Link sat on the Throne, quietly "admiring" the masterpiece he had created.
The universe was at peace, and all life flourished. Every living being wore a smile of happiness and contentment.
Wasn't this the perfect universe?
Yet he soon discovered that things were not as simple as he had imagined.
Through the Soul Stone, he could clearly sense that, despite the abundance of material wealth and the disappearance of war and disaster, the flaws rooted deep in the souls of intelligent beings had not been eradicated.
On a newly reborn planet, one farmer felt a faint but unmistakable flicker of jealousy because his neighbor's fruit tree had borne one more fruit than his own.
In a highly developed commercial sector of the Interstellar Alliance, a merchant saw that his competitor had created a more popular product. Though he offered his congratulations aloud, deep in his soul he felt a flash of greed and wanted to claim the other man's work as his own.
Even on Earth, in an ordinary office, an employee criticized by his supervisor felt a spark of hatred and imagined beating him senseless.
Without the pressure of survival or the means to act, most of these negative thoughts would never become evil deeds. But to Link, their very existence was a stain on his "perfect universe."
They were tiny black specks on a pristine canvas. Easy to overlook, yet they spoiled the harmony of the whole.
As long as free will existed, the seeds of evil would never die out.
Simply meeting material needs treated the symptoms, not the cause.
To create a truly "perfect" paradise, he had to pull those weeds out by the roots.
Resolve flashed in Link's eyes.
He was not Thanos. He would not solve the problem through brutal slaughter. He would use