MWM Chapter 415

“This is time travel through the Quantum Realm? I have to admit, it’s quite impressive,” Leo silently marveled as he followed Dr. Banner through the quantum space, expanding his consciousness to feel the strange and fascinating quantum world outside.

Time, no matter the world or system, is always one of the most supreme laws. However, different worlds have different rules and interpretations regarding the concept of time. Leo speculated that this variation might be due to the different understandings of time by the creators of these worlds.

For instance, in some worlds, changing the past alters the future, much like in *Back to the Future*. In other worlds, altering the past only fulfills events that have already occurred, similar to when Hermione and Harry use the Time Turner to save Sirius in the *Harry Potter* world.

Then, there’s the Marvel world, where traveling to the past creates a new branch in the timeline, without affecting the main one.

The methods of time travel are just as varied—wormholes, the Quantum Realm, traveling faster than light to reverse time, and magical, mystical, or technological means of bending time.

Leo himself had spent some time researching these concepts, even delving into the Time Turner. However, the Time Turner worked using a time-reversal spell in combination with a rare material called Time Sand, forming a magical artifact. If only the spell was used without the Time Sand, it would still reverse time, but in an unstable manner, often leading to the user becoming lost in the flow of time.

Thus, he had handed over most of his research on time to the Wizard Empire’s research institution. Although this trip through the Quantum Realm was facilitated by technology, it still gave him some valuable insights into the laws of time.

“We’re back!”

As they traveled through the mysterious quantum space, one by one, the Avengers reappeared on the platform of the Quantum Tunnel.

“Did we get all the stones?”

As the quantum suits retracted, Tony, holding a briefcase, immediately asked.

He and Steve had returned from 1970, successfully retrieving the Tesseract from the military base, replenishing their Pym particles, and even sharing moments with his father and Steve’s old flame.

“I can’t believe we actually pulled this off!” War Machine, Rhodey, held up the Orb containing the Power Stone, grinning in disbelief.

He, Nebula, Black Widow, and Hawkeye had traveled to 2014. Black Widow and Hawkeye had flown to Vormir to retrieve the Soul Stone, while Rhodey and Nebula knocked out Star-Lord on Morag to take the Orb.

Fat Thor and Rocket also raised their Reality Stone, having traveled to Asgard in 2013, extracting the Aether from Jane and bringing back Thor’s hammer for good measure.

Hulk held up two stones—one was the Time Stone he had gotten from the Ancient One, and the other was the Mind Stone, held in a box that Leo had transformed into.

As all eyes turned toward the last group, they realized that only Hawkeye had returned, with no sign of Black Widow. Hawkeye held the Soul Stone in his hand, but his eyes were filled with sorrow, and he fell to his knees, overcome with grief.

Everyone immediately sensed something terrible had happened.

“Clint, where’s Natasha?” Banner asked, his voice tight with fear, as he had long harbored feelings for Natasha.

Clint choked back his tears, finally managing to reply, “She sacrificed herself… to get the Soul Stone.”

The room filled with sadness, especially for Banner and Steve, who had fought alongside Natasha for years.

“You didn’t know? To obtain the Soul Stone, you must sacrifice the soul of someone you love,” Leo said, releasing his transformation technique and revealing himself to the group.

“Who is this?” Seeing the box holding the Mind Stone suddenly turn into a living person, the rest of the Avengers, aside from Tony’s group, were startled and immediately went on alert.

Fat Thor quickly summoned both Stormbreaker and Mjolnir, holding them ready in his hands.

“No need to be alarmed. He’s a friend,” Tony reassured them and quickly explained the events of their mission in 2012.

The group was surprised, but still grieving Natasha’s death, they didn’t press further.

“Come on, we have the Infinity Stones! It’s not like she’s gone for good. Cheer up,” Fat Thor said.

But Hawkeye shook his head. “We can’t bring her back.”

“You’re just a regular human from Earth. You might not understand. This is the realm of cosmic magic,” Thor tried to explain, but Hawkeye cut him off.

“The red floating guy said it couldn’t be undone. Even the Infinity Stones can’t do it.”

“Clint’s right,” Leo said, stepping forward. “The Infinity Stones can only bring back those who were erased by the Stones. They can’t resurrect anyone else, especially not someone claimed by the Soul Stone.”

He continued, “Natasha’s soul has been absorbed into the Soul Stone itself. Trying to use the stone to release her is impossible.”

“However,” he added, “there might be a way. If we can find another powerful force to extract Natasha’s soul from the stone, there’s a chance she could come back.”

“If you can retrieve her body from Vormir, I might be able to try and extract her soul from the Soul Stone,” Leo suggested.

His main task was to accompany the Avengers who had traveled from October 16, 2023, to May 4, 2012, in their quest to collect the Infinity Stones and help them defeat Thanos’ army. One condition for achieving the highest completion level was ensuring that no Avengers involved in the final battle against Thanos died.

But did this include Black Widow? The wording of the task seemed not to, but he couldn’t be sure. What if Black Widow’s death on Vormir was also considered part of the battle against Thanos? If failing to save her cost him his high-level completion reward, it would be disastrous.

To play it safe, he decided it was best to try and resurrect her. Even if he couldn’t be certain that extracting her soul would work, the stakes were too high to ignore. He had to try.

(End of Chapter)

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