"Outsider, you carry endless sins. Kneel now and accept judgment!" declared the tallest Celestial.
"Just you lot?"
Malrick's eyes narrowed, and in an instant, his body expanded—growing beyond twelve light-years across.
He now stood in the Universe like a galactic titan, every movement causing space itself to ripple and fracture.
With a single motion, Malrick raised his hand and crushed the Celestials.
Power surged through him, and primal laws twisted at his will, erasing the Celestials completely from existence.
But their deaths were only the beginning.
A new presence stirred. Four abstract cosmic beings appeared on the battlefield—each far more powerful than those before.
Malrick rose again to face them.
Countless years passed.
Malrick traveled across Worlds, destroying every pantheon, every deity that upheld the order of the Universe. He consumed one Universe after another, battled the mightiest of Superheroes, and emerged stronger each time.
But the war never truly ended.
And Malrick was tired.
He sat in silence upon an Earth in a distant Universe, gazing up at the stars as they danced across the cosmic tapestry.
After eons of conflict, he had reached the level of a God King, his power now transcending the Multiverse itself.
Behind him stretched the corpses of countless enemies—enough to bury a Universe in ruin.
Wherever he went, guardians of balance rose to oppose him.
In this vast Marvel reality, there seemed to be no place for him.
Suddenly, thunder roared across the stars.
Entire solar systems surrounding Malrick erupted, their stars exploding into nothingness.
"Enough!" came a voice so vast it pierced through the very crystal wall of the Universe.
Malrick's expression darkened.
Before his eyes, the fabric of the cosmos peeled open, parting reverently like curtains before royalty.
Descending from the beyond came a being even larger than Malrick's current form—a presence with three faces and a humanoid shape.
Malrick knew who it was instantly.
The Living Tribunal, the supreme arbiter of balance in the Marvel Multiverse, had come.
"Malrick, your actions are a blight upon creation. Still you show no remorse."
"In the name of the All-Powerful Universe, I will pass judgment."
Golden light surged as the Living Tribunal descended, its aura sealing the entire Universe.
Malrick, despite his power, felt his body freeze, locked in place by divine force.
"Do you know your sins?" the Tribunal boomed.
Malrick looked up, defiant. "My only regret is that I'm not strong enough to defeat you."
The Living Tribunal remained impassive.
"Then let judgment begin."
Its three faces passed their verdict:
The Face of Justice spoke:
"You slaughtered the divine, disrupted the Multiverse, and shattered cosmic order. You are unfit to exist."
The Face of Vengeance echoed:
"You began this path in pursuit of vengeance. Let the Universe now take its vengeance on you. You are to be imprisoned for eons."
The Face of Necessity added:
"Your actions were born of desperation. In your original Universe, there was no place for you. Your resistance is understood. But the Universes you destroyed now require your aid. You will be stripped of your power and forced to repair the damage—eternally."
All three faces then spoke as one:
"We sentence you to be stripped of all power and imprisoned within the Multiverse for hundred of years, until Death claims you."
Malrick said nothing.
He had long prepared himself for this outcome.
His centuries of slaughter hadn't broken his spirit—only deepened his questions.
With every battle, every broken world, he had asked himself:
Was it all worth it?
Did resurrecting Tony justify the destruction?
Could strength alone ever be enough?
Even now, he still didn't have the answer.
"Do you have any final words?" the Living Tribunal asked.
"Malrick," the Voice continued, "Thanos did not arrive because of a leak in the Tesseract's energy. He came because he sensed your presence—the energy you released while cultivating in the heart of a star."
"Now that you understand, if you were given another chance, would you still pursue power? Would you still seek revenge?"
The question struck like a hammer.
It was the same one Malrick had asked himself a thousand times.
Was becoming stronger… wrong?
Was resurrecting Tony… a mistake?
He stared into the Tribunal's ever-changing faces.
Then, at last, he had an answer.
All the talk about destiny, responsibility, and regret was meaningless.
If he had hesitated out of fear, if he had chosen to remain weak, then he would have lived at the mercy of those with power.
From the moment he arrived in this Universe, his fate had been sealed.
He would never be ordinary.
Every hardship, every tragedy—it had all happened because he hadn't been strong enough.
But now?
Now he understood.
His eyes blazed like molten suns.
"I don't regret anything," Malrick said, voice clear and unshaken. "If I had the chance again, I would only become stronger—strong enough to destroy even you."
His conviction rang out like a steel blade being drawn.
His path was set.
Every obstacle he faced—he would either break it, or it would break him.
Malrick had found the truth in his own heart.
He didn't seek power for vanity.
He sought it to protect what mattered.
To ensure no one could ever take from him again.
As this realization crystallized, Malrick's soul ascended to a new level.
And then the World around him cracked.
The Tribunal froze mid-motion.
The power restraining Malrick vanished.
The Universe shattered like glass, falling away into fragments of light.
Malrick blinked, and the scene dissolved.
The illusion was gone.
He was back in the Legacy Fortress.
The towering beast-shaped shadow stared at him, stunned.
"You broke through the illusion? That quickly?"
It paused, eyes narrowing.
"Your mental state… it's unbelievably strong—stronger than many Immortals I've encountered."
"The illusion was constructed using a fusion of advanced illusion techniques and the Law of Time. Whatever you experienced came from your subconscious—it was tailored to test the limits of your mind."
"I expected you to last a month inside. You broke out in a single day."
"Congratulations. You've passed the first trial."
The shadow's tone was now filled with deep respect.
"Would you like to rest… or proceed to the next challenge?"
"Continue," Malrick answered calmly.
To him, the hundreds of thousands of years spent in that illusion had felt real.
He had experienced despair, rage, sorrow, and triumph.
And yet none of it had truly happened.
The Starry Sky World's illusion arts were no simple tricks—they were ancient and profound.
But now, he had surpassed even them.
"I choose Law Comprehension," he said, voice steady.
He had no intention of looking back.
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