The instant Killian's body was pierced by the carbon-steel blade, everything changed. His self-healing ability—the core of his power—collapsed, and the flames that once obeyed his will turned against him. The heat that had made him invincible now consumed him from within, burning through every muscle fiber until his body was nothing but a smoldering husk.
He fell to the ground, gasping, completely paralyzed and helpless before Marcus—the man who had outwitted him.
A single moment of arrogance had cost Aldrich Killian his life.
In battles between superpowered beings, unless one's ability completely overpowers or directly counters the other, victory depends on one's understanding of both powers—how to exploit the enemy's weakness and how to wield one's own strength. Killian had discovered new ways to use his high-temperature ability during the fight, but his brute-force style lacked strategy. His failure to analyze Marcus's powers had sealed his fate.
Sheer power alone can win battles—but not wars.
Especially not in the Marvel universe, a world overflowing with reality-breaking forces: time reversal, causal manipulation, and other near-omnipotent abilities that could overturn any outcome. Marcus knew this all too well. Many supervillains before him, despite their overwhelming might, had fallen because they underestimated this world's absurd arsenal of "miracle" powers.
He had even considered it himself—what if he managed to unleash his zombie virus on a global scale, infecting ninety percent of humanity in an instant? Would that be the end of the world?
No.
Because someone would simply go back in time and stop it before it began.
In this universe, time itself was an unreliable ally. The moment Marcus caused too much destruction, the timeline would simply rewrite itself. Two individuals, in particular, made that threat very real: Doctor Strange, wielder of the Time Stone, and Kitty Pryde, the mutant capable of sending consciousness backward through time—as shown in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Both were beings beyond Marcus's current reach.
If he drew their attention too early, they could easily travel back and erase him before he ever rose to power. His armies, his viruses, his victories—gone, as if they had never existed.
The conclusion was clear: conquering humanity first and then dealing with the superheroes was suicide. It was a tempting illusion—a trap that lured him to expose himself too soon.
If Marcus wanted to bring this world to ruin, he had to eliminate its greatest defenders before they ever realized he was the threat.
Fortunately, Doctor Strange was often too busy dealing with multiversal crises to notice one more virus outbreak on Earth, and Kitty Pryde only intervened when mutants were endangered. For now, neither had reason to suspect Marcus.
The zombie birds he'd released earlier were part of that very test. If the virus spread uncontrollably, it would be a victory. If it was stopped by time-traveling heroes, that too would yield valuable data.
Until he gained enough strength to kill those two temporal gods outright, Marcus could not afford to be seen.
In this world, even a single moment of overconfidence could mean losing everything.
The deeper Marcus studied this universe, the more he realized how truly impossible its destruction was. The X-Men, Doctor Strange, the Avengers, even the Asgardians and Guardians of the Galaxy—each represented a wall he would eventually have to break through. The zombie virus, as it currently existed, was far too weak. Against gods and cosmic beings, it was little more than dust in the wind.
That was why the Extremis Virus mattered so much.
Its fusion with the zombie virus would mark the first true step in the evolution of his plague—a key advancement toward the end of the world.
Marcus crouched down, his gloved hand hovering over the still-glowing vial of Extremis.
But before he could reach it, a burned, trembling hand clawed at the ground beside it. Killian's half-destroyed form shuddered, eyes bloodshot, his voice hoarse but defiant.
"Why?" he rasped. "Why stop me? A small sacrifice—and I could have made the world better! Medicine has always advanced through tragedy… Tell me, what did I do wrong?"
According to the usual script, this was where the hero would deliver a noble speech—something about ethics, humanity, and the sanctity of life.
Unfortunately for Killian, Marcus was no hero.
"Wrong?" Marcus said coldly, pressing his boot down on Killian's hand. "You didn't do anything wrong. You just aimed too low."
A blade of silver metal extended from Marcus's palm. Without hesitation, he slit Killian's throat in one clean motion.
"Your creation deserves a grander purpose—to destroy the world."
[Virus Touch Activated]
Target: Aldrich Killian
Zombie Virus successfully injected…
Host infected. Mutating.
Warning: Target deceased. Mutation accelerating.
Result: Mutant-class infected individual will reanimate within 1 hour, retaining full human cognition.
Action advised: Subdue or erase consciousness upon reawakening.]
Marcus exhaled through his mask and wiped the blood from his blade.
Once Killian's corpse was hidden, he sent a mental signal through his undead network to Earthshaker, ordering him to retrieve the body later for transport back to Queens.
Two of the three Extremis vials were now secured. The last one was still in the hands of the Punisher, locked in battle with Thunder.
Marcus reached out through the psychic link.
Marcus: "Thunder, report."
Thunder: "Apologies, Master. I've retrieved the vial—but Maya and Daredevil were taken by the Punisher."
Marcus: "Maya? Why would he take her?"
Thunder: "I don't know. Daredevil's been injected with the Extremis Virus—he's in the cocooning stage. The Punisher abandoned the vial to save him."
Marcus frowned. Daredevil… infused with Extremis.
A superhuman body enhanced by both training and virus perfection, guided by that unyielding "heroic" resolve—he would be far stronger than Killian ever was. A dangerous development indeed.
But that was a problem for another day.
For now, the mission was complete. All three vials were accounted for. The next step was to retreat before the Avengers arrived.
"Mission accomplished," Marcus murmured. "All units, withdraw."
---
Elsewhere—AIM Research Facility, North Corridor
From a pile of blackened debris, something moved.
A charred corpse twitched once, then twice. Cracks spread across its surface as the black crust flaked away—revealing living flesh beneath. A man emerged from the ashes, brushing soot from his scorched red suit.
It was Deadpool.
"Hey, anybody miss me?" he said cheerfully to no one in particular, glancing around the ruined corridor. "Feels like I've been offline forever!"
As he dusted himself off, his eyes caught a small piece of paper lying beside him. He bent down, squinted at it, then clapped his hands together.
"Well, what do you know! Somebody did leave me a note!"
Then, over the facility's loudspeakers, came a chilling monotone voice:
"Self-destruct sequence complete. Detonation commencing."
Deadpool's masked head tilted slightly. "…Am I allowed to say a bad word right now?"
A moment later—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of massive explosions tore through the entire base, engulfing everything in blinding flames once more.
__
T/N:
Hello everyone! My Patreon is just $3 — a perfect opportunity to access 55+ advanced chapters and support the translation.
🔗 patreon.com/user?u=79514336
Or simply search Translator-Sama on Patreon