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John walked back to the place where he had just fought Loki.
It was a bank, but he wasn't interested in the scattered cash.
The eternal ice had transformed this place into a dreamlike crystal palace.
Golden flames scattered everywhere, melting the ground.
John stood in the center, extending his right hand.
The golden flames gathered toward him, condensing into a golden dragon scale in his palm, which then disappeared beneath his skin.
As the temperature of the flames dropped, the surroundings instantly grew cold.
By a statue of a battle angel, John found the casket of ancient winters.
The out-of-control casket was frozen together with the entire palace, continuously spreading cold air outward.
The moment John approached, a layer of frost formed on his hair.
Raising his right hand, his entire arm was covered in silver.
He forcefully inserted his hand into the ice layer. The crystal embedded in his glove glowed purple, shattering the iron-hard ice.
John grabbed the casket and pulled it free.
The deep blue box glowed in his hand, flashing like a signal.
Magic counteracted the overflowing cold air, and John frowned.
"This one seems bigger than the one I saw."
He reached out and felt it. The casket seemed to be an outer shell.
He just didn't know where the switch to open it was.
Holding both ends with his hands, a strange feeling of repulsion and attraction made him curious.
As magic flowed into it, a bone-chilling cold burst from the front end of the casket.
Wherever it passed, a path of ice condensation appeared.
John stopped channeling magic and looked at the ice freezing his fingers.
He forcefully smashed off the ice.
After all, he didn't have the physique of a Frost Giant. Using this thing, John would suffer backlash from the cold air inside.
Fortunately, he had encountered this situation before, and the cold here was not as strong as that time.
Drawing a Möbius strip on the box's surface with his wand, John murmured, "Seal."
This was an ancient form of time magic.
It was also the second magic John learned at the dragon graveyard.
The Möbius strip turned into a lock, sealing the continuously emanating cold air.
Even deadly ice cold could not cross the seal of time.
After sealing it, John unscientifically stuffed the box into his pocket.
The box, obviously much larger, was forced inside.
The pocket showed no change at all, as if he had stuffed a piece of paper.
This was an Undetectable Extension Charm.
This spell is usually used for portable luggage in the magic world. While it changes the storage space of an object, it cannot change the weight of the items inside.
Various advanced magics must be combined to create a qualified spatial pocket.
As the most outstanding alchemist in the magic world, it was no surprise John could make this.
His first Undetectable Extension Charm pocket was a gift from his teacher.
However, due to his exile, his small satchel was lost.
Thinking about it now, he still missed it very much.
After putting away the casket, John walked out of the bank and looked up.
A nuclear bomb was falling, and the red and gold Iron Man armor was lifting it upward.
"Another nuclear-peaceful day," John complained. "Why does America always like to drop nuclear bombs on itself at the slightest provocation?"
He shook his head, took out his phone, and began recording.
He wondered how the people of New York would feel if they knew they were almost nuked.
But as he recorded, John's expression turned strange.
"Is Iron Man running out of power?"
Staring at Tony, who was about to fall, John fell into thought.
***
On the roof of the New York Sanctum.
Ancient One had lived for many years, but for the first time, she felt turmoil in her heart—a sense of losing control.
"You said there's no Wizard King. What's going on?"
Ancient One stared at Banner. "Is the Sorcerer Supreme Strange?"
"Yes," Banner said, also confused and gloomy. "Who is the Wizard King?"
"John Wick. If he didn't appear in your reality, where was he at that time?" Ancient One frowned.
Banner had witnessed the terrifying power that instantly cleared the area just now. If this person existed, they wouldn't have been so passive against Thanos.
But strangely, in their time, there was no Wizard King at all.
It could even be said they had never heard of John Wick.
Could it be that he was snapped away along with everyone else?
Ancient One increasingly sensed something was wrong. "Albus Dumbledore, do you know him?"
"Albus Dumbledore?" Banner was even more bewildered. "I don't know."
Even her first candidate, Dumbledore, didn't appear, which meant in Banner's reality, she hadn't experienced the future mist incident.
Why was this happening?
Could this mist be unique to her side?
Ancient One fell into thought. She then mentioned a third person. "Watson Wick."
"Watson Wick? Wait, I think I've heard of him," Banner's mind raced. "He's dead."
"I don't know the specifics. I was still wanted at that time," Banner said. "He was an investment businessman and a philanthropist. The newspapers recorded it at the time; he died in a car accident."
"Right, that's it." Ancient One finally found where things were wrong.
"His father died, so he didn't appear."
Taking a deep breath, Ancient One's mind raced. In her ears, she could still hear Banner desperately pleading for the Time Stone.
Watson Wick died, and John Wick's fate changed.
In other words, during the future period she couldn't see through, the Wizard King didn't appear.
That layer of mist is the Wizard King!
Understanding everything, Ancient One was even more shocked.
What kind of person could make the future blurry just by appearing?
After her death, the Wizard King of that time had not yet appeared.
But Ancient One knew that didn't mean the Wizard King didn't exist.
Perhaps it was a greater disaster.
A Wizard King who lost his loved ones...
"Please," Banner was still begging for the Time Stone.
Looking at Banner, who was desperately pleading, Ancient One knew in her heart that the Thanos they were dealing with might not be the greatest disaster.
"I'm sorry, I can't help you, Bruce."
She needed to protect this timeline. With the uncertainty of the future, she needed to be more cautious.
"If I give you the Time Stone to save your reality, our reality will be in peril."
"With all due respect, scientific theory shouldn't be like that," Banner said quickly.
Ancient One stopped and looked at him, sighing. She reached out and drew across the void, and a golden, infinitely extending line appeared.
"The Infinity Stones created the Time flow you see," Ancient One said, flicking the Time Stone with her hand. "Missing one Stone means a divergence."
"This might help your reality..."
"But the situation here might not be the same."
"In this new branch, having lost the main weapon against the dark forces," Ancient One said, looking at Banner, "our world will be in peril, and people will suffer utter destruction."
"So tell me, Doctor, can your scientific theory solve all of this?"
"No," Banner said, looking at the appearing black unknown branch, a thought suddenly struck him. "But it can eliminate all of this, because once we've used these stones, we'll return to the original Time point and return the stones."
He grabbed the stone that had been flicked away and put it back. "So, from a spatiotemporal perspective, the stone never left."
"So you've missed an important point," Ancient One said noncommittally, seeing the situation. "To return the items to their original owners, you must survive."
Banner quickly made a guarantee, "We will, I will, I promise."
Ancient One shook her head. "I can't take this risk based on a promise. The duty of the Supreme Mage is to protect the Time Stone, let alone..."
The Wizard King who hadn't appeared in the time-space of the Banner before her flashed through her mind.
Her words stopped.
That was an unpredictable variable. The future she couldn't see, perhaps Strange couldn't see either.
Banner asked, puzzled, "Then why did Strange give it away?"
"What?" Ancient One paused.
As the Supreme Mage she had personally chosen, she naturally understood how astonishingly talented the yet-to-arrive Strange was.
Ancient One even considered herself not as excellent as him.
But he chose to give it away.
Could it be that the Wizard King of that time didn't obstruct the mist, or could Strange see more?
Ancient One felt that she might be wrong.
But as the thought flashed, she looked up and saw the Wizard King appearing beside the falling Iron Man.
"Perhaps I was wrong, but you must do one thing."
Ancient One looked into Banner's eyes. "Go find the murderer who killed Watson Wick and go to the Magic Kingdom."
"What?" Now it was Banner's turn to be startled. "Magic Kingdom?"
"You must go," Ancient One said, looking at him. "Thanos is not your ultimate disaster."
"The Wizard King is."
"His anger must be appeased."
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