They looked up at the sky, watching the energy surge gradually fade away.
During this time, nothing else fell from the sky, nor did anything reappear on the surface of the planet.
Everything had returned to calm.
"Begin monitoring the outer space energy index. Make sure that thing doesn't come back," Monica pursed her lips, but at this moment, she still carried out her duties as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
She began to methodically organize all the operations.
As for the Bat...
Perhaps erecting a statue for him would be a good choice.
Stark looked at Jessica, who could no longer control her emotions, and had originally intended to go comfort her.
But Jessica had already stood up and left silently.
Gwen immediately followed after her.
Neither the Ultimate Team nor the X-Men felt there was anything wrong with this.
Given the current situation, they could understand how the two Spider-Women felt.
No one thought there was anything wrong with their reaction.
While those on the ground believed Bruce had died, somewhere in a universe long since reduced to ruins, the body of Galactus drifted through space alongside another, much smaller figure.
The small figure was moving slowly.
Its pace wasn't fast—more like a steady drift.
It was Doomsday, carrying Galactus completely away from that universe.
The vacuum of space posed no harm to Doomsday. Neither the radiation of the cosmos nor the extreme cold could inflict even the slightest damage on him.
"Was it worth it?" Galactus asked Bruce at this moment.
To this little bug at his side—
This insect had indeed done all he possibly could. Not only had he saved Earth from Galactus, but he had also transported him to a world completely devoid of energy, a world where Galactus could not feed.
As Doomsday, Bruce said nothing—just silently drifted through space.
Naturally, it was also because Bruce had no idea how to communicate with Galactus. As a cosmic entity, Galactus could ignore the laws of physics and communicate freely.
But the problem was, Bruce—transformed into Doomsday—hadn't reached that level yet.
Galactus, realizing he'd asked a foolish question, simply lay there in that universe, saying nothing. Perhaps dying with such a companion wasn't such a bad thing after all.
It was just a bit painful to die on an empty stomach.
"Do you know what hunger feels like?" Galactus continued speaking. Even though speaking consumed energy, it was still better than dying in silence and loneliness.
"That feeling can drive you mad. I've spent almost my entire life hungry. Who would've thought that someone as great and powerful as me would die starving?"
Galactus spoke many words to Bruce in that moment—perhaps more than he ever thought he'd say to someone he barely knew, especially someone who had injured him.
"You know, kid, you've always given me a strange feeling, like you don't belong to this world," Galactus turned his head to look at the drifting figure beside him.
As if trying to confirm that odd sensation he'd always gotten from Bruce.
Looking at the form that didn't resemble any lifeform of this universe—
Galactus understood. This being truly didn't belong here. Such a creature had never existed in this or any known universe.
Neither in the one Galactus came from nor in the universe of the Earth he'd tried to destroy would a creature like this ever appear.
Death might curse or bless certain beings, but she never granted them more power.
They simply became undying.
They were incapable of evolving after death or retaining their souls.
Creatures like this were a mystery even to Death herself.
If this being had existed in Galactus's universe, Death would certainly have taken an interest in him.
Undying, and evolving.
It always sounded so bizarre.
In the next moment, Galactus sensed that the small figure beside him was beginning to change.
Its energy level was decreasing—not as powerful as before. In fact, it was declining to the level of an ordinary Earth lifeform.
Galactus tried to turn and check on Bruce, but the moment he did, he realized Bruce's energy signature had completely vanished from this vast, ruined universe.
Galactus never expected that, in the end, he would still die alone in a universe like this.
And still starving.
"If I'd known… I should've just let someone kill me earlier,"
Galactus murmured to himself.
Meanwhile, in another universe, Bruce lay face-down on the ground, gasping for air. From his freshly recovered complexion, it was obvious that the Bat had just endured immense suffering.
"Why wait until now to bring you over?" asked the British Spider-Man, puzzled as he looked at Bruce.
They could have brought Bruce over the moment he traveled to the other universe, but Bruce had never pressed the button to summon them. They had no way of knowing what was happening at the time.
Still, judging by Bruce's current state, it must have been excruciating.
"If you brought me earlier, it might not have been me," Bruce slowly began to recover. He sat up and looked at the British Spider-Man, as well as Kang, who had already removed his mask.
More importantly, he looked at the Master Weaver, still perched on his web.
Bruce had indeed made a backup plan. If he succeeded in sending Galactus to another dimension, he could return to Earth normally.
But if things didn't go smoothly, then Bruce was prepared to follow Galactus into that dimension.
That's where the Master Weaver and his team came in—they could help Bruce return to Earth-1 from that dimension.
And this place, whether as a recovery point or a relay station, was highly reliable.
Moreover, coming here allowed Bruce to get an understanding of the current state of the multiverse—whether it was still collapsing or nearing its end.
Kang looked at Bruce and sniffled slightly.
Although Kang had long severed ties with the Heir Families, the problem was that their abilities still flowed through his veins. He could easily distinguish the scent of those totems.
"He's right. Even now, his body still carries totems that don't belong to him—though they're slowly fading away." Kang had never seen someone like this before.
Logically speaking, a person could only possess one totem until their death.
Even members of the Heir Families couldn't possess multiple totems; at best, they could absorb the power of other totems.
And even then, the totems they absorbed weren't necessarily the powerful ones.
Hearing Kang's words, the British Spider-Man was also somewhat shocked. Bruce clearly appeared to be an ordinary person, yet he constantly managed to surprise them in unexpected ways.
"So now, do you know the reason behind the disappearance of the universes?" Bruce didn't dwell on the previous topic. Instead, he turned to the British Spider-Man and the Master Weaver, hoping to learn from them what had truly happened to the vanished universes.
The British Spider-Man shook his head.
His universe had disappeared, and he had attempted to return to the Omni-Universe domain where the British Corps gathered.
The problem was, he couldn't go back.
He didn't know whether the Queen had revoked his access to the British Corps, or if the Corps itself was now too overwhelmed to function.
"I also tried contacting other members of the British Corps, but no one responded. It was as if everyone had been caught up in something."
Hearing this, Bruce didn't look disappointed. Instead, he turned to the Master Weaver, hoping he might provide a more concrete answer.
"I didn't find anything suspicious. It's as if they simply vanished into thin air."
What the Master Weaver said was far more terrifying than anything the British Spider-Man had shared.
Because he couldn't even detect how those universes had disappeared.
In fact, the Master Weaver's impression was that those universes had self-destructed.
Bruce lowered his head. While the answers from these two weren't entirely worthless, they didn't offer a complete explanation either.
But one thing could be determined—if someone had orchestrated the destruction of these universes, then they must have used highly sophisticated methods to terminate a universe's life.
In other words, it was a point in time the universe would naturally reach during its evolution.
Suddenly, Bruce seemed to realize something.
"You're trying to locate universes from the current point in time, aren't you?" Bruce looked up at the Master Weaver, trying to see if his guess was correct.
"Yes," the Master Weaver nodded.
"Then, do you have the ability to bring a Spider-Man from the past to your side now?"
Bruce's question took the Master Weaver by surprise. As a deity who essentially managed the life threads of all Spider-Men, the idea of bringing one from the past wasn't entirely impossible—though it did sound a bit far-fetched.
Although the plan was technically feasible, the Master Weaver was more curious about what Bruce was thinking.
Very few people would associate such matters with the concept of time.
And sometimes, the destruction of a universe isn't just the disappearance of its material form—more importantly, everything it once possessed vanishes completely.
The so-called timeline would then lose all meaning.
"I want to know why you want to do this?" the Master Weaver looked at Bruce, genuinely unsure of what was going through the mind of this caped crusader.
"When I was on Earth, some of the heroes around me experienced a time flow. They saw alternate versions of themselves from different universes—some even instantly received the memories of others. Although it lasted just a moment, they were certain what they saw were their true multiversal selves."
"At the same time, that time flow brought Galactus to my universe."
"I didn't receive the memories of my variants from other universes, but at the moment the time flow occurred, I did see some things. Among them was the British Spider-Man—but not on Earth-1."
It was this discovery that made Bruce sense something was off. But at the time, dealing with Galactus had been the priority, so the matter had been set aside.
Now, however, Bruce needed the Master Weaver to confirm it.
"You make a good point, but I should tell you—after a universe is destroyed, its timelines are most likely erased as well. Even I can't trace timelines that no longer exist."
Although that's what the Master Weaver said, his actions were swift—he was already searching for the past timelines of the destroyed universes.
The British Spider-Man looked at the Master Weaver, then at Bruce.
He said nothing, but his expression betrayed him. It was clear he wanted to know the truth behind all this.
On the other side, Kang remained silent, standing quietly, watching events unfold.
When the Master Weaver finally located the timeline of a Spider-Man from a destroyed universe, he looked up at Bruce.
"I have to admit—your guess was correct. The timeline wasn't destroyed."
The Master Weaver was shocked, not just at Bruce's insight, but at the fact that, even after a universe had perished, traces of its timeline still remained.
By all logic, such a thing shouldn't be possible.
Even though the multiverse had various ways of recording itself, these were always fragments—never a complete timeline. So once a universe reached its end, its timeline's destruction should have been inevitable.
But now, with a timeline surviving a universe's end…
Things had suddenly become far more mysterious.
At the very least, this proved that the fate of that universe had been forcibly cut short by someone, rather than following a natural path to destruction.
"But unfortunately, even if we know this, there's nothing we can do to stop it. We still don't know who's secretly destroying the multiverse," the Master Weaver said to Bruce, hoping the Dark Knight wouldn't get any wild ideas and attempt something futile.
After all, whoever could cause a universe to suddenly collapse wasn't someone that even Bruce could afford to provoke. Not even Galactus—whom Bruce had once banished to a dead dimension—could necessarily deal with such a being.
Bruce didn't respond to the Master Weaver's warning. Instead, he looked up and said:
"Send me back."
(End of Chapter)
Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon
https://patreon.com/Glimmer09