Chapter Summaries

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.

Lucian defeated Shou-Lao and examined the Dragonheart Crucible, discovering that it bound the dragon’s heart to K'un-Lun’s dragon vein. He absorbed the crucible’s essence and learned its advanced Chi circulation method, then set his sights on the greater secrets of Great Luo Heaven.

• Lucian reached the Dragonheart Crucible after killing Shou-Lao and deduced how the furnace and K'un-Lun’s dragon vein sustained the Divine Dragon’s immortality.
• Lei Kung felt Shou-Lao’s fall and ordered thousands of warrior monks to channel their Internal Qi into the earth veins to speed his reconstruction.
• Lucian ignored the monks’ ritual and plunged both hands into the crucible, absorbing its molten essence without suffering pain.
• The Divine Dragon essence guided Lucian’s nascent Chi through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians, greatly strengthening it and revealing the crucible’s core circulation method.
• Lucian resolved to seek advanced techniques from Great Luo Heaven and use them to develop a method capable of helping his friends and family break through their limits.

Lucian replenished Shou-Lao’s Dragonheart Crucible after taking its Essence, allowing the Divine Dragon to resurrect, and refused the Iron Fist title. He left K'un-Lun after promising to eliminate The Hand, while Madame Gao and the other leaders discussed obtaining Vought’s serum before a sudden omen unsettled her.

• Lucian fed his vital blood and dark-gold Internal Qi into the Dragonheart Crucible, restoring Shou-Lao’s heart and helping it recover.
• Shou-Lao resurrected, bowed to Lucian, and offered him the Iron Fist title, but Lucian refused and promised to deal with The Hand in New York.
• Lucian left K'un-Lun through a spatial rift as Lei Kung ordered the warrior monks to keep the day’s events secret.
• Madame Gao, Bakuto, Alexander, and the other Hand leaders discussed stealing Vought International’s serum formula as a replacement for Dragon Bone.
• Madame Gao’s cane snapped without warning, sending a chill through her as she prepared to respond.