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Leaving aside the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, which fell into complete chaos after the Cosmic Cube was stolen—
After getting his hands on the Cube, Josh immediately returned to the Origin Star to test if the Cube could be used. "Origin Star" was just a random name he gave this world.
If this planet really was, as legends said, the birthplace of many intelligent civilizations, then the name was more than fitting.
However, Josh didn't use the teleportation array that led back to Earth.
After all, this was an Infinity Stone.
Before, the various Krym Crystals couldn't handle the power consumption of the teleportation arrays. But with the Space Stone, things might be different now.
Although the Space Stone was considered the "milder" one among the Infinity Stones, Josh wasn't sure whether the teleportation array could withstand its power.
So, he decided to use the array found in the ruins near Laika's tribe for the test.
As Josh placed the Infinity Stone into the stone slot designed for energy sources, it instantly activated. Endless energy surged into the teleportation array, and a stargate formed in midair almost instantly—looking very stable.
"Looks like it worked!" said Howard the Duck, amazed.
"Yeah, it looks great! We don't need to worry about energy anymore, and now we can also find out where the rest of these teleporters lead to," Josh nodded with satisfaction.
But just then, the activated portal began to ripple.
"What's going on?" asked Howard the Duck, confused.
"Something's coming through," Josh narrowed his eyes, staring at the portal.
Right after he spoke, a huge and terrifying head burst out from the portal and let out a thunderous roar at the people below.
"Holy crap, what is that thing?!" Howard the Duck jumped in fear.
Josh didn't answer. The Sword of Rupture appeared in his hand, and with one smooth slash, the roaring beast's head was cut clean off. Thick green liquid splashed all over the teleportation hall.
"Ugh… that stinks!" Howard the Duck gagged at the smell.
"Clean this up," Josh ordered a nearby robot guard. A swarm of robots then started cleaning the teleportation hall.
"Wanna go take a look?" Josh asked, glancing at Howard the Duck, who was covering his nose and mouth.
Howard nodded silently.
Josh then took him and his assistant, Bresta, and the three of them stepped into the portal.
Unlike the teleportation arrays on Earth and Origin Star, which were buried deep within ruins, this one was oddly exposed to the open air—even though it was still inside a ruin.
But just like the ruins on Origin Star, this one also looked abandoned for ages and had become the den of some giant beast—yes, the poor creature Josh just decapitated.
Too bad it chose the wrong place to call home.
With the place being nothing but a beast-infested, empty ruin, Josh didn't hesitate to claim it as his own. He began deploying troops and, as usual, sent out a few satellite-form Transformers into space.
But this time, Josh miscalculated.
A few Transformers had just flown up into the sky when they were immediately shot down by an attack from space.
"…Uh-oh, looks like we've got a little problem," Josh muttered, realizing that this world might not be as simple as Origin Star.
Sure enough, just a few minutes after the Transformers were destroyed, a large high-tech army rushed toward the portal's location—and began attacking the robot scouts Josh had sent to explore the surrounding area.
The result of the battle surprised him. In just a few minutes, all contact with his robot troops was lost.
There was only one explanation for this: his forces had been completely wiped out.
Based on the last message from the robot commander before the signal was lost, Josh learned something even more shocking—the enemy's main force was also made up of robots!
This was a first for Josh, and it caught him a bit off guard.
After all, this was the first time his forces had suffered such a heavy loss.
Still, he was only surprised—not afraid. With the Sword of Rupture and Power Stone in his hands, Josh remained confident in his own strength.
Even if the enemy's army was strong, he wasn't going to back down.
Without hesitation, he brought the first wave of troops that had arrived through the portal, along with a backup fleet of over thirty warships he had prepared in his system inventory, and charged to meet the enemy.
But once the real fight began, Josh realized he had still underestimated them.
The enemy not only had robot troops just like his own, but their forces also included powerful individuals with extraordinary abilities.
Three fierce female commanders led the charge.
The first wore a cat-shaped mask and could transform into a huge mountain lion. Despite being a cat, she could leap higher than most Transformers could fly, moved faster than them, and her sharp fangs and claws tore right through their metal armor.
The second was a stunning woman with long, bright red hair that reached down to her heels. Her hair was incredibly tough—any robot caught in it would be crushed into scrap metal within seconds. It reminded Josh of the future Inhuman Queen Medusa, whom he had already eliminated before she could rise.
The third was a woman with a scorpion tail. Everywhere her tail swept, no robot could withstand it. What's more, the tail secreted poison.
Normally, robots shouldn't fear poison, but this scorpion woman's toxin was clearly something special—it could even corrode robot armor.
Besides the three, they also had subordinates. Though not as strong, these followers were tough and had some unique powers of their own.
"Bresta, those three are yours and your squad's responsibility. I don't care if they live or die," Josh ordered, frowning as he watched the three women slaughtering his robot troops without mercy.
Although most of the robotic troops—aside from the Transformers who served as junior officers—were just cheap cannon fodder, Josh still didn't like seeing his forces constantly taking a beating.
As Josh's assistant, Bresta naturally wasn't leading an empty command. In addition to regular robotic soldiers, she had twenty-four Divine Warriors at his side—all of them double-powered. These elite fighters were more than enough to take on the three enemy women and their subordinates. What's more, they were armed with Vibranium and magical Azeroth metals.
As expected, once Bresta and the Divine Warriors joined the battle, the tide turned instantly.
The female commanders' subordinates stood no chance against the Divine Warriors, while Bresta herself, wielding the power of four Dimensional Gods, went straight into a one-against-three fight against the enemy commanders.
However, the enemy's top commander wasn't an idiot. Seeing how the battle was going, they quickly ordered a retreat.
But Josh wasn't going to let them escape so easily. They started the fight without warning, and now they wanted to walk away? Not a chance.
He immediately ordered a full pursuit.
But just as Josh's army launched its full advance, a hidden powerhouse from the enemy's side made a move.
A vast wave of dark energy spread across the battlefield, slowly engulfing Josh's frontline troops. It looked like the entire force might get swallowed up in one go.
Even Bresta, with her full power, couldn't counter this power.
"So there's a big one hiding in the shadows," Josh muttered calmly. With a flash, he appeared above the battlefield. The Sword of Rupture appeared in his hand, and he stabbed it into the ground.
The Power Stone's massive destructive energy surged forward, smashing the gathered dark energy apart and carving out a wide, empty path between the two armies—like a giant scar across the battlefield.
Seeing Josh's display of power, the enemy held back and didn't attack again.
Josh didn't press forward either. Instead, he focused on building up strong defenses around the teleportation gate.
Even though that attack looked like an easy win, Josh—having felt it directly—knew the hidden enemy's true strength was far greater than it seemed.
Also, during the battle, he sensed other powerful beings watching from afar, silently observing the situation.
So Josh wasn't going to charge recklessly into enemy territory. He had no intention of letting someone else take advantage while he was busy fighting.
Especially since the portal's location was too important to risk.
If he left it unguarded and someone snuck through, stole the Cosmic Cube, and shut down the portal, Josh would be out of luck.
Securing the teleportation gate came first.
After this battle, Josh took to the stars aboard his fleet.
But during their ascent into space, they were attacked again—just like the satellite-form Transformers had been earlier.
However, Josh's fleet was no fragile group of lone Transformers. They immediately fought back.
Though fighting while launching was a disadvantage, Josh's fleet—powered by Star Wars-level tech—was clearly more advanced than anything in this world.
Despite losing three ships and damaging five more, the rest successfully broke through and reached space.
Seeing things weren't going well, the enemy warships began pulling back, switching to a defensive formation. They started retreating in the same direction as the forces that had attacked Josh's army earlier.
After entering space, Josh's fleet finally saw the bigger picture of this world.
This planet was huge. Not only was it bigger than Earth—it was even larger than Origin Star, which was already several times Earth's size.
Judging by the number and layout of space fleets and large space stations around the planet, there were at least five major powers here.
And the teleportation gate Josh had used just happened to land in the territory of the biggest of them all—which explained the sudden battle.
A huge army suddenly appearing on your land without warning would make anyone go crazy.
But after comparing the galaxy this planet was in, Josh's crew realized that—just like Origin Star—this place wasn't on any known star map.
"The patrol found some people. They claim to be messengers from the Kingdom of Hyria," Bresta reported to Josh the next day.
"Hyria? Can we talk with them? Did they say why they're here?" Josh asked.
"Yes. Their language is very close to the common tongue of Origin Star. So we quickly built a language database and were able to talk with them easily. They said they want to help us fight against the evil Hord Empire," Bresta explained.
"Heh, help us fight the evil Hord Empire? So that's the name of the group we fought yesterday? They're pretty strong, but I'm not sure we should call them evil so quickly… Did you find out more about this planet?" Josh smiled and asked.
After all, just because the unknown enemy used dark energy didn't mean they were evil.
And if evil was the standard, Josh himself was seen as a big villain by many natives on Origin Star.
"We found some info. This planet is called Eternia. It has five kingdoms: the Hord Empire, the Kingdom of Hyria, the Kingdom of Essalia, the Whispering Forest Kingdom, and Moonlight City," Bresta answered in detail. "But after years of war, the Hord Empire has taken over most of the other kingdoms' land. Two of them have even fallen, and their remaining forces joined the other two to form an alliance against Hord. Still, they're on the losing side. From what we've heard, this Hord Empire is just a branch—the real one is even stronger and rules parts of other star systems too."
"Oh? So the Hord Empire is actually an interstellar empire? Interesting. Stall those messengers for now, and send someone to visit the main Hord Empire," Josh said with a grin.
"Huh?" Bresta was stunned by the order.
"Heh, how could a lion walk with sheep? Four kingdoms couldn't beat just one branch of Hord. What good is that kind of ally? What are we, their babysitters?" Josh scoffed.
As for the fight they just had with the Hord Empire—both sides didn't lose much. If there's enough to gain, a little loss like that means nothing.
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