Chapter 882

On an insignificant planet somewhere in the vastness of space, there had once been a thriving environment and a civilization advanced enough to leave its mark on the world.

Now, there was nothing but sand.

The planet had become a wasteland.

Its atmosphere was thick with dust, the sky perpetually gray and miserable. The air was so polluted that breathing it for too long would probably qualify as a medical condition.

Yet life was stubborn.

Even in an environment this hostile, it had refused to disappear completely.

The surviving organisms had adapted in increasingly grotesque ways, evolving into twisted creatures that spent most of their lives beneath the sand or clustered around the few remaining sources of water.

Among all those creatures, however, one individual was particularly unusual.

He was hiding in a secluded cave beneath a mountain.

At first glance, he still possessed something resembling a human form. His skin, however, was blue-gray. His face retained recognizable features, but not a single strand of hair remained on his body.

Nine writhing tentacles grew from the back of his head.

He wore little more than tattered clothing and cautiously peered out from the cave entrance, one hand pressed against the rock wall.

Left.

Right.

Nothing.

He looked so nervous that it seemed as though the slightest disturbance would send him scrambling back underground.

Which was somewhat ironic.

This creature had once been extraordinarily powerful.

In fact, he had personally brought about the end of this planet.

For more than three thousand years, he’d stood at the very top of its food chain. He had destroyed its civilization and devastated its ecosystem.

People had even worshiped him as a god.

And even after he’d left his followers behind, their faith had never completely disappeared. Every so often, they had continued sending offerings in his direction.

It had been a comfortable arrangement.

Until everything changed.

The creature was Hive.

The true origin of HYDRA.

Its god.

For a very long time, Hive had regarded this planet as his personal property. Considering that he’d conquered the entire world, he felt he’d earned the right.

Whenever HYDRA agents arrived looking for him, he treated them accordingly.

Some became food.

Others became toys.

After all, wasn’t that what offerings were for?

Then, one day, someone appeared at the place where HYDRA regularly left its offerings.

Hive assumed another sacrifice had arrived.

He split off a swarm of nanites and sent them to investigate.

That was his greatest ability.

His entire body could break apart into a swarm of microscopic organisms. Through that power, he could control Inhumans and had once destroyed this planet’s civilization.

But the moment Hive examined the newcomer, he hesitated.

Consuming another creature wasn’t really digestion.

It was assimilation.

Hive could absorb a person’s memories, knowledge, personality, and even their patterns of thought.

That was why, despite spending so many years on this ruined planet, he remained surprisingly familiar with Earth’s society.

And the man he’d just discovered...

Was riding a horse.

At full speed.

While singing.

He looked like a husky that had spent three years locked indoors and had finally been released into a park.

Hive stared.

If I eat this guy, am I going to turn into a lunatic too?

He immediately decided that if he ever returned to Earth, he was going to file a formal complaint with HYDRA’s food-safety department.

With that thought in mind, Hive continued watching.

Eventually, the suspiciously cheerful man stopped deep inside a mountain valley.

Then he raised his hands.

Strange lights began dancing between his fingers.

Hive stared.

"...Magic?"

Wait.

People on Earth can use magic now?

Before he could process that, two women approached.

Or at least, they were shaped roughly like women.

Curved horns grew from their heads, elegant but unmistakably demonic. Their legs ended in backward-jointed hooves.

Hive stared at them.

Wonderful.

First magic.

Now demons.

Have I really been gone that long?

A ridiculous possibility occurred to him.

Had some otherworldly magical civilization invaded Earth after HYDRA’s last offering?

Had they gradually expanded their influence and begun preparing to conquer the entire planet?

No.

Hive immediately crushed the thought.

He wasn’t living in—

What was the word?

He searched through his increasingly tangled memories.

Right.

A television show.

He wasn’t a character in some ridiculous television series.

That would be absurd.

Then the two demon women detected his surveillance.

And the counterattack was nothing short of apocalyptic.

One of the women erupted in fury.

The ground split apart.

Molten rock burst from beneath the planet’s crust, surging skyward before spreading across the landscape into a vast lake of lava several kilometers wide.

Even now, the area remained molten.

Hive took one look at the spectacle and immediately retreated into the deepest crack he could find.

He wasn’t scared.

He was being sensible.

There was no shame in acknowledging that his abilities were somewhat less impressive than a geological catastrophe.

So Hive stayed underground.

For months.

Eventually, he couldn’t stand it anymore and cautiously emerged.

The strange man and the two demons were gone.

They hadn’t returned.

It was as though they’d simply forgotten this planet existed.

Of course.

The environment here was terrible.

Only a magnificent, resilient creature like himself could endure it.

Obviously, they’d taken one look around and decided it wasn’t worth their time.

There was one unfortunate detail.

They had apparently taken the human he’d been keeping as a pet for several years.

HYDRA had dumped far too many offerings on him during one delivery, so Hive had deliberately kept one alive for entertainment.

Poor thing.

He’d eventually eaten it, of course.

But being eaten by Hive was still better than falling into the hands of demons.

At least, that was what Hive told himself.

After spending a considerable amount of time checking the surrounding area, Hive finally determined that the danger had passed.

He emerged once again.

For a while, life returned to normal.

Then something strange happened again.

Hive had learned his lesson.

This time, he hid his main body underground before sending several nanite swarms out to investigate.

The moment he saw the newcomers, his thoughts stalled.

Demons? Fine.

But what the hell are these people?

Are they... mummies?

Hive had initially felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Back when he’d still lived on Earth, he’d spent considerable time in ancient Egypt. Some of the humans who held power there had enjoyed preserving their dead in a very particular fashion.

But even by Hive’s standards, the process had been horrifying.

Blood.

Pain.

Violence.

It was practically torture.

If those corpses had retained any awareness, Hive suspected they would have preferred being eaten by him.

After all, he’d been worshiped as a god.

Being devoured by a god was an honor.

And it was over in seconds.

Compared with having red-hot hooks shoved through your nose...

Hive’s nonexistent nose twitched at the memory.

Just thinking about it hurt.

But after observing the newcomers more carefully, Hive realized they weren’t dried corpses.

Nor were they injured people wrapped in bandages.

There was nothing beneath the gaps in the wrappings.

Nothing except purple light.

Hive’s expression became increasingly strange.

Energy-based lifeforms.

He paused.

"Energy-based lifeforms."

That sounded suspiciously like something out of a fantasy setting.

Did my earlier theory actually come true?

Or had Earth’s civilization suddenly made the most violent technological pivot in history?

Forget science. Everybody’s doing magic now?

Whatever these beings were, they clearly had a purpose.

One of them wore an enormous hat and seemed to be in charge.

The figure produced a large metal ring crackling with purple lightning and suspended it in the air, allowing it to rotate several times.

Then he produced something resembling a blueprint and pointed toward various locations while assigning tasks.

The others divided into several groups.

Each group climbed onto a floating sphere of purple light and flew into the distance.

Hive squinted.

The spheres vaguely resembled—

Well, he’d never actually seen one before.

But they looked remarkably like sewer manhole covers.

Still, even Hive could recognize a vehicle when he saw one.

As the strange beings flew across the landscape, they periodically dropped metal objects shaped like enormous spikes.

Hive assumed they were some kind of functional device.

He wasn’t stupid enough to get close and investigate.

Still, an unpleasant feeling began to settle in his stomach.

Their actions reminded him of ancient Egypt.

Specifically, the preparations humans had once made before constructing their great pyramids.

The technology was obviously different. Humans hadn’t possessed flying vehicles back then.

But the behavior was strangely familiar.

Don’t tell me these people think this is an uninhabited planet.

Are they planning to build a settlement here?

Hive felt deeply offended.

He doubted his powers would work against beings made entirely of energy.

Still, he could always try something else.

Turn into a swarm of nanites.

Rush them.

Eat through their bandages.

It was worth testing.

This was his planet, after all.

He couldn’t simply let other people move in and start building houses.

Unless, of course, they were too strong for him to stop.

In which case, he would reconsider.

Unfortunately, reality didn’t give him the opportunity.

The moment the strange beings finished placing their metal spikes, the sky suddenly erupted with brilliant purple light.

Then—

Nothing.

The mountains vanished.

The ground vanished.

The remaining life vanished.

Everything in the affected region disappeared in an instant.

All that remained was an enormous crater spanning hundreds of thousands of square kilometers.

It looked as though the entire section of the planet had simply been removed.

Hive stared from a distant hiding place.

"Thieves!"

He was practically hopping with rage.

"Animals!"

Now he understood.

They weren’t here to build a civilization.

They were mining.

And they weren’t exactly being gentle about it.

They had stripped the planet bare.

Not even the dirt had been spared.

But once his anger subsided, something colder replaced it.

Fear.

Are they coming back?

What if they got addicted to mining?

What if they decided to carve up the entire planet and haul it away?

And what if they took him with it?

Hive imagined the horror.

The mighty god of HYDRA.

The destroyer of civilizations.

The self-proclaimed master of this planet.

Locked inside some underground mine, forced to swing a pickaxe by an exploitative alien foreman.

The thought was unbearable.

So Hive started digging.

Not because he’d suddenly developed an interest in mining.

He had carefully examined the crater.

Its depth was remarkably consistent.

That meant the miners had measured it beforehand.

So Hive decided to establish his new home below that exact depth.

If they returned and mined the planet again, the excavation would merely become his new ceiling.

Problem solved.

After several exhausting days of digging, Hive finally emerged from his newly constructed shelter covered in dust and soot.

The miners were gone.

And they hadn’t returned.

Had they taken all the valuable resources in one trip?

Were they never coming back?

Excellent.

Hive let out a long breath.

His planet was his again.

After everything he’d experienced, he decided that even if powerful magical creatures eventually arrived to colonize the place, he’d probably be able to handle it.

Then—

BOOM.

Hive stood at the entrance to his cave.

He slowly looked up.

His smile froze.

Something enormous was falling through the sky.

At first, he thought it was a meteor.

Then he realized the object was far too large.

That wasn’t a meteor.

It was an asteroid.

Oh, come on.

If something that size hit the planet, Hive was going to die.

Or, at the very least, become thoroughly cooked.

And where had it even come from?

There hadn’t been any warning.

No build-up.

No chance to prepare.

Just—

Surprise apocalypse.

For the first time, Hive understood something he’d spent thousands of years refusing to acknowledge.

It didn’t matter that he’d once been worshiped as a god.

It didn’t matter that he could control countless Inhumans.

It didn’t matter that he’d declared himself master of an entire world.

Against something capable of annihilating the planet itself, he was no different from every other living thing.

He could do nothing.

Except wait.

So this is what equality among all living things really means.

Hive didn’t hide this time.

He slowly stepped out of his cave and sat down on a nearby rock.

He exhaled.

His past seemed strangely distant now.

He had never imagined he’d die here.

Alone.

On this miserable world.

Hive gazed upward, preparing himself for the end.

Then he noticed something.

The falling object was slowing down.

Very slowly.

And there was an announcement broadcasting from it.

"Attention. This is the Fel Scar Traffic Authority. Please observe proper landing procedures. Demons are everywhere."

Hive blinked.

The voice continued echoing across the wasteland.

The object wasn’t an asteroid.

It wasn’t the end of the world.

It was the Fel Scar Rift.

Evenson had arrived.

Years earlier, he and the Eredar twins had established a teleportation beacon on this planet.

And as a former Burning Legion forward base, the Fel Scar Rift naturally possessed long-range teleportation capabilities.

Gnos had simply activated the rift’s teleportation array.

The entire rift was now descending through the planet’s atmosphere.

As for why it had arrived in the atmosphere rather than directly on the ground?

That was simply how the Legion operated.

If I can’t kill you, I’ll drop my fortress on you.

Even when a teleportation beacon was positioned on the surface, the teleportation system normally defaulted to bringing the rift into the upper atmosphere.

Unless the destination possessed a powerful enough barrier to prevent entry altogether.

Evenson stood aboard the descending rift and stared down at the enormous crater below.

He couldn’t help clicking his tongue.

"That’s one hell of a hole."

The Fel Scar Rift continued slowing.

Evenson looked down at the scarred surface.

"I only sold you the mining rights to one piece of land."

He shook his head.

"You people actually dug up the entire thing."

He sighed.

"How are you somehow worse than me?"

Agatha stood beside him.

She had already been surprised enough by the fact that they’d suddenly traveled to another universe.

The revelation that Evenson apparently owned an entire planet had been another matter entirely.

But his comment caught her attention.

"Who did you make the deal with?"

She tilted her head.

"The Ethereals?"

"Exactly."

Evenson turned toward her in surprise.

"How did you know?"

He’d never told her about his dealings with the Ethereals.

Agatha gave him an amused look.

"That kind of behavior is distinctive."

She shrugged.

"They’d never willingly leave a single opportunity for profit on the table."

Evenson sighed.

"My kind of people."

He looked back down at the crater.

"Although this is a bit excessive. They took everything. Sand. Dirt. All of it."

He frowned.

"What are they even going to do with all that? Build roads?"

He paused.

"And did the transportation costs even make sense?"

"You have to remember that different worlds assign different values to resources."

Agatha chuckled.

"On some worlds, sand is practically currency. A handful can be worth an entire wagon of gold."

Evenson gave her a skeptical look.

"Don’t look at me like that."

Agatha sighed.

"Worlds like that are difficult to find. I only know this one because I traveled there with the Legion."

She glanced at him.

"And you already know what happened after the Legion arrived."

Evenson fell silent.

Then he threw his hands up.

"God, the Legion really did know how to ruin everything."

He shook his head.

"Forget it. Tell Gnos to stop the rift over that crater."

The Fel Scar Rift continued its descent toward the enormous wound carved into the planet.

And somewhere far below, Hive stared up at the sky.

He had survived gods.

Demons.

Alien miners.

And the end of his own civilization.

Now an entire floating fortress was coming down on top of him.

Hive’s life had officially become ridiculous.