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Midnight passed.
On the rooftop of the apartment building.
Hawk was throwing punches.
There was no heavy bag.
No specific martial arts technique.
Hawk wasn't even moving from his spot. He just stood there, eyes slightly closed, as if in a trance, striking the empty air with one fist after another.
This time, he wasn't chasing speed. Instead, he seemed to have fallen into a state of profound enlightenment.
Though he had felt a strange sensation with every punch before, tonight, it was infinitely stronger.
Hawk felt as if he had entered a dimension of absolute darkness, infinite from every conceivable angle.
But...
With every punch he threw, a flicker of light would bloom within that endless void.
If Hawk had looked up right then, he would have noticed something even more miraculous.
Because—
The constellations dotting the night sky, the ones he could now see with his naked eye—Pegasus, Draco, Cygnus, Phoenix... Lacerta—all forty-eight Bronze constellations were flickering in response to his every strike.
Yes.
Not a single constellation, but all of them.
All forty-eight Bronze constellations were answering his call.
One punch, then another... and another.
This time, Hawk's movements were slow, yet impossibly fast.
Though he fully retracted his fist after each blow before throwing the next, the afterimage of the first punch would still be lingering in the air as the afterimage of the second appeared.
Then the third, the fourth, the fifth, until now.
The air was filled with a storm of phantom fists.
Just then, a deafening roar thundered through Hawk's mind.
It was a sound that was both silent and as loud as a colossal bell.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A single spark ignited within the void. As it appeared, the stars reflected in that infinite space—a mirror of reality itself—began to ripple outwards, gently parting the thick curtain of darkness.
At first, it was just a tremor.
Then, that tremor exploded, like the first moment of the Big Bang. The stars adorning the infinite darkness detonated in a brilliant flash—
Inside Hawk's body, an invisible, intangible barrier shattered under the force of this cosmic explosion. A power that had slumbered for eons was violently awakened.
WHOOSH!
Hawk's eyes snapped open.
As they did, the flame deep within them no longer flickered and died as it had before.
This time, it ignited into a raging inferno.
ROAR!!
Hawk felt the blood roaring through his veins, every single cell in his body vibrating with an insane energy, as if ten thousand stars were expanding at once. Under this violent, expansive shockwave, every inch of his being, every bone, was shattered and pulverized, only to be instantly reforged by the terrifying, star-birthing power.
VMMMM!
A high-pitched hum filled Hawk's ears. His vision blurred, then cleared to reveal an impossible sight.
He saw the very particles of his flesh spinning, burning, and collapsing, reenacting the universe's first moments.
He saw the blood flowing beneath his skin, a roaring, boiling river of stars.
He saw his own beating heart, each pulse echoing the primordial, eternal rhythm of creation, sending invisible ripples through the infinite void.
The next moment.
Instinct took over.
Hawk clenched his right fist, ground his heel into the rooftop, and pivoted, shattering the concrete beneath his feet as he shifted his entire body weight back.
He drew back.
And then...
He unleashed the punch.
A low growl tore from him—a sound not from his throat, but from the very explosion of his soul.
"Burn, my Cosmo!!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The surrounding air blasted outwards like a shockwave on water.
The space around him shattered like glass.
The very flow of time was violently torn to shreds.
Air and even space seemed to freeze in the face of Hawk's punch.
The next second.
"HIIISSSS!"
The air screamed as it was ripped apart.
"CRACK!"
Space shrieked as it was crushed into dust.
"KRA-KOOOM!"
Time itself was annihilated by the blow. But in that same instant, a new timeline seamlessly replaced the one that had been destroyed.
POP!
POP!
POP!
Across the street, the windows on the apartment building facing Hawk's exploded outwards from the force of the punch, shattering into a deafening cascade of splintered glass.
"CRUNCH!"
"WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO!"
The cars parked along the street below were violently slammed downwards as if crushed by a giant, invisible hand from the sky.
Their windows burst, and one after another, their alarms began to shriek into the morning air.
....
At the same time.
Kamar-Taj.
"Hm?"
"Master?"
The sorcerers of the Sanctum looked toward the Sorcerer Supreme, who had just made a quiet, puzzled sound.
The Ancient One, clad in her yellow robes, looked down at the holy relic hanging from her neck—the Eye of Agamotto.
Her hands formed a mystic gesture. The Eye of Agamotto slowly began to rotate, then opened, unleashing a spectral green light from the mysterious, arcane gem nestled within.
This gem had a common name in the Marvel Universe.
The Time Stone.
It allowed its wielder to travel to any point in time, past or future, no matter how distant.
The Time Stone controlled all timelines, known and unknown. To control the stone was to control time itself.
"What is this?"
"The future has been altered?"
"..."
The Ancient One formed another gesture, closing the Eye of Agamotto. She then rose to her feet and vanished from the Sanctum.
....
[DING!]
[Congratulations, you have activated Cosmo Forging!]
[DING!]
[It has been my honor to accompany you for these one thousand days. The system will now unbind. I look forward to our next encounter!]
[Finally, the path of Cosmo Forging is the path of combat, the path of holy war. Grow in battle, and in battle, you will ascend!]
[Goodbye!]
The system's mechanical voice echoed one last time in Hawk's mind.
A thousand days ago, it had arrived in silence.
A thousand days later, it departed just as quietly.
It came without a sound.
It left without a trace.
By now, the sun was rising.
"Holy shit!"
"What the hell happened?"
"My windows!"
"Ah, my car!"
"Who the hell did this?"
"Wait a second."
"Look, up there! What is that?"
"HOLY SH—"
"JESUS CHRIST."
Standing on the rooftop, Hawk listened to the chaotic symphony of voices rising from the street below. He slowly opened his eyes and saw it—a gaping wound torn in the sky above Manhattan, glowing with an ethereal blue light.
Hawk froze.
"Hiss!"
"Did... did my last punch just tear a hole in the sky?"
"..."
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