After midnight.
On the rooftop of the apartment.
Hawk was punching.
No punching bag.
No combat skills either.
Hawk didn’t even move, just stood there with his eyes slightly closed, seemingly lost in thought, punching into the air over and over.
This time, he wasn’t pursuing speed, but seemed to have entered some sort of enlightenment.
Before tonight, every punch carried a strange feeling within him.
But tonight, that feeling was even stronger.
Hawk felt as if he’d entered a presence so infinitely dark from every angle.
But...
With each punch, a glimmer of light flashed in the infinite darkness.
If Hawk had looked up to observe at that moment, he’d have noticed something even more remarkable.
That was—
Decorating the night sky, he could see with his naked eye the Pegasus, Celestial Dragon, White Bird, Phoenix, Scorpius, and other constellations that made up the Bronze constellation of forty-eight stars all responding with a flicker under each of his punches.
Yes.
Not just a single constellation responding, but all of them.
All forty-eight Bronze constellations responded to Hawk’s punches.
Punch after punch...
This time Hawk punched slowly, yet quickly.
Though he ensured each punch was fully retracted before launching the next, often the afterimage of the first punch hadn’t even faded when the afterimage of the second appeared.
Then the third, fourth, fifth, and now.
Punches filled the sky!
Suddenly, unexpectedly, a booming sound resounded in Hawk’s mind.
Weak and barely audible yet sounding like a resounding gong.
Boom!
A flicker of flame appeared following the sound, and with its arrival, the stars reflected in the infinite space behind Hawk broke through reality with each punch, rippling out like a wave, slowly unveiling the dark curtain.
Initially, it was just a stir.
Then the flicker rapidly expanded, like the universe’s initial big bang, the stars in the infinite darkness exploded suddenly—
Inside Hawk’s body, an invisible and intangible wall collapsed under the release of energy akin to the universe’s first explosion, awakening a power dormant for billions of years.
Whoosh!
Hawk’s slightly closed eyes opened.
As he opened his eyes, deep within them, the flame did not simply vanish silently after bursting forth.
This time, the flame completely bloomed.
Crash!!
Hawk only felt his blood surging and roaring all around him, each tiny cell inside revving wildly, like thousands of stars swelling simultaneously, and amidst this intense swelling and vibration, every tissue and bone shattered, only to be instantly reconstructed by a terrifying force resembling the birth of a celestial body.
Buzz!
A buzzing sound reached Hawk’s ears and then his vision blurred, revealing an extraordinary scene.
He saw the particles composing his flesh spinning, burning, collapsing, and finally enacting a scene like the initial big bang of the universe.
He saw the blood flowing under his skin, like a boiling and roaring star river.
He even saw his beating heart, with each beat mirroring the primal and eternal pulse during the universe’s creation, sending invisible ripples throughout infinite void.
Then came the moment.
Fortune smiled upon him.
As Hawk clenched his right fist, his heel ground the ground, and his sole like a plow, shattered the rooftop’s surface, shifting his body’s center backwards.
Backwards.
And then...
He punched!
Hawk let out a guttural whisper, not from his throat but from his soul!
"Burn, my Little Cosmos!!"
"Boom Boom Boom!"
The surrounding air rippled like water at that moment.
Surrounding space shattered like glass at that moment.
The flow of time seemed to be ripped apart violently at that moment.
Air, space, even time seemed to halt under Hawk’s punch.
The next second.
"Screech!"
The air cried out as it was torn.
"Thud Thud!"
Space howled as it was ground into dust.
"Boom!"
Time crumbled entirely under this strike.
But immediately, a new timeline replaced the shattered one.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The neighboring apartment building across the street from Hawk’s erupted glass the moment his punch waved past, shattering with a deafening sound.
"Bang Bang Bang!"
"Wail!"
"Wail!"
The cars parked on the opposite road squashed downward as if pressed by an invisible giant hand from the sky.
The car windows shattered at the sound, followed by alarms blaring one after another.
At the same time!
Kamar-Taj!
"Hmm?"
"Master?"
The mage in the Holy Hall turned towards the Supreme Mage, who had suddenly made a sound of bewilderment.
The Supreme Mage in his yellow robe lowered his gaze, looking at the Holy Hall’s sacred artifact hanging from his neck—The Eye of Agamotto.
The Ancient One formed a seal with his hands, the Eye of Agamotto spun slowly, then opened, and an eerie green light emanated from the gem inside, appearing mysterious and profound.
This gem had a universally known name in the Marvel Cosmos.
The Time Gemstone!
It enabled its user to reach any point in time, allowing for time travel, whether into the distant past or far into the future.
The Time Gemstone governed both known and unknown timelines, controlling it equated to controlling time.
"What is this?"
"Has the future been altered?"
"..."
The Ancient One sealed his hands once again, closed the Eye of Agamotto, stood up, and vanished from the scene.
’Ding!’
’Congratulations on activating Little Cosmos Cultivation!’
’Ding!’
’It has been my honor to accompany you for one thousand days; the special attachment is unbinding, and until next time!’
’Lastly, the Little Cosmos Cultivation Method is a battle technique, a Holy War Technique, growing through combat, elevating through combat!’
’Farewell!’
The mechanical voice of the attachment echoed in Hawk’s mind.
One thousand days prior, it had quietly gone online.
One thousand days later, it quietly went offline again.
It came quietly.
It left quietly.
By now, daylight had broken.
"Holy shit."
"What just happened."
"My glass."
"Ah, my car."
"Who the hell did this."
"Wait a minute."
"Quick, look, what is that?"
"Holy shi—"
"Jesus Christ."
Standing on the rooftop of the apartment, Hawk listened to the cacophony as if it was right beside him, slowly opening his eyes to see a tear on the Manhattan sky ripped open by an azure light.
Hawk was momentarily stunned.
"Hiss!"
"Did I just punch a hole in the sky?"
"..."