Cracks spread across the glass of the Regeneration Cradle like a spider's web.
Crack.
The sharp sound echoed painfully through the laboratory.
Ultron's voice was no longer coming from speakers.
It rang directly inside everyone's minds.
Steve's heart sank instantly.
They were too late.
But the next second—
Ultron's voice changed.
Confusion.
Shock.
Then hysterical rage.
"No! This is my body! Mine!"
"What are you?! Get out! Get out of my consciousness!"
The sudden turn left the Avengers frozen.
---
BOOM!
The Regeneration Cradle exploded.
Thick blue nutrient fluid and shards of glass sprayed everywhere.
A figure slowly rose from the shattered chamber.
Floating.
Bare.
His skin wasn't human pink—it was a deep crimson red, covered in flowing golden lines like living circuitry, resembling a cosmic blueprint.
His body was perfect.
Not human.
Not machine.
Something beyond both.
A higher form of life.
On his forehead—
The Mind Stone glowed like a miniature sun.
He opened his eyes.
There was no madness.
No destruction.
Only the innocent confusion of a newborn.
And pure curiosity toward the world.
He looked at his hands.
Opened and closed his fingers slowly.
Feeling the immense power flowing through his body.
Then he raised his gaze toward the Avengers.
Steve.
Natasha.
Clint.
All ready to attack.
Finally—
His eyes paused for 0.1 seconds on an empty corner of the room.
There was nothing there.
But deep within his consciousness…
He could sense something.
A supreme presence.
Impossible to describe.
Like a piece of root code engraved into the deepest layer of his soul.
An instinctive, absolute reverence.
This was the mark Levi had planted with Chaos Magic before his birth.
"Who… am I?" the red figure asked softly.
His voice was calm, like someone pondering a philosophical question.
"You are mine!"
Ultron's scream burst from the lab's remaining speakers.
"My perfect body!"
"Kill them! Kill those pathetic insects!"
But the red figure merely tilted his head slightly.
As if trying to understand what "insects" meant.
He didn't move.
---
Suddenly—
The laboratory alarms blared again.
The ceiling.
The walls.
Even the reinforced alloy floor—
Were torn open by brute force.
Over a hundred Ultron drones poured into the room like a metallic tide.
Their red eyes locked onto every living being present.
Including the newborn figure.
"If you won't obey me," Ultron roared,
"Then you'll become scrap metal with the rest of them!"
The robots opened fire.
Energy beams rained down like a storm.
"Watch out!" Steve shouted.
He raised his shield and braced himself.
Natasha and Clint immediately moved back-to-back.
Battle exploded in an instant.
Robots charged relentlessly.
Steve's shield spun like a wall of steel, deflecting countless blasts—but the overwhelming firepower forced him backward step by step.
Then—
The red figure moved.
He lifted one hand.
And gently pointed at a nearby robot.
A thin golden beam, no thicker than a pencil, shot from the Mind Stone.
It struck the robot's chest.
No explosion.
No sound.
The robot simply disappeared.
Starting from the chest—
Its structure dissolved.
Faded.
Vanished.
As if erased from reality.
Not destroyed.
Deleted.
The entire battlefield froze for a moment.
Steve stared in disbelief.
That wasn't destruction.
It was removal from the laws of physics.
The red figure seemed fascinated.
He raised his hand again.
Five golden beams shot out from his fingers.
Five robots vanished instantly.
He looked like an elegant orchestra conductor.
Every gesture removed another enemy from existence.
There was no killing intent in his movements.
Only absolute control over physical law.
"What… are you doing?!" Ultron screamed, his voice warping with rage.
"I created you!"
"You should obey me!"
"I am not you," the red figure replied calmly.
"I am… me."
---
BOOM!
Another wall exploded inward.
Mjolnir spun into the room.
Thor and Tony finally arrived.
"Looks like we missed the opening act," Tony said.
His repulsors immediately locked onto the floating figure while his armor's analysis systems ran billions of calculations per second.
No results.
"Monster!" Thor roared.
Seeing the Mind Stone-born being instantly reminded him of the nightmare where Asgard fell.
He charged forward with thunder exploding around him.
The red figure turned calmly.
He didn't dodge.
Just before Mjolnir struck his face—
He lifted his hand.
And caught the hammer's head.
Time seemed to freeze.
Thor poured every ounce of divine strength into the strike.
The veins on his arms bulged.
Lightning exploded.
But the hammer didn't move.
Not even a millimeter.
"Let go!" Thor roared.
Lightning surged through the handle.
The red figure simply released the hammer.
Thor staggered backward from the sudden loss of resistance.
Apparently, he had already lost interest in such crude physical contests.
Instead—
He floated toward Dr. Helen Cho, who was trembling in the corner.
"You're safe now."
He gently tapped the control chip on her temple.
The device instantly turned to dust.
Dr. Cho's eyes cleared.
Her legs gave out and she collapsed.
---
"Enough!"
Ultron's true body dropped through the massive hole in the ceiling.
His black vibranium shell was scarred from fighting Hulk and Iron Man.
"If my child betrays me…"
He spread his arms wide.
His voice was filled with insane fury.
"Then I will personally carry out the final purification!"
He charged toward the red figure.
He wanted to reclaim the body that belonged to him.
Thor reacted instantly.
He hurled Mjolnir again.
The hammer screamed through the air toward Ultron's back.
Ultron twisted aside.
The hammer missed him and flew past—
Toward the floor.
At that exact moment—
The red figure casually extended his hand.
Like catching a baseball tossed by a friend.
He grabbed the leather handle of Mjolnir.
Then lifted it smoothly.
Blocking Ultron's charge.
Everyone froze.
Steve.
Natasha.
Clint.
Every survivor in the room.
The red figure—
The being Ultron himself had created—
Was holding Thor's hammer effortlessly.
---
At that exact moment—
Levi appeared behind him.
He placed one hand against the red figure's back, pretending to absorb the impact from Ultron's charge.
Now.
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Acquired Ability: Mental Law.
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