Many years later, when Director Nick Fury stood before Skyl again, he would remember that distant morning when he had crawled his way out of two inches of stomach contents.
He had fought on the battlefields of World War II, gone deep behind enemy lines, and faced every kind of terrible environment imaginable. He had once spent an entire night lying in a waterlogged trench beside a rotting corpse. That experience had remade him. From then on, Nick believed nothing in the world could ever truly break him.
Until today.
More than thirty gang gunmen surrounded the overturned Chevrolet Suburban, vomiting without end. They came from every corner of the world, and their diets were just as varied. What they were throwing up was more colorful than a bag of Skittles. Nick mentally compared the mess to the battlefield of Verdun.
He practically trembled as he crawled out of the SUV, inching his way through the rainbow sludge. His expression went blank. He now admitted that he had been far too young and naive before.
Then Nick remembered.
This was how Skyl had dealt with Kingpin before.
And Kingpin had not merely vomited. He had even taken what came out and...
Nick stared in horror at the indescribable mess covering the ground.
He had never been especially devout, but at this moment, Nick made a wish to God. Please, just do not let Skyl go that far. He was willing to trade ten years of celibacy for every employee in S.H.I.E.L.D. in exchange for a little mercy.
Around him, the gang gunmen shakily raised their weapons and pointed them at Nick.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. director ignored the dark gun barrels. He looked up at the sky over New York.
The colossal phantom of the Erdtree stood in Upper New York Bay beside the Statue of Liberty. Its brilliant golden trunk pierced straight into the clouds, while its vast canopy spread out in streams of emerald aurora, like the neurons of some colossal being, blanketing most of the heavens.
What was a miracle?
This was one.
One black gunman accidentally discharged his weapon and hit Nick. Then the others, startled by the shot, all opened fire together and riddled him with bullets.
He collapsed helplessly. As his consciousness faded, he saw the horrible filth on the ground writhe like living snakes toward the gunmen.
This was divine law punishing sinners.
Nick had never imagined that after such a magnificent life, he would end up dying in the street, brought down by a bunch of nameless thugs.
In the dazzling light of the Erdtree, his pupils reflected a familiar figure.
Skyl had returned to the director's side.
Nick's injuries were too severe now. Ordinary spells would not be enough to save him.
So Skyl made a phone call to the Ancient One.
"Master, please bring the Eye of Agamotto."
The Ancient One stepped through a portal and arrived beside Skyl. The moment she raised her head and saw the Erdtree of Law, she could not help but marvel.
"A magnificent spell! No... this has already gone beyond magic. This is truth itself."
Skyl nodded. "I left the relevant research notes in The Tower of Tomes. If you're interested, feel free to look through them. For now, help me save a life first."
The Ancient One opened the Eye of Agamotto, revealing the Time Stone within, and rewound Nick Fury's time. The wounds on his body vanished, and the bullets flew back out.
"That's enough. Leave the rest of the injuries to me."
After seeing the Ancient One off, Skyl woke Nick up.
"Mr. Fury, wake up. It's not time for your curtain call yet."
"Skyl... what did you do?"
Nick's eyes were dull with shock. The rewinding of time had erased his memory of being shot and dying. All he could see now was the horrifying scene around him. The gunmen were suffering what looked like the cruelest punishment imaginable.
"You should know the Book of Genesis. You've heard of Sodom and Gomorrah, I assume." Skyl pulled Nick to his feet amid the disaster and used [Scourgify] and [Episkey] to heal his injuries completely, leaving him refreshed in both body and spirit.
Nick staggered after Skyl through the streets of New York. It was said that in medieval European cities, the lack of sewer systems had left human waste flowing through the streets. Modern New York was not much better right now.
"People call New York Gotham because the people here are a little unhinged. It may not compare to a true city of sin, but the crimes committed here are often sickening enough. I'm not doing what God did and destroying the place. I'm simply making the people here obey the law."
Nick's legs felt weak. "Y-you... who exactly are you? Gabriel? Lucifer?"
"No." Skyl shook his head. "Just a wizard."
"The law you're talking about is making criminals throw up?" Nick's expression turned strange. "And how do you decide whether someone is guilty?"
"That's a good question. In truth, I can't decide anyone's guilt." Skyl then explained the principle behind the law he had imposed upon New York.
"The law is linked to the thoughtform of every person in this city. A thoughtform is, roughly speaking, the equivalent of your name. For example, 'Nick Fury' is your thoughtform. When your subordinates mention that name, they feel fear or admiration. Your enemies grit their teeth at it. And you yourself have your own understanding of what that name means."
Nick nodded. "I didn't understand it, but I understood it."
A trace of helplessness flashed across Skyl's face.
"It's fine. A general understanding is enough. A thoughtform stores the evaluation of your life. If you know in your own heart that you have committed crimes, then the law will punish you."
Nick thought of the child he had accidentally killed. He truly did carry guilt in his heart, and that had become the basis for the law to judge him guilty.
But he quickly caught the weakness in Skyl's explanation and pressed further.
"Then what if I were a lunatic like Hitler, someone who believed everything he did was right? Wouldn't that let him escape punishment?"
"Correct. That is indeed possible. So I added another condition. If others judge you guilty, then the law will punish you just the same. The thoughtforms of the dead are valid as well, so even a murderer who changes his name and disappears cannot escape the judgment of the law."
Nick frowned again. At this point he realized that powerful as this system of law was, it was still full of loopholes.
"But then wouldn't people just accuse each other endlessly and trap everyone in infinite sin?"
"False accusation is itself a sin. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is an act of goodness."
Skyl smiled with easy indifference. "I understand perfectly well that every system of law is destined to face the problem of being exploited. No symbolic system can ever be complete. That is why word games can always defeat regulations that only seem perfect."
"Why are you doing this? Why use such immense power to lash the world?" Nick, that hard-faced, one-eyed black man, suddenly carried both the devotion and doubt of an old monk in a cathedral.
Skyl pointed at the gang gunmen by the street. "Because of them. They were sent by Kingpin to attack me. Do you remember what excuse you used when you asked me to spare Kingpin?"
Nick remembered it vividly, even though it had been a month ago. Anyone who saw vomit flowing backward would remember it for life.
"I said that if he died, it would trigger upheaval across the East Coast, maybe even across the world."
Skyl smiled. "Exactly. A great villain shouldn't die too easily. But for me, that's not really a problem. I could make the whole world forget a man like that, as easily as plucking a star from the sky and leaving no trace behind. But a punishment like that would be far too light. Besides, not long ago, I already played that game with another wizard."
He let out a small breath and said lightly, "So I decided to try a different game. Kingpin sees himself as the emperor of the underworld, so I'll place him beneath the sun. Then people will discover that the emperor is actually the lowliest beggar of all. He will be abandoned by everyone around him, and in the end he will come before me with nothing in his hands, to face judgment for everything he has done in his life."
A chill ran through Nick's entire body. He now fully understood that Skyl was not an asset that could be brought into the fold. He was a source of upheaval and terror, a god walking among men who had to be treated with the utmost caution.
"All this... for one Kingpin?"
"I'm busy dealing with a crisis involving the Omniverse, a greater cosmic framework beyond the multiverse. It concerns the life and death of infinitely many living beings. I don't have time to stay on Earth and play move-for-move with Mr. Kingpin, so I left the game here for him to clear on his own. I only hope he can hold out until the day I return."
The moment Nick heard the word crisis, some life returned to his face. Solving crises was what he lived for.
"Can S.H.I.E.L.D. help?"
"Yes. Just bring me the Tesseract."
Skyl: Ahahaha, the Vomit Law is here.
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