Hmm, I'd give this volume an 8.5. In my view, its plot structure and completeness were enough to stand alongside the first two volumes.
First, let's talk about the original intention behind this volume. I actually planted the seed back when Doom appeared in Volume Four, but the problem was that when I wrote Volume Four, my thinking was still, "I'll just plant some seeds first and flesh them out later." Similar seeds included Ghost Rider and Mephisto, the Black Spirit King, and Doom having the same face as Tony Stark beneath his mask...
After finishing Volume Five and starting to think about wrapping up the story and ending the novel quickly, I finally got a headache. There was too much to tie up. I'd need at least five more volumes.
At the time, I wanted nothing more than to travel back in time and strangle my past self. What kind of massive holes had I dug...?
After Volume Five, I stopped updating for half a year. Then Volume Six was purely transitional, to let me adjust my state a bit, and after that I plunged headfirst into Volume Seven.
As for this volume, the only things I could initially confirm were that its theme was the Fantastic Four and its enemy was Galactus... So the question became: the Fantastic Four and Galactus's story had already been adapted twice in live-action films. Add in the constant explainers across every platform, and practically everyone knew this story. If I just wrote it straight, there wouldn't be anything new! It was the same problem DC Comics faced when rebooting Batman films. When a normal person heard Batman was getting another new series reboot, their first reaction would be... Wayne couple: should we go through the motions, or just lie down now?
So