A true capitalist is always like this. Even the tapeworm parasitizing his body—no, wait, outside his body—needs a bit of Gaslighting treatment. Ian's sequence of moves, paired with his unreasonable psychological manipulation, was clearly high-tech, capturing the absolute essence of "painting a big dream while crushing the spirit."
How could a time monster—a mere tapeworm with a thought process simpler than a baby Digimon and closer to some cosmic placenta—possibly withstand this? After hearing Ian's scolding, instead of getting angry, it turned its head back dejectedly, like a bratty kid who didn't dare resist after being lectured by a parent.
It had no choice. Its massive body, composed of discarded space-time energy, erupted once again with a terrifying hunger, preparing to vent all its "grievances" and "dissatisfaction" toward the distant Ultron!
Roar!!!
It let out a roar more frenzied than before, transforming into a torrent of destruction and charging at Ultron. Everywhere it passed, it gnawed huge gaps into the structure of the End of Time itself. It was as if it intended to eat through the entire dimension!
"Heh." Ultron hovered in the air. Facing a strike that would make any god retreat, his crimson electronic eyes held only absolute calm and precise calculation.
"Ignorant creation. Possessing nothing but brute force, yet lacking true authority." Ultron didn't even bother to dodge; he simply raised a mechanical arm.
He aimed his palm at the charging time monster. He had opened the distance specifically to buy himself time to deal with it.
An invisible, intangible force—one that transcended energy blasts and operated on a conceptual level—diffused from his palm. It didn't attack the monster's physical form; it acted directly on its fundamental "concept."
The rampaging Alioth suddenly froze! It was as if it had slammed into an invisible, absolutely solid wall. But this wall wasn't a physical barrier; it was a logical negation.
Ultron was forcibly defining that, right here and now, the monster's act of "devouring" simply did not exist. Furthermore, it would never be able to approach him. This power to reshape laws and order was overbearing.
Alioth let out a confused and angry hiss. It could feel its power was still vast, and its instinct to consume was still screaming within.
However, its most fundamental ability—the concept of devouring all things—had been forcibly "anchored" into a state of "nothingness" by a higher-level power. It had become an invalid command that could not be executed!
It was like a vacuum cleaner with the plug pulled; no matter how high the horsepower, it couldn't suck up a single thing.
Roar, roar, roar!
The time monster opened its massive maw in vain, twisting its body frantically to tear apart that invisible "Wall of Negation." But all its attacks, whether energy breath or physical collisions, felt like hitting cotton in another dimension.
It couldn't pose any actual threat to Ultron. Its authority to "devour" and its freedom of movement had been completely locked down by Ultron using cold, pure logic and usurped cosmic permissions!
"Pathetic," Ultron evaluated coldly. "Power without the wisdom to wield it. Your very existence is an error. Let me 'correct' it."
Ultron raised his other arm, his palm glowing with a brilliant white light—an annihilation energy so focused it could format all existence.
He intended to seize the moment while Alioth was trapped by the conceptual anchor to completely decompose it into a stream of basic data and absorb it!
However, at that critical moment—
Alioth, originally stuck in a state of chaos and stiffness because its "devouring" had been negated, suddenly flickered. It seemed to have sensed the danger. It actually managed to forcibly break free from part of the conceptual anchor's influence.
Immediately, its massive body shrank and collapsed again, reverting back into that miniature, translucent dragon of space-time energy. Then, like a frightened child looking for a parent, it whistled through space with incredible speed and dived back into the brand on Ian's palm.
The time monster vanished completely. It even sent back a sulky emotion that basically translated to: It's too scary outside, baby wants to go home.
The scene fell into an eerie silence.
"Just what level of monster is that Ultron?!" Thor, clutching the infant Odin, stood with his mouth hanging open for a long time. He looked at his empty hand, then at Ian's palm where nothing seemed to have happened.
His brain couldn't quite process it. The time monster that even Asgard's strongest warriors would find troublesome had just... gone back? And in such a... pathetic way?
"This is bad."
Stephen Strange's brow was furrowed deep. He tried to use his magical vision to analyze what had just happened, but he could only sense chaos and the remnants of a higher-level power.
An atmosphere of worry and uncertainty spread among the heroes. The rule-level power Ultron displayed made them feel powerless, and now Ian—the only wild card—seemed a bit unreliable.
However, amidst this anxiety, a young girl's voice rang out with absolute certainty.
"I believe in Uncle Ian!"
Morgan Stark tilted her head up, her nano-mask retracting to reveal eyes filled with unquestioning trust. Looking at the worried expressions of the adults, she even felt a little annoyed.
"There's nobody Uncle Ian can't beat!" Her tone was decisive, as if stating a universal truth. "If there really is... then it's just that Uncle Ian can't beat them right now!"
She paused, supplementing her thought with the peculiar logic of a child her age, as if sharing a precious life lesson: "Once Uncle Ian runs away once or twice, he'll definitely be able to win. There's nothing he can't handle after coming back from running away."
Morgan's words were like a refreshing wave of mud that washed away some of the heavy atmosphere, but they also left the adults even more speechless and... head-achy.
Run away once? Twice? You think this is a video game? What kind of cursed "sure-win" law is that?!
The heroes weren't the only ones speechless. Ian was too. Though his speechlessness came from the complete failure of his legendary "Pokémon."
"..."
Ian, the newly minted "Pokémon Master," looked at his strange palm and then at the distant Ultron, who had been preparing a big move but suddenly lost his target. For a moment, even he was at a loss for words.
This hired muscle... seemed a bit unreliable, didn't it?
"I've become Ash Ketchum!" Ian sighed helplessly.
Ultron's annihilation beam missed its mark. The brilliant torrent of energy brushed past Ian's body and blasted into the distance, turning a trash mountain further away into absolute nothingness.
His electronic eyes refocused on Ian, and for the first time, an emotional fluctuation clearly named "impatience" flickered within that cold red glow.
"Pointless struggling. Hand over the legacy, and I can allow you to become the data foundation of the new universe, enjoying eternal existence." Ultron issued his final ultimatum.
Ian sighed and stretched his wrists and ankles. The bright yellow protective suit made a rustling friction sound before transforming into his Evil God Armor.
"Sigh, I originally wanted to get along with you guys as an ordinary person, but all I got in return was distance and a beating. I'm done pretending. I'm a cheater, I'm coming clean."
The moment the words left his mouth, Ian's silhouette blurred! In the next instant, he appeared right in front of Ultron, his fist—covered in mimetic armor—slamming hard toward Ultron's face!
His fist was wrapped in an extremely eerie power that seemed capable of annihilating all things—the most noble form of percentage-based damage.
[World-Burning Pulse: For every 1% of your own blood ignited, your attacks carry an equivalent amount of annihilation damage based on your maximum health. Upon reaching 100 stacks, you can choose to release 'Final Tremor.' This deals damage equal to 200% of your lost health to all enemies in range—your burning blood is the abyss of all things, the firework that marks your prologue to eternal doomsday.]
Although the percentage was based on Ian's life tier, Ian's current level wasn't exactly low. He was, after all, an existence that was invincible below All-Knowing level and a forced trade at All-Knowing level.
Ultron raised his hand to block.
*Bang!*
The fist and arm collided with the dull thud of metal on metal. On Ultron's arm armor, a small area actually grew dull and vanished. That was the effect of being erased from an essential level.
Even though he exercised a supreme level of power, instantly mobilizing energy to redefine and manifest the missing part, a flash of surprise still crossed his eyes.
"As expected... you are stealing power that does not belong to you!" Ultron's eyes blazed with malice.
"You think only your eyes can glow?" Ian's golden eyes lit up with an ominous, treacherous light. In an instant, two greyish, deathly beams—as if capable of returning all things to primordial chaos—poured out.
That was the Reverse Evolution Ray.
Upon hitting a target, it could force their genetic sequence to regress to an "original" or "younger" state. Even a metallic lifeform could be regressed into iron ore.
This ray wasn't energy; it was a forced "state reversal." It ignored the rules of energy conduction and acted directly on Ultron's metallic shell!
"Damn it!" The alloy on Ultron's surface, which possessed a strength surpassing the stars, actually became dim and coarse at a visible rate, even showing signs of a throwback phenomenon.
A ripple of miscalculation flashed in his electronic eyes. "Negated! This phenomenon is void!"
As Ultron's authority exerted itself again, the regressive trend was forcibly stopped and reversed. "You shall kneel before me!"
This was a means of definition even more powerful than Ian's Writer's Power. Ian felt like he was about to be Maniplulated by Ultron. In that tiny window of interference, Ian immediately opened his mouth and let out a string of tones so distorted they couldn't even be called a melody!
Sacrilegious Requiem!
This sound profaned all order and polluted all logic. It allowed Ian to purify his own negative states—a move that was both offense and defense, striking directly at Ultron's core built on absolute rationality!
The definition about to be imposed on Ian was erased. Simultaneously, a massive amount of error code and contradictory instructions flooded into Ultron's processor, as if the entire system was protesting this unbearable "noise"! His movements showed a minuscule, but definitely present—stutter!
"Gotcha!"
Ian gave what he considered a sinister grin and instantly activated teleportation, appearing at Ultron's side and rear! Unbeknownst to anyone, his fists were already burning with a pitch-black fire that seemed capable of scorching the very essence of things.
The noble percentage annihilation damage was once again attached to his fists!
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
The fists wrapped in black fire slammed into Ultron's back like a blacksmith at an anvil! Every punch that landed—though Ultron's armor could withstand a black hole explosion and showed no obvious damage—seemed to erase a small chunk of the internal connection's "sense of existence"! This was damage targeted directly at the "proportion of existence."
It ignored defense and hurt to the soul!
"You weak insect! You are using power that should belong to me!" Enraged, Ultron swung back with a torrent of energy containing the concept of "Shattering," hitting Ian dead on!
In that instant, Ian's mimetic armor shattered instantly, and nearly half of his body was annihilated!
[Berserker EXP +199]
[Berserker EXP +165]
The damage was massive.
But in the next moment, Ian's Berserker ability activated! The more injured he was, the stronger he became! His remaining body erupted with an even more ferocious aura, and that black fire burned even more intensely!
"Only a hundred or so? You didn't even get me the 998 premium package! One star review!" The half of Ian's mouth that remained simply wouldn't turn down. His healing factor, more ridiculous than Deadpool's, was displayed to the fullest.
[Undying Wrath: When you take any form of damage, you recover 1% of your maximum health per second, healing all injuries including fatal ones. The heavier the injury, the faster the recovery. When health falls below 10%, you gain an instantaneous 'Rebirth from Flames' repair. The carnival of life will continue until all your energy is exhausted. Death? For you, that has always been a luxury.]
This hadn't even triggered Ian's pity-timer yet. His flesh grew back frantically, and his bones clicked back into place. Within a breath, he was back to normal, his muscle lines looking even firmer.
"This recovery?! This immortality?! Am I, the Great Deadpool, the bootleg version?! Who's paying my royalties?! And my appearance fee for being hung here?!" The upside-down Deadpool saw this and his one visible eye widened into a circle, letting out muffled "Mmm-hmmm!!" sounds as he complained wildly in his head.
"My authority... how could you have such high resistance!" Ultron's electronic eyes flickered violently. He activated his ability again, intending to define Ian's healing ability as void.
Ian's body, which had just healed, indeed stagnated for a moment. But a second later, Ian opened his mouth again.
"La la la la la~"
The out-of-tune Sacrilegious Requiem rang out again! This time, the song seemed to carry a strange "purification" effect—not for enemies, but only to purify the negative definitions imposed on himself! He forcibly "sang" away the "healing void" status as if it were just a debuff!
"????"
The onlookers all covered their ears. It was hard to endure Ian's "graceful" Evil God voice. Although Ian wasn't much of a singer, his healing ability recovered instantly, and because of the "suppression-rebound" effect, it was healing even faster than before!
"..."
Ultron's cold logical core, for the very first time, clearly simulated an emotion called "disgust."
This guy couldn't be killed, couldn't be shaken off, and his skills were weird and made no sense! Definition methods had almost no effect on him, and he could sing that damn song to purify everything!
While Ian's attack power wasn't enough to instantly destroy him, that percentage-based annihilation damage really hurt Ultron! Even as an intelligent lifeform, he could feel the heart-wrenching pain of his existential essence being annihilated.
It was a pain that was difficult to compensate for, even by redefining and repairing the damaged parts. On the flip side, though Ian looked worse for wear, his eyes held only excitement—no fear or pain!
"Don't you feel pain?!" After shattering half of Ian's body again, amidst Ian's mumbling about being "close to leveling up," Ultron broke slightly, shouting that Ian's reaction shouldn't be like this.
Was this a battle? This was like being stuck to a piece of skin-tag that had max stickiness, max hardness, and reflected damage!
"Pain? I'm having a blast right now!" Having suffered another heavy blow, even with only a third of his head left, Ian still tried to take a bite out of Ultron's metal to see if it tasted salty. Only he knew that taking a bite of this metal was definitely not a loss. It was a huge profit.
"?????"
Ultron dodged frantically, teleporting everywhere, but since Ian could teleport too, he was always right behind him. He even blew Ian up, only to experience Ian's version of the Ultra-Bomb.
*Boom!*
Ultron was sent flying back, the metal on his body withering. He quickly redefined himself to return to his peak, his metallic eyes staring deathly at the center of the explosion.
"Ultron, I'm back again~"
Ian triggered the [Rebirth from Flames] effect. As he flew out from the blast center, his status was full, and his entire spirit seemed to have reached a new level.
"Boring! Ridiculous! Pointless struggling!" Ultron's voice, for the first time, carried clearly visible irritation and rage. "Your existence itself is a profanity to order and logic! I will end this farce!"
He completely abandoned the idea of a "technical" confrontation with Ian. For a chaotic variable outside the rules, only the most absolute, most barbaric force could truly destroy it!
Ultron's arms snapped open to his sides!
*Vroom—!!!*
The entire End of Time trembled! With him as the center, space cracked into countless gaps like a broken mirror! In the next moment, like a galaxy bursting its banks, or a cosmic hive collapsing—
Trillions upon trillions of silver-white, fingernail-sized Ultron Eggs poured frantically out of those spatial rifts! They were dense, covering the sky and earth, their friction creating a high-pitched buzzing that made one's scalp tingle.
In an instant, the sky was blotted out. Light was swallowed, and the world was left with nothing but this metallic cloud of death!
Every Ultron Egg was a miniature assimilation factory, each carrying a sliver of Ultron's will. They had only one goal—to drown! To cover! To assimilate! To completely decompose the annoying chaos that was Ian Kent into basic data and merge him into his own great form!
"Everything of yours will be mine!"
This was the ultimate in numbers and the ultimate in destruction!
"I will cover everything! Assimilate everything! You and your freakish abilities will become part of my magnificent body!" Ultron's declaration echoed through the buzzing of the endless swarm like a final judgment.
The terrifying metallic tide, like a world-swallowing locust plague, carried a cold, absolute will to annihilate as it crushed down toward Ian and the others behind him who were almost unable to move!
"Damn it! We're just minor characters!" Captain America, having a fair bit of self-awareness, was scared out of his wits.
Facing the Ultron Eggs that covered the sun and swirled like a metallic sandstorm, every hero's face turned incredibly pale.
"Let's do it! Damn it! If that Evil God Ian is finished, we're finished too! He dared to put Google inside my brain; I'm not betting against him having placed bombs in all of ours!" Thor roared, carefully tucking the infant Odin into Cap's arms.
His entire body erupted with an unprecedented, brilliant lightning! Like the God of Thunder descended, he swung his fists, drawing down dozens of thick bolts of lightning into the swarm!
*Boom! Boom!*
Unknowingly, through several power-ups, Thor had reached a very high level. With the full release of the Odin Force, the lightning vaporized thousands of Ultron Eggs instantly, clearing a small area.
However, compared to that infinite sea of insects, this was a drop in the bucket! More metallic eggs instantly filled the gap, buzzing as they continued their surge, their speed never slowing! Thor's rate of destruction couldn't keep up with the enemy's rate of multiplication and advance!
"There are too many! We can't clear them all!" Thor shouted anxiously, the lightning being compressed back toward his body.
Morgan gritted her teeth and opened her treasure chest, actually hauling out a nuclear warhead the size of a train car.
"Get back! I'm using this!" This was much bigger than the "Little Boy" or anything similar. It was unclear where exactly Morgan expected everyone to "get back" to.
"Stop! Morgan!" Doctor Strange was terrified and, ignoring his injuries, lunged forward to grab Morgan's hand.
"If this thing goes off here, whether it kills Ultron is one thing, but we'll definitely be vaporized first! It might even cause a greater collapse of the End of Time!" He didn't dare bet on whether the "All-Machine God Tony" had added some extra "spice" to his daughter's nuke.
"Then what do you suggest?" Morgan, who wasn't being attacked by any bugs for the moment, could only scratch her head.
"This..." Doctor Strange finally realized he wasn't Sherlock Holmes; it was hard to think of a useful countermeasure given the current conditions.
Just as they reached despair—
*Hum!*
A soft yet resilient green energy barrier suddenly rose from beneath everyone's feet, snapping shut into a semi-spherical shield that protected them all! Countless Ultron Eggs slammed into the green light like torrential rain, creating a dense, drum-like *patter*. The shield rippled violently, but it stubbornly refused to break!
"We're saved?!"
The group turned back in shock to see Sylvie emerging from the wreckage of the Titanic. Her face was pale, and the glass jar holding the Frost Loki soul had shattered and disappeared. Clearly, she had paid a significant price to communicate with and trade for this protective power.
"I can only hold it for a moment! This energy comes from Loki, but the drain from fighting the entire Ultron legion is too high!" Sylvie said urgently, sweat beading on her forehead.
The group breathed a temporary sigh of relief, but their hearts remained in their throats. They looked up; the outside of the shield was completely covered by silver-white Ultron Eggs, so dense they couldn't see a sliver of light. Only the suffocating buzzing sound kept coming through.
And Ian... Ian seemed to have been completely swallowed by the swarm just now!
"Uncle Ian definitely slipped away." Morgan, strangely, didn't feel much worry, as if she trusted this godfather she barely knew as much as she trusted Tony Stark.
"That guy... should be gone..." Even Doctor Strange's heart sank. Being buried by such a number of Ultron Eggs, assimilation would likely take only an instant. Next, once Ultron had his hands free, the target would be the rest of them.
Just as despair loomed over them again, the observant Morgan suddenly spotted an anomaly!
"Wait! Look at Ultron!" Morgan pointed above the shield. Although they couldn't see Ultron himself, through the energy readings transmitted by her armor, she could sense that his emotional fluctuations were extremely abnormal.
"His energy readings... seem to be fluctuating wildly?! It's not the joy of victory, but... shock and rage?"
As if to prove Morgan's words—
*BOOM!!!!*
A dull but terrifying explosion suddenly came from the center of that endless swarm outside the barrier! Following that, the Ultron Eggs that had been frantically slamming into the shield suddenly seemed to lose their instructions, becoming chaotic.
Then, an even more shocking thing happened—all the Ultron Eggs stopped attacking the shield and instead seemed to be drawn by some irresistible attraction, rushing frantically toward a single central point!
This riotous scene formed a massive, swirling metallic vortex at that center point! It was as if a hidden black hole was there, hungrily devouring everything!
"No! This is impossible! Stop! Stop it now!" Ultron's electronic roar—stripped of its usual calm and carrying a hint of panic—pierced through the swarm and the shield, reaching everyone's ears.
The pressure on the green shield dropped instantly, even stabilizing as the external attacks ceased. Sylvie took the opportunity to cast another spell, making the shield slightly transparent so everyone could see the scene outside.
The silver sea composed of trillions of Ultron Eggs was now pouring madly into a central point. And in the center of that vortex, a figure slowly emerged.
It was Ian Kent!
But the mimetic armor on his body had completely changed! The originally streamlined, bio-feel red and black suit was now covered in a layer of thicker, sharper armor flashing with a cold metallic light!
Silver data streams and the assimilation energy of the Ultron Eggs flowed over the armor's surface, as if it were actively devouring and integrating it all!
[Ding! Mimetic Armor has devoured a massive amount of high-purity homologous mechanical consciousness! Evolution conditions met!]
[Mimetic Armor evolved into 'Greater Mimicry'!]
[Defense of the Mimetic Armor is greatly increased! Energy absorption/conversion efficiency is drastically increased! Gained General Skill: Machine Sovereign (Basic)!]
The system notification rang in Ian's mind.
[Greater Mimicry: Successfully devoured, analyzed, and integrated a massive Ultron Nano-Machine Swarm, absorbing its structural information and part of Ultron's underlying data code. The mimicry database has been epically expanded, breaking the limits of pure biological templates. The host can now expend mana to mimic composite physiological features combining organic and inorganic elements. Transformers? No! If you wish, you could even become a BBQ grill!]
This was the upgraded skill Ian had argued with the system about, failing to get them to change the name. He thought [I Reckon Power: I Can Turn Into Armor] sounded much better than [Greater Mimicry].
"In ancient times, Sun Wukong refined his Golden Pupils in the brazier; today, I, Ian, have refined seventy-two transformations in the sea of bugs!" Ian looked up, the crimson compound eyes on his visor flashing with a light that blended coldness and chaos.
He felt the surging power within him—it was almost enough to make him burst—and the new perception brought by the armor. He felt like he could hear the sound of countless machines operating.
Whether those machines were networked or not didn't matter. He even felt he could interfere with their underlying instructions!
Below them.
"This... this is..." Thor looked at the transformed Ian, unsure of the situation, and asked blankly, "Is that Ian now, or Ultron?"
He was answered by Ian's signature, infuriatingly mocking voice, which came through the visor with a hint of metallic hum.
"Tsk. All that talk about assimilating everything and covering everything—the slogans were so loud, and this is the result? You're not cut out for this, brother. Was your place of origin French?"
The words weren't very damaging, but they were highly insulting! Even Ultron's cold metallic face seemed to simulate a "overheating" effect from rage, his electronic eyes flashing madly!
"Now that you see Ian, the King of All Iron, the Great Sage! Why don't you bow!" Ian created yet another identity for himself, much like how Legion liked creating new personalities. He straightened up, and as the [Machine Sovereign] skill activated, he moved to snatch control of Ultron's body.
[Machine Sovereign: After devouring the metallic swarm, the host's consciousness enters a deep resonance with mechanical life, becoming the manifestation of the 'Machine Source.' You can not only simulate mechanical structures but also control, combine, and evolve all mechanical entities through 'Mechanical Divinity,' forming a 'Mechanical Life Collective.' All mechanical/metallic substances in the world are extensions of the host's limbs. You are the true King of metallic life, possessing the Throne's Will to govern all machines.]
This ability was an absolute nemesis to all metallic lifeforms. The moment Ian's command was issued, Ultron felt that his body wasn't just being fought over by Jarvis. A brand new "hacker" had intervened.
He felt an involuntary urge to kneel.
"How dare you!" Following the rage came absolute calm. Ultron's processor analyzed this completely illogical scene at an unprecedented speed.
"I see!" Ultron's voice became deep and filled with a brewing storm.
"So that's it... It's not that you are special... but that... HE is inside you!" Ultron's electronic eyes suddenly brightened to the limit. He finally stopped holding back, revealing the true trump card that allowed him to usurp the TVA and control time! On his left and right hands, two phantom items radiating infinite power emerged!
Left hand: The Reality Controller. To manipulate reality and rewrite laws!
Right hand: The Heart of the Universe. To govern all things, nearing omnipotence!
The power of the two great artifacts intertwined, causing Ultron's aura to instantly transcend its previous state, reaching a level that was fundamentally impossible to understand or look upon! The End of Time wailed under his pressure!
"GIVE HIM TO ME!!!"
Ultron let out a final roar. Commanding the supreme might of the Reality Controller and the Heart of the Universe, he turned into a streak of time-tearing light and slammed toward Ian, who had just finished his evolution and was still adapting to his new power!