CHAPTER 103: CHAPTER 103: FEMALE KNIGHT GWEN! THE COLLECTOR HAS ARRIVED ON CYBERTRON!

The moment Gwen appeared, the students who had rolled out of the school bus erupted in excitement.

"It’s Spider-Woman!"

"My goddess! She’s my goddess!"

"It’s Spider-Woman from the Goddess Alliance!"

Hearing the noisy shouts in the distance, Gwen didn’t mind at all. As long as her true identity wasn’t exposed, she didn’t care how wild her fans got. She could even join her own fan club to cheer—or curse—herself.

To Gwen, it was all the same.

After absorbing the blood of one Deviant, her Symbiote suit sent her a wave of satisfaction.

In other words, this Deviant tasted good.

It had given her a significant boost in power.

As for the remaining Deviants, after watching their brother die in an instant, they were noticeably shaken. Gwen had moved like a shadow, and before they could even register what happened, one of them was already dead. They hadn’t even seen her clearly.

Her physical strength now was terrifying—dozens of times greater than when she first became Spider-Woman.

"Roarrr~~~!!!"

But no matter what, they couldn’t lose momentum. The two Deviants roared in rage.

The humanoid one glanced around, then immediately charged at Sersi and Sprite!

Deviants and Eternals were sworn enemies. On top of that, this humanoid Deviant had the ability to absorb superpowers. Its priority was to kill Sersi and Sprite.

"Don’t wander too far—I’m in a hurry," Gwen’s voice rang out nearby.

The humanoid Deviant turned its head.

Gwen stamped her foot against the ground.

Crack!

The concrete split open.

Boom!

She launched forward, hurling the Black Necrosword straight at the humanoid Deviant.

The sight of that pitch-black blade filled the Deviant’s eyes with fear. An instinctive dread of death seized its mind.

"Roar!"

It rolled desperately aside.

Slash!

But Gwen was too fast. Even though it managed to avoid a fatal blow, one of its arms was severed clean off, shoulder and all.

Thud!

As the severed limb hit the ground, the humanoid Deviant panicked. It immediately chose to flee.

Gwen was about to pursue when—

"Roarrr!"

The other Deviant lunged at her from behind.

Still holding the Necrosword in her right hand, Gwen flicked her wrists, shooting webs that wrapped around the Deviant’s head.

Thwip!

Then she yanked hard.

"Raaaghhh!"

The creature was violently pulled into the air—straight toward Gwen herself.

She calmly raised her blade and swung.

Slash!

Thud!

The Deviant convulsed as it crashed to the ground, its severed head landing nearby, still attached to part of its neck.

Even in that instant, it wasn’t completely dead. The mouth and eyes on the head twitched, its tentacles and limbs flailing weakly a short distance away.

But without a nervous link, it was doomed.

At that moment, all of its blood gushed outward—along with the essence from its severed body parts—and was instantly absorbed into Gwen’s Symbiote suit.

It wasn’t just blood. It was the full essence of the slain creature, siphoned into the Symbiote and then fed back into Gwen herself, endlessly amplifying her power.

With no limit.

That meant if Gwen killed a Sky Father–level being, she could temporarily reach that level of strength. Kill one or two more, and she would truly stand at Sky Father–level.

If she slew enough Universal-level beings, she could become Universal-level herself.

Multiverse-level? That was another matter. That kind of power couldn’t be reached through killing alone.

But Universal-level was absolutely within reach.

Of course, now wasn’t the time to dwell on that.

After cutting down the Deviant, Gwen turned her gaze back to the one that had fled.

Thud!

Its severed arm had already regenerated. Then, with a dive, it disappeared into the river.

"It recovered that fast?"

Gwen glanced at the severed arm on the ground. She had just cut it off barely ten seconds ago, yet it had already grown back. That regeneration was far beyond what Dr. Lizard had ever managed.

Of course, Gwen herself was no longer the same as before either—her combat power had reached a whole new level.

"Spider-Woman!"

"Goddess!"

As soon as the crisis was over, the crowd erupted into cheers. Gwen ignored them. She slid the Black Necrosword into her body, and it instantly dissolved into black liquid, absorbed by her Symbiote suit.

Just as she was about to leave, Sersi reached out.

"Excuse me—"

But before she could finish, Gwen checked the time as she walked away.

"Sorry, I’ve got to go. If you need help, contact the NYPD or the Avengers."

With that, she fired a webline and was gone in an instant, leaving behind only two parting words.

"Goodbye."

Gwen left cleanly, without a moment’s hesitation.

If there was trouble, people could call the police. If the police couldn’t handle it, they could go to the Avengers. Either way, it had nothing to do with Gwen anymore. Being a superhero was only her side gig—and right now, she was about to be late for school.

...

Landing on a nearby rooftop, Gwen’s Symbiote suit vanished with a whisper. She immediately pulled out her phone, happily sending Lorien the timed photos and recorded video she’d set up before the fight.

She added a caption:

"Another city crisis resolved! Does my Lorien have anything he wants to say to me? Maybe reward me with a good morning kiss next time?"

After hitting send, Gwen rushed off toward school. This time, she really was about to be late.

Back at the scene, Sersi and Sprite exchanged glances.

"She doesn’t want to help us," Sprite said quietly.

"She’s very strong. Maybe even stronger than Ikaris," Sersi replied slowly. "And then there’s Scarlet Witch, who handled the Deviants last time."

"They’re both part of the Goddess Alliance. Scarlet Witch may not have officially announced leaving the Avengers, but her time with them is long over."

Ikaris was considered the strongest among this group of Eternals. His abilities resembled a weaker version of Superman’s—shooting golden beams from his eyes. But the damage wasn’t anything impressive.

In fact, most of the Eternals’ powers were fairly average.

"So what do we do now?" Sprite hesitated. "Do we go back and find the other Eternals, or do we try the Avengers?"

The question made Sersi pause for a long moment. But compared to the now-faded Avengers, she trusted her old comrades more.

"We must regroup the Eternals!"

"Yes!" Sprite nodded firmly.

And with that, they set out to find their former teammates.

...

Inside the North Tower, Lorien received Gwen’s message.

Opening it, he saw her posing confidently in the photo. Reading the caption, he couldn’t help but smile before replying.

"No problem, Gwen. I can reward you with being a female knight once—but if you collapse, there won’t be a second chance."

Within three seconds, Gwen replied.

[Gwen: (shy and surprised emoji)]

[Gwen: Then it’s a deal!]

[Gwen: When I have time, I want to be a rider!]

Alright then—Rider Gwen, delivery in progress.

And what was being delivered?

Herself.

Lorien chuckled, chatted with her a little longer, then let her go when she said she had class. He sent back an "ok" emoji and put away his phone.

It was only 9:30 in the morning. Plenty of time left to slack off.

What to do now?

"Play some games?"

But then, Lorien remembered the scene from Gwen’s video.

After absorbing those two Deviants, her power must have grown significantly.

One of the fastest ways for Gwen to keep improving was to kill stronger opponents. The Deviants were just appetizers. They weren’t really that strong.

As he thought about it, Lorien’s mind turned to the Celestial Seed buried within Earth.

The unborn Celestial already had a name: Tiamut.

And the Celestial assigned to oversee Tiamut’s birth was the Judge of the Celestials—Arishem.

Arishem’s entire body was crimson, with six pairs of eye-like holes set into his head.

It is fully Universal-level. Even stronger than most beings of that level. The birth and destruction of stars in the universe are in their hands.

Strictly speaking, the Celestials are neither right nor wrong. They exist only to maintain the natural order of the universe. But for Lorien, they were wrong.

Their mistake was planting a Celestial seed on Earth. Earth is Lorien’s territory.

You blow up my home, and I’m supposed to just move to another planet? What kind of idiot would watch his world get destroyed and then casually find a new one to live on?

That’s why the Celestial seed, Tiamut, had to be eliminated. Even if Arishem, the Celestial judge, personally descended, it didn’t matter. From the start, Lorien and the Celestials stood on opposite sides. This wasn’t about grudges. It was about position.

And Lorien, seeking the greatest benefit, wasn’t about to just kill Tiamut and be done with it. Instead, he thought...

What if Gwen killed this Celestial infant?

Either way, Tiamut was going to die. Killing it himself wouldn’t give him anything. Besides, he was already Multiversal-level. It would be better to let Gwen take the kill. That way, her strength would skyrocket.

After all, the ancestor of the Symbiote armor she wore—Knull—had truly slain a Celestial. That massive head floating in Knowhere was said to have been chopped off by him! Which was why the resources there were so valuable. Even The Collector had taken up residence inside.

So, Lorien began to form a plan. He would let the Eternals go about their normal activities. That part had nothing to do with him. But once the Celestial Seed Tiamut awakened... he would bring Gwen along to harvest the kill and the experience.

Ahem, ahem.

Much obliged, Eternals and Celestials, for delivering me such a fine little experience baby.

Thanks a lot.

"Shhh—"

After pondering for so long, Lorien decided to slack off while the conference game was running. He put his legs down, leaned halfway around, and started fiddling with the computer beside him.

Games were still fun. Even as a Multiversal-level being, he still enjoyed them. That was a different matter entirely.

But just as Lorien launched the game, he jumped straight into a tense and thrilling ranked match on Summoner’s Rift.

"Snap!"

At that moment, the door suddenly opened. Lorien turned his head to look.

It was Hela.

Lorien thought she would go to the carpet to play games, but instead, she walked over to him and said,

"Morning. You still haven’t given me mine."

"What??? I’m in a game. I can’t let my teammates down. You’re the one who said you can’t let your teammates down, right?"

"Then you play. I’ll help myself."

"What??? Wait, this is the office."

"I locked the door."

"???"

...

Gwen was at school.

Wanda was asleep upstairs.

The Eternals were searching for teammates.

Tony and Pepper were in seclusion.

The others were off doing who knows what.

But Lorien, the so-called king, was struggling with his controls in Summoner’s Rift.

Especially when the "gurgle gurgle gurgle" sound echoed, his gameplay got even worse. His teammates watched him go from pulling flashy moves to fumbling miserably, and they were full of question marks.

What the hell was going on?

Lorien wanted to type a reply, but his controls were so distorted he couldn’t even get a word out. Right now, he only wanted to finish the match quickly—then deal with someone properly.

But just as they pushed onto the high ground...

"Goo~"

Hiss...

Lorien raised his eyebrows and glanced down. His original ∞-→ had turned from → into -0.

Gone!

Completely gone!

All of it!

Startled, Lorien hurriedly pushed his character onto the high ground, pulling off a flawless script-level play—an ace, then destroying the base.

He hit alt+f4 to exit the game, then grabbed Hela by the head.

"Dun dun dun~~~"

After a long while, Hela finally said she was full, then ran off to play games.

Lorien’s game had just ended, but instead of the thrill of victory, there was only a hollow emptiness.

What had he just done?

What had Hela just done?

And where had she done it?

That match lasted thirty-five minutes. Thirty-five whole minutes, and he hadn’t had a moment’s rest on either front.

After a silent moment of repentance, Lorien snapped his fingers.

"Snap~"

The environment instantly returned to normal.

...

Afterwards, Lorien sighed. He looked at Hela, who was now happily playing her game, and asked,

"So you disappeared all morning just for this?"

"Mm-hmm." Hela rubbed her stomach, looking a bit too full. "I studied online tutorials for ages, you know."

"You’re amazing."

Lorien nodded in genuine admiration. Today, he admitted defeat. He’d been drained, and that was that.

Still... let’s see if he didn’t get his revenge later.

Just you wait.

Hela!!!

Sighing, Lorien sat back in his chair and queued up another Summoner’s Rift match.

But just then, an urgent news report drew his attention.

"According to the Pioneer probe, a small asteroid has suddenly appeared in the outer orbit of the solar system. From the blurry image, the asteroid resembles a human face."

"But there’s no need to worry. Scientists have calculated that this face-shaped asteroid is on a trajectory toward Mars, not Earth. Still, this is an astonishing and fascinating discovery!"

"In the end, scientists named the object: the Face-shaped Planet."

Lorien glanced at the news, then turned back to his game.

But as he played, something gnawed at him.

This asteroid the UN mentioned...

Why did it look so much like Knowhere?

He looked again. It still did. The eyes, the shape—everything matched. Scientists called it a face-shaped planet, saying it merely resembled a face.

But Lorien saw it clearly. It wasn’t just a face. It was a head.

Because he had seen it before.

And its final destination was Mars.

Mars—his Cybertron.

Wait.

This wasn’t a planet drifting into the solar system. This was a planet being dragged into the solar system by Cybertron!

At that thought, Lorien froze. He really believed it. But he wasn’t entirely sure.

"Forget it. I’ll check it out after work."

Lorien turned back and continued his game.

...

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Mars, The Collector sat in his chamber, shifting his gaze between treasures.

When he saw Knowhere drifting closer and closer toward a planet of steel and nature, his heart instantly raced like it was on fire.

"This is it! It has to be here!"

"This must be Cybertron! This must be the birthplace of the Transformers!"

"This must be the world the Creator in their legends gave them life upon!"