"This sword is yours now. With it, your achievements won't be any less than Thor's. But how far you go—that's up to you."
On Earth, in the study of Neuschwanstein Castle, Josh handed a sword filled with powerful divine energy to his youngest son, Ben.
This divine sword was a fusion of the two legendary swords once wielded by He-Man and She-Ra.
In fact, it was originally just one sword. But when He-Man's old enemy, Skeletor, destroyed Eternia's magical treasure—the Orb of Power—He-Man absorbed most of its terrifying energy to save the planet. As a result, the sword split into two.
One of the split swords later helped make She-Ra who she was.
However, a week ago, after Josh wiped out all forces on Eternia, both swords ended up in his hands.
Yes, it's now been a week since that great battle.
After turning Eternia's star system into another colony of the Ouroboros Group, Josh returned to Earth yesterday. And thanks to the discovery of high-quality Krym Crystals in the oceans of both Eternia and Origin Star, they no longer needed to use the Space Stone for portal travel.
But Josh didn't expand further into Origin Star using the leftover teleportation arrays. That's because the Ouroboros Group had already reached the limit of how much territory they could handle. Even with all factories working at full capacity and more being added, they still couldn't produce enough to maintain control over the current regions.
By studying Eternia's history and the swords of He-Man and She-Ra, Josh uncovered a secret:
The people of Eternia were actually descendants of Conan the Barbarian and an alien queen. The tribe on Origin Star shared this ancestry.
The divine swords He-Man and She-Ra used were originally wielded by Conan himself.
After two nights of study, Josh successfully reforged the two swords into one.
And now, he was giving that sword to his battle-loving youngest son, Ben.
During the war on Eternia, Ben had taken part in many battles and showed great talent, which impressed Josh.
As for his older son, Mike—he would get the Broken Steel Sword later. While the Barbarian Sword was stronger, the Broken Steel Sword had more meaning on Earth.
"Thank you, Father!"
Ben stared at the sword, feeling the immense power within it. His heart raced with excitement. One day, he would be stronger than Thor. And then, he could go find Sif…
Josh had no idea what his son was thinking. After giving Ben the sword, he motioned for him to leave.
Ben didn't mind. He happily left with the sword, full of dreams about the future.
Meanwhile, Josh was getting ready for the arrival of a new dimensional beacon.
But when the new beacon appeared, the scene and the person on the other side left Josh scratching his head.
A messy apartment. A short-haired girl in a blue tank top.
This familiar setting and outfit—wasn't that Jill Valentine?
But although everything looked almost exactly the same, Josh could tell right away: this Jill… was not the same Jill.
The Jill in front of him had softer facial features.
"Jill Valentine?" Josh asked.
"That's right, it's me. But how do you know my name? This dimensional trading system doesn't seem to have that feature," Jill replied, clearly surprised Josh could call her by name.
"That's not important. Just tell me—do you know Rebecca? And also, what date is it right now on your side?" Josh waved his hand, cutting her off.
In the movie version of Resident Evil—the world Josh connected to last year—there was no Rebecca. So his question made his intention clear.
"Of course, she's a member of S.T.A.R.S. I definitely know her!" Jill answered without hesitation. "As for the date, it's September 28th."
Just as Josh suspected—this was the game version of Jill, and the timeline was exactly the beginning of Resident Evil 3.
It was the first time Josh had connected to two versions of the same mission from different worlds.
But this time, Josh skipped the small talk and immediately sent over a universal super soldier serum, a vibranium alloy combat suit, an E-5S energy rifle, a jetpack, and some medical supplies.
"What's the meaning of this?" Jill asked, confused as she looked at the items Josh sent.
"Inject the serum right now. If you wait, it'll be too late—you'll thank me later," Josh said.
Since the beacon had already uploaded the system's information into her brain, Jill understood what these items were. Though puzzled by Josh's urgency, she chose to trust him and injected the serum into her body.
Right after the injection, the phone on her table rang.
It was her S.T.A.R.S. teammate, Brad, on the other end.
He just kept yelling for her to run—without giving a reason.
Before Jill could process it, the apartment wall exploded. A huge creature crashed through and slammed her across the room.
If she hadn't just taken the super soldier serum, that impact alone would've knocked her out cold.
But thanks to the serum, Jill was barely affected. She rolled across the floor, quickly recovered, and drew her "Samurai Edge" handgun. Aiming at the creature's head, she emptied her clip.
To her shock, the monster didn't even flinch. It just kept charging toward her like it hadn't been hit at all.
But Jill had changed. She moved with lightning speed, dodging to the side and avoiding the monster's strike with ease.
"Your own weapon won't work. Use the energy rifle I gave you!" Josh said, his voice still coming through the comms.
At his reminder, Jill instantly reacted. With a thought, a long, sci-fi-looking sniper rifle appeared in her hands.
Aim. Fire.
A powerful red laser beam shot out, piercing the monster's head and continuing straight through the wall behind it, vanishing into the night sky like a streak of light.
After a brief silence, the terrifying creature that had attacked her collapsed with a heavy thud.
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