"Who are you?"

"I am you."

"Impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible. All is void. All is permitted. You... have already made your judgment."

He said.

Thanos did not respond immediately. Once again, he observed the being before him—so different, yet so identical. The eyes. The form. The minute movements of the hands. And... within that body that seemed to unify all things, the deep, ambitious, illusory soul bound in restraints.

Space-time, all concrete and abstract existence, existence and nonexistence alike, seemed to enter a state of relative stillness. Though they continued to fall, though the abyss of cosmic wreckage still flowed, the concept known as Thanos—within this universe, the multiverse, the Marvel world—became entangled here, knotted and intertwined.

Fate converged at this very moment.

"..."

Thanos was stunned by the sight before him. A version of himself—perhaps his future self—bearing the grand abstract concepts of the five cosmic creator gods, had appeared before him.

It was simply too shocking. Even having resolved to make the [First Firmament] (Selene), who treated him as a toy, pay the price—even having resolved to die in pursuit of surpassing the gods, even to annihilate himself entirely—Thanos was still shaken by the future vision of himself who had utterly defeated the Five.

Wanting to do something and truly accomplishing it were separated by an immeasurable gulf.

He sensed it simultaneously—[Death], [Eternity], [Infinity], [Oblivion], and even the aura of Galactus.

The benefits of breaking through the concept of a single-universe cosmic god went far beyond mere combat strength or mastery and compatibility with the Infinity Stones. Those were only the basics. More important was the realm itself. As a Titan who had surpassed the limits of a single universe, with one foot stepping into the multiversal tier, he could now comprehend many indescribable, unfathomable concepts.

In that fleeting instant—like sudden enlightenment, like revelation—countless unseen hands of fate pushed him forward, backward, upward, in every direction at once—

He saw himself.

Countless versions of himself.

There was one cursed by the Lady Death he had once secretly loved, afflicted with an incurable cancer, reduced to weakness. A once-mighty emperor rendered powerless, his empire seized, forced to scavenge among ruins and eat rats to survive, even bullied by street thugs, reduced to mere "stone" in the quarry of gods.

There was one who walked the path of order, saving the universe in a manner that aligned with the mainstream political correctness of the cosmos, becoming a great hero—only to be betrayed and stabbed through the heart by a former comrade and enemy who smiled as past grievances were supposedly set aside.

There was one who slaughtered half the life in the universe as well, only for it to be restored, and who himself was exiled to an uninhabited planet, where he became a peaceful farmer, idling away the rest of his life like a hermit.

There was one who became the key to saving a corrupted, cancerous universe of fallen superheroes, only to be exiled and exploited, ultimately discarded and left forever within that doomed universe as a disposable tool.

There was one who exhausted everything to save the one he loved, even choosing self-destruction—only to be stabbed in return by that very beloved.

There was also one who restored the universe from annihilation to normalcy and then quietly withdrew after success.

There were too many.

Him as a scientist living on Titan. Him with a harmonious family, a loving mother and filial child. Him building a household and career. Him living an ordinary life. Him becoming a wandering rogue. Him giving up halfway. Him driven mad by love. Him who failed. Him who succeeded...

Those were his destinies, carved across infinite omnipotent universes along countless timelines where the concept called Thanos existed.

Bitterness, sweetness, sourness, spiciness, saltiness—like a dream of splendor—tasting every flavor of life.

In the next instant, it was a transcendence of the soul. Thanos knew he had changed.

He felt unprecedented clarity. Things he had previously been unable to perceive now became distinct, to the extent that even the smoke that had shrouded him dispersed in a flash.

"...You have already won," the future Thanos said. On the pale skeletal face, those dark, hollow voids regarded his falling self—one of them—without the slightest emotional fluctuation. "What you require now is a more complete victory. A more thorough triumph."

"..."

The future Thanos called out a word—one known only to Thanos himself. It was the nickname his biological mother had given him.

"If you are this powerful, why do you still need my help? If this is my future, then I am already God," Thanos said.

He had seen it—the version of himself who seized the Heart of the Universe. How spirited and triumphant he had been. Not only defeating the gods of the present age and the Five Creator Gods, but even overcoming the omnipotent multiversal arbiter he had never heard of before—the Living Tribunal.

"God? Do you truly believe that [Eternity] and [Death] constitute everything? They do not. The Living Tribunal does not. The gods are not God. The true God rules over all."

Thanos’ expression turned puzzled and grave.

"Who?" he asked. "If He is ’all,’ what can you possibly do?"

"In the endless journey through the great cosmos, I have experienced cycles of life and death several times, becoming an ’anomaly’ unbound by rules. I should have vanished—fallen into eternal sleep, forgotten, erased. Yet His instinctive pursuit of change, and the arrogance of the newborn [First Firmament], gave birth to new laws that brought me before you..."

The phantom of the future Thanos resembled a soulless projector.

"[First Firmament]. The newborn Him is your opportunity. Your only chance to surpass me," he murmured.

"Young me, this is an unprecedented great upheaval. Our God seeks to advance further. Are we toys and players—or fish on the chopping block, or the blade itself?"

The future Thanos extended his hand, deep light pulsing within it.

"I am not a toy. Not anyone’s!" Bound by an indescribable sense of constraint, Thanos reached toward that sole glimmer of light within the ultimate darkness wrapping around him—

He touched it.

He grasped it.

The future.

...

"Last son of Titan, if you desire it, then take it. Do not attempt to tear up the contract."

"Our idle chatter ends here, [First Firmament]."

The Empyrium was already trembling on the verge of collapse. Naturally, [Death] and [Eternity] bore no pleasant expressions. The current universe could barely sustain the few of Them as it was—why had this extraneous creator god, whose total magnitude exceeded Theirs by countless orders, forced entry and dragged matters this far?

Indeed, bursting the universe did not count as an attack nor as tearing up the contract. The Living Tribunal and the God above did not care. But the losses would be borne by Them. Were you venting your anger upon us? Immediately, they began issuing an order of expulsion.

"So fragile." Selene idly flicked her fingers. Countless timelines and parallel universes were crushed into powder like glass beneath a steamroller. Every speck of dust represented a universe.

A smile curved her lips. "So infinitely divided as you are, you cannot even provide space to host a guest?" she said to [Eternity].

A deliberate provocation.

At those words, the other abstract entities aside from [Eternity] instantly grew hostile. The desire to drive her out was written plainly across them.

If [Eternity] became like her, it would mean Their complete annihilation.

"If you insist on remaining for idle talk, I propose convening a cosmic tribunal," [Death] said. She found she truly disliked this [First Firmament] who manifested in the form of a magnificent woman. If you wished to converse, go speak with the Living Tribunal!

"Very well," Selene agreed readily.

"Good."

[Death] was equally decisive. She exchanged glances with her siblings and was about to declare it jointly—when, like sudden electrocution, beneath her black robes, the half-flesh, half-skeletal face changed drastically.

"Thanos!"

She abruptly realized that Thanos had vanished from her perception. Following the tangled streams of universal data, she discovered that every timeline, dimension, and parallel quantum space in the region where Thanos had fallen had shattered.

"What have you done?"

Regardless of the portion of attention she had invested in him, so long as Thanos existed—even if he had become a creator god, bearing the six Infinity Stones, the Cosmic Cube, or even the Heart of the Universe—she should have been able to sense him. Even [Eternity] solidified momentarily, no longer ethereal.

"Nothing much. I gifted my apostle a ’future.’ Did I not say? I enjoy sharing. How dull monotony is. This is quite an amusing diversion, is it not?"

Selene remained utterly composed, fingers posed elegantly, vividly playing the part of a delighted trickster deity.

"Would you care to sit with me tonight and watch the play?"

Turning, Selene extended her hand with a smiling expression. "Listen. That is the sound of the curtain rising."

"Roar—!! [Death], [First Firmament], I am absolutely not your plaything!"

The roar resounded across heaven and earth. The sky collapsed, the Empyrium shattered, and the void chaos of another dimension surged forth.

At the end of the viscous darkness, countless glimmers rose and fell like a streaking meteor, emanating a despair-inducing, terrifying aura. It transcended the material realm—transcended all philosophical, real, illusory, existent and nonexistent understanding.

"That is... impossible."

Even [Eternity] was shaken.

The grandeur of that power, the height of its hierarchy—he had felt only a trace of it before, from the Living Tribunal.

"That is the power of God." Selene applauded, smiling.

Indeed, that taboo was an absolute secret even They could not comprehend.

It was composed of the power belonging to OAA.

Truly not easy—equivalent to the results of her own personal, brutally strict tutelage of this inexpensive student.

Thanos had reclaimed the forbidden destiny that had once been denied, erased, and sealed away from him—the Marvel Reality Controller.

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