"What are those!?"
Suddenly, an energy specialist cried out in shock.
Having just begun to recover from the awe of seeing the angels, he was once again struck speechless—this time by the strange energy rippling across the floor of the vast hall.
This energy was identical to the one released from the bronze gate—the very same power source HYDRA referred to as the cosmic core.
As an expert in energy research, he had assumed at first that the light beyond the bronze doors came from that same cosmic core. Just like the weapons HYDRA had forged using its power…
But when he looked closer, his eyes went wide. His earlier assumption was completely wrong.
The energy beyond the gate wasn't coming from the Tesseract embedded in the door. It was coming from the ground itself—each grid on the floor contained a complete cosmic core!
Yes.
If Herman had been there, even he would have been stunned beyond belief. The space beyond the bronze gate was clearly a pocket dimension.
And within that dimension… were countless Tesseracts. Dozens, hundreds—an unending expanse of them.
Each one was a Space Stone.
In theory, there should only ever be one in an entire universe. Yet here, beyond the bronze gate, they appeared as if mass-produced—so abundant they almost seemed worthless.
Even within a pocket dimension, this defied the very foundation of the Marvel Universe's structure.
No matter how many realities or pocket realms existed, a single Marvel Universe should only ever contain one complete set of Infinity Stones. For HYDRA to uncover this? Something was deeply wrong. Something unnatural had occurred.
Unfortunately, HYDRA was still just a human organization on Earth. They couldn't comprehend the paradox they had stumbled upon—so all they could do was stare, shaken to the core.
"My God!!!"
The cold-eyed officer followed the energy expert's gaze and froze in place. Behind the bronze doors, embedded in the gleaming white floor, were countless cosmic cores—their infinite energy radiating like stars.
The realization hit him like a storm.
So… there wasn't just one cosmic core?
Though HYDRA didn't know the Tesseract's true origin, they had already deduced from its limitless power that it was a cosmic treasure.
But now, this treasure—this "gift from the universe"—appeared here in endless abundance.
The cold-eyed officer knew he wasn't mistaken. Those radiant cubes embedded in the floor beyond the gate were unmistakably the same as the "gate key" he had brought here—the infinite energy HYDRA used to create their devastating weapons.
Such an unimaginable trove of power... and it existed here in piles.
For a moment, the officer felt his mind go blank, overwhelmed by shock. Then came the suffocating rush of ecstasy.
"I must report this! Report it to Red Skull himself!" he shouted, sprinting toward the exit leading out of the underground palace.
He had to inform the great leader. With this much infinite energy, HYDRA could go beyond ruling the Earth—they could conquer the cosmos itself.
But even more important than the energy was what lay beyond the bronze gates—the angelic legion.
Compared to forging energy weapons from the Tesseract's power, this discovery was the true key to world domination.
No matter how powerful a weapon was, it still required soldiers to wield it.
HYDRA's energy weapons were terrifying, yes—but they still depended on human soldiers with the strength to use them against their enemies.
The angelic army, however, was different. It could serve as something far greater—a living weapon.
As he gazed at the angels beyond the gate, the officer's conviction deepened. Those beings could each serve as ultimate weapons of war.
And even if their true power as weapons remained unknown, their mere identity as "angels" would be enough to shake the world.
As a high-ranking HYDRA officer, no one understood better than he did how easy it was to conquer in the name of faith.
Think about it—
The world was full of religions devoted to God.
Especially among soldiers on the battlefield, where fear and exhaustion made them cling to faith even more fiercely than civilians.
If those believers were to witness "God's warriors" fighting in person, HYDRA could effortlessly claim divine legitimacy. They could conquer the world under the banner of faith itself.
"We are the saviors sent by God to deliver the world. He has sent His most loyal warriors to aid us…"
The officer had already crafted the speech in his mind. His excitement grew with every thought.
World War II—perhaps its end had finally come.
"The future… belongs to HYDRA! Long live HYDRA!"
A blindingly bright future seemed to unfold before his eyes.
But his feverish expression did not go unnoticed. The scholars and experts around him, finally regaining their composure, exchanged looks of dread as realization dawned.
"We've opened the gates of Heaven! We can't keep desecrating these beings! If we do, Earth itself may face destruction!"
"That's right! Even if God and the angels are simply higher life forms, to a civilization like theirs, we'd be nothing but experiments—creations to be destroyed at a whim! Perhaps humanity truly does have a Creator!"
...
Whether they were scientists who clung to reason or those who had begun to believe in gods, all of them were desperate to stop the cold-eyed officer from further desecrating whatever lay beyond the gate. They were certain that doing so would bring unimaginable consequences.
"Those are God's warriors! We... we have to close the gate again! No matter what, this isn't something we're meant to interfere with!"
The elderly scholar who had studied the murals stepped forward, his frail body trembling but his voice firm as he faced the officer.
"Ridiculous! We found them—so we'll use them! With a legion like this, Hydra's glory will shine upon the world... and the universe!" The officer's tone burned with fanatical passion, leaving no doubt about how he viewed the angels beyond the gate.
A legion? Weapons?
The experts and scholars around him stared in disbelief. They had underestimated Hydra's insanity. This man—this high-ranking Hydra officer—actually intended to command and enslave angels?! Madness. Pure madness. Hydra truly was an organization more deranged than the Nazis themselves.
Such a thought was blasphemy in its purest form—something no normal mind would even dare to conceive.
"Beyond that gate lies forbidden ground! A reality we must never touch! No! I'll stop you—and your deranged organization!"
"Humanity cannot be condemned to God's wrath because of your madness!" the elderly professor shouted, lunging toward the bronze door in a desperate attempt to shut it.
But—
Bang!
The officer raised his weapon and blew the professor's head apart. Without hesitation, he turned his gun on the rest of the terrified scientists and scholars.
"My apologies," he said coldly, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "You were once useful to us. But now... I have to make sure this secret never leaves this place."
He tilted his head slightly, voice casual and calm.
"As for whether God will punish us someday—well, that's no longer your concern. After all, none of you will live to see tomorrow's sun."
With that, he pulled the trigger again and again. One by one, the scholars fell to the ground, their bodies crumpling beneath his precise gunfire.
This time was different.
The officer no longer saw them as valuable assets.
Now that Hydra possessed the Angel Legion, there was no need to rely on fragile human researchers or send expeditions into dangerous ruins around the globe. As for the secrets of the angels, Hydra had its own loyal specialists who could uncover them.
"Secure this place. I'll contact the leader!"
He gave the order to the subordinates who had rushed into the underground chamber after hearing the gunfire. Without sparing them another glance—still frozen before the blinding light of the bronze gate—he turned and strode out of the hall, heading toward the camp to contact Red Skull.
Inside the underground palace, the bronze doors still blazed with divine brilliance.
Meanwhile, far away in the New York Sanctum, Herman had already located the underground chamber through the Sanctum's magical network.
"This is it."
Herman locked onto the source of the voice that had been calling to him.