Marvel : Super Soldier at the Start

What exactly just happened?

Blake had brought Gamora over just to take a look, nothing more. Somehow, in the blink of an eye, while he hadn't even gone up the mountain with her, the Soul Stone had already been acquired. 

He wasn't sure what Gamora had witnessed, but she stood there, stunned and silent, unable to utter a full sentence for quite some time. 

Growing anxious, flames burst forth from Blake's palms and soles as he launched himself up to the mountain's peak with a roar. 

The summit was eerily quiet. There were no energy fluctuations, nor any trace of the Red Skull. 

"Huh? Where is everyone?" 

Blake circled the mountaintop, but there wasn't the slightest sign of anyone. 

However, at the edge of a cliff, he noticed traces suggesting someone had fallen. 

Following the cliff downward, he eventually discovered the Red Skull's corpse. Oddly, perhaps due to some sacrificial ritual, the entire body was already beginning to fade, gradually turning translucent and illusory before his eyes. 

If Blake had arrived a little later, there might have been nothing left but a tattered, gray cloak. 

On the ground lay a massive altar carved with unknown runes, radiating a chilling power. It felt like an invisible, shapeless beast, slowly devouring the Red Skull's body and soul until nothing remained. 

The soul and spiritual realms weren't areas Blake had delved into yet. He could only sense the lingering energy before swiftly taking off into the sky, leaving the place behind. 

It wasn't until they returned that Gamora finally spoke, albeit slowly. 

"What I saw… it was real, wasn't it? He pushed me off that place, obtained the Soul Stone, and used Nebula to threaten me into bringing him to Vormir. Everything you said was true." 

"Did you cast some kind of spell?" 

Gamora's voice grew sharper as she spoke, her expression darkening with a rising intent to kill Blake. 

"Sigh…" 

Blake let out a long sigh. 

"You need to learn to face reality. I don't have the power to make the Soul Stone cooperate with me to stage such a dramatic scene. If this were all just an illusion, I wouldn't have bothered explaining anything earlier—I'd have just let you see for yourself. Honestly, even I didn't expect you to end up acquiring the Soul Stone on your own." 

Spreading his hands helplessly, Blake could tell that Gamora was struggling to accept the truth. 

When it was just Blake explaining things, Gamora could chalk it up to him lying to her. But the vision shown by the Soul Stone itself? That, she had no choice but to believe. 

"So, are you ready to tell me what actually happened up there?" 

After a brief pause, Blake gave Gamora some time to calm her thoughts before asking. 

"When I got to the top of the mountain…" 

Gamora began recounting her experience. 

Once she reached the summit, the guardian of the Stone—the Red Skull—appeared. He accurately named her father, a name so buried in the recesses of Gamora's mind that even she had trouble recalling it clearly. 

The Red Skull then explained the rules for obtaining the Soul Stone: a soul for a soul. 

To acquire the Soul Stone, she needed to bring someone she truly loved and sacrifice them. There was no other way. 

To this, Gamora coolly replied that she had merely come to see her final resting place and had no intention of taking the Soul Stone. 

Unexpectedly, her words caused the Red Skull's expression to shift dramatically. 

It turned out that the Red Skull had three ways to leave Vormir: 

The first was to serve as the guardian of the Stone for a thousand years, at which point he could gain freedom. The previous guardian had followed this path. 

The Red Skull had been chosen for this role when the Space Stone unexpectedly transported him there. 

The second method was for someone to forcibly take the Soul Stone by sheer power—a nearly impossible feat. 

The third method was to encounter someone destined to be sacrificed to the Soul Stone. In that case, the Red Skull could push them off the altar and replace himself with the new Soul Stone guardian. 

So when Gamora uttered those fateful words, the Red Skull's expression abruptly shifted, and he became inexplicably excited. 

Perhaps due to learning Gamora's identity, he gained new permissions. Following this, the Red Skull revealed his entire life to Gamora. 

From his birth to the moment Thanos pushed him off the altar, Gamora saw it all play out like a movie in her mind. 

While she was immersed in these visions, the Red Skull attempted a sneak attack. He tried to push her off the cliff from behind. 

At that exact moment, Gamora was seeing the scene of Thanos pushing her younger self off the cliff. Hearing about it was one thing; seeing it unfold before her eyes was entirely different. 

The sense of immersion was overwhelming. Watching herself fall, Gamora instinctively stepped forward and shouted, "No!" 

That one step, however, caused her to narrowly dodge the Red Skull's full-force shove. Instead of pushing Gamora, he lost his balance and fell into the abyss himself. 

Of course, all of this was revealed to Gamora only after the Red Skull had fallen to his doom, and she unexpectedly acquired the Soul Stone. In the soul realm, she learned the truth. 

"I saw my soul there—my younger self. She told me about the rules of the soul guardian. In another universe, I was pushed down and became one of the souls within the Soul Stone." 

Gamora spoke in an indifferent tone. 

Seeing her soul from another universe? 

Blake couldn't help but think of what he had read in his past life: when Tony Stark snapped his fingers and died, he reportedly met his grown-up daughter in the so-called soul realm. 

It seemed the Soul Stone not only allowed communication with souls but possibly connected the Soul Stones across all universes. 

However, this was just Blake's theory. He wouldn't know for sure until he had fully mastered all six Infinity Stones. 

Regardless, this trip had yielded quite the harvest. The ill-fated Red Skull's failed sneak attack had cost him everything, while Blake gained the Soul Stone without breaking a sweat. 

Though the Stone wasn't of immediate use, all six Infinity Stones were now within his grasp. Once Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver emerged, Blake planned to absorb the Mind Stone directly. As for Vision… Blake had his eyes on Scarlet Witch for a long time anyway. J.A.R.V.I.S., on the other hand, seemed more innocent and lovable. 

Then there was Gamora. After taking a long time to process everything, she had tentatively agreed to Blake's invitation. She decided to stay and help him take control of the entire Tivan Group. 

"I know you see Nebula as your sister. If the opportunity arises, you can bring her here. If Thanos finds you both, I'll protect you," Blake promised Gamora earnestly. After all, she had helped him obtain one of the Infinity Stones. 

Meanwhile, Drax was still imprisoned on Xandar. Blake had no particular interest in him. Star-Lord, however, had unexpectedly insisted on staying by Gamora's side. 

As for Star-Lord, Blake didn't hate him, nor did he particularly like him. 

From a viewer's perspective, though, Star-Lord's actions in Infinity War had made everyone grind their teeth in frustration. 

Having obtained two Infinity Stones during this trip, Blake knew Ronan was scouring the universe for one of them. Yondu still had a bounty on Star-Lord posted online. Blake decided it was time to find a suitable place to settle all of this once and for all.

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