A shroud of Ruleforce enveloped Lucius's shadowy duplicate. Space and time twisted; the virus vanished from the office.
Moments later, darkness welled up again as the black mist coalesced into a new incarnation of Lucius.
As an Old One Virus, Lucius no longer possessed a physical Emperor Strain as a core. His consciousness had long since fused with the Heart of the Emperor, meaning any one of his avatars could become an Emperor Strain.
And as the Main Deity of this world, it was unthinkable that he would allow all his power to leave his domain. The version of him that joined the Infinite War was merely a single projection.
...
As the fabric of space and time contorted once more, Lucius's avatar emerged in a primeval, untamed wilderness.
In the next instant, a dense, eerie mist blanketed the vast forest.
For one surreal second, the entire woodland fell utterly silent. The birds ceased their songs. Ants froze mid-crawl. Predators halted their chase. The slumbering remained still.
Aside from the whispering of the wind, the forest was consumed by an unnatural stillness.
One second later, every organism, animal, plant, or microbe, within that expanse had become an extension of Lucius himself.
"So this planet does have civilization."
From the memories of the forest's flora and fauna, Lucius observed humanoid lifeforms piloting high-tech vehicles frequently traversing the area.
That confirmed it: this was a civilized world.
When he reached out to feel the Ruleforce permeating this realm, Lucius noted that while his power hadn't diminished, it was now subtly restricted and reshaped.
As expected, this was a Tier-5 universe, crowded with godlike beings.
Beyond human super-beings like Iron Man or Captain America, this dimensional plane also housed entities such as the Celestials, the Eternals, the Eradicators, the Creators, the Heart of the Universe, and even unspeakable existences like the One Above All that defy concept, life, and meaning itself.
This world's power hierarchy was far more vast and profound than that of the Pokémon universe.
Just then, his system transmitted the mission parameters:
[Mission: Prevent Thanos of the Eternals from acquiring all six Infinity Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet to annihilate the universe.]
[Mission Issuer: The Living Tribunal]
[Reward: One wish.]
The Living Tribunal…?
Lucius had expected some arcane mage or a faction opposed to Thanos to be behind this quest, not the supreme cosmic arbiter.
But it made sense. Lucius had studied the Marvel multiverse in some depth. The Living Tribunal wasn't unfamiliar to him.
Before time existed, when all was primordial chaos, the First Will emerged, an ethereal consciousness that unleashed the first ray of light into the void. That light birthed all creation.
And the first to manifest from that light... was the Living Tribunal.
Despite its name, the Living Tribunal was no mere legal institution, it was a singular, personified force overseeing and maintaining balance across all realities. Within the bounds of its authority, it was omnipotent. Its judgments could shake entire universes.
The Tribunal outranked even the five prime cosmic entities: Order, Death, Eternity, Infinity, and Oblivion.
Judging from its sheer might, the Living Tribunal was clearly a Cosmic Sovereign.
But that only raised more questions, if the Tribunal was so powerful, why not simply erase Thanos outright? Why delegate the task?
Lucius pondered this. The answer, he suspected, lay with one of the cosmic-level deities: Death.
According to the original narrative, it was she who whispered in Thanos's ear from a young age, seducing him with the allure of slaughter. Her influence drove him to murder every lover and offspring he encountered during his galactic travels, and eventually to annihilate his entire homeworld, Titan.
Of course, that was just Lucius's speculation. Whether Death herself was the cause remained unclear.
His current priority, however, was determining Thanos's status, and what stage of his ascension he had reached.
In the canon, Thanos triggered multiple multiversal crises across various timelines, many centered around the Infinity Gauntlet.
To stop him now, Lucius had to locate him first, and depending on how many Infinity Stones Thanos already possessed, Lucius would need a different strategy.
Although he was a Main Deity and could crush Thanos in raw combat, things changed drastically if Thanos had the complete Gauntlet. In that case, he could be obliterated instead.
Still, Lucius wasn't worried. This was merely a projection, its destruction wouldn't affect his true self in the Pokémon world. Worst case scenario: mission failure.
Dense black mist dissolved into invisibility, drifting silently across the planetary surface.
Soon, he arrived at what resembled a city, a hub of intelligent life. Its infrastructure was advanced, with technology far surpassing anything in the Pokémon world.
Though this wasn't Earth, the city teemed with humanoid species. Green and blue-skinned beings were the majority, alongside a diverse array of other sentient lifeforms.
Lucius slipped into the body of a green-skinned, long-eared individual, instantly taking control.
The host's physical stats were slightly above average compared to Pokémon-world humans, but the difference was marginal.
From his memories, Lucius learned this was Planet Hala, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and this city fell under the jurisdiction of the Kree Empire.
He glanced at the gleaming metropolis, brimming with robots, aircraft, and clean energy systems, and noted with a smirk: If this is just a "small city," the Kree Empire's power is as terrifying as the legends claim.
While Lucius hadn't been a die-hard Marvel fan in his previous life, even he knew of the Kree Empire's fearsome reputation.
It was hailed as one of the Three Great Galactic Empires. Like humans and other humanoid species, the Kree were descended from the Sorians, meaning they shared a common ancestral origin with humanity.*
The Kree appeared frequently across the Marvel franchise, prominent names included Mar-Vell, the first Captain Marvel; Yon-Rogg, enemy of Carol Danvers; and Ronan the Accuser from Guardians of the Galaxy.
As one of the big three cosmic powers, the Kree Empire had long been at war with the Skrull Empire, and clashed fiercely with the Shi'ar Empire during the War of Kings.
Their influence wasn't limited to the stars, they'd left deep imprints on Earth's history as well.
Mar-Vell once operated undercover on Earth and helped humanity navigate numerous crises. Carol Danvers, the second Captain Marvel, was a human who had joined the Kree ranks.
Naturally, in any crisis involving Thanos, the Kree Empire would be entangled too.
Clearly, when the Ruleforce displaced him, Lucius had been placed right into the heart of the main storyline.
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TN: I don't know what the fuck is that Sorians. It's not Saurians either, as that wouldn't make sense.
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