Chapter Summaries

Ian appeared above the ruined battlefield as a radiant being whose golden eyes inspired awe and reverence among the survivors. His light erased the cultists, and the chapter ended with the city kneeling before him as a sign of hope.

• Ian silently hovered over the battlefield, and his golden eyes made Steve, Clint, Natasha, Thor, Carol, Strange, and Wong feel humbled.
• Thor identified Ian as a primordial Archangel, while Strange admitted he did not know what he had summoned and recalled the simple offerings he had used.
• Wong suggested that Strange's sincere heart, rather than elaborate ritual or costly offerings, had brought forth true power.
• Ian's golden light forced the cultists to kneel and caused those corrupted by darkness to dissipate.
• Survivors across the city knelt before Ian, believing his arrival meant that hope had come.

Ian appeared in a pillar of holy light, and Dormammu recognized him as an Archangel who also held the authority of a Lord of Hell. Ian told Dormammu that Ghost Rider was his opponent, and Ghost Rider charged at the Dark Dimension ruler as Dormammu raged.

• People on Earth knelt and wept beneath Ian’s golden light while Steve Rogers watched without stopping them.
• Dormammu recognized Ian’s Archangel status, feared him, then grew greedy at the power he believed he could devour.
• Dormammu declared that he would consume Ian and claim his powers, but Ian cut him off and said Dormammu was not his opponent.
• Ian turned to Ghost Rider and ordered him to go; Ghost Rider knelt before Ian, called him Master, and mounted the Burning Warhorse.
• Ghost Rider charged toward Dormammu, who roared insults at him and challenged him to prove he could cause harm.

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter opens with the protagonist, Wang Nan, dreading the annual family reunion dinner.
• He recalls his family's tradition of holding a reunion dinner every Chinese New Year, despite the fact that his siblings have grown up and moved away.
• Wang Nan decides to skip the dinner this year, sparking a conflict with his mother.

Character Developments

• Wang Nan: He is portrayed as a responsible adult who feels burdened by his family's expectations. His decision to skip the dinner indicates his growing independence and desire for personal space.
• Mother (Wang Nan's): She is shown as a traditional, caring, and somewhat overbearing parent who values family unity and expects her children to follow their familial duties.

Significant Themes

• Family obligations vs. personal freedom: Wang Nan's struggle to balance his family's expectations with his desire for independence highlights this theme.
• Tradition vs. change: The family reunion dinner represents a long-standing tradition, while Wang Nan's decision to skip it symbolizes change and personal growth.

Character Interactions

• Wang Nan and his mother: Their conversation reveals their differing viewpoints on the importance of the family reunion dinner. Wang Nan's mother expresses her disappointment and disapproval, while Wang Nan tries to explain his need for personal space.
• Wang Nan and his siblings: Although not present in the chapter, their absence is felt, as Wang Nan considers their different approaches to the family reunion dinner.

Ghost Rider trapped Dormammu in burning chains and began pulling his existence from the Dark Dimension as the souls he had devoured lent their strength to his judgment. Across the world, survivors prayed for the monster to fall, but when Ian tried to gather the resulting faith magic, someone emerged from his dimension and intercepted it.

• Ghost Rider bound Dormammu's giant face with Hellfire chains, channeled Judgment Light through them, and began drawing Dormammu's existence out of the Dark Dimension.
• Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Natasha, Thor, Carol, Wong, and Strange witnessed the judgment and the faces of Dormammu's devoured victims appearing in the light.
• Survivors around the world, including Alessandro, Emma, and the Pope, prayed for Dormammu to lose and for the world to be saved.
• Ian tried to gather the faith magic created by the prayers, but a figure emerged from his dimension and cut him off.

Glitter Tiga emerged in Ian’s holy light and used prayers from around the world to destroy Dormammu, while the Time Variance Authority refused to intervene. Tiga vanished back into the light, leaving Ian and the survivors to face the aftermath of Dormammu’s defeat.

• Ian realized that Tiga had taken his holy light and the survivors’ prayers, transforming from Dark Tiga into Glitter Tiga.
• Glitter Tiga struck Dormammu, tore apart his enormous face, and battered the Dark Dimension ruler as his form began to collapse.
• Dormammu called on the Time Variance Authority for help, but it said the Heaven dimension’s holy light was outside its jurisdiction and that Dormammu was responsible for the crisis.
• Glitter Tiga destroyed Dormammu’s remaining core, ending his cries as the purple-black smoke dissipated.
• Glitter Tiga exchanged a look with Ian, then vanished into the fading pillar of light.
• The sky began to return to normal, and survivors started crying, embracing, and cheering.

After Dormammu’s defeat, Ian reclaimed public credit by having Strange tell the livestream audience that the giant of light was Ian’s Archangel, and the crowd’s faith began restoring Ian’s power. Ian discovered Dormammu’s core was reforming in the Dark Dimension, flew through the rift, and confronted him there.

• Ian lamented that the giant of light had taken the credit for defeating Dormammu and told Strange to identify the giant as Ian’s Archangel.
• Strange told a livestream audience that Ian Kent had summoned the Archangel and helped save the world.
• The survivors began chanting Ian’s name, and Ian felt their faith replenish his magical reserves.
• Ian spotted Dormammu’s core reforming inside the rift and flew into the Dark Dimension.
• Ian stepped on Dormammu’s core as Dormammu trembled and protested that the dimension was his.

Ian completely erased Dormammu by devouring the Dark Dimension, and the Time Variance Authority watched the resulting changes without intervening. A supervisor explained that the TVA existed to protect the history created by Ian, whose statue stood at the center of its hall.

• Ian entered the Dark Dimension, pinned Dormammu's core beneath his foot, and used his combined Heaven and Hell dimension to devour Dormammu and the Dark Dimension.
• Dormammu appealed to the Time Variance Authority, but it did not respond before his core shattered and his existence was erased.
• Ian left the collapsing dimension and returned through the rift, which healed behind him.
• At the TVA, a rookie agent alerted the supervisor to widespread timeline fluctuations and watched Dormammu's entire timeline vanish.
• The supervisor told the rookie that the TVA existed to protect the history created by Ian, then showed him Ian's statue.

After destroying Dormammu, Ian purified Earth with Holy Light and absorbed the faith of billions who witnessed the miracle. As humanity restored order and opportunists planned to profit from the disaster, Ian remained floating in the sky for hours, leaving the heroes wondering why he would not come down.

• The rookie agent recognized Ian's face on a TVA statue, while his supervisor reacted with a profound sense of belonging and recognition.
• Ian absorbed the last remnants of the Dark Dimension and spread Holy Light across Earth, restoring contaminated lands, animals, and people while dark cultists turned to ash.
• People around the world prayed toward Ian, and he absorbed their faith as new power for his dimension before deciding to stay in the sky longer.
• The army restored order as wealthy people in an underground shelter planned to commercialize faith, Holy Light souvenirs, and the Church's renewed influence.
• Doctor Strange, Thor, Obadiah, and Captain America watched Ian remain aloft for four hours and debated why he had not come down.

Doctor Strange and the world’s leaders worried about whether Ian would leave and how humanity should respond if he stayed. Ian finally descended to the Sanctum, where he revealed that he wanted to sell finely crafted figurines of himself to build a lasting source of faith and income.

• Thor asked Doctor Strange what would happen if Ian did not leave, and Obadiah Stane warned that the world had witnessed a real god whom billions might worship.
• Nick Fury questioned Strange about Ian, while the International Security Council debated whether to approach him as an ally, threat, or deity; the Dragon Kingdom representative urged humanity to adapt.
• Peter Parker and Steve Rogers helped volunteers repair Queens as residents wondered whether Ian was God and whether he would come down.
• Obadiah Stane drafted a plan to commercialize religious belief around Ian, but he stopped his limousine when Ian began descending toward New York.
• Ian landed at the Sanctum and told Strange he wanted to release three premium figurine versions of himself, with plans to control the copyright and earn money and faith.

Ian planned to build a commercial network of faith through figures, blessings, pilgrimages, and an online platform, but a strange power emerged from his palm and drew his attention to Zarathos. The chapter ended with Zarathos searching the End of Time for an object he believed would make him supreme.

• Ian instructed Obadiah to commercialize figures and blessings, and suggested Matt Murdock handle licensing.
• Ian outlined tiered blessings, ritual appointments, believer follow-ups, pilgrimage services, and an online faith platform while Obadiah enthusiastically expanded the business plan.
• When Ian raised his hand to demonstrate a miracle, purple energy surged from his palm and clashed with his Holy Light.
• Ian recognized the energy’s connection to Zarathos, whom he said had escaped long ago and was targeting something that belonged to him.
• At the End of Time, Zarathos searched the ruins of pruned timelines for an object he believed would make him supreme.

Zarathos searched the End of Time for greater power, destroying the pruned beings that attacked it and breaking through the Time Variance Authority’s sealed barrier. Beyond it, Zarathos discovered ancient tablets holding remnants of the previous cosmic epoch and the buried body and power of a demon god.

• Zarathos dismissed the broken artifacts scattered through the ruins and absorbed a pruned god that attacked it.
• Zarathos burned through attacks from pruned variants of Spider-Man, Obadiah, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain America, and Hulk, absorbing their energy.
• Zarathos defeated a Frost Giant king and continued toward the sealed depths of the ruins.
• Zarathos broke the Time Keepers’ barrier with Hellfire and absorbed the temporal turbulence released by its collapse.
• Zarathos found enormous tablets inscribed in a language from the previous cosmic epoch and learned they guarded a demon god’s body and power.

Zarathos found Galactus’s ancient corpse in the End of Time and transferred his consciousness into it, gaining a vast body driven by cosmic hunger. He left the ruins to seek the other part of the key, which was on Earth in Ian’s palm.

• Zarathos burned Gamora, absorbing her energy as she tried to escape the End of Time.
• Zarathos discovered a colossal corpse whose essence resonated with the mark linked to Ian’s palm, and recognized it as the body he had sought.
• Zarathos fused with the corpse and absorbed several Clipped Entities that attacked during the transformation.
• Zarathos awakened in the restored purple body, unleashed its power across the ruins, and set out toward the key’s other part on Earth.

Ian left the Sanctum Sanctorum after sensing an ancient presence at the End of Time, then returned to his universe when it began growing stronger and sought a way to reach it. After the Female Ancient One explained the Time Variance Authority’s role, Ian went to its hidden Manhattan office and demanded that it come out and deal with the threat.

• Ian suppressed the purple light in his palm, opened a rift to his universe, and left Strange and the others behind.
• Obadiah persuaded Strange and the others to produce Ian memorabilia, arguing that sales could fund reconstruction and avoid angering Ian.
• Ian returned to his universe and told Strange and the Female Ancient One that something at the End of Time had found him and was growing stronger.
• The Female Ancient One explained that the Time Variance Authority guarded the Sacred Timeline and that she knew how to reach its territory.
• Ian went to an inconspicuous Manhattan office building and shouted for the Time Variance Authority to come out and clean up its mess.

Ian entered the Time Variance Authority and discovered that its agents followed eerie rules forbidding them from responding to him, while a statue named him as the Authority’s founder. He used a stolen pruning device to travel to the End of Time in search of Zarathos, as the agents speculated about why he had appeared.

• Ian found the Authority’s agents ignoring him and discovered a statue of himself named Founder of the Time Variance Authority.
• Ian read the Authority’s rules, which instructed agents not to respond to the Founder and to report anyone who truly interacted with him.
• Ian decided to reach the End of Time to find Zarathos and stole a pruning device from a passing agent.
• Ian activated the device and vanished from the Authority, while the agents admitted they had seen him and whispered about a legend concerning his appearances.
• Ian emerged in the End of Time.

At the End of Time, Ian reunited with Galacta and learned Zarathos had taken over Galactus’s corpse and needed Galacta’s source power to fully restore it. Zarathos sensed her and began advancing through the ruins, leaving Ian waiting to face the colossal, devouring body.

• Ian arrived at the End of Time and found Galacta emerging from his palm.
• Galacta warned Ian that Zarathos had occupied an ancient corpse and needed her source power to revive its true strength.
• Galacta hinted that she knew Ian had died in another universe, but Zarathos’s roar interrupted her before she could explain.
• Ian ordered Galacta to hide inside his palm as Zarathos sensed her nearby.
• Zarathos rose from the ruins in Galactus’s enormous corpse and devoured clipped timelines while boasting that he would conquer the multiverse.
• Ian recognized the corpse as Galactus, the being he had freeloaded off during the last cosmic cycle.

Ian confronted Zarathos after Zarathos fused his demonic essence with Galactus's body and demanded Galacta. Ian revealed his mythic form, Chronos Monarch, leaving Zarathos stunned before their battle began.

• Ian realized Zarathos was using Galactus's corpse and refused to let him devour Galacta.
• Zarathos completed his transformation into a colossal fusion of Demon and Devourer, then demanded that Ian hand over Galacta.
• Ian protected Galacta in his palm and calmly faced Zarathos's threats.
• Ian awakened an unfamiliar power that made time, causality, and destiny surge through the End of Time.
• Ian revealed his giant mythic form, Chronos Monarch, leaving Zarathos shocked.

Ian, as the Chronos Monarch, battled Zarathos at the End of Time, using time and Destiny to resist Zarathos's attacks and devouring power. He revealed that the body Zarathos had occupied was killed by an invasion from the Outer Universe, whose power surpassed devouring, leaving Zarathos shaken.

• Zarathos celebrated the chance to devour Ian and gain his powers, then charged at him.
• The Chronos Monarch caught Zarathos's fist and began rewriting his past, while Galacta watched from his palm.
• Zarathos unleashed his devouring vortex and attacked, but the Chronos Monarch protected himself with timelines and replenished them with new possibilities.
• The Chronos Monarch showed Zarathos the body's final memories, revealing that an invasion from the Outer Universe had killed its former owner.
• Ian warned Zarathos that his devouring power was nothing against the force that had destroyed the Marvel Universe.

Ian, as the Chronos Monarch, defeated Zarathos and absorbed his demonic essence after Zarathos refused to surrender the stolen body. The system unlocked Ian’s new Primordial Demon God class, and Ian emerged with Zarathos’s Hellfire under his control.

• The Chronos Monarch countered Zarathos’s devouring beam with a barrier of timelines that absorbed his power and forced him to retreat.
• The Chronos Monarch offered to spare Zarathos if he abandoned the stolen body, but Zarathos refused and charged at him.
• The Chronos Monarch rewrote Zarathos’s past, stripping away his memories and power until his body disintegrated.
• Zarathos burned his soul in a final attack, but the Chronos Monarch absorbed his essence and extinguished the flames.
• The system detected Ian’s absorption of Zarathos’s origin and unlocked the Primordial Demon God class.
• Ian opened his eyes with primordial darkness within them and Zarathos’s Hellfire under his control.

After Ian defeated Zarathos, the ancient Demon awoke powerless in Ian’s Divine Kingdom as an E-rank citizen burdened with infinite debt. Three days later, he reluctantly searched for work, but his latest outburst drew the attention of the kingdom’s X-Men enforcement team.

• Zarathos regained consciousness in a humanlike body on an ordinary street and learned from the system that he was an E-rank citizen of Ian’s Divine Kingdom with infinite debt and grace owed.
• Zarathos discovered that the diverse residents considered the kingdom an ordinary place to live, while the system ordered him to find housing, register, and learn its rules.
• After three days, Zarathos had completed registration, learned that citizens needed points for necessities, and received a mission to find long-term housing.
• Zarathos went looking for work and saw openings in shops and the Divine Kingdom Construction Corps, but he recoiled at the thought of working.
• Zarathos roared in frustration, and Cyclops, Mystique, Storm, Colossus, and Shadowcat approached in their uniforms as the kingdom’s enforcement team.

Zarathos faced punishment for repeatedly roaring, accepted a job with the Construction Corps, and began hauling bricks as an E-rank citizen. On his first day, a privileged Angel complained about the construction site, and Zarathos was ordered to move a pile of debris despite the road being clear.

• Scott confronted Zarathos over his public outbursts, and Zarathos avoided a demerit by promising not to shout again.
• Zarathos roared at Ian, whose face appeared in the sky, then accepted the system's quest to find a job and applied to the Construction Corps.
• Zarathos reported to Construction Site Three, where Old Stone assigned him to carry heavy bricks between two locations.
• An Angel demanded that the construction crew clear the road for his hovercar, and Zarathos pointed out that the car could pass.
• Old Stone ordered Zarathos to move a large pile of construction debris instead, and Zarathos resented the unfair treatment and blamed Ian.