Max appeared in his base along with his clones carrying the two unconscious girlsonly to find the once proud structure completely caved in. The Gedo Statue lay half-buried under collapsed stone its body riddled with burn marks. Even so, Max wasn't worried—it would heal itself in time.
The battle with Thena had been far too destructive. His base was trashed, and it would need massive renovations.
He walked out into what used to be dense forest. Now, nothing remained but scorched earth and a barren horizon. The wind carried the smell of ash.
"This won't do," Max muttered.
He levitated into the air, using the Deva Path's gravity manipulation before landing in the center of the desolate land. He inhaled deeply, clasping his hands together. His shredded cloak fluttered violently in the gusts of wind stirred by the pressure of his chakra. The ground beneath him cracked.
"Wood Style: Great Forest!"
The earth quaked as roots and vines erupted from the soil, twisting and surging skyward. Massive trees burst to life in an expanding wave of green until the wasteland was reborn with lush forests and vibrant vegetation.
When the tremors finally subsided, Max fell to one knee, exhaling heavily. Even for him, the technique was taxing after such a brutal fight.
Floating above the canopy, he looked out across the rejuvenated landscape. He'd managed to restore only a few kilometers of the forest—beyond that, the damage wasn't as severe, and nature would recover on its own.
Satisfied, Max descended and created ten shadow clones.
"Start the renovations," he ordered.
The clones scattered instantly. The two carrying the unconscious girls approached, and Max placed a hand on their shoulders. With a thought, all three vanished in a flash of light—Flying Thunder God.
Hours Later,Nanda Parbat
Pain descended from the night sky, thrusters dimming as his metal feet touched the courtyard stone. In his grip dangled Zetsu, who wriggled free and looked around with wide eyes.
"What is this place?" Zetsu asked in awe.
"This," Pain replied, scanning the shadowed temples, "is my empire."
Shapes moved in the darkness—silent guardians approaching fast. Zetsu shifted uneasily, but Pain didn't flinch.
"It would be best if you changed your appearance," Pain said without turning. "Your existence must remain known only to me."
Zetsu nodded and instantly morphed into a young man with short black hair—the same face he'd once copied at LexCorp. The shadows halted their approach, recognizing Pain. They bowed low, some whispering quick apologies before signaling to stand down. Pain waved them away and continued walking.
He and Zetsu entered his quarters, a dimly lit chamber sealed with complex runes. Pain pressed a hand to the marking on the door, releasing a small pulse of chakra. The seal glowed, then locked into place.
"For now, I rest," Pain said, lying back on a mat with his hands folded on his chest. "We'll speak tomorrow."
Zetsu flopped onto the floor beside him.
"Hey, boss… can you tell me what it's like to poop?"
Silence.
Zetsu blinked. Then sighed when he realized the link had been severed.as he then grinned as a thought came to mind.
Max's Apartment
Max sat at the table in the lounge, a dim lamp casting light across sheets of paper scattered around him. His hands moved quickly, brush gliding over sealing parchment as he drew the final stroke of another intricate formula.
He was trying to perfect the Flying Thunder God—to refine it until he could perform Guiding Thunder, the advanced variant of the technique. His focus was sharp, but exhaustion lined his eyes.
Since his base had been destroyed, he had nowhere else to stay. Every bedroom in the apartment was occupied: the two guest rooms were taken—one by Terra, the other now permanently claimed by Thena. Even his own room wasn't his anymore; future Thena was resting there. That left him the couch, not that he minded much.
When he finally finished the new seal, he placed it carefully atop a pile of others—each one etched with different modifications and experimental patterns. Testing them would have to wait.
Max leaned back, rubbing his eyes. He couldn't sleep anyway. His mind wouldn't let him.
The revelation still weighed on him—the existence of a being powerful enough to kill his future self, one who had mastered the Goku Black template and even wielded a Time Ring. Someone had hunted down that version of him… and won.
The thought was a storm in his chest.
He sighed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a crumpled piece of paper—the same one he'd skimmed through hours ago. He unfolded it slowly, staring down at the handwriting that belonged to a future version of himself.
The clock ticked softly in the background
Max unfolded the wrinkled paper carefully, his tired eyes scanning the familiar handwriting. The faint smell of smoke and dried blood lingered on it — remnants of another version of himself, from another time.
He began to read aloud under his breath, the words heavy and uneven.
"I think I messed up real bad. In one of my travels to the future, I drew the attention of a very powerful entity. And since we exist on a single timeline at a time… if I die, my death will unravel my universe. But I'm not willing to die without a fight, so I'll give it my all. When this letter gets to you, don't make the same mistake I did."
Max stared at the words for a long moment, his brow furrowed.
"That's it?" he muttered.
It was too vague.
He had to give props to Thena for managing to piece together so much from such a cryptic message. Still, how was this supposed to help him now? He flipped the letter around, scanned the edges, and then noticed it,barely visible scripture at the back of the letter.
Frowning, he activated his Sharingan, but the text remained blurred.
With a sigh, he switched to his Rinnegan—and the ink flared faintly, becoming legible at last.
"I guess the letter has finally reached you, because I made sure that only someone with the Rinnegan could read this part. And I doubt Thena can awaken it or forcibly seize it from you."
"If you're reading this, then I didn't make it. That's the only reason you'd have this letter in the first place."
"Things weren't good in my time. Darkseid was coming for me after killed his avatar. And yeah, I killed him and nothing happened. But before his death, he swore that he'd come back for me again."
"And since I was an anomaly, the other gods wouldn't interfere. I knew I was screwed. I barely survived that battle, and after that, there was no one left on Earth to push me further. Training what I already had wasn't enough. So… I decided to go to the future."
"With the Time Ring, I could jump across timelines where events unfolded without my interference. The worlds followed the same path as in the movies, so I could fight anyone… kill anyone. And when those timelines collapsed because I erased beings fixed in time, the Ring always bailed me out."
"But the gains became smaller and smaller. My progress slowed. So I went further , to the timelines of the Infinite Earths , seeking someone on my level. I found him. The Anti-Monitor."
"That… was a mistake."
"The moment I arrived, his attention shifted to me. To say I lost would be an understatement. I barely escaped, hopping between timelines to shake him off but everywhere I went, the timelines crumbled behind me."
"I knew it was only a matter of time before he caught up and killed me. So I returned to my universe to prepare. I wrote this letter, and passed on the Time Ring."
"The revival method I used was a gift from the Morningstar himself — think of it as a one-time 'revive' button but i don't think you'll be getting it because he said i was the first and last time he was helping me"
"If you're alive right now, it's because you were revived at a point of temporal flux — probably right after Flashpoint. That event created the perfect storm in time to bring you back."
"The memories you have… of torturing and killing Amazons, fighting along the resistance… they aren't yours. They were mine."
"When Flash fixed the timeline, I had to create a new identity since everything had gotten rewritten. I didn't want to be Max anymore, so I called myself Pietro Maximoff as a joke. You should still be using that as a legal name, which proves everything I'm saying."
"It might sound confusing now, but you'll understand in time. I was desperate, and I made a mistake — a terrible one. To fix it, I had to involve Thena… my precious daughter. I can only imagine the pain she must be in because of me ."
"I hope you don't repeat my mistakes."
"Please… unseal the last part when you are with Thena. And Thena alone."
Max blinked as he reached the bottom of the page, his gaze falling on the faint blood seal pressed into the corner. He exhaled slowly.
His eyes traced the blood seal ,a lock only his blood could open.
End of Chapter
I hope with this chapter any lingering confusion about the timelines.till next time,
Go to Patreon/darkness_demon.com for advanced chapters