Unless, right now, the number of Hydra agents inside S.H.I.E.L.D. was actually higher than the number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents—so high that they could collude, cover for one another, and protect each other from exposure.
But how could that be possible?
Looking back over thousands of years of human history, a situation this absurd and chaotic had never truly appeared.
S.H.I.E.L.D., as a key force in maintaining world peace, had a rigorous internal structure. Their agent selection process was layer upon layer of screening. There was no way Hydra could have infiltrated to a point this out of control!
Harry, without holding anything back, told Nick Fury everything he had obtained from Baron Strucker—detailed intelligence about Hydra in full.
After that, he prepared to leave and continue his magical research.
But before he left, there was one more thing he needed to do.
Harry slowly turned around to face the gathered S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. His gaze was deep and distant, as if it could see through the secrets buried in every heart. It lingered especially long on Crossbones.
Crossbones felt that stare turn almost tangible—an invisible pressure that made his entire body stiffen. In an instant, cold sweat beaded across his forehead. Drops the size of beans rolled down his cheeks one after another.
Only after a long while did Harry finally speak. His voice was low, but it carried through the room with unsettling clarity.
"I know perfectly well that among you, there are very likely Hydra agents hiding here. I'm willing to give you one chance to choose.
Think carefully. Do you want to remain in S.H.I.E.L.D. as someone who owes me a debt… or do you choose to betray S.H.I.E.L.D., throw in with Hydra, and become my enemy?"
When he finished, Harry opened a portal and strode into it.
In the blink of an eye, the portal slowly closed. Harry vanished, leaving the others exchanging looks. Moments later, they also dispersed one by one.
…
After taking a crushing blow, Hydra became like a venomous snake that had been badly wounded—hiding in the shadows of the world and no longer showing its head. With Hydra keeping its distance, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents were more than enough to handle the vast majority of crises.
As for the interdimensional creatures that tried to invade Earth, most of them could be dealt with by the Hulk, the Abomination, Doctor Connors—the Lizard—and others.
For a time, the situation seemed to stabilize. Harry returned to the same kind of leisure he'd enjoyed before, slipping back into a calm daily routine.
That night, New York's dazzling skyline shimmered under a sea of lights, dreamlike and unreal.
Elsewhere in the city, inside a refined and elegant villa, warmth filled every corner. Harry and Gwen sat facing each other, enjoying a romantic dinner.
Candlelight flickered across the table, painting their faces in soft gold.
Now that he had money, Harry wasn't about to wrong himself. In this villa—set aside specifically for him and Gwen—he had several well-trained maids on staff.
They maintained constant attentiveness, on standby around the clock. The moment Harry needed anything, they would appear immediately, completing tasks swiftly and thoughtfully, providing meticulous service for both Harry and Gwen.
At the table, the gentle lighting spread through the room like delicate silk, laying a fine halo over Gwen.
She picked up a baby bottle from the table and took a sip, a glimmer of white unconsciously catching at the corner of her lips.
Noticing it, Gwen stuck out the tip of her tongue and lightly licked it away, swallowing the trace without thinking.
Then she reached out, grabbed a long thin piece of bread, and chewed as she asked through half-muffled words:
"Mmm… ngh… Harry, have you seen any fun worlds lately? Hurry and show me!"
Ever since she learned Harry could observe other worlds, Gwen had been clinging to him nonstop, begging to see the unique scenery those worlds held.
After all, the landscapes in those worlds were real—and with projection magic's powerful 4D effect, it felt like being there in person.
It was way better than Hollywood movies.
Watching Gwen keep acting cute, Harry could only sigh. He patted her head—smooth, comfortable, an excellent feel under his palm.
In a gentle voice, he asked, "Alright, alright. So what kind of world do you want to see this time? Still that steampunk world from before?"
Gwen answered instantly, without the slightest hesitation: "I want to see worlds with special abilities and rule-based powers! In those worlds, the female leads are always super pretty—fair skin, soft and tender, and really sexy!"
Harry: "…"
Harry went momentarily speechless, the corner of his mouth twitching as he didn't know how to respond.
He understood Gwen's little thoughts far too well.
Ever since they started living together, it was like Gwen had opened the door to a brand-new world. The first time she experienced the joy of adults being able to "play games" without restraint, she fell in headfirst and never climbed back out.
So as graduation crept closer and her classes dwindled, she stayed home, playing games with Harry.
Most of those games were FPS, with a smaller portion being role-playing or raising sims.
By now, Gwen was a seasoned gamer.
Like right now—she kept pestering Harry, wanting to keep "playing" nonstop.
They were clearly eating, yet she insisted on turning on projection magic, adding extra excitement by mixing the visuals into their "game."
Harry could only give in, staying with her—opening projection magic while playing alongside her.
This time, it was an FPS-style role-playing game.
After a while, Harry shifted his lower body slightly. Sitting too long in the chair made his thighs tingle with numbness, but even that sensation felt strangely good—he liked it too.
With Harry's constantly improving physique, forget sitting for a few hours—he could sit in a chair for an entire day without feeling tired.
Still, holding the same posture for too long always felt a bit off. Moving around a little made him feel more comfortable.
After adjusting, Harry thought for a moment and asked, "This time the protagonist has a rule-based ability called hypnosis. How about this world?"
"Hypnosis? Interesting!" Gwen's eyes lit up. "Then let's watch this one!"
Seeing her excited expression, Harry felt his own interest rise. He pulled her into his arms and released projection magic, casting the scenes he had observed onto the space before them.
Tonight's weather seemed a bit rough—gloomy skies, heavy wind outside. As Harry and Gwen started watching the other world's footage, gusts swept past the window, making a mournful wuu-wuu-wuu sound like distant sobbing.
Not long after, a light rain began to fall. Thick raindrops hammered the eaves, splashing into scattered crackling pops.
Hours passed. With another surge of wind, the window rattled and trembled. The downpour reached its peak, drumming endlessly.
When the gust finally died away, the rain that had lasted for hours at last stopped.
Water pooled on the ground and evaporated into the air. Even with the central air running constantly, dampness still clung to the room, as if the entire space had been soaked through.
But because of the central air, the humid air was also warm—creating an atmosphere that felt faintly intimate and ambiguous.
At the same time, Harry lifted a hand and gave a light wave, ending the projection magic. Together, they finished watching.
The moment the projection ended, the image vanished. But Gwen's emotions remained trapped in the story. She broke down, unable to stop crying, sobbing:
"Mmm… wuu… Harry, that was way too moving… why was the heroine's ending so miserable… wuu wuu wuu…"
Harry held Gwen close, gently patting her back as he comforted her softly. "It's okay. Later on, the male lead will treat her really well."
"Mmm… mm…" Gwen sniffled hard and nodded.
After they finished watching, Harry stayed with Gwen and played a little longer. Only when it was deep into the night and Gwen had fallen asleep did he finally rise, open his pocket dimension, and take out a pale, smooth thigh.
Back then, Harry had paid an enormous price just to obtain the thigh of the Destroyer Armor—he had even sparred in a contest of wills with Odin for it.
The value of this thigh was extremely high. It could serve as a core material for many magical items.
So Harry felt everything had been worth it.
Since obtaining it, he had poured all his focus into it—day after day, uninterrupted, injecting chaos magic into the thigh, trying to gradually rewrite its original rune inscriptions into chaos-aligned properties.
Just yesterday, after a long period of sustained infusion, the runes on the thigh were finally fully altered. Their attributes had now been completely replaced by chaos.
Harry took a deep breath and pulled out a life potion he had prepared long ago, gripping it tightly.
Then, gritting his teeth, he didn't hesitate at all—he brought a blade down across his arm.
A bloody gash opened. Enduring the stabbing pain, he yanked hard—ripping his own pale arm bone out by force!
Blood erupted instantly. With telekinesis, he controlled it, suspending it in the air.
Then he quickly used his uninjured hand to raise the life potion and drink it down in one go.
Inside the limp arm, new bone began growing at a visible speed. Muscle, blood vessels, and skin followed, knitting back together bit by bit.
In only a few dozen seconds, Harry's arm was completely restored. The injury vanished without a trace—no scar left behind.
Harry breathed a little heavier. He leaned down, kissed Gwen's sleeping forehead, then Apparated into the basement.
One by one, he took out a large pile of materials, preparing to use his arm bone, World Tree wood, phoenix feathers, his own hair, blood, and bones, along with the hair and blood of his follower Wanda, to craft a new wand.
Time quietly flowed on. Hours later, under Harry's control, those precious materials gradually fused into one. Amid surging scarlet magic, the rough outline of a wand slowly emerged.
At first, it was only a vague silhouette. But as time passed, its shape grew clearer, and patterns began to appear across its surface—each line seeming to hold mysterious power within it.
Finally, when the last thread of magic merged into place, the wand fully formed.
The moment it settled into his hand, a familiar yet overwhelming force resonated with his magic.
Harry closed his eyes slightly and pushed a thin stream of magic into the wand—then his face lit up with delight.
The wand's amplification was terrifyingly strong. The amount of magic he could actively control inside his body had increased by nearly three times!
In the wizarding world, Harry's wand only doubled his controllable magic. In the multiverse world, the amplification was a pitiful one-and-a-half times.
This was an enormous leap.
And because this wand could merge into his body, it meant it could travel with him between worlds.
Harry couldn't wait to cast with it. With a thought, his magic began to circulate through him like a clear mountain breeze—smoother than anything he'd ever felt before.
That strange sensation made him genuinely happy.
In the past, when Harry used the Railgun, he needed a long charge time to reach maximum power.
But now, with this wand, he didn't need to charge at all. A casually fired Railgun had the same power as his former all-out release.
That level of force was enough to severely injure enemies like the Hulk and the Abomination in an instant—monsters with thick hides and terrifying durability.
And if he spent just a little time gathering power, the Railgun's burst would be enough to kill them in a single hit.
On top of that, while holding the wand—and with his controllable magic increased severalfold—Harry discovered something even more surprising.
He could faintly sense the rhythm of the chaos source power inside him. From that, he could vaguely feel the approximate timing of his next world-crossing!
Even better, he could make slight adjustments to the timing of his return. That meant he could finally seize a rare measure of initiative in his travels between worlds.
Most importantly, he could apply subtle influence to the chaos source power within him—allowing his strength to cross endless dimensions and be transmitted into those observable worlds.
Even though the cost of sending power over was enormous, he didn't lack chaos magic—what he lacked was output capacity.
That meant Harry could speak with people who existed in different times and spaces, and could even transmit his power to them.
And it also meant that as his controllable magic increased, his control over the chaos source power would rise in sync.
This massive breakthrough opened infinite possibilities for Harry's future.
Someday, he might rely on the chaos source power to freely travel between two worlds—or even move at will between countless different worlds, no longer limited to the multiverse and the wizarding world.
He would shatter the limits of worlds, shatter the limits of dimensions, and become an unbelievable planeswalker.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.