts in dimensional crises.
The Techno-Lords—men in suits and sunglasses, carrying dimensional boxes they could use to instantly assemble tech arrays.
The Judgment Titans—wielders of Pym Particle devices, able to become towering giants.
The Elemental Spirits—vengeful beings akin to Ghost Riders, but not limited to fire.
The Lantern Knights—wielders of Light Rings derived from light energy research.
…
Too many to count, dazzling in variety.
Clearly, under Steve's command, the Imperial Iron Curtain had stopped countless disasters across the multiverse, gathering tech and forming these elite squads.
To forge iron, one must be strong—without real power, one had no place meddling in the multiverse.
Inside the tower, Allen was stunned to see several familiar faces.
"Dr. Morbius, Dr. Erskine, Dr. Zola…"
Some were villains, others anti-heroes—all now coexisting in peace. It was a surreal sight.
"In their own universes, they'd all died. I saved them and invited them to join the Watchmaker R&D division. They're the brains behind every squad's tech."
Steve spoke with evident pride.
Clearly, he was quite proud of his accomplishments.
"The Watchmaker's even nicknamed the Monster Vault. They're a core force stationed in the Quantum Realm," Carter added.
"Damn… you two really know how to play," Allen praised.
If Steve dared recruit them, he surely had control measures in place. No need to worry about betrayal.
"Commander, Universe 9999 has entered quantum status. Shall we intervene?" a scruffy old man reported.
"Let's take a look."
Everyone moved to the multiverse monitoring chamber.
On a massive wall of screens—each star-like dot represented a universe.
One marked with a red arrow had dimmed and gone dark.
"Did you check with the Time Variance Authority?" Steve asked casually.
"We did. Universe 9999 is outside their jurisdiction. It's an independent universe."
Independent universes—those outside the frameworks of Marvel or DC, often with entirely different settings, no familiar heroes.
"Abort the mission."
Steve said firmly, "I won't gamble my men's lives."
After roaming the multiverse for so long, he'd accumulated a wealth of experience.
These kinds of standalone universes were precisely the places Steve preferred to avoid.
Once upon a time, a single poor decision had nearly led to the annihilation of several battle groups.
…
'Spatiotemporal anchor locked. Host may now initiate traversal.'
'Kind reminder: Anchor coordinates triggered by special circumstances may be refused by the host.'
'Target universe: Warhammer 40K.'
…
As the group was touring around, Allen's expression suddenly froze—he stared in shock at the system prompt.
Last time, it was that bizarre Doctor's world.
Now it was throwing him straight into the Warhammer universe, where humans were little more than expendable resources.
And worst of all, no option to refuse.
Allen agreed without hesitation.
"Heh, I've been craving Slaanesh for a long time. If I don't at least get a card, what a waste."
The others gave him puzzled looks, watching Allen mutter to himself with a cheeky grin.
There we go again—acting nuts as usual.
…
'Available classes: Mechanist, Martial Artist, Sharpshooter.'
'Kind reminder: XP required for leveling the ninth class is increased by 250%.'
…
"The hell? This dumb author's out of ideas—now even Tech-Priests are in the mix."
Still, Allen decisively chose Mechanist.
The next moment, he vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile, the rest of the group walked ahead, marveling at the black-tech towers, entirely unaware that someone had gone missing.
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM…
Deafening artillery fire echoed across the battlefield.
A human colony under Terra's control was suffering a brutal alien invasion.
The Battle Sisters, clad in basic power armor, chanted the Emperor's gospel at full volume. Lifting their plasma rifles, they charged forward fearlessly, unflinching in the face of death.
Their enemies: the Necrons—ancient, silent horrors who had slumbered in the cosmos and now crawled from their tombs.
Bang!
A green energy beam pierced a Battle Sister's shoulder, destroying her power pack.
"Cover Commander Yalith!"
Her comrades instantly shifted formation, dragging their wounded leader to safety.
"For the Emperor! Death is nothing!"
But Yalith tossed her ruined pack aside and raised her power sword high, shouting a battle cry.
The cry lit a fire in everyone's hearts. The Battle Sisters responded with a wave of fanatic fury, launching an even more aggressive assault.
"Wee-woo wee-woo wee-woo…"
Just as emotions ran high, an utterly jarring sound broke through the chaos.
A young man in blue-and-white striped patient's clothing came jogging over, mouth imitating a siren.
"Ladies, I'm Yue Buqun from Huashan Sect's Red Cross Division. Anyone need medical attention?"