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*****
In the floating city of the Academy of Superpowers, George's thought projection had only just returned when a Time Door suddenly appeared before him.
The visitor was none other than Falk, the Time Variance Authority's overseer of this sector—an elderly man nearing sixty.
"Mr. George," Falk said with a genial smile, "we've spoken about this before. You cannot freely travel across the multiverse at will—it will cause chaos."
But his words carried no trace of blame, nor did he seem ready to arrest George. Instead, Falk's expression was warm and accommodating, his tone even respectful.
And how could it not be? George's strength was already nearing that of the dreaded dimensional demon gods. Even if the TVA wanted to use force, they would hardly succeed.
After all, they couldn't just prune an entire universe simply because of one man.
More importantly, even if they attempted to prune this universe under their new laws, George had more than enough power to escape the reset.
So, in cases like this, the TVA usually chose appeasement—explaining consequences and seeking cooperation—rather than confrontation.
Still, if George decided to oppose them openly and wreak havoc across universes, the TVA was far from helpless. They possessed weapons capable of harming even dimensional demon gods.
"Ah, Falk, my old friend! Come, sit down for some tea. We can talk things over slowly."
Since Falk came with courtesy, George naturally reciprocated with the same. He warmly guided Falk to a seat and, with a wave of his hand, conjured steaming cups of tea.
"To tell the truth," George sighed as he lifted his cup, "I had my reasons."
Falk cooperated, nodding politely as he asked, "And what reasons would those be?"
"You remember those people from the Void Realm? I returned them all to their respective universes," George began to explain.
Falk nodded again. "Yes, I'm aware. That was sanctioned by the higher-ups. After all, those individuals were originally pruned before the new laws came into effect. Nowadays, we don't perform random prunings.
Even if you hadn't returned them, we would have eventually sent them back."
"There was one exception," George continued, his tone heavy with emotion. "The universe I just visited.
I found that universe to be almost identical to ours—like a twin.
And when I thought about how its future might end up just as tragic as ours, I couldn't resist intervening.
Ah, sometimes I'm simply too kind-hearted. I couldn't control myself.
But rest assured, Falk—this was a one-time act. I won't do it again."
"Of course, Mr. George," Falk replied with a slight twitch of his mouth that quickly smoothed into a smile. "I believe you completely. I only came because my superiors ordered me—it's just routine. I hope you don't take offense.
Since you've promised, I'll report back immediately and put their worries at ease."
Falk didn't believe a single word of George's excuse. But that hardly mattered. George hadn't caused any destruction in that universe, nor had he killed anyone.
Even Apocalypse had died only because of his attempt to seize a body—and he had already been doomed.
As long as George promised not to repeat such actions, Falk's mission was complete.
"Then I'll trouble you no further," George said with a smile, patting Falk's shoulder as he rose. "If you ever encounter something troublesome within your jurisdiction, don't hesitate to call on me."
Given the way out, Falk gladly took it. Both men were clever, and when clever men spoke, problems were easily resolved.
The real difficulty only arose with stubborn fools who could not be reasoned with.
"Indeed, there are times when matters are very difficult to resolve," Falk admitted, his eyes brightening at George's offer. "If you are willing to lend your aid, that would be more than welcome."
This was an unexpected boon. His greatest hope today had been to smooth things over without escalating matters. Now, not only was the problem resolved exactly as planned, but he had also gained George's cooperation.
With George's power, any troublesome figure or crisis in this sector could be handled with ease.
That meant fewer headaches for him, less effort wasted, and fewer sleepless nights.
After chatting a while longer, Falk left the Academy in high spirits, returning to the TVA, while George too wore a satisfied smile.
Yes, helping the TVA with certain matters might cost him time he would otherwise spend researching magic.
But forging good relations with Falk meant many of his actions would be overlooked in the future, saving him no small amount of trouble.
For instance, his true body remained in the other universe.
The TVA might not yet have discovered it, but sooner or later they would.
Even if all he did there was quietly absorb the Phoenix Force and the Chaos Magic, those actions would still ripple outward, gradually triggering anomalies that the TVA's monitoring systems would detect.
Eventually, frame by frame, they would scour the timeline and uncover traces of his interference.
But now that he had Falk on his side, if Falk uncovered evidence centuries down the line, he could choose to bury it.
As long as George didn't cause too much chaos, it would not be a problem.
And assisting Falk with troublesome figures across the multiverse wasn't a bad deal either.
It might cost George some time, but it also gave him access to more Marvel universe coordinates, and along the way, he could always reap additional benefits.
Meanwhile, in another universe—Egypt, Cairo.
After the battle ended, the group escorted Apocalypse's three horsemen back to the school aboard their supersonic jet.
During the journey, the newly hired teacher, George, naturally struck up a conversation with Professor X.
Since George had never shown his real appearance when confronting Magneto and Professor X earlier, no one realized he was the very same mutant from another universe who had just slain Apocalypse.
To them, he was simply George, the new teacher.
"Hello, George," Professor X said warmly, extending his hand. "Welcome to our school. And thank you for your help."
Now free from his wheelchair, the professor discreetly probed into George's mind.
Though he would never casually invade another's memories or violate privacy, he often used subtle telepathic touches to gather basic information—such as a person's name, age, and whether they harbored ill intent toward the school.
This was his safeguard against allowing unstable minds to become teachers and corrupt his students.
Yet the moment his telepathic probe brushed against George, it was blocked—by another telepathic force.
"You also possess psychic abilities?"
Professor X's face lit with surprise.
George smiled faintly. "That's right. As I said earlier, I have many powers—of all kinds, including telepathy.
But I can only read thoughts. I could never hope to match the professor's strength."
(End of Chapter)