Chapter 563

From the moment Shiler returned to the Marvel Universe, he discovered that the egg had begun to show signs of activity. For instance, the "thump-thump" of its heartbeat became more pronounced, his telepathy could sense emotions from within the egg, and it would emit "gurgling" sounds.

Shiler initially thought the egg was about to hatch, so he began contemplating how to handle it to maximize his gains.

However, after observing it for a few days, Shiler realized something was wrong. The heartbeat continued, and the sounds inside persisted, but there was absolutely no sign of it hatching.

Moreover, as the life force within the egg grew more vigorous, Shiler could increasingly perceive the emotions of the creature inside—a sense of cruelty and madness unique to Doomsday, almost spilling out.

Although he didn't know why the Doomsday from the DC Universe had turned into an egg, since he knew it was likely Doomsday inside, Shiler had to prepare early to deal with this monster.

Doomsday is difficult to kill, or rather, in the DC world, he is nearly impossible to kill.

Just like Jason Voorhees in the *Friday the 13th* universe is nearly immortal, this isn't because they are truly invincible, but because of the power of the universe; in that setting, they are simply programmed to be immortal.

The concept of the "Fourth Wall" has always existed in American comic book worlds, so it can be understood that the writers of that universe have decided Death does not claim Doomsday, so naturally, he cannot die.

However, just because Death doesn't claim him in that universe doesn't mean it holds true here. The Doomsday of the DC world has an immortality setting, but now that he has followed Shiler to Marvel, that setting may no longer apply.

In particular, he shares a similar setup with Ultron—both endure countless hardships, refuse to die, and evolve to become stronger, creating endless trouble for the protagonist team. The two settings are nearly identical, and as a local player, Ultron's status is undoubtedly higher.

If we talk about popularity, when two villains with the same setup appear in one universe, the one with higher popularity is essentially the immortal one. Doomsday coming to Marvel is at most a crossover issue, while Ultron is a well-known villain who frequently appears in the main comic continuity. It goes without saying who is more popular.

This is also why Shiler wanted to use the Marvel Universe to deal with Doomsday.

Handling him requires technique. If he were released, a fight would be inevitable, and he would need to select a battlefield, an opponent, and a method of death to ensure sufficient rewards.

Following Shiler's style, this would be an incredibly massive and complex plan, containing dozens of subplots, winding through countless twists and turns, just to achieve the final goal.

Originally, Shiler intended to do just that, but now, he had a more efficient method with even greater rewards.

First, he summoned the Grey Mist, then took out the umbrella containing the Cursed Soul, and had the Grey Mist carry the curse into the interior of the egg.

To put it simply, the Grey Mist acted as a syringe, and the Cursed Soul as an insecticide. A high-concentration dose was injected directly into the Doomsday inside, and the life activity within the egg instantly weakened.

Previously, Shiler had tested the efficacy of the Cursed Soul on T'Challa, the Black Panther. This Cursed Soul, sharing the same origin as Constantine's, seemed to possess a unique "death curse" that even the Panther Goddess Bast was helpless against.

Moreover, according to the cursed Black Panther, this curse clings to the soul; it leaves no external marks, killing only from within, which fits Constantine's style perfectly.

The Grey Mist acted as the needle, injecting the Cursed Soul directly into Doomsday, causing the creature's heartbeat and emotions to drop to their lowest point.

However, a dying camel is still bigger than a horse. After the initial powerful effect, the two sides fell into a stalemate. The Doomsday inside maintained minimal activity, refusing to be completely killed despite the Cursed Soul's attacks.

At this point, Shiler pulled out another trump card: the refined soul energy of Hydra he had previously fed to the Cursed Soul.

When he sold Hydra souls to Mephisto, the commission he received was refined soul energy. When Shiler fed this to the Cursed Soul, it had shown great appetite. Now that it needed to work, Shiler wouldn't be stingy with the "food."

The Grey Mist channeled this energy to the Cursed Soul until it was so full it began to hiccup. Now much stronger, the Cursed Soul began using its powerful curse to slowly grind away at Doomsday's soul.

The Cursed Soul needed time to absorb energy, and destroying the last bit of the soul would also take time. Since Shiler had entered the Realm of Restraint in his physical body, he was currently missing in the real world, so he couldn't wait there for the Cursed Soul to finish the job.

*Sword of the Coming*

He left a portion of the Grey Mist to monitor the situation and then left the Realm of Restraint, returning to the real world.

Just then, Ultron sought him out, leading Shiler to the basement of the sanitarium, where a machine tool and a pile of equipment Shiler couldn't understand had been assembled.

Standing in the center of the room was a suit of armor identical to Iron Man's, only much larger than Stark's.

Just as Shiler had requested, the limbs had normal structural components, but the chest and abdominal cavities were hollow, fitted with soft, impact-resistant materials, seemingly prepared to hold something.

"Very good, not bad. Can it be used now?" Shiler examined the fake Iron Man suit.

"No, there is one very critical thing left to do." Ultron walked to the front of the suit and pointed to the chest plate. "Sir, there should be an energy source here."

"But I don't need it to fly. It's not carrying me; I'm carrying it."

"No, that's not it. I mean, Mr. Stark's armor has a special light effect, especially the Arc Reactor in the chest, which has almost become Iron Man's trademark. According to online media search results, 60% of New York citizens can recognize the light effect at night. If you want to fake it, you can't avoid this point."

"Can't you just fake it with other lights?" Shiler asked.

Ultron shook his head. "That's not just light; it's a special light emitted by a special energy source. Using other lights might work, but it won't look very authentic and might reveal the ruse."

Shiler sighed in frustration. "So, I have to find a lightbulb for it?"

"Uh, if you insist on putting it that way, I suppose so." Ultron clearly didn't approve of Shiler calling the high-tech Arc Reactor a "lightbulb."

"Forget it. Wait here." With that, Shiler left the basement and drove to Stark Tower.

When he walked into the lab at Stark Tower, Stark was, as usual, tinkering with a pile of parts Shiler couldn't understand.

"Something up?" Stark asked without looking up.

"Of course. It's like this: my new sanitarium lobby needs a brand-new lightbulb..."

"So?" Stark took a sip of water during a pause in his work.

"Can you give me one of your Arc Reactors?"

"Pfft!" Stark spat out his water, then scrambled to move the parts that had been splashed.

Stark stared at Shiler, his mouth agape, unable to refute the righteous expression on Shiler's face.

"Is it that in your eyes, everything that needs energy and lights up is called a lightbulb?" Stark asked a soul-searching question.

To which Shiler shook his head and said, "In my eyes, things that don't need energy and don't light up can also be called lightbulbs."

Stark scoffed. "That's the same logic as you calling yourself an ordinary person, right?"

With that, he walked to a wall and pressed a few buttons. A door opened, revealing a pitch-black room. He walked in and came out less than a minute later, holding a glowing Arc Reactor.

He tossed it to Shiler and said, "It's not the latest model, but it's enough to serve as a lightbulb. Remember to renew my membership for two years so I can enjoy the lobby where the Arc Reactor serves as a lightbulb."

"Aren't you afraid I'll use it for evil?" Shiler asked.

Stark scoffed again, looking Shiler up and down. "If you could find a use for it other than as a lightbulb, that would be the real surprise!"

With that, he went back to his workbench. Shiler walked out with the Arc Reactor, muttering to himself:

"If you say so, I'll have to try."

Returning to the basement of the Arkham Sanitarium, Shiler tossed the Arc Reactor to Ultron. Ultron caught it clumsily, looked at it as if it were a treasure, and then, with a look of regret, inserted it into the chest of the fake Iron Man suit.

Thus, the fake suit was complete.

Or rather, it was actually a real suit, because the key to the Iron Man armor lay in the Arc Reactor in the chest. While this reactor wasn't connected to the rest of the suit and was merely a prop, it was still very bright.

Shiler patted the fake suit with satisfaction. Just then, the Grey Mist signaled that the Cursed Soul had finished its work; the soul of Doomsday inside the egg had completely dissipated.

Shiler took the egg out of the Realm of Restraint, stuffed it into the body of the fake Iron Man suit, closed the shell, and used the Grey Mist to lift the entire suit into the New York sky.

It was late at night. The light of the Arc Reactor was brighter than any light coming from the windows. In mid-air, Shiler controlled the flying suit while pulling out his phone and calling Loki:

"Loki! Stark says you're a fool! A God of Mischief who got pranked! He's going to broadcast your pathetic look from the day you were stood up to the entire Earth!"

"STARK!"

With Loki's roar, the light of the Bifrost descended upon the New York sky, and Loki appeared, looking like a madwoman.

She scanned the entire New York night sky. There, in the very center, was a super-bright lightbulb. She didn't even need to look closely to know it was the light of an Iron Man suit's Arc Reactor, like the brightest star in the night sky.

"CRACK!"

A bolt of lightning, incomparably massive and carrying light that could illuminate the entire universe, crashed down from the clouds, striking the Iron Man suit in mid-air.

Inside Stark's lab, Stark was startled by the flash of lightning. He looked out the window, saw nothing unusual, shook his head, and went back to his work.

The next day at noon, Stark, who had just woken up, received a call from Shiler. Shiler said, "I've prepared a birthday gift for you. Come and get it."

"Don't start with that. My birthday is in the summer."

Just as Stark was about to hang up, Shiler added, "You think I'd prepare a boring explosive for you? No, I've prepared a real surprise. You'd better come over and see it..."

Stark clutched his forehead and took a deep breath. He had a bad feeling about this, so he quickly got dressed and flew his armor to the Arkham Sanitarium.

Shiler greeted Stark warmly in his office. "I forgot you had a birthday party in the summer, but I was on vacation then, so I'm making up for it with a birthday gift..."

"... What is it?" Stark crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

Shiler bent down and pulled something out from behind the cabinet—a little girl.

Shiler held the little girl under her armpits, lifted her up like a pet dog, showed her to Stark, and said, "Here is the gift. How about it? Do you like her?"

Stark wore an expression of utter shock, for he saw that on the little girl's chest was an Arc Reactor, identical to the one in his own chest.

Even more terrifying was that the little girl Shiler was holding looked at least eighty percent like Loki.

Schiller held the little girl's armpits with both hands, lifted her up, like holding a pet dog, showed her to Stark, and then said: "This is the gift, how about it? Do you like it?"

Stark revealed an incomparably shocked expression, because he saw that on the little girl's chest, there was a reactor exactly the same as the one on his chest.

What was even more terrifying was that the little girl Schiller was holding looked at least 80% like Loki.