Chapter 4: Burn, My Little Universe! (Please collect!)
Once midnight passed!
On the rooftop of the apartment building.
Hawk was punching.
There was no sandbag.
Nor were there any fighting techniques.
Hawk didn't even move; he 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, with every punch, he would feel an unusual sensation in his heart.
But tonight, this feeling was even stronger.
Hawk felt as if he had entered an existence that, no matter how one observed it, was infinitely dark.
But...
With each of his punches, this infinite darkness would emit a glimmer of light.
If Hawk were to look up and observe at this moment, he would discover something even more peculiar.
That is—
The Bronze Constellations, composed of forty-eight constellations, including Pegasus, dragon, Cygnus, Phoenix, and Lacerta, which he could observe with his naked eyes, scattered across the night sky, also responded and flickered with each of his punches.
Yes.
It wasn't 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 punch.
Hawk was punching very slowly this time, but at the same time, very quickly.
Although he ensured that he fully retracted each punch before throwing the next, often, before the afterimage of the first punch had completely disappeared, the afterimage of the second punch had already appeared.
Following that, the third, fourth, fifth punches, and so on until now.
Fists filled the sky!
Just then, a sudden roar echoed in Hawk's mind.
The sound was almost inaudible, yet it was like a great bell.
Bang!
A wisp of Fire appeared with this sound, and as this wisp of Fire emerged, the stars, which had completely projected into infinite space through reality under Hawk's repeated punches, rippled out like waves, quietly parting the thick black curtain.
Initially, it was just a tremor.
Immediately after, this tremor suddenly expanded, like the Big Bang at the beginning of the Universe, and the stars adorning the infinite darkness suddenly exploded—
Inside Hawk's body, an invisible and intangible wall collapsed with a crash under the energy released by what seemed like the Big Bang at the beginning of the Universe, and a power that had slept for billions of years suddenly awakened.
Whoosh!
Hawk, with his eyes slightly closed, opened them.
The moment he opened his eyes, deep within them, the flame no longer merely bloomed and then quietly extinguished as it had before.
This time, the flame fully bloomed.
Boom!!
Hawk felt as if all the blood around his body was surging and roaring, every tiny cell within him vibrating madly, like ten thousand stars expanding simultaneously, and under this violent vibration and expansion, every inch, every piece of bone was constantly being crushed and broken, only to be reshaped in the blink of an eye by this terrifying force, as if undergoing the birth of a celestial body.
Buzz!
A buzzing sound came to Hawk's ears, and then he felt his vision blur, and he saw a miraculous scene.
He saw the particles that made up his flesh violently rotating, burning, and collapsing, finally enacting something like the Big Bang at the beginning of the Universe.
He saw the blood flowing beneath his skin, like a boiling, roaring river of stars.
He even saw his beating heart, each beat like the primal and eternal pulse of creation of the Universe, sending out invisible ripples in the infinite void.
The next moment.
A sudden inspiration came to him.
The moment Hawk clenched his right fist, his heel ground into the earth, his foot like a plow, and as he shattered the rooftop slab, his entire body's center of gravity shifted backward.
Retreat.
And then...
Punch!
Hawk let out a low growl that didn't come from his throat, but from the explosion of his soul!
"Burn, my Little Universe!!"
"Boom boom boom!"
The surrounding air rippled out like Water at this moment.
The surrounding space shattered like glass at this moment.
The flow of time around him seemed to be brutally torn apart at this moment.
Air, space, and even time, under Hawk's punch, seemed to have come to a standstill.
The next second.
"Hiss!"
The air let out a shriek as it was torn apart.
"Bang bang!"
Space wailed as it was crushed.
"Rumble!"
Time was completely shattered by this strike.
But immediately after, a brand new timeline instantly replaced the shattered one.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The outer wall glass of the adjacent apartment building, across the road from Hawk's current apartment, shattered and disintegrated with a deafening sound under the force of that punch.
"Bang bang bang!"
"Woah!"
"Woah!"
The vehicles parked on the road opposite seemed to be suddenly pressed down by an invisible giant hand descending from the sky.
The car windows also shattered, and then the car alarms went off, emitting sharp warning sounds one after another.
At the same time!
Kamar-Taj!
"Hmm?"
"Teacher?"
The mystics of the Sanctum looked at the Sorcerer Supreme, who had suddenly let out a confused sound.
The Sorcerer Supreme, clad in yellow robes, lowered her gaze to the Sanctum's relic hanging around her neck—the Eye of Agamotto.
Ancient One formed a hand seal, and the Eye of Agamotto slowly rotated and then opened, a ghostly green light emanating from the incredibly mysterious and profound ghostly green gem within it.
This gem has a common name in the Marvel Universe.
Time Stone!
It allows the user to reach any point in time, thereby performing time travel, no matter how distant the past, or how far the future.
The Time Stone controls all known and unknown timelines; controlling the Time Stone is equivalent to controlling time.
"This is?"
"The future has been changed?"
"..."
Ancient One formed another hand seal, closed the Eye of Agamotto, stood up, and disappeared from her original spot.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations, you have activated Little Universe cultivation!"
"Ding!"
"It has been my honor to be with you for a thousand days. The cheat is about to be unbound. I look forward to our next meeting!"
"Finally, the Little Universe cultivation method is a method of combat, a method of holy war. Grow in battle, sublimate in battle!"
"Goodbye!"
The mechanical voice of the cheat echoed in Hawk's mind.
A thousand days ago, the cheat quietly came online.
A thousand days later, the cheat quietly went offline again.
It came quietly.
It left quietly.
By this time, it was already bright outside.
"Holy sh*t!"
"What happened?"
"My glass."
"Ah, my car."
"Who the hell did this?"
"Wait a minute."
"Look, what's that?"
"Holy sh*t..."
"Jesus Christ."
Hawk, standing on the apartment rooftop, heard various clamors as if they were right by his ears, slowly opened his eyes, and saw the rift in the sky above Manhattan, torn by a ghostly blue light.
Hawk was instantly stunned.
"Hiss!"
"Did I just punch a hole in the sky?"
"..."
New author, new book, 200,000 words in reserve, feel free to collect!