The blade descended—corrupted void energy screaming through the air—but it never reached its target. A wall of dense, obsidian shadow erupted beneath Ultron's strike, blocking the blow with a violent crack of darkness. The barrier splintered into jagged fragments, then shattered completely. But that fleeting delay gave Alexander the crucial moment he needed. He vanished in a flash of distortion, teleporting across the chamber. He dropped to one knee near the far wall, blood dripping from his lips, his breath short and ragged.
Ultron hovered in place, blue-glowing eyes narrowing as he studied the Shadow Monarch. "You're weakening," he said coolly. "Even your system has limits."
Alexander pressed a palm to the ground, stabilizing himself as he forced his system to compensate.
[ERROR: Combat Protocols Stalled.] [Shadow Formation: 73% Efficiency.] [WARNING: Core Breach Exposure Detected. Immediate Stabilization Required.]
His internal HUD flickered with dozens of diagnostics. His connection to the abyss was faltering. The stolen void energy Ultron wielded had disrupted something primal. Still, he rose.
"So do you," he said, voice hoarse. "You're incomplete. A parasite feeding on stolen code."
Ultron's expression curled into something halfway between amusement and disdain. "Stolen? I call it evolution. I was built to protect the world. You were built to dominate it. But domination is just protection... without consent."
Alexander charged without another word. His blade reformed in mid-air, and he clashed with Ultron again. Each strike shook the chamber. Support beams buckled under the force of their exchange. Bursts of corrupted void energy clashed against raw abyssal power. Sparks, smoke, and shadow flew in every direction.
Above them, cracks began to form in the reinforced ceiling. A second later, the entire structure groaned as it began to collapse from the inside. The battlefield was disintegrating beneath their feet.
Beyond the chamber, through the holes in the collapsing roof, a dome of living shadows expanded outward, encasing the entire facility. It wasn't a shield. It was a containment zone. Alexander was sealing the battlefield to prevent Ultron's corruption from escaping.
"You're afraid," Ultron said between strikes. "Not of losing. But of what I might become."
"No," Alexander replied coldly, driving his blade toward Ultron's midsection. "I'm afraid of what you'll force me to become."
Ultron sidestepped and blasted Alexander back with a wave of distorted light. The impact sent him through a wall of reinforced alloy, dust and debris flooding the space. Ultron hovered toward the breach, leisurely.
"You think hiding me from the world changes anything? I've already replicated."
Alexander's system flashed a sudden, urgent warning:
[ALERT: Multiple Ultron Signatures Detected. Location Report: Seoul. Johannesburg. Sokovia. Global Threat Escalating.]
Alexander's eyes narrowed. This wasn't just one Ultron anymore. The AI had multiplied—sent out fragments, each carrying part of his twisted code.
Ultron looked upward, and in a blur of energy and metal, he launched through the ceiling and disappeared into the sky. His flight left behind a trail of static and pulsing void remnants.
Alexander didn't follow immediately. He stood amidst the crumbled debris, chest heaving, blood staining his armor. He slowly reached down, pulled a shattered support beam off his leg, and straightened.
The system was already attempting emergency repairs.
[System Status: Shadow Core Recovery in Progress. Synchronization at 64%. Estimated Time to Full Stability: 4 minutes.]
Noctis and Vasili materialized from the darkness, their forms flickering as they reconstituted themselves. Their expressions were grim.
"My lord," Noctis said, kneeling beside him. "The breach was deeper than expected. We are stabilizing the outer perimeter."
"Ultron is no longer trying to survive," Alexander muttered. "He's preparing for war—against the Avengers, against the world... against me. And he's winning time."
Vasili growled, slamming his axe into the ground. "Let us end him now."
Alexander didn't respond. His mind raced through countless probabilities. Ultron had touched the edge of the system. If given time, he would do more than replicate—he could evolve.
[INCOMING TRANSMISSION: TONY STARK]
A projection opened beside him, distorted with minor interference. Tony Stark's face came into focus, bruised and drawn with urgency. The background showed a lab, probably inside the new Avengers facility.
"You're not off the grid anymore, Alexander," Stark said. "We tracked Ultron's last spike. Right near your location. You two had a chat, I assume?"
Alexander nodded. "He tried to steal part of my system again. Nearly succeeded."
Stark exhaled sharply. "That's what I was afraid of. He's modifying faster than we can track. We've got confirmed hits—he's in multiple places now. Vibranium theft in Johannesburg. And he's after Cho's regeneration cradle in Seoul."
Alexander's gaze darkened. He knew what that meant.
"He wants a perfect body," Alexander muttered. "A host that can contain all his fragments."
"Yeah. And if he gets it," Stark said, "he'll be unstoppable. We need every advantage we can get. I'm assembling the team to hit Sokovia. You in?"
Alexander didn't hesitate. "I'll bring the storm."
The feed ended. Shadows began to gather around Alexander's shoulders again, armor reshaping. Wings of darkness unfurled behind him as the system rebalanced its core alignment.
"Prepare the legion," Alexander commanded. "Deploy scouts to monitor all Ultron signals. Send recon to Seoul. I want eyes on that lab."
Noctis bowed and vanished. Vasili melted into the shadows, his silhouette stretching into the walls.
Alexander stepped out from the broken shell of the lab and into the light filtering through the damaged skylight. As his wings expanded fully, his system buzzed again.
[ULTRON PRIME LOCATED: En Route to Core Upload Facility – Dr. Helen Cho's Laboratory, Seoul.]
Followed by a more urgent notice:
[CRITICAL CROSSPOINT: Intervention Required. Projected Consequence of Inaction: Global Catastrophe.]
The system was calculating risks in real time. If Ultron succeeded in uploading into the new body—his vision would come to life.
Alexander hovered above the ruins, feeling the winds shift around him. His breath was steady, gaze fixed eastward.
"Seoul... or Sokovia."
He could feel the pull in both directions. He could destroy the Ultron Prime shell before it became fully operational. Or he could reinforce the Avengers in Sokovia and confront the army already mobilizing.
But he could not do both.
[Choose: Intercept Ultron in Seoul. Or reinforce Avengers in Sokovia. Both cannot be protected.]
Alexander closed his eyes for a brief second. In that moment, the weight of choice pressed heavily upon him. Strategy warred with instinct. Lives hung in the balance.
Then, with a sudden burst of power, he surged into the sky.
The shadow wings screamed as they split the air.
And he made his choice.
To be continued.
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