First Order for Defensive Counterattack: Forced Consolidation of the Highest Access Privileges
The air inside the main hall was even more solidified than the absolute void outside the Negative Zone.
The piercing alarm sounded like an invisible whip, repeatedly lashing the nerves of everyone present. On the holographic Star Map, the green dots representing the Hela Defense Line were being erased in large swaths by an unreasonable eraser.
That wasn't battle damage.
That's deletion.
Hela stood beneath the prince, her usual arrogance replaced by shock, anger, and a chilling coldness she herself refused to acknowledge. Her fearless Undead Legion were as fragile as paper before the enemy's brutal "cleaning operation."
This was the first time since she took charge of the Stability Maintenance Office that she had encountered such a complete and utter defeat.
Wanda's face turned deathly pale. She knew that the root of all this was her hasty attempt at success in the Chaos Furnace. A barely warm achievement had brought about a near-insurmountable disaster. The responsibility lay with her.
Jean Grey and Gwen Stacy Stacy stood on either side, their expressions equally grave. They could clearly sense that the boundaries of the Negative Zone were being "corrected" by a higher-level force, and the spatial structure itself was undergoing an irreversible collapse.
All eyes, whether anxious, fearful, or uneasy, ultimately converged on the same point.
Bone Throne
Lynn sat upright on it, one hand supporting her chin, her posture unchanged.
He didn't look at the horrific battle damage report, nor did he listen to the heart-wrenching alarms. His gaze was calmly lowered, as if examining a bone pattern on the armrest of the Throne.
This extreme silence contrasted sharply and suffocatingly with the escalating panic within the hall.
Time stretched out infinitely between the alarm sounds.
Finally, Lynn moved.
He didn't stand up, or even raise his eyes. He simply stretched out his other hand and gently tapped the air in front of him.
A Red-Headed Official Document appeared out of thin air.
At the top of the document, a line of cold, bold text instantly drew everyone's attention.
Order No. 1 on Activating the Highest-Level Defensive Counterattack Plan for Negative Zone.
Hela, Wanda, Jean, and Gwen Stacy's heartbeats all skipped a beat.
Lynn's finger slowly moved down the document and stopped at the main text.
"Given the current malicious attack by an unknown external force aimed at subverting the existing order, our Defense Line are on the verge of collapse, and the situation is extremely dire."
"In order to concentrate all resources to effectively respond to the crisis and ensure the absolute security of the Core Zone, the Highest Decision-Making Level -making level has decided to activate the No. 1 Defensive Counterattack Plan immediately."
Seeing this, the group breathed a slight sigh of relief. This was to be expected.
But Lynn's fingers didn't stop.
He continued downwards, clicking on the next clause. The content of that clause caused the pupils of all four women to contract sharply in unison.
"During the activation of the Contingency Plan, in order to achieve absolute unity of operational resources and action orders, and to avoid the drawbacks of multiple command centers and conflicting directives, the following requirements are hereby made:"
"I. Asgard Stability Affairs Office, Head Hela;"
"II. Technology and Order Integration Department, Head: Wanda Maximoff;"
"III. Global Mutants Affairs Management Committee, headed by Jean Grey;"
"IV. Cross-Dimensional and Special Threat Liaison Office, Head: Gwen Stacy Stacy;"
"The heads of the above-mentioned units must, within three minutes, submit the highest-level access keys for the core powers within their Highest Decision-Making Level jurisdictions, including but not limited to ' Death Force,' ' Chaos Magic,' ' Phoenix Force,' and ' Dimension Channels,' to the Highest Access Privileges body."
"All authority will be centrally controlled, allocated, and commanded by the Highest Decision-Making Level."
This is an order.
At the end of the document, Lynn's signature was prominently displayed. His signature was bold and unrestrained, carrying an absolute and unquestionable will.
Inside the main hall, you could hear a pin drop for a moment.
Even the piercing alarm seemed to be suppressed by the cold aura emanating from this order, becoming distant.
A calculated scheme.
This is a blatant, overt conspiracy.
Hela's nails dug deeply into her palms. She could easily see that Lynn was using the external crisis as a pretext to brazenly seize their core power. The so-called "Highest Access Privileges Key" was the foundation of their existence, the source and symbol of their respective factions' power.
Once you hand it over, it's like placing your lifeline entirely in Lynn's hands.
Wanda's lips trembled slightly. Her heart was filled with resentment and bitterness. She had messed things up, and now, the punishment had come. This order was less a means of dealing with the crisis and more a reckoning for all her previous schemes.
Jean and Gwen Stacy exchanged a glance, both seeing shock and helplessness in each other's eyes. One was a veteran contributor, the other a newly appointed leader, but in the face of this iron-fisted authoritarianism under the guise of resolving a crisis, any seniority or merit seemed pale and powerless.
reject?
Nobody dares.
The consequences of refusal are not simply disciplinary action. Judging from the severity of the wording in the document, refusal is tantamount to betrayal. With the entire Negative Zone facing "deletion," any act that obstructs "unified command" will be considered the highest level of dereliction of duty.
More importantly, they all knew that if they didn't relinquish their authority and instead fought their own battles, their Defense Line would be broken down one by one, and the entire Negative Zone, along with themselves, would be completely destroyed.
Lynn knew they had no choice.
He didn't even bother to utter a single word; he simply suppressed a potential internal power struggle with a cold, formal document, leaving it completely silent.
This is the true art of imperial strategy.
Faced with an absolute crisis, the most "rule-compliant" procedures were used to complete the most unreasonable centralization of power.
Three minutes passed, second by second.
On the holographic Star Map, the gaps in the Defense Line are widening.
Hela was the first to act. She took a deep breath, suppressing all the resentment and anger in her heart, and slowly raised her hand. A highly concentrated mass of pitch-black energy, seemingly containing the wails of countless dead souls, condensed in her palm into an ancient Runes key.
She knelt on one knee and held the key high.
"Asgard Stability Office, obeying Order No. 1."
Her voice was dry, yet clear.
Once there's a first one, there's bound to be a second.
Wanda closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, only a resigned calm remained. A wisp of Scarlet Chaos Energy emanated from her fingertips, weaving into a complex key that constantly changed shape, seemingly composed of countless codes.
"Technology Integration Department, obey orders."
Jean and Gwen Stacy handed over their access keys one after the other: one was Phoenix Totem burning with Dark Golden Flames, and the other was Spatial Beacon entangled in spiderweb-like fissures.
Four access keys, representing the highest combat power of this emerging force, floated silently in mid-air, exuding distinctly different terrifying auras.
Lynn then raised his eyelids, his calm gaze sweeping over the four people kneeling before the prince.
His finger lightly traced the document, and the "First Order" transformed into a streak of light, disappearing into the void.
Then, he reached out and grasped the four keys in mid-air.
There was no earth-shattering energy burst, nor any dazzling special effects.
The four keys in his palm, like metal thrown into a furnace, silently decomposed, merged, and recombined. The Ending of death, the distortion of Chaos, the creation of the Phoenix, and the leap of Dimension —four forces that were originally distinct and even conflicting—were forcibly blended into a completely new and unprecedented whole under Lynn's will.
An extremely complex and extremely precise closed-loop system.
Lynn released his grip.
A brand-new, Dark Gold core, with Scarlet Code and black Runes flowing inside and spiderweb-like fissures covering its outer layer, floated silently before him.
He snapped his fingers.
The core vanished instantly.
The next second, on the constantly collapsing boundary of the Negative Zone, a massive wall of light, composed of countless Runes, code, flames, and spatial rifts, rose from the ground, stretching across the entire Defense Line.
It acts like a magnificent dam, firmly blocking TVA's invincible "Pruning" offensive.
"Dimension Firewall, version 1.0, deployed successfully."
Lynn's voice rang out in the hall for the first time, as calm as if he were reading a technical test report.
The moment the firewall was completed, the TVA Adjudicators's terrifying "Time Pruning Device" adjusted its angle again and aimed at the new barrier.
A fan-shaped ripple, more solid and wider than ever before, swept out silently.
It crashed into the firewall.