Chapter Summaries

He Shenyan settled into his White Tower room, learned how its Internal Network worked, and began exploring its forums. He ended the chapter investigating the Succubus Pavilion after finding it mentioned in the comments.

• Xiya showed He Shenyan his room and explained the White Tower’s loose rules and the Council’s protection of cross-realm mages.
• He Shenyan asked where Ancient One was, and Xiya explained that he would need to contact her through the Internal Network.
• He Shenyan connected to the Internal Network, created an account, and browsed its news and comments.
• He Shenyan watched a video of the man who had first received him brawling with a two-horned creature, then read the users’ teasing comments.
• He Shenyan searched for the Succubus Pavilion and began watching its pictures and videos, claiming he needed to investigate it.

He Shenyan searched the White Tower Council’s Internal Network for information about worlds and found that some records were restricted or unavailable. He then discovered a post exposing his arrival and implying that he had a special relationship with Ancient One, leaving him wary of the attention.

• He Shenyan searched for Ancient One, transdimensional mages, and Earth-like civilizations, learning that some worlds were dangerous and that the most magically advanced world’s designation was hidden.
• He Shenyan found no records of worlds without supernatural powers or of the two worlds he had visited, and ignored an offer to submit newly discovered worlds for a reward.
• He Shenyan returned to Today’s News and saw a post announcing a new member recommended by Ancient One, illustrated with an unblurred photo of him and Xiya.
• He Shenyan read commenters arguing and making suggestive remarks about him, along with an advertisement for enchanted giant robot collectibles.
• An anonymous user said they had memorized He Shenyan’s face and sent gifts to Pur the Massage Fanatic, while the First Balrog of the Abyss continued insulting him.
• He Shenyan worried that being Ancient One’s student meant he would have to protect her from trouble rather than the other way around.

He Shenyan accepted a no-magic duel with a black-haired elf who challenged him because the Ancient One had recommended him. She knocked him down and pinned him, leaving him vulnerable to her next punch.

• He Shenyan saw the black-haired elf waiting outside his door and let her in.
• The elf challenged He Shenyan to a duel over the Ancient One’s recommendation, and he accepted her request to fight in his room.
• The elf teased He Shenyan before launching a surprise kick, and the two began fighting under the no-magic rules.
• He Shenyan blocked the elf’s punch and countered with a strike, but she kept pressing him and charged for a grapple.
• The elf turned her charge into a tackle, swept He Shenyan’s legs out from under him, and pinned him down.
• The elf bit He Shenyan’s ear, distracting him long enough to land a punch through his guard.

He Shenyan and Natalia Carroll turned their duel into an intimate encounter after she challenged him to keep fighting. After Natalia left, He Shenyan recovered and returned to browsing the Internal Network.

• He Shenyan landed a punch on Natalia, and they introduced themselves before resuming their fight.
• Natalia kicked He Shenyan despite their boxing match, and he grabbed her foot and threw her to the ground.
• Natalia lay down and suggested another way to make one of them unable to move, and He Shenyan accepted.
• Natalia left He Shenyan's room in a good mood, gave him her private contact information, and arranged to fight again.
• He Shenyan rubbed his sore waist and reopened the Internal Network's general discussion section.

He Shenyan browsed the Council's trading section and traded a mana-powered teapot for a pair of ordinary headphones that could play music. After listening to sounds from countless worlds and David Bowie's “Space Oddity,” he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

• He Shenyan browsed bizarre listings in the trading section, including a murderous nose-hair machine and a screaming human-skin book.
• He Shenyan noticed a seller offering dark red headphones that could play any music and sent a trade request.
• He Shenyan traded the pitch-black creature a teapot that made any flavor of tea in exchange for the headphones.
• He Shenyan put on the headphones and heard scenes and sounds from many different lives and worlds.
• He Shenyan listened to “Space Oddity” and fell asleep.

He Shenyan examined visions of possible deaths and destruction in the world he had left, then confronted Ancient One about why she had shown them to him. He rejected her appeal to return and protect that world, accusing her of deceiving him and asking whether she regretted teaching him enough to take her place.

• He Shenyan activated the green gemstone and watched visions of a shield-bearing man and Spider-Man die amid a devastated city.
• He Shenyan realized Ancient One was trying to show him something and confronted her when she appeared beside him.
• Ancient One explained that the visions showed one possible future after He Shenyan left, and admitted that the situation was her fault.
• Ancient One said the world needed He Shenyan because she had been excluded from it and no one else could help.
• He Shenyan accused Ancient One of moral blackmail, deception, and responsibility for the deaths, then asked whether she regretted teaching him well enough to replace her.

He Shenyan confronted Ancient One over her deception, then chose to become a Trans-dimensional Mage and cross worlds to save people. He left for the coordinates Ancient One had given him, while she departed without resolving their broken relationship.

• He Shenyan demanded to know why Ancient One had deceived him and told her he would save the people from another world because he chose to, not because she asked.
• Ancient One explained that touching the White Tower's World-Crossing Stone would make him a Trans-dimensional Mage and gave him world coordinates before leaving.
• He Shenyan memorized the coordinates, erased them from the air, and traveled to the World-Crossing Stone through the Internal Network.
• After touching the stone, He Shenyan experienced a strange vision and struggled with an urge to cross worlds.
• He Shenyan recited Ancient One's coordinates, vanished in a burst of white light, and completed his first world crossing.

Steve Rogers saw the hardship and homelessness in New York, then returned home to find a government agent claiming his identity and ordering him to leave. He left after the agent threatened him and warned him to avoid gatherings.

• Steve bought a hot dog from Dave, who told him that a homeless man had gone bankrupt, lost custody of his child, and been divorced.
• Steve gave the homeless man his hot dog and left a ten-dollar bill on his cardboard bedding.
• Steve returned to his apartment and confronted Seth Bellor, a Special Human Security Council agent who had broken in.
• Seth claimed Steve Rogers was dead and insisted Steve had no right to live in Captain America's apartment.
• Seth mentioned Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff, then threatened Steve with a gun and told him to avoid gatherings.
• Steve put on his jacket and left, slamming the door behind him.

Jack Reacher told Steve Rogers that the government had diverted money raised in Steve’s name through a fake charity, then left him to investigate. After Jack was reported dead, Steve vanished from the veterans’ bar, leaving behind a twenty-dollar bill.

• Jack Reacher warned Steve that the country had changed and told him the government had profited from his name.
• Jack explained that Steve’s supposed charity was a shell, and that its money had been moved to an anonymous account.
• Jack told Steve about a murdered retired general and the threats that forced Jack to keep quiet, then urged Steve to investigate.
• Jack left Steve alone on the bench, and Steve questioned whether his sacrifices had been worth it.
• A news report announced Jack’s death, and the bartender called him murdered while Steve disappeared from the bar.

Steve recruited Sam to help defend people who could not protect themselves, while Strange struggled alone against magical and alien threats. He Shenyan returned after seven years and told Strange that a bald woman had deceived them and might still be alive.

• Steve ran with Sam and learned that Rhodey had been under house arrest for a year while many of their allies were missing, absent, or unreachable.
• Steve told Sam that he wanted to defend their homes and the people who could not protect themselves, then left without giving Sam his contact information.
• Strange collapsed in his secret chamber after exhausting himself fighting magical threats and rising alien dangers.
• He Shenyan entered Strange's chamber and explained that a bald woman had forced him to return from another world.
• He Shenyan told Strange that the woman they believed dead might still be alive and had deceived them.

He Shenyan returned to Earth and learned that Strange had implanted Dark Worms in himself to keep protecting the world despite severe exhaustion. After finding Mephisto absent in Hell, He Shenyan went to Heaven, where a trap forced him to stabilize the collapsing dimension or risk disaster on Earth.

• Strange asked He Shenyan why he had returned, and they agreed to investigate trouble in Hell and Heaven.
• He Shenyan discovered that Strange had been using Dark Worms to stay awake and protect others, and urged him to remove them.
• He Shenyan went to Hell to find Mephisto, but the demons said he had been gone for a long time.
• He Shenyan entered Heaven and found countless wingless Angel corpses along the sacred road.
• A Pillar of Fire spread through Heaven, so He Shenyan poured out Magic Power to stabilize the dimension and realized the destruction was an open scheme meant to keep him there.

Steve Rogers escaped Seth Bellor’s attempt to take him to headquarters with help from Hawkeye, Clint Barton. Meanwhile, He Shenyan remained trapped maintaining Heaven’s stability and worried that the forces behind the trap had cut him off from Earth.

• Seth Bellor threatened Steve with a civilian’s life and forced him into a black SUV, claiming Steve’s contact with Jack Reacher had gotten him killed.
• Steve knocked out Seth and the driver, took control of the SUV, and crushed the surveillance camera before another Seth Bellor arrived.
• The second Seth tried to persuade Steve to come to headquarters and claimed Frank Castle was unavailable, but Clint Barton emerged from the alley and shot him with an arrow.
• Steve asked Clint to call him Steve, while an aircraft appeared overhead; afterward, the fallen Seths revived and hurried to wake the driver.
• He Shenyan continued repairing Heaven while his attempts to contact Strange, the Sanctums, and the Magic Power nodes went unanswered, leaving him to suspect a dangerous enemy had isolated him from Earth.

Seth Bellor and his duplicate realized their hatred of He Shenyan came from a false mission and chose to let events unfold. Meanwhile, He Shenyan stopped repairing Heaven and watched it burn, intending to rebuild it later.

• Seth Bellor spoke with his other selves, learning that Steve Rogers and Clint Barton had reached Rhodey's house and that the White House Seth was struggling not to press the nuclear button.
• Seth Bellor shot Seth Two, revealing that their hatred of He Shenyan was based on the false belief that he had destroyed their planet and that they were Skrulls.
• Seth Two revived, agreed that they had broken free of their false mission, and drove with Seth One as they deliberately caused chaos on the road.
• He Shenyan withdrew his magic and let Heaven collapse and burn, deciding he could rebuild a pillar after it was gone.

Rhodey joined Steve and Hawkeye after learning that Jack Reacher had been killed, and the three set out to confront the person responsible. At the docks, Frank Castle fought off a gang sent to stop him, but a blood ritual raised the dead as Walking Corpses and left him surrounded.

• Rhodey killed one of the men watching him and fought an attacker who broke into his home.
• Steve revealed himself, explained that Jack Reacher had died, and asked Rhodey to help settle the score; Rhodey agreed.
• Frank Castle fought his way through dozens of gangsters at the docks while making his way to support Steve.
• A blood ritual formed an inverted pentagram from the rainwater and resurrected the dead gangsters as Walking Corpses.
• Frank used grenades and a knife against the Walking Corpses, but they kept rising and eventually surrounded him.

Frank Castle resisted the darkness that tried to lure him with visions of his dead family and became a flaming skeleton in the magic circle. As the creature began destroying buildings at New York Harbor, Steve, Clint, and Rhodey prepared to confront it.

• Frank saw visions of his wife and children, who blamed him for their deaths, and rejected the darkness offering him relief.
• Frank embraced his hatred, fought the resentful souls in Hell, and transformed into a burning skeleton.
• Frank awakened at the center of the magic circle and howled, "Sin!"
• Rhodey, Steve, and Clint flew the Quinjet toward New York Harbor to investigate Frank's disappearance.
• The Quinjet detected a powerful sorcerous energy burst and showed a flaming skeleton destroying nearby apartment buildings.
• Steve opened the rear cabin door and told Rhodey and Clint they should stop the creature.

He Shenyan returned after creating a new magical pillar to replace Heaven, then stopped a demon possessing Frank Castle during its attack on New York. He left to pursue an unknown threat, while Steve, Hawkeye, Rhodey, and Frank faced the ruined city and feared the crisis had only begun.

• He Shenyan used two-thirds of his magic power to create a tiny dimension that could replace Heaven, then returned to Earth.
• He Shenyan sensed demonic power in New York and found a flaming skeleton demon attacking the city through Frank Castle's body.
• He Shenyan trapped the demon in the Mirror Dimension, separated its soul from Frank's, and temporarily suppressed it before leaving to pursue a greater threat.
• Steve, Hawkeye, and Rhodey arrived in a Quinjet and learned from Frank that He Shenyan had returned and that an unknown lunatic was roaming the world.
• Frank collapsed from his injuries as Steve called for the Quinjet, and Steve warned that the disaster might only be beginning.

He Shenyan discovered that someone had looted the Sanctum Sanctorum and left a bloody threat, then hunted down Seth Bellor and learned he had split into many pieces. After He Shenyan destroyed Seth’s collected soul fragments, the threat remained unresolved.

• He Shenyan found the Sanctum Sanctorum ransacked, the Cloak of Levitation drained of life, and a bloody message threatening the Skrull Butcher.
• Seth Bellor joyfully drove across the interstate, killing people in collisions and eating pieces of his victims.
• He Shenyan crushed Seth’s SUV, examined a fragment of his soul, and learned Seth had split himself into a hundred pieces and wanted his remaining selves killed.
• Every remaining Seth Bellor died, and their soul fragments gathered into a damaged gem in He Shenyan’s hand.
• He Shenyan questioned whether Seth Bellor was his real name, then destroyed the gem.

He Shenyan uncovered how the Supreme Intelligence had brainwashed Seth Bellor and orchestrated a plan to torment him and his allies before attacking Earth. He discovered a Kree fleet surrounding the planet and flew into space to destroy it.

• He Shenyan learned that Seth Bellor was a centuries-old wanderer whose memories had been erased and who had been implanted with a false identity and a mission of vengeance.
• The Supreme Intelligence had used one hundred Seth Bellors to infiltrate and control the United States while preparing attacks against He Shenyan's allies and Earth.
• One Seth Bellor sacrificed more than five thousand people to gain Dark Magic from Chthon, briefly learned the truth, and recorded his memories in a gun before erasing them from his mind.
• He Shenyan sensed an enormous Kree fleet surrounding Earth and realized the Supreme Intelligence's plan was underway.
• He Shenyan flew into space to destroy the Kree fleet and leave no survivors.

As the Kree fleet arrived above Earth, Steve and his companions headed for the White House to help He Shenyan and stop the nuclear missiles from being used. The Kree commander located He Shenyan and prepared to threaten him by demonstrating the Star-Killer Cannon’s power against the moon.

• Frank identified the largest Kree vessel as a starship equipped with a Star-Killer Cannon and warned that Earth could not defeat it with nuclear weapons.
• Steve ordered the Quinjet to the White House, sending Hawkeye and himself inside while Rhodey and Frank stayed aboard to monitor events.
• The Kree commander ordered his crew to find He Shenyan and use the lives of his friends to force him into submission.
• The Kree commander dismissed the loss of Seth Bellor and ordered the crew to target the moon with the Star-Killer Cannon as a show of force.
• Squad D78-A3 left the Kree ship to contact He Shenyan while the commander prepared to speak to him personally.

He Shenyan rescued Tony Stark from the Kree and retaliated against the Kree warship and its soldiers. He left the commander alive, promising to take him back to the Kree homeworld and make the Kree an example to the universe.

• The Kree commander threatened to kill Tony Stark and destroy half of Earth’s population unless He Shenyan surrendered, then demonstrated the Star-Killer Cannon aimed at the moon.
• He Shenyan appeared aboard the stellar warship, destroyed the cannon’s energy supply, and overpowered the commander and the Kree soldiers.
• He Shenyan removed the devices from Tony Stark’s head and neck, healed him, and sent him through a portal to Stark Tower.
• He Shenyan forced the commander to watch as Kree soldiers killed one another and the warship disintegrated, keeping the soldiers alive and conscious in the vacuum.
• He Shenyan told the commander he would take him back to the Kree planet and turn the Kree into living specimens for display.