The flow of ti reversed, transporting back to the mont when Schiller successfully entered the Realm of Death.
While Death was preoccupied with handling Schiller's issue, which was mainly about incessantly prank-calling Lucifer Morningstar, Schiller wasn't idling. He was persistently trying to pitch to Death.
Although, by this point, the primary objective of both parties was to erge victorious, Schiller thought, why not try to acquire another client while he was at it? So, he pulled out all the stops, initiating a business negotiation with Death.
At first, Death completely ignored him. However, as Schiller continually shifted his negotiation tactics, Death began to show a hint of interest. While she maintained an uninterested facade, she was, in fact, listening intently.
Seeing that Death seed sowhat swayed, Schiller grew more enthusiastic. Face-to-face sales pitches were different from making phone calls. Schiller could incorporate various gestures, visual aids, and even presentations to fully illustrate how advanced his partnership thods were.
Soon, they dove into an intense phase of negotiation, where neither side was willing to give an inch. They kept probing each other's limits, adjusting their own stances, leading to a prolonged tug-of-war.
The two of them, sitting in the Realm of Death and discussing business over a al, seed to be in perfect harmony. But over at the OAA, problems arose.
Death continually prank-called Lucifer Morningstar, who in turn kept prank-calling Marvel. The OAA, whose duty it was to ensure the stable operation of cosmos, was clearly not having a smooth run with all these prank calls. Thus, they had to find a way to end this telephonic nuisance.
The OAA considered destroying the mobile phone and delegated this task to their subordinates, which was then passed down the chain of command until it landed on Silver Surfer, the subordinate of Galactus, who beca the scapegoat at the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Upon hearing that Silver Surfer and his superior, Galactus, wanted to beco Platinum mbers of the Sanctum Sanctorum, Loki personally took charge. Terms were agreed upon, contracts were signed, all that was left was the paynt. But at this point, Silver Surfer ntioned he needed to get the budget approved and get the funds from Galactus.
However, Galactus was constantly famished, always eager to consu but never to regurgitate. Extracting any energy from him seed almost impossible.
Left with no choice, Silver Surfer escalated the issue, and fortunately, the Life Court was quite generous. Once the budget was approved, Silver Surfer successfully beca a Platinum mber of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Loki was ecstatic. The revenue from this deal compensated for an entire year of hard work. Silver Surfer was equally pleased, thinking that using soone else's money to easily locate his target would make his mission effortless.
But then, Loki delivered so unsettling news. According to Frigga, who was present at the ti, Schiller was dead.
Upon hearing this, Silver Surfer was stunned. He knew his mission was to locate the target and have Galactus devour the planet where the target resided. But with the target now dead, what purpose did Galactus serve?
Uncertain whether soone had eliminated the target before him or if so accident had occurred, Silver Surfer concluded his mission was complete. He inford Galactus, who then notified the Life Court.
When the OAA learned of Schiller's death, they were perplexed. With the mobile phone destroyed, why were the prank calls still not terminated?
Upon further investigation, the OAA realized that the ongoing calls were precisely because Schiller was dead.
However, due to the operations that Death was conducting, which involved entities from the DC universe, the OAA couldn't ascertain the exact reason. All they knew was that they needed to resurrect Schiller first to determine if the prank calls were a result of his death.
Yet, the OAA also represented the readers and the editorial departnt, embodying the supre will of the Marvel universe. Within this supre will, anyone who proclaid, "With great power cos great responsibility," was dood.
This "Spider Curse" reflected the comic readers' desire to witness Spider-Man's growth, manifested by the editorial team through the demise of his close kin.
One side of the OAA emphasized the need to resurrect Schiller to resolve the prank call issue, while the other side, representing the readers and editors, dictated the death of those uttering the aforentioned phrase.
If the different aspects of OAA could converse, it might go sothing like this:
"Maintaining the stability of Space is my responsibility. I say, I need to resurrect Schiller and terminate the calls!"
"Upholding the readers' will is my responsibility. I say, since Schiller proclaid the importance of power and responsibility, he must die!"
"He can't die; I need to terminate the calls!"
"He must die..."
"He can't..."
"He must..."
In short, regarding the matter of whether Schiller could die, there seed to be a minor glitch in OAA's programming.
Of course, a glitch of this magnitude couldn't possibly crash the supre will governing Space. A well-designed program always possesses self-diagnostic and ergency stop functions.
For OAA, the best approach is a reset.
Of course, not a full reset of the entire MarvelSpace, nor a reset that rewrites the backgrounds of all characters. Rather, it's about rewinding the tiline of an individual Space to a point where there are no issues, effectively resetting the cause-and-effect relationships.
In simpler terms, it's about rolling back to erase a buggy segnt of the program. Then, through so intervention by OAA, the developnt of that individual Space can be steered away from the bug-prone potential, thus resolving the issue thoroughly.
Inside the Realm of Death, Schiller is holding a contract, pointing to its end, telling Death, "If everything is in order, sign here, according to the terms we discussed..."
Death reviews the contract once more. Satisfied, a pen materializes in her hand, and her beautiful cursive signature starts to grace the paper.
However, as she finishes the first letter, she feels sothing amiss. Schiller hears a strange noise too.
Both of them look up to the sky. Schiller isn't sure what Death sees, but he notices an unfamiliar constellation appearing in the Realm of Death's sky.
The constellation grows larger and closer to Schiller. Narrowing his eyes, he takes a step back, sensing danger. Just a second before the stars engulf him, he screams, "No! My contract!"
In a mont, the Realm of Death falls silent.
Schiller finds himself surrounded by a bright galaxy. All the light points around him move swiftly, or rather, he seems to be moving rapidly backward.
Within this endless stream of stars, he sees countless Spaces popping like bubbles. Every single detail of these passing Spaces is crystal clear to him.
In one, a person chooses to drink milk in the morning; this Space zips by him. In another, the sa person chooses not to; another Space flies past.
Endless choices lead to endless possibilities. Every single Space in the Multiverse represents infinite potentialities at every point in ti.
All sorts of bizarre entities fly past Schiller. Each of them is an independent Space. In this vast infinity, everything is Space.
Milk is a Space, chairs are Space, cats and dogs are Space. Thoughts are Space, and even dreams are Space...
As ti rewinds and causality resets, the Space Schiller inhabited is rebooted to a ti before it ever encountered the Multiverse.
Schiller jolts awake in his bed at Arkham Sanatorium. The serene bedroom and the bright starry sky outside the window don't diminish his drowsiness.
Reaching Spider-Army's base through Spider-Sense, discovering the so-called Spider Curse, using the curse to enter the Realm of Death, and then luring Death to prank call Lucifer Morningstar... it all seems like an absurd dream.
Waking up from bed often brings about this illusion, as if everything prior was just a hazy dream. But Schiller knows it wasn't.
He glances at the clock next to him. According to its date and ti, in two minutes, Silk will contact him through Spider-Sense.
The minutes tick by. Once the two minutes pass, the familiar "buzzing" sound doesn't co.
Silk hasn't contacted him; the Spider Totem is unresponsive. The sequence of events has diverged from its original path, potential errors perhaps averted.
Looking at his hand, where there should have been a Resurrection contract signed by Death – his trophy of victory – he finds nothing. With causality reset, everything vanished.
Taking a deep breath, Schiller sits up. He recalls what he witnessed during the Space reset, seeing the infinite Spaces in the gaps between ti's rewinding and causality resetting.
As the moonlight dims, Schiller's reflection is seen on the pristine window pane. A dangerous and mad smile slowly forms on his face.
Finally, the vinegar arrives!
Making dumplings has tired out!
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