The reason Alex Ray summoned the template card spirits to appear and meet one another was to assert dominance.
To show them—clearly—who was in charge.
Template cards still had their downsides. Not every soul attached to a template was cooperative.
Not everyone was as helpful as they seemed. Frieza, Kingpin's soul template, was a prime example—he refused to assist.
Every day, he harassed Kingpin to surrender his body and demanded that he destroy the world. A walking cosmic death threat.
And Frieza wasn't the only one like that.
There were other villains lurking in those cards.
Tobey's version of Peter Parker looked around, curious who Alex was calling out.
The rest of the heroes, already bonded to templates, simply smiled.
Kael, the embodiment of Quicksilver's speed and arrogance, appeared next—shirtless, muscle-packed, and sitting cross-legged mid-air with a lazy, sharp-edged grin. He munched casually on an apple, his eyes gleaming with piercing awareness, as though they could cut through lies and straight into one's soul.
His interest in Alex Ray wasn't just due to their shared power resonance.
It was the thrill—the challenge of facing the unknown.
Across the room, the verbal sparring between Deadpool and his template, Hidan (from the Naruto universe), reached its ridiculous peak.
Their banter was electric. Hidan even threatened to sacrifice Deadpool to Jashin, the evil god he worshipped—just to shut him up. The irony wasn't lost on anyone. Deadpool, the king of snark, was now the butt of someone else's jokes.
The entire room burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, Daredevil's template Kadono (a wise monk-like warrior from a forgotten plane) stood silently beside Fujitora Ichisho, the blind swordsman soul bound to Alex Ray.
They didn't need words.
Even though they couldn't see Alex physically, their souls trembled with recognition. They simply nodded in silent reverence, the deepest gesture of respect they could offer.
And yet—one absence stood out.
Alex scanned the crowd.
Syndra, the Dark Sovereign, was missing.
She was supposed to be the template soul bound to Wanda Maximoff.
Inside Wanda's mind, she spoke to her inner self: "Sister, what should we do?"
A darker voice answered her—sharp, divine, possessive.
"What can we do? Ignore her. Your beloved won't care. After all… I'm far more powerful than some broken puppet like Syndra."
The Chaos Goddess scoffed.
To her, being bound to a human soul was already beneath her. Sharing it? Absolutely not.
So, the moment Syndra's soul had tried to emerge—
Wanda's inner goddess crushed her without hesitation.
No regrets.
No second chances.
Wanda didn't argue. Compared to Syndra, she trusted her Chaos Goddess far more.
So she simply shook her head gently at Alex.
Alex didn't take it personally.
He respected everyone's autonomy—whatever played out in their inner world was their business.
He shifted his focus to the rest.
The Card Master's soul—Tristram—doffed his elegant hat in a sweeping salute to Alex. With a calm demeanor and a charlatan's charm, he looked like a gambler at ease with fate.
On either side of a massive astral chessboard stood the souls of Dumbledore and Grindelwald—template equivalents to Professor X and Magneto. One dressed in white, the other in black, their presence radiated an eerie, ancient gravitas.
They didn't even glance at Alex.
Their gazes were locked on each other—conveying a silent, eternal struggle of ideologies too vast for words.
And surprisingly, Dumbledore wasn't the frail old man people remembered.
He appeared as a vigorous middle-aged scholar, still full of untapped power.
The atmosphere thickened.
Then it exploded in brilliance.
Doctor Octopus's mechanical template—Victor, the Mechanical Pioneer—descended in a storm of cold metal and glowing gears, crafting a dazzling cybernetic forest around him. A masterpiece of engineering—power and elegance forged into one.
On the other side, Ryze, the Rune Mage, Alex's choice for Doctor Strange, appeared surrounded by floating ancient tomes and crackling arcane sigils. The sky above him shimmered with layers of arcane text, the very laws of magic etched into light.
Two worlds clashed: technology and sorcery.
And the room erupted in awe.
"Whoa!" Harry Osborn couldn't help shouting, eyes wide with wonder. "This is insane! I want a template card too!"
The other young mutants and tech scientists echoed his excitement. Their eyes gleamed with longing.
Even Tony Stark, the Iron Man himself, couldn't hide his fascination.
"The Soul Stone can do this?" Tony murmured, scanning the constructs. "I need to study this. I have to study this…"
His voice trembled slightly. For a man who'd seen gods and built suits in caves, this still shook him.
In contrast, one man stood apart.
Bullseye, standing behind Kingpin, silently glared at Alex Ray.
His eyes burned with mixed emotion—envy, frustration, hope.
When will it be my turn? his gaze silently asked.
"Alright, enough gawking at the zoo," Alex finally clapped his hands. "They're not animals. These are our partners, not exhibits."
He turned to the summoned souls.
"I'm Alex Ray. If fate permits, I'll give you another shot at life. Until then, I entrust my friends to your care."
He bowed deeply.
Respectfully.
Sincerely.
Everyone—mutants, heroes, scientists—felt his sincerity.
Moved, they followed suit, offering a collective bow to the souls, those who carried the weight of untold battles and buried dreams.
And the template souls responded—each in their own way:
"Lady Luck smiles on us again."
"If only your eyes could truly open…"
"I want to see the infinite continents of this world."
"For once… let someone continue to love you, Dumbledore."
"Let darkness scatter like a cloud before dawn."
…
As the souls faded one by one, the superheroes remained quiet, a hint of sorrow in their eyes.
"They seem… more heroic than we are…" someone whispered.
Alex gave a gentle smile.
"One day, you'll surpass them."
"And then it'll be your turn."
The group in the restaurant turned toward him.
"What's going on?"
"What brought you back?"
Alex raised a hand. His voice was steady, but his words were an earthquake.
"I plan to move all of Hell's Kitchen into my personal dimension."
The silence that followed was shattered by Doctor Strange.
Among everyone present, only Strange truly grasped what that meant.
He shot up, alarmed. "You're serious?"
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Bonus Chapter - 150 Power Stones
2nd Bonus Chapter - 300 Power Stones
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