[Draul St. Cross POV]
I couldn't help but smile as Dormammu's scream repeatedly played itself like a spring melody in my head.
Not for naught had he screamed because I had forcefully stamped a mark of ownership in the Dark Dimension which would gradually erode Dormammu's. Such a thing was only possible because of the new concept I had fully comprehended, [Infinity].
I had finally evolved my own personal abilities.
My adaptation and evolution abilities were now finally upgraded rather than them upgrading the other abilities I had. It was a very confusing thing to grasp but that was what had happened after my fusion.
The Infinity Stones, among all things, could also act to remove the limit on any being that could wield them but they still worked under the law of cause and effect, a universal constant. Newton was a fucking genius in his third law.
We appeared on a wasteland that was the remnant of what was once Kathmandu.
"Looks like you guys had it rough." I whistled as the scope of destruction which had thoroughly leveled the city entered my mind. They were all sprawled on the ground in one form or another but never had I seen their souls burn any brighter. 'Yup. They're not dying anytime soon.'
"Draul!" I caught the white haired Goddess that launched herself into my arms before stealing my lips.
"Someone sure missed me." I laughed at the fervor in which she kissed me which earned me a static shock.
"Don't do that ever again." She held my head and stared seriously at me with a gaze that demanded an explanation.
"Yeah about that.. I'mma keep my fingers crossed so no promises." I said.
Her rebuttal was cut short by Yelena's sarcastic comment. "We're fine by the way… incase anybody wanna ask."
The sorcerers were already taking care of the damage, trying to salvage what they could from the citywide debris. It would be a pain in the ass to hide all this from the outer world since they already had digital satellite coverage. I could take care of the digital part and also brainwash each and every one of the sentient beings on Earth to erase such a thing from their minds but it would be a pain in the ass to do. Not for the reason that I would have to exert myself but for the sheer fact that I deem it troublesome to do.
"Hold on for a sec, 'Ro. Don't worry, I'm not avoiding the conversation but I'm thinking I might help a little."
She finally relented and let me out of her grasp, leaving me to face everything that their fight had destroyed.
'Let's give the world another scare.'
Exerting my authority over 'Power', I reached out to every single building that was demolished in the event of the demonic invasion worldwide. I might not have the Reality Stone yet, but I'm able to do this…
The debris all around us began crawling back as if they were been rewound in time; rejoining, reconstructing, and even materializing new parts as there went back to the way they had been.
It was an extensive use of the Power Stones ability to replicate other abilities to a certain extent and given how I pretty much have Earth on subconscious surveillance during the whole thing, reversing everything that was broken was just another application of Matter Manipulation.
I didn't touch any of the dead bodies, even the ones that were nothing else but blood and bits, and left them at the same spot that they were when I arrived back on Earth. The blood stains were still on the road side and walls but apart from that nothing else was out of place, even the electricity was working fine.
'Heh, I almost want to see the panicked faces of the government leaders when they find out that nothing was damaged but lives were lost.'
A small usage of both the Power and Mind Stone kept the whole world and even their digital interfaces on lag which left them unaware of how everything happened.
It took a few second over two minutes, time which would have been a lot faster had I gotten the Reality Stone or even the Time Stone, which reminds me.
"Hey Strange, give." I made a gesture towards the Time Stone and watched the slightest bit of hesitation flash through his face before he relented and opened the Eye of Agamotto and passed me the green gem of time.
I looked towards the companion he'd brought with us, a demoness and quite a strong one at that. Strange noticed my gaze and came to her defense.
"I thought it would be best if we bring her with us since she wasn't expressly our enemy and she did help me quite a bit."
I nodded at that reasoning. There was no way I would go against Strange having his fated wife and living his unfortunate life.
I looked at the Time Stone and nodded at the others before bidding them farewell. "See you guys in a few. I think it's high time I collected an overdue stone."
Yeah, I sure was getting an earful when I went back home if the expression on Ororo's face was any indication.
Using my connections to the other Infinity Stones, I tore through space and found myself in a dark crevice. My form was intangible as the crevice was too small for someone to stick more than a thin hand inside.
I could feel the Aether hum in excitement as it too yearned to be whole again as one of the six. The Time Stone lit up in green light and I could feel the four aspects of Infinity inside me tremble.
I reached in and grabbed the elusive form of the Aether and used my energy to solidify it back to its original state.
My heart was beating in excitement as I held the two final piece of the Infinity Stones in my hands and knew that this was my first step into Endgame.
With both my soul and my body each gaining the aspect of Infinity, there was no longer any need for me to waste my time in trying to comprehend or adapt to the authority of the Infinity Stones because I was already an infinite aspect.
Infinity multiplied by Infinity was at the end, infinite. Simple math.
I pushed the two stones into my eye sockets, destroying the organ that was there in the first place and forcefully started an evolution that would change me forever.
My main abilities were Adaptation and Evolution. Giving these two abilities an infinite aspect was something I had long pondered on. Of course I knew about the draw back of the Infinity Stones being that they can't work in another universe, but I still went for them regardless.
My actions had already put me in the radars of the Abstracts; Infinity to be exact, but there was nothing I could do.
It was only after I fused with the Soul and Mind Stone that I was truly able to experience the universe in a way that the Space Stone never let me. But even then, the knowledge was still not complete.
I was only able to grasp the ever moving present but not the past and future; the Time and Reality Stone would change that.
Different from the way I fused with the other stones, the way I fused with the last two stones were entirely different.
Taking a page out of Scarlet Witch's book, I bombarded the two stones with energy from the other Infinity Stones which immediately caused them to shatter but the expelled energy had no where to escape to other than filter back inside my body.
The universe was open before my eyes; past, present and future became as pages of a book. Alternate realities became no more as chapters of the same book as time. It was no longer a probability but an assured fact that the universe was nothing more than my playground.
My power could suppress both Gods and demons but even though I was nigh-omnipotent in this universe, there were still beings that still boast that power of strength and beyond.
Galactus.
The multiversal Abstracts.
… And that darkness with the mad laughter that gives me chills every time I look at it. I already had an inkling of who that was and the thought was very frightening.
It laid buried under a planet but the presence of it was… oofh.
I saw the cracks that had marred the universe due to my actions and the pungent void that was spilling in, taking life away from planets every living second.
I saw them devouring the stars and drowning galaxies in madness and chaos. Everything was getting tainted and at the edge of what I could call the universe, I saw them…
Golden lights of absolute and the mad black void of nothingness, facing each other at the void between universes. They stood before each other, barring the other from interfering.
The Living Tribunal and the embodiment of my nightmares.
Looking at them had me in pure awe at the vastness of their might. There were at a level that I still couldn't comprehend even after attaining the strength I currently have. I instinctively knew that they stood above everything else and below only one being.
They were the epitome of what could be considered omnipotence.
"Oh? Look what we have here? I guess this as good a time as any." The Nightmare spoke and turned its darkness towards me.
The Living Tribunal who had his arms folded across his chest mirrored the Nightmare and faced me with its three pairs of eyes, the hood being slightly lifted from the other two, each threatening to bore a hole through me.
"The mortal." Was all he said and remained unmoving even in the face of the Living Nightmare.
"I had wondered how the One True One would wake, but looking at you… I can't help but anticipate." It surrounded me with its nothingness but different from the primal fear I had once felt, though still absolutely terrifying that it made me shake like a leaf in a winter storm, it felt somehow… normal. "But woe to thee, for the descendants seek your head. You were the one who vied for a place in the void and trespassed where you should have not. You have insulted them which you shouldn't have… I hope you forfeit not your life."
And with that, both the eternal darkness and the blinding light completely disappeared from the neighboring universes leaving me with only one thought. 'What the fuck did my future self do?'
I knew that for the life of me I had no idea what it was talking about so the only thing that came to mind was that my future self had fucked around and found out. Since most, if not all beings at my level were able to travel through time or rather that linear time didn't exist for them, it stands to reason that they would naturally pick the point where all this shit started since time travel shenanigans couldn't affect me as I was right now and also the fact that the Living Tribunal prevented them from entering this universe and it was me fucking around with the Infinity Stones that gave them the free pass they needed.
"Really Draul? You finally get one thing right and you somehow manage to fuck it all up in the most cliché way possible? I really want to smack you right across the face right now." Turns out that whatever revelations I was having during my confrontation with the Top Gs of reality was forced to happen all at once.
I could see the spiderweb of time and space crisscrossing against each other at multiple intervals, branching into new webs at every second that passed by. I could pick any point in time I wanted to visit and all it would take was a thought for me to get there and also I could break through the flimsy barrier that shielded this universe from its numerous counterparts but the barrier got harder the more the universe was towards the center – 616.
.
.
.
========================
Check out my other fic - TEEN WOLF: BLOODBORN
Don't forget to vote.
Read up to 30 chapters ahead at pa*treon.com/Draul_TheOminous.