Chapter 102: Gathering in the Capital

The four divine envoys stepped together into the Hua Mansion, now a forbidden zone. The moment they crossed the boundary, they felt a force separating the interior from the outside world.

As chanted in the sacred hymns, the land occupied by a True God becomes a divine kingdom. Even a mere wisp of a deity’s aura was enough to disrupt the laws of space here; if left unchecked, it might eventually become a holy site in the mortal realm.

However, the four envoys were not here to pay homage. The Holy Cult had shattered, and their plans had failed time and again. Since everything was for the sake of ultimate victory, the deity would surely not blame them for destroying a holy site.

Although they wanted to locate the divine aura immediately, finding it within the corrupted Hua Mansion was undeniably difficult. Every living thing here had been infected by that wisp of essence, making it nearly impossible even for the envoys to distinguish the source.

After entering, Abbas was the first to propose splitting up. As a power-type envoy, he disliked taking orders, especially from those who wielded magic, as they were the type to stab you in the back at any moment—even if they were all envoys. Though their ultimate goal was the same, the envoys were willing to sacrifice even each other to achieve it.

It was this very lack of trust within the cult that had allowed the military to pick them off one by one, with no one left to organize a unified counterattack. After all, while the cultists worshipped the evil god with fervor, they each harbored their own twisted obsessions, blindly believing that the moment their god descended, their deepest desires would be fulfilled.

The magic-wielding envoys despised the brawlers, viewing them as defective products rather than comrades, often treating them as nothing more than experimental subjects.

Not long after the four separated, Sharon quietly returned to the starting point, where Ortus had been waiting for some time.

"Lord Ortus, I leave everything to you." Though Sharon’s face was hidden behind a mask, the deep gratitude in her voice was palpable.

Ortus smiled faintly. "Think nothing of it, Sharon. We are all messengers of the god; only by helping one another can we complete our great mission." He reached out to help her up. Before entering the city, he had received her request; because her ability relied on controlling low-level creatures, and every living thing in the city was already infected, her power had been rendered completely useless.

Ortus, having his own agenda, had readily agreed. He had long anticipated that Sharon’s powers would fail, and he had summoned her for his own ulterior motives.

After the two departed, a bead of blood silently seeped into the earth. Sari rubbed his index finger, looking thoughtfully in the direction Ortus had gone. Once he turned away, more tiny blood droplets dispersed in all directions.

...

After accepting the military’s request, Tony prepared to depart immediately, only to be stopped by Steve.

"Tony, you can't go there alone. It’s too dangerous." Steve looked at him with disapproval. That was a forbidden zone that even nuclear weapons couldn't touch, and Tony’s current armor was not yet stronger than a nuke.

"Please show some respect to your senior, Captain." Tony smoothed his collar. "The cult is preparing a massive conspiracy. If I don't go, who will? Should we just sit here and do nothing?"

"We are a team, Tony," Steve explained, frowning. "We can't let you act alone, especially since the situation is bizarre. Your aircraft is likely to be affected."

"Fine, I didn't stop you from coming along, did I?" Tony shrugged helplessly. He had his own suspicions about the interference Steve mentioned, but he couldn't test them without being on-site.

Since they had decided to go together, Tony had Happy bring the supersonic jet—the same one used to support him at the Hua Mansion previously. It was because S.H.I.E.L.D. had always used Quinjets to transport personnel—an experience Tony found incredibly uncomfortable—that he had spent a fortune to build this luxurious and comfortable aircraft.

With the Hua Mansion locked as their target, the Avengers mobilized. Excluding Thor, who was far away in Asgard, the entire team, including the newly joined Falcon and War Machine, boarded the plane.

"It seems my plane isn't big enough; if there were any more people, we wouldn't fit." Tony looked thoughtfully at the full cabin. If the design was flawed, he would have to renovate; he had no intention of turning his luxury cabin into bunk beds.

Before long, the plane arrived at the outskirts of the Hua Mansion. Concerned about the invisible electromagnetic interference, Tony did not fly over the mansion itself but chose to land outside the safety perimeter marked by the military.

"Well, it’s definitely strange here. Let me see... why is there an anomalous spatial signal again?" As soon as he stepped off the plane, Tony took out a portable anomaly detector developed with Dr. Banner. The device was alerting him to spatial irregularities.

"Is this the same as the Antarctic?" Natasha stepped forward, surprised, trying to observe any visual differences with the naked eye, but unfortunately, she saw nothing.

"The image signals humans receive are based on light reflection. If it’s a spatial fluctuation, it’s impossible to see," Tony muttered, rolling his eyes at Natasha’s attempt.

Beside him, Dr. Banner began operating his own equipment. "The detector shows that it seems both normal and abnormal here. The space is likely in a dual-superposition state; otherwise, we wouldn't be able to see the interior of the Hua Mansion at all."

"That makes me even more interested in what the cultists have done." Tony narrowed his eyes. He was the first to discover the fall of the Hua Mansion and the only one to have escaped successfully; since then, no one who entered had ever come out.

"Whatever they are planning, we win as long as we take out those four cultists." Steve adjusted his shield. Having fought the cult many times, he had figured out a method: ignore the messy incantations and simply take out the caster.

"The Captain is right. Most of the cult members have been brought to justice. As long as we successfully eliminate these four stragglers, the cult crisis will be completely resolved." Barton unstrung his bow. Fighting the cult required a preemptive strike; as long as they could take them out before they reacted, the outcome would be inevitable, no matter what strange spells they possessed.