Arthur felt as if he had just lit a fire. Once the fire was lit, nothing else mattered.
Tony and Banner were engaged in a heated discussion. Even after breakfast, the two were still debating and trying to figure out the calculations for reaching the moon.
With that kind of efficiency, not even the harshest boss would have anything to complain about.
Just as Arthur was wondering whether he should finally do something "serious," a notification suddenly appeared before his eyes:
[Disassembly Successful!]
[Intermediate Growth of All Things *99]
[Intermediate Rational Thinking *99]
[Intermediate Energy Absorption *99]
[Intermediate Energy Control *99]
[Intermediate Rotation Theory *99]
[Intermediate Particle Restructuring *99]
[Colorless Great Crystal *999]
[Ancient Lonely Battle Soul Crystal *1]
Disassembly successful, but due to insufficient Disassembler level, a large amount of energy has overflowed!
[Obtained Indigestible Pure Energy Ore *1]
[Disassembly EXP +9999]
[Would you like to extract at once?]
Although Arthur had anticipated this, seeing the flood of prompts actually gave him a different feeling.
"Should I say... the harvest this time is too big?"
He glanced at the others in the room, then quietly slipped into another room. He closed the door behind him and locked it. Only then did he choose to extract.
However, the items didn't appear in his hands directly. Instead, they materialized inside the Disassembly Space under his control.
Peering inside, Arthur saw piles upon piles of skill books neatly stored within.
As soon as he selected "extract," a new set of notifications appeared:
[Disassembler EXP full. Begin upgrade immediately?"
[Important Warning!!!!]
[Important Warning!!!!]
[Important Warning!!!!]
[Disassembler is about to undergo a major upgrade! Prepare yourself!!!!]
[Disassembler is about to undergo a major upgrade! Prepare yourself!!!!]
[Disassembler is about to undergo a major upgrade! Prepare yourself!!!!]
Arthur swallowed hard as an indescribable sense of danger welled up in his chest. In the next second, he flung open the door and walked out.
He opened the door so forcefully that it startled everyone.
Tony glanced at him in confusion before asking. "What's the matter? Couldn't hold it in anymore?"
Arthur ignored him, grinned, and said, "Uh, something came up. I need to step out for a bit..."
His words sounded so strange that no one responded.
The next instant, Arthur's figure vanished from the room.
In his vision, a countdown for the Disassembler had already appeared! He didn't know why, but he had an overwhelming feeling that if the upgrade occurred on this planet, something unimaginably terrible would happen.
In a blink, he teleported into the sky. Black wings unfurled behind him, and the next moment, he was enveloped in acceleration. With a thunderous boom, he shot straight toward the void.
It all happened so suddenly that he had barely taken off when his communicator erupted with frantic incoming calls.
He answered one, and Natasha's voice came through immediately: "Tell me, what the hell is going on?"
"It's just...something with me," Arthur replied. "Don't worry. It probably won't cause any problems. Of course, I can't say for sure. What I can say is that if I stay near any of you, you'd be in danger. That danger would come from me. So, I've decided to head into the vacuum of space for a while. It might not be long. But when it's over, I'll be reborn from the ashes!"
"I don't give a damn about this 'reborn from the ashes' crap. I just want to know what's happening to you."
"Well, let's just say I'm about to level up again."
Arthur laughed dryly, remembering the first time he disassembled soldiers' weapons in the army and the pride he felt afterward. Compared to now, those moments seemed so distant, as if they had happened in another century.
Well, to be exact, they had happened in another century!
"Trust me."
Without saying anything more, Arthur left those words behind and cut off all communication. Pushing his acceleration to the limit, he shot upward like a blazing line of fire, piercing the sky. In an instant, he broke free of the atmosphere.
Above Xandar, alarms blared like a flock of startled ducks.
After Arthur's call ended, Tony and the others immediately sprang into action inside the room.
"First of all, the old man might be old, but he would never make a reckless move that had no meaning whatsoever! So we can be certain he's facing a situation that left him with no choice but to leave. That means that, in the future, we must manage public opinion on Xandar. We can't let his sudden leap into the sky turn into street gossip. Remember, the Avengers have never sought to grab the world's attention through cheap theatrics!"
"And finally..."
Tony looked around at everyone in the room. "I believe in him. What about you?"
The others glanced at each other and, one by one, nodded.
Only Natasha murmured under her breath. "It must be connected to the way he took Ego away. He already paid a steep price for that. I just never thought, that price wasn't nearly enough…"
"He said he'd be reborn from the ashes. There's one thing I'm certain of..." Tony patted Natasha on the shoulder, his expression dead serious. Without Arthur present, his mere presence was enough to calm everyone's nerves. "The greater the sacrifice, the greater the reward. When the old man returns, he might be terrifyingly powerful."
Natasha nodded. She was a spy; she wouldn't allow emotions to interfere with her work.
Wiping her face, she turned to Coulson. "Find a way to connect with Nova Prime. We need to coordinate with the Xandar government. No matter where he goes, there must be no surveillance, speculation, gossip, or monitoring!"
"Understood!" Coulson replied at once.
"What about us?" T'Challa and the others rose to their feet.
Tony said, "We follow him. If I don't at least see what's happening with my own eyes, I'll never be at ease."
…
…
[Disassembler upgrade countdown: 15, 14, 13…]
The numbers ticked down as the golden energy inside Arthur's body poured out like a raging river.
All Arthur knew now was that he was no longer just beyond the reach of Xandar; he had entered some unknown sector of space that even his eyes couldn't place.
Just as the countdown neared its end, a small asteroid belt appeared before him. He hurled himself toward it, [4, 3, 2…!]