"Who are you?" Arishem asked, no, he asked in an aggressive tone. Ian narrowed his eyes as soon as he saw him in person.
"As I said, I am Sorcerer Supreme, Guardians of Earth."
"Guardians? Who gave you the power?" Arishem has lived for trillions of years, so the identity of Guardians on a mere planet cannot stop him or his actions. However, he also wants to know if there is someone behind this man who dares to be so bold.
"Who gave the power? This," Ian replied, then pointed his finger to the northwest.
A beam of light rushed towards a distant and desolate galaxy, erasing it instantly. Then he hit the Snap and reconstructed it atom by atom. Arishem's cosmic senses allowed him to experience the entire process.
"I believe you are willing to talk now," Ian muttered.
"What do you want?"
"You should recognize that thing, right?" Ian pointed at the magic circle not far away and said.
"Human, what have you done?" Arishem immediately noticed one of his kind.
"Calm down. He's still alive and can hatch normally."
"What do you want?"
"That's right, we can talk now," Ian sneered. "I only want one thing: all your knowledge about Cosmic Energy - including how to build World Forge. In return, I will give you this egg and help you hatch it."
"Can you do it?"
"How about I demonstrate it to you?" Ian pointed at his magic circle, which began to absorb a strange energy similar to belief.
Celestials requires energy from intelligent life, but this is not a belief because no humans know of their existence or worship them. Due to the similarity between the two, Ian did not spend much time analyzing and copying that energy.
Arishem felt the rapid birth of the same kind, which proved that the human being was telling the truth. A few minutes later, the communicator Tiamut was born.
"Now, it's your turn."
Arishem glanced at the magic circle, and after thinking briefly, he raised his huge palm to condense a piece of Crystal.
'Morgana,' Ian called.
'Leave it to me,' House-elf replied quickly. 'No problem.'
"It's a pleasure to cooperate with you," Ian announced, removing the magic circle, revealing the complete form of Tiamut.
"Thank you, human, for your help," Tiamut said after the birth.
"This is just a transaction," Ian nodded calmly. "Here, you can take your people away." He moved Eternals in front of him.
"No need," Arishem said. "They can stay on Earth as diplomats to facilitate communication between us."
"Communication? You want to make another deal with me?"
"We are not cruel," Tiamut declared. "If there is a way for our kind to be born without affecting the planet, we don't mind using this method."
"Well, that's a good idea. I can even build a machine that can do what I just did," Ian replied. "However, I believe in Equivalent Exchange's creed. If you need my help, you must pay for something of value."
"We will communicate with others of our kind before making a decision," Arishem said. "So, get ready for our next meeting." The two opened a Black Hole teleport and left.
'Celestials is born with the strength of Tier 6, and can grow to level 9 - some like Arishem can even reach Tier 10, so they will make excellent allies,' Morgana commented. 'But are you sure you want to do this? I know you noticed that from him.'
'The power of the law/Authority,' Ian murmured to himself. Arishem is the first existence in this universe to possess [Authority], because even Bast whose body is wrapped by Faith Power does not have Authority. In addition, Arishem does not believe in God, his Authority is completely driven by Cosmic Energy.
'The origins and purpose of Celestials are unclear, but for now, we can classify them as allies.' He teleported everyone back to Earth.
"Okay, you heard what the guy said," Ian said, handing Celestial Communication Sphere back to Ajak.
"Who can explain what happened?" Sprite asked. Ian glanced at Ajak, she sighed deeply, and then explained their true mission and Emergence.
"No way," Sprite muttered to himself.
"You mean we have been raising humans in captivity like pigs, waiting to be slaughtered?" Sersi asked.
"It's not that simple," Ajak replied.
"But that's the truth, isn't it?" Druig sneered. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I believe she has her reasons," Ikaris interjected.
"Of course you will protect her."
"What does that mean?" Ikaris asked with a frown.
"What else are you hiding?" Phastos asked, trying to stop the quarrel between the two people.
"I'm not hiding anything else," Ajak replied.
"She is lying," Ian said. "She didn't tell you about the memory, nor did she tell you Thena's 'Eternal Curse'." Ajak was so angry that she wanted to curse. She didn't expect that he would know so much.
"Ajak?" Sersi asked. Ajak groaned, and then told the whole truth, mainly about how this was not their first mission. Everyone fell silent, trying to digest the information. For a while, many people didn't know what to do.
"Can you cure her?" Gilgamesh suddenly asked, looking straight at Ian.
"You mean Thena?"
"Yes."
"Of course, but why should I do it?"
"If you can cure her, I will always owe you a favor," Gilgamesh bowed.
"There is no need to go to this point for me," Thena said.
"No, it's worth it."
"You have always been my favorite," Ian said. "Very well, I will help you, but remember your words."
"I will."
Ian walked up to Thena and raised his hands above her head. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Erase the memory of your previous missions. The reason why you are in pain is because there was something wrong with the previous erasing process."
"Can't you just let me restore my memories instead of erasing them?"
"If I can get into where Arishem stores them, I can. Since I can't, this is the best solution." Ian wasn't telling the truth, because he could actually help her rebuild her memory. But erasing them is faster and safer.
"I understand." Ian put his hand on her head and erased the remaining memory. He made sure that he did it thoroughly, not as sloppily as Arishem.
"Okay, nice to meet you all." Ian opened a portal and prepared to go home.
"Wait," Ajak shouted. "I have to go with you."
"Why?"
"Arishem said that we will be the communication bridge between the two of you, so I think it's best for me to stay by your side."
"Well, you make sense. Well, you can come with me."
"What do we do?" Sersi asked. "Shouldn't we know how to contact you?"
"I live in Kamar-Taj in Nepal. If you want to come, you can visit at any time." The portal closed and the two disappeared. Everyone in Eternals looked at each other, and then walked away to welcome the reunion after thousands of years.
Ian found a room for Ajak. "I guess you don't care about living a modern lifestyle, right?"
"As long as I have a roof over my head, I'll be fine."
"That's good. If you need anything, you can ask any mage."
Ian returned to his magic tower and started his work. "Morgana, how's it going?"
"The information we received is sufficient to advance our understanding and application of Cosmic Energy to Tier 10."
"This is good news," Ian nodded. "Transmit all the information and your analysis into my mind."
"No problem, sir."
Within minutes, Ian absorbed Celestials's billions of years of research on Cosmic Energy.
"Have you found a way to build World Forge?" he asked as he absorbed the knowledge.
"This is the blueprint, I've optimized it."
Ian nodded, not surprised. The forge clearly had many flaws. For example, Arishem created Deviants to help hatch Celestial Seed, but Deviants evolved beyond his control and sparked a rebellion.
He made Eternals into synthetic life forms and inhibited their Self ability to improve and evolve, but Sersi still managed to evolve in the movie. Ian would never use something with so many flaws.
Ian found that Morgana's blueprint still had some small areas that could be further upgraded. After he modified it, they immediately started building the forge.
"Being able to make Eternals will be very useful against Fusion," Ian nodded. In addition to the Nova Empire, they have another way to make backbone troops.