The silver ripples stilled completely, and the last ring of waves dissolved into nothing.
As the final thread of liquid metal sank into the Void Fortress's hull, the entire warship gave a long, muffled hum.
It felt like a beast of the stars, asleep for billions of years, had finally awakened and drawn its first breath.
The sharp-edged metal structures were gone. In their place hung a vast, smoothly contoured vessel gleaming with cold silver light, as though cast from the chill glow of countless stars.
It floated silently in the void, its hull covered in biomaterial scales as thin as cicada wings and yet indestructible.
Beneath each scale, a dark glow flowed like something alive. Now and then, a wisp of black light escaped through a gap, only to be drawn back in at once—like a secret breath.
"It's done."
Zero's voice echoed through the control room, carrying the satisfaction of a creator.
It was no longer a cold electronic voice, but one with a strange metallic resonance, as though the ship truly had been given a soul.
Zero stood beside Chu Hang, its silver-and-black body almost merging with the deck beneath their feet.
It was the ship's soul. With a single thought, it could reach any corner of the vessel.
Tony Stark stared at the holographic model of the new warship, swallowed, and felt the corner of his eye twitch.
He thought he had seen everything, but the thing before him made his imagination seem painfully limited.
The data streaming across the screen made his scalp prickle—energy transmission efficiency had surged by four hundred percent, Spatial Jump cooldown had dropped from minutes to less than a second, and the defense system could even intercept sublight-speed attacks...
How the hell was this an upgrade?
They had torn up the