Marvel Cybernetic Girl

[Reality and illusion—separated by a single thought.]

[Are you dreaming of the butterfly, or is the butterfly dreaming of you?]

[As you peacefully enjoy the void called a dream...]

[You fail to realize—]

[That dream may be the reality of another world.]

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—Infinity Mindscape: Red—

Under the blood-red sunset, the entire world began to stir.

The thick mist that had long shrouded the battlefield slowly cleared.

One by one, the corpses that had been lying motionless on the ground began to rise—along with the shattered weapons and ruined machines, which repaired themselves and returned to their original, battle-ready forms.

"What... what is this?"

Kagura was stunned by the scene unfolding before her eyes.

Her battle suit automatically shifted into combat mode, and she gripped her twin vibranium blades tightly—but she didn't attack immediately.

After all, the figures rising before her… were Earth's greatest heroes.

"Heheheh… Hahahahahaha!"

From the distance, a crimson light flared. Butterflies of scarlet light gathered, forming into a humanoid figure.

Miss Aether watched the scene unfold with amusement.

"Oh, by the way, my dear little Kagura... let me remind you again—these people you see before you? They aren't illusions. They are real. Completely, undeniably real."

Her playful smile deepened.

"Also... unlike Void's realm, you only have one life here. Die once... and it's over."

Kagura gritted her teeth, her gaze locked on the slowly approaching army of the dead.

What kind of horrific 'reality' was this? Surely this was just another illusion born from the Reality Stone's power… wasn't it?

But among the endless sea of corpses were faces she recognized all too well—Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the heroes of the Avengers... and the twisted beasts of Thanos's Outrider legions, the Chitauri soldiers, even Kree and Skrull warriors.

This blood-soaked battlefield seemed like the stage for the universe's final, decisive war.

And now, the long-silent earth once again roared with the fires of hellish battle.

Only this time—both sides of the once-great conflict had turned their weapons upon one target: the silver-haired girl standing alone in the midst of the wasteland.

'Shing! Shing! Shing!'

The first to strike were Thanos's Outriders, leaping toward Kagura—but she swept them down effortlessly with her vibranium blades.

A rain of beams, bullets, and blades followed in an instant, all aimed at her.

Iron Man raised his damaged repulsor, firing a powerful blast straight at her chest without hesitation.

Thor, wielding a half-shattered Stormbreaker, let out a fearsome war cry as he soared high into the air—bringing his axe crashing down upon her with a roar of thunder and lightning that split the sky.

"Tch!"

With a click of her tongue, Kagura activated "Charged Three-Dimensional Maneuvering" and dodged at extreme speed.

Weaving through the assaults of the Avengers while cutting down the endless wave of Thanos's outriders as she sought an escape route from the encirclement.

'Whirr—!'

A vibranium shield, emblazoned with a white star, came hurtling toward her.

Kagura spun and delivered a fierce kick, deflecting Captain America's shield with a metallic clang.

But before she could recover, a surge of chaotic magic came flooding toward her like a tidal wave—Scarlet Witch's crimson energy, wild and merciless, threatening to tear her apart in a heartbeat.

Raising her hand, Kagura quickly invoked a dimensional secret art, forming a brilliant orange magic circle that absorbed the hex magic's force.

'Boom—!'

There was no time to breathe. Another barrage of beams and missiles rained down upon her from above.

Iron Man—his armor sparking and battered—rushed toward her like a mindless berserker, firing relentlessly, giving her no room to escape.

"Tch… It had to be you heroes I once fought beside... the ones I can't bear to cut down."

A bitter smile crossed her lips as she gripped her blades tighter—but she couldn't bring herself to strike Tony Stark down.

It was pointless to waste energy fighting these endless enemies.

[Full-Spectrum Electromagnetic Cloak: Activated]

In the next instant, her form vanished from sight as she cloaked herself with conceptual stealth technology, slipping away from their relentless pursuit—if only for a moment.

The enemies were endless.

Every foe—be they hero or villain, Avenger or Thanos's legion—saw Kagura alone as their target.

If she kept fighting head-on, she'd be drawn into an unwinnable war of attrition, exhausting herself until the end came.

Unlike her battle in Void's trial, she couldn't rely on infinite resurrection here. This was reality.

One death was all it would take.

She needed to be smart.

Avoid meaningless battles.

Find Aether... and end this trial.

"If this keeps up, I'll be stuck fighting forever... No good. I need to fall back, figure out a plan!"

In the next moment, Kagura spread her light-forged wings, gracefully leaving the main battlefield.

Amid this hellish world growing ever more chaotic, she found a small, quiet corner—a rare refuge in the madness—and took the chance to assess the situation.

"No matter how you look at it, this feels like some ridiculous illusion... but Aether said this isn't an illusion. Then... could this world actually be... one of the Marvel multiverse's bad ends?!"

"Ahahaha! My cute little Kagura, you've figured it out already? Not bad at all!"

Blood-red butterflies swirled in the air as Aether materialized behind her without warning, dressed in crimson as always.

"That's right—your guess is spot on. This is indeed one of the countless futures among the Marvel universes."

"One of the fourteen million outcomes Doctor Stephen Strange once foresaw. And of course—" she smiled sweetly, "this particular world ended... very, very badly."

Aether strolled leisurely through the air, as if taking a pleasant walk, her voice laced with amusement.

"In this universe, the Avengers and Thanos's army fought to the bitter end... until both sides were utterly destroyed. The power of the Infinity Stones scattered and everything you see here was turned to ash."

She chuckled softly behind a hand.

"Ah, but I digress."

Her golden eyes gleamed as she gazed at the frowning Kagura.

"After all... none of this really matters to you, does it? Your only goal here is to touch me—not to fight these corpses. So whether you like this world or not makes no difference. It's already lost all hope. A dead world."

"Tch... You really have a twisted sense of fun."

Without warning, Kagura activated her acceleration skill and lunged forward, hand outstretched to grab Aether—

But the moment she made contact, Aether dissolved once again into a cloud of scarlet butterflies, passing harmlessly through Kagura's chest like a gentle, vanishing breeze.

"Oh, don't get angry, now. I am the embodiment of the Reality Stone, after all. What else can I do but show you all the different kinds of 'realities' that exist?"

Aether clasped her hands behind her back, strolling casually before Kagura as if taking a peaceful walk in the garden.

"Come now, Kagura... surely you haven't really been thinking that everything I've shown you is just an illusion... have you?"

"Ugh—!"

A chilling, guttural cry rumbled through the air as a massive shadow fell across the battlefield.

A flying armored leviathan—the kind the Chitauri once unleashed during their invasions—soared swiftly toward her. It had been a key war weapon in Thanos's army.

"Illusion or reality? Dream or truth?"

Aether's voice echoed like a taunt as she once again scattered into a fluttering cloud of crimson butterflies, disappearing from sight.

"Think carefully, Kagura... Otherwise, you'll never escape this prison—the cage called 'reality'!"

"Ugh... how unpleasant. So this is the power of the Reality Stone, huh?"

Kagura muttered under her breath, sparks of electricity dancing across her vibranium blade.

"But I won't give up, Aether. I have my convictions. I have my dreams. And I have no intention of falling here!"

[Directional High-Energy Electromagnetic Pulse Cannon: Activated]

"Haaah—!"

A beam of fierce electromagnetic energy roared forth, slicing the armored leviathan clean in half.

Its charred remains tumbled to the ground, smoke and ash filling the air with the scent of scorched metal.

"Now then... where are you hiding, Aether?"

Kagura narrowed her eyes, golden light gleaming in her gaze.

"How can I reach this so-called 'embodiment of reality' and break free from this endless cycle?"

But before an answer could come, the blood-red world trembled violently.

Everything around her dissolved into smoke and dust, fading into the darkness—leaving only two crimson butterflies dancing silently in the void.

Once again, this so-called 'reality' began to shift without warning...