Over a hundred million people dead. Entire towns and cities sughtered. Because of Hitler's greater efficiency, more resources had to be put into stopping the war in Europe. The Japanese went unchecked for a longer time, and the result was greater devastation. Death and destruction everywhere.
But the war was over. Helvar had forced it to end, no matter what any side had to say. And his decration banning all future wars without permission was just the dangling hammer world leaders needed over their heads to get their things in order.
The USSR couldn’t threaten to annex any nds more than what it already had. Old colonies were being given freedom left and right, fearing Helvar's fury. Humanitarian work started at a global scale, and food and medicine repced the ammunition that the ships carried not long ago.
In the midst of that, Helvar returned home.
He'd barely slept over the past few months, having spent all his time awake ending any conflict that dared arise. And when he returned, he still had no pns of resting.
"Mother." Helvar found He quickly, busy teaching his sister something. "I want to go and find dad."
"He won't be found unless he wants to be found."
Helvar annoyedly stared at his mother, not even looking bothered. "But… someone has to go find him."
"You haven't even found yourself, Helvar. How will you find your father?"
"What does that even mean?" Helvar frowned. "Don't you love him? At all? Aren't you worried for him? That giant thing was an Aspirant. Father can't fight it."
“He can.” He finally looked at Helvar. “Marshall will return when he is ready. There is nothing you can do to seek him or pull him back. And love… I cherish him. He is the first man to ever earn my favor, and that should be enough to tell you who he is. Believe me, Helvar. He is the strongest being out there, and deeply wounded all the same. Trust your father. Now go to the vault and bring his sword. I will train you.”
Helvar didn't move for some time, staring at his mother. He dearly loved them both, his mother and father, and he wanted to do something for them. But having decided not to be a brat, he agreed and went to fetch the sword.
Finally feeling tired, he went down the stairs of the temple. And it really went deep, more than one would imagine. The tens of thousands of years' worth of treasures were stored there, all intact, never before used. Dinosia was rich beyond imagination.
Where's the sword?
He checked a few levels before arriving at the bottom one that had a door. Without much thought, he unlocked the weird lock and kicked it open. Thanks to his dad, he'd received eyes that could see at night and…
"What the—"
"Oh! My hero! You have saved me!"
Helvar frowned, finding a completely naked, tall, red-skinned woman with horns on her head and dark wings on her back. She was… gorgeous, he thought.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Oh, I knew you would save me, First Man! Oh, my fated hero!"
Helvar received the woman in his arms as she threw herself on him. He felt electrified by how soft and warm her flesh was.
"I ain't the First Man. I'm his son, Helvar."
"..."
"Oh, my hero Helvar! I'm Mephista."
Wheels turned in Helvar's head, and he said the word that rhymed with that name. "Me…phisto?"
"I'm his daughter. I adore First Man's work. The way he has turned my father more insane, how lovely!"
With a sneer, Helvar pushed the woman away and headed to the door.
"Makes sense why you were locked in here. I'd better take a bath, dammit."
"Wait! Wait, wait! I'm a friend!"
"Cssic demon talk. I ain't falling for that, bitch."
"Woof! I can do that, but that doesn't make me a bitch. I'm a demoness."
"Huh?"
Helvar turned back, confused and weirded out by what she had said, and yet… aroused?
"How long have you been here? Locked?" he asked.
"Oh, I stopped counting after a year."
"..."
Who the fuck locked her in here?
"I guess… Follow me."
"Oh, my savior!"
Fuck, this whole country attracts weirdos, only weirdos!
####
Asgard,
"No bullshit, give me the answer. Where do I find the Celestials? Who can resurrect Marty?"
Odin looked at his fiend standing before his throne, emanating an air of threat he hadn't felt in years. Before, he was doubtful that he'd win. Now, he knew he couldn't win against Marshall, not without losing everything else in the process. Not that he wanted to fight.
“Even my remaining eye cannot find them, my friend. The Celestials are not sought. They choose when to appear,” Odin said. Seeing Marshall’s temper rise, he continued more gently. “Still, I have known some to visit Zeus’ court for sport. As for who might restore that gentle soul of Marty, such power lies with the Abstracts and the highest cosmic forces. Death, Infinity, Eternity. Perhaps Gactus, the Phoenix Force, or the Celestials themselves. One of the Elders may manage it as well. And yes, darker hands like Dormammu or Mephisto.”
Odin hid nothing. He could see the mental state Marshall was in. Eyes red, body teeming with untamed power he couldn't understand the source of. He knew Marshall had lost a lifelong friend, and he had no intention of belittling that loss.
Just like that, Marshall nodded to him and proceeded to leave.
"My friend, He—"
Before Odin could finish, he saw Marshall snap back a look and speak.
"Tell He I'll come home with Marty back and I've ripped every Celestial's heart out through their goddamn throats. The bastards set it all up, Odin. They let Marty die to break me. I'm done being broken. You tell her that."
Snap!
In a blue portal, Marshall disappeared.
Odin felt the cosmic power in that blue portal. A power so primordial yet hard to forget.
"My old friend… may the odds be in your favor."
There was nothing Odin could do to stop Marshall. Still, he chose to speak with He personally and tell her what happened.
####
Olympus, Omnipotence City,
The Parliament was in session, all the gods were in their seats, and Zeus was just done making his spectacle before taking his high seat, surrounded by women.
And right then, in the rge open arena, a beam of rainbow light fell. At first, Zeus got excited that, finally, Odin decided to visit his parliament. But his excitement turned to rage as the red-eyed figure of Marshall appeared.
"You!" Zeus roared. "You are not welcome here!"
He threw his thunderbolt at Marshall. But Marshall grabbed it and threw it back at him, now mixed with a strange blue energy and Cosmic Fmes.
"Aaaargh!" Zeus groaned; his own lightning bolt pierced him in the shoulder, pinning him against the backrest of his throne. "Ugh… that one hurt!"
"You know you can't kill me, so stop fucking around. Tell me, where do I find Celestials, or Infinity, Eternity, Gactus, the Phoenix Force… Or Elders, or Dormammu, or Mephisto."
Zeus frowned. Those were the names even he didn't take so lightly. "What? Who do you think I am, their sve? Leave be—"
Before Zeus could finish, he found Marshall teleported right to his face. And before he could speak again, he heard a recognizable voice in his mind, one belonging to his one-eyed white-bearded rival.
Give him what he seeks, Zeus. He has lost someone dear to the schemes of Celestials.
Zeus stared at Marshall's deadpan face and felt the threatening power crackling invisibly.
He? Zeus asked.
No, his old friend. The dinosaur called Marty.
Even Zeus knew of the lizard-like friend of Marshall. He'd observed Earth for eons, and Marshall was always accompanied by that creature. Even before the rise of his pantheon on Earth, the two were there.
"Celestials have all vanished. They often visited this realm, yet not now. Infinity and Eternity remain beyond my sight; their domain is the vast multiverse, and even I could never reach them unless they wish to be reached. Gactus still wanders, devouring worlds as he goes. The Phoenix Force has not been seen since Firehair passed."
Zeus saw a shiver in Marshall's eyes at the mention of that name.
"Dormammu and Mephisto dwell in realms far from ours. You’d do well to ask your sorcerers about them. As for the Elders, I can share what I know. The Collector resides in Knowhere, the severed head of a Celestial. The Grandmaster holds sway over Sakaar. The Gardener wanders, bringing life and green to dead worlds. The Runner roams the cosmos freely. The Champion hunts worthy foes. Ease your guard. I will tell you their st known whereabouts."
Zeus didn't do more than what he said. And just like that, Marshall disappeared.
####
The Elders weren’t so lucky. They didn't have the boon of Marshall's patience, as they had never met each other. Nor did the Elders know anything about Marshall. Hence, hostility arose at first sight.
Attacks were exchanged in a second. But in front of the power of the tesseract and Aspirant's energy, what could stand?
The first to fall was the Collector, yet he didn't die soon enough. His mind got ravaged by Marshall, studying every inch of it, every possible memory in the most violent means possible.
The Collector died in agony.
"This pce is now mine," Marshall decred to the woman who assisted the Collector. "You will run this. You mess it up, you die."
Then the Gardener died in his own garden. But not before receiving the Collector treatment, with eyes rolling into the head, the brain wiped clean, all memories sucked out. Then fell the Runner, and then the Champion who sought Marshall after the Runner had sent out a word.
Finally, Marshall arrived at Sakaar and struck the tallest building there.
The trash pnet was a joke to him, and since it was artificial, he felt no worry destroying it. Since Zeus had also shown him what Sakaar looked like, Marshall just flew through every floor, building after building, ruining the pnet before he finally found the man.
Tall man, taller than him, hair white, eyes blue, and clearly not a human yet human-shaped. Marshall's hand gripped the tall creature's fragile throat right away, lifting him in the air.
"Where do I find the Celestials? Can you revive the dead?"
"Celestials? Who… Yes! Yes, I can revive! You're the one hunting us, aren't you? Why? We don't even know you."
Marshall gripped harder. "Revive Marty."
"Who’s that?" asked the Grandmaster. "Wait, wait, you'll snap my neck. Show me, I need to know the being I'm to resurrect."
Marshall clenched even harder, leaving the creature on the verge of dying. In that weakness, he drove into the mind and pnted the idea of Marty. Every detail about him.
"Ah! It's a… pe… a friend? I can do it, I'll do it."
The Grandmaster closed his eyes to focus. But then veins popped on his head, sweat covering his scalp. He tried to gulp, but the grip was too tight. He opened his eyes again, horrified.
"I can… resurrect dead, no matter how badly damaged or dispersed, but… I cannot feel this friend of yours. It's as if… he never existed. This Marty… he wasn't killed… he was erased."
Marshall's eyes turned colder, his hatred for the Celestials increasing. "Where do I find Gactus?"
"Ga—Gactus? No matter how strong you are, you ca—"
"I'll see for myself."
Marshall did what he did to the Collector and the rest. He mind-fucked the Grandmaster, ripping apart every memory with the intensity that would kill, and even if he survived, he'd be a living dead body.
But Marshall didn't leave bodies like that. He took all the memories, overloading his own mind, turning himself even more insane. Elders were ancient beings with too much in their brains. Marshall stored all of it, trying to make sense of it all.
"Found him."
No longer needing the Grandmaster, he burned him in Cosmic Fmes. He didn't care about the trash pnet and vanished.
####
Taa II,
The Silver Surfer had fallen defending the worldship. Now, Shal-Bal found herself held by the throat, lifted in the air as the human flew through the worldship, getting closer to Gactus. She tried all her powers on him, yet nothing worked.
Brute force didn't even wound him. She tried to reason, ask what he wanted, and all he demanded was to see Gactus.
And before long, they arrived inside the rge chamber where Gactus rested on his gigantic throne. The rge yellow eyes moved, as did the head. The devourer of worlds woke up, yet he did nothing.
"He…" She tried to expin, but the human's chokehold shut her up.
"Shhhh. Pretty privilege has kept you alive until now. From here, shut the fuck up like a good little bitch."
Shal-Bal found herself flying, thrown away to the ground like discarded filth. She thought of attacking, but a sudden pressure kept her still. She looked at Gactus; it was his will.
"Two things," the human said. "Where do I find the Celestials? Can you resurrect Marty?"
"Cosmic energy, an Infinity Stone. Peculiar." Gactus' booming voice rumbled. "Phoenix Force as well. What an enigma you are, human. Ideal vessel. Fwless potential. Serve as my Herald, and I'll grant your deepest wish."
"Sure, you got yourself a deal. Bring back Marty first."
That easy? Shal-Bal frowned. She'd never seen Gactus appear so active and interested before. Even less so entertaining someone who invaded the ship and brought destruction. Yet, she saw the signs; the human wasn't as powerful. She felt Gactus invade the human's mind, evident by the frown he showed.
"A harmless being. A pet. A companion. I understand the want and the cause of it. But I cannot restore what was lost. The force that ended it is older than me and my universe. Only one born of the First Cosmos holds that power."
For a long time, there was silence. Yet, the smile on Gactus' face widened.
“You would challenge me? Then so be it. I will grant you this trial. Your potential reaches beyond what this universe expects. Such a being… You intrigue me, human.”
Shal-Bal frowned, staring at the exchange. But it wasn't her pce to meddle. She watched as the human rose in the air and shot an energy wave out of his hands. It was dark blue, something that reminded her of Gactus's own powers. But then that blue energy combined with a red one, and another light blue one.
The pure energy projection aimed to strike Gactus in the face. But in the end, Gactus responded with a pure red bst of energy from his eyes. That red energy completely overpowered the human, dispersing the attack and killing the human. Not a speck of dust remained.
That was it? Shal-Bal was expecting more.
Pop!
There was more. Gactus was looking at where the human had disappeared, and sure enough, the human reappeared. The human shot the same beam again, but this time it had the same red energy that Gactus had used.
This time, Gactus's energy didn't stand a chance. In a tug-of-war that sted moments, the human struck Gactus in the face, blinding him. Yet, Gactus only smiled and, with just his will, restructured the human's molecules so he'd die and vanish.
Pop!
Yet, the human returned.
Gactus ughed, "Your quest against Celestials will be… fruitful."
Shal-Bal frowned and stepped backwards. The humongous being, Gactus, moved his mighty arms. She couldn't remember the st time she saw him move for anything beyond devouring worlds.
Boom!
The two hands spped together, the human between them. She couldn't even see the spsh of blood. The human was crushed and just disappeared from the heat generated by the friction. The cp echoed across the worldship.
"Shal-Bal."
She became alert and looked up.
"You will be his Herald now."
She scowled. But then the human returned, and this time, he got his head exploded by Gactus' mental probe.
"Master, what—"
Once again, the human reappeared. This time, things were different. The human flew fast and… tore through Gactus' chest like it was nothing. He generated a beam of energy so powerful that Gactus' arm vanished.
"I was destined to give back to the universe more than I have taken," Gactus spoke, pride in his usually emotionless voice. "I give this universe… you, a being of endless ascent, the Devourer of All."
And then, Gactus' humongous head exploded, overloaded by the ravaging speed at which Marshall read everything and consumed. Everything was absorbed, even Gactus' entire body, for it was simply energy.
After all, absorbing energy was just one of many aspects of his body, and now the human's.
Shal-Bal stared at the human. Was he a human? She could feel the connection, the same as with Gactus. She could feel his presence; wherever he would go, she would.
"M-Master?"
She gulped when the human looked towards her. Since the man had appeared, he had remained deadpanned, even furious. Yet now he was smiling. His eyes revealed comfort, peace, calm, and emotions that felt… loathing? But it wasn't directed outwards.
"Go home, you've suffered enough."
She watches the human vanish, appearing less violent than before. Still, she could feel that connection, somewhere out there in the universe. She gulped, unable to understand what had just happened.
####
Marshall stopped his search for Celestials, Death, and Phoenix Force.
Gactus had given him what he needed, an actual path to chase. The only way to bring back Marty was to grow even more powerful. Gactus's power alone wasn't enough to force the Aspirant to use its full power.
Even though he had severed all of that Aspirant's limbs, it wasn't enough. It was called Celestial Destructor for a reason. So, Marshall started to target beings whose death would benefit the universe.
"Dormammu!" Marshall appeared in the Dark Dimension. "Can you kill me?"
"..."
Dormammu's body once had a humanoid shape, but when he gained complete supremacy over the Dark Dimension, he returned to his true form, wreathed in fmes. He gazed at the tiny human, yet he felt threatened.
Spsh!
Of course, Marshall lost. If the battle had taken pce outside the Dark Dimension, he'd have won. But inside the Dark Dimension, Dormammu was supreme. With dark, fming spikes, Marshall's body was pierced.
Pop!
But then he returned, and those bck spikes no longer affected him. He was able to control them even as they were made of Energy. Marshall also started to absorb it, something that didn't go unnoticed by Dormammu.
Snap!
Of course, Dormammu could warp reality. Marshall got erased from existence. But then he appeared.
"How?" Dormammu's confused, nightmarish voice rang.
Marshall just smirked and continued to absorb the energy, turning it into a battle of who could hold more energy. Dormammu used many other types of attacks, but none of them killed Marshall.
"What are you?"
Marshall didn't answer; he didn't care. His sole focus was on feeding on energy so he could be at his full power.
"Leave this realm!"
Marshall could hear the fear. He felt psychic attacks coming from the dark creature, but they couldn't penetrate his mind. And after one point, Marshall simply started to absorb Dormammu. Gactus was a universal force of nature, bance, and destruction. Dormammu was just a powerful sorcerer king.
Since Dormammu couldn't kill him, and he couldn't kill Dormammu using physical, energy, or mystical attacks, he decided to just consume it all. And the more energy Marshall absorbed, the stronger he became; that was just Gactus' body.
"Seize this! What do you want?"
Marshall didn't do that. He absorbed, faster each moment, and eventually, he stripped Dormammu bare. Any other being, even Gactus himself, wouldn't have been able to do this in the Dark Dimension because Dormammu would have stopped him.
But Marshall was endless. He couldn't be killed, even though it may seem he was killed. Killing him literally made him stronger; killing him was counterintuitive for his enemies. If his strange ability even made the Celestial Destructor careful, what was Dormammu?
Yet there was more.
Marshall could feel how different he was now. Ideas came to him with ease, and he knew Dormammu could easily escape. So, he ejected much of the energy he had control over and started to imprison the dark creature, shrouding the scope of what he was absorbing with what he already controlled, creating a sort of cocoon.
And slowly, he shrank that prison down.
Dormammu became a violent mess at that point, using everything he knew to attack Marshall. But against the body of a Cosmic Constant, the sorcerer couldn't do much. Not after having killed him once before.
"This is not the end!"
"It is," Marshall muttered. "After this, I’ll hunt your twin sister. She'll suffer the same fate. I will find the rest soon. Eternity, Infinity, whatever it takes to bring Marty back."
"To resurrect? I can resurrect beings."
Marshall shook his head. "I wish."
Smaller, stronger, his cage around Dormammu left no escape, and eventually, like a reverse big bang, the dark creature stopped existing, all consumed by Marshall as he was a being of pure magical energy.
Alone in that endless dimension, Marshall sighed. He had no desire to rule it. Soon, someone else would, he guessed.
"Where to next?"
With another destination in mind, he prepared to teleport.
"Huh?"
But before he could initiate it, a different, golden, warm energy covered his body. He felt a pull, simir to teleportation, but this one was more. This felt absolute, like nothing in the universe could go against this energy. Like this was the w of existence itself.
####
"In the name of The One Above All… let the trial begin."
Huh?
Marshall looked around, finding himself hovering in the middle of nowhere, a gigantic white void. Before him was a tall golden creature with three heads, one covered whole, one with only its eyes covered, and one fully uncovered. It sat on a throne.
Further, he saw beings all around him. He didn't recognise any of them, but he could feel the power flowing through them. Through those energies, he recognised them thanks to Gactus' memories.
All in one damn pce!
He saw Death, Eternity, Infinity, Lord Chaos, Master Order, Oblivion, Watchers, and more.
But beyond all of them, Marshall's eyes froze on a single mighty figure. Hatred consumed him in that moment, but he couldn't move his body. No, he could only move it at the same spot.
"Fucking Celestial! I’ll sughter your kind!"
"First Man of Earth."
Marshall looked up at the talking golden statue. He knew who it was since Gactus knew.
“You have sin those required to hold this universe together. Your actions have shaken the Seventh Cosmos. The deaths of the Elders might have been endured, but the murder of Gactus cannot be. He is a constant. Without him, colpse follows. And then you took Dormammu, leaving a void that must be filled before it swallows the rest."
"I was pnning to kill the rest of you bastards too," Marshall snarled, eyeing the whole court. "What’re you gonna do? Kill me? Come on. Try."
The Living Tribunal's head turned, and the fully covered face spoke then.
“Any other universe would have broken under your presence alone. You stand outside the ws that bind this universe, yet you are woven into its foundation. Without you, everything falls apart. With you…"
"I'll kill them all?" Marshall finished the words.
"That is why, where equity helps none, and vengeance has no reason, necessity must follow. I will bring your friend back. But you must end this sughter."
"You can bring back Marty?" Marshall was fully alert.
"Not I, but you will." Living Tribunal decred, and with a snap, the severed, still alive head of Celestial Destructor appeared in the court.
"You! You will not meddle in this. Do not force First Firmament to appear, Living Tribunal!" Celestial Destructor roared.
"I will not end you. There is no purpose in it. Instead, you will end the life of the First Man."
"The very thing I have avoided? I shall no—"
The Living Tribunal was multiversal, but the First Firmament predated the first Multiverse. The Living Tribunal was no match against the First Firmament. But against a single Aspirant? That was a mere toy.
The Living Tribunal's will was final. The golden staff moved, and the Aspirant's severed head moved, its jaws opened, and Marshall's body, without him doing anything, vanished in that fming red mouth.
That whole time, Marshall prayed, hoped, and thought of bringing Marty back to life. The insane voices in his head that usually told him to kill, fuck, ruin it all, or kill himself had vanished. Insanity made space for sanity.
That was the only thought in his mind. The face, the body, the personality, the soul itself. He wanted Marty, not a look-alike. He wanted total resurrection.
Pop!
He knew he had died. He didn't know what power it was he died to.
"Hm?"
He reappeared, but it was no longer the white void of the Living Tribunal's court. No, it was just a deep, dark space in the middle of nowhere. He could see distant gaxies and stars.
And he felt something more, a soft weight on his right shoulder. With a gulp, he looked, enshrouding his entire body and the space around it in an energy circle to make it safe.
"Grrruff?"
Marshall gulped. "M-Marty?"
"Wra-ghh~"
He recognised the eyes, the wisdom in them. He recognised the teeth. He recognised the pattern. Only the size was different, a baby T-Rex. But everything else was…
"Wrrrrrrrr!"
Loud, excited noise erupted, and the little baby T-Rex rubbed his head all over Marshall's bearded face.
For a very long time, Marshall just stood frozen, eyes moist, a lot of tension and sadness leaving his body. Then he grabbed the little boy and hugged him against his chest.
"Grawl! Gahhhh!”
Chomp!
He hugged the life out of him and didn’t stop until the little guy bit him.
Marty whined because he was no different from Marshall. Death was real to both of them, and he didn't want to experience it again. He didn’t want to lose Marshall either.
"Fuck… Better not cry… We still got those bastard Celestials to kill."
"Hrrufff?"
"I'm good, Marty. All's good… everything fucking thing."
The little T-Rex nodded his head and snuggled in the arms, taking advantage of the smaller size. This was something Marshall had never done before when Marty was small. Back then, he didn't know how important Marty would become to him. He didn't know how special he'd become.
But this time, he knew it all. He removed his fur cape and made a pouch out of it, fastening it against his chest, pcing Marty in it. He always called Marty his boy; now was his chance to really treat him like one.
Still, he felt a bit overwhelmed. He really didn't know if he'd ever see Marty again. The relief he felt crushed him emotionally. All the memories repyed in his head, all the millions of years of fun, joy, ughter, and adventure. And he’d almost lost it all.
"Ain't no Marshall without Marty… We're back, buddy. Let's g—"
Pang!
Out of nowhere, something crashed into them. Marshall fumed, his moment ruined. He felt like a bird on a moving car's windscreen. And sure enough, it was a damn spaceship. He looked through the viewport.
Inside the ship's cockpit was a lone alien woman, staring back at him in confusion and fear.
"Green chick?" Marshall stared, mesmerized by the alien beauty. He hadn't bothered to travel to space yet, so he focused on bringing Marty back.
And sure enough, Marty was back.
"Grawr!"
"Huh? The fuck you mean, horny bastard? I didn't even think of undressing her… yet. And you're the one who fucked a house, not me."
"Gah-gruf!"
"That's not how it works. It doesn't just reset because you died once. Didn't Jesus go? He's still remembered for what he did. And you fucked a house in Egypt."
Marty rolled his eyes and looked inside the ship.
"Rawr?"
"Sounds like a pn. Let's see what alien food tastes like."
"Huff-Krrr."
"..."
Marshall shook his head.
"No, I didn't forget to mention tasting her. Believe it or not, I ain't fucked up in the head anymore, Marty… not that much. No! You better not roll those little eyes! You… fuck you too!"
Bam!
"..."
The woman chose to fire the ship's weapons first.
"..."
The energy bsts ricocheted from Marshall's body and tore a hole in the ship itself.
"She's… fucking dumb!"
To that observation, even Marty nodded, both ignoring the fact that it was a completely normal reaction to a weird space-human alive in the vacuum of space. And a baby lizard, of course. And energy bolts weren’t supposed to ricochet.
They awkwardly watched the green woman frantically put on a spacesuit.
ADVANCE CHAPTERS and Marshall X Gamora NSFW ART now up on and SUBSTAR?

