"Child, have you truly decided to let her use this Seed of the Celestial?" Inside Tiamat's nest, she looked at Josh with doubt in her voice.
At Josh's side stood Margaret, clutching the seed nervously. Unlike Josh, who faced Tiamat with calmness born of a traveler's soul, Margaret's unease was plain.
"Yes, Mother. I think this seed is too weak. If I become only the weakest Celestial, it won't bring you much help," Josh answered firmly.
"…Child, I never expected you to bring me great help. You've already done enough. And you must understand, I cannot easily form Seeds of the Celestial. This one cost me much of my essence. To form another could take ages, and finding a world-soul strong enough to refine is no easy matter," Tiamat sighed.
She showed no anger, only regret that Josh would give up such a chance. She was not yet fully matured—unlike Arishem and the old Celestials who could create seeds with ease.
And while Margaret was also her child, a human, even the gentlest mother could not treat every child equally. To Tiamat, Josh was far more important than Margaret.
"I understand, Mother. But I can wait. I believe I have the strength to find a greater world-soul, and claim its essence," Josh said with unwavering confidence.
"…Very well. Then begin," Tiamat finally said with a sigh.
"Thank you for your understanding, Mother!" Josh bowed respectfully. Beside him, Margaret also lowered her head in reverence.
Josh then opened a portal and stepped through with Margaret, emerging onto an open plain of Fuerteventura Island. In the distance rose one of Ouroboros' headquarters, which also served as the prison for four unfortunate dimensional gods—including the Bast.
Though sealed for years and drained annually by Ouroboros to create divine warriors, these gods still lived. Dimensional gods could never truly die as long as their dimension existed—living batteries, endless.
But this time, they weren't needed.
Tiamat had said: the more energy supplied during the ascension, the better.
But Josh had something far greater than a few second-rate dimensional-gods—he had the Space Stone. It could channel the primal power of the cosmos itself, far more efficient than those "scraps."
True, Infinity Stones lost their function in other dimensions. But within the physical universe, even someone like Dormammu, ruler of a higher dimension, could not escape their effect—as Doctor Strange had shown.
Now, Josh and Margaret stood within a vast magic array. At its center rested the Space Stone, pulsing with endless light.
And beside it, guarding, was another figure.
The Earth's other wielder of an Infinity Stone—its supreme sorcerer.
The Ancient One.
Yes, Josh had once again pulled her into his plans as labor. But what choice was there? On Earth, besides his wife, the only person Josh trusted not to covet the Space Stone was the Ancient One herself.
Margaret's ascension was destined to shake the world.
After all, the birth of a Celestial—even the weakest one—was enough to crush Ouroboros and all its forces combined.
Relying only on the Kirin Tor under Ouroboros would never be enough to conceal the phenomena. Only the Ancient One's intervention could mask most of the signs.
"This time, I'll have to trouble you again, Ancient One," Josh said with an awkward smile, greeting her.
"A small effort. As long as you don't forget your promise," the Ancient One replied with her usual gentle smile.
"…Of course," Josh answered seriously.
"Then let's begin." The Ancient One nodded lightly and stepped beyond the array.
Josh turned to Margaret. She hesitated only a moment, then stepped into the center of the array, holding the Seed of the Celestial to her chest.
Seeing her ready, Josh withdrew.
Once everything was set, Josh reached out with his senses to Tiamat below the earth.
At once, golden Celestial energy surged up from the depths, flooding the array. It rose like rivers of light, wrapping Margaret in layer after layer until she was sealed in a colossal cocoon of gold.
The Space Stone, stirred by the Celestial energy, flared to life. Endless raw power poured from it, feeding the array without pause.
With that supply, the cocoon swelled larger and larger, soon breaking beyond the bounds of the array.
Josh and the Ancient One retreated quickly as it grew.
At last, the golden chrysalis expanded until it stretched hundreds of meters across and more than a thousand meters tall before stabilizing.
Josh wasn't surprised. Anyone who had seen the films knew how enormous the Celestials truly were—Arishem the Judge had made Earth itself look like no more than a toy ball in his grasp.
Tiamat had warned him as well: even a mortal body ascending to Celestial form would grow to a staggering size.
But the size wasn't fixed. Once a Celestial mastered its power, shifting between colossal and human-sized forms was simple.
Josh wasn't worried about compatibility with Margaret's future body.
And as for why Tiamat's emergence threatened to destroy Earth? It was because, before she reached full maturity, she couldn't control her own body at all.
Before their "birth," a Celestial's will and body were partly separate. Their physical form acted by instinct—draining every drop of life essence from the planet that carried them. They had no say in it.
Margaret's cocoon was acting the same way now.
As it evolved, it instinctively tried to draw in all nearby life energy.
Fortunately, the Ancient One had sealed the area with her spells, and the Space Stone kept the cocoon constantly supplied.
Without those safeguards, not just the island, but the entire living heart of Africa and Europe might have been drained dry.
But with Josh's preparation and the Ancient One's power combined, the golden cocoon continued to grow and transform without causing irreversible harm to Earth.
"Next time, if it's you ascending, you absolutely cannot do it on Earth!" The Ancient One finally stopped her spellwork, wiped the sweat from her brow, and gave Josh a sharp look once the golden cocoon stopped drawing in energy.
"I don't need you to tell me that. I have no wish to ascend here and destroy my own home," Josh muttered, gazing at the massive cocoon that pierced the sky, still shaken by what they had just endured.
He now truly understood how much Tiamat had sacrificed to make this ascension possible.
But before either could relax, a powerful ripple shook the cosmos—space and energy waves crashing down from orbit.
And the energy… it felt the same as Tiamat's, the same as Margaret's cocoon—but countless times stronger.
Josh and the Ancient One exchanged a grim look, then both turned their eyes skyward.
There, a towering crimson figure appeared, six blazing orbs fixed upon them—if those could even be called eyes.
That gaze pierced straight through them, locking onto both Josh and the cocoon behind him.
It was their first true encounter, yet both knew exactly who it was.
The Prime Celestial. The Judge.
Arishem.
He had descended.
Josh had always suspected that Margaret's ascension might draw the attention of other Celestials. He had drafted countless contingency plans for the possibility.
But having the thought was one thing. Standing before Arishem's overwhelming presence was something else entirely.
The sheer weight of his existence made Josh's chest tighten in dread. The strongest being of the material universe—the pressure was unbearable.
The Ancient One, however, appeared calm. She raised her hand, shaping seals, and the Time Stone's glow flickered.
The skies above Earth warped. To mortals below, the colossal being was suddenly gone. Panic faded as if it had never happened, for the people no longer remembered seeing Arishem at all.
It wasn't that the Ancient One had trapped Arishem in a mirror dimension—such a feat was impossible. She had simply bent the light of Earth's atmosphere to hide him, and rolled back Earth's time by a few seconds to erase the memory.
When all was set, she opened a portal and gestured for Josh. The two stepped through and emerged into space—standing directly before Arishem.
"Welcome, great Lord Arishem," the Ancient One said solemnly, bowing deeply.
Josh quickly followed her lead, bowing with equal respect.
But Arishem gave them no reply.
It wasn't arrogance. At this moment, he was speaking directly with Tiamat.
In the films, Arishem had summoned the Eternals because Tiamat was dead. He needed their memories to judge whether Earth should live or die.
But now Tiamat still lived. He could simply consult her directly.
Their divine minds clashed for only seconds, but it was enough. Arishem understood Tiamat's stance.
"I see," he intoned at last. His voice thundered through space itself. "I do not agree with Tiamat's view, but I respect her choice. I can accept the existence of this false Celestial. But… I will take this child."
Arishem's six eyes turned upon Josh and the Ancient One as he spoke, and the weight of his will pressed down like the crush of a world.
"What? Take Margaret? Are you kidding me?"
At first, when Josh heard Arishem say he respected Tiamat's choice, he'd felt relieved. But the very next words nearly made his heart stop.
The false Celestial, the child Arishem spoke of—it was clearly Margaret, still inside her cocoon, completing her transformation.
There was no way Josh could agree to this.
"…Don't misunderstand, child. My prediction was off. Margaret's ascension isn't complete. To let her achieve the perfect metamorphosis, allowing Arishem to take her is the best choice."
Just as Josh was racking his brain for how to stop Arishem, Tiamat's tired voice echoed in his mind.
"Foolish emotions," Arishem rumbled. "If not for Tiamat's guarantee, this child would never be worth my hand. But Josh Kahn—your deeds, Tiamat has told me. I admit, your existence holds a rare value to this universe. Every Celestial life is precious, even false ones. I now give these Celestial Seeds to you. Use them well."
As he spoke, five blazing orbs of light drifted from Arishem's massive hand. They floated to Josh, shining even brighter than the seed Margaret had just used.
The moment Josh felt their aura, his chest tightened. These were the essence of Arishem himself.
The First Celestial's seeds.
Even Tiamat had been birthed from such seeds.
"This… is this a trade?" Josh swallowed hard.
The situation had gone far beyond his expectations.
Arishem wasn't just here for Margaret—he was entrusting Josh with the task of nurturing new Celestials.
That also meant something else: Josh's connection to other universes had been exposed before Arishem.
And why wouldn't it? If Tiamat and even Pandora's world-soul could sense the breath of other realities, how could Arishem not?
Besides, to someone like Arishem, traversing universes wasn't strange at all. The Marvel cosmos itself was a multiverse. Even the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj knew of it—pretending Arishem didn't would be laughable.
And across those multiverses, competition was inevitable. Plunder another reality's essence, and your own grew stronger.
The only difference was that the universes Josh connected to weren't the same "multiverses" Arishem envisioned.
And thanks to the dimensional trading system, Josh's link was beyond Arishem's perception. Both Arishem and Tiamat assumed this was Josh's personal gift—like America Chavez in Doctor Strange 2. None of them realized a greater thing existed behind him.
"If you choose to see it that way… then remember this—" Arishem's six eyes burned as he thundered,
"You are a life of this universe."
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