Dimensional Trader in Marvel

In a farmhouse in Western Australia, the remaining five Eternals—Gilgamesh, Thena, Sprite, Phastos, and Makkari—sat together, eating a meal in front of them. Even though the Eternals didn't have to eat, after thousands of years of living like humans, they had grown accustomed to the habit.

But the atmosphere around the table was heavy and dull, not befitting the bountiful meal before them.

After all, half of their companions had either disappeared or died. They had also learned from the Ancient One that they were nothing more than tools created by the Celestials. Gilgamesh, as their new leader, confirmed this. So it was hard for them to return to the happy days of the past.

"We can't just sit here. We have to do something!" Sprite, who always looked like a little girl, finally couldn't stand the silence any longer. She slammed her fork down on the table and looked at Gilgamesh.

The others stopped and put down their utensils. First they looked at Sprite, then at Gilgamesh.

Only Thena, who had become very withdrawn since the development of Mahd Wy'ry, continued to eat as if nothing had happened.

"...So what do you think we should do?" Gilgamesh asked, putting down his utensils with a helpless smile as he looked at the smallest member of the group.

"We should bring Ikaris back. We need him! That old witch has no right to imprison our teammate!" Sprite said, looking around at the others, clearly stating her goal.

The "old witch" was referring to the Ancient One, of course—but one had to wonder if she considered her own age before calling someone old. On the other hand, perhaps she had grown into that attitude because she had been a child for thousands of years.

At her words, Makkari frowned slightly, while Phastos rolled his eyes.

"Am I wrong?" Sprite said, annoyed. "Ikaris is the strongest of us. If he was with us, we could escape this awkward situation instead of hiding here every day doing nothing!"

Despite her words, no one reacted—only Gilgamesh smiled bitterly. The others didn't even change their expressions.

They were teammates, yes, but except for Thena, who had once liked Ikaris a little, none of them liked their proud comrade. Even Thena didn't care for him much anymore, especially after getting Mahd Wy'ry and growing closer to Gilgamesh.

The ones who really supported and cared for Ikaris—Ajak and Sersi—were dead, both killed by Ikaris himself. Kingo, another supporter, had long since disappeared.

In this situation, it was clear that no one would support Sprite's idea.

Besides, was it even possible to simply bring Ikaris back?

He also had Mahd Wy'ry. Even if the ship's memory wipe technology could "heal" him, who could say for sure that he wouldn't lose control again in the process?

And of those present, who could stop Ikaris if he went berserk again?

More importantly, who could get past the Ancient One to even try? Sprite's cheap illusions wouldn't do the trick.

No one was stupid. It was obvious that Sprite's idea was mostly driven by personal feelings.

The little one had secretly liked Ikaris for thousands of years—who didn't know that, except that fool Sersi?

"Sprite, I know what happened to Ikaris is hard for you to accept, but..." Gilgamesh started to comfort the smallest member of their team, but stopped halfway through his sentence.

Suddenly, Phastos, who was sitting across from him, became alarmed.

They all turned to look at him. Phastos was equally confused. With a wave of his hand, a device made of cosmic energy appeared in front of him. On its screen, six red dots were closing in on their small farmhouse.

"What are those?" the others asked, pointing at the red dots.

"Sh*t, that's my Deviant detection system..." Phastos muttered in disbelief.

In the original timeline, the Eternals were caught off guard by the Deviant's surprise attacks, largely because Phastos wasn't around. As their tech expert, he was the only one among them who could use instruments to track the Deviants.

That's why he was shocked. Over five hundred years ago, he had scanned the entire Earth and confirmed that all Deviants were extinct. So why did they show up now?

"What? But didn't we wipe out the Deviants five hundred years ago?" Sprite looked stunned, still trying to get over her feelings about Ikaris.

The others looked equally shocked.

"Real or not, they're clearly hostile. Stay inside!" Gilgamesh said firmly. While the others were still in shock, he took off his apron, nodded gently to Thena beside him, and walked out the door.

Makkari and Phastos quickly followed.

Sprite gave Thena—still calmly eating—a complicated look, then followed the others outside.

Back at the table, Thena smiled peacefully.

"They really are Deviants... be careful!" Gilgamesh said as soon as he stepped outside. At a glance, he saw six figures approaching quickly, and his expression turned serious.

Meanwhile, the Deviants got excited when they saw the Eternals. Although the less evolved beast-like Deviants didn't have full intelligence like the Eternals, they were still creations of the Celestials and carried cosmic energy. This made the Eternals their natural enemies—but also very tempting targets.

Their instincts told them that if they devoured the Eternals, they would evolve into something greater.

Driven by this deep genetic urge, the Deviants charged forward the moment they saw the Eternals.

But after thousands of years, Gilgamesh had seen this scene too many times.

He stepped forward, drew back his fist, and swung.

The first Deviant to rush in took a full blow to the head.

It spun 360 degrees in the air and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

As it tried to get up, Gilgamesh slammed it down again. Its head nearly caved in, and it could only twitch weakly on the ground.

Seeing one of their own brutally cut down in seconds, the remaining five Deviants slowed their charge. Cautious now, they began to circle Gilgamesh carefully.

"Just some low-level ones," Gilgamesh said with a smirk, looking down on the five Deviants circling him.

And he had every reason to feel confident.

The Deviants were many, but they were all in their early forms, without any evolved traits. They posed no real threat to Gilgamesh.

In the movie, even the Deviants' leader, Kro, who had evolved by absorbing Ajak's power, couldn't last long against him. Had the plot not forced him to protect a sick Thena, things would have turned out very differently.

Gilgamesh's only real problem was that he couldn't fly and wasn't very fast. So it was hard to hunt Deviants—he might catch one, but only if it couldn't fly or swim.

If the five Deviants decided to run away and keep their distance, even with his endless stamina, Gilgamesh would have a hard time taking them all down alone.

But he wasn't alone.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew past, and a dagger sliced across a deviant's body, severing several tendrils.

Another gust—this time a deep gash appeared across his waist.

Then another.

The wounded Deviant howled in pain, slashing wildly, but it couldn't even catch a glimpse of its attacker.

There was no doubt—it was Makkari, the speedster.

But while she was fast enough to land hits, Deviants, being Celestial creations, had incredible endurance. Hurting them was easy, but killing them outright, as Gilgamesh had done, was another story.

That's when a bright beam shot past Gilgamesh's shoulder and struck the wounded Deviant in the head, finishing it off.

That was Phastos—the tech genius of the team. He was officially a support member, but thanks to his gadgets, his fighting power was still impressive.

The only one who hadn't attacked yet was Sprite, who stood quietly at the door.

Her powers were illusion-based. She wasn't made for direct combat. This kind of battlefield wasn't her place. The best she could do was to stand back and provide support from a distance.

With two Deviants taken down so quickly, the remaining Deviants began to panic.

Then a strange thing happened—they began to retreat, splitting up and running in four different directions.

The Eternals were stunned.

It wasn't unusual for Deviants to retreat. Though they looked like beasts, they weren't completely brainless.

But such a well-organized escape—spread out like that—was something they had never seen before.

Something didn't feel right.

"Phastos, take care of the house. Makkari and I will go after them," Gilgamesh said. He didn't want to let any of them get away, especially when things felt wrong.

While Deviants, like the Eternals, couldn't reproduce—only ten Eternals could wipe them out—what they could do was evolve.

Any creature's genes could trigger Deviant evolution—not just the Eternals'.

Even though the growth might be slow, if a Deviant managed to devour enough Earth creatures and evolve—for example, gain wings or the ability to swim—without Ikaris, the Eternals would struggle to hunt them down again.

Phastos nodded without hesitation at Gilgamesh's instructions.

Thena, still struggling with Mahd Wy'ry, was far from stable. Sprite lacked combat strength. There was no way the remaining three could leave her unguarded.

Out of the team, Phastos—with moderate combat ability and extensive technological skills—was clearly the best fit for defense.

"Makkari, I'll go after him. You go after the other three and make sure they don't start hunting. Are you alright?" Gilgamesh said.

Makkari nodded, made a few quick gestures, and then disappeared in a gust of wind.

Seeing that, Gilgamesh locked onto his target and sprinted off after it with earth-shaking force.

…

"They've split up," Josh reported calmly, seated inside the hovering VTOL several dozen kilometers away from the Eternals' safe house. His gaze turned to Xu Wenwu, who sat quietly with his eyes closed.

"I understand. Leave Gilgamesh to me," Xu Wenwu opened his eyes and smiled faintly.

Just a few days earlier in Hong Kong, after a private meeting with the Sorcerer Supreme, Xu Wenwu had gone straight to Josh at the Peninsula Hotel and agreed to take on this assassination contract.

But even with the power of the Ten Rings, it wouldn't be easy to take out all five remaining Eternals.

That's where the Deviants came in—six of them, the same ones that appeared in the Eternals movie, including their leader, Kro. Josh had recently dug them out of the Alaskan ice. Still fresh. (TL/N: Bro's talking like they are vegetables)

Of course, since they hadn't devoured Ajak like in the movie, this Kro was no different from the others.

But Gilgamesh's raw power had left a deep impression on Xu Wenwu. In his centuries-long life, few could match him. Especially physical powerhouses like Gilgamesh—he had no love for technical fighters like the Ancient One.

So there was no question who he would go after first: the strongest Eternal and current team leader—Gilgamesh.

"I'll take care of Makkari. I have someone prepared to keep her busy," Josh added, not surprised by his choice.

"Good. That speedster is trouble," Xu Wenwu replied, not arguing. He was confident, but not arrogant. After what he'd learned from the Ancient One, he knew full well that facing Gilgamesh and Makkari together was a guaranteed loss.

With that, he rose and walked toward the exit of the plane.

"This time the Eternals... will be finished," Josh thought as he watched him leave.

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