TVA's Knock, the High-and-Mighty Gardeners
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The heavy clatter of military boots broke the deathly silence of the lunar control room.
Fifteen fully armed guards filed out from the orange portal.
They wore heavy, black riot armor, black helmets that concealed their faces, and three cold, golden letters—TVA—emblazoned on their chests.
The fifteen people instantly dispersed, forming a tactical encirclement formation, tightly surrounding Jiang Li on the throne in the center.
There was no divine pressure, nor any violent energy fluctuations.
But this absolute chill and silence was even more suffocating than when the million-strong mechanical army had pressed in before.
Because each of them was holding a semi-transparent baton.
The tip of the baton gleamed with a faint orange light.
Pruning Baton.
This weapon generates neither high temperatures nor kinetic energy. Its sole function is to erase all matter it comes into contact with, based on the fundamental laws of time.
Whether you are a god who can command the wind and rain in your own universe, or Sorcerer Supreme wields magic, as long as you are poked by this stick, your life trajectory, your flesh and Soul Stone will be "cut" in an instant and thrown directly into the junkyard at the end of time.
An absolute weapon of dimensional reduction.
"Safety bolt released. Target locked."
A mechanical, synthesized voice emanated from beneath the guards' helmets. Simultaneously, fifteen Pruning Baton flashed a blinding orange light.
The head guard was a burly man.
He strode down the steps to the throne and stopped. He raised his left wrist and glanced at the radar-like Time Controller (TemPad).
On the screen, countless red branches representing collapse are now frantically extending outwards from the green line that represents the Sacred Timeline of the Main Universe.
And the source of all these branches points to the young man sitting in the chair in front of us.
"Time Violator: Jiang Li."
The captain of the guard raised his head, his voice as cold as a sentencing machine through the black mask.
"Criminal charge one: Forcibly interfering with the Sacred Timeline, causing a collision of the Multiverse."
"Criminal charge two: Unlawfully erasing Infinity Ultron, who should not have died at that point."
"Criminal Charge Three: Illegally devouring the fundamental laws of the universe (the Six Infinity Stones)."
The captain of the guard lowered his left wrist and gripped the Pruning Baton tightly with his right.
"By order of the Time-Keepers."
"To completely reset and trim you, and the entire flawed universe you inhabit."
His tone was calm and matter-of-fact.
In TVA's eyes, they are the Gardener who maintain the growth of this "tree of time." If they encounter a crooked branch or a diseased leaf, they simply prune it off.
Avengers? Thanos? Celestials?
In the drawers of TVA headquarters, there are so many Infinity Stones that they're only good for being used as paperweights by the clerks.
They were used to being high and mighty, used to watching those so-called superheroes turn to ashes under the Pruning Baton.
"Put down your weapons and stand up."
The captain of the guard pointed at Jiang Li with Pruning Baton, "Your universe has come to an end."
On the throne.
Jiang Li did not move.
Instead of standing up, he leaned back comfortably in his chair.
He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the fifteen orange batons around him, which exuded an aura of death, and suddenly laughed.
The laughter sounded extremely jarring in the deathly silent control room.
"I've been waiting for you all day, and only a dozen or so people have shown up?"
Jiang Li shook his head, his tone revealing undisguised disappointment.
"Does your so-called judge look down on me, or on the 300 million Emotion Points I just spent?"
The captain of the guard frowned.
He didn't understand what "Emotion Points" was, but he understood the contempt in Jiang Li's eyes.
This is a desecration of the highest principles of TVA.
"Time criminal, you don't seem to understand your situation."
The captain of the guard sneered, "No matter how strong you are outside, whether you can tear apart spaceships with your bare hands or swallow gems whole, before the laws of time, your carbon-based body won't even last a second. You'll be erased as cleanly as chalk on a blackboard."
"Final warning. Be bound immediately."
Jiang Li raised his left wrist.
In the dim light, the four newly grown metal spikes on the Omnitrix gleamed with an extremely violent dark red light. The Gene Reactor of the Ultimate Module was humming softly.
"They keep saying 'time fault,' and 'cutting' all the time."
Jiang Li's smile vanished completely, and his eyes became even colder and more ruthless than those of the TVA guards.
"Have you Gardener, hiding in the cracks of dimensions, finding a sense of superiority in pruning branches, been living in comfort for too long?"
Jiang Li's right hand slowly hovered above the watch face on his left wrist.
"Has anyone ever taught you...?"
Jiang Li stared into the captain of the guard's eyes, speaking slowly and deliberately.
"When pruning branches, never mess with those... monsters that can uproot the whole tree."
Arrogant!
Act recklessly!
The captain of the guard completely lost his patience.
The simplest way to deal with such stubborn variables is to make them disappear completely.
"Perform trimming."
The captain of the guard gave a cold shout.
Swish!
The two guards closest to Jiang Li instantly sprang into action. They didn't fire their guns at all; instead, they swung their Pruning Baton, one on each side, and slammed them down hard on Jiang Li's shoulders!
If even the slightest scratch is caused, the orange energy will instantly engulf Jiang Li's entire body.
At the same time, the captain of the guard also moved.
He strode up the steps, the Pruning Baton in his hand turned to maximum power. The orange light was so bright it was blinding, even causing the surrounding space to distort like ripples on water.
"Let it become garbage."
The captain of the guard let out a cold laugh, his arm muscles suddenly bulged, and he gripped the Pruning Baton, stabbing it hard into Jiang Li's chest!
Three Pruning Baton, three deadly positions.
This sealed off all of Jiang Li's escape routes.
Faced with this law-based erasure attack that ignores all physical defenses.
Jiang Li didn't even blink.
He simply stared at the captain of the guard's face hidden behind the mask, then slammed his right hand down on the watch face on his left wrist!
Smack!
"Transform!"