Chapter Summaries

Carl discovered that Whitehall had made her the immortal secondary brain of the Twin-Headed Armor, leaving her unable to sleep or harm herself. Meanwhile, Steve learned Hydra’s plans for Dr. Zola’s Robot Kingdom and realized his feelings for Saoji after she suddenly collapsed, though his engagement restrained him.

• Carl learned that her magnetic field power could only operate the armor and protect its wearer, and Whitehall told her she would serve as the Twin-Headed Armor’s secondary brain while protecting her daughter.
• Hydra issued a worldwide wanted notice for Peter Parker after he exposed himself, assassinated the president unsuccessfully, and fled.
• Saoji told Steve that Dr. Zola had taken more than a hundred thousand people in Montana to help his newborn robots develop intelligence, and Steve accepted the exploitation of the public.
• Saoji suddenly spat blood, and Steve rushed to carry her to the medical room before she reminded him that he was engaged.
• Saoji summoned medical staff without looking at Steve again, while Steve realized his feelings for her and remained bound by his moral objections to an affair.

Hive and Daisy discussed creating an Inhuman nation in Texas, while Tom endured forced labor at Dr. Zola’s Prism Base. Dr. Zola expanded the Robot Kingdom by luring people to the prairie with a fabricated vision of a high-tech future and cutting off their communications.

• Hive praised Jiaying’s plan to use Terrigen Crystals to establish an Inhuman nation in Texas and told Daisy that the United States President and S.H.I.E.L.D. were Hydra.
• Daisy learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. had framed her and that Hive could cancel her wanted order, though she gave up trying to find out more about the culprit.
• Tom continued working under the robots’ strict schedule, where humans were forced to train artificial intelligence by displaying different emotions and punished brutally for resisting.
• Dr. Zola allowed workers an hour of leisure and television each night, using a mix of comfort and severe punishment to suppress further riots.
• Dr. Zola transformed the prairie into a futuristic showcase and advertised it to attract people seeking a better life, who arrived at Prism Base and became workers.
• Dr. Zola controlled outside communications, confiscated newcomers’ communicators, and used robots to impersonate them and prevent anyone from exposing the forced labor.

A deadly epidemic in Texas was revealed to be part of Hive’s plan to transform infected survivors into Inhumans, while the disaster was blamed on Mutants. Scott and the X-Men arrived at a hospital to investigate and rescue those they believed were newly awakened Mutants, as Hive welcomed their arrival.

• Steve discovered that a Snake Head was behind the Texas epidemic, and Alexander allowed Hive’s plan to proceed in exchange for what he needed.
• Hive spread Terrigen Crystal particles across Texas, where infected survivors transformed into Inhumans and the epidemic overwhelmed Houston.
• Hydra blamed the catastrophe on Mutants, prompting Scott and the X-Men to travel to Texas and investigate the survivors.
• Scott and his team arrived at a hospital where Director Edison said the patients were housed in several nearby buildings and seemed happy to stay.
• After the X-Men entered, Edison revealed himself as Hive and laughed at the unexpected opportunity.

Hive learned that Magneto was dead and considered stealing his remains, while the X-Men returned to Paradise Island after confirming that the Texas outbreak was not caused by Mutants. Meanwhile, Loki celebrated his growing strength as a Magnetic Field Warrior until a female warrior arrived through the Bifrost.

• Hive read Scott's memories and discovered that Magneto had died after passing his powers and legacy to Raven, whose X-Gene he had strengthened to Omega level.
• Hive planned to use the Inhumans he had gathered to help steal Magneto's remains from beneath the Mutant palace.
• Scott confirmed that the people in Texas were not Mutants, and the X-Men agreed with a government official to issue a public statement before returning to Paradise Island.
• Scott reported the findings to Queen Raven, and he and Professor Charles agreed that the newly emerged Inhumans would shift humanity's attention away from Mutants.
• Loki won his battle royale, proud of reaching the Ninth Heaven of Magnetic Field Rotation and believing he could defeat every Asgardian warrior except Odin and Thor.
• The Bifrost opened before Loki, and a female warrior appeared.

Sif came to Earth to investigate a Kree arrival, but Loki challenged her and defeated her with Ultimate Limit Qigong. Sif still insisted that Asgard must protect Midgard, while Loki proposed that Thor bring an army to conquer it.

• Heimdall sent Sif to Earth to investigate a Kree, and she rejected Loki’s offer of help.
• Loki challenged Sif to prove his strength, then sent her flying with a single palm strike.
• Sif attacked Loki with her sword, but he redirected her strike with Ultimate Cyclone Burst and defeated her again.
• Loki told Sif that Midgard’s martial arts had made him a powerful warrior, while she refused to accept help from him.
• Sif insisted that Asgard must protect its territory, and Loki suggested that Thor bring an army to conquer Midgard.

Loki declared his intention to defeat Thor and claim Asgard’s throne, then provoked Sif by attacking her doubts about her relationship with Thor and her family’s political role. After Sif insulted Loki’s origins and manhood, he attacked her, but Heimdall rescued her with the Bifrost before the arena crowd could see what happened next.

• Loki told Sif he would challenge Thor, defeat him, and take the throne of Asgard.
• Loki argued that Odin had arranged Sif’s future marriage to Thor for political reasons and claimed Thor was no longer suited to rule.
• Sif angrily insulted Loki, calling him deceitful and saying he was not a true Asgardian or a man.
• Enraged, Loki pinned Sif down and tore at her armor as she struggled.
• Heimdall sent the Bifrost to the arena and rescued Sif, prompting the disappointed spectators to boo.

Loki returned to New York, spied on S.H.I.E.L.D., and tried to learn whether Tony could help him lift Mjolnir. Tony revealed a new nanotechnology armor, but Banner stopped him before he disclosed its full capabilities.

• After remembering Thor was away, Loki abandoned the gladiatorial matches and returned to New York to look for the Kree.
• Loki secretly visited S.H.I.E.L.D. and overheard Grant Ward discussing Vibranium research, surveillance, and ways to obtain Tony Stark and Doctor Banner's research.
• Loki found the Science Division studying the Tesseract and coveted Shuri's Vibranium Magnetic Armor, though he knew he could copy the lab's research files.
• Tony detected the invisible Loki, and Loki flattered him while claiming Thor had sent him to retrieve Mjolnir.
• Loki failed to lift Mjolnir, and Tony explained that Loki would need the power of the Twenty-Five Heavens to overcome Odin's identification spell.
• After Loki praised Hammer Industries' Titanium Armor, Tony unveiled nanotechnology-based Strong Magnetic Armor, but Doctor Banner cut him off before he revealed its full enhancement.

Loki tried to steal Tony and Doctor Banner’s armor research by using Betty Ross to force Banner’s cooperation. When Loki used the Mind Scepter on Banner, Banner transformed into Hulk and accidentally killed Betty, then attacked Loki.

• Loki declined Tony’s offer of Strong Magnetic Armor and learned that Tony and Doctor Banner’s first prototype had been stolen.
• Loki watched the Stark residence for days, then followed Doctor Banner to his date with Betty Ross.
• Loki entered Betty’s apartment, controlled her with the Mind Scepter, and threatened to use her to obtain the armor research.
• Banner agreed to cooperate, but Loki tried to touch him with the Mind Scepter as extra insurance.
• Banner transformed into Hulk, kicked Betty into the wall and killed her, then charged at Loki with a punch.

After Betty Ross died, the Hulk pursued Loki and grew stronger as their fight pushed both of them through Magnetic Field Rotation breakthroughs. The Hulk had Loki pinned and beaten into a sinkhole, while Loki reached the Fifteen Heavens but could not break through further.

• Loki fought the Hulk after Betty Ross's death, but fled when the battle threatened to draw attention in New York.
• The Hulk chased Loki to the outskirts, where Loki struck him into a huge crater with his Ultimate Emperor Leg.
• The Hulk broke through the Tenth Heaven, took flight, and overwhelmed Loki with his growing strength.
• Loki also reached the Tenth Heaven and used superior mobility and technique to beat the Hulk back.
• The Hulk drew on the power of the Fifteen Heavens, seized Loki, and repeatedly battered him into a sinkhole.
• Loki surged through the Eleventh to Fifteenth Heavens under the Hulk's assault but could not break through further.

After Loki escaped, Doctor Banner emerged from the Hulk and was overcome with guilt over Betty Ross’s death, so he headed for the Martial Arts School hoping to find a way to kill himself and Hulk. Tony completed his Nano Armor and Zhan Liu confronted Banner, but when Zhan Liu’s palm pierced him, Hulk took control again, bringing the system’s progress to 9/10.

• Loki used the Mind Scepter to remove Banner’s control over Hulk, then escaped while Banner lay submerged in the crater.
• Banner remembered Hulk killing Betty Ross, tried repeatedly to kill himself, and then headed toward the Martial Arts School.
• After the battle shook New York, Steve recognized Loki and Hulk as the combatants and decided the organization would contain the fallout.
• Tony completed his Nano Armor while Zhan Liu sensed Banner approaching and went out to meet him.
• Zhan Liu’s palm pierced Banner’s abdomen, but Hulk took control and healed the wound, raising the system’s progress to 9/10.

Zhan Liu subdued Hulk and left Tony to help Doctor Banner, while he considered how to find a local Fifty Heavens War God. In Greenwich, Kaecilius and Hydra completed preparations for a massacre and a sacrifice to Dormammu.

• Zhan Liu crushed Hulk’s spine and limbs and used Magnetic Field Force to suppress his recovery.
• Tony arrived in Nano Armor, explained how he and Doctor Banner had developed it, and Zhan Liu learned that Wong had stolen their research.
• Zhan Liu gave Hulk to Tony after explaining that Doctor Banner wanted to die, and Tony suggested finding him a psychologist.
• Zhan Liu left to consider how to fill the system’s final missing slot with a local War God at the Fifty Heavens.
• In Greenwich, Kaecilius and Ollro completed the sacrificial array with Hydra’s help and prepared to sacrifice the city to Dormammu.
• As the array neared completion, the people of Greenwich became frenzied and began killing one another.

Kaecilius completed the sacrifice in Greenwich and opened a channel to Dormammu, offering the city's dead in exchange for the resurrection of his wife and child. Dormammu accepted the offering and began drawing the corpses and souls into the Dark Dimension.

• With Greenwich sealed off by the magic array, Kaecilius began the sacrifice while the Dark Disciples gathered around him.
• As the array spread Dark Magic through the city, Ollro absorbed the power without knowing it would eventually cost him his soul.
• Kaecilius opened a teleportation channel to the Dark Dimension, and Dormammu's enormous eye appeared on the other side.
• Kaecilius asked Dormammu to resurrect his wife and child and offered the flesh and souls of the entire city.
• Dormammu accepted the offering, and the corpses and bound souls across Greenwich were swept into the channel.

Kaecilius received more power from Dormammu and tried to bargain for his wife and child’s souls when Malekith’s Dark Elves arrived in Greenwich with the Aether. Dormammu entered the battle to seize the Reality Stone, but the Ancient One destroyed his avatar, leaving him furious.

• Dormammu empowered Kaecilius and promised to resurrect his wife and child after the Ancient One died, though their bodies had no souls.
• Spatial disturbances opened portals to other worlds, and a warship carrying Malekith and the Dark Elves crashed into the square, destroying Kaecilius’s magic circle.
• Malekith ordered the Dark Elves to attack Kaecilius’s Dark Disciples as both sides fought over the Greenwich ritual site.
• Dormammu recognized the Aether as the Reality Stone and entered Earth to capture it, binding Malekith with a magical chain.
• The Ancient One blasted Dormammu’s avatar apart, prompting Dormammu to curse her from the Dark Dimension.

Zhan Liu seized the Reality Stone during the Alignment of Nine Stars and fought Malekith, Kaecilius, and the Dark Elves as they tried to stop him. Kaecilius empowered Malekith with dark magic, and the battle continued with Malekith strengthened but still facing Zhan Liu.

• Zhan Liu flew to Greenwich, mistook a figure near a Dark Elf for a rival, and blasted the figure apart before realizing Ancient One was nowhere to be found.
• Zhan Liu seized the Aether from Malekith and bound it with his Magnetic Field Force, while Dormammu maintained the spatial passage and Kaecilius attacked him with dark magic.
• Zhan Liu broke Kaecilius's tentacles and dagger, shattered his shield, and sent him flying, while Malekith summoned a Cursed Warrior.
• Zhan Liu killed the Cursed Warrior with a single punch, then fought several more Cursed Warriors as Malekith transformed himself to keep battling.
• Malekith traded blows with Zhan Liu using his rapid regeneration, and Kaecilius strengthened him with dark magic when he began to falter.

Zhan Liu and the Asgardians defeated Malekith’s forces after Dormammu withdrew his support, and Zhan Liu gave the Reality Stone to Loki to activate. Loki’s power surged as the system mission reached completion.

• Zhan Liu fought Malekith while Thor and the Asgardian warriors arrived and joined the battle.
• Dormammu withdrew his magic, prompting Kaecilius and the Dark Disciples to flee; Malekith lost his enhanced strength and Zhan Liu defeated him.
• Zhan Liu stopped Loki from slipping away, and Thor confronted his brother before greeting Zhan Liu.
• Zhan Liu identified the Aether as the Reality Stone and asked Loki to try activating it with magic, despite Thor’s warning.
• Loki activated the Reality Stone, his power rose to the Fiftieth Heaven, and Zhan Liu’s mission progress reached 10/10.

After Loki used the Reality Stone to gain Magnetic Field Rotation, its power drove him mad, and Zhan Liu subdued him before Thor could intervene. Zhan Liu sealed Loki’s power, kept the Aether for himself, and returned to his Martial Arts School to study his system reward.

• Loki’s newly acquired power amplified the darkness in his heart, and he declared that he would conquer the universe and rule Asgard.
• When Thor and Sif tried to stop Loki, Zhan Liu incapacitated him and sealed his Magnetic Field Force with the Ultimate Heart Lock.
• Zhan Liu explained that Loki needed time to strengthen his will and warned Thor that restoring his limbs could make it easier for Loki to escape.
• Thor asked Zhan Liu to surrender the Aether, but Zhan Liu kept it and left for his Martial Arts School.
• Zhan Liu put the Aether on a table and began studying his system reward.

Zhan Liu discovered that Daoist thunder techniques might let him revise Ultimate Limit Qigong beyond its Fifty Heavens limit, though he still needed to study and experiment. In Asgard, Odin ordered Loki’s limbs healed but sentenced him to a hundred years of imprisonment for his actions on Midgard.

• Zhan Liu learned that Ultimate Limit Qigong relied on thunder-attributed qi imitating electricity, which locked the technique’s growth at the Fifty Heavens.
• Zhan Liu realized that incorporating Daoist thunder techniques could transform his qi into magical power and allow genuine electric currents, potentially breaking the limit and benefiting his disciples.
• Zhan Liu ordered Natasha to collect introductory Daoist books and classic texts, and she delivered them as an e-book that day.
• Thor brought Loki and the others back to Asgard, where Loki tried to convince Thor that Zhan Liu had wronged him and begged him to restore his limbs.
• Thor explained Loki’s condition to Odin and Frigga, and Odin ordered Loki’s limbs healed while sentencing him to a hundred years in prison and forbidding him to leave.

Saoji Carter died in Steve Rogers’s arms after revealing she was a Hydra clone who had regained Peggy Carter’s memories, and her death triggered Steve’s memories and broke Hydra’s brainwashing. Steve realized that his actions had helped divide and devastate the United States, leaving him overcome with grief and guilt.

• Saoji told Steve that she was a clone made from Peggy Carter’s cells and that her genes were collapsing after she resisted Hydra’s brainwashing.
• Saoji died while Steve held her, and Steve’s grief caused his Magnetic Field Force to break through the barrier of the Tenth Heaven.
• Steve’s Magnetic Field Force purged the brainwashing and restored his memories, revealing that he had never truly been Hydra.
• Steve learned that the United States had been divided among Hydra factions and local separatists, with millions dead or enslaved as a result of his actions.
• Steve identified himself as Captain America and despaired over the destruction of the country he had helped cause.

Steve recovered his memories after Peggy’s death and fought to escape Hydra, but Grant Ward defeated and pinned him despite Steve’s surging power. Nick Fury arrived with Goose, leaving Ward wary of the former director’s hidden trump card.

• Steve recovered his memories, took Peggy’s corpse, and fought through Hydra soldiers as his Magnetic Field Rotation rose to the thirtieth level.
• Grant Ward ambushed Steve, destroyed his arms and Peggy’s corpse, and tried to persuade him to cooperate by offering to clone Peggy.
• Steve rejected Ward, reached the fortieth level, and regenerated his limbs as his Ultimate Limitless Qigong reached perfection.
• Ward used his seventy-fifth-level magnetic armor to overpower and pin Steve, then boasted that Hydra could mass-produce the technology and conquer the world.
• Nick Fury arrived in a SHIELD van, and after Ward found no threats nearby, Fury introduced him to Goose.

Steve and Nick used Googoo to defeat Ward, but Steve then attacked Nick after reading his mind and fled with the Flerken. In Asgard, Loki persuaded Thor to retrieve the Aether from Zhan Liu, secretly planning to claim it and the thrones he coveted.

• Nick brought Googoo out to distract Ward, and the Flerken trapped him with its spatial tentacles.
• Steve repaired his legs with the Magnetic Field Force of the Fifty Heavens and kicked Ward into Googoo's reach, allowing Googoo to swallow him.
• Nick explained that Googoo was a Flerken, but Steve read Nick's mind, struck him dead, and escaped with Googoo before Hydra arrived.
• Loki told Thor that Zhan Liu would give the Aether to whoever granted him superpowers and urged Thor to retrieve and seal it.
• Thor agreed to recover the Aether from Zhan Liu, while Loki secretly planned to take it for himself.