Chương 75: Chapter 75: Customers Arrive One After Another 

Future Tony hesitated for a moment. "In the future, I was severely wounded by Thanos. Stephen Strange voluntarily surrendered the Time Stone to spare my life." 

The Ancient One shook her head, thoroughly perplexed. Why didn't Stephen just use the Time Stone to brutally obliterate Thanos? He clearly possessed the capability to manipulate local time to turn the Mad Titan into an infant or age him into dust. 

However, realizing her future successor likely had a grand, overarching master plan, the Ancient One paused. 

'Let me get this straight. Stephen essentially commanded them to execute a massive, multi-timeline heist to borrow six Infinity Stones, just so they could return and resurrect everyone?' 

Is that even allowed?! 

But then she realized the brilliance of the strategy. If Thanos was already dead in their timeline, they could simply gather the Stones, resurrect the victims, and never have to worry about the Mad Titan stealing the gauntlet back. 

This kid plays with timelines like an absolute professional. The logic is flawless: wait until Thanos is dead, then casually snap my fingers and fix everything. 

Thinking about it from that perspective, the Ancient One actually found Stephen's strategy highly commendable. He truly was a tactical genius. 

But wait a minute. Didn't he know he could use the Time Stone to continuously train in localized time-loops to increase his own magical power? He used that exact tactic to defeat Dormammu! Why didn't he just loop himself for a few thousand years, achieve ultimate mastery, and then casually slaughter Thanos in a one-on-one fight? 

Suddenly, the Ancient One couldn't decide whether to praise or scold her successor. 

If she called him stupid, his time-heist plan was actually incredibly effective. If she called him brilliant, he had intentionally chosen the absolute riskiest, most convoluted method possible, nearly resulting in complete timeline collapse! 

Wait... Is this kid just incredibly lazy?! Did he literally choose this convoluted method just so he could 'AFK' through the hardest part of the war?! 

The Ancient One suddenly had a terrifying epiphany. 

Stephen essentially fought one battle on Titan, 'died,' AFK'd for five literal years, popped back in for the final battle, and walked away a hero! 

Furthermore, because he was 'snapped' out of existence, those five years didn't actually count against his mortal lifespan! He hadn't aged a single day! 

Damn. That kid is a manipulative genius. 

The Ancient One silently gave Stephen a mental thumbs-up. This was exactly the kind of highly adaptable, cunning talent she desperately needed to exploit. She immediately began plotting how to dramatically accelerate Stephen's life trajectory to drag him into Kamar-Taj as soon as possible. 

"If he is merely 'borrowing' the Infinity Stones, I see no issue with it. Once our current situation is resolved, you may certainly utilize them to resurrect your lost people. The only condition is that you must return all six Stones to their precise temporal origins within three days," the Ancient One stated gracefully. 

Having given her permission, the Ancient One pulled a sleek smartphone from her robes and gestured to Luke for the Wi-Fi password. However, her eyes kept unconsciously drifting toward the mouth-watering barbecue grills. 

"Can't you just use your data plan? Go ask Tony for the password," Luke replied, completely ignoring her hungry stare. He knew she had been leeching his hotspot for months; it was time to cut her off. 

Seeing that Luke's wings had grown hard enough to defy her, the Ancient One suppressed the incredibly strong urge to smack him with an Eldritch whip. 

Patience. He is my primary financial sponsor. I must endure. 

Seeing the Ancient One begrudgingly walk over to Tony, Luke grabbed a cold Coke and took a long, refreshing drink. 

He mentally checked in on K-Shadow. The colossal monster had practically finished devouring the massive Chitauri command ship. However, suddenly, several significantly more advanced, heavily armored alien warships warped into the sector and immediately opened fire on K-Shadow. 

Unlike the mindless Chitauri, these new ships were incredibly agile, executing complex flanking maneuvers and kiting K-Shadow with devastating plasma barrages. Just as Luke was grabbing some popcorn to watch the cosmic dogfight, a perfectly timed heavy plasma cannon blast struck K-Shadow directly in the core! 

"Uh oh." 

Watching the visual feed instantly cut to static, Luke felt slightly disappointed. Unfortunately, he had anchored the visual projection and remote control spell directly next to the dark energy core; since it had been hit, he couldn't see what happened next. 

Well, considering its core took a direct hit from a heavy plasma cannon, K-Shadow is probably completely obliterated. After all, the structural integrity spell and the energy containment matrices were entirely located in the core... 

Assuming the show was over, Luke dismissed Megatron to go play and jogged over to join Thor in a mobile gaming session. 

Meanwhile, far away in deep space... 

Exactly as Luke had predicted, K-Shadow's massive physical form violently destabilized. The colossal, moon-sized octopus dissolved into a chaotic, formless cloud of raw, uncontained dark energy that began rapidly dissipating into the surrounding vacuum. 

However, by sheer luck, the 'Ten-Million Point' Dark Energy Crystal that served as K-Shadow's 'brain' had not been shattered by the blast! 

The alien warships ceased firing, assuming the bizarre space-monster had been successfully destroyed. 

But suddenly, the massive cloud of dissipating dark energy aggressively surged forward, violently engulfing the alien warships! 

Microscopic tendrils of pure darkness seeped through the ships' hulls, rapidly corrupting the crews. Simultaneously, the surviving Dark Energy Crystal mysteriously teleported directly into the flagship's main bridge. 

The crystal emitted several synchronized pulses of dark energy directly into the ship's primary mainframe, aggressively overwriting the alien code. 

The bridge screens violently flickered with static for several seconds before a single, unified message flashed across every single monitor in the fleet: 

[GROW. EVOLVE. BECOME STRONGER. LOCATE THE MASTER. RETURN TO THE SHADOW. SERVE THE MASTER.] 

Back on Earth, Luke violently sneezed, causing his character to miss a crucial skill shot. His phone screen instantly went black. 

"Bullsh*t! That guy is totally cheating! He launched a sneak attack while I sneezed!" 

Luke roared in absolute, impotent gamer rage. Unfortunately, the game didn't have a global voice chat, so he couldn't trash-talk his opponent. 

While Luke was raging, Tony stealthily approached the Ancient One, who had somehow managed to covertly acquire a massive plate of barbecue. 

Leveraging the goodwill he had earned by providing the Wi-Fi password, Tony pulled out the '10-Million Point' Dark Energy Crystal Luke had given him earlier. 

"Excuse me, Sorcerer Supreme. I have a theoretical question. Luke mentioned earlier that magic and technology are fundamentally just different methods of manipulating ambient universal energy. Based on that logic... is it theoretically possible for me to build technological devices capable of actively casting magical spells?" 

The Ancient One glanced at the incredibly dense, high-tier crystal in Tony's hand. Since he had provided the Wi-Fi password, she was perfectly willing to offer some guidance. 

"It is absolutely possible. In fact, many of the ancient, enchanted artifacts stored within Kamar-Taj's vaults could technically be classified as 'magical technology' designed specifically to cast spells without requiring innate mystical aptitude." 

On the other side of the lounge, the newly unbound Future Four were huddled together, quietly discussing their next move. However, since the fate of their timeline was no longer entirely in their hands, they had no choice but to rely on Luke's cooperation. Future Tony was nominated to go ask for help. 

Luke, having decided to just hire a high-ranked Shadow Ninja to play his mobile game for him, was currently eating barbecue and watching the ninja play. He glanced at Future Tony. 

Remembering the epic, massive final battle he had seen in the Avengers: Endgame trailers before he transmigrated, Luke was actually quite curious to see how the original plot resolved itself. 

Therefore, he casually agreed to travel back to their timeline with the Infinity Stones to help them perform the 'Snap.' After all, Luke fully intended to collect the Infinity Stones in this universe anyway. Regardless of Thanos, every single Infinity Stone seemed capable of unlocking incredible new features within his System. 

I want them all! Thanos can go play in a sandbox. 

Luke briefly asked Future Tony where the rest of the Avengers were currently located in their timeline. Hearing the various locations and time periods, Luke asked the Ancient One if she could simply use her magic to pull them all directly into this timeline. 

The Ancient One immediately refused. 

You think I'm going to casually abuse time magic like that?! If I could just pull anyone I wanted across timelines, I would have already dragged the future Sorcerer Supreme here to do my paperwork for me! 

Luke sighed regretfully, abandoning the idea. It seemed he would have to personally travel into deep space to meet the Guardians of the Galaxy eventually. He actually didn't mind; going on an intergalactic vacation sounded fun. Plus, he was eager to see if the highly advanced alien civilizations had developed full-dive, virtual reality video games! 

If he used a neural interface, he could finally stop losing mobile games because of his clumsy thumbs! 

Having finalized a rough plan, Luke shooed the Future Four away to go do whatever they wanted. 

After a brief discussion, the Future Four split up and headed deeper into the city. Based on their sneaky behavior, they were clearly preparing to execute their time-heist. 

Luke looked back at the victory banquet. The atmosphere had shifted significantly. 

The group was currently divided into three distinct factions. Tony, Banner, and a highly reluctant Ancient One formed the 'Academic Faction.' Barton, Natasha, and Steve formed the 'Tactical/Espionage Faction.' And Thor and the Hulk formed the 'Toddler Faction.' Oh, and S.H.I.E.L.D. cleanup crews were awkwardly hovering around the edges, forming the 'Spectator Faction.' 

Looking at the options, Luke smoothly slid into the 'Toddler Faction.' Wait, no, it's not the Toddler Faction! It's the Gourmet Faction! 

Just as Luke joined Thor and Hulk in an epic eating contest, the Nightbat currently hiding in his shadow suddenly popped its head out and chirped softly. 

'Seriously, why is today so incredibly busy? Who else is trying to sneak around my territory?!' 

Luke glanced over at the bound, miserable Loki. He honestly couldn't think of anyone else in the Marvel Universe currently on Earth who relied heavily on stealth or invisibility. 

Did I trigger a hidden side quest? 

Intrigued, Luke ordered several Nightbats to track down the invisible intruder and drag them over here. 

He wiped the barbecue grease from his face, separated himself from the 'Gourmet Faction,' and walked over to an empty corner of the lounge. 

Dark energy swirled behind him, instantly condensing into a massive, intimidating, pitch-black throne. Luke sat down, adopting an aura of absolute, detached majesty. 

"What is he doing now?" Tony, who was currently enthusiastically discussing quantum mechanics with a forced-smiling Ancient One, glanced over at Luke and shook his head, returning to his questions. 

A few moments later, two massive Nightbats flew over, physically dragging a fiercely struggling woman between them. 

Luke casually glanced at the woman. He didn't recognize her at all. She was probably just some minor, unimportant side character. If she brought warnings of some "world-ending crisis," he could probably just send a squad of a hundred Shadowkhan to deal with it. 

Instantly losing interest, Luke dropped his intimidating posture. The rigid, imposing throne melted and shifted, transforming into an incredibly soft, comfortable, beanbag-like sofa that completely enveloped him. 

As the Nightbats dropped the woman in front of him, Luke lazily gestured for two ninja masseuses to resume working on his shoulders. 

"So. Who are you?" Luke asked, looking at her with absolute boredom. 

The woman glared furiously at the Nightbats, then glanced over at the bound, pathetic Loki in the corner. Her brow furrowed in deep confusion. Finally, she turned her fierce gaze back to Luke. 

"My name is Sylvie." 

read more & support me at patreon(.)com/Lestusk