Chapter 329: The Soul Stone the System Can't Absorb
The instant Ethan made contact with the Soul Stone, no System chime came. None at all.
That threw him. Every other time he'd handled an Infinity Stone, the System had reacted immediately — some kind of notification, some prompt.
Why was there nothing this time?
He pulled up the System panel and checked his quest log.
[Infinity Stones Collected: 4/6] Currently held: Reality Stone, Space Stone, Mind Stone, Time Stone.
The Soul Stone was sitting right there in his hand, and the System wasn't registering it at all.
Ethan frowned, thinking it through. Could it be that the System just can't absorb Infinity Stones from a different universe?
If that was true, his whole original plan — come to the future, grab all six Stones in one go, and cash in the upgrade — was completely dead in the water.
He hadn't expected the System to be this picky about its ingredients. Or maybe there was something unusual specifically about his own universe.
If he had to hunt down a Soul Stone back home, the Power Stone would probably be manageable enough — but the Soul Stone? How was he supposed to get his hands on one of those? He certainly wasn't about to sacrifice a Family member for it.
He wasn't Thanos. Trading away someone he loved for a rock — that wasn't something Ethan could ever bring himself to do.
While Ethan was still lost in thought, Dr. Banner's voice broke the quiet around him.
Banner watched him with hopeful eyes. "So — what's actually going on here? Is there still a chance for Natasha?"
That snapped Ethan back to the present. He realized he'd been so absorbed in poking at the System that he'd completely lost track of Natasha's situation.
Most of the people here didn't really trust Ethan. But Banner knew exactly how far Strange and Ethan's abilities went — Banner himself had once had his own soul knocked clean out of his body by a single strike from the Ancient One.
He understood, better than anyone here, just how far these magic-side people could actually reach.
Banner's reminder was enough to pull Ethan back into focus.
He'd genuinely been so absorbed in studying the System that he hadn't even gotten to Natasha's soul yet.
Truthfully, whether Natasha lived or died meant nothing to Ethan personally. He'd only grabbed the Soul Stone hoping to trick the System into absorbing its power.
Still, he understood the room he was standing in. He needed to put on a show. Slowly, he lifted his head and looked around at the Avengers, his voice low and even.
"Give me a moment."
The instant the words left his mouth, a thick black aura began pouring off his body, spreading through the room like a storm cloud rolling in across a night sky.
The aura carried an unmistakable weight of menace and danger, and every Avenger in the room tensed at once. They stepped back instinctively, eyes sharpening with wariness, some of them visibly ready to move in and stop whatever Ethan was doing.
But Strange stepped forward fast, planting himself between Ethan and the room. At the same moment, Banner edged forward too, angling his body slightly to shield Ethan.
Strange liked to talk a big game about being afraid to die — but when it came to a friend in trouble, he wasn't the type to hide behind that fear.
Watching this, the Avengers had no choice but to hold their ground and watch.
If it had just been Ethan alone, they might have actually moved in and tried something — even knowing full well they couldn't beat him.
After all, they barely knew Ethan at all. Who knew what he might actually do — the Soul Stone mattered enormously to them, bought at the cost of one of their own, and it was their only real hope of bringing anyone else back.
But Strange and Banner were different. Those two, they knew well. This universe's Strange had died specifically because of Tony — there was no version of events where Tony would ever raise a hand against him, whichever universe's Strange he happened to be.
And Banner needed no explanation at all — he was a comrade who'd bled alongside them through everything. There was no way any of them would move against him.
So all they could do was stand there and watch to see what exactly Ethan was up to.
As the dark aura around Ethan kept thickening, unease spread through the Avengers right along with it.
What is he actually trying to do?
Even Banner — who trusted Ethan more than anyone else present — felt a flicker of doubt creep in. He leaned toward Strange, voice uneasy. "What exactly is he doing right now?"
Banner had no one else to ask. Strange was the only one here who actually knew Ethan.
Strange glanced back at Ethan, still wreathed in black energy, and frowned thoughtfully. "He's probably analyzing the Soul Stone — or trying to sense whether Natasha's soul is actually inside it."
Strange recognized dark magic when he saw it, and he knew perfectly well it was especially well-suited to soul manipulation and analysis.
Still, this was taking a while. Ethan clearly had some purpose behind it, and Strange figured the least he could do was run interference.
Back in their own world, there'd been no Avengers to speak of at all — and here in Hell's Kitchen, Strange really only had a rapport with Tony. Everyone else was practically a stranger to him.
As for this "Natasha" and her soul — who even was she? What did any of this have to do with him?
If their positions were reversed and he'd gotten his hands on the Soul Stone, he'd have started studying it immediately too, Natasha or no Natasha.
He'd get around to finding her eventually. Just — not first.
Meanwhile, Banner was doing his own part to back Ethan up, recounting his own story about the time the Ancient One had knocked his soul clean out of his body.
"A soul. Now that's interesting. Maybe I could build a machine that lets you actually see one," Tony said, visibly intrigued.
"Bruce, this little trip of yours through the timestream is really turning out to be quite the story," Ant-Man muttered, half to himself.
To the rest of the Avengers, Banner's account sounded absolutely bizarre — but they also knew Banner had no reason to lie to them on some stranger's behalf.
Just then, a startled shout broke the silence.
Thor pointed straight at Ethan and bellowed, "By the Norns — look! I can see it! I can see Natasha's soul!"
Watching Thor's dramatic pointing, his gut jiggling with every gesture, it was about as ridiculous a sight as you could ask for.
Naturally, nobody noticed the comedy of it — the Avengers had no attention to spare for Thor right now. Every eye in the room was locked on Ethan.
Except...
There was nothing there. Nothing at all.
"What exactly are you seeing? This is no time for jokes — there's nothing around Ethan at all!" Steve said, frowning.
"Sorry, sorry — I keep forgetting you're all just ordinary mortals. Of course you can't see a soul with the naked eye. But Ethan really has found Natasha," Thor swore, dead serious.
"You actually found her?"
"Does that mean there's still a chance to save her?!"
A wave of disbelief swept through the Avengers — carrying with it, unmistakably, a thin thread of hope none of them could quite hide.
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