Chapter Summaries

Richard defeated Dormammu in the Dimensional Void, though the fight nearly exhausted him and his strength was mostly an act. After the Dark Dimension’s destruction was assessed, Richard and Natasha told Dark Witch Hecate they were leaving.

• Dormammu broke free of the Chaos Seal and attacked Richard, who used the six Infinity Stones to fight back.
• Richard pierced Dormammu’s palm and chest with his Death God Spears, then taunted him until Dormammu retreated.
• Richard searched the area to make sure Dormammu was gone, then collapsed from exhaustion and resolved to seek greater strength after dealing with the Skrulls.
• In the Dark Dimension, the surviving natives were rescued, and Lord Yin led the recovery of the weapons and equipment buried in the ruins.
• Richard and Natasha found Dark Witch Hecate and told her it was time for them to leave.

Richard and Natasha helped Hecate establish the Dormammu Resistance, with Richard as Supreme Advisor and Natasha as an instructor, while warning Hecate about the coming war between Umar and Dormammu. Richard took Little Clea back to Earth, and a sudden upheaval shook the Dark Dimension after they vanished.

• Hecate founded the Dormammu Resistance and appointed Richard its Supreme Advisor and Natasha an instructor.
• Richard warned Hecate that Umar and Dormammu would wage a brutal war and urged her to keep the Resistance hidden and beware of Umar.
• Hecate teased Little Clea, who cried and sought comfort from Natasha.
• Richard offered to take Little Clea to Earth, and Hecate agreed.
• Richard used Crimson Mana to transport himself, Natasha, and Little Clea away, then the earth trembled and heaven and earth wailed.

Dormammu and Umar's battle sent catastrophic streams of flame raining across the Dark Dimension, forcing its inhabitants to defend themselves. The destruction stopped after Umar rejected Dormammu's offer to surrender and escaped, promising to trouble him in the future.

• Hecate enveloped the Rotten Garden in a shadow curtain as the Dark Dimension shook.
• Bapros activated the Great Forge Formation, while the Silent Patrol tried to pull the Silent Corridor into the Mirror Plane but was burned away by flowing flame, causing its energy vortex to explode.
• Bargas ordered the Scorched Legion to assemble and then defend against the falling flames, which its soldiers mostly destroyed or dodged.
• The powerful beings across the Dark Dimension looked toward the Eternal Night Throne as Dormammu declared Umar had lost and offered to spare her if she surrendered.
• Umar refused Dormammu's offer, said she would evade him and send him surprises, and the disaster abruptly stopped.

Richard returned to the Sky Fortress with Natasha and Little Clea, where Hill briefed him on preparations to purge the Skrulls and Nick Fury’s release from Rat Prison. The chapter ended as an ocean-going freighter quietly docked near the mouth of the Hudson River.

• Richard introduced Little Clea, the Dark Dimension’s princess and sole heir, to Hill, who agreed to arrange a tour of Earth.
• Hill reported that the Wanderer’s railguns were nearly ready, Medical Pods had been relocated, and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s forces had been consolidated.
• Hill revealed that Nick Fury had been allowed to escape Rat Prison and was under surveillance because of his ties to Skrull refugees and G'iah.
• Hill told Richard that Nick Fury had invited the Skrull refugees to Earth and that Xiao Bai’s simulations predicted they would invade within ten years.
• Richard declared that Earth would deal with the Skrulls on its own terms, and a freighter quietly docked at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Nick Fury escaped the cargo ship and evaded his pursuers, while Jeremy Torres secretly followed him. After finding his safe house sabotaged, Nick Fury fled by taxi toward Brooklyn's Greenpoint Apartments, unaware that Jeremy was still tracking him.

• Nick Fury ran out of ammunition, killed Sherke and Ben, and leaped into the sea as sailors fired after him.
• Jeremy Torres followed Nick Fury underwater using Levitation.
• Nick Fury opened a cliff safe house and found that its medicine had been replaced with chili powder and its guns with squirt guns.
• Nick Fury suspected mages had read his memories, then changed clothes and took forged IDs and cash from the safe house.
• Nick Fury hired Mihawk, a taxi driver, and ordered him to take him to the Greenpoint Apartments in Brooklyn.

Jeremy reported that Nick Fury was heading to Greenpoint Apartments, while Richard and his allies prepared a plan to gather Skrulls in Australia. The White Queen revealed that the apartment’s current owner was Sam Koenig.

• Jeremy called the White Queen after Nick Fury took a taxi to Greenpoint Apartments in Brooklyn, and she told him to follow Fury.
• Richard teleported Tony Stark to the Sky Fortress and introduced him to Clea from the Dark Dimension.
• Hill explained that the team had summoned Earth’s Skrulls to Australia under the pretext of building a new home, receiving over 800,000 replies.
• Tony said Nick Fury had stayed out of contact since escaping the Rat Prison, and Jeremy had tracked him toward Brooklyn.
• The White Queen told Richard that Nick Fury was heading to Greenpoint Apartments, whose current owner was Sam Koenig.

Richard discovered that Sam Koenig looked identical to two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and suspected the Koenig family was connected to cloning. After extracting Sam’s memories, Richard learned about the family and waited for Nick Fury, who arrived at Sam’s apartment injured.

• Xiao Bai found that Sam Koenig looked identical to S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Eric Koenig and Billy Koenig, and Tony concluded they were likely clones.
• Richard asked Hill to watch Little Clea, then went to Sam Koenig’s apartment in Brooklyn.
• Richard found Sam monitoring empty rooms, disarmed him, and used magic to extract and read his memories.
• Over an hour later, Nick Fury climbed through the apartment window, and Richard greeted him.

Richard confronted Nick Fury over his plan to use the Skrulls and accused him of selling out Earth's sovereignty. After Nick admitted defeat, he revealed that Sam Koenig had handled contact with G'iah but could not explain how she left Earth.

• Richard revealed that Sam Koenig was alive and demanded that Nick Fury trade information to see him again.
• Richard accused Nick Fury of secretly selling Earth's sovereignty by dealing with G'iah and the Skrulls.
• Nick Fury defended his plan to make the Skrulls Earth's allies, but Richard warned that the Skrulls were notorious across interstellar society.
• Richard threatened Sam to force Nick Fury to explain his contact with G'iah and how she had left Earth.
• Nick Fury admitted that he had lost and said Sam had managed contact with G'iah, who was also connected to another mysterious faction.

Richard questioned Nick Fury about the Koenigs, revealed that Eric, Billy, and Sam were clones, and sent Fury back to the Rat Prison to help fight the Skrulls. Fury arrived at the operations conference room, survived an attack by Victor Sanchez, and declared that he had chosen to lead the purge of Skrulls on Earth.

• Richard asked Nick Fury about Ernest Hazard Koenig, and Fury said he had never heard of him.
• Richard revealed that Eric, Billy, and Sam Koenig were clones and suspected someone had guided them into the S.H.I.E.L.D. Communications Academy.
• Richard offered Nick Fury a choice between returning to the Rat Prison and helping purge the Skrulls on Earth, and Fury chose to help.
• Richard sent Nick Fury by magic to the Rat Prison, where Victor Sanchez attacked him until Phil Coulson intervened.
• Nick Fury told the assembled agents that he had chosen to fight the Skrulls and offered to lead them, citing his knowledge of the Skrulls he had brought to Earth.

White Queen informed the former S.H.I.E.L.D. commanders that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been absorbed into the Red Order under Mage Richard, and that they would not return to their former posts. Nick Fury was appointed to oversee Skrull intelligence, while the others were told to earn their release by completing their assignments.

• Victoria Hand and the other former commanders objected to Nick Fury leading them, but Park Min-jung announced that White Queen had issued her decision.
• White Queen told Victoria Hand that the former S.H.I.E.L.D. officials could not return to their old positions and appointed Isaiah Banks Director of the Red Order Logistics Department 1.
• White Queen revealed that Mage Richard was the Lord of Crimson and that HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. had been incorporated into the Red Order.
• White Queen appointed Nick Fury as an advisor responsible for intelligence about the Skrulls and warned the former commanders to stop scheming and complete their tasks if they wanted to leave the rat prison.
• Victoria Hand accepted White Queen's ruling, Victor Sanchez left after criticizing his role, and Isaiah Banks tried to slip away as a Crimson Believer emerged from a portal.

Isaiah Banks was escorted through a portal to take up his new post in the Red Order, leaving Nick Fury’s former S.H.I.E.L.D. colleagues to recognize how far the Order surpassed them. After learning more about the Order’s healing magic, Nick organized teams to locate four missing Skrull councilors, and the Skrull eradication plan entered its countdown.

• Evan Hines escorted Isaiah Banks through a portal to logistics department one and tried to secure enchanted pistols for his team.
• Nick Fury told the gathered S.H.I.E.L.D. officials that the Red Order overshadowed their former organization, then left for treatment with Phil Coulson.
• After his injuries healed in a wax bath, Nick Fury identified Talos, Kinsley, Gravik, and Diego as missing Skrull councilors and outlined where they might be hiding.
• Nick Fury assigned teams to search for Talos in the United States, Kinsley in South America, and Gravik in Eastern Europe, while Phil Coulson and Rachel McCoy helped him consolidate intelligence.
• Strucker and the others returned three days later, and the Skrull eradication plan officially entered its countdown.

Gravik ordered Hana to maintain radio silence as he investigated the disappearances of Skrull leaders and the Wanderer spaceship. Hawkeye and two Crimson Nuns ambushed him inside a sealed Mirror Dimension, and Gravik was left wounded and bound in battle.

• Gravik told Hana to pose as Greta Whittaker and avoid contacting other Skrulls until he reached out to her.
• Gravik suspected a hidden force was tracking the Skrulls after learning of the Wanderer’s disappearance and the loss of several leaders.
• Hawkeye appeared with two Crimson Nuns and confronted Gravik, who revealed his Skrull form and charged them.
• The Crimson Nuns raised a Crimson Veil, but Gravik broke through it and healed after Hawkeye shot him with an armor-piercing arrow.
• Hawkeye explained that magic had sealed the building inside a Mirror Dimension, then attacked Gravik with Magic Clones and crimson chains.
• Hawkeye fired five arrows into Gravik’s chest as the Magic Clones restrained him, and Gravik snapped their energy sabers in response.

Hawkeye defeated Gravik, while Natasha’s team confronted Talos and persuaded him to surrender by offering news of G'iah. In Peru, Thomas and his teammates survived Kinsley’s nuclear blast by diverting much of its force into the Mirror Dimension, then retreated as responders arrived; Richard pulled up the Human Sovereign Banner in Golden Ape Valley.

• Hawkeye detonated the five arrows embedded in Gravik, killing him, then withdrew through a Crimson Portal with Celia and Alicia.
• Natasha and Yelena’s team confronted Talos in New York City Hall, and Talos agreed to go with them after Natasha promised news of G'iah and help finding her.
• Natasha opened a portal, and Talos entered it after realizing the group had teleportation magic.
• Kinsley’s nuclear blast destroyed the Peruvian Presidential Palace, but Thomas diverted most of its force and radiation into his Mirror Dimension, allowing the five agents to escape.
• Grant Ward warned the others that people were approaching, and Adele led the team through a portal before police reached the ruins.
• Richard pulled up the Human Sovereign Banner in Crimson Dimension’s Golden Ape Valley.

Tony Stark launched the Heart of Steel to begin a global operation that exposed and eliminated Skrulls using U.S. military satellites and orbital railguns. As the massacre spread beyond the United States, Red Order believers sealed heavily nuclear-polluted areas around the world.

• After Richard ordered the operation to begin, Tony Stark launched the Heart of Steel with Simmons and the crew aboard.
• All 413 U.S. military satellites activated, and electromagnetic waves exposed Skrulls around the world to the Precision Orbital Railgun system.
• The Heart of Steel's AI targeted revealed Skrulls, killing tens of thousands in New York and wiping out Skrulls throughout the United States within a minute.
• In Peru, Councilman Diego urged Skrulls to retaliate against the United States, but orbital beams killed him and the other Skrulls at the meeting.
• Red Order believers emerged from portals near heavily nuclear-polluted regions and sealed each area with a dome-like formation.

Grant Ward and the Crimson Believers destroyed the Skrulls trapped in the Chernobyl Ruins, then Kenneth Vila’s squad evacuated Fukushima after redirecting a Japanese missile through a Portal. The missile struck Mount Fuji and triggered a massive eruption.

• The Skrulls failed to break the Sealing Formation, even with Leitz’s energy cannon, and the Crimson Believers incinerated them with crimson flames.
• Grant Ward collected the undamaged energy cannon and ordered the Crimson Believers to retreat through a Portal.
• Kenneth Vila’s squad prepared to leave the ruined Fukushima plant as a Tomahawk Cruise Missile approached.
• Kenneth Vila sent the missile through a Portal and ordered his squad to retreat.
• Yukuro Otani’s soldiers traced the missile to Mount Fuji, where it detonated in the crater and caused a violent eruption.

Richard stabilized the tectonic plates around Little Japan as Mount Fuji’s eruption caused widespread destruction there, while nearby countries remained unharmed. He then unleashed the Human Sovereign Banner’s silver starlight to kill the Skrulls in the Australian settlement and prepared to visit Asgard.

• Mount Fuji’s eruption devastated Little Japan, and the government blamed Yukuro Otani after an anonymous tip claimed the North Eastern Army had fired a missile into the crater.
• Richard asked Tiamut to reinforce the tectonic plates around Little Japan, containing the earthquakes and disasters so nearby countries were unaffected.
• People online linked Little Japan’s suffering to its wartime crimes, and Little Japan’s descendants faced condemnation online and in public.
• The Skrulls discovered their communications were cut off and Senator Varra and the recruitment team had vanished.
• Richard planted the Human Sovereign Banner in the settlement, and its silver starlight killed Skrulls despite their weapons and attempts to flee.
• Richard sensed the Source Star souls had been restored and decided to visit Asgard.

Li Richard erased the Skrull settlement in Australia and learned that hundreds of Skrulls had escaped the New Zola Algorithm. White Queen identified the first name on her list as Greta Whittaker, a British government cybersecurity director.

• Li Richard recalled the silver starlight into the Human Sovereign Banner and used Earthquake Technique to destroy the settlement and bury the Skrull remains.
• Australia’s press secretary Fred announced that the earthquake had ended, then awkwardly wished Little Japan well amid its disasters.
• Tony Stark reported that the Red Order had eliminated around three hundred and fifty thousand Skrulls, while Baron Strucker proposed a pursuit force for those who escaped detection.
• Li Richard dismissed the need for a pursuit force, and White Queen sent a list of hundreds of escaped Skrulls.
• White Queen showed Tony a woman from the list, and Jarvis identified her as Greta Whittaker, the cybersecurity director at the Britain Government Affairs Headquarters.

Richard explained that he had uncovered the Skrulls with his own abilities and wanted Tony and Strucker to help manage Earth while he was away. Three days later, he gathered Kamar-Taj sorcerers and Red Order allies on Valhalla Isle and offered the sorcerers a contract granting access to his mana in exchange for their souls after death.

• Jarvis confirmed that Greta Whittaker was not a Skrull, and Tony realized the Skrulls had a super intelligence.
• Richard said he had found the hidden Skrulls himself and planned to use the million exiles for a field exercise to prepare his team for future threats.
• Richard assigned Nick Fury a role backed by the Red Order and ordered Captain Marvel’s corpse sent to the United States government.
• Three days later, Kamar-Taj’s sanctuaries gained portal halls, and Richard gathered sorcerers and Red Order members on Valhalla Isle.
• Richard offered the Kamar-Taj sorcerers a contract for his mana in exchange for their souls after death, and told Mordo he would handle any dispute with the Vishanti.

Richard rewarded the Crimson Believers after their Skrull eradication operation, strengthening Kaecilius and Clea with Crimson Mana Essence. He then asked Mage Marcus about Asgard, prompting Marcus to suspect Richard was targeting Asgardian Valhalla, while Odin sensed an ominous premonition.

• Mordo accepted a contract scroll for the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, while Clint Barton and Bruce Banner declined to join the Red Order because of their partners.
• Richard praised the Crimson Believers, and their names were engraved on the Giant Wall of Valhalla as they swore loyalty to him.
• Richard's Crimson Mana Essence strengthened Kaecilius, while Clea discovered that it increased the intensity of her energy.
• Richard met Mage Marcus in Golden Ape Valley and asked whether he knew Asgard's coordinates.
• Mage Marcus realized Richard might be eyeing Asgardian Valhalla, and Odin felt an ominous premonition while with Frigga.

Marcus returned to the Midnight Carnival on Gading Island and reunited with Kiri, the woman he had left behind. After Kiri welcomed him with a passionate kiss, she gave the bar patrons free Thunder Ale and dragged him upstairs to catch up.

• Old Jack bought the Midnight Carnival patrons Thunder Ale and tried to invite Kiri to dinner, but she reminded him that his wife Hannah would object.
• Sharol told Kiri that Old Jack was not worth her devotion, and Kiri watched the entrance, longing for someone.
• Marcus and Richard entered the bar, and Sharol and Kiri recognized Marcus.
• Kiri rushed into Marcus's arms, scolded him for leaving, and kissed him while Richard urged them to take their reunion upstairs.
• Kiri offered every table a free barrel of Thunder Ale and pulled Marcus up to the second floor.