Before the universe could come crashing down, Franklin raised a hand and froze it in midair. He had had many questions when First Firmament had spoken with Deathstroke earlier, but he had kept them to himself.
Now that things seemed to be over, he looked at Deathstroke with questioning eyes.
Su Ming looked at him, then at the idle Squirrel Girl, removed his mask, and wiped his face.
"It looks like First Firmament intends to return. Heh, he certainly has character. As the Cosmic Consciousness born at the origin, he really is self-centered."
"I cannot understand how he interacted with us from the past, especially this." Little Rich raised his hand, and the enormous Single Universe bobbed in the darkness with his movement. "Also, the Shadow King he gave us—is that the one from the past, or the one from today?"
"There is no past one or present one." Su Ming tapped his ear and called for the Adjutant to teleport them away. "I considered that question before, but hasn't it been proven now? There is only one Shadow King, only one Firmament, and only one Marvel Universe."
"So Seventh Firmament and First Firmament were actually both him? And the Shadow King in the shadows had always existed?" Little Rich seemed to understand.
"We entered the Shadow of the Firmament to look for the Shadow King in the first place. The First Firmament we saw here might even have been a dream of Seventh Firmament, a subconscious projection."
As the teleportation activated, Su Ming continued speaking. By the time they returned before Seventh Firmament, he was still talking.
"But what truly exists and what is illusory does not matter to Firmament. Its existence is more idealistic, because it is there, and we have always lived inside Firmament."
Franklin nodded. He