Chương 76: Chapter 76: Thanos Causes Major Trouble and the Arrogant TVA 

"Sylvie. That name doesn't ring a bell at all," Luke drawled, sprawling lazily across his soft, dark energy throne. 

Currently, two Shadow Ninjas were giving him a highly professional massage—one kneading his shoulders, the other pounding his calves—while two more hovered nearby, hand-feeding him pieces of premium grilled meat and holding a straw so he could sip his Coke without moving his head. 

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"Of course you don't recognize it. Because I am not a native to this timeline," Sylvie spat, struggling fiercely against the massive Nightbats pinning her arms, but her efforts were completely futile. 

A bright green, enchanting light suddenly flared to life around her hands. Sylvie attempted to use her signature enchantment magic to mind-control the Nightbats holding her. 

However, instead of subjugating the shadow-beasts, the magic violently backfired! Intricate, pitch-black runic veins of pure dark energy immediately surged up her arms, aggressively overwriting and corrupting her green magic. 

"Ooh, that magical signature looks incredibly familiar," Luke noted, watching the green light flash. 

He had initially been slightly cautious when she started glowing, but seeing the dark energy's automatic, absolute defense instantly severely backfire on her, he completely relaxed. 

Thinking about the specific hue of her magic, Luke glanced over at the bound, pathetic-looking Loki. Why do these two feel incredibly similar? 

Sylvie cried out in agony as the terrifying pain from the dark energy corrosion seared through the magical veins in her arms. 

"Hiss... did you intentionally let my dark energy corrode your magical pathways just now?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow at her incredibly reckless maneuver. "Honestly, the fact that you've survived this long with that kind of decision-making is a miracle." 

With a casual flick of his wrist, Luke extracted the invading dark energy from her body, condensing it back into a harmless, floating black sphere beside him. 

Sylvie gasped for breath, her arms trembling as the pain faded. She stared at Luke's unfamiliar face in sheer bewilderment. 

She had traversed the timeline countless times, slipping through the cracks of history, but she had never encountered this terrifyingly powerful anomaly at this specific point in the timeline before! 

"Uh... 'this timeline'?" Luke repeated, his interest officially piqued. "Which timeline exactly are you referring to?" 

Sylvie frowned at him, utterly confused. "What do you mean 'which timeline'? There is only one timeline." 

"Only one?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "Who exactly told you there was only one timeline?" 

"The TVA. The Time Variance Authority," Sylvie stated a single name, refusing to elaborate further. 

Luke rubbed his chin. 'The Time Variance Authority? That name sounds incredibly imposing, but is there actually an organization like that in Marvel?' 

'Or is this from one of the newer movies or TV shows that came out after I transmigrated?' 

Studying Sylvie for a moment, Luke ordered the Nightbats to release her arms, though they remained hovering silently directly behind her, their echolocation active to ensure she didn't try any of Loki's signature illusion tricks. 

But it was obvious Sylvie either didn't know illusion magic, or she was smart enough not to try it against a superior force. 

She rubbed her sore, bruised wrists, glancing nervously at the terrifying shadow-monsters behind her, making absolutely no sudden movements. 

"The Time Variance Authority constantly monitors and maintains the Sacred Timeline. The moment any individual commits an action that disrupts the predetermined flow of time and spawns a branching timeline, they will immediately draw the TVA's attention!" Sylvie explained urgently. 

"Spawning a branching timeline? You mean, creating a timeline where events don't follow the original, predetermined plot?" Luke asked casually. 

'The Sacred Timeline? I've honestly never heard of that term. Does that mean this 'TVA' is some insanely overpowered organization that literally dictates the entire Marvel Multiverse?' 

Luke knew for an absolute fact—even without reading the comics—that Marvel possessed a near-infinite Multiverse, where every single universe had completely different, unique variations of the characters and storylines. 

"Exactly. The absolute microsecond the TVA detects a temporal branch deviating from the Sacred Timeline, they dispatch heavily armed Minutemen to capture the 'Time Variant' responsible for the disruption. They "prune" the variant from existence and completely reset the entire branched timeline to erase the mistake," Sylvie warned grimly. 

"Therefore, we are not enemies; we are allies. The TVA will be arriving here at any second to capture us and completely eradicate this entire timeline!" Sylvie took a cautious step toward Luke, desperately trying to negotiate an alliance. 

"Have you ever heard of this organization?" Luke turned his head, asking the Ancient One. 

The Sorcerer Supreme gracefully walked over to stand beside him. "I have not. Either they are an incredibly minor, insignificant faction that isn't worth my attention... or they are incomprehensibly powerful cosmic entities, akin to the true conceptual Abstracts." 

The Ancient One turned her serene, piercing gaze toward the captive Sylvie. 

"I have a question. Does this 'Time Variance Authority' truly claim that there is only a single, absolute 'Sacred Timeline'?" 

"Yes. And because of that, they are absolutely going to show up here!" Sylvie insisted frantically. 

"That is highly peculiar," the Ancient One stated calmly. "Because infinite multiplicity has always been the fundamental, defining characteristic of this Multiverse. So, pray tell... what exactly are the specific events that make up this 'Sacred Timeline'?" 

"What else would it be? It's the events that were originally supposed to happen!" Sylvie replied, confused by the question. 

"You mean... our original story?" the Ancient One asked, her eyes glinting. 

"Yes," Sylvie nodded. 

"That makes even less sense," the Ancient One smiled faintly. "Because based on my direct, personal knowledge, there are countless, drastically different versions of our 'story' currently playing out across the Multiverse. Every single story is utterly unique." 

"Yeah, exactly. I literally know for a fact there's a universe where Tony Stark is a woman," Luke chimed in helpfully. 

'You certainly know quite a lot, little brother,' the Ancient One shot Luke a silent, highly meaningful side-eye. 

"But—" Sylvie tried to argue. 

"Blindly arguing over theory will never lead to the truth. Only practical experimentation can provide empirical answers," Luke interrupted, raising a hand. "If this so-called 'Time Variance Authority' truly exists, we'll just wait for them to show up and see exactly what kind of ghosts or demons they actually are." 

Luke spoke with absolute, unwavering calm. 

"Are you insane?!" Sylvie yelled, completely unable to comprehend his casual arrogance. "You have absolutely no idea how terrifyingly powerful the TVA is!" 

"Oh, here we go again. Another person trying to lecture me on how shallow and insignificant my power is," Luke sighed dramatically, rolling his eyes. He casually snapped his fingers, ordering a Shadow Ninja to fetch a roll of heavy-duty duct tape and securely tape Sylvie's mouth shut. 

"Like I said, practical experimentation brings true knowledge. We'll wait a bit," Luke said to the Ancient One. 

Luke then turned his attention to Loki, walking over to the unconscious god. 

"Hey, did you notice that she looks incredibly similar to him?" Luke asked, pointing at the muzzled Sylvie. 

"Who are you talking to?! I am a Prince of Asgard! How could I possibly be compared to her?!" Loki, having just regained consciousness, immediately sneered arrogantly, trying to maintain his dignity despite being tied up like a pretzel. 

"Uh... guys? Did we forget to give him a cognitive hard-reset?" Luke asked, turning to look at the 'Tactical/Espionage Faction.' Loki was clearly still deeply under the arrogant, aggressive influence of the Mind Stone. 

"Oh, right. I think we actually did forget," Natasha realized. "But it's not too late. Should I do it? I have a lot of experience with cognitive recalibration." Natasha cracked her knuckles, genuinely eager to beat some sense into a god. 

"Actually, I think this specific honor belongs to me." Tony silently ordered his 'Wednesday' armor to casually step in front of Natasha, blocking her path. Tony felt that, as the self-proclaimed 'Uncle Tony,' it was his familial duty to discipline his unruly nephew. 

"NO! He is a Prince of Asgard! You mortals have no right to enact extrajudicial punishment upon him!" Thor roared furiously, marching forward with his chest puffed out. "Therefore, I shall be the one to hit him!" 

"HULK... WANT!" The Hulk, having absolutely no idea what was going on but always eager to join a brawl, also eagerly rushed over. 

Instantly, the lounge devolved into absolute chaos as everyone argued over who got to physically assault the God of Mischief. 

Luke watched the hilarious argument unfold. He glanced down at Loki, whose face had suddenly broken out in a cold, terrified sweat as he realized exactly what they were arguing about. 

Luke smiled warmly. He casually picked up an aluminum baseball bat that had been lying nearby and brutally, mercilessly swung it directly at Loki's head. 

CLANG! 

"Uh... sorry, I didn't knock you out on the first swing. It's my first time trying this specific technique, so you might have to endure a little pain," Luke apologized insincerely. Completely ignoring Loki's absolutely furious, teary-eyed glare, Luke adjusted his stance, wound up like a professional batter, and swung again. 

CRACK! 

This time, Loki was successfully knocked unconscious, a single, blissful tear sliding down his cheek as he embraced the sweet release of oblivion. 

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Natasha sighed. 

"Agreed," Tony muttered. 

"Where were we in our discussion?" the Ancient One asked Banner smoothly. 

"HULK... WANT!" 

Seeing that Loki was completely unconscious and the fun was over, the various factions disappointedly returned to their previous corners of the lounge. 

"Uh, Thor? I think you really need to come look at this." 

Luke frowned deeply. After knocking Loki unconscious, the Mind Stone's lingering magical illusions had instantly completely dissipated. Looking down at Loki's unconscious body, Luke realized the situation was significantly more severe than he had anticipated. Someone was going to pay a very heavy price for this. 

Yes, I'm talking to you, Purple Grape! 

Thor walked over, glanced down, and his entire body violently froze. He stared in absolute, unadulterated horror. 

Loki's right arm, from the shoulder down, was completely gone, replaced by a brutal, jagged cybernetic prosthetic! 

"HEIMDALL! OPEN THE BIFROST! TELL THE HEALERS TO PREPARE THE GRAND INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY!" 

Thor roared furiously at the ceiling, his voice trembling with sheer rage and grief. He then turned pleadingly to Luke. 

Understanding the urgency, Luke immediately drew a Sling Ring portal directly into Asgard's medical wing. He also used a telekinetic push to gently toss the glowing blue Tesseract directly into Thor's hands. 

This idiot child was so angry he almost forgot the entire reason he came to Midgard. 

The second Thor stepped through the portal with Loki, the portal snapped shut. 

Almost immediately after, three bizarre, rectangular, glowing orange portals sequentially sliced open in the center of the lounge. Several individuals wearing incredibly strange, anachronistic tactical gear stepped out. 

How to describe their outfits? Their thick, padded armor and clunky helmets looked like something out of a WWII sci-fi movie. Honestly, actual WWII soldiers probably had better-looking gear. 

However, they were all wielding strange, bulky batons that emitted a dangerous, glowing orange light at the tip, which slightly elevated their perceived technological threat level. Still, overall, they didn't look particularly impressive. 

"MMPH! MMPH!" Sylvie violently struggled against her restraints, her eyes wide with terror as she saw the heavily armed intruders. 

Clearly, these were the fabled 'Minutemen' of the Time Variance Authority she had been warning them about. 

The Minutemen were incredibly arrogant. They completely ignored the Avengers, Tony Stark, the Hulk, and even the Sorcerer Supreme. They marched with absolute, robotic purpose directly toward the terrified Sylvie. 

Luke raised an eyebrow. 'These guys definitely have some serious backing if they dare to completely ignore the Ancient One standing right in front of them.' 

A sea of pitch-black shadows instantly erupted from beneath Luke's feet, rapidly surging forward to completely encircle the intruders. 

"Variant Loki, you are under arrest for crimes against the Sacred Timeline!" The lead Minuteman, a stern-looking older woman, aggressively held up a bulky, retro-futuristic tracking device, confirming Sylvie's identity. She then reached out, intending to aggressively lock a heavy, metallic 'Time Collar' around Sylvie's neck. 

"Hold on. Don't you think casually slapping dog collars onto other people's prisoners is incredibly rude and highly disrespectful?" Luke suddenly spoke up. 

Simultaneously, the two Nightbats holding Sylvie instantly floated several feet backward, smoothly evading the Minuteman's collar. 

"Who are you?" The older woman frowned, glaring at Luke. She had never encountered dark energy manipulation like this before, nor did she recognize the boy's face. 

However, she didn't care. In her extensive career pruning thousands of branching timelines, there were always insignificant, anomalous individuals she hadn't seen before. They were all just trash meant to be pruned anyway. 

"Uh, my name is Luke. Nice to meet you," Luke introduced himself politely. A Shadow Ninja silently stepped out of the floor and respectfully handed him a glass filled with ice-cold Coca-Cola. 

"This is official Time Variance Authority business. Stand down and cooperate immediately, or you will be pruned," the woman stated coldly, completely ignoring his polite greeting. She aggressively drew her glowing orange baton, preparing to use lethal force. 

"So, you're the type that insists on getting beaten half to death before you're willing to actually have a civilized conversation," Luke sighed heavily, swirling the ice in his Coke. 'Why is every single alien or dimensional traveler today an absolute, arrogant megalomaniac?' 

Luke casually tossed the glass of Coke onto the marble floor. 

SMASH! 

The shattering glass was the signal. 

Tens of thousands of pitch-black silhouettes violently erupted from the shadows in the room, instantly forming an absolutely impenetrable, suffocating wall of lethal dark assassins completely surrounding the handful of Minutemen. 

To show his absolute "respect" for their fabled authority, Luke had specifically deployed over ten thousand elite Shadowkhan to test exactly how strong these guys really were. 

"Fine. Let's have a little brawl first. Then, we can have a proper, polite conversation!" Luke announced calmly, settling back into his dark energy throne and accepting a fresh glass of Coke from a nearby ninja.