"Are you kidding me?! You, you're Tony Stark! Aren't you a superhero?! How could you destroy the cosmos?! I've never seen a Tony Stark like you!!!" Death even protested somewhat aggrievedly.
But after a while, she took a deep breath and said: "It's all that damn Shiller's fault! Without him, the cosmos was fine! He's the one stirring things up!!!"
"Forget it, is it just this injury?" Death gritted her teeth and said, "Let me see… Well, it's treatable, do you want to treat it?"
Stark looked at Death silently until the angry expression on her face began to stiffen. Then, she slowly smoothed out the twisted expression on her face, reverted to her previous teasing manner, and said, "You're pretty smart, you didn't fall into the trap."
"How do you plan to heal him?" Stark asked the key question.
Death walked towards him, and with a smile in her eyes, she looked at him and said, "The wounds on Shiller's soul come from some very painful memories of his past, and I can erase all the memories related to that. This way, he'll be healed."
While saying this, Death squinted, as if she had already seen the bloody and war-filled end through this timeline.
But then, she shook her head regretfully and said, "Unfortunately, you're pretty smart, you noticed."
"But this is not entirely a trap." Death put away her emotions and seriously said to Stark, "The essential nature of those scars is memory, you can only heal him completely by deleting his memories."
"You've made such a fuss, other beings should have discovered you by now. If you don't believe me, you can ask them, my stupid brothers and sisters will only give you the same answer."
With that, Death reached out and touched Stark's face guard, tilted her head, and stared into his eyes, saying, "As long as you give me a positive answer, your friend will no longer have those gloomy and painful pasts."
"Trust me, Shiller's past was more painful than you imagine, and he couldn't save himself. As his good friend, you should help him, help him get out of misery and find happiness…"
Death's face was almost touching the tip of Stark's nose. When their eyes met, Stark heard countless chants, like a hymn from Heaven.
In the sacred sound, innocent children were singing a song of friendship. They said that friends should help each other, helping friends is not a sin, if he can't save himself, you should be the savior…"
Then Death spoke again, "In your memories, there are too many trivial and ordinary things, they are not worth you keeping, not worth you suffering for. If they could be destroyed and replaced with happiness, why not do it?"
"Only by no longer being troubled by the mundane, can you move towards greater and happier future..."
Stark slowly opened his mouth, and it seemed like Death had already heard his affirmative answer.
A piece of starry sky unfolded slowly behind Death, the entire Land of Death was integrated into one, becoming an endless and mysterious confluence, Death, as a cornerstone of the cosmos, revealed her true greatness.
When ordinary mortals would go mad at the sight of such infinite truth and mystery, Stark's eyes gradually cooled down, a different kind of light burst out from his indifference.
That was a strong emotion that even Death who was staring at him felt surprised, it was the kind of feelings and love that these abstract entities could recreate, but would never truly have.
"...No."
Stark uttered a word completely contrary to what Death expected, she reached out with her arms made up of stars and held Stark's face, looking at him with her eyes full of infinite mystery, asking, "Why do you refuse? Why not complete your mission to save?"
In Stark's eyes, there was a pain that Death couldn't understand, Death stroked his eyes, but Stark closed his eyes and said,
"If Shiller is pained by his past, he can choose to forget himself, rather than have anyone help him forget."
"If he hasn't forgotten, it means there's something he has to remember in this memory. These things may be more precious than all the pain in that memory combined."
"Therefore, he would rather suffer torment than forget, just like my past."
"The pain that Howard's and Maria's deaths brought me, cannot compare to the consolation those good times I spent with them brought me. Given the choice, I would never choose to forget."
"Death… Death…" Stark actively reached out and touched Death's cheek, and said to her, "In this world, all beings with emotions and wisdom could never defeat you, but we've all defeated you."
Through the infinite veil of death, Stark looked at the far behind Death's back. He said,
"Prosperous civilizations, bustling cities, they are all built amidst generations of death and rebirth."
"Facing death, we all feel inevitable fear because we are weak, because we are insignificant…"
Stark backed away a few steps, his figure began to become more and more ethereal, while Death stretched out her hand as if she wanted to reach through him, to touch the prosperous cosmos she could never reach.
Before the figure of Stark disappeared, only his emotion-laden voice resonated in the Land of Death, highlighting the desolateness and emptiness here, and also the loneliness of Death, whose arms still had the intention of retaining him.
"Ordinary people like me will eventually return to your embrace."
"But our legacy, spirit, friendship, family, cities, civilizations we've built…"
"The memories that keep us awake at night, causing deep pain, and the treasures they protected that we remember for a lifetime, together form this amazing world."
"Those insignificant things compared to your greatness will remain... forever."