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Chapter 84: Infiltration of Time Variance Authority
"The Necrosword was forged by Knull, the symbiote god-king who existed before the first stars ignited," Raven explained, his voice carrying the weight of cosmic history.
"Its singular purpose: divine annihilation."
Gorr's expression shifted from hatred to shock. As the blade's current wielder, he had never learned its true origins. Who were these people? How did they possess knowledge even unknown to him?
"A weapon designed specifically for deicide," the Emperor mused, examining the dark metal with renewed interest. The implications were immediately apparent; such a creation represented possibilities beyond mere armament.
His golden gaze fixed upon Raven with intense focus. "Can we acquire the forging methodologies behind this weapon?"
"To obtain the Necrosword's manufacturing secrets," Raven replied, "we'll need to change his predetermined fate."
He gestured toward Gorr with one wing. "Only by altering destiny's course can we reasonably claim our rewards."
Without ceremony, the Emperor cast the Necrosword back to land at Gorr's feet. The blade struck the grey ground with a sound like distant thunder.
"From this moment forward, you serve under my command."
"I will submit to no gods," Gorr snarled, his hand instinctively finding the Necrosword's grip. "Kill me instead."
"I am no god," the Emperor stated with absolute certainty. "I was not divine in the past, I am not divine now, and I shall never become divine in the future. If I possessed such a nature, that blade in your hands would prove capable of ending my existence."
Gorr studied the golden figure before him with suspicious eyes. The aureate armour, the perfect features, the power that radiated from his form like heat from a stellar core, everything about this being suggested divinity made manifest.
Yet his words carried a conviction that resonated with something deeper than mere deception.
"What would you have me do?" Gorr asked finally.
"Kill gods," the Emperor replied with deadly simplicity. "I will grant you enhanced capabilities to better accomplish this sacred duty."
Raven interjected with characteristic enthusiasm. "And while you're at it, collect those god corpses and help me grow some potatoes and tomatoes!"
Even in the face of cosmic conspiracy and temporal manipulation, Raven's priorities remained unshakeable.
No matter what realities they traversed or what decisions they faced, the pursuit of perfect fries and ketchup would always claim a portion of his attention.
"Potatoes and tomatoes cultivated in divine remains should qualify as legendary elixirs, right?" His voice carried the excited tone of someone discovering a particularly clever exploitation.
"We could take them to those cultivation universes, you know, the ones with all the Daoist immortals."
"Picture it: We trick them into thinking our fries and ketchup are peerless divine medicines, then convince them to plant potatoes and tomatoes in their spiritual herb gardens!" Raven's laughter carried the malicious glee of a mastermind contemplating his greatest prank.
The image of ancient cultivation sects tending potato patches in place of thousand-year ginseng was apparently too amusing for him to contain his mirth.
Seeing that the Emperor showed no signs of disapproval for this plan, Gorr nodded slowly. "If you do not interfere with my divine extermination campaign, I will follow your commands."
Before the Emperor could respond, Raven's head snapped upward. "Big Guy, we've got company."
Four golden portals materialised in the colourless expanse of the Shadow Realm, their radiance cutting through the grey atmosphere like sunbeams through storm clouds.
Time itself seemed to crystallise around them, and Gorr suddenly froze mid-motion, his form locked in temporal stasis like a sculpture of living flesh.
Raven, the Emperor, and Valdor remained unaffected by the chronological paralysis. Their exposure to the Eternal Spacetime had granted each of them independent temporal fields, localised bubbles of causality that could not be externally manipulated.
The portals dilated, disgorging armed figures in mechanical exoskeletons. The Time Variance Authority's enforcement arm, the Minutemen, specialises in temporal criminal apprehension and the elimination of timeline deviations.
The lead agent's eyes widened behind his helmet's visor as he registered their continued movement. "This is impossible! The temporal lock is fully engaged. Why are you still mobile?!"
His voice carried the bewilderment of someone whose fundamental understanding of reality had just been challenged.
Only beings on the level of Dormammu or other dimensional entities should possess such temporal immunity.
"Speak of the devil," Raven said, materialising fully before the TVA operatives. "Perfect timing. We were just discussing a visit to your headquarters to acquire the Time Loom and related technologies."
"Oh, and we should bring our God Butcher along."
Raven opened his beak and discharged a beam of chronological energy that enveloped Gorr's frozen form. The temporal field extended around him, restoring his ability to move and act.
"What happened? Who are they?" Gorr demanded, staring at the suddenly materialised agents with confusion written across his marked features.
"You have violated temporal ordinances," the lead Minuteman announced, drawing what appeared to be a specialised baton from his equipment harness.
Its tip housed a crimson crystal that pulsed with ominous light. "Surrender your weapons and submit to custody, or face erasure according to TVA protocols."
Ret-Can Emitter: Direct contact results in complete historical and existential erasure from all timeline variants.]
"Surrender? Who? Me? Us?" Raven was genuinely shocked at the stupidity of these TVA agents; they had gadgets for time travel, but not to see who they were messing with.
"Corn Beast, Gorr Beast, eliminate these idiots, HA-HA-HA-HA, !" Raven commanded with the enthusiasm of a trainer directing prized fighting animals.
Valdor's expression darkened further at the new designation. First Big Corn Cob, then Corn Cob Beast, and now simply Corn Beast. The indignities were accumulating at an alarming rate.
When they returned to Imperial space, he would personally oversee the confiscation of every single potato chip and ketchup packet in Raven's possession.
Not a single bite would pass those irreverent lips.
Gorr displayed equal bewilderment at being addressed as "Gorr Beast" by an avian creature. He, who had struck terror into the hearts of cosmic deities, was reduced to the status of a domesticated animal.
First, a God refused to be called god, even showing disgust at the word, and now this raven treated God butcher like his dog. The universe grew more and more absurd with each passing moment.
The TVA agents possessed minimal combat capabilities. Their standard operating procedures relied heavily on temporal manipulation and advanced technology rather than physical confrontation.
Even the gods of the City of Omnipotence proved helpless when subjected to chronological paralysis.
Most missions required no violence whatsoever.
Against Valdor's superhuman prowess and Gorr's divine-slaying expertise, the Minutemen lasted less than two heartbeats. The lead agent found Gorr's blade piercing his chest cavity, his final breath escaping in a mechanical wheeze.
"Collect their Time Terminal Operators and Ret-Can Emitters," Raven instructed as Valdor and Gorr gathered the fallen equipment. "Consider them spoils of war."
Then, with characteristic boldness, he led them through the golden portal and into the heart of the Time Variance Authority itself.
Titan
"Sanguinius, Horus, return to Terra with us. Please, you need to help us, we can't do it without you."
Tony Stark's voice carried the raw desperation of a man who had lost almost everything, and now, if he couldn't reach Earth, he would not live even to see his family one last time.
Light crossed his haggard features as he addressed the two towering figures before him.
His fight with Thanos's fighter had brought him to Titan alongside Spider-Man, where they had joined forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy in a coordinated assault on the Mad Titan.
The siege had failed due to Star-Lord's emotional breakdown, allowing Thanos to escape and complete his collection.
Horus and Sanguinius had crashed on Titan's surface after Thanos's departure. The initial encounter had been violent; Stark and his allies had assumed the primarchs were the Titans' reinforcements and attacked accordingly.
The subsequent combat had been thoroughly one-sided. Both primarchs had held back considerably to avoid permanent harm, but their superiority had been immediately apparent.
After resolving the misunderstanding and establishing their shared humanity, the two groups began coordinating their efforts.
Then Thanos had obtained the final Infinity Stone and enacted his universal culling with a simple gesture.
The heroes on Titan, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, the Guardians, except for Nebula, had dissolved into ash within moments.
Horus had begun to suffer the same fate until the Shadow Wolf Engine detected the threat to its host and activated temporal reversal protocols, restoring him to full vitality.
The display had filled Stark and Nebula with desperate hope. Thanos's snap had cost them everything that mattered. Watching Peter Parker, the young man who had become like a son to him, disintegrate in his arms had nearly broken Tony's spirit entirely.
Nebula shared his sadness, having witnessed her newfound family vanish before her eyes.
They desperately needed Horus's temporal manipulation capabilities to retrieve their lost loved ones.
"Terra," Horus mused, using the ancient name with unconscious familiarity. The mention of humanity's birthworld carried special significance for one of the Emperor's sons.
"That is humanity's cradle," he continued, his decision crystallising as he spoke. "If I know our Father, He will inevitably be drawn to that world as well."
All the primarchs understood the Emperor's obsession with humanity's welfare and advancement. Even in this alien universe, Terra would represent both a strategic objective and a sentimental pilgrimage site.
"Then Terra it is," Sanguinius agreed.
The Angel and the Warmaster would return to the birthworld of their species, though in a reality where that world had never known the touch of their Father's guiding hand.