Just after midnight.
On the rooftop of a quiet apartment building.
Hawk was training.
There was no punching bag.
No fighting stance.
No visible technique.
He didn't even move his feet. He simply stood still, eyes half-closed, his mind seemingly adrift in another world as he threw punch after punch into the empty air before him.
This time, he wasn't chasing speed.
He was chasing something deeper.
It was like he had entered a trance.
For a long time now, Hawk had sensed a strange feeling with every strike he threw but tonight, that sensation had intensified to a whole new level.
He felt as if his consciousness had entered a void an endless, all-consuming darkness that couldn't be measured or described.
Yet, with each punch he released, a tiny flicker of light bloomed in that darkness.
And had Hawk looked up just then, he would've seen something even more incredible.
Above him, in the vast night sky, the constellations shimmered in silent harmony.
Pegasus.
Dragon.
Cygnus.
Phoenix.
Scorpius.
All forty-eight Bronze Constellations, the mythic celestial formations, responded to every punch he threw not individually, but together. Unified.
They pulsed and glimmered with each movement of his body, each ripple of his will.
One punch.
Another.
Then another.
Hawk's punches appeared slow, but in reality, they were impossibly fast. Each strike retracted fully before the next began, yet their afterimages overlapped one flickering out just as the next blazed in.
Second punch.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
Soon, the entire rooftop seemed filled with shimmering, flickering fists.
Suddenly, a deep, thunderous roar echoed in Hawk's mind.
It was faint almost imperceptible yet carried the weight of a great bell tolling across eternity.
BOOM.
A tiny spark of flame ignited within him.
And as that flame came to life, the infinite darkness inside him mirroring the star-studded heavens began to ripple outward, as though something within reality itself had been disturbed.
At first, it was only a tremble.
But in the next instant, it expanded exploding outward like the birth of a universe.
The stars that filled his inner cosmos burst forth with blinding brilliance.
Inside Hawk's body, an invisible wall formless, weightless collapsed beneath the energy released, as if some ancient, slumbering power had finally awakened after countless eons.
WHOOSH.
Hawk opened his eyes.
This time, the flame inside him didn't flicker and vanish.
It roared to life.
BOOM!
He felt it his blood racing like a flood unleashed, every cell in his body trembling violently.
It was as if ten thousand stars had ignited within him, each expanding with unimaginable force.
And with every surge, his bones shattered and reformed, crushed and remade in an instant, as though they were being reforged in the furnace of stellar creation.
BUZZ.
A strange hum filled his ears.
Then, in a flash of clarity, he saw it
The very particles that formed his flesh spinning violently, igniting, collapsing, then exploding outward like the birth of the cosmos.
He saw the blood beneath his skin, racing like a roaring star river.
He saw his heart, each beat echoing like the primordial pulse that once gave birth to the universe, sending invisible ripples into the endless void.
And in the next moment
He understood.
As his right fist clenched, Hawk shifted his stance.
He pivoted sharply, grinding his heel into the rooftop floor, his body pulling back in perfect balance.
He drew in all his weight.
And then
He punched.
A roar tore from him not from his throat, but from the depths of his soul.
"Burn, my Microcosm!!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The air around him rippled like water.
Space fractured like fragile glass.
Even the flow of time seemed to warp and tremble under the weight of his blow.
Air.
Space.
Time.
All of it stood still frozen by the force of one strike.
A second later
Screeeeech!
The air screamed as it tore apart.
CRACK! CRACK!
Space moaned under the pressure, collapsing with a deafening snap.
THUNDER!
Time itself shattered then immediately reformed, branching into a brand new timeline.
BOOM!
CRASH!
Across the street, the windows of a nearby apartment building exploded outward as if struck by an invisible hurricane. Glass shards flew in every direction, accompanied by an ear-splitting blast.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
BEEP! BEEP!
WAAAH!
The parked cars along the road trembled violently, crushed as if a colossal invisible hand had pressed down from the sky. Windows shattered. Alarms screamed one after another in chaotic harmony.
Meanwhile, at Kamar-Taj…
"Hmm?"
The sorcerer in yellow robes the Ancient One looked down, her expression puzzled.
A nearby disciple noticed and turned to her.
"Master?"
The Ancient One lowered her gaze toward the artifact around her neck the Eye of Agamotto.
With a subtle gesture, her fingers formed a seal, and the Eye began to turn.
It opened.
A soft, eerie green light poured from the gem at its center mysterious, unfathomable.
In the Marvel Universe, this gem had a name:
The Time Stone.
A relic that allowed its wielder to step through time, to traverse the distant past and reach far-flung futures. Whoever controlled the Time Stone, controlled all timelines known and unknown.
The Ancient One narrowed her eyes.
"Something has changed…"
She formed another seal, then gently closed the Eye of Agamotto and vanished into the air.
[DING!]
Congratulations. You have activated the Microcosm Cultivation Technique.
[DING!]
It has been my honor to accompany you these past 1,000 days. The system is now unbinding. I look forward to our next encounter.
Remember: The Microcosm Cultivation Method is a path of combat, a path of holy war.
Grow in battle. Ascend in battle.
Farewell.
The mechanical voice of the system rang one last time in Hawk's mind.
One thousand days ago, the system had appeared quietly.
Now, it was leaving just as silently.
It came without a sound.
And left the same way.
By now, the sun had risen.
"Holy sh*t!"
"What the hell just happened?"
"My window!"
"My car!"
"Who the hell did this?!"
"Wait, look up!"
"What is that?!"
"Holy—"
"Jesus Christ…"
Hawk stood atop the rooftop, slowly opening his eyes as the chaotic voices below reached his ears.
Above the skyline of Manhattan, the sky had been torn open split by a streak of ghostly blue light that ripped the heavens apart.
Hawk blinked, stunned.
"…Did I just punch a hole in the sky?"