Barely 0.1 seconds after Karl disappeared, a golden figure appeared at the exact spot where he had vanished.
Green temporal energy immediately enveloped the figure.
Whoosh!
It disappeared as well.
Meanwhile, Karl was traveling through the temporal corridor calculated by Vastness, looking happily at the enormous haul he had obtained from the TVA.
[Sir, something is pursuing us!]
[Attempting interception!]
"What?"
Karl's smile instantly disappeared.
"Someone actually caught up?"
His expression became serious.
"It must be that robotic Time-Keeper construct from the TVA."
"Damn it. I should've waited longer before leaving."
Karl quickly considered his options.
"Vastness, mobilize energy from the Shadow World and attack it."
"Don't use energy originating from this universe or the Multiversal-level energy Ganata gave me. We can't let it identify which universe we're returning to!"
[Understood, Sir.]
At the same time, Karl's body rapidly changed.
His flesh transformed into translucent blue ice until he resembled a humanoid elemental being composed entirely of frost.
Karl wanted to conceal as many identifying characteristics as possible.
He had no idea whether such a simple disguise could fool the TVA's technology, but even buying a little time was worthwhile.
Boom!
Black Shadow Energy shot backward through the temporal corridor.
The attack raced directly toward the golden figure pursuing him.
However—
Buzz!
The black energy disappeared before it could strike.
Karl narrowed his eyes.
The distance between them was shrinking.
Too fast.
Karl raised a hand.
More Shadow Energy erupted behind him, mixed with his freezing power.
The entire temporal passage seemed to freeze as frost spread through its surrounding energy.
For the first time, the golden pursuer slowed slightly.
But Karl knew this wouldn't last.
More importantly, they were getting dangerously close to his universe.
If that thing followed him through—
then everything he had done to hide his home universe would become meaningless.
Karl's expression grew increasingly grim.
Just as he prepared another attack—
Buzz!
A vast sphere of blue cosmic energy suddenly enveloped him.
Karl disappeared.
The golden figure arrived at the exact location where Karl had vanished.
It stopped.
The Time-Keeper construct scanned the surrounding temporal currents repeatedly.
Nothing.
No residual route.
No destination.
After several scans produced no useful information, green energy enveloped the construct again.
It vanished.
...
Karl reappeared beside an enormous sphere of blue cosmic energy.
His tense expression immediately changed.
The being who had pulled him out of the temporal corridor was extremely familiar.
Galactus.
More accurately, one of Galactus's manifestations.
The blue cosmic energy gradually condensed into the form of a tall, powerfully built man.
Karl stared at him.
So his currently unofficial father-in-law had personally stepped in.
"Kid."
Galactus looked at him with a veteran's disdain.
"You certainly have courage."
"You're only at the Single-Universe level, yet you dared infiltrate the TVA's headquarters in the Null-Time Zone."
"And you nearly allowed one of their temporal constructs to follow you all the way back to your home universe."
"You're still too reckless."
Karl gave an awkward smile.
There wasn't much he could say.
Galactus was right.
This time, greed had nearly caused him serious trouble.
"You're right."
Karl nodded honestly.
"I was a little too confident."
Then he respectfully bowed his head.
"Thank you for saving me, Uncle."
Galactus looked at him strangely.
"You're certainly good at flattering people."
Karl pretended not to notice.
Regardless of anything else, the being before him was Galactus.
Formerly Galan of the previous cosmos and now one of Marvel's greatest cosmic entities.
More importantly—
he was Ganata's father.
Karl naturally intended to show him proper respect.
"Enough."
Galactus waved his hand.
"Go back."
Then he tossed Karl a small blue sphere.
Karl immediately caught it.
Galactus narrowed his eyes.
"And remember."
"Take care of Ganata."
"If you let my daughter go hungry..."
A terrifying cosmic aura suddenly erupted from him.
"I'll deal with you myself."
Karl's expression stiffened.
The pressure was enormous.
For an instant, he almost instinctively summoned his Gold Cloth.
Fortunately, the pressure disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
"Don't worry, Uncle!"
Karl immediately smiled.
"I'll definitely take good care of Ganata."
"She won't go hungry."
"Thank you for the gift!"
"Goodbye!"
He turned around almost immediately.
Whoosh!
Karl disappeared.
Galactus stared after him speechlessly.
...
Karl, meanwhile, was already inspecting the blue sphere.
His eyes immediately lit up.
The energy inside it was almost identical to the Multiversal-level energy Ganata had previously brought him.
Another massive reservoir of cosmic energy.
If he processed it through the Infinite Concept Energy Formula...
The resulting amount would be ridiculous.
And Galactus had just given it to him for free.
Karl's smile became increasingly shameless.
A few threatening words from his future father-in-law?
Who cared?
Galactus was Ganata's father.
It was perfectly normal for him to worry about the person his daughter was following around the universe.
Karl saw nothing wrong with it.
Then Galactus's voice suddenly reached him again.
"Kid."
"One more thing."
Karl stopped.
"Be careful."
"When you left your universe earlier, a woman was watching you."
"Her nature and level of existence are comparable to mine."
Karl's expression immediately changed.
A woman?
A cosmic being comparable to Galactus?
He remembered something Galactus had mentioned when Karl resurrected Howard.
A possibility immediately appeared in his mind.
Death.
Among Marvel's great cosmic abstracts, Eternity embodied the universe and time, Infinity embodied space, Oblivion represented nonexistence, and Death embodied mortality and the end of life.
And Death most commonly manifested in a feminine form.
Karl frowned.
Could she really be watching him?
His mind immediately turned toward Thanos.
In the comics, Thanos's obsession with Death had driven much of his madness.
He had even exterminated half the universe with the Infinity Gauntlet as an offering to her.
Yet Death still hadn't truly given him the love he wanted.
There was also Deadpool.
Wade Wilson had developed an unusual romantic connection with Death in some comic stories, which contributed to Thanos's jealousy toward him.
But this universe clearly wasn't identical to the main comic continuity.
Karl had already killed Thanos.
Death hadn't appeared to save him.
Nor had Karl ever encountered Deadpool interacting with her.
Therefore, Karl couldn't determine exactly which version of Death existed here.
He sighed.
There was no point worrying excessively.
If Death truly wanted to observe him, Karl couldn't stop her anyway.
He couldn't defeat an entity at that level yet.
He couldn't even locate her unless she deliberately revealed herself.
Karl could only remain cautious.
The next moment, he returned to his universe.
Whoosh!
Karl appeared near the concealed Skyblade VII warships.
He wasn't particularly worried about the TVA anymore.
Since Galactus had personally interfered, Karl assumed he had erased or disrupted the temporal traces left behind.
The robotic Time-Keeper construct shouldn't be able to identify Karl's home universe easily.
And even if it eventually did—
Karl wasn't completely helpless.
He had only fled earlier because he didn't want his universe exposed.
If they actually fought, Karl wasn't convinced he would necessarily lose.
Besides...
Karl glanced toward the distant cosmic space.
His backing was standing right there.
Galactus.
He was practically Galactus's son-in-law already.
After personally warning Karl to take care of Ganata, Karl refused to believe Galactus would simply watch if someone came to kill him.
Thinking about that made him considerably more relaxed.
Karl returned to the Skyblade VII.
However, instead of immediately looking for Yan, Ganata, Black Phoenix, Hela, or the others, he went directly to his own room.
...
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