As for how to get six Infinity Stones as fast as possible while keeping the impact on the universe to a minimum...

There was only one answer: kill Thanos at the final battle of Avengers: Endgame and take the Infinity Gauntlet.

The Watcher had already gone too far to turn back. Since he had already helped Jovian find a path forward, there was no other road left for him now. All he could do was walk this brutal path with Jovian all the way to the end.

Besides, if Jovian really pulled it off and became the Eighth Eternity, then this gamble absolutely would not be a loss for them. They would definitely be able to carve out a place for themselves in the new universe.

"Why not strike during Avengers: Infinity War instead?"

Jovian raised a brow. If he killed Thanos and took the Infinity Gauntlet at the end of Infinity War, the whole thing would be even more efficient.

"At that point in time, the sleeping Celestial Tiamut is still in a state of emergence, so the other Celestials are paying attention. Arishem can’t act against Thanos because of the constraints of destiny, but that doesn’t mean he won’t act against you. You’re outside those constraints. Since our goal is just to overthrow the Seventh Eternity’s control over the MCU multiverse, it’s best not to draw the Celestials’ attention."

The Watcher reminded Jovian that their goal was simple regime change, nothing more. The key was to keep it low-profile, quietly become the Eighth Eternity, and then shock every god in existence.

"Got it. In that case, I’m heading out."

Jovian understood what the Watcher was worried about. Even though the Watchers and the Celestials hated each other, the Watchers themselves disliked fighting. If they could avoid a battle, they would, even against their lifelong enemies. Unless they happened to get lucky and catch a lone Celestial by itself or something like that.

"Best of luck."

The Watcher wished Jovian an enjoyable trip while he went off to get the job done.

"Don’t worry. I’ve got a hundred ways to kill Thanos. A full hundred."

The corners of Jovian’s mouth lifted as his figure vanished from the core universe.

The MCU timeline moved to the moment when the infiltrator Nebula summoned Thanos and his army to Earth.

An endless barrage of firepower instantly flattened the Avengers compound on the surface, reducing the ground to rubble. Captain America stood there with his shield in hand, staring at the endless army before him. His lips parted slightly. His throat felt bone-dry, but the spirit of freedom in his heart would not let him take even one step back.

He would fight.

"It’s over. Fate itself is on my side!"

Thanos wore super-alloy armor that was every bit the equal of Adamantium, and in his hand he held a blade capable of slicing through any metal with ease. Behind him stretched an alien army so vast it disappeared into the horizon.

"I am..."

Thanos raised his blade, preparing to deliver his signature line.

Bzzzt...

Before he could say another word, a streak of light cut through the clouds and came crashing down onto his body, slicing the purple bastard clean in half. Tomato sauce sprayed all over the ground, and it scared the hell out of the alien creatures behind him.

"I’m the one who is inevitable."

High above, a man in a white-gold battle suit slowly descended. With the dim light of the sun striking his body from behind, he looked all the more divine.

Captain America looked straight at the god in the sky. He could not make out the face of that great being, but he guessed it had to be stern, majestic, and overflowing with divinity.

"I’m taking the Infinity Gauntlet. You lot can deal with these losers. Don’t tell me you can’t even handle this trash."

Jovian crooked a finger toward the ground, and the Infinity Gauntlet hidden in the rubble floated up and dropped into his hand.

"Leave the gauntlet!"

But the instant Jovian grabbed it, he felt something like a breeze brush across his body.

He turned toward the source of the sound and saw a hideous alien with barely any hair left on his head staring at him in shock, seemingly unable to understand why his power had failed.

"Fuck you."

Jovian looked at Ebony Maw, who was less than an insect to him, and stayed perfectly calm. To Jovian, Ebony Maw was like a mosquito. Would a human get angry because a mosquito bit him?

Of course they would.

Jovian cursed him out, flicked both hands, and the alien warship in the sky immediately came crashing down toward Ebony Maw and the others below.

"No..."

Ebony Maw looked up at the massive ship, his eyes going wide, his eyelids twitching wildly.

Boom!

He never got to finish speaking. The warship slammed down out of the sky, erupting into a beautiful mushroom cloud that blasted those aliens into sludge.

Unfortunately, poor Captain America had been right there facing the explosion and got turned into barbecue too.

"Oh, poor Rogers..."

With the Infinity Gauntlet in hand, Jovian pointed at Captain America, and Rogers’ body instantly returned to normal.

"See you around, everyone."

Jovian said goodbye to Rogers, then opened a Spacetime Gate and vanished into the universe.

...

Captain America narrowed his eyes as he looked at the scorched battlefield. Everything was a mess, and he had not even begun to sort out what had just happened.

Buzz!

Just as he stood there in silence staring at the ruined ground, golden Spacetime Gates suddenly opened behind him one after another, and an army of superheroes stepped through them.

"Cap, Doctor Strange already explained everything. So where’s the enemy?"

Black Panther looked eager for action. He was ready to show those aliens the power of Wakanda.

"Those... those burned things are the enemy."

Captain America pointed at the still-smoldering wasteland in front of them.

"Where’s Thanos? I heard he came back. Where is he?"

A drunk, beer-bellied Thor staggered over with Stormbreaker in hand and stopped beside Captain America.

"That would be the roasted purple one."

Captain America pointed at the only purple thing left in the charred remains.

"Wow... is that the one you were talking about?"

Stark was stunned by the scene and turned to Doctor Strange.

"Huh? Oh. Right, yes. You’re exactly right..."

Doctor Strange, who was still thoroughly confused himself, blanked for a second when he heard Stark, then immediately slipped back into his deep and mysterious pose.

"We won..."

For a moment, the whole battlefield rang with the joyful cheers of the heroes.

But while the superheroes celebrated, every Thanos across the MCU multiverse was suffering through a catastrophic extermination.

"I am inev..."

One Thanos had just dropped from the sky and started shouting his slogan when a meteor came screaming down from above and smashed straight into his head.

Unfortunately, he died before he could even finish his entrance.

"I..."

In another world, Thanos had barely gotten out his first word before a steel beam fell from the sky, impaled him clean through, and turned him into a pile of purple chunks.

And other Thanoses...

They kept dying. Drowned to death. Burned alive. Struck down by lightning. Killed by...

Every time Jovian visited a world, he killed that world’s Thanos and took the Infinity Stones.

It continued until a tired-looking man with dry, unkempt hair and a red cloak floating behind him stepped in front of Jovian. Only then did Jovian stop his harvesting spree.

"What is it, Stephen?"

Jovian looked at the Doctor Strange before him. He could tell from the aura unique to his own universe inside the man’s body that this was the Strange he was familiar with.

"Jovian, I just remembered something."

Doctor Strange floated in the air and looked at him with a grave expression.

"What?"

Jovian shifted the sack in his hand and asked what had happened.

"Jovian, you got all these Infinity Stones from our final battle with Thanos, right?"

"So that means you never returned the Stones to the points in time they came from. Am I right?"

Stephen looked at Jovian with a troubled expression.

"You’re right. I didn’t return them. So what’s the problem?"

Jovian nodded lightly.

"The problem is huge. Jovian, if I didn’t have the Infinity Stone when I fought Dormammu, what do you think would have happened in the end?"

Stephen explained the issue to Jovian.

"Oh..."

Only then did Jovian understand why Stephen had been so anxious.

"So what are we supposed to do now?"

Once he understood everything, Jovian asked Stephen how to fix it.

"It’s not actually hard. We just need to lure Dormammu out of the universe, draw him into our territory, and then..."

The corners of Stephen’s mouth lifted slightly as he explained his plan to Jovian.

"I get it now. Lure the dog into the trap, then kill it."

After hearing Stephen out, Jovian finally understood.

Time shifted back to the Avengers: Endgame universe, the one where Jovian had taken the Infinity Stones he used to fight Infinity Ultron.

That universe was now gradually collapsing under the weight of its broken rules.

Originally, without the Time Stone, Earth should have been swallowed up the very first time Doctor Strange confronted Dormammu. Dormammu would have crushed Strange and absorbed the whole planet into himself. But because of Jovian’s interference, the timeline he had affected now contained the existence of a true god. And when time itself fell into contradiction, Earth began to collapse. Dormammu, meanwhile, planned to devour the planet in the final moment before it fell apart completely.

"It’s over, insects!"

Dormammu looked down at the terrified little bugs below him and smiled. What he loved most was seeing foolish beings tremble on the ground beneath his overwhelming might. It was always so ridiculous, and so entertaining.

"There’s no Time Stone this time. Let’s see how you plan to bargain with me now!"

Dormammu stretched out both hands toward the collapsing Earth.

"Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain."

Just as Dormammu was about to act, a voice rang out beside him.

"You are..."

Dormammu’s eyes twitched when he heard that maddeningly familiar voice, and he turned toward its owner.

There stood a weary-looking man, watching him calmly from inside his dimension.

"It’s you, you miserable bastard."

Dormammu roared in fury the moment he saw him. Even if that man were reduced to ashes, Dormammu would still recognize him. It was that same asshole who had used the Time Stone to bargain with him.

"Two versions of you from different points in time have shown up at once. Perfect. I’ll crush both of you here and now!"

Dormammu looked from the Doctor Strange before him to the Doctor Strange still down on Earth and bellowed in rage, determined to grind both of them to dust.

"You don’t have that chance anymore, Dormammu."

The weary Doctor Strange kept moving his fingers. In the next instant, a great golden Spacetime Gate opened behind Earth and swallowed the planet whole.

"No!"

Dormammu roared when he realized Earth had been hidden away through the portal. His dimension contracted rapidly, and within moments he shifted from his vast dimensional-universe form into a towering demon with hellfire burning above his head, as large as a planet itself.

Before the portal could close, he shoved his upper body through it.

And then...

"What the fuck?!"

The moment Dormammu pushed halfway through the portal, what he saw on the other side stunned him.

There was no Earth.

Waiting for him there were three tall bald men, five powerful warriors wrapped in the Phoenix Force, and Tony Stark with Infinity Stones embedded in his chest.

"Sorry to bother you!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Dormammu’s eye twitched. Only then did he realize he had been played. This was blatant entrapment. Panic flashed across his face as he prepared to leave this cursed universe.

"Fuck off."

But just as Dormammu tried to retreat, a man in a white-gold battle suit appeared behind him and planted a kick squarely in his ass, sending him flying straight through the portal.

"Ow!"

Dormammu tumbled through the golden gateway, rolling over and over through space until he finally slammed into a planet and came to a stop.

"Everyone, this is just a misunderstanding!"

Dormammu dusted himself off and forced what he thought was his most charming smile, then awkwardly tried to speak politely to the warriors glaring at him from all sides.

"A misunderstanding?"

Everyone glanced at each other. None of them thought there was any misunderstanding here.

"A misunderstanding?"

Jovian stepped through the Spacetime Gate and appeared in front of Dormammu. He looked at him coldly, his face expressionless.

"I don’t see any misunderstanding."

Jovian’s body flashed forward. One hand locked around Dormammu’s throat, while the sack of Infinity Stones clenched in his other hand lit up with dazzling light. Fighting on his home turf with the Infinity Stones backing him, Jovian’s arm tightened instantly around Dormammu’s head. A violent shockwave swept across the universe, and Dormammu’s head exploded on the spot.

"Don’t worry, Dormammu. I’m going to turn your body into the hell of my universe. You’ll be working for me for the rest of your life."

Jovian looked down at Dormammu’s headless corpse and spoke in a cold voice.

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