"No!"
The old man's scream echoed through Rowan Mercer's inner universe before collapsing into silence. Body and soul were crushed together, sealed beneath layers of reality at the deepest point of Rowan's world.
Rowan exhaled slowly.
"It's finally over."
He looked around.
Cracks ran through the fabric of his universe like shattered glass. Entire regions trembled, hovering on the edge of collapse.
"So this is the price," he muttered. "A wounded multiversal creator is still terrifying."
If not for the fusion of every avatar's soul, if not for the sheer amplification of his mind, if not for the mix of laws and magic gathered from countless worlds, Rowan would have died here. There had never been a real margin for error.
Even now, he could not kill the old man.
Only suppress him.
But that was enough.
As Rowan's strength continued to grow, and as he absorbed the four Fairy Tail worlds one by one, that prison would become an execution chamber. Time was on Rowan's side.
Digging through the sealed consciousness, Rowan uncovered the truth.
"So you're Ankhseram."
The god of life and death.
The source of the curse that had bound Zeref and Mavis to endless suffering.
And the creator of the Fairy Tail multiverse itself.
Rowan closed his eyes briefly.
"At least that's over."
With Ankhseram suppressed, the curse was broken. Zeref and Mavis would finally be free to live as ordinary people. His bargain with Zeref was complete, ahead of schedule.
Floating within his world, Rowan began repairing the damage. Reality stitched itself back together, fractures sealing under steady pressure. As stability returned, he initiated the assimilation of the four Fairy Tail universes.
The reward was immense.
Four complete worlds.
But the lesson was sharper than the gain.
He had survived because his enemy was careless. And crippled.
That would not always be the case.
In the future, any test of a creator would be done with one rule in mind: if things turned bad, he would flee instantly into the Void.
Some worlds no longer concerned him. Middle-earth. The Mage's Apprentice realm. The Wizarding multiverse. Fairy Tail.
Others required caution.
The world of arcane science and grimoires was crawling with demon-gods, and its hidden master was far stronger than Rowan had first assumed. Best left untouched for now.
The card-magic world held too many parallel realities. Its creator was unquestionably multiversal.
The modern martial world showed no parallel branches and relatively limited scale. That one might be approached carefully.
Runeterra's cosmology was vast, stitched together by celestial forces. The one who shaped its stars could wait.
The heroic spirit system spanned countless timelines. Too dangerous to rush.
The Elder Scrolls universe, however, intrigued him.
Its structure suggested fracture. A creator divided. Spirits and daedra born from something broken.
If Rowan reached the peak of his current state, he could return, subdue its gods, and take the world whole.
And then there was the most important world of all.
Marvel.
That creator was untouchable for now.
But Marvel's endless branches meant endless opportunity.
"Enough planning," Rowan said quietly. "It's time."
Back in the Marvel universe, Rowan stepped through a portal and returned from a mutant-adjacent timeline to his home reality.
It was 2017.
Earth had fully entered an interstellar age.
With support from the Nova Empire and the guidance of Rowan's superhuman academy, humanity had spread beyond its homeworld. Colonists, traders, explorers. Earth's population had thinned, but its prosperity had soared.
Advanced alien technology had liberated labor. Resources were abundant. Even regions once trapped in poverty now enjoyed living standards that rivaled old global capitals.
The sky was alive with traffic. Civilian drones. Stark-manufactured service robots. Humanity had finally stepped into the wider cosmos.
Rowan did not return to the academy.
Professor Xavier and his team had matters well in hand. Rowan's presence there was symbolic more than practical.
Instead, he went somewhere familiar.
Kamar-Taj.
The moment he appeared on the rooftop training grounds, he spotted Mordo locked in a sparring match with a man in blue robes. The stranger moved with surprising precision, weaving spells with practiced ease and matching Mordo blow for blow.
"Long time no see, Mordo," Rowan said.
Mordo froze, then broke into a rare smile.
"Master Mercer. You haven't visited in years."
He turned to the blue-robed man, who was still staring in disbelief.
"Let me introduce you," Mordo said. "This is Stephen Strange. The Ancient One accepted him as a student last year."
Then he gestured toward Rowan.
"And this is Rowan Mercer. A close friend of our teacher."
Stephen Strange straightened slowly.
His eyes never left Rowan.