Past midnight!
On the rooftop of the apartment building.
Hawk was practicing his punches.
There was no punching bag.
Nor any fighting techniques.
Hawk didn't even move, just stood there, eyes slightly closed, and then, as if in a trance, he threw punch after punch at the air in front of him.
This time, he wasn't pursuing speed, but seemed to have entered a state of enlightenment.
Although before this, every time he threw a punch, he would feel a strange sensation in his heart.
But tonight, this feeling was even stronger.
Hawk felt as if he had entered an infinitely dark existence, no matter from what angle it was observed.
But...
With each of his punches, a glimmer of light would bloom in this infinite darkness.
If Hawk had paid attention and looked up at this moment, he would have noticed something even more peculiar.
That is —
The Bronze Constellations, composed of the forty-eight constellations visible to his naked eye, such as Pegasus, Draco, Cygnus, Phoenix, Lacerta, and others, scattered across the night sky, were also responding to his every punch, flickering.
Yes.
It wasn't just a single constellation responding, but all of them.
All forty-eight Bronze Constellations were responding to Hawk's punches.
One punch, one punch... and another.
This time, Hawk punched very slowly, yet also very fast.
Although each time he ensured that the first punch was fully retracted before throwing the second, often the afterimage of the second punch would appear even before the afterimage of the first had completely vanished.
Immediately after, the third, fourth, fifth punches, and so on, until now.
Countless fist shadows filled the air!
Just then, a sudden roar echoed in Hawk's mind.
The sound was almost inaudible, yet it resonated like a grand bell.
Boom!
A wisp of flame appeared with this sound.
As this flame emerged, the stars that had, under Hawk's repeated punches, completely reflected through reality into infinite space, rippled outwards like waves, silently parting the dense black curtain.
At first, it was just a flicker.
Immediately after, this flicker suddenly expanded, like the universe's initial Big Bang, and the stars adorning the infinite darkness above suddenly burst forth—
Within Hawk's body, an invisible and intangible wall collapsed with a crash under the energy released as if by the universe's initial Big Bang, and a power that had slumbered for billions of years suddenly awakened.
Whoosh!
Hawk, whose eyes were slightly closed, opened them.
The moment he opened his eyes, the flame deep within them no longer merely blossomed and then quietly extinguished, as it had before.
This time, the flame burst forth completely.
Boom!!
Hawk felt his entire body's blood surging and roaring, every tiny cell within him trembling wildly, as if ten thousand stars were expanding simultaneously.
Under this intense tremor and expansion, every inch, every bone, was constantly being crushed and shattered, only to be instantly reshaped by this terrifying immense power, as if undergoing stellar birth.
Buzz!
A buzzing sound rang in Hawk's ears, and immediately after, his vision blurred, and he saw a wondrous sight.
He saw the particles forming his flesh and blood violently spinning, burning, collapsing, finally enacting a spectacle like the universe's initial Big Bang.
He saw the blood flowing beneath his skin, like a boiling, roaring river of stars.
He even saw his own beating heart; each beat was like the primordial and eternal pulse of cosmic creation, rippling invisibly through the boundless void.
The next moment.
An intuition seized him.
The moment Hawk clenched his right fist, his heel ground into the earth, his foot like a plow, and as the rooftop slab shattered, his entire body's center of gravity shifted backward.
He pulled back.
Then...
He punched!
Hawk let out a low cry that didn't come from his throat, but from the bursting of his soul!
"Burn, my Cosmo!!"
"Boom, boom, boom!"
The surrounding air rippled outwards like waves at this moment.
The surrounding space shattered like glass at this moment.
Even the flow of time around him seemed violently torn apart at this instant.
Air, space, and even time seemed to have paused under Hawk's punch.
The next second.
"Shriek!"
The air let out a shriek as if being torn apart.
"Crackle!"
Space emitted a wail as if being crushed.
"Rumble!"
Time itself was utterly shattered by this strike.
But immediately after, a brand new timeline instantly replaced the shattered one.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The exterior glass windows of the adjacent apartment building, across the road from where Hawk's apartment stood, instantly shattered and pulverized under the force of that punch, emitting deafening sounds of breakage.
"Bang bang bang!"
"Woosh!"
"Woosh!"
The vehicles parked on the road opposite seemed to be suddenly pressed down by an invisible giant hand descending from the sky.
Their car windows also shattered, and then car alarms went off, one after another, emitting piercing wails.
Meanwhile!
Kamar-Taj!
"Hmm?"
"Master?"
The Masters of the Mystic Arts in the Sanctum looked towards the Sorcerer Supreme, who had suddenly let out a puzzled sound.
The Sorcerer Supreme, clad in yellow robes, lowered her gaze, looking at the Sanctum relic hanging around her neck—the Eye of Agamotto.
The Ancient One formed a hand seal, and the Eye of Agamotto slowly rotated, then opened, a spectral green light emanating from the incredibly mysterious and profound emerald gem within it.
This gem has a common name in the Marvel Universe.
The Time Stone!
It allows its user to reach any point in time, thereby enabling time travel, whether it be to the distant past or the far future.
The Time Stone controls all known and unknown timelines; to control the Time Stone is to control time itself.
"What is this?"
"The future has been changed?"
"..."
The Ancient One formed another hand seal, closed the Eye of Agamotto, then stood up and vanished from the spot.
『Ding!』
『Congratulations, you have activated Cosmo cultivation!』
『Ding!』
『It has been my honor to accompany you for one thousand days. The cheat system will now be unbound. I look forward to our next encounter!』
『Finally, the Cosmo cultivation method is a method of combat, a method of holy war. Grow in battle, sublimate in battle!』
『Farewell!』
The mechanical voice of the cheat system echoed in Hawk's mind.
One thousand days ago, the cheat system quietly came online.
One thousand days later, the cheat system quietly went offline again.
It came quietly.
It left quietly.
By now, the sky was fully bright.
"Holy sh*t!"
"What just happened?"
"My windows."
"Ah, my car."
"Who the hell did this?"
"Wait a minute."
"Look, what's that?"
"Holy shi—"
"Jesus Christ."
Hawk, standing on the apartment rooftop, listened to the various clamors that sounded as if they were right next to him.
He slowly opened his eyes and saw a rift in the Manhattan sky, torn open by a spectral blue light.
Hawk was stunned for a moment.
"Gasp!"
"Did I just punch a hole in the sky with one blow?"
"..."
(End of this chapter)
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