Chapter Forty-Four: The Colorful Red Skull (Bonus Chapter for 30,000 Nutrient Bottles)

How to handle the operation still required some communication with the superheroes of the Avengers. The mere thought of the upcoming conversation made Eltia feel a sense of existential dread. But there was no help for it; it was a hard fact that his daughter had been involved in a flight accident, and it was equally true that the dog he kept was driving without a license...

He could only take comfort in the fact that the appearance of the Lord of Blazing Lamps carried an overwhelming sense of oppression, enough to prevent anyone from entertaining any lighthearted or joking thoughts upon meeting him. Initially, the atmosphere of the chat was somewhat relaxed, with someone even joking that using a car to flatten a clone of Captain America was Bob’s greatest achievement in life.

"Actually, it's not," Bob said with a deadpan expression. "You guys have no idea what I've been through, but this time I really was unintentional. Who knew someone happened to touch Number One's head? His own soul must have been in an unstable state; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to make contact with our true form."

"Your English is pretty good, you know," one of the Avengers said casually.

Bob gave a start, his dark eyes glancing stealthily at Eltia. Seeing no reaction, he mumbled vaguely, "Cough, cough, so-so, just so-so."

Black Widow asked with curiosity, "What kind of creature are you, exactly? You just mentioned your true form, so you aren't actually a Bernese Mountain Dog, are you?"

"Hmm..." Bob scratched his broad back with a hind leg. "How should I put it? You just need to know that my boss is the Lord of Blazing Lamps. I listen to him in everything; the rest isn't important."

Another person asked perceptively, "It's the Lord of Blazing Lamps, but not Eltia Esposito?"

"..." Bob thought to himself that this conversation was far too difficult! No wonder the boss disliked talking to you people! "Of course he's included too, don't go spreading nonsense!"

The group all fell into deep thought, wondering who knows what. Eltia also gradually came to understand the ins and outs of the matter from the casual conversation. Simply put, a few days ago, a superhero with the codename 'Falcon' discovered that his companion, Captain America Steve Rogers, occasionally appeared somewhat absent-minded. Daydreaming during conversations was one thing, but he also lacked his usual alertness during routine training.

These were actually very minor details, easily brushed off with excuses like physical indisposition. However, because of his close personal friendship with Captain America, Falcon did not treat it as a trivial matter. Instead, sitting tight and pretending not to care, he gathered evidence for a few days, and finally concluded through an abundance of ironclad evidence that 'Captain America has been swapped.'

This conclusion was no small matter, and it led to even more terrifying speculations. For instance, if someone could quietly slip a clone of Captain America into Avengers Tower, what about the rest of the team? How could they guarantee that everyone else was still themselves? Who could genuinely be trusted?

The first person Falcon approached was the human form of the Hulk, Dr. Bruce Banner, for a very simple reason: a single transformation would prove he was still himself. The reason the authenticity of the Hulk wasn't doubted was that if the enemy could mass-produce Hulks capable of passing for the real deal, there would be no need to fight this battle in such a roundabout way—dozens of Hulks operating at full, uncompromised strength would be enough to form a steamroller and massacre everything in their path.

Next, Dr. Banner vetted the companions he was familiar with, and those companions went on to vet the companions of their companions... Expanding the circle of allies step by step until every single superhero except Captain America had met up in secret. Putting their heads together, they realized: well, what do you know, the only one who got caught was the Captain himself!

At that point, things became much simpler. "Who is the Mole" turned into a large-scale team-building activity centered around watching the mole. Originally, they had planned to hold off on their next strategy for a while to avoid startling the snake and driving the enemy back into their lair where they would never show their faces again. They had simply not expected a dog-pulled sled to drop out of the sky and send the imposter straight to face the Almighty Himself!!

Oh, wait, judging by the perpetrator dog's words, this matter should fall under Satan's jurisdiction...

The question was, for the next step, should they summon the mole back from Satan, or use a parallel universe counterpart to verify his identity? Mention of counterparts caused certain people to inevitably glance at Spider-Man. Spider-Man leaned against the wall, staring up at the ceiling and down at the floor, refusing to meet their eyes: the one who made a fool of himself in Gotham last city was Miles Morales, what did that have to do with Peter Parker?

Finally, the non-human entity known as the 'Lord of Blazing Lamps'—who appeared stern and unsmiling, having delegated all diplomatic tasks to a dog—slowly spoke, "Since you can't make up your minds, let's try all of them."

As he spoke, his adopted daughter, who had joined the Yellow Lantern Corps, sat obediently nearby, looking no different from any ordinary little girl.

Spider-Man, who had remained uninvolved in the conversation, kept half his attention on Ophelia, unable to help recalling the sentence she had nearly blurted out: 'I am not a member of the Sinestro Corps, but an Espo...'

Even though she hadn't finished, Peter Parker could guess the second half of her sentence was 'Esposito Corps.' To be honest, he had never imagined that an armed military force running amok in the universe would actually have a branch on Earth. Such a monumental affair could not possibly be unknown to the legendary leader of that corps, Sinestro.

If Sinestro knew and yet had no good solution, leaving him no choice but to let it be, it meant that Eltia—or at least the Lord of Blazing Lamps attached to him—possessed unfathomable strength, to the extent that even Sinestro was unwilling to pick a fight. And if he knew and deliberately allowed it, that was even stranger—under what circumstances would a terrifying dictator and iron-fisted warlord share power with others?

Perhaps both factors were at play: Sinestro felt that going to war with Eltia (the Lord of Blazing Lamps) was not worth the cost, while also being personally disinclined to take action due to emotional ties.

Hiss. Spider-Man fell into such deep contemplation that his companions had to call his name several times before he snapped back to reality.

Not far away, Eltia pulled Ophelia over to the clone's corpse, asking her to try using her superpower. Sometimes, blind restraint not only fails to help master a skill, but instead leads to being bound hand and foot; only through proper practice in appropriate settings could one gain better control over their power.

Moreover, with the Yellow Lantern ring and Batman's spell, Ophelia did not need to worry about losing control as she had the previous time.

Under Eltia's silent encouragement, she reached out and pressed her hand against the back of the clone's hand. Everyone present instantly felt a wave of invisible energy ripple outward from Ophelia as the center, spreading across the surroundings.

If Miles had also been here, he would have discovered that Ophelia's power was much stronger than last time. Even though she still harbored psychological resistance toward using this superpower, wielding the power in her hands had already become as simple as eating and drinking.

This rate of growth was utterly astonishing. Ophelia was not even an adult yet; in a few more years, even without relying on the Yellow Lantern ring, she would become one of the most powerful living beings in the universe.

However, no one currently had the luxury of paying attention to her potential; everyone's attention was captured by the 'shadow' emerging from the clone's body. That shadow hovered above the clone like a double exposure, faintly bearing the likeness of Captain America. Yet before it could grow clear and solid, the shadow suddenly vanished with a snap, leaving not a trace behind.

Someone immediately asked Ophelia with heightened vigilance, "Do you want to sneeze?"

The flickering Yellow Lantern ring had left a deep impression on them, and they were terrified she would drop offline again due to a cold.

"...No." Ophelia furrowed her brow tightly and looked at Eltia, "Father, I cannot summon his counterpart, because there is currently no soul residing within this body."

So that was it. This was also one of the outcomes Eltia had anticipated: Ophelia could only summon counterparts of sentient beings possessing souls, and was powerless against lifeless, empty shells. Under these circumstances, they had no choice but to implement Plan B. Eltia patted Bob's backside and instructed it using the Language of the Book of Destiny:

"What about Number Three? Bring him out."

"I don't like that language," an Avenger muttered softly. "I'll never get used to hearing it, no matter how many times. It feels like my mom waking me up when I was a kid, utterly terrifying."

The others who didn't have moms: ...

Sorry, can't relate.

Yet the Language of the Book of Destiny was indeed like a basin of cold water splashed over them, heightening everyone's alertness. Bob the Bernese Mountain Dog let out a couple of grunts, trotted over, and rubbed the yellow marking on the left side of its head against the surface of the clone's body.

'That's all it takes...? So simple?'

Before anyone could react, the clone's chest heaved. This scene sparked another minor commotion, as none of them had ever heard of resurrection being such an effortless affair!

And that wasn't the end of it. Eltia signaled for Ophelia to try again. Thus, before the clone could even regain consciousness, Ophelia took a deep breath and activated her superpower once more. A phantom emerged above the clone, gradually solidifying. It was vastly different from the previous attempt; it was no longer the appearance of Captain America, but rather someone they found both vaguely familiar and yet somewhat unfamiliar...!

It was an ugly creature bearing a green skull!

Bearing a green skull... let's call him the Green Skull for now. The moment he opened his eyes, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "What are you people trying to do to me, Lex Luthor?!"

Damn!

Everyone who recognized both Luthor and the Red Skull was utterly dumbfounded. They stared blankly at the Green Skull's visage, wondering whether or not they should remark that even in a parallel universe, Luthor remained bald despite turning into this state. However, one person present was not overly surprised—Eltia wasn't familiar with either the Red Skull or Luthor, and remained thoroughly calm at the moment.

Still, he had no desire to let someone from a parallel universe stir up trouble, so he had prepared countermeasures from the very beginning. Seeing this, he immediately spoke in the Language of the Book of Destiny: "Look at me, obey my command."

The parallel universe's Luthor... the Green Skull reacted with extreme violence. His whole body jerked and shook violently, rolling and struggling on the ground, shrieking as he resisted for a long time, even showing signs of regaining consciousness. Seeing this, Eltia added another phrase: "You shall submit to me."

The shouting and cursing gradually ceased, and the Green Skull's gaze grew dull and motionless.

As expected of unreasonable magic users. The superheroes exchanged glances and said, "Help us ask him who he actually is, thanks."

Eltia straightforwardly switched to English and asked the Green Skull, "Your name?"

"Lex Luthor."

"..."

It was obvious that lying was impossible in this state, but how on earth could it be Luthor?! They had never heard of Luthor coveting Captain America's body!

Even Eltia found it somewhat strange. Noting the Green Skull's attire, which differed slightly from that of modern people, he asked further, "What year do you live in? Introduce yourself."

"1938," the Green Skull replied to every question. "I am Lex Luthor, living in Metropolis. Many years ago, an alien spaceship crash-landed on Earth. I extracted a green serum from the cargo it carried and injected it into myself. It granted me immense power and a prolonged lifespan, but it turned me into this creature."