On Earth, in a certain manor, 1610 Mister Fantastic was pacing back and forth.
"Damn it, have people caught up so quickly?"
Just now, he discovered that the spaceship's broadcast signal had been cut off. He immediately relocated, fleeing from the metropolis of New York to a small country in Eastern Europe. He then used satellites pre-positioned in outer space orbit to conduct a global Inspection and photograph the conditions of outer space near Earth.
"This spaceship... Lifebringer! I don't know if anyone else came with him. I hope the instrument's self-destruct program can successfully activate."
Through the star-sized flagship, 1610 Mister Fantastic determined that Lifebringer was among those pursuing him. Thus, he abandoned the thought of reclaiming the spaceship, choosing to lie low and avoid confrontation for now.
...
"There really is a self-destruct program." Reed smiled confidently.
"But in front of me, this is merely showing off before an expert, easily cracked."
Susan glanced at Reed, whose lips were upturned, and impatiently urged, "Examine the data, see if we can reverse-engineer this instrument to separate the Universe."
"No rush."
Lifebringer raised his hand, and a golden energy enveloped the entire instrument, then gradually spread to the entire spaceship. "First, take it back to Taa II. There, we have more complete and advanced equipment to help."
Inside Taa II, as time passed, the expressions of Reed, Doctor Doom, and Lifebringer gradually changed from relaxed to solemn.
Cracking 1610 Mister Fantastic's program and fully controlling this instrument was not difficult for any of the three of them. But the difficulty lay in how to reverse-engineer this instrument to separate the Universe.
"It seems we still need to find Reed." Reed said first. "Galan, take us to this Earth. We will handle this matter."
Lifebringer nodded, then stated, "I will go with you."
"No."
Reed suggested, "You go find some top-tier scientific talents from the Universe to try. Perhaps someone can solve the problem we can't."
Lifebringer was silent for a moment and said, "Alright, be careful. That Reed is not easy to deal with."
With that, Lifebringer channeled his life energy, transforming it into five pendants and hanging them around the necks of Reed, Susan, Johnny, Ben, and Doctor Doom.
On Earth-404, Lucas lay slumped on the sofa in the bookstore's lounge, looking somewhat dispirited.
The repulsion he felt from the Marvel world had intensified, requiring him to expend more effort to balance his fragile relationship with the surrounding spacetime.
Some time had passed since the birth of the new laws. This sense of repulsion, apart from a slight weakening at the very beginning, had grown day by day since then.
From this ever-increasing sense of repulsion, Lucas could perceive that Eternity's control over the Universe was steadily decreasing, almost unable to restrain some of the Universe's instinctive reactions.
This also indicated that Eternity's situation in the battle with the First Firmament was becoming increasingly dire.
Taking the milk tea Wanda had brewed, Lucas forced himself to cheer up and contacted the Creator.
"Creator, what are you doing? You haven't dealt with one First Firmament after all this time? Do you need to pay a little money for my help?"
Lucas's exact words were not like this, but the meaning was pretty much the same.
The Creator explained, "This is for absolute certainty, to give the First Firmament no chance to escape. The deeper the First Firmament's erosion of Eternity, the stronger Eternity's restraint on the First Firmament."
"So when do you plan to make your move?"
Lucas stretched and asked, feeling quite uncomfortable with the increasing repulsion and restraint from reality.
"Perhaps... now."
Lucas heard the strange tone in the Creator's voice and asked directly, "What happened?"
"The Superflow is about to recover. If the Superflow recovers, Eternity will transform back into a Multiverse, and the First Firmament will no longer be able to easily devour him.
"So, now is the time for the First Firmament to decide: either invest more and try to devour Eternity before he transforms back into a Multiverse, or give up this rare and excellent opportunity."
In the outer space of Earth, on the far side of the Universe, Lifebringer's flagship, Taa II, floated silently.
Inside, in a high-tech laboratory, the instrument used by 1610 Mister Fantastic to destroy the Superflow was placed.
In front of the instrument was a middle-aged man in a suit—Lifebringer's helper, Tony from 616 Universe.
Tony placed his arm on the instrument, and as the suit flowed, a tube of nanomachines seeped into the instrument.
A moment later, Tony turned his head and said to the others, "The nanomachines have accessed and cracked this device's system. According to the analysis, it is feasible to reverse the operation and restore the Superflow."
"It's just that this operation is too complex, and it's difficult for me to complete it alone. But fortunately, I'm not fighting alone."
Shrugging at the many Iron Man variants in front of him, Tony said, "Gentlemen, let's solve this problem as soon as possible and then return to our respective Universes. Seeing so many faces similar to mine is really unsettling."
The many Iron Man variants either complained or cursed, but no one refused Tony's suggestion. With Lifebringer's help, their brain nerves were linked to Tony's.
"Our minds are one!"
An Iron Man variant holding a short sword suddenly said.
"Damn it, how did a guy with a brain full of muscles get in here? Is he really one of us?"
As the minds of the many Iron Men connected, the nanomachines injected into the instrument began to operate, controlling the instrument to perform a reverse operation, re-segmenting the Multiverse.
When the operation began, Eternity, who was inside the First Firmament, immediately reacted.
Cracks began to appear in his originally unified, single Universe, and the Superflow emerged, segmenting the Universes one by one.
This caused Eternity's power to begin to wane, and tiny fragments fell from him, assimilated and devoured by the First Firmament, but the First Firmament showed no joy.
The First Firmament wanted to devour Eternity whole, not just cosmic fragments that were less than a speck of dust. Moreover, these fragments were all areas that had already been eroded by him.
Originally, they were like needles inserted into Eternity's body, and through these needles, the First Firmament could quickly corrupt other un-eroded areas within Eternity.
And when the needles were pulled out, the First Firmament's speed of eroding Eternity would slow down.
But similarly, with the needles roughly pulled out, Eternity, as a single Universe, would also suffer immense damage, which puzzled the First Firmament.
"What's going on?"
The First Firmament looked at Eternity inside him and immediately understood everything: Eternity was transforming back into a Multiverse.
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!"
The First Firmament cursed, not expecting Eternity to have this move.
What made the First Firmament even more anxious was that as the Superflow within Eternity recovered, Eternity gradually became elusive, and the difficulty of trapping him within his body increased sharply.
Under the First Firmament's anxious gaze, Eternity began to slide towards the edge of his body.
"No! No! No!" The First Firmament roared again, unable to accept this loss after gaining.
The First Firmament was almost insane. His hands transformed into sharp claws, piercing through his own body from the outside, and then piercing through Eternity within his body, firmly pinning the two together.
Countless information, matter, and laws from within the First Firmament surged into the torn wounds of Eternity, tightly connecting the two Universes.
Within Eternity, the Superflow, which had been gradually recovering, instantly paused and then slowly began to dissipate.
An inexplicable sound echoed through the two Universes, like a giant, pained creature.
Such penetrating and tearing wounds caused immense damage to both the First Firmament, as a single Universe, and Eternity, who was in the midst of transforming between a single Universe and a Multiverse.
The First Firmament was more severely wounded, and he raved, "You can't escape, Eternity! You are mine! This Universe originally belonged to me!"
Eternity endured the pain and roared loudly, "It's time! Come to my side, my compatriots!"
In an instant, the First Firmament noticed that reality had changed, and some people crossed the shores of death.
As unimaginable and indescribable scenes constantly shifted, the Multiverses that had iterated, reborn, and been destroyed reappeared in this Land of Nihility.
The Second Cosmos, newly split from the First Firmament.
The Third Cosmos, which created the Lifebringer and the first hero.
The Fifth Cosmos, the Creator of magic and weaver of illusions and delusions.
The Sixth Cosmos, the inventor of scientific development and creator of Multiverse passages.
And Infinity, Eternity's sister, of the Seventh Cosmos.
Except for Queen of Never of the Fourth Cosmos, who observed from beyond reality, the physical incarnations of the other five Cosmos had gathered, aiming to hunt the First Firmament.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" The First Firmament roared, disbelieving.
He had hidden nearby and watched each time the physical body of a Multiverse had died.
"I saw you all die with my own eyes!"
"All things do not die. Nothing is impossible, and what is seen may not be real."
The Fifth Cosmos raised a hand, instantly placing a pair of shackles on the First Firmament that existed simultaneously in concept and reality.
"No!" The First Firmament roared, trying to break free from the shackles the Fifth Cosmos had placed on him, but found his arms immobile.
His previous act of piercing his own body and nailing it to Eternity had now become self-defeating.
The First Firmament wanted to pull his arms out of his body first. Otherwise, every time he struggled, waves of pain that went deep into his soul would emanate.