Chapter 86: Kang The Conqueror
Raven studied Loki, then his expression shifted to disgust.
"This simpering behavior ill-suits you, Loki. Where is the arrogant bearing of a god? The imperious manner that once graced Stark's tower?" Raven's voice carried mock disappointment.
"I remember exactly what you said: 'I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by—'"
The reminder hit Loki hard. That awful day came rushing back.
He'd been making his big speech when the green monster grabbed his ankle and slammed him against the floor over and over. He could still feel every impact.
The worst part was when the beast spat on him and said those two words: "Puny god."
Getting beaten was one thing. But being mocked, having his failure thrown in his face... that was too much.
Anger built in Loki's chest. How dare this thing remind him of his worst moment? Even if he died here, he would teach this upstart some respect—
"Lord. Raven."
Gorr's voice cut through Loki's anger. The God of Mischief's rage died instantly, replaced by survival instinct. With the Necrosword around, all gods could die.
"I am a god, you fools," Loki said, straightening up and forcing some dignity back into his voice. His smile was razor-sharp.
"Good," Raven nodded. "That's better than grovelling."
Gorr walked over, covered in blood from head to toe. None of it was his.
To most beings, the Time Variance Authority was unstoppable. Even Thanos, even the gods of Omnipotence City, became helpless against the temporal agents.
The reason was simple: they controlled time. Strip away someone's time, and it didn't matter how powerful they were; they became statues waiting to die.
Too bad for the TVA, their three main enemies had something that made this weapon useless: independent time fields. The Emperor's divine nature put him beyond such tricks. Valdor's connection to the Master of Mankind gave him similar protection.
And Gorr... the Necrosword had eaten gods for eons, absorbing their time essence until he existed partly outside normal time.
The result was more a massacre than a battle. The facility that once controlled infinite timelines became a slaughterhouse. Halls ran red. Death stank up every room. Those who had casually erased universes died screaming.
"What is it?" Raven asked, seeing something in Gorr's expression.
Gorr flicked blood off his sword. "The survivors ran, scattered across different time coordinates. Should we hunt them?"
"No," Raven said. "Let them run. We need to find the Emperor and Valdor, then get out of here."
Gorr nodded. "Understood."
In the Time Guardian Hall, silence ruled where authority once sat. The elite guards lay scattered like broken toys, their weapons and shields useless against superhuman rage.
Bodies twisted in death. Blood pooled across clean floors. The air tasted of metal and death.
The three Time Guardians, those judges of infinite realities who sat on floating thrones, had died easily. Their heads lay separated from robot bodies, sparking electronics showing through cut necks.
"So these ran the Time Variance Authority?" Valdor pulled back his spear, its energy field still crackling.
He studied the destroyed robots, noting their build and mechanisms. For beings who supposedly knew everything, they'd died pretty easily.
"No," the Emperor said. "These are just puppets, hiding the real power behind this place."
"Then who really runs this?" Valdor asked, already knowing the answer would be complicated.
Before the Emperor could answer, a familiar voice echoed through the bloody room.
"Time to go!"
Raven appeared in the doorway, still sitting on Loki's head. Gorr followed, his sword finally clean.
Raven barely looked at the robot corpses; he'd expected nothing more from fake constructs.
"Aren't we going after whoever really runs this place?" the Emperor asked.
Raven shook his head confidently. "I already absorbed their tech, the Time Loom, the Reset Charges, all of it. We got what we came for."
He paused, looking serious. "Plus, staying here much longer means trouble we can't handle."
The Emperor studied his small ally, then nodded. "You've been right so far. We follow you."
They moved through corridors toward the exit. Alarms wailed. Emergency lights bathed everything in red, making the clean halls look like a scene from hell.
On screens throughout the complex, something huge was happening. The Sacred Timeline, that single thread that had been the only allowed reality, now grew branches like a tree.
Each branch made new branches, spreading across the display like a disease through healthy tissue.
Without the TVA's constant cutting, infinite realities would now bloom. Parallel worlds where different choices were made, where heroes fell and villains won, where entire species evolved differently.
And with infinite realities came infinite war. The multiversal war that the TVA was created to prevent was now certain.
For Raven, this chaos meant opportunity. Each new timeline, each branching reality, fed him cosmic energy. The knowledge and tech he'd stolen were just the appetiser compared to what was coming.
But their escape wouldn't go unchallenged.
As they reached the Time Portal Hall, a figure stepped from the shadows to block them. He was tall, wrapped in robes that flowed like liquid time.
His face showed someone who'd seen civilisations rise and fall, who'd walked through the ashes of countless worlds.
"Kang the Conqueror," Raven said, recognising him.
This guy was the Marvel universe's version of Rick Sanchez, a master of time travel, tech, and jumping between dimensions.
Like that genius, Kang's brilliance matched his ruthlessness and his willingness to sacrifice entire realities for his vision of order.
The similarities were clear. Kang had once been a regular man in the 31st century who discovered parallel universes. He'd reached out to his variants across the multiverse, sharing knowledge and technology in what started as a cooperative effort.
But peace wasn't in conquest's nature. Among the infinite Kangs were those who saw the multiverse not as a chance for teamwork, but for domination. The Multiversal War that followed raged across countless realities, eating entire timelines.
In the end, only one Kang won, this one, who'd tamed the time entity Alioth and used its power to create the TVA.
With that cosmic eater as his weapon, he'd cut the multiverse down to one timeline and built an organisation to keep that order.
"You know me?" Kang's voice showed surprise. After his victory, he'd erased all knowledge of the Multiversal War. No one should remember who he really was.
"Who wouldn't know the famous Kang the Conqueror?" Raven replied casually. "But we're done here. Move aside."
"You destroyed the Sacred Timeline," Kang said, his voice heavy with authority. "Did you think you could just walk away?"
Kang stepped forward, and reality bent slightly around him. This was someone who'd fought wars across infinite realities and won. His power wasn't just technological; it was built into the very fabric of spacetime itself.
"I won wars that ate entire universes," he continued, his voice growing harder. "I've seen the multiverse burn and rebuilt it my way. If I let you leave, you'll just destroy whatever new order I make."
His ancient, terrible eyes looked at each of them. "So you stay here. Alioth is hungry, and you'll feed it well."
The threat hung in the air. Around them, the facility was in chaos, alarms screaming, lights flashing. But in this moment, all of that faded.
The Conqueror of Time had made his challenge.
Now they'd see ifMaster of Mankind could stand against the Master of Time.