Ch.139 Is It Possible… That You’re Just Too Weak?

For Electro, who had just lost half of his body in an explosion, this was a death he never imagined.

Maybe he had envisioned various ways to die, but never thought he'd be taken down by what appeared to be a weak, powerless teenager.

And in such a brutal way.

When half of his body was blown apart, MJ and Ned were standing on the scaffolding at the same height as him.

They saw everything that happened, crystal clear.

Especially when the blood mist erupted—they were terrified by the scene.

A few droplets even splattered onto their faces.

The two of them were completely stunned.

They hadn't expected Ronan to use such a ruthless method.

"So… Peter was telling the truth?"

"He really is that murderer?"

Ned couldn't help but glance at MJ.

MJ didn't know how to respond—she swallowed nervously.

Peter Parker had told them before that this Ronan guy was a total fraud.

Not only had he deceived them, but even Strange was fooled.

Ronan's true nature… was that of a cold-blooded killer!

"What, too scared to move?"

At that moment, Ronan's voice echoed from behind them.

The two instantly turned around in fear, stepping back once again in unison.

"When did you get here?"

Ned mustered his courage to ask.

After all, he had just badmouthed Ronan—and it was something Peter Parker had asked them to keep secret.

Who knew Ronan would show up behind them the very next second.

If he overheard, not only would Peter's secret be exposed, but their lives could be at risk.

Considering Ronan's abilities…

Ned thought about Electro, who had just been blown apart, and gulped.

Would his fate be just as bad?

"Just now."

Ronan smiled.

"Did you hear what I said?"

Ned asked instinctively.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it.

Sure enough, Ronan's interest piqued.

"What were you saying?"

"Were you badmouthing me?"

"You see, I have this wonderful trait—I despise evil."

"And how do I define evil?"

"People who talk behind my back… are evil."

Ronan raised an eyebrow.

Ned's legs began to tremble, his chubby face shaking.

It seemed like he might collapse and kneel before Ronan at any second.

"We were just wondering why you killed him."

MJ suddenly stepped in front of Ned, coming up with a quick excuse.

Another buffer.

"Why wouldn't I kill him?"

"If I didn't, would you rather he kept hurting people?"

Ronan responded with interest.

"Of course not. But you could've cured him with the antidote."

"As long as he got injected, he wouldn't have powers anymore!"

MJ quickly pulled out a vial—the antidote for Electro.

Ronan sighed as he looked at it.

What kind of world was this…

Did these mutants have it easy or what?

They say the rich rely on tech, the poor rely on mutation.

These guys waited so long for their mutations, and now you cure them with science?

And to top it off, Peter Parker gets to have tech and mutation?

"You never told me about that."

Ronan pouted.

"Didn't I?"

MJ turned to Ned.

Ned stiffly nodded. They indeed hadn't mentioned this to Ronan.

Seeing Ned's nod, MJ awkwardly put away the antidote and smiled nervously.

Bang!

The awkwardness broke as Peter Parker suddenly appeared—flying horizontally through the air.

He crashed through several scaffolding beams, and even the platform they stood on began to wobble.

"Peter!"

MJ rushed over as Peter got up.

Peter shook his head, jumping to his feet, trying to show he was fine.

But the fresh blood trickling down his face said otherwise.

"I'm fine."

"Lizard is cured. I injected him with the antidote."

"Where's the rest of the antidote?"

Peter spoke quickly, clearly exhausted from his encounter with Connors.

MJ handed the remaining antidotes to Peter while inspecting his injuries.

However, Peter's attention shifted elsewhere.

"You."

Peter had noticed Ronan.

"Of course, did you think an injured Strange would clean up your mess?"

Ronan shrugged, eyeing Peter like he was a foolish child.

That look made Peter uncomfortable.

He wanted to retort, but remembered Vini's warning and swallowed his words.

"Where's Electro and Sandman?"

"They're…"

Peter glanced around.

"Dead."

"I dealt with them for you. No need to thank me."

Ronan gestured towards Electro's corpse, acting as if he'd done Peter a favor.

Peter ran to the railing and looked down—Electro's halved body lay below.

"Why didn't you cure them?"

"Why did you kill them?!"

Peter's eyes widened, anger burning as he questioned Ronan.

That attitude wiped the smirk from Ronan's face.

Bang!

Peter went flying again, wide-eyed in disbelief.

He hadn't even seen Ronan move.

Even his Spider-Sense only gave him a fraction of a second's warning—but it wasn't enough.

And the pain in his face told him it was all real.

"Peter!"

MJ and Ned shouted again as Peter crashed down.

But Peter couldn't hear them.

Because Ronan was beating him senseless.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Peter became a punching bag in mid-air.

After two strikes, Ronan kicked him to the ground.

That was enough to drain Peter of any fight.

The pain coursing through his body left him feeling torn apart.

He couldn't even lift his right hand.

Thud.

Ronan landed in front of him, standing over his body.

"Honestly, Peter Parker, I've wanted to punch you for a long time."

"The first meeting was fine, but after that, you just got on my nerves."

Ronan grabbed Peter by the throat, lifting him off the ground.

Weak and defenseless, Peter could barely keep his eyes open.

And yet, there was defiance in his gaze.

Ronan chuckled at his attitude.

"You think everything is under control, yet it never is."

"And despite it all, you refuse to grow."

"Is that your so-called superhero heart?"

Ronan stared at Peter, wondering if his brain was wired wrong.

It's not that his kindness was wrong, but he applied it in the wrong places.

Despite all he had experienced, he still managed to choose the wrong answers to every problem.

Is it really that hard to be rational?

The most ridiculous part was that he didn't seem to grow at all—instead, he appeared to be regressing.

"Growth?"

"The growth you're talking about… does it mean killing people?"

Peter Parker was still stubborn.

Maybe from Tony Stark, his surrogate father, he didn't learn much—except for that signature stubbornness.

Unfortunately, Tony's stubbornness was backed by a degree of strength.

But Peter? All he had was the stubbornness.

"Tsk, so you think you're noble?"

Bang!

Before Ronan's words even finished, Peter Parker's mouth was taught another lesson.

Just as Ronan was wondering if Peter's stubbornness was stronger than his fist, the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus finally appeared.

"Hahahaha, so the heroes are fighting amongst themselves?"

"Looks like you so-called heroes are just fancy-dressed frauds."

"That's hilarious."

The Green Goblin watched as Peter was pummeled and couldn't help but laugh.

However, he never expected that these few simple words would ultimately lead to his downfall.

Ronan lifted his head, lowering his fist.

"You know," Ronan began, "there are two things I despise the most."

"One is people badmouthing me behind my back—or to my face."

"The other is someone interrupting me when I'm showing off."

"Unfortunately for you, you just broke the rules."

As soon as Ronan finished speaking, two clones appeared to his left and right.

He tilted his head slightly, and the clones vanished in an instant.

Bang!

The Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus, who had interrupted Ronan, were sent flying backward in perfect synchrony.

Ronan lowered his head once more, turning his gaze back to Peter Parker.

"You know what else?"

"Besides your self-righteousness, the thing I hate most is the way you question others."

"Strange practically begged me to come and clean up this mess."

"And you never mentioned you had those so-called 'antidotes.'"

"So tell me, from what moral high ground do you stand to question me about killing?"

Ronan sneered at Peter, curious about his thought process.

Peter's way of thinking always seemed off compared to normal people.

"I just wanted to save them."

Peter Parker raised his head and said this with pride.

Save them?

Hearing this, Ronan laughed.

"Your idea of saving… involves disrupting the balance of other universes?"

"From the very start, everything you and Strange did affected the other parallel universes."

"If you had sent them back as Strange initially suggested, maybe things could've been salvaged."

"But now, it's too late."

Ronan dropped Peter to the ground and turned his attention to the distance.

As he spoke, his clones had already efficiently dealt with the Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus.

Experience had taught him everything.

"So that's your reason for killing them?"

"Isn't killing them just as disruptive to the multiverse's future?"

Peter lay on the ground, wearing the smug expression of someone who thought they'd found a loophole in the argument.

Ronan simply shrugged, unconcerned.

"Listen, I'm me—and you're you."

"I live by double standards."

"Some things I can do, but you can't. Simple as that."

Ronan shrugged and stepped past Peter, taking a few steps forward.

His clones had already informed him that an old acquaintance was flying in their direction.

Sure enough, it was Vini.

As Vini flew closer, Ronan sighed.

Fighting these villains really was like clearing mobs in a video game.

Deal with the small fry first, then confront the final boss.

Except, from Ronan's perspective, this boss didn't seem all that tough.

"So… why do you like butting into other people's business?"

Ronan looked at Vini descending from the sky with a look of exasperation.

Getting involved was rarely a good idea—curiosity killed the cat, after all.

"You call this butting in? I call it coming to kill you."

"Or did you think I was with those useless fools?"

Vini glanced at Peter's battered body, smirking with disdain.

With those people? The mere thought insulted her.

"You're so determined to kill me. I've been meaning to ask—why?"

"What did I do to offend you?"

Ronan's face was filled with confusion as he stared at Vini.

Despite his previous jokes about unrequited love turning into hatred, he was genuinely curious.

Who was this person?

Where did she come from, and why did she insist on killing him?

"If that's your dying wish, I suppose I can tell you."

Vini's face remained stoic, unfazed by Ronan's sarcasm.

Ronan sighed.

"Fine, consider it my dying wish."

"Give this lost lamb some direction."

He spread his hands—curiosity still lingering.

Vini glanced at him, taking a deep breath and ignoring his sarcastic tone.

"Remember when you used the Time Stone and came to this universe not long ago?"

As she mentioned it, her expression finally shifted slightly.

"Yeah, some con artists tricked me into saving their universe."

"And I also ran into your crazy clone chasing me down—he self-destructed in the end."

Ronan nodded, recalling the incident vividly.

To any passersby, they'd look like two people casually chatting, not about to engage in a deadly battle.

"It was during that trip—when you returned two days late—that your universe lacked the Time Stone for those two days."

"That's when another parallel universe emerged."

"And I come from that parallel universe."

Vini explained her entire story, detailing how Dormammu consumed Earth and dragged it into the Dark Dimension.

She even revealed her deal with Dormammu.

When she finished, Ronan showed no sympathy or sadness. Not even joy.

All he felt was…

Weirdness.

Because, in his eyes, there couldn't possibly be anyone dumber than Vini.

"So that's why I must kill you."

Vini's hatred seemed to fade, but that only made her more dangerous.

Dogs that bite rarely bark.

Of course, Ronan wasn't a dog—he was human.

"I get why you need to kill me now."

"But have you considered this—what if Dormammu doesn't keep his end of the deal?"

"He is the Lord of the Dark Dimension, after all."

Ronan sighed. If this were truly the case, he couldn't blame Vini for trying to kill him.

But there were still plenty of holes in this story that needed patching.

"We've already made a contract, so I doubt he can break it."

Vini responded.

"A contract?"

Ronan smirked. That was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.

A ruler of a dimension—especially the Dark Dimension's Dormammu—would really honor a contract?

Even Mephisto from Hell would play tricks to ensure he came out on top.

Of course, since Stephen Strange had set such a precedent, Ronan couldn't argue much about it.

Maybe Dormammu really was a being of his word.

"Alright then, let's analyze the situation."

"Since you've become the Sorcerer Supreme, there's one thing you should know."

"That is, the formation of a universe—or the appearance of a parallel one—requires the existence of the Infinity Stones."

"Otherwise, the universe cannot take shape. Right?"

Ronan began enlightening Vini.

Vini simply stared at him calmly, offering no response.

Anyone who had spent a few years in the library knew this. It was basic knowledge.

"In that case, let me ask you a question."

"When your parallel universe appeared, did it have a Space Stone, Reality Stone, and the rest?"

"Was the Time Stone the only one missing?"

Ronan continued his 'humble inquiry.'

Vini paused for a moment but quickly returned to her stoic expression.

"What does that matter, whether it did or didn't?"

She asked softly.

"It matters a lot."

"The formation of the Infinity Stones can't miss a piece—each one serves a purpose."

"The Space Stone represents space, the Time Stone represents time, and the Reality Stone governs cosmic laws and changes, and so on."

"If your universe lacked the Infinity Stones, it couldn't have split off into a parallel one."

"If it did split, that means the Infinity Stones must have been present."

"So here's the question—if the other five Stones existed, why was the Time Stone the only one missing?"

Ronan spread his hands, asking the key question.

The six Infinity Stones were the foundation of the universe. Only when they were all present could a new universe form.

Otherwise, no new universe would appear.

Since Vini's universe had come into existence, the six Infinity Stones must have been there!

"The Time Stone… you took it!"

Vini's expression darkened.

She seemed to realize something but refused to believe it.

"No, no, no."

"Let's make a hypothetical scenario."

"What if the Time Stone I took was the one from your universe, or our two universes shared only that one Time Stone?"

"Let's say, by a one-in-a-billion coincidence, your universe was formed with just five Infinity Stones."

"If that were the case, your universe wouldn't have any concept of time."

"So… does your universe have a concept of time or not?"

Ronan's 'one-in-a-billion coincidence' was actually an exaggeration.

The fundamental law of the universe's birth required the Infinity Stones. Without them, nothing would form.

Even if this parallel universe split off mid-existence, it wouldn't lack essential components.

"What are you trying to say?!"

At this point, Vini's face had completely changed.

She had thought of a very troubling possibility.

Ronan smiled faintly, tapping his temple lightly.

"What I'm saying is simple—your universe originally had a Time Stone."

"When I took the Time Stone for those two days, a parallel universe might have been created—but what happened afterward had nothing to do with me."

"More importantly, in this universe, a man named Stephen Strange used the Time Stone to force Dormammu to sign an agreement never to attack Earth."

"So why couldn't you use the far more powerful Reality Stone, or another Stone, to force Dormammu into the same agreement?"

"Is there a chance… that you're just too weak?"