Chapter 23 – Time
Blake sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the empty glass in front of him. There was a strange, hollow feeling in his chest, like something incredibly important had just happened…
But before he could even begin to think about what that "something" was, a familiar figure appeared in front of him without a sound.
The Ancient One, dressed in his long gray robes, stood there with a completely flat expression.
"Ancient One? Why did you suddenly come here?" Blake asked, both surprised and a little relieved.
The Ancient One didn't respond emotionally at all.
Holding back the anger that was clearly visible in the veins bulging on his forehead, he simply raised one hand. In an instant, the Eye of Agamotto—along with the Time Stone inside it—returned to its rightful place on his chest.
"Go and see for yourself… see what you've done, 'genius child,'" he said in a toneless voice.
Without giving Blake any time to argue or ask questions, the Ancient One opened a spatial portal and stepped through, vanishing just like that.
Blake scratched the back of his head, utterly confused.
What was that about?
The very next second, the Infinity Perception System inside him flooded his mind with an overwhelming torrent of visual data. Blake froze in place.
New York had doubled in size.
No… not just New York.
The entire Earth, the solar system, the Milky Way… the whole Marvel Universe had expanded.
And what shocked him the most—
The human population on Earth had doubled as well.
The Infinity Perception System went into full operation. After observing for several minutes, Blake finally realized the terrifying truth.
The Marvel Universe had merged with another universe.
And that universe was unmistakably the DC Universe.
There was now a city called Gotham in America. Information about DC's superheroes began popping up one after another.
Batman. Wonder Woman. Green Lantern. The Flash. Aquaman.
And of course, the most famous of them all—Superman and Supergirl.
It wasn't just the heroes of justice, either. The villains of the DC Universe now truly existed in this new, merged world.
The entire planet, including Earth itself, had fallen into total chaos.
And it wasn't only because of supervillains running wild.
Even the real-world power structures and legal systems were being torn apart.
Just imagine this—
In the United States alone, there were now two Presidents in power at the same time.
So who were the people supposed to listen to?
— — —
Watching the countless incidents erupting across the streets, and feeling the crushing weight of responsibility because all of this had happened due to him, Blake didn't waste another second.
In his heart, he silently chanted a spell.
In the blink of an eye, his luxurious home was filled with countless copies of himself.
This was Clone Magic.
Blake had created more than 1,300 clones.
It was an absurd number. But thanks to the limitless energy flowing into his body from two connected dimensions, every single clone possessed power that couldn't be underestimated.
In simple terms—
It was like 1,300 Superman-level mages roaming around the world.
Blake himself didn't move.
He became a cold, emotionless command unit, using the Infinity Perception System to monitor the entire planet. More than a thousand "Blakes" opened portals to locations all over the globe.
Some focused on rescuing civilians.
Others shut down crimes and violent outbreaks wherever they appeared.
With that many super-powered enforcers in play, Blake forcibly crushed the global chaos in an incredibly short amount of time.
Of course, it wasn't just him.
The superheroes of this merged world also stepped in to help maintain order.
But as information about Blake spread, the President of the Marvel Universe's America arrived with the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, to meet him in person.
Their goal was painfully obvious.
They wanted to use Blake's overwhelming power and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s influence to defeat the President of the DC Universe's America and establish themselves as the only legitimate rulers.
Without much hesitation, Nick Fury agreed to the plan.
After all, who knew if the DC Universe's President would continue pouring billions of dollars into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations if he took control?
But Blake had no patience for political games like that.
With a short teleport, he sent both Nick Fury and the President straight out of his mansion.
Then Blake fell into deep thought.
How was he supposed to fix this chaos…?
He thought for a long time.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a solution.
Huff…
Something this heavy needed to be handed over to a real expert.
With another teleport, Blake headed straight to the Sanctum Sanctorum in London—the Ancient One's residence.
— — —
The two of them stared at each other in silence for a while.
Finally, Blake scratched the back of his head, guilt creeping into his expression, and spoke.
"Ancient One… this all happened because of the Time Magic I was researching, right?"
"Is there any way… to send them back to their own universes?"
The Ancient One slowly shook his head and began to explain.
"Blake, you successfully comprehended Time Reversal as your first spell. You're also clever enough to figure out that running the 'Time Reversal' rune in reverse would result in Time Acceleration."
"But your guess about Time Stop went far beyond the limit. Combining Time Reversal and Time Acceleration at the same time causes the collapse of the timeline itself."
"And just so happened, your body is a conduit for two massive Dimensional Energies."
"With the infinite energy supply flowing through you, our world fused with another parallel world. Two timelines now run side by side. You've already seen the result of that."
"From now on, we all have to live in the same world."
"Unless someone can fully comprehend the Laws of Time and become the very Incarnation of Time itself… no one can reverse this."
Blake fell silent.
"…So that's how it is."
The Ancient One looked up at the sky, as if speaking to the universe itself.
"What's done is done. There's no need to dwell on it too deeply. Maybe, from the very first day you arrived in this world, all of this was already destined to happen."
With a deep frown, Blake asked again, "But Ancient One… you can see the future, right? Did you already know this would happen?"
For the first time in a long while, the Ancient One rolled his eyes and replied with a half-annoyed tone.
"You're a mage who's already grasped time magic, and you still don't understand something this basic?"
"Time Magic allows us to see the future, yes—but the future itself is not something fixed. If there were only one future, where do you think all those parallel worlds come from?"
"Every existence capable of influencing the timeline creates new possibilities."
"Unless you are time itself, no one can predict the future with absolute certainty."
"Everything in this world is bound by cause and effect. What we see as the 'future' through time magic is nothing more than a possibility inferred from the Laws of Time."
"And every existence that can affect the timeline… is a variable."
His gaze settled on Blake.
"Including you, Blake. You are that variable."
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