Thanks to Agamotto's explanation, Karl and Strange finally gained a glimpse into what had happened in the distant past.
According to Agamotto—
Abraxas, the dark side of Eternity, was the embodiment of destruction.
The very purpose of his existence was to bring the entire Multiverse to ruin.
Long ago—
He had unleashed unimaginable devastation throughout the Multiverse.
At one point, his strength had grown to such an extent that even the Five Great Gods could no longer contend with him.
In the end, the Living Tribunal had been forced to intervene.
Only then, with the combined power of the Five Great Gods, had Abraxas finally been sealed away.
In fact—
To seal his power, Galactus had directly used his own avatars as the locks maintaining the seal.
Across the entire Multiverse, countless incarnations of Galactus existed.
The Galactus of each universe used his avatar to seal away a portion of Abraxas' power.
According to their original plan—
As long as the Galactus of the Main Universe remained alive, Abraxas would never have any possibility of escaping.
What none of them had anticipated was betrayal from within.
Oblivion had secretly interfered with the seal.
There was nothing wrong with the lock itself.
But if the door holding it collapsed, how could even the strongest lock continue imprisoning Abraxas?
Abraxas broke free.
Naturally, the other gods knew nothing about Oblivion's involvement.
Agamotto didn't know either.
So the explanation he gave Karl was simply this:
"For some unknown reason, Abraxas' seal has shattered, and he has appeared once again."
"The entire Multiverse is now facing an enormous crisis."
After Agamotto finished speaking, Strange and Karl exchanged glances.
"If Abraxas is causing the problem, why not just kill him?"
"With the Living Tribunal's power, killing Abraxas should be simple enough, shouldn't it?"
Karl asked.
The Living Tribunal was an existence second only to the One-Above-All.
He maintained the balance of the entire Marvel Multiverse.
Even the Five Great Gods were beneath him.
Someone that powerful should have been virtually unbeatable.
If Abraxas wanted to destroy everything, why not simply eliminate him?
Unexpectedly, Agamotto shook his head.
"Young man, if it were really that simple, Abraxas would have disappeared long ago."
"You need to understand that Abraxas is fundamentally different from ordinary living beings like you."
"He is the embodiment of a concept."
"In other words, as long as the concept of destruction exists anywhere in the Multiverse, he cannot truly die."
"He will continue to return."
"And his power is effectively inexhaustible."
"You could destroy his body, only for him to return in an even more extreme form."
"Furthermore, the more of the Multiverse that collapses, the stronger he becomes."
"Even if he simply stood there and did nothing, his existence alone would eventually cause the Multiverse to collapse."
Agamotto explained everything in detail.
"Doesn't that basically make him invincible?"
Strange couldn't help asking.
Karl was equally dumbfounded.
He had already known that the most powerful beings in this world possessed all kinds of absurd and incomprehensible abilities.
But this was excessive even by those standards.
"He essentially is invincible."
"Why else do you think even we find him so troublesome?"
Agamotto said with a smile.
Karl fell silent.
Agamotto looked at him.
"Brat, don't start thinking about running away."
"The entire Multiverse is interconnected."
"Even if you took your own universe and the universe where you were born and moved both of them somewhere else, you still wouldn't survive."
"As long as Abraxas remains unchecked, everything connected to this Multiverse will eventually be destroyed."
These gods normally stood far above ordinary beings.
So why were they suddenly so desperate to intervene?
Obviously—
Because they could die too.
Abraxas directly threatened their own survival.
"Is it really that extreme?"
Karl frowned.
He really had been considering taking his two universes and leaving.
For him, doing something like that wasn't particularly difficult.
"Of course."
"You need to understand that Abraxas is a conceptual entity."
"Unless you've completely transcended this entire world, you'll still be affected by him."
"Do you think you've reached that level?"
Karl could only sigh.
Apparently, there was no avoiding this one.
As long as someone belonged to the Multiverse, they would be affected.
Even if Karl himself escaped—
If the entire timeline collapsed, then what would be the point of surviving alone?
"If this guy really is that ridiculous..."
"What use are the two of us?"
"We're obviously not his match."
Karl spoke helplessly.
"Naturally, I came to you for a reason."
"You're hardly weak yourself. How can you be so certain you couldn't contend with him?"
"There's no point pretending in front of me."
Agamotto waved dismissively.
Karl looked helpless.
"What difference does being strong make?"
"Didn't you just say Abraxas can't be killed?"
"And you're exaggerating. I'm nowhere near as powerful as you're making me sound."
Karl replied.
"We never intended for you to kill Abraxas."
"What we want you to do is protect Galactus."
Agamotto said.
"Protect Galactus?"
"You want us to protect one of the Five Great Gods?"
"And one of the strongest among them?"
"Are you sure you're not joking?"
Karl stared at Agamotto.
Galactus was actually extraordinarily powerful.
Among the Five Great Gods—
He was the only one capable of rivaling Oblivion.
The problem was that Galactus was constantly burdened by the universe within himself.
Most of the time, he existed in a weakened state.
That was why he often seemed far less impressive than the other four great cosmic entities, sometimes even appearing to be completely overwhelmed by them.
But if Galactus were ever able to unleash his full power—
He would be almost unstoppable.
And Karl was supposed to protect him?
Who exactly would be protecting whom?
Hearing this, Agamotto waved his hand.
"Of course I'm not asking you to protect the Galactus of the Main Universe."
"The ones you need to protect are the Galactus incarnations in the Parallel Universes."
"You need to understand something."
"Galactus serves as the lock on Abraxas' seal."
"Even though the seal has been damaged and Abraxas has escaped, the remaining seal is still restricting his power."
"Throughout countless Parallel Universes, every incarnation of Galactus is sealing away a portion of Abraxas' strength."
"So the first thing Abraxas will do after escaping is hunt down the Galactus incarnations of those Parallel Universes and reclaim his power."
"What we need to do now is prevent him from recovering that power."
Agamotto explained.
"So that's how it works."
Karl and Strange nodded.
If that was the case, they could understand the plan.
"But what good does that ultimately do?"
"If we don't kill him, won't the Multiverse still eventually be destroyed?"
Strange asked.
"Don't worry."
"We naturally have a way to deal with him."
"As long as we can restrict Abraxas' power, there will be a way to eliminate him."
"You don't need to worry about that part."
Agamotto spoke confidently.
Karl thought about it.
That was true.
There were plenty of beings far above him capable of dealing with the greatest threats.
The Marvel world had an absurd number of powerful entities and extraordinary beings.
There was no reason for Karl to personally worry about everything.
(End of Chapter)
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