Chapter 0189: Authority

"This is madness, Strange!" Wong shouted at him as he jumped on top of the platform and slammed his hand on the slab, casting a sealing circle on it to prevent Strange from using it to channel Chaos Energy.

Strange cast a spell to manipulate the fallen debris all around them and turned it into spikes that he hurled at Wong who barely cast a counter-spell to defend against those spikes, turning them into dust.

In the meantime, Natasha had taken care of her two Elder Beasts by channeling an untold amount of lightning in them and taking care of them. Tony and Steve had also taken care of their beast by this point after working together.

Strange looked around and saw that he was at a disadvantage. He gave Wong a solemn look that gave the native Tibetian a bad feeling. It was then that Strange made the distinct hand sign of opening the Eye of Aggomoto.

"No!" Wong shouted as he cast a spell to prevent Strange from utilizing the Time Stone, but he wasn't fast enough. A green glow spread out from Strange and covered everyone in the room, freezing them in time.

Strange looked around the room for a few seconds before sighing as he shook his head, "Let's try again, shall we…" He said to himself before creating a portal to the New York Sanctum.

"You know, I really don't like you." Strange heard a voice reverberate through the hall and dispelled the portal before looking around himself cautiously, "Who!?"

He cast two red circles on his hands and got ready for a fight.

"You made me use something I didn't really want to." He heard the same voice originating from right beside his ear and abruptly turned around, only to see nothing.

"Dickhead." The same voice now seemed to be extremely far away.

Strange narrowed his eyes and created the portal again, deciding to ignore the voice. The will of the palace was constantly imploring him to keep going. It hadn't been affected since Strange had focused the Stone on the four people in the room.

Just as the portal formed, instead of leading to the place he expected, he found a mirror forming in it instead. Strange saw his reflection in the mirror and decided to dispel it before opening another, but his attempt was fruitless.

Instead, he saw his reflection taking a sinister smile before multiple black tentacles appeared from behind the reflection's head and approached him. They had a red glow that reminded Strange of Chaos Energy and he felt a shiver run along his spine. He constantly kept trying to dispel the portal but to no avail.

"Stop!" He stepped back as the tentacles kept approaching him. After taking two steps, he lost his footing and uncouthly fell from the slap, finding himself on his back while looking at the roof.

Instead of seeing the stone ceiling, he came across a black void from which he saw two glowing red eyes appear. His eyes widened in horror as he tried to look away from it, but it felt like he had been ensnared by the vision. He got a faint glimpse into the void and saw the inexplicable cosmic horror within before screaming at the top of his lungs. His heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest as he saw the tentacles continue to approach him.

…

Alex looked at Strange's convulsing form with annoyance, but his eyes were out of focus as if focusing on something else.

«CP: 0.0000»

'Bastard…' Alex felt extremely annoyed at Doctor Strange that he was forced to use up the tiny scraps of Cosmic Energy that he had to resist the influence of the Time Stone.

He looked around and saw everyone frozen in the same manner as Agatha — frozen in time, including Natasha. Sending a tendril to attach to Doctor Strange's head, Alex manipulated the man's mind further to offer the Time Stone to him.

'At least I got this…' Alex thought as he looked at the glowing green gem that had appeared in the unconscious man's hand.

He spent a few seconds looking at it before sending a tendril at it to grab it. Just as he made contact with it, Alex felt a jolt of an unknown power filling his entire being. A green current passed through the tendril that Alex had grabbed the stone with and reached his body, making him groan a little.

At the same time, for his soul in the Klyntar Soul Dimension. It was previously tinged with a faint red aura from Wanda's Chaos Energy and now also gained a sheen of green that didn't mix with the red and instead seemed to form another layer over the red.

Alex heard gasping and saw Natasha having awoken from the time freeze in a very abrupt way. Just as she stood up to take a breath, she also let out a groan and kneeled over falling on the ground as she barely supported herself.

A similar scene was reflected by all of the girls as the authority of the Time Stone coursed through Alex, and by extension everyone who was connected to him.

Spider-Gwen was still unconscious from the effects of Berserking, so she didn't show much reaction other than just her body convulsing as the green arcs of energy appeared on her body.

On the other hand, Scientist Gwen almost fainted in the middle of the lab while working with three other scientists and Alex.

As for Laura, she was out on a date with Alex in Farm Earth when she felt the unfamiliar energy overwhelming her entire being as she kneeled with a groan. Alex was barely keeping himself together and could only somewhat grab her so that she didn't fall over.

Lastly, Jane and Wanda didn't show too much of a reaction other than a light groan, similar to Alex. Unlike Alex, who was directly experiencing the power of the stone, his girls were only getting it through him, diluting the power by a significant amount. So, although they felt the power coursing through them, their reactions, depending on their level of power varied. That was because, unlike the others, both Jane and Wanda worked on a much higher spectrum of power than them.

After a few seconds, the arcs of green energy died down and all but disappeared as Alex took a breath to calm himself down.

The stone had disappeared into his body, specifically his soul, which had now gained a permanent green sheen over the red that signified his connection to Wanda. The stone was nestled at the very center of his soul, constantly releasing a green energy that seemed to be affecting him in an unknown manner.

«Sub-Universe Time Authority acquired»

«Authorities»:: ‹Time (2.5%)›

Both notifications disappeared as soon as they appeared and Alex had to summon his skill panel to get a good look at what he got from the Time Stone.

{ «Skill Acquisition»

«EP: 55765»

«CP: 0.0000»

«Manipulation Abilities»:: ‹Advanced Lightning Manipulation› ‹Basic Blood Manipulation›

«Innate Abilities»:: ‹Biological Manipulation› ‹Host Enhancement› ‹Devour› ‹Copy›

«Derived Abilities»:: ‹Low Cosmic Physique Creation› ‹True 6th Sense› ‹Inventory› ‹Advanced Camouflage› ‹Elemental Immunity›

«Magical Abilities»:: ‹High Magic Affinity› ‹High Chaos Affinity› ‹Host of the Scarlet Witch›

«Cosmic Abilities»:: ‹Low Cosmic Manipulation (Incomplete)›

«Authorities»:: ‹Time (2.5%)›

}

'…2.5? 2.5?!' Alex was flabbergasted at how little Time Authority he got from the Stone.

'Wait…' He thought of something, 'I'll need forty stones to get absolute authority over time…' He realized. Instead of having the authority concentrated into one stone, it was divided. This was why the stone was weaker than the actual Time Stone.

"Alex?" Nat called him from the side as she recovered from whatever had happened.

"Yeah?" He shook his head and looked at Nat.

"Did you take that stone?" She asked while massaging her head. She didn't know what that stone was, but she remembered seeing a green glow spreading out from it before she felt as if she had been brought forward in time. She saw Alex having come out as the sorcerer-man was on the ground while having what seemed like a seizure.

"Yeah," Alex walked toward her and asked, "You okay? That power isn't something that a mortal being is meant to wield."

"What about you then?" Nat asked. Alex got closer to her and pulled her hand away from her head before bringing his hands to her head and massaging both her scalp and forehead.

"I'm immortal," He said with a playfully arrogant tone. He focused on massaging her head for a few seconds, making Nat groan lightly as she felt her body going limp. She leaned on him as he made her feel like she was in bliss.

After a few seconds, "Better?" Alex asked after stopping, as he saw Nat's hazy eyes getting focused again.

"Amazing," She said with a little smile, "Thank you." She kissed his lips.

Alex disappeared into her and said in her head, [I'll unfreeze everyone. Act like you were the same and don't know what's going on.]

Before Nat could ask anything further about what exactly happened, she felt the same authority passing through her body, but at a much lesser intensity, such that it didn't affect her too much. She saw a familiar green glow expanding toward everyone with her as the center point and saw them getting unfrozen in time.

***

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