The entire land of Wakanda was veiled by its advanced technology.
Because of that, whatever happened within Wakanda's borders was impossible for any outside nation to detect. Even Herman couldn't observe every inch of Earth at all times.
The anomalies caused by the [All-Seeing Eye] remained as inscrutable as ever.
A mysterious, colossal egg.
No one could predict what kind of upheaval it would bring to Wakanda—or to this era of the Marvel Universe. Nor could anyone guess what sort of lifeform slumbered inside.
The disturbances tied to a Diamond-tier identity were clearly never simple. Once again, the flow of world history had shifted in unforeseeable ways.
And it wasn't only the new identity altering things.
Some of the anomalies born from Herman's previous identities had crossed the boundaries of time itself, quietly taking shape in this very era of Marvel's Earth.
...
Southeastern Norway.
In the remote town of Tønsberg, a group of uninvited guests had recently arrived—the Nazi army currently wreaking havoc across the world's battlefields.
To the townsfolk, this was a fate they had long feared, yet expected all the same. Everyone knew this day would come eventually.
After all, Germany's invasion of Norway had been building for some time.
Though Norway's role in the war resembled China's—a smaller nation caught in the chaos—it was now steadily falling to the German advance.
Many Norwegians couldn't comprehend why their neutral country had still suffered invasion and slaughter at the hands of the German army.
Only those with some knowledge of military affairs understood the truth: it was because of Norway's geography—and the wealth buried beneath its soil.
Situated on the western edge of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Norway bordered Sweden to the east and shared its northeastern boundaries with Finland and the Soviet Union. With over 21,000 kilometers of coastline and countless islands, it possessed numerous natural harbors—its strategic importance undeniable.
Moreover, the land was rich in minerals vital for sustaining warfare. A nation seeking world domination could never overlook such a place.
As the saying goes, "wealth invites trouble." For a small nation like Norway, standing against a global superpower was impossible.
Cities were falling one after another. Still, it was rare for a small town like Tønsberg to attract such a massive military presence.
As columns of Nazi troops stationed themselves near the town, the residents trembled with fear and confusion alike.
"Why would the army set up here? Could it be there's some valuable resource nearby?"
Their reasoning was simple enough. Tønsberg was a backward, remote settlement. The combined wealth of all its residents wouldn't even cover a single day's expense for a few thousand soldiers. None of them could fathom what drew the army to their doorstep.
Just as the townspeople puzzled over it, several heavy trucks rolled into town—and on the faces of the Nazi soldiers, they caught a strange sight: fear.
What?
The soldiers... were afraid of their own men?
Many prisoners turned to watch the grim-faced soldiers guarding the convoy.
Their attention shifted to the banners fluttering atop the trucks.
They were not the standard Nazi insignia.
They were—
"HYDRA… the Nazi HYDRA flag!"
Some of the younger locals who'd traveled abroad recognized it immediately. The HYDRA active now was not the secretive, shadowed version that would one day emerge—it was an open and formidable force.
In fact, as the Nazi armies swept through the battlefields, HYDRA—credited with countless "scientific" contributions to the Reich—had become infamous across the world. Its name alone was enough to make nations shudder.
They were the even colder, more brutal faction within the Nazi regime.
Rumor had it they conducted horrific, inhuman experiments.
Everyone had heard of HYDRA's practice of using soldiers as test subjects, so it was no wonder even the Nazi troops feared them.
After all, who wanted to become an experiment? Even among their own ranks, HYDRA's name evoked dread.
"What are they doing here?"
"Is there something special about our town?"
"Don't tell me... they're planning to turn this place into a testing site!"
"Oh God, no! I don't want to die! I don't want to be one of their lab rats!"
...
A group of captured townsfolk wailed and sobbed in terror.
Yet not a single Nazi soldier paid them any attention—and as for HYDRA's presence here, it certainly had nothing to do with them.
The residents were simply too frightened to think straight. None of them stopped to consider that their small town had far too few people.
If HYDRA truly intended to conduct human experiments, the entire population would be gone in just a few days.
Besides, a human experimentation lab—especially one involving top-secret research—would never be built on foreign soil. No one could predict when this territory might be abandoned or reclaimed. Norway might be weak, but there were still nations that didn't want to see it fall entirely under German control.
"How's the progress?"
Truck after truck stopped before a structure just outside the town.
From the leading vehicle stepped a cold-faced, one-eyed man clad in a Nazi officer's greatcoat. His scarred and pitted face made him look as harsh as his voice.
Judging from the deference shown by the surrounding Nazi soldiers and HYDRA operatives, this grim man was clearly a high-ranking figure within HYDRA's command.
"Several scholars have already gone in, sir. We dug beneath the bell tower—and there's indeed something extraordinary down there. A palace."
A soldier reported respectfully.
Not far away, inside the old stone bell tower built from tightly stacked slabs, burly soldiers kept hauling out wheelbarrows full of dirt and rubble. The excavated soil had already piled up so high outside that it formed a small hill.
It was obvious the excavation beneath the tower ran deep. Using modern machinery, they had been digging for quite some time.
"Good. Let's hope what's inside doesn't disappoint us—or disappoint HYDRA's leader."
The cold-eyed man's tone was flat as he glanced at the soldier. HYDRA's standing within the Nazi hierarchy was high, and he had no intention of returning empty-handed.
It was because they had finally unearthed something HYDRA had been searching for that he'd come personally. Many within the Nazi ranks already knew that HYDRA was obsessed with uncovering the supernatural.
According to some ancient records, this land of Tønsberg was said to conceal something divine—though details were scarce, and the orders to the Nazi army had been little more than "search, just in case."
No one had expected them to actually find a site tied to the supernatural.
"I'm telling you, General, it's not simple down there. You have to see it yourself. It's not just a palace—there's something huge inside! Something terrifying!"
The soldier's voice quivered with disbelief and excitement, instantly piquing the general's curiosity.
"Something huge?"
The one-eyed man's gaze sharpened.
"It's definitely not something ancient humans could have built!" the soldier insisted.
Quick to seize the moment, he led the general toward the bell tower's entrance. He was certain that once the man saw what lay below, even he would be stunned.
Inside the bell tower, a large pit had been excavated—nearly ten meters deep.
And within it, they'd uncovered an ancient staircase, already long buried, spiraling downward into the earth. It seemed to stretch endlessly into the dark.
The cold-faced general stopped at the pit's edge and fitted a custom-made gas mask over his face. The soldiers beside him followed suit.
As they prepared to descend underground...
At the base of the stairway, inside an oval-shaped chamber lined with countless intricate carvings and murals, the first team of explorers—archaeologists and scholars—shouted with uncontained excitement.
"It's real! It actually exists!"
"The place described in that book—it's really here!"
"My God, this is a miracle of the world!"
They moved through the ancient palace, awe-struck, tracing the carvings along the walls. Though they couldn't understand the symbols or language, the sheer artistry left them speechless.
These men were experts in ancient history, mythology, and lost civilizations—academics who had been obsessed with legends since childhood. Even in this era of global war, they had never abandoned their pursuit of ultra-ancient civilizations.
But in such dangerous times, wandering the world in search of ruins was nearly impossible.
So these scholars had aligned themselves with the Nazi military—or, more precisely, with HYDRA's special division dedicated to the supernatural.
In their pursuit of the supernatural, HYDRA had been recruiting talent from all over the world.
The group of scholars currently studying the underground palace were among those recruits—experts drawn from several different countries.
They felt no moral conflict in serving the Nazis. Whether their discoveries would be used to bring devastation upon the world was of no concern to them. Such thoughts had no place in the minds of men obsessed solely with chasing their "dreams."
Scholars, after all—the more they read, the more detached from humanity they became, their passion for knowledge often mutating into cold ambition. Now, having unearthed a relic of a civilization beyond imagination, their minds were consumed only with visions of fame and glory.
"This discovery will shake the entire world!"
One of the scholars spoke with feverish excitement, his tone filled with conviction. His words stirred nods and murmurs of agreement among the others.
The exquisite murals carved into the surrounding walls were astonishing enough—but the true centerpiece of their find was a massive bronze gate embedded within one wall. It towered over ten meters high. The moment they had entered the palace, everyone had been struck dumb by its presence.
"It's unimaginable... How could the ancients have built something like this? This is a miracle even more astounding than the pyramids!"
An elderly scholar with a snow-gray beard and thick black-rimmed glasses shuffled closer to the enormous bronze door, his trembling hands reaching out to touch it.
The entire surface was covered in intricate carvings and ornate patterns—designs none of them could decipher.
Yet, despite that, everyone was certain of one thing: even by the standards of modern craftsmanship, such detailed bronze work was beyond extraordinary.
"How could people from tens of thousands of years ago have created something like this? The reliefs are still so vivid—it's as if time itself forgot to touch them!"
A few younger scholars stepped forward, unable to hide their amazement. Their curiosity deepened as they examined the metal.
"What about oxidation? Even buried underground, it should've corroded by now," said one chemist, frowning in confusion.
"It's too pristine... almost like it was forged yesterday. Has time truly never passed over it?"
As he rested his palm against the bronze gate, he felt an unexpected warmth emanate from it—soothing, almost tranquilizing.
"Incredible... utterly unbelievable."
The same effect revealed itself to the others who touched it; the moment their hands met the surface, calm washed over them.
"What do these carvings mean?"
A blond scholar—handsome and sharp-eyed, an expert in ancient languages—studied the patterns closely.
Normally, ancient carvings told stories, chronicled myths, or recorded history. But this door...
This door was different.
Across its surface, countless serpents slithered through the bronze reliefs, twisting and intertwining in impossible patterns.
Thousands of small snakes wove together into an intricate tapestry—strange, mesmerizing, and impossible to interpret.
"I can hardly wait to open it and glimpse the secrets hidden for ten thousand years."
A slightly stooped old man slowly approached the gate.
His quiet murmur stirred anticipation among the other scholars.
"What lies within might overturn the entire world's understanding!" The white-bearded scholar's voice trembled, as if he could already see himself basking in global fame.
"A key... this gate requires a key. We cannot force it open violently—it's a treasure belonging to all of human civilization." The hunched scholar ran his fingers along the surface of the bronze gate, his tone filled with unshakable conviction.
And at that moment—
"Truly... a breathtakingly massive structure."
The heavily guarded HYDRA officer entered the grand hall under the escort of his soldiers. His gaze immediately fixed on the colossal bronze gate at the center of the chamber. Despite all he'd seen in his career, even he couldn't help but express genuine awe.
Instinct told him this discovery might be unlike any before. None of the ruins their department had unearthed could compare to this.
"I've brought the key. All you need to do is open this door—unlock the ancient secrets within, for me and for the great HYDRA!"
The cold-faced officer, draped in a military coat, stepped forward carrying a reinforced case. After inputting a code, he opened it with a heavy click.
The next instant, a blinding blue light burst out, forcing the scholars to raise their hands to shield their eyes from the glare.
Only after a long moment did they dare to look.
Inside the case rested a glowing blue cube. Its perfect, glasslike surface pulsed with energy, something mysterious swirling within—as if it could draw the observer's very soul into its depths.
"This is... the key?"
The elderly scholar asked in disbelief.
"An unmistakable key. Don't tell me you can't figure out how to use it. We hired you for that exact reason."
The officer's snake-like eyes narrowed, his gaze cold and predatory. Every scholar present felt an involuntary chill crawl down their spines.
None of them doubted it—if they failed to prove useful, this man would have no qualms about disposing of them. The Nazi Party was infamous for such ruthlessness.
"We'll need some time, but we'll figure it out soon enough." The white-bearded scholar quickly regained composure and gave his assurance.
The others hastily echoed his words.
"See that you do."
The officer nodded with satisfaction, gesturing to one of his men. A soldier immediately brought over a stool and a chair.
"Don't damage that key," he warned coolly before sitting down, pulling out some rations, and eating in silence—his gaze never leaving the blue object glowing softly within the case.
HYDRA's understanding of the artifact was limited.
Even so, an object brimming with such immense energy was not something they dared to mishandle or lose. Their caution was warranted—for if Herman were present, he would have recognized the artifact instantly.
It was cosmic magic—the Space Stone, one of the Infinity Stones.