The moment Doom seized an opportunity amidst the chaos of battle—relying on his keen observation and bold judgment to enter the Anti-Celestial Armor ahead of the rest—he lunged forward and ripped the Cosmic Cube straight from Kang's chest.
Deprived of the Cosmic Cube, Kang reverted to being merely Kang the Conqueror.
Just as Peter had previously surmised, Kang had sacrificed his immortality as a Time Stone wielder in exchange for immense power. Conversely, the moment the Cosmic Cube was extracted, Kang's immortality returned.
Thus, Kang died, only to have the effects of the Time Stone reboot in an instant. His body twisted violently, mending itself until he was once again whole. He immediately threw a punch at Doom, who, caught off guard by such a move, took the blow directly to his faceplate.
Doom stared coldly at Kang. In a mere heartbeat, a surge of intense energy reduced Kang to a pile of bleached bones.
Then, Kang resurrected again. Not only did he return to life, but he caused Doom's follow-up attack to strike nothing but thin air.
What had happened?
The answer was simple: Kang had used the Time Stone to erase time. Within the erased duration, everyone's trajectories were fixed and unalterable; only Kang could move freely.
Oh, and Korvac.
Had it not been for the discovery that Korvac was rapidly approaching the Cosmic Cube in Doom's hand, Kang might not have deactivated the time erasure so quickly. Consequently, when Doom regained control of his body, having never encountered such an attack before, he failed to react in time. He saw only a retreating Kang and an approaching Korvac.
Doom's gaze turned icy as he looked at Korvac and began to chant an incantation. This was a powerful spell sourced from the witch Morgan le Fay, designed to sever Korvac from his physical vessel, rendering him unable to protect the Avengers and the other heroes. Furthermore, the true price of the spell fell not upon Doom, but upon Morgan herself.
Of course, Doom had not secured this without a price; he had promised Morgan that once he became the King of the World, she would serve as his Queen.
Naturally, Doom had no intention of fulfilling that promise.
Having isolated Korvac's power, Doom began to siphon the vast energy of the Cosmic Cube. However, he quickly realized he was aging at an accelerated rate. In a panic, Doom immediately used the Cube to restore his youth and turned his attention toward the culprit behind this predicament.
"You stole the Cosmic Cube from my hand!"
Kang, with the Time Stone still embedded in his gauntlet, roared as he charged at Doom. "Give it back to me!"
"The farcical play of the jumping clown is over. Any further performance on your part is no different from the crawling of an ant—of no threat to Doom," Doom declared. Then, as if wielding a common brick, he slammed the Cosmic Cube directly into Kang. For a moment, Kang's physical form and spirit were utterly annihilated. But in the next heartbeat, before Doom could even grasp the Time Stone, a brand-new Kang materialized around the gem, reaching out to grip the Cosmic Cube simultaneously.
In an instant, the two became locked in a desperate struggle for possession.
Doom found himself in an awkward position. Morgan's magic could only isolate one target. When he had laid his plans, he had been unaware of Korvac's existence; the spell had been prepared specifically for Kang. He had prepared one curse, yet two contenders had arrived to challenge him.
What was he to do?
The contenders did not stop there.
The first to tear into the battlefield was Ghost Rider. He was conceptually immortal, meaning even the Time Stone could not erase him. Due to his infernal contract, he couldn't even be reverted to his state prior to becoming the Rider. Because of this, Ghost Rider made his move.
He whipped his chain around the Cosmic Cube, intending to yank it away with brute force.
However, in that split second, both Doom and Kang realized the same thing: this fool didn't know how to use the Cosmic Cube.
Thus, the two of them acted in unison, attempting to rewrite reality so that Johnny Blaze had never become the Ghost Rider. But this time, they met a strange resistance. Doom felt it most acutely—a powerful, familiar energy was tethered to Johnny's soul.
His soul belonged to Mephisto. To prevent Johnny from being erased by the Cosmic Cube, Mephisto had cast his soul into the past.
"I don't know how much you guys value this trinket, but I know three things. First, it's a nice toy. Second, it doesn't belong to you. Third, none of you are good people."
"Simple and direct, Skull-face."
To Kang's astonishment, a strange voice spoke. The Hulk had appeared behind him out of nowhere. Doom let out a cold sneer; he had used his sorcery to cloak the Hulk's presence, allowing the behemoth to sneak up on Kang. Seeing the giant monster, Kang immediately activated the Time Stone to accelerate the Hulk's personal timeline.
He intended for the Hulk to die of old age before the punch could even land!
Then, Kang watched as the Hulk became incredibly ancient. His hair fell out completely, and a long, thick white beard sprouted from his chin. Yet, even as centuries of time surged past, the Hulk remained unharmed. He slammed a fist directly into Kang's face.
"Stupid! Future man!"
Kang was sent flying by the punch. Internally, Doom laughed with triumph and prepared to raise the Cosmic Cube.
Suddenly, his back was skewered by a pair of adamantium claws.
Doom still didn't fully grasp "time erasure." He had assumed Kang was escaping via time suspension, so he hadn't guarded against this tactic. Seeing Wolverine sneaking up behind Doom, Kang had decisively used time erasure to render Doom immobile as Wolverine closed the distance.
Doom's chest was pierced straight through.
It's not over yet, I can still rewrite...
Wait. Where did the Cosmic Cube go? How did it suddenly vanish? No, it was suddenly flying through the air.
"I have to say, this situation is getting pretty weird."
Gwen quipped as she tossed the Cosmic Cube, which she had snatched with her webbing, over to Peter. After all, she didn't know how to use the thing either. Peter, meanwhile, confirmed one point: even if Gwen held the Cube, its existence wouldn't be erased from the perception of others. Everyone would simply see the Cosmic Cube flying through the air.
From that, they might even guess at Gwen's presence.
"Well... I think it's time to end all this. Honestly, this final act was, uh, pretty dramatic."
As Peter spoke, he handed the Cosmic Cube to Korvac and looked at him. "But it all needs to end now. How should I put it? The usual anti-climactic ending of a big event? I guess that's not quite right. regardless, well done, New Fantastic Four—though you won't be needing that name anymore."
"Now, let's set everything back on track."
Peter spoke to Korvac, and subsequently, a blue light blanketed the world.
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