Antarctic Glacier.
CRACK~~
BOOM~~
The serene ice surface shattered violently as a colossal eyeball broke through, floating high in the sky. Its octopus-like tentacles swayed, unleashing bursts of purple energy into the void.
HUM~
BANG BANG BANG
The next moment, dense clusters of purple energy shot toward the ocean's depths, erupting in boundless dark power.
RUMBLE!!
Darkness exploded, space warped, and a demonic skull emerged, its abyssal maw gaping wide to swallow the terrifying dark energy.
The eyeball monster's massive pupil contracted in fear.
It recognized this figure—Dormammu, Lord of Darkness!
But now, Dormammu was a puppet, acting under that one's command.
Realizing this, the eyeball monster's gaze filled with terror. Before it could turn to flee, the world flipped upside down, and an alien dimensional space dragged it into perilous territory.
It was this dimension's master who had shattered its own dimensional domain, expelled it, and now hunted it down, determined to seize the power it had accumulated over countless years!
The eyeball monster flailed its tentacles anxiously in the dimensional space, its indescribable form turning transparent in fear.
This was its protective camouflage, a sign of submission.
But the master of this dimension had no intention of letting it off.
"Heh, Shuma-Gorath, the evil and ancient dimensional demon god. Your reputation precedes you, but you're quite the disappointment!"
A dark throne materialized, and atop it, a dark maiden casually stroked Dormammu's head, her tone calm.
Shuma-Gorath finally saw its enemy's true form, but having lost its dimensional space and much of its power, it was now powerless to resist.
A human-like dark dimensional demon god—this shocked it.
Her hellish domain was unlike Mephisto's. Her hell was darker, purer, and far more mysterious.
Even with Shuma-Gorath's eons of amassed evil power, it couldn't stand against her.
Among all dimensional demon gods, its power ranked among the strongest.
Yet her hellish rules completely dominated these so-called gods.
Most crucially, this being had no traceable growth history. Shuma-Gorath couldn't find any hint of her existence across any timeline.
A Hell Queen who appeared out of nowhere, she had devoured Mephisto's and Dormammu's dimensional powers, followed by several other dimensional demon gods who fell to her.
Now, it was Shuma-Gorath's turn.
In the next second, as Shuma-Gorath's pupil dilated to its limit, countless hellish claws reached out from the abyss. These claws, spawned from the dimensional powers of various dark demon gods, were all too familiar to Shuma-Gorath.
Its own dimensional space had been torn apart by these very claws.
SHRIEK!!
A horrific scream erupted from the hellish abyss as the indescribable entity dissolved into nothingness. Its power merged into this hell, its soul eternally sealed within.
Having done this, the Hell Queen dispersed the hellish space.
Clear skies returned. Charlie was already waiting on the Antarctic Glacier.
Seeing the Hell Queen's return, Charlie's expression was peculiar.
"Jade, when did you switch to a death-metal vibe?"
Hearing Charlie's voice, Future Jade's face froze.
She hurriedly dispelled the dark aura around her, reverting to her usual sunny-girl persona.
"Hey, Uncle Charlie, long time no see! What a coincidence!" she said, scratching her head with an awkward laugh.
Damn, how did he find me?
In Future Jade's memories, this encounter didn't exist.
To be precise, her memories didn't include the Battleworld's emergence.
After Spider-Man's trial by the Living Tribunal, Uncle Dragon, Jade, and Old Man were expelled from the universe.
But because Future Jade had hidden in Shuma-Gorath's dimensional space, the Living Tribunal hadn't detected her, allowing her to escape.
What followed was beyond Future Jade's predictions.
The Beyonder appeared, a bored entity who created the Battleworld, dragging all powerhouses—including the invincible dimensional demon gods—into it.
That included her.
Meeting Spider-Man here was expected, but finding her this quickly was not.
As for Future Jade's "rebellion," Charlie could only nod in understanding.
It was normal for her age.
Well, dark-side Jade has grown up.
She even called him Uncle.
Spider-Man was pleased.
Charlie approached Future Jade, eyeing her feigned sunny smile.
"No need to act. I get your edgy taste, but next time, don't wear that black outfit. It's too revealing."
Future Jade: "…"
"It's called fashion," she retorted stubbornly.
Charlie rolled his eyes. "Fashion? Look at my suit, this is fashion."
"You wouldn't get it. Girls love this stuff."
"Tch, just a rebellious phase. I'm not arguing with you."
Charlie scoffed, then continued, "That hellish domain you used was impressive. Where'd it come from?"
At this point, Future Jade saw no need to hide.
"It was originally the hell sealing the eight demons. I went back and claimed it," she said proudly.
Charlie: "…"
"I meant, who taught you dark magic?" he asked, his face darkening.
Future Jade shrugged. "Old Man taught me."
"No way, he doesn't know proper magic!" Charlie said confidently.
"Doesn't he?"
Future Jade crossed her arms, smirking. "You might not know what Old Man learned during his time in this universe."
"What did he learn?" Charlie had a bad feeling.
Future Jade grinned. "He went to Kamar-Taj, used your name, and borrowed a ton of magic books from Ancient One."
Charlie: "!!!"
"That sneaky old bastard!"
He gritted his teeth, then suddenly realized something.
"Wait, even if he borrowed magic books, those would be white magic. Ancient One wouldn't lend him dark magic books."
At this, Future Jade's smile froze.
Charlie knew instantly she was lying.
"I got it."
His gaze sharpened, pointing at her nose.
"There's only one truth!"
"If Old Man learned dark magic here, then in your universe, Demon Dragon wouldn't stand a chance against him. You wouldn't have crossed over to find me, and we wouldn't be in this universe together.
So Old Man never learned dark magic. You're making this up!"
Future Jade: "…"
"Fine, you got me!"
She sighed, exasperated. "The truth is, I met a genius sorcerer here who taught me dark magic."
"Genius sorcerer? Strange?" Charlie raised an eyebrow.
Future Jade shook her head. "No, him."
She opened a hellish portal, and Charlie followed her to a dark room.
A nerd's room.
A twitching, foaming-at-the-mouth chubby guy sat at a computer desk, struggling to move the mouse while gaming.
Charlie: "…"
"Uh, who's this?" he asked Future Jade.
Future Jade's face was full of sorrow.
"He's Ned, my only friend here."
"Wait! Ned? Which Ned?" Charlie couldn't believe it.
Future Jade nodded. "That Ned. Chrysanthemum Spider-Man, Ned Leeds. He's been gone a long time. You went to school together; you should remember him."
Charlie's mouth twitched. "Of course I remember. Vividly."
A Spider-Man who shot webs from his chrysanthemum—he'd never forget.
He studied the game-obsessed Ned, curious. "What's wrong with him?"
Future Jade explained, "He's been backlashed by dark magic."
"He knows magic?"
Charlie mused, "Genius sorcerer Ned stole dark magic, got backlashed, ended up on the streets, and you took him in out of kindness. Moved by that, he taught you dark magic…"
"That's not it."
Future Jade looked exasperated.
"When you brought me to this universe last time, Ned had already learned dark magic."
She recalled the past, her face full of nostalgia.
"When Uncle Dragon and I were searching for the Twelve Talismans, I met him using dark magic to fight crime. He's chubby, has bad breath, swears a lot, is short, has small eyes, and a creepy smile, but he's a good guy, loyal, and his dark magic is strong…"
Charlie scratched his forehead. "Is that supposed to be praise?"
Future Jade nodded firmly. "Of course it's praise."
Twitching Ned: "…" He couldn't tell.
Charlie sighed. "So, you two are dating?"
"No, no, no, definitely not."
Future Jade quickly clarified, "Just good friends. My type is young Steve. Though, Spider-Man's not out of the question…"
Charlie waved her off. "Stop. Back to the dark magic."
Future Jade pouted. "Fine, fine."
She continued reminiscing.
"After meeting Ned, I learned he was tricked into learning dark magic by a dark sorcerer. His dream was to be a hero like Spider-Man."
She glanced at Charlie. "But since Spider-Man also has dark powers, he didn't reject dark magic."
"This is my fault now?" Charlie was speechless.
Future Jade nodded. "Yup. Ned has a high talent for dark magic. He knew I was interested, so he taught me everything.
But he didn't expect my talent for dark magic to surpass his. I quickly outdid him."
"So, how'd he get backlashed by dark magic?" Charlie asked seriously.
Future Jade looked embarrassed.
"We planned to steal a dimensional demon god's power, and… well, you know, we ran into the demon god who gave him his dark magic."
Charlie: "…"
"That's hilarious!"
He was beyond exasperated.
Using someone's power to fight them? And they didn't kill you?
Was this something a normal carbon-based lifeform would do?
At the very least, you'd need to make the borrowed dark magic your own first.
On this point, Ancient One and Future Jade had done well.
Charlie could tell Future Jade was cunning and hadn't suffered much loss.
After learning dark magic, she immediately claimed an unowned hellish space.
Then she devoured dimensional demon gods, growing step by step to where she was now.
But…
Charlie eyed the twitching Ned and Future Jade.
"You should be able to restore him," he said to her.
Future Jade huffed. "Of course I can, but he brought this on himself."
"How so?" Charlie was curious.
Future Jade glared at Ned. "This guy tried to confess to me. What a joke! I only see him as a friend.
He said if I didn't accept him, he'd rather stay like this forever, so I let him.
This bitch is so shameless. I'm not some soft-hearted girl.
I'm destined to be the Dark Queen!!"
Future Jade stood proudly. Ned twitched even harder.
All I did was try!
More than friends, less than lovers—just one chance away.
Movies made it seem plausible; it wasn't his fault!
He bet on Jade's soft heart, thinking he'd score a lively, cheerful girlfriend.
It'd be so cool to show off!
That's what he thought.
But reality proved him wrong.
One of life's three great illusions.
Just because a girl enjoys hanging out with a chubby guy doesn't mean she likes him.
For this, Ned paid a heavy price.
Dark magic Jade was so dark!
Ned wanted to cry.
Charlie sympathized.
"How long are you punishing him?" he asked.
Future Jade shrugged. "Until I'm done with this busy period."
"What are you busy with?"
"You'll find out."
Future Jade turned to Charlie. "So, why'd you come find me?"
Getting to business, Charlie grew serious.
"Here's the deal. I've decided to unite everyone here to break the Battleworld. I'm calling it the Breakworld Plan."
"You want me to join?" Future Jade refused without hesitation.
"I've got important stuff to do. I can't help you yet."
Charlie nodded. "Got it."
He didn't try to persuade her. He knew Jade was always strong-willed.
Then he glanced at Ned. "Good luck."
With that, he turned to leave.
Ned: "…"
"Who… was that?" he asked Jade, twitching.
Future Jade said casually, "Spider-Man, your idol."
"What?!"
Ned trembled, tears streaming down his face.
"Wahhh! Spider-Man heard this story! I'm so embarrassed!"
This joke was only known to Jade.
But now, Spider-Man knew.
Which meant the whole world did.
S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Hahaha! Poor Ned!!"
Old Man Steve slapped the table, laughing. "The little chubby guy's naive but brave. If he hadn't taught Jade dark magic, it'd be even better."
"True. Before learning dark magic, kind-hearted Jade might've actually said yes," Carter said, stifling a laugh.
Charlie scoffed. "That bitch deserved it. How old was he? And how young was Jade?"
At this, everyone was indignant.
Serves him right!
"Classmate Charlie, is it okay to gloat like this?"
Harry looked at Charlie, feigning heartbreak. "He's our classmate!!"
"We should help him out of this shadow and face life again."
As he spoke, he quickly jotted down the story.
Heh, this tragic, funny guy's perfect for Spider-Man's side stories.