Chapter Summaries

Oaks marked 1,024 of Ego’s Seeds with Nature Force and planted one in Avalon, hoping to use the Seeds as links to distant worlds. After returning to New York, he learned from Odin that an old acquaintance’s power had appeared near the western coast, possibly connected to Carter Slade.

• Oaks marked 1,024 Life Planets and hid or marked Seeds before the Ego Light went out, then found he could still sense Peter Quill clearly.
• Oaks planted a Seed beside the Sacred Oak in Avalon and instructed Malorne to nourish it and seek connections to other marked Seeds.
• Malorne realized the Seeds could become coordinates for teleportation passages and help Avalon expand into other worlds.
• Oaks returned to Valhalla Bar and told Matt and Odin that an alien plant had gone berserk but had been dealt with.
• Odin warned Oaks that an old acquaintance’s power had seeped in near the western coast and mentioned Carter Slade’s history with similar power.

Oaks investigated a Hell-tainted power in the western United States and found Ghost Rider battling a witch wielding the Darkhold in Los Angeles. After the witch sent Ghost Rider through a portal, Oaks restrained her, allowing Ghost Rider to use the Penance Stare.

• Carter Slade told Oaks he had sensed a familiar power infused with Hell, prompting Oaks to investigate the western United States.
• Malorne reported a battle in Los Angeles involving a blue-flamed skull and a flying purple figure, and Oaks identified the skull as Ghost Rider Johnny.
• The witch used the Darkhold to open a rift and blasted Ghost Rider into Hell, then celebrated her apparent victory.
• Oaks arrived and confronted the witch, but Ghost Rider returned and caught her with his hellfire chain.
• Oaks trapped the witch with a Solar Beam and Astral Energy shackles, and Ghost Rider used the Penance Stare on her.

Oaks and Johnny Blaze confronted Agatha Harkness after Johnny's Penance Stare exposed her crimes and her connection to the Darkhold. Oaks expelled a soul imprint of Mephisto from Agatha and took the Darkhold, leaving Mephisto newly interested in him.

• Johnny Blaze told Oaks that Agatha had killed her coven after they discovered her Black Magic, and that she had since studied forbidden magic and found the Darkhold.
• Johnny's Penance Stare left Agatha dazed but could not fully purify her soul, so Oaks suspected another force was influencing her.
• Oaks used Soul Magic to force a red soul imprint out of Agatha, causing the Darkhold to emerge and sealing it away in Avalon.
• Johnny recognized the red figure as Mephisto, his former boss, while Oaks questioned him about manipulating Agatha and seeking the Darkhold.
• Mephisto admitted to having some influence over Agatha and said he had become more interested in Oaks.

Oaks confronted Mephisto, who explained that Oaks’s healing, environmental work, and plans to protect people had sharply reduced the souls and negative emotions flowing to Hell. Mephisto admitted he had come because of his losses and ended by offering to help Oaks evolve his Pocket Space into a true dimension.

• Oaks sent Johnny away with the recovering Agatha and faced Mephisto alone, relying on the Ancient One’s Magic Mark to deter him.
• Mephisto blamed Oaks’s healing magic, Recovery Serum, pollution control, food initiatives, and resurrection ability for reducing his income from souls and negative emotions.
• Oaks realized Mephisto’s losses were even greater because several disasters and deaths had been prevented through Oaks’s interventions.
• Mephisto revealed that Odin’s Earthly nightclub had made him envious and resentful, while Oaks warned that he would keep pursuing his plans to restore nature’s balance.
• Mephisto asked whether Oaks wanted his controllable Pocket Space to evolve into a true dimension.

Mephisto explained how Oaks could use Avalon to control a compatible Dimensional Space and proposed that they target Nightmare, whose realm was ownerless and whose dream-fear harvest had angered the Hell Lords. The chapter ended with Mephisto enraged after Oaks described the Hell Lords as consuming souls Nightmare had already licked.

• Mephisto described two ways to turn a Pocket Space into a Dimensional Space and explained that Avalon could make a foreign dimension's power compatible with Oaks.
• Oaks pressed Mephisto to reveal why he was offering the opportunity and what he wanted in return.
• Mephisto proposed killing a disliked Dimension Lord so he could claim the souls while Oaks took control of the lord's dimension.
• Mephisto explained that Nightmare invaded living beings' dreams to harvest fear, while Hell Lords collected fear from conscious and deceased souls.
• Oaks compared the Hell Lords to eating souls Nightmare had licked, and Mephisto declared that Nightmare had to die.

Oaks rejected Mephisto’s attempt to recruit him into a plot against Nightmare, choosing instead to develop his own dimension and avoid the Darkhold’s dangers. After Mephisto’s soul imprint vanished, Agatha thanked Oaks for freeing her and chose to follow him.

• Mephisto told Oaks about Nightmare and tried to tempt him with the Dream Dimension, but Oaks said he planned to build a dimension of his own.
• Oaks bound Mephisto’s soul imprint and silenced him, but Mephisto dissolved it and urged Oaks to study the Darkhold.
• Oaks left the ruins and found Johnny and Agatha waiting; Agatha thanked him for removing Mephisto’s influence.
• Agatha said her magic told her to follow Oaks, and he opened a portal to the Little Rainforest and invited her along.

Oaks discussed Agatha's past and the dangers of Black Magic, then proposed that she teach Wanda and help guide her away from Mephisto's influence. Agatha agreed to join Oaks's organization, and he suggested that she also become his magic instructor.

• Johnny got Carter Slade's address from Oaks and rode off to find him.
• Oaks told Agatha that she could atone for her crimes and explained how Black Magic had harmed her and other Witches.
• Agatha recalled killing her mother during the Salem Witch Trials, and Oaks suppressed her magical outburst with sunlight.
• Oaks told Agatha about Wanda Maximoff's innate magical talent, and Agatha volunteered to teach her and protect her from Mephisto.
• Oaks accepted Agatha as Wanda's prospective teacher, recommended Nature Magic treatment to stabilize her mind, and welcomed her into his organization.

Oaks studied Agatha’s Transfiguration Magic before leaving the Avengers base to consult the Ancient One about Mephisto and the Dream Dimension. After handing over the Darkhold, he followed her to Kamar-Taj, where she brought him to the Sealed Land.

• Oaks learned Transfiguration Magic from Agatha, introduced to Wanda as her mentor, then left the Avengers base and asked Malorne to watch over Agatha.
• Oaks returned to New York and learned that Johnny had resumed his travels after parting from Carter Slade, while keeping his contact information in case Mephisto returned.
• At the New York Sanctum, Oaks told the Ancient One that Mephisto had tried to target him, and she explained how mastering nature’s power could let him challenge Nightmare in the Dream Dimension.
• Oaks admitted he had read one page of the Darkhold but had resisted its influence, then gave the book to the Ancient One, who sealed it with a protective barrier.
• The Ancient One brought Oaks to Kamar-Taj, ordered Wong to close the library, and revealed the hidden entrance to the Sealed Land.

Oaks and Ancient One discovered that the Darkhold could evade her magic, so they sealed it with Oaks’s Astral and Nature Forces. Ancient One then explained why she had used Dark Magic to extend her life and the choice she faced after seeing no successor to guard Earth.

• Ancient One sealed the Darkhold in Kamar-Taj, but it escaped her spells and the Mirror Dimension.
• Oaks revealed that he had sensed the Dark Magic sustaining Ancient One since returning from Asgard.
• Oaks asked Ancient One to use his Astral and Nature Forces to seal the Darkhold, and their combined spell created a seal that would grow stronger over time.
• Ancient One told Oaks that she had seen her fate end without a successor appearing across centuries.
• Ancient One asked whether she should follow the rules and leave Earth vulnerable after her death or continue serving as Sorcerer Supreme until someone could replace her.

Oaks persuaded Ancient One to replace her Dark Magic–extended lifespan with Nature Magic in Avalon and invent a history explaining her connection to the Druids. After Ancient One entered Avalon to begin the process, Thor arrived at the Avengers Alliance’s new headquarters, where Tony had Jarvis bring him to the laboratory.

• Ancient One explained that Oaks’s arrival and their deal had made her fate uncertain, and Oaks warned her that Dark Magic risked corrupting her disciples and strengthening Dormammu.
• Oaks offered to use Nature Magic to sustain Ancient One and proposed inventing a six-hundred-year-old friendship between her and a Celtic Druid to conceal her secret.
• Ancient One accepted Oaks’s plan, and Oaks summoned Malorne to prepare three historical dossiers supporting their story.
• Oaks led Ancient One through a portal into Avalon to purge the Dark Magic entangled with her for over six centuries.
• Jarvis detected a suspected Bifrost arrival at the Avengers Alliance base, and Tony told him to notify Oaks and Bruce and bring Thor to the laboratory.
• Thor arrived at the new headquarters, where a robot welcomed him and offered to take him to Tony.

Oaks and his allies arranged to hide the Mind Stone in Avalon after learning more about the threat posed by the Infinity Stones. Thor then asked Oaks to take him to Nidavellir so he could forge a weapon and acquire Uru Metal.

• Thor came to Earth and examined the Mind Stone from Loki's Scepter with Oaks, Tony, and Banner.
• Oaks explained the six Infinity Stones and the danger of gathering them, and Thor agreed that the Mind Stone should not go to Asgard.
• Tony proposed hiding the Mind Stone in Avalon, and Oaks suggested a magical seal could conceal it from detection.
• Ancient One sealed the Mind Stone in Avalon, where Earth's detection equipment could not find it.
• Thor prepared to leave to investigate Loki and the other Infinity Stones, but Oaks asked him to take him to Nidavellir to forge a weapon and obtain Uru Metal.
• Oaks showed Thor the Heracles Armor to indicate how much Uru Metal he wanted.

Oaks visited Nidavellir, where Eitri designed clawed gauntlets for him using Droupnir and gauntlet blueprints, while Thor left to investigate the Infinity Stones and Loki’s disappearance. Oaks questioned whether the Infinity Gauntlet in Odin’s Vault was truly counterfeit, and on Earth Tony received intelligence locating the Ten Rings headquarters in China and decided to seek out a Druid.

• Eitri gave Oaks Uru Metal and proposed combining Droupnir’s magic with gauntlet designs to forge clawed weapons.
• Thor left Nidavellir to investigate the Infinity Stones and search for Loki, while Oaks kept Odin’s secrets and worried about Hela.
• Eitri showed Oaks blueprints for gauntlets resembling the Infinity Gauntlet, prompting Oaks to wonder whether the artifact in Odin’s Vault was genuine.
• Jarvis informed Tony that the Ten Rings headquarters had been found in China and showed him a young man Tony recognized from the Benevolence Society.
• Tony decided he needed to find the Druid.

Oaks agreed to investigate the Ten Rings after Tony found evidence that it was monitoring Xu Shangqi and Xu Xialing, while Tony focused on improving the Biological Computer. Oaks and Tony also planned a Life Sanctuary project involving Hank Pym and a Gaia Hypothesis mirror image, and the chapter ended with Peter returning home exhausted and falling asleep.

• Tony showed Oaks intelligence linking the Ten Rings to Xu Shangqi and Xu Xialing, and Oaks agreed to have the Asia Branch gather more information before acting after Spring Festival.
• Tony explained that his research into the Biological Computer had revealed the brain’s quantum-computing potential and that the Mind Stone’s architecture still had much untapped capacity.
• Oaks called Peggy Carter and asked her to invite Hank Pym to the Avengers base; when she explained Pym was busy with research, Oaks asked her to promise him a miracle in six months.
• Oaks told Tony that the Gaia Hypothesis could reach the required reputation level within half a year, allowing them to create a mirror image for the Life Sanctuary simulation project.
• Peter returned to Aunt May’s apartment exhausted, went to his room, and fell into a deep sleep.

After a mutated spider bite transformed Peter Parker, he trained with Xu Shangqi, who learned the Chairman had found information about Xu Shangqi’s family and younger sister, Lingling. Xu Shangqi asked to go to Macau to help her, and the chapter ended with him telling the Chairman that Peter had been bitten by a bug.

• Peter Parker sparred with Xu Shangqi and showed greatly increased strength, speed, endurance, and new abilities after the spider bite.
• Xu Shangqi received a call from the Chairman and learned that he had found information about Xu Shangqi’s family and sister, Lingling.
• Xu Shangqi told Oaks that Lingling was alone in Macau and asked for help bringing her to the Benevolence Society.
• Oaks said Xu Shangqi would need to handle the matter himself and reminded him of their agreement to return to China when he turned eighteen.
• Xu Shangqi agreed to go to China with Oaks after Spring Festival, then mentioned that Peter had been bitten by a bug.

Oaks examined Peter Parker’s new spider-like abilities and reassured him that he could keep them secret from his family. He explained how his own powers led him to help others, leaving Peter inspired by the responsibility that came with great power.

• Oaks found Peter testing his new abilities in the Little Rainforest and identified his adhesion, danger sense, enhanced strength, healing, stamina, metabolism, and immunity.
• Peter asked Oaks to keep his mutation secret from Uncle Ben and Aunt May, and Oaks agreed to respect his choice.
• Peter asked why Oaks had revealed his abilities and become an Avenger, so Oaks recounted how he began helping people and took over the Benevolence Society.
• Oaks described using his abilities to treat people at the Stark Expo and aid civilians during the Battle of New York.
• Oaks told Peter that people should use their abilities to help society and said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Shaun reunited with Xialing in Macau after four years apart, and Oaks brought them to the Benevolence Society to discuss the Ten Rings and their father. Shaun wanted to reconcile with their father and restore their family, while Xialing remained skeptical.

• Oaks took Shaun to Macau, where they found Xialing fighting local thugs in an alley.
• Xialing attacked Shaun for breaking his promise to return after three days, then confronted him about leaving her alone for four years.
• Oaks opened a Portal and brought Shaun and Xialing to the Benevolence Society's Asia Branch.
• Xialing accused their father of neglecting her, while Shaun explained that he had fled after killing the man who murdered their mother.
• Shaun urged Xialing to join the Benevolence Society and said he planned to persuade their father to give up the Ten Rings and rebuild their family.

Oaks pointed out that the circumstances of Ying Li’s death made little sense, prompting Shaun and Xialing to suspect Wenwu had hidden the truth from them. Shaun decided to confront his father, while Oaks agreed to support them discreetly; Wenwu learned the siblings were in Changsha and set out to bring them home.

• Oaks challenged Shaun and Xialing to explain how ordinary attackers had killed their mother despite Wenwu’s power, security, and experience.
• Shaun and Xialing reconsidered the attack and concluded that its circumstances were suspicious; Shaun suspected Wenwu was involved.
• Shaun asked Oaks to witness his confrontation with Wenwu, and Oaks agreed to accompany the siblings without revealing himself unless they were in danger.
• Razor Fist told Wenwu that Shaun and Xialing had appeared in Changsha and suggested the Avenger Druid had helped them.
• Wenwu decided to travel to Changsha himself and bring his children home.

Shaun and Xialing returned to Ten Rings headquarters to speak with Wenwu, while Oaks secretly followed and examined Wenwu’s Ten Rings. Oaks discovered that the Ten Rings seemed to be influencing Wenwu’s mind as he claimed Yingli’s soul was sealed in Ta Lo, leaving Oaks suspicious about what was really happening.

• Wenwu met Shaun and Xialing at Yuelu Mountain and invited them back to Ten Rings headquarters, while Xialing challenged Shaun’s belief that their father would forget her if she stayed quiet.
• Oaks secretly followed the family and sensed that the Ten Rings were magical artifacts whose energy seemed to amplify their wielder’s mental traits.
• Wenwu left his children to look around the headquarters, and Xialing reluctantly showed Shaun the place they had not visited in years.
• Wenwu prayed before Yingli’s portrait and claimed she had told him her soul was sealed in Ta Lo, where he planned to find and resurrect her.
• Oaks detected the Ten Rings reacting to an unknown force that appeared to be influencing Wenwu’s mind, and he questioned whether Yingli could really be communicating with him from Ta Lo.

Shaun confronted Wenwu about his past and exposed disturbing gaps in his memories surrounding Yingli’s death. Wenwu revealed that he had begun investigating a way to bring Yingli back, then explained how he met her in Ta Lo and why they had left their former lives behind.

• Shaun told Wenwu he would not become an assassin and questioned whether Wenwu had intended him to inherit the Ten Rings.
• Shaun pointed out inconsistencies in the circumstances of Yingli’s death, prompting Wenwu to realize he could not remember what happened before the attack and had ignored signs of a breach.
• Wenwu briefly spoke as though Yingli were still alive and said he would bring her back, leaving Shaun and Xialing shocked.
• Wenwu took his children to his study and explained that he had searched for power to defeat the Sorcerer Supreme before discovering Ta Lo.
• Wenwu recounted how he repeatedly challenged Yingli, fell in love with her, and abandoned his pursuit of power, while Yingli left Ta Lo despite her elders’ objections to their marriage.

Wenwu claimed Yingli had left clues leading to Ta Lo and planned to force the village to let him bring her back. Shaun and Xialing consulted Oaks, who revealed that Dijiang could guide them into Ta Lo and that Wenwu’s belief about Yingli being imprisoned there was false.

• Wenwu showed Shaun and Xialing how their Dragon Eye Gems revealed a passage to Ta Lo and said he would level the village if its people refused to let him through.
• Shaun asked Wenwu for time alone with Xialing, intending to seek Oaks’s help before deciding whether to support their father.
• Oaks appeared in Shaun’s room and told Xialing that Wenwu had captured the actor involved in the False Mandarin incident.
• Oaks brought out Dijiang, a creature raised in Ta Lo alongside Yingli, and said it could guide them there whenever they wished.
• Oaks told Shaun and Xialing that the gate in Ta Lo sealed the Dark Monster and that no one from Ta Lo could have taken Yingli’s soul.