『 Thanos did everything for the balance of this universe—
The universe is constant. Under the effect of entropy, the universe will only continuously march toward its demise, and the life within it is merely an accelerator for that demise.
Therefore, Thanos believed he needed to step up!
For the sake of this universe, he would destroy half of all life to bring balance to the universe!
Afterward, Thanos even walked away, hiding his achievements and fame!
If the Avengers hadn't come for him, Thanos would have taken this secret to his grave! 』
『 .....』
〜Myriad Worlds livestream Chat〜
[ Deadpool (Earth-10005): "Oh my savior! Hey, hey, purple potato head, tell me the truth, is the real reason you did this really not to please Lady Death?" ]
[ Hajun (Shinza Bansho): "What an utterly hopeless fool. If you want to destroy, then destroy everything other than yourself. What's the point of leaving half behind?!" ]
[ Kazuma Satou (KonoSuba): "This kind of thing… is too unreasonable, right? Just looking at my past life, once a massive population extinction occurs, wouldn't the very first policy be to make more babies aggressively? And with productivity dropping, wouldn't the lower class be exploited even harder?" ]
[ Fang Yuan (Reverend Insanity): "It's not about wiping out all races, but randomly wiping out half of all life. How is that balance, and where is the balance? It's simply laughable." ]
[ Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica): "Exactly. Doing this not only easily triggers a massive rebound but also makes the remaining existences frantically consume resources. The outcome would only prolong the universe's life for an extremely brief moment. The correct way should be to use that glove to destroy the entire universe and create a new one." ]
[ Aogami Pierce (A Certain Magical Index): "I do better, why not just make all the resources infinite?" ]
[ .....]
〜Marvel Cinematic Universe, Earth-????〜
Deep in the cosmic chaos, the Celestials nodded in satisfaction.
They were the creators of Thanos.
They could see that Thanos was actually one of the Eternals they had created, and Thanos was much stronger and far more sinister than the other Eternals!
But even so, did his philosophy ultimately align with theirs?
No… it wasn't aligning but rather protecting and monitoring the universe in another way.
Thanos wanted to sweep away half of the life in this universe to achieve cosmic balance. It was a decent idea, just too foolish.
—
『 "What did you do…", Rocket Raccoon stared blankly at Thanos, whose head had been chopped off. He stiffly turned his head toward Thor, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Thor… chopped off Thanos's head?!!
"I went for the head." Thor was clearly startled by his own impulse, but then he fell into an extreme state of emptiness, swaying as he walked out.
After killing Thanos, it seemed they had avenged their grievances, but their loved ones and comrades had vanished forever in that disastrous battle.
They had lost this war, lost it completely. Thanos had accomplished everything he wanted to do, destroyed their hope, and reduced the stones to atoms.
In the end, he could still claim to be the hero who saved the universe!
But what about them? They had nothing left…
Five years after Thanos's death, the Avengers existed in name only. They were scattered across all corners of the world, living like the walking dead.
Until five years later—
In a dark warehouse, a rat crawled across a dusty, sophisticated piece of equipment. After the rat crawled over it, the device quickly lit up, and then the quantum tunnel switch opened.
A figure shot out. It was none other than Ant-Man, who had been trapped in the Quantum Realm!
He crashed heavily onto the ground. He was… out? Ant-Man could never have imagined that the one who saved him from his plight was a rat! 』
『 .....』
〜Myriad Worlds livestream Chat〜
[ Hank Pym (Earth-616): "There is no time and space in the Quantum Realm… Knowing this and still daring to enter the Quantum Realm, you must be suicidal. What on earth happened!" ]
[ The Doctor ⦍11th⦎ (Whoniverse): "…No time and space in the Quantum Realm..? Could it be because of different world laws?" ]
[ The Zero-Point Observer (3-Body Problem): "In our world, the quantum realm is not devoid of time and space either." ]
[ Rick Sanchez (Rick And Morty): "Tch, looks like this doctor hasn't mastered his craft. In the Quantum Realm, there's not only space and time, but also a certain regularity to them. However, playing with this stuff is one thing if you're good at it, and another if you're not. Remember, never try to play with time, or time will play with you." ]
[ Kang (Earth-???): "Yeah, I don't know which bastard locked me up in this quantum prison. Don't they know it's miserable here! It's boring to death! Let me out so I can conquer the multiverse!" ]
[ .....]
『 After Ant-Man got out, he immediately received information about the outside world. One giant monument after another had the names of the vanished written on them.
"…No… no," Ant-Man stared at the names on the monuments. He couldn't begin to imagine what had happened during his time in the Quantum Realm!
Thanos, the snap, half of the universe's life destroyed…
Ant-Man immediately headed to the Avengers compound, told Steve Roger and the others about his experience, and voiced his theory!
While he was in the Quantum Realm, five years had passed in the outside world, but to him, it had only been five hours!
Steve Roger and the others clearly hadn't realized the implications yet, but as Ant-Man continued to explain, their eyes widened in shock!
Time in the Quantum Realm was different from time in the real world. Now, their only problem was that they couldn't find their way inside the Quantum Realm!
As long as they could navigate, they could… enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time, and then exit the Quantum Realm at another point in time!
Ultimately achieving—the goal of time travel! 』
『 .....』
〜Three-Body Problem World〜
A plan to achieve time travel through the Quantum Realm…
The various civilizations fell into contemplation.
In their understanding, theoretically, other than exceeding the speed of light or staying next to a black hole to utilize its ultra-high gravitational field to perhaps travel through time, there were only the incredible magics of other worlds.
Now, a theory of space-time inside the Quantum Realm has appeared?
But they knew that even if there were more theories, it was impossible for them, because their universe was a one-way timeline universe!
In other words, they had absolutely no possibility of returning to the past, no matter what method they used.
Unless a terrifying existence could change the rules of this world. But to their knowledge, even the top civilization like the Zeroer could only reset the universe by continuously collapsing it.
It was truly like sitting on a mountain of treasure but only being able to look at it—
—
『 Natasha Romanoff and Steve Roger looked at each other. Returning to the past wasn't something they hadn't thought about, but they lacked ideas and direction, so in the end, it was nothing more than a fantasy.
But now, Ant-Man had actually provided them with a direction, a direction to travel through time!
However, the two of them weren't professionals after all. They took Ant-Man to find Tony, but Tony, who was traumatized and now had a family, was unwilling to do this again.
The plan was too risky. He didn't want to lose his wife and daughter.
With no other choice, they could only find Banner. At this point, Banner could skillfully control his abilities, using the Hulk's strength while maintaining his sanity!
He had completely merged his strength and mind!
But regarding the request of the three, Banner, who wasn't in the same field of expertise, couldn't say for sure. He could only try his best!
Soon, the experiment began. Under Banner's testing, Ant-Man was nearly tortured to death by Banner. Steve Roger watched Ant-Man grow big and small, forced to change at random, and then glanced at the proud Banner.
He couldn't help but ask how much longer it would take at this rate. The answer filled Steve Roger with despair.
He walked outside and took a deep breath, but at that moment, he was pleasantly surprised to see Tony!
Actually, last night, Tony had thought it over and decided to run a simulation, reconstructing the idea of traveling through time via the Quantum Realm that Steve Roger had mentioned.
Adding Ant-Man as a variable, and under a series of factors, Tony finally reached a feasible conclusion!
So, Tony came the next day!
Tony didn't beat around the bush, stating directly that their experiment was bound to fail because their experiment wasn't sending a person through time, but rather sending time through a person.
For this reason, Tony had specially brought a space-time GPS. With this device, they could navigate to a specific space-time within the Quantum Realm! 』
『 .....』
〜Rick and Morty World〜
He actually found the problem so quickly? Then inventing a time machine would only be a matter of time.
"This guy named Tony is very talented,"
Rick muttered, taking a sip of an unidentified green drink, a sharp light flashing in his dull eyes.
But it quickly turned dull again.
Having great talent wasn't necessarily a good thing. Sometimes, one would only bring trouble upon oneself, ultimately harming oneself.
"With such great talent, I'm afraid your life is going to be short,"
Rick shook his head and closed his eyes again.
—
『 Viewers of Myriad Worlds 』
Many technological worlds recorded all the details about the time information shown on the screen.
They didn't understand magic and stuff.
But technology? They knew that inside out! What a joke!
.....
『 The two shook hands and made peace. Under the connection of this experiment, the remaining members of the Avengers assembled once more!
Under Tony's lead, the experiment quickly got underway. Just before it started, Rhodey asked why they didn't just travel back to when Thanos was a baby and strangle him in his crib.
Banner shook his head. If they did that, they would only change the past, but they wouldn't be able to change the future.
"We go back, get the Infinity Stones before Thanos does, Thanos doesn't have the stones, problem solved?" Ant-Man also asked in confusion.
"If you're talking about those time travel movies you've watched, don't. That's wrong," Banner explained.
"Think about it. If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can't be changed by the new future." 』
『 .....』
〜Myriad Worlds livestream Chat〜
[ Aqua (KonoSuba): "…Huh? I don't understand at all. What on earth are they talking about!" ]
[ Sōsuke Aizen Sosuke (Bleach): "What has already happened cannot be changed." ]
[ Accelerator (A Certain Magical Index): "Changing the past doesn't mean changing the future. To put it simply, it will create parallel worlds." ]
[ Deadpool (Earth-10005): "To put it even simpler, the directors won't allow it!" ]
[ Nyaruko (Haiyore Nyaruko-san): "Ahhh, time is really too troublesome, which is why I didn't want to deal with it in the first place~!" ]
[ .....]
『 Under Banner's explanation, Rhodey and Ant-Man became even more confused. However, it sounded impressive, and since he said it couldn't be done, then it couldn't be done!
So they just had to stick to the plan. Soon, the first experiment began, and Hawkeye successfully returned to the past, which proved their experiment was a success!
The group analyzed the locations where the Infinity Stones had appeared. Then, they split into two groups. Steve and the others went to the Battle of New York in 2012, while Banner went to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
The moment Banner arrived at the Sanctum Sanctorum, he saw the Ancient One, who had been waiting for a long time.
The Ancient One stated directly that Banner was five years too early, but Banner said it didn't matter; he just wanted to get the Time Stone.
The Ancient One refused. Banner wanted to take it by force. He wasn't negotiating with the Ancient One, but informing her.
Then, Banner's imposing body advanced toward the Ancient One. But before he could utter another threat, the Ancient One struck with a palm, and Banner's soul was directly knocked out of his body!
Banner was utterly dumbfounded. He… was…
Banner cast aside his underestimation, his eyes filled with seriousness. He had heard that this Ancient One was the Sorcerer Supreme. At the time, he hadn't thought much of it, but thinking about it now, he only felt a wave of lingering fear!
The Sorcerer Supreme… was terrifyingly powerful!
Banner had no choice but to change his strategy. He repeatedly begged, hoping the Ancient One could give him the Time Stone, but the Ancient One shook her head.
With a wave of her hand, a small virtual galaxy appeared between them. The Ancient One told Banner that once the stone was given to them, a new parallel world would be created.
Without the stone, their world would lack the power to fight against darkness, and their world would destroy itself sooner or later!
No matter how Banner pleaded, the Ancient One refused to agree, because protecting the stone was her sole duty!
But upon hearing Banner say that Doctor Strange had ultimately given the stone to Thanos, the Ancient One froze.
She fell silent for a moment and handed the stone to Banner, because Strange was the best of them she had seen in the future…
Meanwhile, in Stark Tower, Steve went down the elevator and encountered the Hydra members. To avoid unnecessary trouble, he whispered, "Hail Hydra."
Everyone in the elevator fell into a daze. They stared at the man in front of them with dumbfounded, disbelieving faces. Captain America… was actually one of them?!!!
Hiss, then… doesn't this mean… It's a sure win?!!
The Hydra members looked at each other, their eyes filled with excitement. A SURE WIN!!! 』
『 .....』
〜Marvel Cinematic Universe, Earth-????〜
In the Time Variance Authority—
Loki slapped his thigh and laughed wildly!
Pfft, hahahahahahaha!
The source of all evil, THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE SOURCE OF ALL EVIL IN MARVEL!!!
—
『 Steve Roger obtained the Mind Scepter without wasting any effort. Although he encountered some setbacks, fortunately, it was a false alarm.
On the other side, Tony and the others were also carrying out their plan in an orderly manner.
By creating a distraction to get the Tesseract, the plan went smoothly. Tony got the case containing the Tesseract and was about to leave, asking everyone what they should eat for lunch.
But in the next moment, the past Hulk burst through the stairwell door. Tony was sent flying, and the Tesseract in his hand rolled to the feet of the escorted Loki.
Loki raised his eyebrows cheekily. Truly, the heavens never seal off all paths for a god!
Although he didn't know what had happened, Loki didn't hesitate for a second. He picked up the Tesseract and vanished on the spot. 』
『 .....』
『 Viewers of Myriad Worlds 』
Loki, the Tesseract, the reason for the Avengers' return, Thanos…
This was truly…
When everyone saw this again, an indescribable, wondrous feeling arose in their hearts. They were filled with emotion.
As expected, everything had been predestined. They knew that in the normal universe, Loki had died at the hands of Thanos to protect Thor.
But if Thanos hadn't wiped out half of the universe's life, the Avengers wouldn't have returned to the past to find the Infinity Stones. Without looking for the Infinity Stones, Loki's future wouldn't have changed.
Thinking back, Loki had been deemed a variant by the Time Variance Authority, an existence that had to be pruned.
Loki had refused to accept this and asked why the Avengers weren't variants, only to be told that what the Avengers did was supposed to happen, while Loki's escape was not.
Recalling Loki's red-hot, furious face back then, everyone couldn't help but want to laugh.
But in the end, Loki had reached an unimaginable height, truly standing at the very peak of that world.
Everything was still vivid in their minds.
From the moment the Tesseract fell at Loki's feet, the gears of fate began to turn, starting Loki's path to godhood!
.....