"According to the timeline… Ultron should be next. Do I want to seal part of my strength?"
After Fury left, Malrick returned to his room. He sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought, his sharp gaze unfocused as he wrestled with the weight of his decision.
Something had been gnawing at him for a while. Ever since gaining Saitama's overwhelming abilities, his progress had stalled. No matter how he pushed, he couldn't advance further. He had hit a bottleneck, and that realization frustrated him.
He analyzed himself carefully. The truth was unsettling: his power had already reached the brink of what Marvel's strongest called Skyfather-level—the same realm as Odin and Zeus. Yet, he couldn't step beyond it.
"If I want to break through this limit," Malrick thought, "I need to understand the very nature of this world."
The rules of transcending Skyfather-level strength were clear. It wasn't just about raw power—it required enlightenment, mastery, and sacrifice. He could feel unimaginable energy coiled inside him, but it was like a locked vault. Every attempt to draw on it demanded a price too high to pay. Unless he found a way to evolve beyond his current state, he would remain stuck.
That was why he considered sealing his strength.
Only by deliberately suppressing himself could he reintroduce danger, force a true sense of crisis, and maybe, just maybe, reach the breakthrough he craved. And with the looming threat of Ultron, the "age of machines," there would be plenty of challenges waiting. In that mechanical era, power often came down to control at the smallest scale—molecules, particles, even atoms. If he could master that, he might finally ascend.
"Yes," Malrick murmured to himself, "I can do it… but only after I finish a few things first."
His eyes hardened. Before he could seal his power, he needed to eliminate certain enemies. If he left them alive, they would inevitably hunt him while he was weakened, and he wouldn't be able to fight back.
That meant killing the ones who posed the greatest threat—those like the Wolf God and the Dragon Man. They were strong enough to exploit his sealed state, and leaving them alive would be reckless.
"Once they're gone, I can focus completely," he resolved.
The idea of sealing away all his abilities, even to the brink of death, was terrifying. But it was the only way to strip away his safety net. If he could face mortality without relying on his strength, then—and only then—could he evolve.
He leaned back slightly, his eyes drifting toward the television in the corner of the room. A broadcast of a Go match flickered across the screen, the black and white stones locked in an intricate battle. Each move was calculated, each sacrifice shaping the bigger picture.
"Looks like it's time to play a game of chess," Malrick muttered, a wry smile tugging at his lips.
As the thought settled, his figure slowly faded from the room.
Another move was about to be made on the board of destiny.