The number of Void Scavengers had far exceeded every previous estimate.
They poured in from every direction across the void, each creature radiating a nauseating aura of decay.
Their bodies, stitched together from rotting flesh, writhed through space. Twisted runes carved across their surfaces emitted a sickly green glow.
Their attention was locked firmly onto the Ark.
Or, more precisely, onto the corpse of the Living Tribunal that was currently skewered by the Ark's massive tendrils.
Tony's armor systems had descended into complete chaos.
The display was so densely packed with red warning messages that the contents could no longer be distinguished, while the shrill alarm tones threatened to rupture his eardrums.
He gripped the edge of the control console so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Shield Integrity: 43%... 39%... 32%...
The numbers continued dropping at a visible rate.
Worse still, the Living Tribunal's corpse continued to emit streams of pale white light.
Every beam carried enough power to tear apart dimensions themselves, relentlessly bombarding the Ark's hull.
The silver liquid-metal armor covering the ship had already developed vast scorched regions. Some sections had even begun melting and disintegrating.
Reed's voice had become sharp with fear.
"We have to abandon the corpse! Retreat immediately!"
Clark had already rushed to the observation window and slammed a fist against the transparent hull with a heavy thud.
"There are at least a thousand of those monsters—and more are still coming!"
Thor gripped Stormbreaker tightly.
The six Infinity Stones embedded within its blade flashed erratically.
He could clearly sense that even the Stones themselves felt a primal fear in this bizarre void.
Wanda pulled Adam closer into her arms.
At the same time, layers upon layers of Chaos Magic barriers instinctively formed around her.
A tremor entered her voice.
"Levi... what do we do?"
Zero's synthetic electronic voice sounded throughout the bridge.
This time, however, obvious distortion accompanied every word.
"Shield collapse imminent. Emergency jump strongly recommended. Current charge level: seventeen percent. Estimated completion time: forty seconds."
Forty seconds.
They couldn't possibly survive that long before the shields failed completely.
Yet Levi merely stood before the observation window, quietly staring at the glowing corpse.
Pale white light reflected in his gold-and-crimson eyes.
A smile slowly curved across his lips—a smile equal parts madness and excitement.
His voice was soft.
Yet something within it sent a chill through everyone present.
"Retreat?"
He chuckled.
"Why should we run?"
Turning slowly, he swept his gaze across everyone on the bridge.
Tony.
Reed.
Clark.
Thor.
Wanda.
Every one of them wore an expression of disbelief.
Levi's grin widened.
"I never said I was giving up this feast."
The moment those words fell, his figure vanished.
The bridge doors exploded open.
A streak of gold-and-crimson light burst through the Ark's protective barrier and shot directly toward the Living Tribunal's corpse.
Tony's pupils contracted.
"He's gone insane."
---
Levi streaked through the void, trailing a blazing tail of gold-and-crimson fire.
The instant the Void Scavengers sensed him, they swarmed toward him like sharks scenting blood.
Their grotesque forms twisted through space.
Chunks of rotten flesh continuously sloughed off and regenerated.
The runes covering their bodies glowed ever brighter.
The nearest scavenger opened its enormous maw.
Rows of razor-sharp teeth filled its mouth, while thick green slime churned deep within its throat.
Its speed was astonishing.
In an instant, it lunged before Levi.
The giant jaws—large enough to swallow a small spacecraft whole—snapped toward him.
Levi didn't even spare it a glance.
He simply raised his right hand.
The black vortex in his palm suddenly expanded.
The Concept of Greed was driven to its absolute limit.
An invisible force erupted outward.
The scavenger didn't even have time to scream.
Its entire body was shredded apart as though fed into a giant grinder, instantly reduced to countless fragments before being sucked into the vortex.
A second.
A third.
A tenth.
Every scavenger that dared approach Levi was torn into pieces by the terrifying pull.
The twisted concepts and corrupt energies contained within them were devoured indiscriminately by Greed and transformed into nourishment for Levi's own source power.
Yet there were simply too many.
Even after slaughtering more than a hundred within mere seconds, vastly greater numbers continued pouring in from all directions.
These creatures seemed entirely incapable of fear.
Driven only by instinct, they hurled themselves toward Levi in an endless effort to tear him apart.
At the same time, the pale light emitted by the Living Tribunal's corpse shifted its target.
It locked onto Levi.
The beam was not merely energy.
It was the ultimate judgment of the conceptual level.
Its purpose was to determine whether a target's existence was justified.
If the answer was no, the target would be erased from existence itself.
As the beam descended, black cracks split open across the void wherever it passed.
Only then did Levi slowly raise his head.
The trajectory of the pale beam reflected clearly within his gold-and-crimson eyes.
The smile on his face became even more unhinged.
He made no effort to dodge.
Instead, he spread his arms.
And charged directly toward the light of judgment that could erase all things.
---
Inside the Ark's bridge, everyone unconsciously held their breath.
Tony stared fixedly at the screen.
His fingers trembled uncontrollably.
Reed's face had gone deathly pale.
Clark had crushed deep indentations into the edge of the console with his bare hands.
Even Thor, normally unshakable, inhaled sharply.
To any observer, Levi's actions looked indistinguishable from suicide.
Yet just before the Judgment Light struck him—
all fourteen of his Laws erupted simultaneously.
Gold-and-crimson flames from the Phoenix Force burst from his body.
The Power of Dominion wove countless intricate law-runes around him.
Most importantly—
the Concept of Greed hidden within him detonated completely.
Not to resist.
Not to defend.
But to consume.
Levi intended to devour the Living Tribunal's Judgment Light itself.
To turn it into food.
To digest it.
The instant the pale beam struck him, the entire void trembled.
A terrifying shockwave exploded outward from Levi's position.
Nearby scavengers were annihilated before they could even react.
Yet Levi was not erased.
His body shook violently beneath the impact.
Countless tiny cracks appeared across his skin.
Gold-and-crimson blood seeped from the wounds.
But at the same time, the black vortex in his palm spun wildly.
Bit by bit, it stripped away, dismantled, and devoured the conceptual power contained within the Judgment Light.
On Tony's screens, the energy readings had exceeded every measurable limit.
The numbers fluctuated too rapidly to be read.
Reed clenched his teeth.
He could see Levi's internal law structure enduring unimaginable stress.
It seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
Yet Levi suddenly burst into manic laughter.
He drew his arms inward.
And embraced the entire beam of judgment.
The Concept of Greed reached an unprecedented peak.
The black vortex expanded violently.
And forcibly dragged the entire beam into itself.
The Judgment Light struggled furiously.
It attempted to escape the devouring force.
But Levi's fourteen Laws were already operating at full capacity.
The Phoenix Force stripped away layer after layer of the beam's Judgment Concept.
The Power of Dominion forcibly rewrote those fragments.
In the end, all of it was transformed into pure energy that could be absorbed.
The process lasted a full ten seconds.
Ten seconds later—
the Judgment Light vanished completely.
Levi slowly lowered his arms.
His body was covered in horrifying cracks, like a porcelain statue on the verge of shattering.
Yet his eyes shone brighter than ever.
Something unprecedented flickered within the depths of those gold-and-crimson pupils.
Turning, he looked toward the still-glowing corpse of the Living Tribunal.
His voice was quiet.
Yet filled with unquestionable authority.
"Since your judgment cannot kill me..."
"...now it's my turn to judge you."
---
The moment those words fell, a colossal rift opened behind him.
This was no ordinary tear in space.
It was a magnificent gateway leading directly into his Inner Universe.
Gold-and-crimson radiance poured from its depths.
Countless law-runes flashed and intertwined within it.
Levi raised both hands.
The Power of Dominion was pushed to its absolute limit.
A vast phantom emerged behind him.
It was the complete projection of his Inner Universe.
Stars revolved in perfect orbits.
Laws intertwined.
A complete and self-sustaining cosmic order revealed itself.
Then Levi thrust both hands forward.
The projection expanded instantly.
Like a boundless net, it enveloped the entire corpse of the Living Tribunal.
The corpse appeared to sense danger.
It exploded with resistance.
Countless pale beams erupted from within, attempting to tear apart the net of laws.
But it was already too late.
Levi's Inner Universe was itself a complete system built upon fourteen Laws.
It contained the creative force of the Phoenix Force.
The finality of Death.
And the Power of Dominion at its core.
Once fully unfolded, it represented an independent and complete set of universal rules.
The Tribunal's remaining Authority of Judgment was undoubtedly powerful.
But it was still only a corpse.
The power it could unleash was less than one ten-thousandth of its former peak.
Meanwhile, Levi's Inner Universe was alive.
Complete.
And constantly evolving.
The outcome had been decided from the very beginning.
The pale beams began collapsing the moment they touched the projection.
The Judgment Concepts within them were forcibly rewritten by Dominion and absorbed into the Inner Universe's system.
The corpse of the Living Tribunal began shaking violently.
Its transparent crystalline structure shattered inch by inch.
The conceptual power sealed within erupted outward like a burst dam.
Levi took a deep breath.
The Phoenix Force blazed to its maximum.
Gold-and-crimson flames surged from his body like a starving beast, pouncing upon the leaking conceptual fragments.
Every fragment contained authority once wielded by the Living Tribunal.
Judgment.
Balance.
Order.
Supreme Laws that once stood above the Multiverse itself.
Now they had become Levi's meal.
He could feel it.
His Inner Universe was undergoing a fundamental transformation.
The devoured conceptual fragments did not disappear.
The Phoenix Force refined them into pure Law Power.
That power merged into every star and every law-vein throughout his Inner Universe.
The fourteen Laws that once operated independently began resonating on a deeper level.
Space intertwined with Time.
Life revolved with Death.
Creation coexisted with Destruction.
This was no longer simple accumulation.
This was true fusion.
True transcendence.
---
Levi's body began to shine.
Not the gold-and-crimson of the Phoenix Force.
Not the silver-white of Dominion.
But an entirely new color beyond both.
Light seeped from every pore.
Behind him, it condensed into a colossal phantom.
The figure resembled both a humanoid form and an abstract conceptual entity.
It possessed countless eyes.
Each could perceive truths from different dimensions.
It possessed countless arms.
Each wielded a different Authority of Law.
Its existence alone embodied the principles governing the Multiverse.
Tony's armor system crashed completely.
Every screen went dark.
Then lit up again.
But instead of readable data, they displayed endless streams of incomprehensible symbols.
The gibberish flooded the screens as though the system were desperately trying to comprehend an existence beyond its capacity.
Reed collapsed to his knees.
His mind endured an unimaginable flood of information.
As the smartest member of the Council, Reed could perceive more than anyone else.
And because of that, he understood exactly what Levi's transformation represented.
This was an ascension of life itself.
An evolution from the level of a single universe—
toward the level of the Multiverse.
Clark's super-vision allowed him to perceive even more detail.
The terrifying cracks covering Levi's body were rapidly healing.
But the healed flesh was no longer ordinary flesh.
It had become nearly transparent.
Within it, countless law-runes flowed endlessly.
More frightening still—
Clark could feel the surrounding space beginning to distort.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
As though Levi's very existence had begun imposing its own reality upon the world around him.