Under everyone's watchful gaze, Sylvie's magic gradually intensified, steadily penetrating Alioth's massive form.
Marcus, hovering above, observed most clearly. Sylvie's magic differed slightly from others—her power wasn't being consumed by Alioth.
If this cosmic cleaner weren't so enormously sized, Sylvie's task might prove easier.
"Are you planning to control that core? There's a new space within," Marcus observed, having deduced Sylvie's purpose.
This woman bearing Loki's name intended to use Alioth to transport everyone away from the Void.
"Wait a little longer—this creature's consciousness is almost completely under control," Sylvie declared with focused determination.
Marcus felt equally curious about the new space. This dimensional pocket existed neither in the standard void nor in this temporal wasteland.
That space resided within Alioth's body—a small realm attached to the creature's core.
Sylvie didn't disappoint anyone. Her magic reached completion as light green energy wreathed Alioth's form.
Witnessing this accomplishment, everyone cheered. Whether they could escape or not, at minimum the cosmic cleaner was now under their control.
But Sylvie didn't celebrate. After controlling Alioth, she made unexpected discoveries.
This entity everyone regarded as a cleaner possessed important responsibilities beyond consuming objects—it was guarding the gateway behind itself.
"Sylvie, let's celebrate together!" Loki approached with a broad smile, but upon reaching her side, he noticed something was wrong.
"Is there a problem?"
"Nothing major—I simply didn't expect there was a door behind this creature!"
As she spoke, Sylvie controlled the possessed Alioth, revealing the hidden gateway.
The moment Loki saw the door, he froze, as did others who had approached.
Behind this massive life form that devoured everything, an actual door existed—and it was seamlessly attached to Alioth's body.
They all knew Alioth's form possessed tremendous consuming capabilities. Some of their previous equipment had been rapidly absorbed upon contact.
Such powerful absorption proved useless against this door attached to the creature's body. The gateway remained motionlessly fixed to Alioth's form.
"What is that?" someone asked in confusion upon seeing the door.
If Alioth hadn't shocked them so profoundly in the past, they might have approached and touched the gateway directly.
"I have the feeling that if we want to escape from here, we can only pass through this door," Sylvie declared seriously.
She wasn't joking. This intuition felt identical to her desire to control Alioth—a premonition other Lokis didn't possess.
This foresight was crucial for her years-long evasion of Time Variance Authority pursuit. Now this premonition had intensified, as if something was attracting her.
Seeing Sylvie's strong desire to enter this gateway, Loki decided to follow her inside. Perhaps something within truly required attention.
The two pushed the door open together, then stood stunned.
Behind this portal lay a passage—a corridor leading to unknown destinations.
They exchanged glances before walking in together. Behind them, Marcus followed silently.
This was the location guarded by Alioth, and Marcus's journey's objective. All timelines converged here.
As they ventured deeper, the passage widened while sculptures appeared around them.
"These are statues of the Time Keepers!" Sylvie identified them.
These sculptures depicted the mysterious directors of the Time Variance Authority—the Time Keepers themselves.
"The TVA definitely has contingency plans here," Loki observed.
The Time Variance Authority could indeed exile targets here, but this didn't guarantee exiles would disappear. Just like those Lokis—they were also TVA exiles, yet they thrived in this location.
Without means to eliminate exiled targets, this place would eventually become overcrowded. No one knew what consequences that might bring.
Alioth was the TVA's method for erasing exiles, and this location guarded by Alioth must be extremely important.
They accelerated through the corridor until suddenly emerging into open space.
The surroundings became much more spacious with brighter illumination, allowing them to clearly see a person standing ahead with his back to them.
"You've finally arrived," the figure spoke with profound significance.
Hearing these words, Loki's mouth twitched. Regardless of this person's identity, he genuinely wanted to punch him.
"Who are you?"
"Me? I am the Time Variance Authority's founder, a scientist from Earth's 31st century, and the Time Keeper himself. You may also call me He Who Remains."
He Who Remains or Kang turned around, regarding them calmly while beginning to relate his story.
"Billions of years ago..." In his account, he was a scientist living in the 31st century who hadn't yet created the Time Variance Authority.
Only while studying superheroes did he accidentally discover multiple parallel universes' existence. Initially, he communicated with alternate versions of himself, and each world's science and technology developed rapidly.
However, not all parallel universe inhabitants were friendly. Like Loki, each existed independently with different personalities.
The same applied to Kang. His variants across different parallel universes also possessed different personalities and ideologies. Among them, some ambitious variants chose to attack other realities.
He struggled extensively before defeating these variants, subsequently founding the Time Variance Authority to manage different parallel universes and prevent evil variants from returning.
His words left both listeners silent. If Kang spoke truthfully, they had indeed affected normal timeline development.
After all, every action they took created new timelines, and the more timelines existed, the more likely evil variants would return.
However, Sylvie didn't care about these explanations. This couldn't erase everything she'd experienced. Her determination to destroy the Time Variance Authority had never wavered.
Loki, however, fell into deep contemplation. Unlike Sylvie, he hadn't experienced extensive trauma, making him less hostile toward the TVA.
"Sylvie, I know your intentions, but I'm connected to all timelines. My death will only cause temporal chaos and open the multiverse, endangering countless universal inhabitants," Kang stated solemnly.
He understood Sylvie's thoughts better than anyone—precisely why he remained so cautious while awaiting her answer.
However, Sylvie didn't abandon her hatred because of his words. She regarded Kang quietly.
"The multiverse... what does it have to do with me!" she declared.
As her voice rang out, Sylvie suddenly struck. Loki's iconic dagger pierced He Who Remains' chest.
"Sylvie!" Loki himself was stunned, not expecting such decisive action—killing Kang without hesitation.
With He Who Remains' death, countless timelines scattered. The Void and Time Variance Authority began gradually dissipating as everyone in the Void returned to their respective times.
"Such tremendous temporal force—perfect!" Marcus declared.
Facing such massive temporal energy, he no longer hesitated, immediately appearing to gather all temporal forces while transforming into Protea and beginning to absorb everything.
Countless timelines converged toward Marcus. Each timeline he merged produced golden patterns on his body.
As timelines were rapidly gathered, golden markings on Marcus's form multiplied while time around him began distorting. Four Aya Essences also merged with the armor as timeline derivatives continuously grew and annihilated.
"He... who is he?" Both Loki and Sylvie stood confused.
A fully armored warrior had suddenly appeared behind them, gathering the timelines exploding from He Who Remains' death.
"He's not our enemy, and not that evil variant," Sylvie concluded after observing Marcus.
Her intuition was accurate—she felt no threat from him. It seemed Marcus was here to resolve the current situation.
Under their observation, Marcus's transformed Protea began evolving. Golden patterns on his body gradually combined, appearing increasingly magnificent and noble.
Soon, both suddenly felt terrifying power released from Marcus's form. The energy was so intense they instantly collapsed to their knees.
Facing Marcus's emanating power, they possessed no resistance whatsoever, only able to crawl painfully on the ground, enduring immense pressure.
Fortunately, this didn't last long. Marcus soon completed his evolution. The massive temporal power accelerated his promotion dramatically.
The armor had evolved from Protea to Protea Prime [Sacred Chronos], and the power it controlled was extraordinarily potent.
"I didn't expect such an unexpected bonus," Marcus chuckled, examining his arm.
After promotion, his limb became as magnificent as his previous Prime configurations, and his strength was sufficient to support such gorgeous decoration.
Now this armor not only granted Marcus time-traversal abilities but also allowed him to erase any target at will.
Complete erasure—eliminating targets from time's very foundation.
Once erased, memories of everyone who had contacted the target would also change. Everyone would completely forget that individual.
This was tremendously powerful capability, and Marcus felt very satisfied with such authority.
"Since I've absorbed Marvel's timeline, can I also absorb other worlds' timelines to enhance the armor's power?"
For his current configuration, time was power. The more timelines he mastered, the stronger he would become.
If someday he could integrate time from all worlds floating in the void, his power would reach incredible levels.
"By the way, Eternity—one of the five Creation Gods—seems to represent all time's beginning and end. Am I usurping his authority?" Marcus wondered with amusement.
Timeline occupation didn't affect Eternity, so he needn't worry about being targeted.
After all, Eternity embodied time itself. Time existed because of him, not the reverse.
No matter how much time others mastered, it wouldn't impact Eternity's power. How could such an existence care about someone occupying temporal authority?
However, even if that entity truly noticed Marcus, he wouldn't be concerned. Like Eternity, time couldn't affect Marcus or kill him. The being would at most exile Marcus to other dimensions.
And Marcus, controlling the Void, could travel anywhere at will even if exiled to reality's end.
Just as he prepared to depart, the two figures behind him made Marcus laugh.
He'd just remembered that during promotion, he'd inadvertently released pressure, knocking both to the ground.
SNAP!
With a finger snap, Loki and Sylvie slowly rose from the ground, their injuries rapidly healing.
Temporal power flowed through Marcus's hands, restoring both to their pre-promotion states.
After recovering physically, they finally regained consciousness. Upon seeing magnificently adorned Marcus, they remained speechless momentarily.
They had already experienced his power. His emanated energy alone made resistance difficult for both.
As for Marcus's true strength, they feared they couldn't even approach his level.
"It appears you're both fine. However, because of Kang death, all timelines have become chaotic, especially you Lokis' return, which will affect all parallel universes' status."
"You two should be careful. I don't know what will happen next."
After warning them, Marcus transformed into a phantom and vanished before them.
Because of curiosity about temporal chaos, Marcus had discovered Loki's TVA capture. Also through curiosity, he'd witnessed these events and finally allowed this armor to complete promotion.
Though this armor now connected countless timelines, Marcus hadn't inherited He Who Remains' legacy, so the Time Variance Authority and its founder disappeared together.