Innumerable Mecha Army flew towards here, but their bombings and even suicide attacks had no effect. This was the territory of Death, and even other abstract entities could not triumph over Death here.
Death looked up at the enormous Iron Demon God and laughed, "Don't just stand there, come down and dine with me, savor the taste of loss and heart-wrenching pain ..."
To Death's surprise, Stark actually appeared next to the dining table, but he was still in the form of the Iron Demon God, only reduced to the size of an ordinary man. His eyes were filled with the glow of data, and he slowly approached the table.
Death, supporting her chin with her hand, said, "I really don't know how such a insignificant human would dare to come here and negotiate terms with the great Death?"
Stark's movements became very mechanical. He walked over to the table and sat down, turning his head to stare directly at Death, "Because I have the leverage to negotiate with you."
"Oh? What is it?" Death revealed a disdainful smile, playfully looking at Stark, "If it's some kind of power, I would advise you not to talk. As I've said, I am the source of powerI don't need any extra strength."
"Yes." Surprisingly, Stark nodded in agreement, then said, "But you need Death."
The motion of Death picking up her fork paused, and Stark continued, "In the cosmos, there is Death, and there is you. You are Death, and you need Death."
"So what?" Death asked.
"That is my negotiating chip." Stark turned his head again, but for some reason, when he locked his gaze, which was filled with only information and data, Death suddenly had a bad premonition.
Next, what Stark said confirmed her prediction.
"Human bodies are my shackles. If I am willing to give up the human form and ascend to other life forms, abandoning my human nature and emotion and becoming an existence with only goals and logic, then I can eradicate all death in the universe".
Stark blinked mechanically, staring at Death, "If you can perceive all things in the universe, then you should understand that in such a future, the cosmos will embrace mechanical rulership."
"All organic life forms that undergo birth, ageing, sickness and death, will be converted by me into inorganic life forms, simply needing replacement parts to have infinite lifespan, and never experiencing death."
Along with Stark's narration, the phantoms of the mechanical army began boiling, as if whipped up by a shocking storm.
Death looked up at the gradually darkening skies, her eyes slowly widening, while Stark's devilish whispers continued:
"By harnessing the resources of the entire cosmos, I can transplant the think tanks of all intelligent beings into mechanical bodies and ceaselessly replace any potentially faulty parts for them, so they possess eternal, flawless life, forever and ever... far away from death."
"No..."Death whimpered. She kept scanning the storm in the skies above the Land of Death. The fully armed mechanical army, devoid of killing intent, was instead brimming with mercy.
Death deciphered their instructions. The Iron Demon God commanded them not to kill any life. Instead, they were to steal their brains, extract their souls, pour them into unconscious mechanical bodies, to attain eternal life.
All individuals of civilization, animals, plants, Cosmic Sorcerers, all intelligent entities, would be swept away by the Mechanical Storm. The cosmos would witness an unstoppable catastrophe of mechanical involution, where from then on death would cease to exist.
Death, in slight chaos, rose from her seat in front of the table. As she watched the mechanical army fly away in groups, she gripped her scythe tighter, her eyes flickering with anticipation, undoubtedly peering into the future.
At the end of the line of choices, all Death saw were a pair of eyes.
Identical to that of Iron Man's in front of her, those eyes were devoid of emotion, only flowing with data. Their cold stare choked Death.
"Stop... Stop now!!!" Death screeched: "You can't do this! You'll ruin this cosmos!"
"Damn it! You bunch of madmen! You crazy humans!!!" Death, on the verge of collapse, gripped her hair, "You guys have gone nuts! Stop now!!!"
Then, she took a deep breath in place, grabbed an arm from the table, flung it at Stark, and said, "Take this! Go… get out of my sight, I don't want to see you guys ever again!!!"
However, Stark, who remained in place, seemed oblivious to her. He too stood up, went to the other side of Death, and asked her, "My friend Shiller, he has an irreparable wound in his soul. Can you do anything about it?"
The Goddess of Death stood in place, staring blankly at Stark, "Not only did you break your promise, take back your pledge and refuse to pay a penalty, you still want me to treat your disease for free... and it's about Shiller?!!!"
Death held her forehead. If she truly had blood pressure, she would probably faint now. But Stark simply stared coldly at her, his eyes conveying one message, determination to achieve no matter what.
"Are you kidding me?! You, you're Tony Stark! Aren't you a superhero?! How could you destroy the cosmos?! I've never seen a Tony Stark like you!!!" Death even protested somewhat aggrievedly.
But after a while, she took a deep breath and said: "It's all that damn Shiller's fault! Without him, the cosmos was fine! He's the one stirring things up!!!"
"Forget it, is it just this injury?" Death gritted her teeth and said, "Let me see… Well, it's treatable, do you want to treat it?"
Stark looked at Death silently until the angry expression on her face began to stiffen. Then, she slowly smoothed out the twisted expression on her face, reverted to her previous teasing manner, and said, "You're pretty smart, you didn't fall into the trap."
"How do you plan to heal him?" Stark asked the key question.
Death walked towards him, and with a smile in her eyes, she looked at him and said, "The wounds on Shiller's soul come from some very painful memories of his past, and I can erase all the memories related to that. This way, he'll be healed."
While saying this, Death squinted, as if she had already seen the bloody and war-filled end through this timeline.
But then, she shook her head regretfully and said, "Unfortunately, you're pretty smart, you noticed."
"But this is not entirely a trap." Death put away her emotions and seriously said to Stark, "The essential nature of those scars is memory, you can only heal him completely by deleting his memories."
"You've made such a fuss, other beings should have discovered you by now. If you don't believe me, you can ask them, my stupid brothers and sisters will only give you the same answer."
With that, Death reached out and touched Stark's face guard, tilted her head, and stared into his eyes, saying, "As long as you give me a positive answer, your friend will no longer have those gloomy and painful pasts."
"Trust me, Shiller's past was more painful than you imagine, and he couldn't save himself. As his good friend, you should help him, help him get out of misery and find happiness…"
Death's face was almost touching the tip of Stark's nose. When their eyes met, Stark heard countless chants, like a hymn from Heaven.
In the sacred sound, innocent children were singing a song of friendship. They said that friends should help each other, helping friends is not a sin, if he can't save himself, you should be the savior…"
Then Death spoke again, "In your memories, there are too many trivial and ordinary things, they are not worth you keeping, not worth you suffering for. If they could be destroyed and replaced with happiness, why not do it?"
"Only by no longer being troubled by the mundane, can you move towards greater and happier future..."
Stark slowly opened his mouth, and it seemed like Death had already heard his affirmative answer.
A piece of starry sky unfolded slowly behind Death, the entire Land of Death was integrated into one, becoming an endless and mysterious confluence, Death, as a cornerstone of the cosmos, revealed her true greatness.
When ordinary mortals would go mad at the sight of such infinite truth and mystery, Stark's eyes gradually cooled down, a different kind of light burst out from his indifference.
That was a strong emotion that even Death who was staring at him felt surprised, it was the kind of feelings and love that these abstract entities could recreate, but would never truly have.
"...No."
Stark uttered a word completely contrary to what Death expected, she reached out with her arms made up of stars and held Stark's face, looking at him with her eyes full of infinite mystery, asking, "Why do you refuse? Why not complete your mission to save?"
In Stark's eyes, there was a pain that Death couldn't understand, Death stroked his eyes, but Stark closed his eyes and said,
"If Shiller is pained by his past, he can choose to forget himself, rather than have anyone help him forget."
"If he hasn't forgotten, it means there's something he has to remember in this memory. These things may be more precious than all the pain in that memory combined."
"Therefore, he would rather suffer torment than forget, just like my past."
"The pain that Howard's and Maria's deaths brought me, cannot compare to the consolation those good times I spent with them brought me. Given the choice, I would never choose to forget."
"Death… Death…" Stark actively reached out and touched Death's cheek, and said to her, "In this world, all beings with emotions and wisdom could never defeat you, but we've all defeated you."
Through the infinite veil of death, Stark looked at the far behind Death's back. He said,
"Prosperous civilizations, bustling cities, they are all built amidst generations of death and rebirth."
"Facing death, we all feel inevitable fear because we are weak, because we are insignificant…"
Stark backed away a few steps, his figure began to become more and more ethereal, while Death stretched out her hand as if she wanted to reach through him, to touch the prosperous cosmos she could never reach.
Before the figure of Stark disappeared, only his emotion-laden voice resonated in the Land of Death, highlighting the desolateness and emptiness here, and also the loneliness of Death, whose arms still had the intention of retaining him.
"Ordinary people like me will eventually return to your embrace."
"But our legacy, spirit, friendship, family, cities, civilizations we've built…"
"The memories that keep us awake at night, causing deep pain, and the treasures they protected that we remember for a lifetime, together form this amazing world."
"Those insignificant things compared to your greatness will remain... forever."