Chương 82: Chapter 82: The Three-Man Avengers 

A few minutes later, Luke and his group leisurely departed from the Citadel at the End of Time. 

Sylvie meticulously wiped the blood from her dagger, breathing a long, deeply satisfied sigh of relief. The mastermind was dead. Her ultimate revenge was complete. However, she suddenly felt profoundly hollow, having absolutely no idea what to do with the rest of her life. 

For countless years, her singular purpose had been to hunt down and assassinate the creator of the Time Variance Authority. Now that the deed was done, the future seemed incredibly daunting and uncertain. 

Luke, who had been actively trying to abduct Sylvie to his universe to spark some hilarious sibling rivalry with the one-armed MCU Loki, saw his opening. He bounded over to Sylvie and relentlessly bombarded her with invitations to join his universe. After several minutes of non-stop persuasion and promises of a comfortable life, he finally managed to convince her to tag along. 

As for the other Loki Variants standing awkwardly nearby? Luke casually waved his hand, telling them that if they knew the way back to their respective universes, they should hurry up and go home for dinner and stop bothering him. 

The Ancient One shook her head in mild amusement. She tapped a few commands into the confiscated TVA TemPad and opened a glowing orange Timedoor. 

The group stepped through the portal, returning to the sterile, bureaucratic halls of the Time Variance Authority headquarters. 

Looking around the eerily quiet, empty corridors, Luke frowned. "Are those guys still unconscious?" 

"Something feels highly irregular," the Ancient One murmured, gliding over to a massive bronze statue standing in the center of the atrium. 

"Wait... I thought the TVA was exclusively decorated with statues of those ugly Space Lizards? When did they replace it with a statue of that guy?!" Luke pointed in bewilderment. The massive statue now perfectly depicted the face of He Who Remains! 

"It is highly probable that one of his multiversal Variants has already assumed control of the organization," the Ancient One deduced calmly. 

Right on cue, a man riding a sleek, hovering technological platform descended gracefully from the upper levels. 

"You dare intrude upon MY Time Variance Authority?!" 

The man hovering before them was physically identical to the 'He Who Remains' that Sylvie had brutally stabbed to death just minutes ago! However, this Variant possessed an incredibly arrogant, deeply malicious aura. 

"Wow. You were right. He actually got replaced instantly," Luke said, genuinely curious. "If we kill this one, will another one just instantly pop up to take his place?" 

"It is highly probable. Therefore, it would be far more efficient to simply obliterate this entire facility and eradicate the organization entirely," the Ancient One proposed a highly pragmatic, devastating solution. 

"You dare speak of destroying MY life's work?!" The Variant Kang roared, literally stomping his foot on his hover-platform in sheer fury. 

"GUARDS! EXECUTE THEM ALL!" 

Following Kang's command, hundreds of Minutemen and heavily armored TVA guards poured out of the surrounding corridors, wielding a diverse array of advanced weaponry. 

"Well, at least these guys actually upgraded their arsenal," Luke chuckled, eyeing the glowing energy rifles and heavy blasters. 

Luke stomped his foot heavily against the marble floor. 

A massive, hyper-concentrated shockwave of pure dark energy violently erupted outward. The dense, corrosive energy instantly engulfed the charging guards, completely annihilating their physical bodies while miraculously leaving a large portion of their advanced technological gear perfectly intact on the floor. 

Seeing his entire security force vaporized in less than a second, Kang's face went deathly pale. 

Luke casually raised his hand. Dozens of pitch-black magical arrays materialized in the air completely surrounding Kang's hover-platform. Thick, heavy chains forged from solid dark energy shot out of the arrays, securely binding Kang and his platform in place. 

"Why didn't you summon your shadow army to do the fighting for you?" the Ancient One asked with a slight smile. 

"Because if those annoying Minutemen managed to prune more of my ninjas, I'd have to waste time figuring out how to retrieve them again," Luke explained pragmatically. 

He tightened his grip on the dark energy chains, locking the furious Kang in place, and turned back to the remaining Loki Variants. 

"Grab a TemPad and go back to your respective universes! Tony, quickly gather up all the advanced gear those guards dropped. We'll reverse-engineer it when we get back." 

Kid Loki grabbed a TemPad, quickly punched in a series of temporal coordinates, opened a Timedoor, and stepped through without a word. 

Classic Loki hesitated for a moment. He then scooped up Alligator Loki and followed Kid Loki through the portal. In his original timeline, he had lived in absolute, crushing isolation on a desolate planet for over a thousand years. Rather than returning to that lonely existence, he preferred to travel with people he actually knew. 

Boastful Loki confidently grabbed a TemPad and opened a portal to an entirely unknown universe, seeking new glories. 

The original MCU Variant Loki glanced nervously at Sylvie, grabbed a TemPad, and quickly escaped. 

Luke couldn't be bothered to care where they went. He turned his attention back to the bound, struggling Kang, and offered a chilling, wicked smile. 

The Bolts of Balthakk! 

Dozens of devastating, highly concentrated bolts of dark lightning violently erupted from Luke's hands, striking Kang simultaneously. The sheer, overwhelming destructive force instantly blew the arrogant Conqueror to pieces! 

Without pausing, Luke opened a massive portal connecting directly to the Dark Dimension behind him. He aggressively pulled out several 'Billion-Point' Dark Energy Crystals, crushing them instantly to condense nearly ten billion Energy Points into a single, unstable, hyper-dense sphere of absolute destruction. 

"That should be enough to wipe this place off the map. Open the door, let's go home!" Luke yelled over his shoulder. 

"A standard Timedoor will not allow us to seamlessly reintegrate into the precise moment the timeline was reset. I must first calibrate the exact temporal anchor point to ensure you are returned to your proper positions," the Ancient One explained calmly. She opened a glowing orange Timedoor and began casting intricate, golden magical arrays to modify the temporal destination. 

"Hand all your scavenged technology to Sylvie, Mr. Stark. I will transport her directly to Kamar-Taj for safekeeping. You may retrieve the artifacts from me at a later date." 

Tony quickly dumped the armful of advanced TVA rifles and gadgets into Sylvie's arms and stepped up to the swirling, modified Timedoor. He looked at the complex, glowing runes hovering around the edges. "Uh... what exactly do I need to do?" 

"Remain perfectly calm," the Ancient One instructed, before casually shoving Tony backward through the portal. 

After adjusting the arrays slightly, she gently guided Sylvie through the portal as well. 

"I believe you should go next," the Ancient One gestured to Luke. 

"Are you sure? The absolute second I step through that portal and my direct control is severed, this ten-billion-point bomb is going to detonate," Luke pointed at the violently swirling sphere of apocalyptic dark energy hovering in front of him. 

"Do not worry. I shall step through precisely behind you. Otherwise, you would have no one to hold the door open," she smiled serenely. 

"Alright then." Luke glanced down the long corridor and saw another figure riding a hover-platform rapidly approaching in the distance. He offered a cheerful wave, stepped backward through the Timedoor, and the Ancient One seamlessly followed. 

The portal instantly snapped shut. 

Without Luke's active, conscious control binding the energy together, the hyper-dense sphere violently expanded, unleashing an apocalyptic shockwave of pure dimensional energy that completely swallowed the entire Time Variance Authority. 

Luke stepped out of the portal and instantly found himself standing on the roof of a building overlooking the ruined Stark Tower. 

He was holding a massive skewer of grilled meat, casually fanning the delicious aroma toward Tony. 

"Why does it smell so good from all the way over here?" Future Tony muttered, completely bewildered. 

Luke watched Future Tony turn around in shock. Luke took a massive bite of the barbecue. 

"Long time no see, Tony." 

After a brief, highly confusing exchange, Luke instructed the Future Avengers to wait for further instructions and quickly returned to the victory banquet in the lounge. 

"Looks like you're not planning to follow the original script anymore?" Tony asked, walking over with a plate of barbecue. 

"The fundamental level of trust between me and the rest of your team is currently abyssal," Luke sighed helplessly. "You heard what the Ancient One said. If a conflict ever arises, Steve, Natasha, and Barton will actively try to take me down. Allowing them to interact extensively with time-travelers from a broken future will only exacerbate their paranoia. It does more harm than good." 

"Fair enough. At least we get to enjoy a proper, stress-free victory party this time," Tony said, popping a piece of grilled octopus into his mouth, intentionally not offering any to the bound Loki. 

Poor Loki. He didn't get to eat a single bite of barbecue this time around either. 

Luke glanced down at the struggling God of Mischief and casually, efficiently knocked him unconscious with a swift chop to the neck. 

Nailed it! First try! 

Luke mentally patted himself on the back. Since the timeline had reset, technically, he had knocked Loki out on the 'first' try this time! 

He decided not to immediately call Thor over to drag Loki back to Asgard just yet. He wanted to genuinely enjoy the victory banquet first. 

"By the way, I've decided this 'Avengers' initiative is incredibly unreliable. I'm officially withdrawing my participation," Tony whispered conspiratorially to Luke. 

Hiss~ 

Because Luke had prevented Agent Coulson's 'death,' Nick Fury had never actually found the emotional leverage to formally pitch the "Avengers Initiative" to the team! Thor and Banner had never officially signed on, and now Tony was dropping out! 

That meant Fury's 'super-team' currently consisted entirely of Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton! 

An Avengers team with only three people?! Is that even a team?! 

Wait... if the Avengers don't properly form... will the Civil War still happen?! 

Speaking of the Civil War... 

Luke glanced at Tony. Because Tony had been busy aggressively interrogating the Ancient One about the integration of magic and technology earlier, he hadn't spoken to the time-travelers and had completely missed the opportunity to learn that his parents had been assassinated by Steve's best friend! 

Should I use the TVA technology to travel back to 1991 and casually save Tony's parents? 

That would completely prevent Tony from suffering that massive emotional trauma later! Since they had just stolen a massive pile of advanced TVA temporal tech, executing a precise extraction mission to save two people right before their predetermined 'deaths' shouldn't be a major issue! 

Meanwhile, back in Kamar-Taj... 

The Ancient One casually tossed Future Banner through a portal to reunite with his time-traveling team. She then picked up a confiscated TVA TemPad and immediately began attempting to calculate the precise temporal coordinates to locate the future Stephen Strange. 1

Sylvie, on the other hand, was staring at Kamar-Taj's massive, infinite library with literal stars in her eyes. The only spell she actually knew how to cast was her signature enchantment magic. Now that she had unrestricted access to the greatest collection of magical knowledge in the universe, she was determined to study! Classic Loki's ability to conjure an entire city out of thin air had profoundly inspired her!