Something happened in Hong Kong.
What?
They say an unknown darkness has enveloped all of Hong Kong.
After Sharon hung up the phone, she looked at Hawk and Gwen: "Sorry, I have to go back."
As everyone knows.
When it's one o'clock in the afternoon in the Western Hemisphere, it's one o'clock at night in the Eastern Hemisphere.
So... the moment Hawk's pupils turned golden, his gaze swept towards the direction of Hong Kong.
In an instant.
Endless images flashed quickly through his pupils.
Until—
Above Hong Kong, ravaged by fire, darkness, accompanied by lightning and thunder, began to descend.
Dark Dimension!
Dormammu.
However... Hawk withdrew his gaze and said to Sharon: "It's nothing major, but if you're worried, it wouldn't hurt to go back and check."
Sharon smiled: "The higher-ups called, so it's not like I can just not go back if I don't want to. But, once again, congratulations to you both. I'm off now."
Hawk said thank you.
Gwen hugged Sharon.
"Take care, I'll bring you a gift when I get back."
"I look forward to it."
Sharon said, then turned and walked towards the road.
Gwen then looked at Hawk curiously.
"Aren't you going to see the Sorcerer off for the last time?"
"Ancient One has already retired."
"And..."
"No."
Hawk shrugged.
He was friends with the Sorcerer Supreme, but not with the newly appointed Doctor Strange.
The reason was simple.
Gwen correcting herself to be called Dr. Phoenix was cute, and Hawk liked it very much.
But Doctor Strange correcting himself to be called Dr. Strange was annoying, and Hawk didn't like it at all.
So... no.
Just then.
With a crack.
Thunder God Thor made a dazzling entrance with a clap of thunder, accompanied by a bolt of lightning from the sky. Amidst the gasps of the guests, Thunder God Thor, who was not far away, raised Mjolnir and thunderously summoned the Bifrost Bridge, instantly leaving Earth.
Hawk and Gwen exchanged glances, then walked over.
Gwen spoke first.
"Jane, Thor he..."
"Thor said Heimdall observed darkness approaching Asgard, so he rushed back."
Jane looked at Gwen approaching and explained.
Hawk nodded at the words.
That's right.
In simple terms, even though Earth fell from the World Tree, Earth's relationship with the World Tree Universe is still like bone connected to sinew.
Now that Dormammu has descended upon the Eastern Hemisphere, bringing his Dark Dimension, the dark power manifested by the Dark Dimension will naturally also erode Asgard.
However... luckily Dormammu finally understood things a bit and didn't descend during Hawk's wedding, but waited until the wedding was over and the reception had also concluded.
It was now the guest farewell stage.
After all, Gwen had already changed out of her wedding dress.
If Dormammu had arrived even a little earlier, Hawk would have exploded. He would have run to Hong Kong no matter what and beaten Dormammu's brains out.
Once again.
Gwen valued today's wedding very much, and Hawk also wanted to give Gwen a wedding that she would remember with only happiness and smiles. Any accident would not only make Gwen furious but also instantly ignite Hawk's rage.
As for now?
It's fine.
After all, the wedding was over, and the incident happened in Hong Kong, on the other side of Earth, so its impact on New York City wasn't very significant.
Sharon and Thor's departure was just a small interlude. With the help of the Chloe and Stacy couples, Hawk and Gwen, following the predetermined plan and the schedule in Gwen's wedding booklet, saw off all the guests who came to the wedding today.
However, Peter, Hawk's best friend, did not leave.
Felicia took Ben Hawk Parker to help Gwen tidy up the small room's belongings.
Hawk, meanwhile, was chatting with Peter on the lawn, watching the catering company clear away their tables and chairs.
"Did Mary talk to you?"
"No."
Peter shook his head: "Mary and I are over."
Hawk smiled: "I know, I was afraid you didn't know, after all, you and Felicia are doing great now."
As everyone knows.
No matter which version of Spider-Man, emotion always outweighs reason.
Hawk had watched Peter achieve his current happy life, so even if it were Peter himself, he wouldn't allow Peter to destroy this hard-won happiness.
And at a wedding, when old friends who didn't end up together meet, it's very easy for sparks to fly if one isn't careful.
Therefore!
Hawk felt it necessary to remind Peter.
Peter naturally understood Hawk's meaning, listening to Hawk's words: "Don't worry, I understand. Didn't you see today, I was either with you or with Felicia? I like Xiao Ben, and I like Felicia. I won't let them be sad."
Hawk hummed in acknowledgment.
Just then.
He felt a stir in his heart and once again looked in the direction of Hong Kong.
At this moment, Hong Kong was completely enveloped by endless darkness, and the Kamar-Taj Sanctum had exploded into a fireball.
But!
The Kamar-Taj Sanctum remained in the state of exploding into a fireball, as if time had been frozen at that moment.
And within this frozen time, a figure, without hesitation, walked into the darkness.
"Dormammu, I've come to bargain."
With the Time Stone in the eye of agamotto on his chest glowing brightly, Stephen Strange, with the Time Ring around his right arm, strode into the darkness.
Then... he died!
And then... he resurrected, shouting again, "Dormammu, I've come to bargain," and once again walked into the darkness.
Stephen Strange did not reverse his own time.
He merely created a loop for his own time each time he entered the Dark Dimension.
This was not altering the past, but Doctor Strange artificially looping his own time within a closed time loop.
This was Kamar-Taj's time spell.
This spell, not considered altering the past, could be used with the Time Stone to loop one's own time, as long as the corresponding price could be paid.
Ancient One retired.
Strange ascended. As the next dimensional agent of Vishanti, Doctor Strange now had massive energy as a backing.
This was also why Doctor Strange, with less than two and a half years of training, dared to bargain with Dormammu, the lord of the Dark Dimension.
The time loop created by Doctor Strange, in Hawk's eyes, he had entered and spoken countless times.
But that was because Hawk had already contracted his own time and would not be affected by others' time.
However, to other people, or in the perception of time, Doctor Strange only entered the Dark Dimension once.
Then... one battle decided the Universe.
Dormammu roared furiously and unwillingly took his followers, then left Earth without hesitation.
But at this moment, Hong Kong, especially the street where the Kamar-Taj Sanctum was located, had already become a ruin.
The next second.
Doctor Strange floated directly above this ruin, and the Time Stone in the eye of agamotto on his chest emitted a dazzling emerald green light that was impossible to look at directly.
The light did not shine, but flowed, like a living green stream, beginning to surge in all directions from him as the center.
In an instant.
The frozen time suddenly began to turn.
But not forward.
But backward!
Time reversal!
The exploded Kamar-Taj rapidly contracted inwards, and the huge fireball also disappeared at a visible speed.
In the distance, a skyscraper that had been cut in half, its billions of collapsing pieces of glass, bricks, stones, and metal components, after the emerald green time light flowed over them, broke free from gravity in the static ruins and flew back precisely along their falling trajectory.
The sky full of dust also rapidly gathered from its diffused state.
Twisted steel bars emitted a dull metallic clang, self-stretching, straightening, and re-embedding themselves in their original positions.
The gaping chasm on the street quickly closed like a wound.
Cracks on the asphalt pavement retracted like water ripples, disappearing without a trace.
An overturned bus slowly expanded, reset, and finally settled back onto the road from its crushed and deformed state, with even the scratches on its body being smoothed away one by one.
For a woman whose body was pierced by a steel bar, the sharp steel bar piercing her chest slowly withdrew, and the blood, instead of being drawn out, unnaturally flowed back into the woman's body.
Almost at the moment the woman's blood flowed back, the wound on her chest seemed to be brushed by an invisible hand, then disappeared without a trace.
In just an instant.
Hong Kong returned to how it was before the darkness had ever come.
And in reality, to everyone, it was as if a large area of darkness suddenly appeared over Hong Kong, but nothing happened.
The darkness came, and then, the darkness left.
It's just... "Hiss!"
"Time..."
Hawk, who had contracted his own time and was already aligned with the timeline, gasped in cold air watching Doctor Strange reverse time.
Good heavens.
The rule that time cannot be changed has disappeared?
What about the promise that the past cannot be changed?
What have you done?
Stephen Strange.
Hawk was inwardly shaken.
Just then.
Peter, standing with Hawk, suddenly felt something was wrong.
He subconsciously clutched his chest, then looked at Hawk.
"Hawk..."
"Peter!"
Hawk snapped back to attention, looked at Peter, and his eyes quickly narrowed involuntarily.
In his sight, Peter seemed to be moving away from him.
Peter opened his mouth.
"I feel something is wrong."
"What's happening?"
Hawk supported Peter, his thoughts racing.
Just then.
Gwen, in the room on the left side of the church, also shouted Hawk's name.
Hawk, supporting Peter, instantly appeared in the room.
Before their eyes.
Gwen was also supporting Felicia, who likewise felt something was wrong.
"Hawk, Felicia..."
Gwen looked at Hawk entering the room, just as she was about to speak.
Like a gentle breeze passing by.
Peter Parker.
Felicia Hardy.
And... Ben Hawk Parker, seemed to disappear from Hawk and Gwen's sight as if they had never existed... (End of Chapter)
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