Those time travelers that year

So even though he was told unsettling news in the middle of the night and had to rush to a secret base in the desert in a military helicopter, he had to maintain a resolute and ruthless attitude, even though his unease was growing stronger.

Attention all personnel.

'The retreat order has been confirmed...'

The broadcast interrupted Nick Fury's quiet contemplation.

Below the helicopter, the buildings of the base located in the desert were already crowded with a large number of people. Vehicle after vehicle, carrying most of the experimental equipment and data, along with the personnel, began the evacuation work in an orderly manner.

Soon, above the bustling crowd, the helicopter, accompanied by a noisy crash, landed directly on a landing gear. The door opened, and Nick Fury stepped out of the helicopter with only one eye, immediately spotting one of his trusted henchmen, Coulson, waiting for him outside wearing sunglasses.

While it might seem foolish to wear sunglasses late at night, the base wasn't completely dark. Instead, all sorts of searchlights and nightlights were flashing everywhere. Although Coulson didn't have any eye problems, it didn't mean that someone who had just taken an elevator from underground to the surface could adapt to the sudden increase in brightness.

How bad is the situation?

"The worst part is, sir, we don't even know what happened!"

Clearly, Coulson's answer made Nick Fury's heart sink. He knew what the most important thing they were researching here was. Putting everything else aside, if anything happened to that thing with inexhaustible energy, the entire American continent could easily sink. And the current situation, not knowing what had happened, was the worst possible scenario.

As the elevator descended, the group arrived directly at the underground research facility. While hurrying towards its location, Coulson explained the current situation to Nick Fury.

Four hours ago, the Tesseract malfunctioned, but at that time, it wasn't yet time to authorize Eric Sevig, who was in charge of the project, to conduct research. In other words, the Tesseract changed on its own, and this clearly abnormal Tesseract, which had been in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands for a long time, inexplicably underwent an unprecedented mutation tonight.

Nick Fury, with a cold expression, directly ordered Coulson and his assistant to speed up the evacuation, while he himself went down the ladder towards the research site.

"What's going on, Doctor?" Upon reaching the research site, Nick Fury immediately spotted Dr. Eric Sevig, who was observing data in front of the machine, and asked loudly, "Tell me what's happening, what's going on?"

"Sir, something's wrong with the Tesseract!" Nick Fury, who was walking over, didn't see the blue light flashing in Eric Sevig's eyes as he walked over. After hearing his words, he hurriedly came over anxiously.

The Tesseract involves far too many things, and once its secrets are revealed, Nick Fury has no idea what will happen. Or rather, if he knew it was here, Thor from Asgard would probably return to Earth and take what rightfully belongs to them. Even if Thor doesn't come, another 'moving calamity' residing on Earth—that 'wizard' from outer space whom he's never been able to control—would likely come to seize this treasure.

He wasn't wrong; Charles was indeed interested in it and determined to obtain it, but he wasn't coming here foolishly. What he didn't know was that Charles had already learned the location of the Cosmic Cube long ago. The reason he hadn't acted was simply because he knew something very troublesome was about to happen.

Is this a time for jokes?

“I’m not kidding, the Rubik’s Cube is not only active, but also…” Eric Sevig’s answer immediately made Nick Fury nervous. “He does whatever he wants.”

"Didn't you try unplugging it?"

"It's no use, it's an energy source in itself. Even if I turn off the power, it turns on by itself..."

Would an inanimate object use itself? Obviously not. This meant the worst-case scenario had actually occurred—a one in ten thousand chance. Thinking about this, Nick Fury's already dark face darkened even further. This was even more outrageous than winning the lottery jackpot. How could a few dollars compare to this mythical item with endless energy… You see, the information S.H.I.E.L.D. seized from their old adversary showed that this thing was called the Dragon Jewel in Norse mythology, one of the treasures of the Norse world.

If he could previously dismiss it as just a story, the events in New Mexico and the report Coulson had given him clearly showed him that the myth was, or rather, from beginning to end, not a simple story.

"Damn it!" Nick Fury cursed under his breath, quickly walking to the device holding the Tesseract in place. From this vantage point, the Tesseract's exquisite exterior exuded an allure of endless secrets. It could very well be humanity's future, or it could be the key to the apocalypse, the scroll of revelation.

But in the very room where Nick Fury was, on the ceiling behind him, in a shadowy spot, an indescribable black shadow writhed. A black, sludge-like substance emerged from a steel plate, then automatically twisted and coalesced, forming something resembling an eye. It had whites and bloodshot veins, but its pupil was an eerie green, making it appear like a normal human eye.

However, the idea of ​​an eye growing out of steel is simply a creepy joke.

Just as Nick Fury and Hawkeye Barton stood together in front of the device holding the Tesseract in place, discussing what was happening there...

“The Cosmic Cube is a door to another part of the universe, right?” Barton said. “In that case, both sides of the door can be opened…”

A flash of azure energy interrupted Nick Fury and Hawkeye Barton's conversation. Then, a series of energy flashes appeared on the Cosmic Cube, the invisible energy flow exceeding the limits of the instruments for a moment. In that instant, the whole world shook, followed by a second one.

"Alert!" Nick Fury shouted, pulling his pistol from his pocket as he backed away. Behind him, guards rushed over, released the safety of their weapons, and stood in front of the researchers.

Weng...

Suddenly, the Tesseract shot out a blue energy stream in the opposite direction from Nick Fury. The energy stream, carrying extremely high light energy, struck a wall, but it did not damage the metal wall at all. Instead, it quickly formed a circular hole flowing with blue light, like expanding moss.

At the entrance, a pitch-black cosmic backdrop dotted with starlight could be seen. The next moment, the entrance collapsed, exploding into a harmless energy gust that dissipated.

There, amidst the lingering blue flames, a young figure who had been crouching stood up with a faint, wicked smile.

Loki...

In Norse mythology, he is the god of evil and deception, a member of the Aesir. According to the information brought back by Coulson, he is also the younger brother of Thor, the god of thunder. The powerful iron golem he sent was the weapon he sent to hunt down his brother.

Although the Iron Giant was overwhelmed by an even more powerful wizard and then shattered by Thor after regaining his divine powers, later data clearly showed Nick Fury that Iron Man's armor was merely a toy compared to the Iron Giant. Current Earth weapons, even those with the most advanced technology, were incapable of causing it any damage; only a nuclear bomb could withstand it.

However, according to satellite data comparison, the steel giant initially contained energy exceeding that of a megaton-class nuclear bomb, and this energy continued to increase during its battles with the wizard's minions. Perhaps even a nuclear bomb might not be able to completely destroy this weapon of war.

Since then, Nick Fury has been highly wary of these mythological figures, and now the object of his wariness has appeared before him in an absolutely unfriendly manner.

"Sir, please put down your spear!" Forcing himself to calm down, Nick Fury pointed his gun at Loki, who had stood up. Similarly, more than a dozen guards stood in front of the other researchers, and more than a dozen rifles were also pointed at Loki.

Loki, facing these people, looked at their useless, outdated weapons with disdain. His gaze narrowed slightly as he swept towards a corner, where he spotted an eye.

With a sinister smile, Loki raised his scepter and pointed it at those 'mortals' in his eyes!

207. [Nightmare Gaze]

Screams, shouts, the sound of blades slicing through flesh, the flash of gunfire—all of this unfolded in a village in the Middle East. A man, his face contorted with madness, brandished a dagger and blade, his other hand gripping the trigger of his gun, screaming insanely as he slaughtered everyone in his pathetic state.

Along with the night wind came the continuous shouts of "Long live God!" and "Allah is the greatest!" A group of people dressed like terrorists—who were actually terrorists—were chanting slogans only heard during jihad, shouting wildly. Then, without mercy, they used blades and bullets to take the lives of their comrades who should have died.

Conversely, the bullets from the rebels lashed out at these crazed people, but to no avail. Despite the profuse bleeding, these madmen acted as if nothing had happened, continuing their insane and meaningless killing spree.

Because in their minds, this is holy war. In their faith, their religion, and their customs, the great, supreme, and omnipotent God Allah is behind them. This is a holy war, even if it is just a meaningless killing of their own comrades, it is a holy war in the eyes of Allah, a holy war that can lead to heaven.

And the God they saw and believed in stood atop a stone house, his eyes, burning with the colors of dusk, watching the meaningless slaughter below with an expressionless face. These wretched creatures, whom he saw as utterly unworthy of pity or salvation, were acting in a frenzied and chaotic manner.

Soon, as if realizing something, this 'God' fixed his gaze on a man who was brandishing a submachine gun with both hands and shouting. After only a short while, the man who was frantically chanting jihadist slogans suddenly threw away the gun he was holding and began tearing at his clothes, making low growls.

That was the low growl of some kind of wild beast...

Thick, dry black hair sprouted from beneath his body. Then, his hand and foot bones began to stretch and twist, accompanied by a chilling creaking sound as the man collapsed to the ground. Finally, his face was contorted, his jaw stretched, and in a short while, he was no longer recognizable as a human. Instead, he appeared as a standing, wolf-like humanoid monster.

Awooo!!!

The creature roared to the sky, then suddenly transformed into a pitch-black figure and pounced on a panicked person. The next moment, terrified screams and tearing sounds rang out...

After tearing at the corpse for a while, the werewolf put down the body and pounced on another person. Just after the werewolf left, the mangled corpse suddenly trembled, and Desert slowly rose from the ground. When it was fully standing, it had transformed into a monster that looked like a dried-up corpse.

Points of light appeared, and the original darkness was gradually replaced by the twilight of the setting sun. The moon in the sky was quickly distorted and transformed into a jet-black sun with golden edges, hanging in the sky.

dong dong dong~

The sound of bells, seemingly from nowhere, echoed through the village. The clamor and madness gradually subsided with the sound of the bells, eventually fading into silence. The entire village fell quiet, and everyone who remained there either turned into mummified monsters or werewolves with thick, dry hair.

A gurgling, wriggling sound arose, and some pitch-black substance flowed throughout the village, as if it were alive, spreading across all the buildings.

Meanwhile, the terrorists and villagers, now all dead and transformed into monsters, began to gather in small groups, each group invariably surrounded by a small campfire. Some, like the werewolves, stayed outside the firelight, lying prone on the ground, their low growls slowly pushing them into the still-dark houses. Others, carrying torches they'd found somewhere, wandered aimlessly, one or two at a time.

Da da da……

A new set of footsteps sounded, but the monsters showed no intention of attacking it, continuing to do as they pleased.

"【Authority】, huh!?" Without launching a deliberate attack, without unleashing any world-destroying spells, Charles did nothing, just as he had when he arrived. Just moments ago, aside from glancing at the terrorists in the village, he hadn't made a single move, simply staring intently at everyone and everything around him. "Tch, this feels so much like the Cthulhu Mythos! A distorted reality, whispers of malice, a altered world… although it looks pretty awful…"

"But this power is truly amazing!!!!"

Perhaps [Authority] cannot achieve the same level of irrational, unlimited rage as the Hulk, nor the same level of irrational, unlimited power enhancement, ultimately reaching the point where brute force can overcome all laws. However, in other aspects, it possesses unimaginable superpowers.

This kind of superpower, which originates from oneself, depends entirely on one's own understanding and expansion. If one had to compare this scene to something, it could only be described as altering reality with willpower. This is similar to the Scarlet Witch's unreasonable superpowers, and this is the "Authority" that Ciel created over a long period of time, risking great danger, by utilizing the characteristics of the First Flame and the Abyss.

Nightmare Gaze

This is the name of this "authority," and even just looking at the name, it's far more prestigious than Loki's "Vision." Through his gaze, any human or other intelligent being who comes into contact with his eyes will be plunged into negative emotions such as fear, despair, sadness, and loneliness. Once their mental defenses are breached, their minds are forcibly stripped away, ultimately resulting in the loss of their soul and a mutation of their body. Most interestingly, when using the "Nightmare Gaze," the real world gradually transforms into another dimension, gradually being replaced by a different world that exists between illusion and reality.

The more souls and negative emotions are harvested during this process, the faster the alternate dimension will replace the real world, until it completely pulls a part of the real world in, transforming it from illusion into reality. This alternate dimension is his inherent barrier, or rather, a part of it. Once the alternate dimension has fully descended, the part that was replaced in reality will permanently disappear and become part of his inherent barrier.

In other words, if he were truly ruthless enough to activate the effect in a densely populated city, that city would completely disappear after a period of time.

If we had to describe the function of this "authority," then we could use Silent Hill as a metaphor.

208. Villains who haven't appeared yet.

In short, the Nightmare Gaze is an extremely dangerous ability, and because of its inherent danger, even Charles himself cannot fully fathom the limits of this authority. However, if he is not mistaken, if the Nightmare Gaze were allowed to expand without restraint, it would become utterly uncontrollable after devouring a modern city. At that point, even Charles, as its controller, would not be able to easily stop it.

It might even expand uncontrollably, gradually eroding the entire world until it annihilates all matter, transforming it into part of its own inherent barrier. No, or rather, if it did that, it wouldn't be an inherent barrier anymore…

With that in mind, even if this ability were incredibly useful, Charles wouldn't intend to use it carelessly. It's best to use this kind of power sparingly, as it doesn't exactly result in massive PvP losses, but the cleanup aftermath is still incredibly troublesome. Unless, of course, Charles decides to completely and utterly destroy an entire world.

He raised his head and looked at the black sun in the twilight sky. Charles narrowed his eyes, and instantly, this absurd and silent world was violently distorted. Then, like a mirage, it dissipated like wisps of smoke, revealing the normal world, a night sky, and a bright moon hanging in the night sky.

At this moment, this place, which should have been a dilapidated village unknown to outsiders, and home to some terrorists who used it as a base, unfortunately vanished like smoke, just like the twilight sky and the pitch-black sun. This village, shrouded in monsters and shadows, also disappeared like a mirage.

"Fortunately, as long as it's a parallel world of 21st-century Earth, there are basically enough training targets here."

"It's just a pity for these Middle Eastern camels, but I think they'd be happy to believe the story of the seventy-two virgins."

"You mean... that voyeur who just arrived here?" Charles turned to a deserted spot on the left. "What? Don't you want to answer me? Or do I need to drag you out of that mirror world and beat you up?!"

"I am the most powerful wizard in this world, my former teacher, the Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One." A slightly hoarse voice rang out, and then, in front of Ciel, tiny, mirror-like points of light began to flash, then quickly spread out and enveloped Ciel as well.

After the light stopped, it was as if a transparent mirror had been added around Charles; this was a mirror world, and Charles had been pulled in by the visitor's magic. However, this was intentional on his part; otherwise, unless he wanted to, probably no one on Earth would have the ability to forcibly pull him here.

Whether it was the old nun, the Ancient One, or the one in front of him, dressed in a brown and red robe, with a slightly aged face, some of her hair already gray, and the biggest dark circles Ciel had ever seen under her eyes.

“But now it seems the world has indeed been changed!” The man with two henchmen, his eyes rimmed with dark circles, spoke in a hoarse, mysterious voice. “The Aesir gods of Asgard have reappeared on Midgard, and all sorts of superheroes are emerging… yet it’s all an illusion. No one can escape the passage of time…”

"Huh?" Charles looked at this guy, who seemed to have been staying up all night for ten years, with the kind of pity one would give a fool. Although he didn't know how strong this guy really was in reality, judging from his appearance and the magical power he sensed within him, Charles knew this guy was utterly useless. He couldn't understand what gave this good-for-nothing the courage to appear before him. Didn't he witness the events that had transpired in this village?! "How did you find this place?"

"The great god Dormammu told me that a powerful wizard exists here," the man with the super dark circles under his eyes said. "And as Dormammu's servant and representative, I, Kaecilius, sincerely invite you to join our ranks..."

"Me?!" Ciel asked, pointing at himself in surprise. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

“Of course, an unknown wizard!” Kaecilius, with super dark circles under his eyes, revealed a calm smile. “In this world, the only thing that cannot be surpassed is time. No matter how glorious a country is, it will perish in the passage of time.”

"You possess immense magical power, you unknown wizard, but that's not enough; you still cannot escape the shackles of time..."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Charles said. "Get to the point."

“I just wanted you to spread the teachings of the great true god Dormammu!” Kaecilius said matter-of-factly. “You are very talented, unknown wizard. But think about how powerful you would be if you had eternal life…”

“Oh! I see,” Charles replied. “You just suddenly came here, saw that I leveled this place, and thought I seemed to have some skill, so you came to recruit me, right?”

Charles's sudden interruption cut off Casillas's words, causing Casillas's expression to turn sour. However, the cultist immediately put on a friendly smile and said, "No, you are wrong. I was merely introducing the teachings of the true god Dormammu to a fellow seeker who thirsts for power!"

“Then I should…” Ciel said with a strange expression, “kneel before the true god Dormammu, right!?”

“Of course!” Kaecilius said matter-of-factly. “The true god Dormammu is merciful…”

“Alright! I understand…” Ciel interrupted the guy’s missionary declaration, saying, “You weren’t actually told by Dormammu, but you just happened to be passing by and sensed me, so you came here…”

Ciel's words made Kaecilius's face turn completely ugly. He had been treated this way by Ciel time and again. This traitor, who had recently received new powers from the evil god Dormammu, glared at the nonchalant Ciel and snorted coldly. At that moment, his two henchmen silently walked towards Ciel, simultaneously producing a semi-transparent blade that looked like pure glass.

"It seems our colleague needs someone to teach him what etiquette is!" Casillas looked coldly at Charles and said in an unfriendly tone, "Hopefully, by then, you'll understand what kind of manners to use when facing someone stronger than you!"

"I don't know what etiquette to use when facing someone stronger than me, and I don't think you three... ants can teach me about etiquette." Charles watched the two Casillas approach with ill intent, standing motionless as he said, "Besides, even if you wanted to talk to me, what makes you think you're worth?"