"Something has happened on Hong Kong Island."
"What?"
"They say an unknown darkness has shrouded the entire Hong Kong Island."
Sharon hung up the phone, looked at Hawk and Gwen: "Sorry, I have to go back."
It's well known.
When it's 1 p.m. in the Western Hemisphere, it's 1 a.m. in the Eastern Hemisphere.
So...
Hawk's pupils flashed gold for a moment, and his gaze turned towards the direction of Hong Kong Island.
In an instant.
Endless images quickly flashed through his pupils.
Until—
Above the raging flames of Hong Kong Island, darkness accompanied by lightning and thunder began to descend.
Dark Dimension!
Dormammu.
However...
Hawk retracted his gaze and said to Sharon: "It's not a big issue, but if you're concerned, go and take a look."
Sharon laughed: "The call came from above, this isn't something I can just ignore, but, once again, congratulations to you both, I must leave now."
Hawk thanked her.
Gwen hugged Sharon.
"Take care, I'll bring you a gift when I return."
"I'm looking forward to it."
Sharon said, then turned and walked towards the street.
Gwen curiously looked at Hawk afterward.
"Aren't you going to see the mage off on his last journey?"
"The Ancient One is already retired."
"Besides..."
"Not going."
Hawk shrugged.
He was friends with the Supreme Mage, but not with this newly appointed Doctor Strange.
The reason was simple.
Gwen corrected herself by calling Dr. Phoenix, which was cute, and Hawk liked it.
But Doctor Strange corrected himself by calling Dr. Strange, which was annoying, and Hawk didn't like it.
So...
Not going.
Just then.
With a crack.
Thunder roared in the sky as Thor made a shining entrance, accompanied by a lightning strike from the sky, and amidst the exclamations of the guests on site, Thor in the distance raised Mjolnir, summoning Rainbow Bridge with a thunder and quickly left Earth.
Hawk and Gwen exchanged a glance, then walked over.
Gwen spoke first.
"Jane, Thor he..."
"Thor said that Heimdall observed darkness approaching Asgard, so he rushed back."
Jane explained as Gwen approached.
Upon hearing this, Hawk nodded.
Indeed.
To put it simply, although Earth fell from the World Tree, its relationship with the World Tree Cosmos is still closely connected.
Now Dormammu has descended on the Eastern Hemisphere, bringing his Dark Dimension, and the dark power manifested from this Dark Dimension will naturally erode Asgard.
Thankfully...
Luckily, Dormammu has some sense and didn't descend during Hawk's wedding but waited until the wedding was over and the banquet was finished before making his appearance.
Now it's the stage of sending off guests.
After all, Gwen has already changed out of her wedding dress.
If Dormammu had arrived even a little earlier, Hawk would have gone mad and would have rushed to Hong Kong Island to smash Dormammu's brains out.
Once again.
Gwen really valued today's wedding, and Hawk wanted to give Gwen a wedding full of happiness and smiles in her memories; any unexpected incident would make Gwen explode and ignite Hawk's fury in an instant.
Right now?
It's manageable.
After all, the wedding is over, and the incident happened on the other side of the world in Hong Kong, so its impact on New York City isn't really significant.
Sharon and Thor's departure was just a small episode, and Hawk and Gwen, with the Chloes and the Stacys' help, followed the planned schedule, according to Gwen's wedding booklet, to send off all the people who came to the wedding today.
However, as Hawk's best friend, Peter did not leave.
Felicia took Ben Hawke Parker to help Gwen tidy up the little room's belongings.
Hawk was with Peter on the lawn, watching the wedding company clean up their tables and benches while chatting.
"Did Mary try to talk to you?"
"No."
Peter shook his head: "Mary and I are over."
Hawk laughed: "I know, I'm afraid you didn't realize, after all, you're now with Felicia."
It's well-known.
No matter what version of Spider-Man it is, the emotional side always outweighs the rational.
Hawk watched Peter gain his current happy life, so even if it were Peter himself, he won't allow Peter to ruin this hard-earned happiness.
And at weddings, old friends who didn't end up together meet, and it can easily spark unintended consequences.
So!
Hawk felt it necessary to remind Peter.
Peter naturally understood what Hawk meant and, listening to Hawk's words, responded: "Don't worry, I understand. Didn't you see today, I was either with you or with Felicia? I love Lil Ben and Felicia; I won't let them down."
Hawk made a sound of acknowledgment.
Just then.
He felt a stir in his heart, once again looking towards Hong Kong Island's direction.
At this moment, Hong Kong Island was completely shrouded in endless darkness, with Kamar-Taj Hall exploding into a ball of fire.
But!
Kamar-Taj Hall kept exploding into a fireball, seemingly frozen in time at this moment.
And within this frozen time, a figure walked resolutely into the darkness.
"Dormammu, I've come to bargain."
The Eye of Agamotto on his chest flared intensely with the Time Gemstone's light. Stephen Strange, with his right arm wrapped in the Time Ring, strode into the darkness.
Then...
He died!
And then...
He resurrected, shouting once more, "Dormammu, I've come to bargain," as he walked into the darkness again.
Stephen Strange did not reverse his own time.
He simply created a time loop for himself whenever he entered the Dark Dimension.
This was not altering the past; rather, Doctor Strange artificially looped his time within a closed time cycle.
This is a time secret technique from Kamar-Taj.
Such a technique does not count as altering the past; as long as the corresponding price can be paid, the Time Gemstone can be used to loop one's time.
The Ancient One retired.
Strange ascended, and as Emperor Vishanti's next dimensional agent, Doctor Strange now had a massive energy reserve backing him.
This is why Doctor Strange, with less than two and a half years of practice, dared to bargain with Dormammu, the Lord of the Dark Dimension.
In Hawk's eyes, the time loop created by Doctor Strange had been repeated countless times.
But that's because Hawk had contracted his own time, immune to others' time interference.
However, in the perception of others or time itself, Doctor Strange only entered the Dark Dimension once.
Then...
A single battle decided everything.
Dormammu, roaring in fury and unwillingness, took his followers away and left Earth without hesitation.
But at this moment, Hong Kong Island, especially the street where the Kamar-Taj Hall is located, had already become a wasteland.
The next second.
Doctor Strange hovered directly above this wasteland, the Eye of Agamotto on his chest burst forth with an unbearable emerald green light.
The light did not shine, but flowed, like a living green stream, surging outwards from him in all directions.
In an instant.
The frozen time suddenly started to move again.
But not forwards.
Backwards!
Time flowed backwards!
The exploding Kamar-Taj rapidly contracted inward, and the gigantic fireballs vanished at speeds visible to the naked eye.
A skyscraper in the distance, cut in half, saw billions of pieces of glass, bricks, and metal components, freed from gravity under the emerald stream, fly precisely back along their fallen trajectory.
The dust in the air rapidly gathered inwards.
Tangled steel bars emitted dull metallic clangs, stretching and straightening themselves, embedding back into their original positions.
The torn grooves in the streets stitched together like closing wounds.
The cracks in the asphalt road receded like ripples, disappearing without a trace.
A toppled bus slowly expanded from its deformed state, repositioning itself, landing steadily back on the road, with even the scratches on its body smoothed out.
A woman impaled by a steel bar, the sharp rebar piercing her chest slowly withdrew, and instead of being drawn out, her blood flowed backwards into her body against logic.
Almost at the moment her blood flowed back, the chest wound seemed brushed away by an invisible hand and disappeared without a trace.
In just a moment.
Hong Kong Island had returned to its state before the darkness came.
And in reality, to everyone, it seemed as though a large patch of darkness suddenly appeared over Hong Kong Island, but nothing happened.
The darkness came, and then, the darkness left.
Only...
"Hiss!"
"Time..."
Hawk, having contracted his own time to align with the timeline, looked at Doctor Strange who reversed time and gasped.
Good heavens.
Has the unchangeable principle of time disappeared?
What about the past being unchangeable?
What have you done?
Stephen Strange.
Hawk's heart was in shock.
At this moment.
Peter, standing beside Hawk, suddenly sensed something wrong.
He instinctively covered his chest, then looked towards Hawk.
"Hawk..."
"Peter!"
Hawk snapped back, looked at Peter, and his eyes quickly constricted.
In his vision, Peter seemed to be moving away from him.
Peter opened his mouth.
"I feel something's not right."
"What's going on?"
Hawk supported Peter, his mind racing.
At this moment.
Gwen in the left room of the church also shouted for Hawk.
Hawk, supporting Peter, immediately appeared in the room.
In sight.
Gwen was also supporting Felicia, who was feeling something was off.
"Hawk, Felicia..."
Gwen looked at Hawk as he walked in, about to speak when.
Like a breeze.
Peter Parker.
Felicia Hardy.
And...
Ben Hawke Parker, seemed to have never existed, disappearing from Hawk and Gwen's sight.
...