"What the hell. I thought it would be a long fight. I couldn't even show my toys." Tony said.
"Rejoice that we have not been bombarded with other Celestials. There are a whole bunch of them." John said. Everybody's face became nasty when John said that. He had already transformed back to a normal form after Arishem vanished. He expected more of a fight from him.
It looked as if Arishem had gone easy on them. Even though John didn't know how powerful the Celestials were, he expected more from them.
"Whatever. Why am I concerned about it?" John thought.
"Are there many Celestials?" Natasha asked.
"There are. But I guess they are busy with their own work. All Celestials don't have the same work." John said. All nodded their heads.
"Let's go back. This whole fight is going to raise a storm everywhere." Steve said.
"Well it will. Who cares if it raises eyebrows. As long as the people are safe, the universe is safe. It doesn't matter." Arthur said.
All then vanished from their places and arrived at the Hall to discuss the next course of action.
----
Arishem, after vanishing from his place with only one hand, arrived at a huge hall which looked purely white in color. There was nobody in this huge hall. Except for one person.
That person looked old. He was sitting on a small stool and drawing on a canvas with his paintbrush. It looked serene and peaceful. The whole environment looked as if this place was heaven.
Arishem, who just arrived, reduced his size instantly. He was now the same size as the old man who was sitting. Arishem went slowly to the person and bent on his knee.
This was Arishem. Bending his knee to another person. If the other Celestials came to know this, he would be laughed at. But Arishem knew that he needed to show proper respect to the old man drawing.
"I have done what you asked for. I hope the whole play was worth it." Arishem said.
"Yes. Thank you Arishem. You have done an excellent job. We finally know how deep his power is." the old man said.
"Did he really use all his powers? I feel like he never used the Phoenix Force." Arishem said.
"He can't. At least not now. Phoenix hasn't hatched yet. There is some time for it's hatch." the old man said.
Arishem became silent. He just lost an arm just because this old man asked him to go easy on John. He was in pain but he didn't dare to show any kind of dissatisfaction to the old man. He knew how powerful the old man was. He didn't even dare to show that he was in pain.
"Go back, Arishem. The other Celestials need you. Ah yes.. your arm." the old man said and the next moment the lost arm of Arishem was back. With no scratches and fully intact. Arishem was overjoyed to see this.
Arishem then bowed his head and vanished from his place.
The old man kept on drawing what he had been doing peacefully. There was utter silence for a few moments before he finally said
"You can show up. I don't think there is any reason to hide from me."
And as he said that a man who looked almost as old as the man drawing came out. He wore a black suit and a hat. The man essentially looked like a man stuck in the timeline of World War 1.
"I didn't hide from you. I just wanted to see how long it takes for you to notice me." the old man said.
"You are in my universe, dear friend. Nothing escapes my sight." the old man said.
"Well apparently this new guy has escaped your eyes." the other man in the suit said.
"He is different. He comes from the Wall. Neither you nor me have any powers of control over him."
"Well not gonna argue with that." the man in suit said shrugging his shoulders.
"How is the crack? Is it enlarging?" the old man in the stool asked then.
"It is. There are people there who are monitoring and trying to control the crack. But I am not sure how long it will hold on." the man in suit said.
"Hmm. This is going to be a huge war. A war that will change everything. I am not sure if we will survive this war." the old man in the stool said, finally finishing the drawing.
"Yes. But I hope we win the war. He is our best hope. He comes from the Wall. He has more knowledge of everything than we do." the man in suit said as he finally turned his head to see what his friend was drawing.
On the canvas there was a painting of the universe. The painting looked real as it contained all the stars, the galaxies and all the things required for a universe.
It looked real, because the painting was real. And that was because the old man on the stool was OAA.
One Above All.
----
There will be double uploads tomorrow if there are more than 350 power stone donations by the end of the day.
Thank you.