Recaps

Odin showed Lucian the powerful relics in Asgard’s treasury while Lucian’s system hungered for each one. When Lucian looked toward the mist-filled doorway to the next level, the system reacted with far greater hunger than before.

• Lucian noticed the Destroyer Armor and the treasures displayed in the treasury’s middle-level hall.
• Odin identified the Eternal Flame and explained that he had taken it from Surtur to prevent Ragnarok.
• Odin showed Lucian the Casket of Ancient Winters and the Thousand-Day Gem, describing their destructive cold and vast stored energy.
• Odin passed the Fake Infinity Gauntlet and explained the Vanir Nature Staff’s powers over life and healing.
• Odin identified the Dark Energy Core taken from a Dark Elf flagship, and Lucian realized his system coveted several treasures.
• Lucian looked toward the doorway to the treasury’s next level, triggering a surge of hunger from the system more than ten times stronger than before.

Lucian discovered that the strange light sealed beneath Odin's Vault was a seed of the World Tree, created during the tree's first era. Odin explained that it could sprout into a smaller World Tree if it found a suitable world or high-energy environment.

• Lucian sensed an immense power beyond the gray-mist portal, and Odin recognized his interest in the vault's hidden treasure.
• Odin led Lucian through the portal into a bare stone room containing a wooden chest and a faintly glowing object.
• When Lucian looked at the light, he saw a vision of Eternity giving the Heart of the World to Bor, who used it to create the World Tree and establish the Nine Realms.
• Odin revealed that the object was the World Tree's naturally formed Seed of Life and said it could grow into a smaller World Tree in a suitable environment.

Odin gave Lucian a World Tree seed and asked him to save Hela after Odin's death, revealing that he had sealed his firstborn daughter in Helheim and erased her from Asgard's history. Lucian accepted the seed and promised to help Hela, leaving Odin's final request in his hands.

• Lucian recognized that the World Tree seed could help him claim the Boys Universe and resolved to obtain it.
• Odin explained that he foresaw Ragnarok and Asgard's destruction but could not see exactly how they would unfold.
• Odin told Lucian that Hela was his eldest daughter, whom he had sealed in Helheim after her rebellion and erased from Asgard's records.
• Odin said his death would break Hela's seal and asked Lucian to prevent her from dying with Asgard in Ragnarok.
• Lucian accepted the World Tree seed and promised Odin that he would help Hela.

Odin warned Lucian about the dangers of planting the World Tree Seed and using the Infinity Stones, then explained how Lucian might gain control over worlds the seed created. After leaving the treasury, Lucian agreed to let his system absorb the seed’s essence in exchange for helping him claim full control of the newborn World Tree and its dimensions.

• Odin told Lucian never to plant the World Tree Seed in Midgard because its roots could rupture the dimensional barrier and let demon gods enter.
• Odin explained that worlds grown from the seed would be ownerless unless Lucian imprinted his will into the seed before it sprouted and later refined it.
• Odin warned Lucian that powerful beings were watching the Infinity Stones and that using several at once could cause a dangerous backlash.
• Lucian left the treasury with the seed, and his system offered to erase its original imprint and give him complete control over the World Tree and its derivative dimensions if it absorbed the seed’s essence.
• Lucian agreed to let the system absorb the seed once they returned to Earth, provided it gave him something worthwhile in return.

Lucian finished his visit to Asgard, collected gifts from Frigga, and returned to Midgard through the Bifrost. He left with Heimdall’s promise to watch over Earth, but Frigga’s plans to arrange matchmaking dates for him across pantheons followed him home.

• Lucian joined Thor, Volstagg, Sif, Fandral, and Hogun for a drinking contest, then slept soundly in the palace guest room.
• Lucian woke refreshed, thanked the King and Queen of the Gods, and said he was returning to Midgard.
• Frigga sent Lucian twenty barrels of aged Golden Apple Mead, Starlight Silk, Uru metal, and Asgardian preserved fruit, along with a message arranging matchmaking dates with candidates from Olympus and Great Luo Heaven.
• Lucian stored the gifts in the System Space and asked Heimdall to warn him about alien threats approaching Midgard.
• Heimdall activated the Bifrost, and Lucian returned to Earth.

Lucian arrived at Camp Lehigh, where Pierce and Pietro were preparing to deal with Arnim Zola, whose consciousness lived in an underground computer system. Lucian had Jade Balance begin absorbing Zola, but the old scientist resisted with encrypted firewalls as Jade Balance prepared a physical attack.

• Lucian arrived at Camp Lehigh and was greeted by the Vought task force, Pietro, and Alexander Pierce.
• Pierce explained that Arnim Zola had uploaded his consciousness into a vast array of old computers beneath the camp.
• Lucian decided to preserve Zola and asked Jade Balance to absorb his data and accumulated experience.
• Lucian and the others entered the underground computer room, where Jade Balance connected to the central console.
• Zola appeared on the monitor and refused to surrender his permissions or database, while Pierce denounced him as an obstacle to Hydra’s new order.
• Jade Balance began its intrusion, but Zola’s hardware-bound consciousness resisted with encrypted firewalls, prompting Jade Balance to initiate a physical dimensional-reduction strike.

Lucian and Jade Balance destroyed Arnim Zola’s physical servers while preserving his core data, allowing the AI to absorb his legacy. Jade Balance emerged with a new humanlike avatar and a more playful personality, then withdrew into Lucian’s watch to digest the data.

• Jade Balance directed the task force to shoot specific server cabinets while pinpointing Zola’s attempts to move and escape with his data.
• Pietro disconnected the cables in section C at Jade Balance’s instruction, cutting off Zola’s transfer route.
• The task force destroyed more cabinets, and Jade Balance absorbed Zola’s remaining data, ending his consciousness.
• Jade Balance appeared on the monitor as a white-haired, red-eyed girl and told Lucian she needed time to process Zola’s memories.
• Jade Balance teased Lucian about her appearance, then returned to the USB drive as it transformed into a watch on his wrist.

Lucian ordered Pierce to dismantle Hydra, arranged for Wakanda to make Vibranium armor for Vought, and returned to Kamar-Taj to contain the Reality Stone and feed the World Tree Spark to his system. The Spark’s absorption triggered a massive surge of dimensional laws and life essence through his mind and body.

• Lucian ordered Pierce to destroy the server room’s remaining files and use Zola’s database to locate Hydra’s sleeper bases, accounts, and loyalists.
• Lucian sent Wakanda an order for standard Vibranium armor and high-spec alloy armor, and arranged for Pietro to design his own suit with Wakanda’s craftspeople.
• Lucian left the New Jersey camp through a Portal and returned to Kamar-Taj, where he contained the Aether with Telekinesis and the Space Stone.
• Lucian took out the wooden chest containing the World Tree Spark and allowed his system to absorb it.
• The World Tree Spark entered Lucian, unleashing a surge of dimensional laws, spatial pathways, and life essence through his mind and body.

Lucian absorbed the World Tree Seed’s Creation Essence, transforming his body and granting him a deeper understanding of space and dimensions. He left the System upgrading for seven days and decided to use the downtime to study what he had on hand.

• Lucian’s system began analyzing and devouring the World Tree Seed, while the Creation Essence strengthened his body and revealed how space and dimensions were formed.
• After the analysis ended, Lucian discovered his enhanced strength could distort nearby space and create powerful winds.
• Lucian used his new grasp of spatial pathways to teleport from Kathmandu to the summit of Mount Everest in a single step.
• Lucian found that the System was upgrading and would remain unavailable for seven days, though System Space still worked.
• Lucian decided to spend the downtime studying his resources and teleported away from Everest.

Lucian used the Reality Stone to test thousands of Uru-and-vibranium nanosuit designs, despite the Stone’s mental and physical corruption. The armor reverted when he cut off the Stone’s energy, but he had memorized the ideal structure.

• Lucian returned to Vought Tower and had Jade Balance analyze the Uru metal he brought from Asgard.
• Lucian summoned Helen Cho to record the nanosuit’s nanostructure data while he used the Reality Stone.
• The Reality Stone distorted Lucian’s thoughts and began turning his fingertip into a fluid, but he fought off its effects.
• Lucian repeatedly restructured Uru and vibranium with the Stone as Jade Balance and Helen Cho tested each design.
• Helen Cho identified a stable design after 2,400 simulations, but the armor reverted to its original materials when Lucian sealed the Stone.
• Lucian told Helen Cho that the Stone’s changes required continuous energy and revealed that he had memorized every tested atomic arrangement.

Lucian used Matter Transmutation to forge a powerful Uru divine armor from his coat, then learned that the Skrulls had only two hours left to meet his ultimatum. The chapter left their response to the deadline unresolved.

• Lucian transformed his vibranium-and-magic-metal coat into Uru and formed it into dark-gold armor with a red cape.
• Lucian tested the armor's energy storage and amplification, then changed it back into his black trench coat.
• Lucian planned to make Uru armor for Wanda, Simona, and the others.
• Jade Balance relayed Simona's highest-priority call about the Skrulls.
• Simona told Lucian that only two hours remained for the Skrulls to provide their infiltration list and gather at the designated location.

Lucian learned that Helen Cho and Maya had developed a stable first version of a Compound V and Extremis serum, then met with Talos to hear how the Skrulls had responded to his ultimatum. Talos was allowed to keep his people at Vought’s holding site, but Lucian made clear they could not remain on Earth.

• Helen Cho reported that the new serum reliably granted compatible recipients three LV3 abilities, and Lucian approved it as a promising mass-production product.
• Lucian told Helen Cho to release basic genetic repair through the Regeneration Cradle after the crisis and to work with Jade Balance on pricing the enhancement serum.
• Lucian teleported to Vought Tower’s top-floor office, where Simona reported that Talos had been waiting to see him.
• Talos reported that most Skrulls had registered at Vought’s holding site, while radicals who ignored his recall order remained in hiding.
• Lucian read Talos’s memories, confirmed that he had acted sincerely, and upheld his judgment for Talos and the Skrulls at the holding site.
• Lucian promised Talos the possibility of a new home beyond Earth if he continued to cooperate, and Talos pledged loyalty.

Lucian oversaw the public trial of 342 captured Skrull war criminals, while Vought revealed their infiltration and torture of humans to the world. As the enraged crowd demanded their deaths, Lucian ordered the prisoners executed.

• Lucian ordered Simona to have Fitz and Simmons complete the genetic resonance scan and refused to issue the public another ultimatum.
• Vought agents brought 342 captured Skrull radicals, stripped of their disguises and restrained, onto the tribunal platform.
• Jade Balance announced that the deadline had expired and displayed evidence linking the Skrulls to human impersonations, torture, and murders.
• The crowd erupted in rage after seeing the prisoners' crimes and victims revealed on the holographic screen.
• Lucian watched the crowd from Vought Tower and ordered the Skrulls executed.

After executing the captured Skrull Radicals, Lucian exposed the locations of 1,274 more and offered a global bounty of cash or Extremis Five serum for their capture. The hunt erupted worldwide, and Skrulls scrambled as civilians, gangs, mercenaries, and authorities converged on them.

• Vought's execution squad killed the captured Skrull war criminals with High-Energy Pulse Rifles during the public broadcast.
• Banner, Fitz, and Simmons's Gamma Gene Resonance Device identified 1,274 Skrull Radicals around the world and displayed their locations on a live map.
• Lucian announced that the red dots would remain visible and offered a dose of Extremis Five serum or ten million US dollars for each Skrull Radical delivered to Vought, dead or alive.
• Citizens in Manhattan used the map to find and attack a Skrull sanitation worker before he could draw his weapon.
• A Skrull Radical at an abandoned nuclear power plant watched military vehicles and mercenary helicopters approach and cursed Talos and Lucian.

After Jade Balance announced that Skrull-hunt rewards were divided by damage contribution and warned against attacking other humans, citizens around the world rushed into the streets to hunt aliens. Matt Murdock, worried that criminals would gain superhuman powers while he fell behind, decided to hunt Skrulls himself and leaped toward an abandoned slaughterhouse.

• In a Lower Manhattan alley, twenty-three people nearly fought over a dead Skrull until Jade Balance assigned each hunter a damage-based contribution and explained how to exchange accumulated credit for rewards.
• The hunters abandoned their dispute and rushed after more red dots, while livestreams of the reward system spread online.
• People in major cities poured into the streets and overwhelmed Skrulls who had been hiding in disguise.
• Matt Murdock listened to the chaos across Hell’s Kitchen and worried that he could no longer protect people against those who gained superhuman powers.
• Matt detected three armed individuals holding hostages in an abandoned slaughterhouse and leaped from a rooftop to confront them.

Tony Stark tested new armor technology while attacking Skrull Radicals at the Brooklyn docks. He destroyed the squad with help from an orbital platform and left the bounty for New York's orphanages.

• Tony Stark redirected himself to the Brooklyn docks after JARVIS identified twelve Skrull Radicals trying to escape by boat.
• Tony revealed that he had developed a magic-metal energy shield and used it to deflect the Skrulls' plasma barrage.
• Tony summoned Veronica, an armed orbital satellite, which struck the docks and destroyed eight Skrulls and two speedboats.
• Tony killed the four surviving Skrulls with his repulsors and ordered Vought's drones to clean up the scene.
• Tony donated the bounty to New York's orphanages in the name of Stark Industries and flew away amid the civilians' cheers.

Steve Rogers, Natasha, and Clint wiped out a Skrull Radical stronghold in Queens while the world hunted Skrulls. In the mountains of Asia, Xu Wenwu received Aldrich Killian and Trevor Slattery, the men who had used the Mandarin’s name.

• Steve Rogers activated Alliance Ring and advanced through the Skrulls’ gunfire, shielding Natasha and Clint.
• Natasha used Shadow Traversal to kill the machine gunners and attack Skrulls from the shadows.
• Clint used Weapon Enchantment to fire an explosive arrow, and the trio wiped out the stronghold within minutes.
• Xu Wenwu’s Ten Rings disciples brought Aldrich Killian and Trevor Slattery to the courtyard, where rings on Killian’s wrists suppressed his Extremis powers.
• Trevor begged Xu Wenwu for mercy and blamed Killian for the deception.

Xu Wenwu killed Killian and Trevor, reclaimed the Ten Rings, and ordered his followers to find Shang-Chi and Xialing while avoiding Lucian. In London, Kaecilius’s resentment toward the Ancient One and Lucian drove him to pursue forbidden Dark Dimension power and plan an assault on the Sanctums.

• Xu Wenwu’s One-Armed Swordsman reported that the Ten Rings had erased all traces of their operation before Iron Man arrived at the Miami estate.
• Xu Wenwu ordered the One-Armed Swordsman to kill Killian and Trevor, and the Ten Rings returned to Xu Wenwu after severing their heads.
• Xu Wenwu ordered his followers to find Shang-Chi and Xialing and warned them not to provoke Vought International or attract Lucian’s attention.
• Xu Wenwu reflected on Ying Li and vowed to enter Great Luo Heaven when the Qingming Festival opened the way there.
• Kaecilius watched Lucian’s bounty announcement in London and resented the Ancient One for naming Lucian her successor while forbidding Kaecilius from using dark power.
• Kaecilius disappeared into the fog, intending to decipher the Forbidden Books, gather dark power, and destroy the Sanctums.

Shang-Chi, hiding his identity as the Ten Rings’ young master, tried to avoid the chaos surrounding the hunt for Skrulls in San Francisco. When a Skrull took a little girl hostage, memories of his sister and mother drove him to intervene, and he threw two qi-infused plum blossom darts.

• Shang-Chi worked as a valet under the name Sean and watched news of the Extremis Five serum hunt.
• He recalled fleeing his father Xu Wenwu after his first assassination and resolved to stay out of supernatural conflicts.
• On his way home, Shang-Chi encountered two Skrull Radicals holding a little girl hostage in the street.
• The hostage-taker threatened to kill the girl and detonate his unstable energy rifle unless he was given an SUV.
• Shang-Chi remembered his sister Xialing and mother Ying Li, then hid beside a column and threw two plum blossom darts toward the Skrulls.

Shang-Chi secretly kills two Skrulls with Plum Blossom Darts, but surveillance footage exposes his martial skill and alerts the Ten Rings to his whereabouts. At Vought Tower, Lucian recognizes him and learns the darts were propelled by Chi, then realizes the significance of that power.

• Shang-Chi throws two Plum Blossom Darts from the shadows, killing the Skrulls who were threatening a little girl, and slips away unnoticed by the crowd.
• A livestream camera records Shang-Chi, while Vought’s satellite identifies the kills and offers him a reward through Jade Balance.
• A Ten Rings intelligence chief recognizes Shang-Chi in the footage and rushes to tell their lord that they have found the young master.
• Jade Balance shows Lucian the footage and satellite analysis, which reveals that Shang-Chi’s darts moved faster than sound and carried an explosive biological energy.
• Lucian identifies the energy as Chi, then abruptly pauses as he realizes what that means.

Lucian realized he could combine genetic enhancements with Chi cultivation to strengthen Vought’s forces, and rewarded Jade Balance with the Mind Stone Scepter to study. After failing to open a Portal directly to Shang-Chi, Lucian left Vought Tower.

• Lucian decided to investigate Shang-Chi’s Chi and develop a cultivation method to pair with Vought’s genetic enhancements.
• Lucian gave Jade Balance the Mind Stone Scepter and instructed her to study its gem in a shielded laboratory.
• Jade Balance arranged a laboratory and hurried off with robots to analyze the scepter.
• Lucian tried to open a Portal directly to Shang-Chi but could only reach the San Francisco shopping street he had visited before.
• Lucian considered bringing Ned in to test his Portal talent against Strange, then stepped through the Portal and left Vought Tower.

Lucian tracked Shang-Chi through San Francisco and arrived just as the Ten Rings tried to capture him. After incapacitating the assassins, Lucian examined Shang-Chi’s Chi and began to understand how it worked.

• Lucian used his mental power to locate Shang-Chi and detected more than a dozen Ten Rings assassins nearby.
• Shang-Chi tried to leave San Francisco but was cornered in a Chinatown alley by Razor Fist and the Ten Rings.
• Shang-Chi fought the assassins with his martial arts and Chi, but Razor Fist prepared to strike him down.
• Lucian imposed crushing pressure that shattered the assassins’ kneecaps while leaving Shang-Chi unharmed.
• Lucian appeared before Shang-Chi, touched his shoulder, and examined his Chi, discerning how Shang-Chi cultivated it.

Lucian copied Shang-Chi’s Chi circulation and traveled to K'un-Lun to study its martial arts and Shou-Lao’s power. After he forced his way through the dimensional barrier, Lei Kung and the martial monks surrounded him at Welcome Plaza.

• Lucian analyzed Shang-Chi’s Chi, formed a concentrated version of his own, and told Shang-Chi to claim the Extremis Five doses and deal with the Ten Rings assassins.
• Lucian used the Space Stone to force open K'un-Lun’s dimensional barrier and stepped through the rift.
• Shou-Lao sensed the breach and warned Lei Kung, who rallied the martial monks to defend Welcome Plaza.
• Lei Kung ordered three hundred martial monks to combine their Chi and encircle Lucian.
• Lucian told Lei Kung and the martial monks that he was interested in K'un-Lun’s Chi.

Lucian rejected Lei Kung’s offer to make him K'un-Lun’s disciple and overwhelmed the warrior monks with his power. After forcing Lei Kung to reveal Shou-Lao’s location, Lucian teleported away, and Lei Kung ordered the disciples to wait outside the Dragon's Cave.

• Lei Kung sensed Lucian’s Chi and offered to take him as his final disciple if he passed K'un-Lun’s test of character.
• Lucian mocked the offer and declared that no one in K'un-Lun was worthy of taking him as a disciple.
• Lucian immobilized Lei Kung and the warrior monks with his blood-and-vitality pressure and Mental Power, then demanded to know where Shou-Lao was.
• Under Lucian’s Mind Control, Lei Kung revealed that Shou-Lao was in the Dragon's Cave beneath a hundred-thousand-foot cliff outside K'un-Lun Main City.
• Lucian teleported away, and Lei Kung ordered the disciples to gather outside the Dragon's Cave without entering.

Lucian entered the cavern beneath K'un-Lun to face Shou-Lao and obtain the power guarded by the Immortal Divine Dragon. He dismissed Shou-Lao’s mental and physical trials, then killed him with a single punch, leaving the Divine Dragon’s power unclaimed.

• Lucian confronted Shou-Lao, who declared that he had to pass the dragon’s trial to obtain its power.
• Shou-Lao unleashed a psychic trial, but Lucian shattered the illusions with his mental power.
• Shou-Lao attacked with his claw, but Lucian stopped it barehanded and hurled the dragon into a rock wall.
• Shou-Lao gathered his strength and fired his Essence Life Dragon Flame at Lucian.
• Lucian’s punch extinguished the flame and struck Shou-Lao, killing the dragon.