Chương 77: Chapter 77: The "Powerful" Time Variance Authority 

Seeing the terrifying wall of shadows manifest around her, the older Minuteman gripped her glowing baton tightly. "Alright. It appears you are absolutely determined to oppose the Time Variance Authority today." 

Still acting like hot shit, huh? 

Luke shook his head and silently ordered the Shadowkhan to attack. 

However, the Shadow Ninjas surrounding the Minutemen didn't immediately rush in for the kill. Instead, they hurled specialized, unbreakable shadow-ropes, intending to safely capture the intruders. 

The Minutemen didn't hesitate. The older woman quickly pressed a button on a bulky device strapped to her waist. Instantly, the Minutemen's movements became incredibly, unnaturally fast. They swung their batons with terrifying speed, effortlessly deflecting the incoming shadow-ropes without producing a single sound of wind displacement. 

Before the woman could even register a smug smile of victory, razor-sharp black katanas violently erupted from the shadows directly beneath their feet. 

Two of the Minutemen were instantly impaled, collapsing to the floor in agony. Simultaneously, several Razor Claw assassins blurred out of the encirclement, intending to cripple and capture the remaining survivors. 

The older woman, noticing the lethal blades erupting from the shadows beneath her, moved her seemingly bulky body with impossible, superhuman agility. She swung her glowing baton directly at the shadows on the ground. 

Can that stupid stick actually kill a Shadow Ninja? Luke wondered skeptically. 

But the moment the glowing orange baton struck the shadows, the darkness violently rippled and simply... vanished! It was as if it had been completely erased from reality. 

"What the f*ck?!" Luke leaned forward, genuinely shocked. 

He could distinctly feel through his contract that the Shadow Ninja wasn't dead. However, he had absolutely no idea where the ninja had been sent! It was as if the ninja had been completely removed from this temporal dimension! 

"Well, this is problematic," Luke shook his head. While the woman's movements were incredibly agile due to the temporal acceleration device, her raw physical strength was still far too weak. 

Exploiting the split-second the Minutemen spent dodging the katanas erupting from the floor, several Razor Claws materialized directly beside them. With a flash of cold steel, the Razor Claws brutally severed the Minutemen's hands and feet. 

"Damn it!" B-15 (the older woman) cursed loudly. 

Fighting through the excruciating pain of her severed limbs, she twisted her torso mid-air, forcing the device on her waist to smash heavily against the marble floor. 

A bizarre, shimmering afterimage flashed over her body... and B-15's severed hands and feet miraculously reappeared! 

No. They didn't regenerate. They were... 

"Time manipulation," Luke muttered darkly, turning to look at the Ancient One. 

"Indeed. It appears these individuals possess highly advanced, portable chronological technology. They are manipulating their own localized temporal timestamps to 'rewind' their physical state to a point before they were injured," the Ancient One explained, her eyes shining with intense curiosity regarding this mysterious organization. 

Seeing the sheer, terrifying intellect of the Sorcerer Supreme lock onto them, Luke knew the Minutemen had absolutely zero chance of escaping today. 

Luke smirked, ordering the Shadowkhan to stop holding back and launch a full-scale assault. 

B-15 barely managed to 'prune' a few more incoming ninjas before she was completely disarmed and brutally pinned to the marble floor. 

Several ninjas quickly stripped the Minutemen of all their bizarre, retro-futuristic gear and presented the loot directly to Luke. 

Luke pretended to examine the devices intelligently for a few seconds before casually handing the entire pile over to the Ancient One. 

He didn't know the first thing about temporal mechanics. It was much better to let the literal Master of Time analyze the tech. 

The Ancient One accepted the devices, examining the intricate, glowing circuitry. A small, knowing smile played on her lips. 

"I see. This explains why I have never encountered this organization before. They have meticulously severed every single temporal branch that intersects with their existence." 

"What does that mean?" Luke asked, turning his head. 

"It means that after every single operation they conduct, they utilize these 'Reset Charges' to completely sever the connection between the newly created branching timeline and the primary Sacred Timeline. Because their interventions occur exclusively within the severed branches, I—existing entirely within the primary timeline—would never be able to perceive their actions." 

"Wait. Does that mean the countless anomalies and individuals who possessed the potential to drastically alter the fate of this world, yet mysteriously vanished without a trace over the centuries... were actually abducted by you?" The Ancient One looked down at B-15. 

The Ancient One smoothly glided over to the pinned B-15. Completely ignoring the woman's terrified, defensive glare, she placed a glowing hand directly onto B-15's forehead. 

A few seconds later, the Ancient One withdrew her hand. B-15's expression instantly shifted into a bizarre, completely blank, trance-like state. 

"What did you do to her?" Luke asked. 

"A simple compulsion spell," the Ancient One glanced back at him. "She will answer any question truthfully." 

Interesting. 

Luke crouched down in front of the entranced Minuteman. 

"What is your name?" 

"B-15." 

"I don't want your designation. I want your real name." 

"B-15." 

Wow. These guys don't even have real names. That's incredibly depressing. 

"Where do you come from?" 

"The Time Variance Authority." 

So Sylvie wasn't lying. Luke glanced over his shoulder at Sylvie. He ordered the Nightbats to release her and gently escort her over to the barbecue tables to get something to eat. 

He turned back to the interrogation. 

"What is your primary objective?" 

"Capture Time Variants and prune erroneous branching timelines." 

"Why do you do this?" 

"To prevent the Multiverse from expanding, which would inevitably ignite a catastrophic Multiversal War." 

"How many 'Sacred Timelines' are there?" 

"Only one." 

"Who created the Time Variance Authority?" 

"The three Time-Keepers." 

"Who are the Time-Keepers?" 

"Unknown." 

"What do the Time-Keepers look like?" 

"They resemble massive Space Lizards." 

Uh, gross. Wait... Space Lizards? 

Luke wracked his brain. He didn't remember any 'Space Lizards' in Marvel lore. Wait, aren't those the weird alien things Star-Lord is always kicking in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies? No, that can't be right. 

As Luke was preparing to extract more classified intelligence from B-15, several more glowing, rectangular orange portals sliced open across the lounge. 

A massive squad of heavily armed Minutemen poured out, weapons drawn. 

"Looks like we have more guests. Give them a proper, warm welcome!" Luke ordered cheerfully. 

The tens of thousands of Shadowkhan instantly swarmed the new arrivals. 

However, amidst the chaos of the one-sided beatdown, Luke suddenly spotted an incredibly familiar face among the TVA reinforcements. 

"Loki?!" 

Luke was utterly confused. Wait, Thor literally just carried Loki back to Asgard through a portal! Why is there another Loki here?! Is this a parallel universe variant?! 

"Bring that Loki to me," Luke commanded. 

The Shadowkhan ruthlessly subdued the TVA reinforcements in seconds, separating the Variant Loki and dragging him forcefully over to Luke. 

"Are you a parallel universe Variant of Loki?" Luke asked. 

"Who the hell are you?!" Variant Loki yelled, struggling against the ninjas. He looked around the lounge, spotting the massive piles of dead Chitauri outside the windows. However, the luxurious lounge definitely wasn't the ruined Stark Tower penthouse he remembered. 

"I am your Uncle," Luke stated flatly. He casually reached behind him, accepting an aluminum baseball bat from a waiting Shadow Ninja. 

"Surprise!" 

CRACK! 

Having perfected his technique on the original Loki, Luke didn't miss. He knocked the Variant Loki unconscious with a single, flawless swing. 

Casually tossing the slightly bent baseball bat aside, Luke examined the unconscious Variant. Seeing that this Loki still possessed a normal, biological right arm instead of a terrifying cybernetic prosthetic, Luke confirmed he was definitively a Variant. 

Luke ordered a ninja to splash some ice-cold Coca-Cola onto Loki's face to wake him up. (He didn't have any water, and splashing hot barbecue grease seemed a bit too cruel). 

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Variant Loki roared furiously, sputtering and wiping sticky soda from his eyes as he regained consciousness. 

Luke casually smacked Loki on the back of the head. "I am your Uncle! Show some respect!" 

"You are the Uncle of this universe's Loki! You are NOT my Uncle!" Variant Loki screamed indignantly. 

"Listen here. The only thing I care about is the objective fact that I am Loki's Uncle. If you speak to me with that tone again, I will permanently shut your mouth!" Luke smiled warmly. 

Right on cue, a massive Troll Ninja stepped out of the shadows behind Luke, silently holding a brand new baseball bat. Unlike the previous one, this bat was solid steel. 

"YES! EXACTLY! I SHOULD ABSOLUTELY NOT SPEAK TO MY BELOVED UNCLE IN SUCH A DISRESPECTFUL MANNER!" Variant Loki instantly capitulated, his survival instincts kicking into overdrive. 

"See? Much better," Luke smiled warmly. "Come on, dear nephew. Your Uncle doesn't have much to offer right now, but please, help yourself to some delicious barbecue." 

Luke ordered the ninjas to escort the terrified Variant Loki over to the food tables. He then turned his attention back to the massive pile of captured TVA agents. 

Scanning the bound agents, Luke noticed one individual dressed completely differently from the rest. 

Everyone else is wearing bulky, retro-futuristic tactical armor, but you're wearing a cheap, brown office suit? 

Since he clearly didn't fit in, Luke ordered the ninjas to drag the man over. 

"Hello, sir! I sincerely hope we haven't offended you! I deeply apologize; this is all a massive, terrible misunderstanding! We are the Time Variance Authority, an organization entirely dedicated to ensuring the timeline doesn't deviate toward catastrophic, evil outcomes! We harbor absolutely zero malicious intent toward you!" 

Mobius M. Mobius babbled frantically. The moment he laid eyes on the terrifying teenager sitting on the dark energy throne, he instantly knew this kid was the absolute boss of this entire apocalyptic anomaly. 

"But I despise peace," Luke replied, perfectly adopting the cold, ruthless persona of a comic-book villain. Hundreds of dark energy tendrils materialized behind him, writhing and hissing like venomous snakes. 

Yeah, this supervillain aesthetic is definitely working. 

"Uh, actually, we are completely fine with 'normal' temporal deviations! We would absolutely never interfere with any of your magnificent, evil master plans!" Mobius instantly completely reversed his stance, displaying an incredible talent for spineless survival. 

"Hmph. Look at you," Luke scoffed, dropping the villain act. "Whatever, I'm done playing. Tell me the true identities of those 'Space Lizards'." 

"Space Lizards?" Mobius looked completely bewildered. Since when did the TVA employ Space Lizards? 

"The 'Time-Keepers' or whatever you call them," Luke clarified. 

"Ah, the revered Time-Keepers?" Mobius felt a cold sweat break out across his back. How the hell did these people extract our highest-level classified intelligence so quickly?! 

"Uh, actually, I don't possess the security clearance to know their true identities." 

"Then who in your organization does?" 

"Probably the Judge. Or maybe that annoying, constantly ticking cartoon clock," Mobius shrugged helplessly. He genuinely knew absolutely nothing about the secretive, enigmatic Time-Keepers. 

"Uh... I might actually have some insight regarding that." 

Loki, his mouth currently stuffed with three different barbecue skewers, raised his hand awkwardly from the dining table. 

"Oh? What do you know?" Luke turned to ask. 

Loki forcefully swallowed the massive bite of meat, washing it down with a huge gulp of Coke. 

"Ah, that hits the spot." Loki grabbed a napkin, wiped his mouth elegantly, and strolled over to Luke. 

"It seems you've experienced quite a lot recently. The Loki from this universe was significantly less polite to me," Luke chuckled. 

"Indeed. I have experienced a great many things... especially after reviewing my own designated 'destiny' file," Loki smiled, though a profound, lingering bitterness shadowed his eyes. 

Luke nodded in understanding. It seemed this Variant Loki had genuinely been through the wringer at the TVA. 

"So, tell me. How does the TVA treat its employees? If they dared to mistreat my dear nephew, I'll happily march over there and flip their entire organization upside down," Luke said, casually throwing an arm around Loki's shoulder. 

"Uh, the treatment?" Loki glanced sideways at the terrified Mobius. 

"It's... acceptable. Aside from occasionally forcing me into infinitely repeating, physically painful time loops as punishment, they treated me relatively well," Loki smiled dryly. 

"Good. Otherwise, I would have dragged Odin over to their headquarters for a little 'diplomatic' visit," Luke grinned fiercely, cracking his knuckles. He then glanced at Mobius. 

"By the way, what exactly is the combat capability of the TVA? From what I can see, their entire strike force consists of weak, melee-focused grunts with glowing sticks." 

"Uh, I strongly advise against underestimating their power," Loki chuckled bitterly. "The Infinity Stones—the ultimate artifacts of cosmic power that we spent our entire lives desperately fighting over? They literally use them as mundane paperweights in their offices. Though, to be fair, an Infinity Stone does make a rather aesthetically pleasing paperweight." 

WHAT?! THEY USE INFINITY STONES AS PAPERWEIGHTS?! 

Luke's jaw dropped. He whipped his head around to stare at the Ancient One. 

'Master! We just provoked a terrifying, omnipotent cosmic organization!' 

The Ancient One met his terrified gaze and sighed helplessly. 

"The Infinity Stones are fundamental, conceptual artifacts tethered directly to the material plane of the universe they originated from," she explained calmly, recognizing Luke's panic. "If an Infinity Stone is completely removed from the influence of the material plane—such as within an isolated, pocket dimension existing entirely outside of time and space like the TVA—it becomes completely inert. Without the foundational support of its native universe, an Infinity Stone possesses no more power than a colorful rock." 

'Oh, thank god!' 

Luke breathed a massive sigh of relief. 'Alright, if they don't have god-tier magic, then I have nothing to be afraid of!'