Chapter Summaries

Lu Xi faced the Vishanti and effortlessly endured Oshtur’s barrage while holding Hoggoth captive. After Lu Xi invited them to combine, the three formed their most aggressive Trinity Mode and launched a coordinated attack, leaving Lu Xi confronting their full power.

• Lu Xi shattered Oshtur’s magic blade and moved Hoggoth and himself near the cosmic barrier, leaving traces so Oshtur and Agamotto could follow.
• Lu Xi stopped Hoggoth from reaching the others, while Agamotto studied Lu Xi’s unfamiliar, blended aura.
• Oshtur unleashed a relentless barrage of magic, but Lu Xi dodged and scattered the attacks while keeping Hoggoth in hand.
• Lu Xi threw Hoggoth back and challenged the Vishanti to use their strongest state, prompting Hoggoth, Oshtur, and Agamotto to fuse into Hoggoth-led Majestic Form.
• Lu Xi joked about joining their combination, and the enraged Hoggoth attacked with an energy torrent as Oshtur sealed escape routes and Agamotto used time magic to try to immobilize Lu Xi.

Lu Xi escaped the Vishanti’s coordinated attack and struck back, forcing them to evade a blow that tore through the Universe’s barrier. Meanwhile, the contractors in Hell Dimension wondered why the Vishanti had descended, until Strange revealed he had borrowed twenty million units of magic power.

• Agamotto, Hoggoth, and Oshtur trapped Lu Xi with temporal confinement, destruction magic, and a massive magical assault, but Lu Xi broke free and escaped their encirclement.
• Lu Xi attacked from behind, but Agamotto accelerated the Vishanti’s time and Hoggoth moved their body out of range.
• Lu Xi’s missed punch shattered space and blasted a breach through the Universe’s barrier, and he welcomed the chance to fight a worthy opponent.
• In Lu Xi’s Hell Dimension territory, Pierce worried about him while Mordo, Strange, and Wong discussed the Vishanti’s strength and questioned why they had descended.
• Strange admitted that he had borrowed twenty million units of magic power, shocking Mordo, Wong, and Kaecilius.

Lu Xi used the authority he gained through his contract with Strange to defeat the Vishanti and force them out of their fused form. After discovering they had invaded the Morningstar Universe, Agamotto admitted defeat and offered compensation.

• Strange admitted that he had borrowed and spent all twenty million of his credit from the Vishanti, and Mordo warned him to expect punishment.
• Mordo and the others felt a sudden palpitation that was shared by every living being in the Universe.
• Lu Xi absorbed the authority granted by his contract with Strange and used its power to knock Hoggoth, Oshtur, and Agamotto out of their fused form.
• Lu Xi pointed out that the Vishanti had invaded his Universe, and Agamotto recognized him as a Universe Sovereign.
• Lu Xi summoned his Dominion Throne, strengthened himself with the Morningstar Universe, and weakened the Vishanti until Agamotto conceded and offered compensation.

After defeating Vishanti, Lu Xi decided not to imprison them but demanded compensation for their defeat. Agamotto gave him Vishanti's Book, restored the galaxies damaged in battle, and agreed that Lu Xi's mages could borrow Vishanti's magic without restriction.

• Lu Xi considered imprisoning Vishanti but rejected the idea and decided to keep a lower profile around stronger Multiversal beings.
• Agamotto offered Lu Xi the original Vishanti's Book, and Lu Xi accepted it after examining its White Magic and defensive powers.
• Lu Xi demanded that Agamotto restore the galaxies destroyed in their battle, and Agamotto reversed time to bring them back.
• Lu Xi demanded unrestricted access to Vishanti's magic for mages whose souls belonged to his faction, and Agamotto reluctantly agreed.

Lu Xi's attack pierced the barrier of Earth-2149, a universe overrun by zombies, and Wanda sensed the opening into another universe. Lu Xi then returned to the Hell Dimension and told the contractors they could borrow the Vishanti's magic without restriction.

• Lu Xi's lingering punch wave entered Earth-2149, tore the Moon apart, and passed over Earth without harming the zombies below.
• The chapter recounted how Janet van Dyne infected Hank Pym with the Quantum Virus, which spread rapidly and turned nearly all of humanity and many Avengers into zombies.
• Wanda's Chaos Magic balanced the virus within her, leaving her half-zombified with immense power and the ability to sense the damaged cosmic barrier.
• Wanda sensed the universe beyond the barrier and recognized it as a source of living flesh for the starving zombies.
• Lu Xi appeared before the worried contractors in the Hell Dimension, and Mordo asked whether the Vishanti had left.
• Lu Xi confirmed the Vishanti had been defeated and said the contractors could now borrow the Vishanti's magic without restriction.

After Lu Xi revealed that he had defeated Vishanti and obtained the original Vishanti's Book, he punished Strange by sending him into the arena for a week of nonstop battles, where the time array would turn the sentence into nearly thirty-five years of fighting. Strange accepted the punishment but asked Lu Xi whether he would still receive his exclusive contractor benefit.

• Lu Xi told the contractors that Vishanti had been defeated and handed Mordo the original Vishanti's Book to study.
• Lu Xi reprimanded Strange for exposing the magic-loan loophole and created a portal to the arena as his punishment.
• Lu Xi explained that Strange would fight continuously without sleep or rest for a week, with accelerated time making every outside second equal half an hour inside.
• Rumlow asked to join the training but withdrew after hearing how long and exhausting it would be, while Strange reluctantly accepted his sentence.
• Mordo, Kaecilius, and other mages lined up to challenge Strange, who returned to Lu Xi and asked whether he would still receive his exclusive benefit.

Lu Xi offered Strange a contract benefit and explained why he should continue developing his magical talent rather than receive new powers. He revealed that Destiny prevented Strange and Christine from ever ending up together, then showed Strange a parallel version whose obsession destroyed an entire Universe; Strange asked if Lu Xi could break that fate.

• Lu Xi offered Strange a benefit, but advised him to focus on magic because his talent had exceptional potential.
• Strange agreed to use the Eye of Agamotto and discovered that millions of futures showed him and Christine never becoming a couple.
• Lu Xi explained that Destiny's convergence force kept Strange and Christine apart across every Parallel Universe.
• Lu Xi showed Strange a parallel Strange who used the Darkhold to try to resurrect Christine, only for Destiny to destroy his Universe.
• Strange asked Lu Xi whether he could help him break Destiny.

Lu Xi severed the destiny blocking Strange’s romance with Christine and discovered that changing Strange’s fate had increased his Destiny Authority. Thor then arrived with news that the Nine Realms’ spaces had folded together and Jane had disappeared.

• Strange chose to trade his contract reward for freedom from Destiny’s restraints, and Lu Xi severed the thread governing Strange’s love life.
• Strange thanked Lu Xi and headed to accept his seven-day punishment, planning to confess to Christine afterward.
• Lu Xi sensed his Destiny Authority had grown and traced the increase to a raised growth ceiling in Strange’s possible futures.
• Heimdall warned Lu Xi of disturbances in the Nine Realms, and Lu Xi returned to his villa.
• Thor arrived and reported that the Nine Realms’ spaces had folded together and Jane had disappeared during a test.

Lu Xi removed the Aether from Jane Foster, protecting her and preventing the Dark Elves’ attack on Asgard from unfolding as it had before. As Malekith led his fleet toward Earth to reclaim the Aether, he encountered a fast-moving group of zombie-like beings.

• Lu Xi located Jane Foster in a hidden pocket dimension and pulled her out after the Aether possessed her.
• Lu Xi extracted the Reality Stone from Jane, then told Thor to handle the approaching Dark Elves.
• Thor eagerly agreed to fight, confident in the Skyfather-level strength Lu Xi had given him.
• Malekith and the awakened Dark Elves sensed the Aether on Earth and set out to seize it before Odin could respond.
• Malekith spotted a group of skull-faced, zombie-like beings flying through space toward his fleet.

Zombie Wanda brought a horde of zombie heroes into the Morningstar Universe, where they devoured the Dark Elves and infected Malekith. Lu Xi sensed the invasion and realized the mysterious Zombie Virus might threaten even him and the wider Marvel multiverse.

• Zombie Wanda gathered powerful zombie heroes from Earth-2149 and led them through the breach into the Morningstar Universe.
• Drawn by Lu Xi's immense life energy, Wanda headed toward Earth, planning to feed on familiar people from a parallel universe.
• The zombies encountered Malekith's Dark Elves fleet and devoured its ordinary crew in moments.
• Malekith resisted briefly but was bitten several times and transformed into a zombie, while his people were wiped out.
• Lu Xi sensed the invasion from his villa and realized he did not understand the Zombie Virus or know whether it could infect him.

Lu Xi discovered that Time Reversal could temporarily cure the Zombie Virus, then summoned the superhero Contractors to warn them that infected versions from another Universe were approaching Earth. He protected them from infection and trapped the incoming zombies in a spatial cage so they could fight while he studied the virus.

• Lu Xi repeatedly reversed Malekith's time, restoring him before the surrounding zombies infected him again, and learned that the virus's laws resisted Time Reversal.
• Lu Xi concluded that a Multiversal-level zombie might be powerful enough to neutralize the laws of time and decided to examine the virus at close range.
• Lu Xi summoned the superhero Contractors and showed them the approaching zombie horde, including alternate versions of Tony, Steve, and Wanda.
• Lu Xi warned the Contractors that bites would cause infection, promised to protect them, and confined the battle to the sky with a spatial blockade.
• Lu Xi urged Wanda to observe her Universal-level counterpart and pulled the incoming zombies into a vast spatial cage above New York.

Lu Xi brought the zombie horde into a sealed spatial cage and sent the superheroes inside, giving them magic that would reverse their bodies if they were bitten. The heroes fought their zombie counterparts, but Zombie Pym secretly bit Thor as Lu Xi watched from the villa.

• Lu Xi explained that he had brought the zombies to New York to stop them from spreading the virus through the Universe, then placed protective Time Loop Magic on the heroes and teleported them into the spatial cage.
• The zombies abandoned their attacks on the indestructible barrier and rushed at the heroes, who paired off against their zombie counterparts.
• Steve assessed that the zombies retained combat instincts but had worse tactics and weaker bodies, while Thor noticed that no zombie version of himself was present.
• Barton destroyed Zombie Barton with a Magic Arrow and began supporting his teammates; Thor fought Zombie Abomination with his enhanced strength.
• Zombie Pym, shrunken to a tiny size, bit Thor in the neck, and Lu Xi spotted the attack by extending his vision into the microscopic world.

Lu Xi used time magic to study the Zombie Virus while Wanda fought her zombie counterpart under his protection, rapidly improving her Chaos Magic and reaching Skyfather-level. As the other zombies neared defeat, Zombie Wanda tried to turn on the heroes, but Wanda’s taunts enraged her into focusing solely on their duel.

• The Zombie Virus spread through Thor’s body, but the temporal magic circle on his wrist reversed the infection before it could turn him.
• Lu Xi watched the virus infect and disappear from the superheroes while observing the battle between Wanda and Zombie Wanda.
• Zombie Wanda overwhelmed Wanda’s defenses, but Lu Xi protected Wanda with a Divine Power barrier and urged her to learn from her opponent’s magic.
• Wanda fought without fear, rapidly improving her Chaos Magic until she reached Skyfather-level.
• Seeing the other zombies nearly defeated, Zombie Wanda broke off her attack on Wanda and moved toward the heroes.
• Wanda taunted Zombie Wanda about her appearance, provoking her to abandon the other zombies and concentrate on killing her counterpart.

Lu Xi defeated Zombie Wanda, repaired the breach between universes, and traveled toward Earth-2149 to investigate the Zombie Virus. Meanwhile, the Vishanti discussed his power and feared what it meant that he had become a ruler of a Universe.

• Wanda learned from Zombie Wanda's Chaos Magic as the heroes defeated the zombie forces without casualties.
• Lu Xi restrained Zombie Wanda and erased her and the remaining zombie corpses, ending the battle.
• Lu Xi confirmed that Wanda had reached the Skyfather level, then promised to make a contract with her after handling another matter.
• Lu Xi repaired the breach in the Universe's barrier and headed for Earth-2149 to investigate the Zombie Virus's origin.
• In the White Magic Dimension, Hoggoth, Oshtur, and Agamotto discussed Lu Xi's strength and grew wary of his status as a ruler of a Universe.

Agamotto, Oshtur, and Hoggoth feared that Lucifer’s rise could threaten the balance between Black and White Magic, so they tried to alert Eternity but could not reach him. In Earth-2149, Lu Xi investigated the ruined world and found an unknown force of chaos and destruction clinging to the device that had brought the Quantum Virus there.

• Agamotto warned that Lucifer could eventually become a demon god like Cyttorak, and Oshtur and Hoggoth worried that Vishanti’s influence would suffer.
• Hoggoth suggested reporting Lucifer to Eternity, and Agamotto and Oshtur agreed that the threat could affect the Multiverse’s order.
• Agamotto tried to contact Eternity but failed, alarming all three members of Vishanti.
• Lu Xi surveyed the desolate Earth-2149 and searched San Francisco, where Doctor Pym had brought the Quantum Virus into the real world.
• Lu Xi found the ruined quantum device and sensed an unfamiliar force of destruction, disorder, and chaos attached to it.

Lu Xi recognized that the Zombie Virus threatened the Universe’s balance, then erased every zombie and trace of the virus on Earth without harming the planet. He went to Kamar-Taj, where the few remaining survivors faced dwindling supplies and wondered whether humanity could still be saved.

• Lu Xi compared the Zombie Virus’s destructive force with Galactus’s role in maintaining the Universe’s balance and resolved to destroy the virus if he sensed it again.
• Lu Xi located every remaining zombie on Earth and reduced the zombies and infected bloodstains to Oblivion without damaging anything else.
• Lu Xi noticed something interesting on Earth, abandoned the idea of destroying the planet, and descended to Kamar-Taj.
• Lintra told Dr. Banner and the others that another S.H.I.E.L.D. base had gone silent, while Dr. Banner warned that their food and water would last only another week.
• Spider-Man joked about whether Lintra could conjure food, then admitted he feared that the survivors might never save everyone.

Lu Xi arrived in the zombie-infested Universe and was mistaken for a threat when the survivors encountered him. After proving he was a Sorcerer Supreme from another Universe by creating an Earth Defense Formation, he earned the Tauren mage’s respect.

• The Tauren mage redirected the survivors’ despair toward their urgent need to gather food, and Dr. Banner confirmed their plan to raid a remote location for thirty seconds.
• Lu Xi descended among the survivors, and Dr. Banner transformed into the Hulk and attacked him.
• Lu Xi slapped the Hulk away, and the Tauren stopped preparing a spell when he saw Lu Xi was not a zombie.
• Lu Xi introduced himself as the Sorcerer Supreme from another Universe and created an Earth Defense Formation around Earth.
• The Tauren recognized Lu Xi’s magic and respectfully greeted him as Sorcerer Supreme.

Lu Xi confirmed that he had eliminated the zombies and investigated whether Spider-Man and Banner could be contracted. He brought Thor from New Asgard to serve as a control subject, but remained unsure why Thor lacked the radiance of authority.

• Lu Xi told the sorcerers, Spider-Man, and Banner that he had eliminated all the zombies, and they thanked him with relief.
• Lu Xi noticed that Spider-Man and Banner’s souls shone with the radiance of authority and asked them to cooperate with an experiment; Banner agreed.
• Lu Xi looked into New Asgard and found Thor grieving among the survivors, but saw that Thor lacked the radiance of authority.
• Lu Xi pulled Thor to Kamar-Taj and immobilized him, explaining that he was making a control group.
• Banner became eager to help with the experiment, while Lu Xi continued comparing the three men without reaching a conclusion.

Lu Xi compared two versions of Thor and discovered that a variant’s contract value depended on its strength and potential relative to its counterparts across the Multiverse. He resolved to develop his contractees into the strongest versions of themselves, while the newly freed, dispirited Thor demanded to know why he had been brought there.

• Banner explained that valid comparisons required matching baseline conditions, prompting Lu Xi to summon Thor from the Morningstar Universe to compare him with the dispirited Thor.
• Lu Xi saw the Morningstar Thor suppressing the dispirited Thor’s Destiny and concluded that stronger variants with greater potential held more value.
• Lu Xi realized that raising his contractees’ potential could increase his authority and decided to make each of them the strongest version across the Parallel Universes.
• Morningstar Thor asked the dispirited Thor what had happened, but the other Thor ignored him.
• Lu Xi released the dispirited Thor from his restraints and told him that they had brought him there after all he had endured; the Thor then asked why he was there.

Lu Xi refused to reverse time in the zombie-infested Universe, explaining that the Zombie Virus’s law of destruction had to end where it began, then sealed the Universe against travel. Back in the Morningstar Universe, he began considering how to empower Thor and asked whether he knew Rune Magic.

• Lu Xi sent despondent Thor back to his throne and told Spider-Man, Doctor Banner, and the others that he was returning to his own Universe.
• The Tauren mage asked Lu Xi to use time magic to restore their world, but Lu Xi refused and explained that reversing time would spread the Zombie Virus’s law of destruction to other Universes.
• Lu Xi told the survivors their Universe had borne the disaster for the others, then traveled to space with Thor from his own Universe.
• Lu Xi cast the Modified Earth Defense Formation—Universal Version, sealing the zombie-infested Universe and alerting him if a Multiversal-level being tried to break the seal.
• Back in the Morningstar Universe, Lu Xi considered training Thor to surpass Rune King Thor and asked whether Thor knew Rune Magic.
• Thor said high-ranking gods knew some Rune Magic and showed Lu Xi the runes his father had placed on Mjolnir.