The first day of Kamar-Taj's resistance against Kang.
People seem to have a habit of dragging everything out until the final day. This applies to villains looking to tear each other apart, and it applies to the good guys as well. Everyone knew that Strange was bearing the full brunt of the combined assault from Kang and the Cosmic Cube, but everyone was also prepared to wait until the last possible moment to strike at Kang.
In short: let Strange suffer a bit; I'll take the blame.
After all, this was an excellent opportunity to distract Kang. During this time, Ghost Rider had awakened even more people to join their ranks. Because Peter and the others had carefully analyzed the personality traits of every candidate, they ensured that the recruits wouldn't be incinerated by the Penance Stare.
For instance, Tony Stark had not been awakened by the Penance Stare even now. Everyone unanimously agreed that if the process was handled improperly, it would be all too easy for the Penance Stare to burn Tony to a crisp.
"If we could let Thor and the others in, we would definitely put more pressure on Kang. The problem is, we still don't know how Kang managed to isolate myth from reality."
The only method Peter knew of had been achieved by Anansi, who turned the myths of his own universe entirely into stories and lies. But this clearly wasn't Kang's method; his understanding of divinity was not that profound.
Thus, at yet another meeting of the New Fantastic Four, Peter spoke with a hint of helplessness. Hulk, meanwhile, shoved popcorn into his mouth while asking, "Even if we do that, we still can't beat Kang."
Peter knew what Hulk meant. Kang's most powerful—one might even say only—weapon was the Cosmic Cube. Conversely, as long as Kang held the Cube in his hand, he was virtually invincible.
They had to find a way to counter the Cosmic Cube.
"Leave that matter to me."
Peter spoke up unexpectedly, then shrugged amidst everyone's confusion and curiosity. "I can't guarantee I can actually pull it off, but I intend to try."
"The Cosmic Cube isn't without its flaws. We already know one: it can only modify the present, not the past."
As for the second flaw, Peter wasn't entirely certain yet, but he was fairly sure he was on the right track.
Therefore, what everyone needed to do now was—
"Let's take a day off."
Peter looked at his new teammates and laughed with a bit of helplessness. "We don't know if we can win tomorrow, we don't know what will become of our world, and we don't even know if Strange can hold out long enough."
"But the arrow is on the string; it must be loosed. Tomorrow, we head to the 31st century to face Kang."
The other three looked at Peter in silence and nodded in unison. Peter breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn't stopped Jessica's investigation, because she couldn't find any concrete evidence anyway. Deadpool's dimensional teleportation device had been scavenged from a Deadpool of another world. Consequently, Kang was unaware of its existence and hadn't deleted the equipment from reality.
That was how Gwen had been able to steal the gear and send it back.
With these thoughts in mind, Peter returned home. He checked his messages; Aunt May and Uncle Ben seemed to be working overtime again today and wouldn't be back in time.
After a moment of silence, he sat down in a dining room chair, holding his phone.
"Korvac..."
That was it. Korvac was the key to Peter's victory. Combining Korvac's strange mental state at the time with the information he had revealed, Peter had arrived at a reasonable deduction.
The Korvac who had returned to the past was not a complete Cosmic Cube, but a fragmented one. This explained why his mental state was so poor—because he was incomplete.
In other words, a Cosmic Cube that returns to the past is destined to be incomplete; only in that state can it travel through space-time. Only an incomplete Cosmic Cube could pierce the veil of time.
And the crux of all this was Korvac's birth.
Korvac was the living incarnation of the Cosmic Cube. According to information previously revealed by Mar-Vell, the more the Cosmic Cube is used, the greater the likelihood it awakens a self-aware persona.
Once the Cosmic Cube birthed the will of Korvac, Peter was confident he could pull Korvac to his side.
But there was one more problem...
Peter reviewed his memories with uncertainty. He didn't remember if Korvac had spoiled his fate, but Korvac seemingly never mentioned whether Spider-Man survived.
"Which means there's no way to know if this is the last day of my life... It's really... a bit overwhelming."
Peter spoke with some helplessness, then picked up his phone again. For a fleeting moment, he thought he should leave no regrets, but then he froze.
Before Kang launched the Kang Dynasty, Peter and Cindy had a conversation. There, to strengthen Cindy's memory so she could find him in the new world, Peter had kissed her.
Then, in a somewhat similar environment, Peter had also kissed Gwen to get her help and to awaken her.
Both times, Peter had been the initiator. This was, of course, unprecedented, but it also brought trouble. Peter looked at the numbers on his phone, hesitated for a long time, and finally sighed helplessly.
"Let's just assume this is the last day of your life, Peter Parker. What then? What do you plan to do?"
Sometimes he really felt Johnny Storm was right. Since hesitating and failing to make a choice would only hurt both girls, why not just be with both!
Yeah, right. Two Spider-Women? I'd definitely die.
"Okay, first find an excuse—no, a reason... to call them both over..."
Peter took out his phone again, paused for a moment, hesitated, and then shook his head.
No, no, no. Think through the strategy first.
Peter did indeed have matters to discuss with them. For example, he didn't want the two of them to charge into the front lines against Kang. It would be almost entirely useless. Facing a Kang who possessed the Cosmic Cube, average super-powered individuals were no different from ordinary people—they would all be one-shotted by the Cube.
So, Peter didn't want them on the battlefield; there was no point.
This was a good excuse, and it would provide a topic for the early stages of their talk. Having thought this through, Peter sat in silence for a long while before shaking his head.
What was he thinking? He might be heading to the battlefield tomorrow, and yet he was worrying about this.
Or perhaps, this matter ought to be settled right here.
Peter let out a long sigh and then sent messages to Cindy and Gwen simultaneously. He had something to tell them.