A clear, synthetic female voice filled the room at dawn, gently waking the sleeping figure.
Arthur opened his eyes, glanced at the empty bed beside him, and gently rubbed his eyes.
Good morning, sir!
"Good morning, XINRUI," Arthur greeted his Artificial Intelligence.
He rose and walked to the window, where the curtains automatically parted, adjusting the blinds to perfectly capture the morning sunlight.
Today's weather is clear, with a temperature of...
XINRUI's voice continued to ring in his ears as Arthur listened absently, lost in thought.
That day... on Thanos's warship, that single strike had brought the battle to its final conclusion.
Yet even now, he still found it hard to believe that Thanos had truly died by his hand.
Since his crossing over, Thanos had undoubtedly been his greatest nightmare. Yet here he was, with countless contingency plans still unused, and Thanos was already gone.
In this universe, would there truly be no enemies left from this day forward?
Arthur pondered this for a while, but realized that in the current situation, there were no easy answers.
The next two years felt almost surreal to Arthur...
Camp Lehigh remained operational, unchanged in its routine. The only thing that had changed was the people. For instance, T'Challa had returned to Wakanda to inherit the throne, while Arthur and Hank ventured into the Quantum Realm, where they found Hank's wife. They also discovered a way to save Ava, who, along with her partner, chose to remain at Camp Lehigh to serve.
As for Hank, he ultimately entrusted the Pym Particle formula to Scott and set off on a journey with his wife.
He even left his daughter for Scott to... "take care of."
Honestly, Arthur couldn't help but admire Hank's audacity, sensing the man still harbored grand ambitions.
Then there was Loki. Thanks to Arthur's machinations, Loki had endured a truly miserable period on Vormir. But after Thanos was slain, he returned to Asgard.
Instead of returning to prison, Loki assumed a new identity and continued his mischief in Asgard.
This seemed to be his life's creed. If Loki ever truly became a good person, perhaps the world would become an extraordinarily wondrous place.
It's worth noting that after Arthur slew Thanos, he collected everything he could gather and disassembled everything that could be disassembled. The Disassembler successfully leveled up, though it still hadn't reached its maximum potential—it was just one tier short. Yet, wielding such immense power, he ventured into Hell once more.
Hela... seemed no longer to be a match for him.
When the woman emerged from Hell, she remained bitterly resentful.
Instead of returning to Asgard, she chose to drift through the cosmos.
She hoped to find a way to defeat Arthur. While Arthur wasn't sure if her efforts would bear fruit, he couldn't deny that the universe still held countless mysteries.
So... was it all over for him?
Sometimes, as he sat on his rooftop, munching on meat sandwiches Lily had made for him, he'd savor the preciousness of ordinary life while pondering this question.
But... he could never quite figure it out.
He always felt like there was something unfinished, some task left undone.
"Still daydreaming?" Lily's voice suddenly came from behind him.
Arthur turned around. The girl had shed her youthful awkwardness and embraced maturity, her face both seductive and helpless as she gazed at him. "Have you forgotten? Today's Peter's wedding day!"
"Oh..." Arthur finally realized.
Spiderman and Gwen's wedding!
The gift had been prepared a week earlier, and the ceremony was scheduled for noon.
Without much hesitation, Arthur, with Lily's help, changed into a high-end suit. Lily meticulously adjusted his clothes, then nodded in satisfaction. "Perfect!"
…
As the car sped down the highway, Arthur gazed absently out the window.
By the time Hela emerged from Hell, Odin had already fallen.
In this world, it seemed, no matter what power one possessed, the cycle of life and death remained immutable.
Even with his current abilities, he couldn't grant eternal life to the girl beside him.
This was precisely why he had chosen Lily over Hela.
Though Odin believed only an immortal being could truly accompany Arthur for the long haul, Arthur knew that if he himself became immortal, any such companionship, no matter how enduring, would eventually leave him utterly alone.
A hundred years spent with someone he loved could encapsulate a lifetime of meaning, while tens of thousands of years with someone he didn't care for might pass by in the blink of an eye.
Arthur couldn't say for sure. In matters of the heart, even now, he remained utterly bewildered.
To this day, he still didn't understand the true nature of the relationship between Lily and Natasha.
Their bond was far closer than he had ever imagined.
Even more strikingly, Natasha would occasionally come home with Lily for dinner and sometimes even stay overnight.
Whenever this happened, Lily would exhibit a peculiar emotion. Yet whenever Arthur tried to investigate, the feeling would vanish without a trace, as if it had never existed.
Lastly, it's worth noting that Arthur had begun fulfilling the promises he'd made to Lily one by one.
Two months prior, they had just finished a world tour, truly traversing the entire globe, including the country that had haunted Arthur's dreams.
However, having already established deep roots here, he found it impossible to readjust to life there. So, he decided to return with Lily.
He would stay here with her, watching her slowly age, grow weaker, and eventually fade away.
The thought tore at his heart like a physical wound, yet he could do nothing to change it. No one felt this pain more deeply than the Heavenly Queen, for whom Arthur had once wept like a child.
…
The wedding was a resounding success. Looking at Peter's radiant smile, Arthur couldn't help but feel he was the happiest man in the world.
Even though he had suffered so much in the past.
"With great power comes great responsibility," Arthur sighed, just as his long-silent communicator buzzed urgently, like a death knell.
When he answered, the voice that came through wasn't Natasha's, but Stephen's urgent plea: "I need your help! Now! Hurry!"