Chapter 110: A Mortal's Defiance Against the Gods
Ryan's defeat of Wakanda was like a nuclear bomb dropped into a calm ocean, instantly creating a tsunami of geopolitical consequences.
But it wasn't Wakanda's fall that shocked the world—it was Celestial Island's rise.
Having already seized control of Adamantium resources, Celestial Island now possessed Wakanda's vibranium reserves and world-leading technology.
What would they do next?
Celestial Island quickly provided the answer.
Celestial Island's representative, Payne, submitted a proposal to the United Nations Security Council: the establishment of a World Unified Government.
The zombie crisis had led to the collapse of numerous national governments. Some territories had been ravaged beyond recovery. Others had permanently relocated to colonize a second planet. Earth's population had been reduced by three-quarters.
To facilitate global management, address systemic social issues, and rationally allocate dwindling resources, Celestial Island proposed the establishment of a World Unified Government.
All human forces would unite to aggressively develop technology and strive to enter the age of interstellar exploration as quickly as possible.
This vision of the future sounded idealistic—but its core principle was centralization of power.
Who would control the unified government? Celestial Island, naturally.
The United Government would serve as the public face—mere administrators. The true rulers would remain on Celestial Island.
Whether you agreed or not, you had no choice. Refuse, and become the next Wakanda.
Some nations resisted. They were systematically dismantled.
With the establishment of the United Government, the Ryan Dynasty had officially arrived.
Ryan's next concerns lay with the few remaining Avengers, and how to lead humanity beyond Earth to conquer the vast expanse of space.
And to acquire more exotic research materials.
Ryan's self-enhancement efforts had reached a plateau. Finding ways to improve his abilities on Earth had become increasingly difficult.
Consequently, he'd taken a break from intensive research and instead begun a relationship with Cassie Lang.
Ever since Wakanda's fall, whenever Scott saw Ryan and Cassie together, he'd pretend not to notice and take a different route.
It wasn't because he didn't want to disturb them—it was because he couldn't bear the awkwardness.
In Celestial Island's central plaza, Cassie sat beside a fountain, her arm linked with Ryan's.
After several minutes of playful conversation, Cassie suddenly said, "Ryan, my quantum research is almost complete. I even received a signal from the Quantum Realm yesterday. Once I decode it, maybe I can unlock its secrets."
Ryan froze, suddenly remembering that Cassie had been researching quantum technology using equipment salvaged from Hank Pym's laboratory.
There was a dangerous entity trapped in the Quantum Realm—someone called Kang the Conqueror.
His name wasn't important. What mattered was that this being allegedly possessed technology capable of traveling through the multiverse. If Ryan could obtain it, wouldn't that accomplish his goals in one stroke?
Ryan suddenly became very interested.
Just as he was about to speak, a figure descended from the sky.
Scarlet Witch Wanda's appearance had changed dramatically. She now wore a crimson crown, and the chaos magic radiating from her seemed exponentially more powerful than before.
"Ryan, take me to your original universe!"
The moment she appeared, Wanda was ready to drag Ryan away. Her obsession with Vision had completely consumed her—she couldn't wait another moment.
Ryan asked curiously, "Did you find Agatha?"
Ryan had previously told Wanda the location of the Darkhold. The Sorcerer Supreme knew its origin, and a copy of the Darkhold was in Agatha Harkness's possession.
Strange had refused to reveal the Darkhold's origins, so during the battle between Celestial Island and Wakanda, Wanda had sought out the witch Agatha and drained her of her magical powers.
After learning the spells from the Darkhold and combining them with her experience trapped in the Hex, she'd quickly mastered how to tear open dimensional rifts.
She began channeling chaos magic. A crimson aura enveloped the town square of Celestial Island. The energy gradually concentrated into a single point—a black dot that suddenly materialized before Wanda.
Countless streams of red magic converged on the tiny singularity, gradually expanding it.
Alarmed, Ryan quickly intervened. "No! Wait! You might be ready, but I'm not! Stop!"
The black dot appeared out of nowhere, expanding rapidly from the size of a grain of sand to the size of a basketball. Now, through the opening, an alternate street could be seen on the other side.
Ryan was now deeply regretting provoking this insane woman. She'd do absolutely anything for Vision.
Time stretched agonizingly as Wanda forcibly stretched the tiny singularity into a portal spanning the multiverse.
Ryan was speechless.
When the portal finally stabilized, Wanda wiped sweat from her brow and turned back. "Get whatever you need to bring. The portal won't remain stable for long."
Ryan said helplessly, "Wanda, can we discuss interdimensional travel at a later date?"
"No. Either you come with me now, or I capture you and drag you through. Your choice."
Wanda had fully transformed into the Scarlet Witch, determined to take Ryan away.
Ryan, largely immune to physical attacks, was equally vulnerable to magical entities like this.
If someone handed him an Infinity Stone right now, he'd gladly use it to banish Wanda from this universe entirely.
Cassie glanced at Ryan nervously. He gave her a reassuring look.
Wanda watched the exchange between them and suddenly said, "If you can't bear to leave her, bring her with you."
"Uh..."
Absolutely not. Cassie's family was still here—he couldn't possibly take Ant-Man and his entire family of complications along.
Besides, Ryan had never intended to go with Wanda in the first place.
Just as Ryan was contemplating how to deal with Wanda, the clouds suddenly parted, and an impossibly massive figure appeared overhead.
It appeared humanoid, but six luminous points adorned its face like a constellation.
Ryan's eyes widened. "A Celestial!"
"What?" Wanda's attention remained focused on maintaining the portal, oblivious to Ryan's alarm.
Eternals Thena and Sprite also rushed outside. Upon seeing the Celestial Arishem, they froze in terror.
The Celestials had already taken Sersi away—why had they returned?
Before Ryan could process what was happening, an overwhelming telekinetic force suddenly gathered around him. He instinctively unleashed all his cosmic energy to resist.
"No!"
Ryan was held completely immobile, with virtually no ability to fight back.
The next second, Ryan was yanked skyward, hurtling toward the Celestial and vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.
"RYAN!"
"RYAN!"
Scarlet Witch and Cassie screamed simultaneously, but Ryan was already gone.
Ryan now found himself suspended before the Celestial Arishem the Judge.
Arishem was so incomprehensibly massive that Ryan appeared no larger than a speck of dust.
"Ryan. You have harmed a Celestial, causing it to fall into eternal slumber. I shall spare Earth, but I will pass judgment upon you."
Arishem had learned the complete story from Sersi.
Ryan had orchestrated the entire incident, ultimately leading to the death of the Celestial Tiamut.
With Tiamut dead, destroying Earth served no purpose—but Arishem would not allow Ryan, the instigator, to go unpunished. He had come to render judgment.
"Wait! It was Sersi who killed Tiamut—what does that have to do with me?"
Space was a vacuum, yet somehow Ryan could speak and even breathe normally. It had to be Arishem manipulating reality itself.
Arishem replied with infinite patience, "Sersi acted, but you orchestrated everything from behind."
"I'm an Earthling! I was protecting Earth! I did nothing wrong!" Ryan argued desperately.
"The awakening of the Celestial Tiamut would have birthed thousands more worlds. Therefore, you are guilty."
Arishem continued, "I will erase your memories and transform you into a true Eternal. You will join the Eternals in protecting other worlds, atoning for what you have done."
Hearing that Arishem intended to strip away his memories and turn him into a mindless slave, Ryan's heart sank into despair.
After everything he'd accomplished, was this really the end? Why?
Weakness requires no justification. The Celestials had destroyed more planets than Ryan had ever seen—they were never meant to be merciful.
Ryan unleashed every ounce of cosmic energy in a desperate attempt to break free from Arishem's grip, but the meager power within him was nothing compared to a Celestial.
"Abandon your futile resistance. You will face the judgment of Arishem the Judge."
Arishem gathered his cosmic energy, preparing to completely erase all memories from Ryan's mind.
Ryan hadn't been destined to be discovered by Arishem so soon. When Scarlet Witch opened her portal to a parallel universe, Arishem had detected the dimensional breach. Believing Ryan was attempting to escape across the multiverse, Arishem had appeared on Earth and abducted him.
Ryan didn't know this yet—if he had, he would have cursed Wanda's name.
A wave of overwhelming energy surged toward Ryan, crushing down on him like the weight of creation itself.
No matter how Ryan struggled, no matter how fiercely he fought, he was no match for a Celestial.
Ryan gritted his teeth, glaring at Arishem with pure hatred, and roared, "If I survive this day... I swear I will annihilate every last Celestial in existence!"
"Wishful thinking. Your fragile organic form cannot sustain sufficient cosmic energy. Your wish will never be fulfilled."
Cosmic energy? I need more cosmic energy?
Yes! I remember!
Ryan's eyes widened in sudden realization. He concentrated all his cosmic energy into one hand, finally managing to move a single limb.
The next moment, he produced a vial of colorless serum—an experimental formula combining super soldier serum, Extremis genes, and Celestial genetic material.
The situation was binary: either submit to mental enslavement by Arishem, or inject this untested serum and gamble on an unknown outcome.
Ryan injected the serum without hesitation.
At that moment, Arishem was manipulating cosmic energy to probe Ryan's neural pathways. Because Ryan possessed both mental and physical Celestial genes, erasing his memories would prove more difficult than with ordinary Eternals.
Suddenly, the cosmic energy controlled by Arishem was violently expelled from Ryan's body. Arishem seemed momentarily stunned.
Then Ryan—previously no larger than an ant in Arishem's perception—began to rapidly expand. Cosmic energy converged within him like a collapsing star, forming a gravitational vortex of pure power.
Every cell pulsed with newfound strength. Every drop of blood burned with cosmic fire.
A radiant golden light blazed across the entire Earth.
People raised their heads, feeling as though they stood before a second sun, suddenly aware of their own insignificance.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!!! BREAK! BREAK FOR ME!"
Ryan's roar couldn't be heard through the vacuum of space, yet it resonated across the void itself.
Though still comparatively small, Ryan—now grown to the size of Arishem's head—left a towering impression in the hearts of every human on Earth.
A mortal body burning itself to defy a god!
"Face me, Arishem!"
Ryan roared, gathering every fragment of cosmic energy he could command and launching himself at the Celestial.
For the first time since the universe's creation, a living being had raised its fist against a Celestial.
On the very planet he had created. Against the very humans he had engineered.
Arishem was furious. "You insect dare to rebel against your creator! You will receive endless punishment from Arishem the Judge!"
The two energies collided, creating a shockwave that rippled outward through space itself. Wherever the wave passed, reality seemed to distort and fracture.
Ryan desperately channeled power, completely disregarding the limits of what his body could withstand. Even if it meant his death, he would make Arishem pay a price.
Just when Ryan's reserves were nearly depleted, the concentrated energies suddenly detonated. Time and space both seemed to freeze. Only Arishem reached out to seize Ryan—but he was one moment too late.
A singularity appeared at the point where their cosmic energies had collided, and in the blink of an eye, both Ryan and Arishem were pulled into the collapsing void.
Ryan's eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness completely.
End of Chapter 110
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