Chapter 411: Thanos, deceased! The crisis is resolved!
Blood gushed from the incision, not splashing, but flowing like two rivers splitting from the same source and flowing in different directions.
The blood flowed into the cracks of the vitrified ground, making a sizzling sound.
Then it evaporated under the high temperature, turning into purple mist and dissipating into the air.
At the last moment, Thanos's consciousness might still be thinking of his mission, thinking of Gamora, and thinking of those relatives on Titan who had already turned to ashes.
Perhaps he didn't think of anything at all, just looking at that gray-blue sky with clouds and wind.
Looking at the dissipating energy lights, and looking at the woman standing at the edge of the crater with her glabella still glowing.
Then, there was nothing left.
18 stood at the edge of the crater, looking down at Thanos's halved corpse.
There were no ripples in her blue eyes; she had seen too much death, and Thanos was just another opponent she had defeated, nothing more.
Alice withdrew the light of the Mind Stone, and the light between her eyebrows slowly dimmed.
It returned to that soft, breathing-like pulsating state.
She turned around, looked at 18, and the two of them exchanged a glance.
"Mission accomplished," Alice said.
18 nodded, took off the Infinity Gauntlet hanging from her waist, and held it in her hand.
The two stones on the Infinity Gauntlet were still glowing, purple and orange, as if emitting a final reluctant sigh for their old Master.
"Master will definitely be very happy. It's time to go home and claim the reward," Alice said with a happy expression on her face.
"Mhm, at this time he should still be in the laboratory researching his Silver Superman serum!" 18 said.
"I'm really looking forward to the moment that serum succeeds. What kind of state will Master be in? He will definitely be a hundred times stronger than he is now!"
The two of them chatted casually beside Thanos's corpse, their expressions as calm as water, as if the Thanos lying on the ground wasn't killed by them.
Everyone on the battlefield was looking at them, everyone's mouth wide open as if they had seen a ghost.
The warriors of Wakanda, the warriors of the Dora Milaje, the heroes of the Avengers, the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Everyone was looking at the figures of the two women at the edge of the giant crater, looking at the two halves of the corpse at the bottom of the crater that no longer posed any threat.
No one spoke.
Not because there was nothing to say, but because all of this happened too fast.
From 18 crushing the energy ball to Alice cutting Thanos in half, the entire process took less than thirty seconds.
Thirty seconds ago, they were still struggling in despair, thinking that the end of the World was coming.
Thirty seconds later, Thanos was dead, the Infinity Gauntlet was taken away, and hundreds of Black Orderwarships began to retreat.
Their leader was dead, their will had collapsed, and their fleet fled in all directions like a swarm of headless flies.
Tony broke the silence first.
The left arm of his Mark LII armor was shattered, and the arc reactor on his chest had overloaded during the previous confrontation, emitting a harsh buzzing sound.
He turned off the power system of his left arm, relying only on the thruster of his right hand to maintain balance, and slowly flew to the edge of the giant crater.
He landed beside 18, his mask opened, revealing a face covered in dust and sweat.
He looked at the corpse at the bottom of the crater for a long time.
"Just like that?" Tony said, his voice hoarse, "He died just like that?"
"Otherwise, what else did you expect? Let me fight him for three hundred rounds? He's not qualified!" 18 said coldly.
Tony turned his head and looked at 18.
There was an indescribably complex expression in his brown eyes, mixed with shock and admiration.
Even more of a sense of powerlessness: 'I spent so many years building armor, upgrading weapons, and improving myself.'
'In the end, in front of an existence at this level, I can't even be considered a supporting character.'
"What kind of monster did you crawl out from?" Tonycouldn't help asking.
Hearing him say this, 18 gave him an ice-cold look.
"Do you want to go with Thanos?"
"!!!!" Tony.
"Don't misunderstand, I don't mean any offense at all, I just simply find it incredible, he is the Universe overlord after all!"
"Universe overlord? Who bestowed that title? You?"
18 shrugged indifferently, looking at Tony, her blue eyes as calm as two mirrors.
"Since you possess such powerful strength, why didn't you kill him before they entered Earth?" Tony asked curiously.
"Because we are not the bodyguards of your Earth, what does your life or death have to do with me?
Besides, I am the woman of Master Loren, and whatever Master tells me to do, I do.
What he doesn't let us do, we don't do. Previously, he didn't let us come.
Now, he let us come, so I came."
Tony's mouth opened and closed. He wanted to say something, but the words choked back to his throat.
In the end, he just looked at 18 with envy and said, "It is your Master's blessing to have women like you."
"This doesn't need your affirmation. Whether it's a blessing or not is up to my Master to decide." 18 looked at him coldly, then turned around.
"..." Tony.
Steve walked over from the other side of the giant crater, the shield still in his left hand, but his hand was trembling.
Not because of fatigue, but because he had just seen 18's battle.
There was a different expression in his blue eyes compared to Tony's; besides a sense of powerlessness, there was also acceptance.
He accepted that there were beings in this World much stronger than him, and accepted that there were some things he could not change.
He accepted that all he could do was his absolute best, rather than demanding the World operate according to his standards.
"Miss Lazuli, thank you. You saved our Planet."
Steve said, looking at 18 and Alice, his voice calm and sincere.
"This is also our Planet." 18 didn't speak, Alice on the side looked at him and nodded.
Alice's gaze shifted from Steve to Tony, and then to Natasha.
Finally, it fell on Carol, who was receiving treatment in the distance.
The gemstone between her eyebrows pulsed once. She was recording the data of this battle and analyzing everyone's performance.
Then she stored this information deep within her consciousness, perhaps to be used one day, perhaps never.
"The Infinity Gauntlet, I am taking it back for my Master. The rest of the matters here are left to you." Alice said, looking at them.
18 raised the gauntlet and looked at the two glowing stones.
The purple light of the Power Stone and the orange light of the Soul Stone intertwined in her blue eyes into a strange color.
"As for these two stones, how does Mr. Loren plan to deal with them?" At this moment, Nick Fury walked up and asked curiously.
"That is not something for you to inquire about. That is my Master's business." After saying that, 18 turned around and walked toward the sky.
Yes, not flying, but walking. Her feet stepped on the void, as if an invisible ladder extended from the ground to the sky.
She walked up into the sky, walking higher and higher, further and further away, and then a space gate appeared. She stepped into the space gate and directly disappeared.
Chapter 412 Swallowing Four Infinity Stones
Alice did not leave.
She stood at the edge of the giant crater, looking at the two halves of the corpse at the bottom of the pit.
She bent down and picked up a fragment from the ground.
It was not an ordinary fragment, but a piece of uru metalthat flew off when Number 18 removed the Infinity Gauntlet of Thanos.
The fragment was very small, less than the size of a fingernail, with ancient patterns left behind by the Dwarven King during forging on the surface.
Alice held the fragment in her palm, and the Mind Stoneemitted a soft glow.
It scanned the molecular structure, energy characteristics, and magic attributes of the fragment.
The corners of her mouth twitched slightly, which was her way of expressing "interesting".
Then she raised her head and looked at the distant Avengers Headquarters.
Looking at the Wakanda warriors cleaning up the battlefield, and looking at the people who were crying and celebrating that they were still alive.
The gemstone between her eyebrows pulsed for a moment and then dimmed.
She turned around and walked toward the sky, stepping on invisible stairs just like Number 18, rising step by step, and moving away step by step.
Her silver-white dress fluttered in the wind, and her bare feet left faint blue light trails in the void.
Those light trails dissipated after a few seconds, as if they had never existed.
"Wait!"
The voice of Quill came from behind.
He ran out of the ruins, limping, the old injury on his right leg having been torn open again in the recent battle.
He was still holding the element gun in his hand, but his eyes were bloodshot, carrying a trace of hope within them.
He quietly watched Alice's rising figure.
"Gamora!" shouted Quill.
"Thanos traded her for the Soul Stone. Is she still alive? Or rather, can she still come back?"
Alice stopped.
She did not turn around, only slightly tilting her head.
"The price of the Soul Stone is irreversible. The person you love will not come back."
Alice's voice came down from high above, as clear as speaking right beside his ear.
Quill's body froze.
His lips were trembling, his eyes were turning red, and his hands were shaking out of control.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
Perhaps it was "No", perhaps it was "Please", or perhaps it was just Gamora's name.
But in the end, no sound came out at all.
Alice continued to rise.
"But death is not the end."
Her voice came from even higher up, having become very soft, like a whisper in the wind.
"Perhaps one day, someone can find a way to reverse all of this, but stop thinking about it for now and accept reality properly!"
Her figure disappeared into the clouds.
Quill stood in place, tilting his head up, looking at the direction where Alice disappeared.
The wind blew his tattered jacket and dust-covered hair.
His eyes were red, but there were no tears.
He stood there for a long, long time, so long that even when Natasha walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder, he did not move.
"Let us go," said Natasha, her voice much softer than usual.
"We need to clean up the battlefield, treat the wounded, and continue to live."
Quill lowered his head and looked at his hands.
Those hands had once held the element gun, had once held Gamora's hand, and had once reached out into space in despair attempting to grab her.
Now, those hands hung empty at his sides, gripping nothing at all.
"Continue to live. Yes, I want to continue to live, and then find Gamora back!"
Quill repeated Natasha's words, his voice very soft, as if confirming the meaning of those words.
Then he turned around and followed Natasha back to the camp.
His pace was very slow and heavy, but he did not stop.
Morgan Manor, study.
Loren sat in the high-backed chair, and the holographic screen in front of him was playing real-time footage of the Wakanda battlefield.
He had finished watching the entire battle, from Carolresisting the energy ball to Number 18 crushing the energy ball.
From Number 18 seizing the Infinity Gauntlet to Alicecutting Thanos in half.
His eyes appeared deep and quiet in the blue light of the holographic screen, like two pools of water without ripples.
Tifa stood beside the desk, holding a new cup of tea in her hand.
Seeing that the tea had cooled, she replaced it with another cup, and then continued to stand behind him, massaging his shoulders.
Just at this moment, a portal of space appeared in his room.
Then Number 18 walked out first.
She stood opposite the desk, holding the Infinity Gauntletin her hand, with two gems glowing on the back of the glove.
"Master, I have brought back the Infinity Gauntlet!"
Her blue eyes looked at Loren, and then she gently placed the Infinity Gauntlet on Loren's desk.
The Infinity Stones that countless people fought over outside were, right now here at Loren's place, like some ordinary vegetable in a vegetable market.
He could take them whenever he wanted, effortlessly without breaking a sweat.
Number 18 placed the gauntlet on the desk and stepped back.
Loren did not go to pick up the gauntlet.
He just looked at it, looking at those two gems.
The Power Stone and the Soul Stone.
His fingers tapped lightly on the armrest twice.
"The Power Stone, the purest source of power in the Universe; the Soul Stone, the key controlling the boundary between life and death."
"Thanos spent a lifetime searching for them, using the life of the person he loved most to trade for them."
"Thinking they could make him a god."
He reached out his hand and picked up the Infinity Gauntlet.
In his hand, the purple light and orange light of the gauntlet illuminated his face.
His eyes turned into a mixed color of purple and orange in the light, like two burning dual-color stars.
"Did he become a god?"
Loren put the gauntlet back on the table and asked.
"No, because gods do not die."
Just at this moment, Alice walked out from inside the portal, saying with full mockery,
"Even the most powerful gods will die, and even possessing all the Infinity Stones does not make one invincible!"
Loren stood up from his chair, walked to the window, and said meaningfully,
Others might not know the truth of this Universe, but he knew it all too well.
Even fully equipped Infinity Stones were like ants in front of an existence at the level of the Living Tribunal.
Not to mention compared to the supreme will of the omniverse like OAA, which was completely utter trash.
Even the Time Variance Authority could ignore the influence of the Infinity Stones and easily achieve the point of pruning timelines.
Of course, this was only the case for those particularly powerful existences.
If placed in a conventional World, the power of the Infinity Stones was still quite buggy.
Exactly because of this, these Infinity Stones could no longer be allowed to flow out; he had to Master them in his own hands.
At this thought, he waved his hand, and the two Infinity Stones detached themselves from the Infinity Gauntlet.
Then they floated in front of him, and he opened his mouth and gently inhaled.
The two Infinity Stones were directly swallowed into his stomach by him, completely fusing with his cells!
Nowadays, his body contained the power of four Infinity Stones.
They were respectively the Space Stone, the Reality Stone, the Power Stone, and the Soul Stone.
In addition, he had also devoured the Dark Magic power of Chthon and the bloodline of the Saiyan.
Under the blessing of these abilities, his own ability to devour cosmic energy was greatly enhanced.
He was now like a bottomless black hole, and any energy that reached him would be instantly devoured.
Single-Universe-level existences were no longer anything to be feared in front of him.
Chapter 413 Thanos's Mission Will Not End
Deep within the Universe, the remnant fleet of the Black Order glided silently through the starry sky.
The massive fleet originally composed of hundreds of warships now had fewer than thirty remaining.
They drifted aimlessly in the void like a swarm of worker bees that had lost their queen, with no direction, no goal, and no hope.
The hulls were covered in battle scars, scorch marks from energy cannons, dents caused by Impacts, and gaps torn open by explosions.
Some warships were still leaking air, and tiny wisps of white steam spurted from the cracks.
Instantly condensing into ice crystals in the vacuum, they resembled rows of silent tears.
The flagship Sanctuary II was the most severely damaged.
Its port side was torn open by a huge gap caused by the Impact generated when No. 18 crushed the energy ball.
It extended all the way from the bow to the stern, like a wound slashed open by a sharp blade.
Multiple cabins inside the warship were exposed to the vacuum, and hundreds of Black Order soldiers were sucked into space in that instant, dying silently.
Two-thirds of the bridge's observation windows were shattered, temporarily sealed off by an energy field.
The blue light screen danced across the broken window, emitting a low humming sound.
Ebony Maw stood in the center of the bridge, hands behind his back, with no expression whatsoever on his pale face.
His obsidian robe emitted a dim luster under the dim lights of the bridge, and his slender fingers were crossed behind his waist, with neatly trimmed nails.
His posture remained elegant and composed, like an aristocrat taking a stroll in his own garden.
But something was burning inside his eyes.
It was not fire, but ice.
It was that kind of coldness that would not solidify even at absolute zero, more dangerous than any flame.
"Everyone is watching you."
Ebony Maw's voice was very soft, as if he were talking to himself, or perhaps speaking to some non-existent audience.
No one answered.
Proxima Midnight stood at the other end of the bridge, her blue skin appearing somewhat purplish in the blue light of the energy field.
Her spear was held in her hands, the tip resting against the floor, her hands folded on top of the spear shaft, and her chin resting on her hands.
Her eyes looked out the window at that endless void, watching those slowly moving, damaged warships.
Watching those fragments floating in space, some metallic and some not.
There was no expression on her face, but her lips were trembling slightly.
That was anger, sorrow, and an inability to accept it.
Black Dwarf crouched in the corner of the bridge, his huge body curled up into a ball, like an injured Beast.
His breathing was heavy and hurried, and every inhalation seemed as if he were forcefully swallowing something.
His hands—hands larger than an ordinary person's head—covered his face, and his dark red eyes could be seen through the gaps between his fingers.
He was crying, crying silently, tears seeping out from between his fingers and dripping onto the metal floor with a faint patter.
Corvus Glaive was not on the bridge.
He was in his cabin, locking himself behind closed doors; no one knew what he was doing inside.
But every once in a while, a muffled Impact sound would come from his cabin.
As if something were being smashed against the wall or onto the ground.
They had lost Thanos.
Not because of failure, not because they could not defeat Earth's defensive forces.
But because a person they had never heard of, named Loren Morgan, had sent two subordinates.
Within thirty seconds, killing their god, their leader, the meaning of their existence.
Ebony Maw closed his eyes.
Deep within his consciousness, he was still replaying the footage of those thirty seconds.
No. 18 crushed the energy ball, caught Thanos's fist, and snatched away the Infinity Gauntlet.
Alice fired a psychic ray, cutting Thanos's body in half.
Thirty seconds.
Thirty seconds.
He opened his eyes.
"How many resources do we have left?" Ebony Maw asked, his voice still calm.
Proxima Midnight raised her head, glanced at him, then lowered her head and continued staring at the floor.
"The fuel is enough for thirty days of navigation," a Black Order officer replied, his voice trembling.
"Food and Water are enough to sustain us for fifteen days, and medical supplies are almost non-existent.
There are twenty-eight available warships, of which only twelve possess full combat capabilities, and the number of soldiers..."
"Enough." Ebony Maw interrupted him.
He did not care about numbers.
Numbers could not resurrect Thanos for him, numbers could not let him return to Earth, and numbers could not let him complete Thanos's unfinished mission.
What he cared about was the next step.
Thanos was dead, but the Universe still existed.
Life was still multiplying, resources were still being consumed, and balance was still being broken.
Thanos's mission would not end because of his death; at least, Ebony Maw would not let it end.
He would complete Thanos's unfinished cause, in Thanos's way, or in his own way.
"Set a course," Ebony Maw said, "heading to—"
He paused for a moment.
Where was he going?
The strongholds of the Black Order had been destroyed one by one by the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The remaining ones were too far, so far that their fuel wouldn't last.
He knew there were places in the Universe where they could hide, and forces that could provide resources and shelter.
But those people were not friends, only temporarily cooperating driven by interests.
Without Thanos's power, would those people betray them?
"Head to the nearest supply point," Ebony Maw finally said, choosing a vague command without a clear goal.
The officer nodded and began operating the navigation system.
The bridge fell into silence.
Only the low roar of the engine and the hum of the energy field echoed.
Then, an alarm sounded.
Not a combat alert, not an intrusion alert, but an approach alert of a kind Ebony Maw rarely heard.
Two spaceships were approaching, very close, so close that their sensors had only picked up the signal a few seconds ago.
"Two unknown spaceships, located at the starboard three o'clock direction of the mothership, less than a thousand kilometers away.
They haven't fired, haven't sent communication signals, just parked there."
The sensor officer reported, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Ebony Maw's brow furrowed slightly.
"Magnify the image."
The main screen lit up, displaying the real-time image in the starboard direction.
Against the background of the starry sky, two huge, silver-gray spaceships were parked in the void.
Their appearance was completely different from the warships of the Black Order.
More rounded, more streamlined, the surface covered with tiny glowing blue patterns, like some ancient text or totem.
Ebony Maw's eyes narrowed slightly.
He recognized that kind of spaceship.
Skrulls.
The Skrulls mothership "Redemption" was a spaceship even larger than Sanctuary II.
Its length exceeded fifteen kilometers, width six kilometers, height three kilometers, making it the largest one in the Skrulls fleet.
Its surface was covered with energy turrets and sensor arrays, blue energy shields flowing across the hull surface like a layer of soft Water film.
The Skrulls were once one of the most powerful empires in the Universe.
Their shapeshifting abilities allowed them to infiltrate any civilization, and their technology had reached an extremely high level over thousands of years of accumulation.
But in the millennium war with the Kree, they gradually declined, falling from an empire to exiles.
Their homeworld was destroyed, their fleet weakened.
Their people were forced to scatter to every corner of the Universe, surviving by transforming into other species.
But even after their decline, the Skrulls remained a force that could not be ignored.
Their mothership remained powerful, their weapons remained lethal, their soldiers remained loyal.
Ebony Maw looked at that huge mothership on the screen, the corners of his mouth raising slightly in an almost invisible arc.
Chapter 414 Delivering Themselves to the Door
"The Skrulls actually delivered themselves right to our door." Ebony Maw gave a cold chuckle, his eyes full of mockery.
"Commander, do we need to detour?" the officer asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
"Our fleet is severely damaged, if we encounter battle again—"
"It is not encountering battle again," Ebony Mawinterrupted him, "it is initiating battle."
Everyone on the bridge froze.
Proxima Midnight raised her chin from her spear, her blue eyes looking at Ebony Maw, her pupils contracting slightly.
Black Dwarf raised his head from between his fingers, a light flickering in his dark red eyes.
It was not fear, but anticipation.
"Ebony Maw!" Proxima Midnight spoke, her voice cold and hard.
"Less than thirty percent of our fleet's combat power remains.
The Skrulls mothership looks completely intact, their weapon systems are still operating, and their shields are still running.
We might win, but there will be losses."
Ebony Maw turned around and looked at her.
His black eyes were pupil-less, like two pieces of obsidian.
Under the dim light, they emitted a faint, almost invisible glow.
"Losses?" Ebony Maw repeated the word.
"We have already lost our Master. What loss could be greater than this?"
Proxima Midnight pressed her lips tightly together.
She lowered her spear and straightened her body.
"What are you going to do?"
"Seize their mothership," Ebony Maw said, his voice as calm as if he were discussing a daily triviality.
"The Skrulls are a race accustomed to shapeshifting; they excel at camouflage, infiltration, and deception.
But in the face of absolute power, shapeshifting has no meaning whatsoever.
We do not need to talk to them, trade with them, or cooperate with them.
We only need to conquer."
He turned around, facing the main screen, and looked at that silver-gray mothership slowly rotating.
"All fleets, attention." His voice was transmitted through the communication system to every Black Order warship.
"Prepare to attack. Target: the Skrulls mothership.
Capture all Skrulls alive, do not kill them.
I want their knowledge, their technology, everything they have.
Fire!!!"
Twenty-eight Black Order warships opened fire simultaneously.
Energy beams shot from all directions toward the Skrullsmothership, striking its blue energy shield.
The shield flickered violently during the first volley, but did not shatter.
The Skrulls' shield technology was more advanced than the Black Order's energy weapons, and could not be pierced by just a few volleys.
The Skrulls mothership's turrets began to counterattack.
A blue energy beam shot from the surface of the mothership, hitting the nearest Black Order warship.
That warship's shield shattered under the second energy beam, and the third pierced the hull.
The warship broke into two halves from the middle, and the flames of the explosion bloomed silently in the vacuum.
"Their shields are very strong," the officer reported, his voice beginning to tremble, "the bombardment efficiency is lower than expected."
Ebony Maw did not respond.
He reached out, his slender fingers tracing a complex gesture in the air.
On his palm, a mass of black, liquid-like energy gathered, rotating and pulsating.
This was his ability, psychokinesis.
Not ordinary psychokinesis, but psychokinesis refined and strengthened over countless years, sufficient to tear apart spaceship armor.
He aimed his palm in the direction of the Skrullsmothership.
Black energy shot from his hands, crossed space, and struck the shield of the Skrulls mothership.
The shield twisted violently the moment it was struck, and then tore apart.
Not pierced, not overloaded, but torn open a gap like tearing a piece of paper by Ebony Maw's psychokinesis.
"Now," Ebony Maw said.
Proxima Midnight, wearing space combat armor, had already moved.
She leaped from the deck of the bridge, jumping into the vacuum, the spear spinning in her hand, its blue tip flashing under the starlight.
She landed at the breach in the shield of the Skrullsmothership, her spear piercing the external node of the shield generator.
After a muffled explosion, the gap in the shield widened.
Black Dwarf followed closely behind her, his huge fists smashing against the hatch of the Skrulls mothership.
One punch, two punches, three punches, the hatch dented inward, deformed, and then detached from the hinges.
Black Order soldiers poured into the Skrulls mothership through the breach.
Battle broke out inside the mothership.
The Skrulls soldiers, green-skinned aliens transformed into various combat forms,
engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Black Order soldiers in the corridors and cabins.
Energy weapons were almost meaningless at close range because the Skrulls could use their shapeshifting abilities to evade energy beams.
While the Black Order soldiers used their strength and weapons to crush their opponents in the narrow space.
But the strength of the Black Order was not something ordinary Skrulls could contend with.
Proxima Midnight's spear wove through the Skrulls' ranks, each thrust taking a life.
Her body moved quickly among the shapeshifters, so fast that the Skrulls' eyes could not catch it.
Her blue skin was stained with green blood, but she did not stop, did not slow down, and showed no hesitation.
Black Dwarf rampaged through the crowd.
His body was like a tank, slamming the Skrulls blocking his path away and then trampling them underfoot.
Every strike of his fist could punch through a wall, and his roar made the Skrulls soldiers retreat in fear.
Ebony Maw did not directly participate in the battle.
He walked into the bridge of the Skrulls mothership with a leisurely pace, as if walking into his own study.
The Skrulls Commander, a tall Skrull wearing a golden helmet on his head,
stood in the center of the bridge, holding an energy sword in his hand, his green face filled with anger and despair.
"Do you know who you are attacking? The Skrulls Empire."
"It is already dead," Ebony Maw interrupted him.
"Your empire has been dead for thousands of years.
You are mere exiles, hiding in the corners of the Universe, surviving precariously by shapeshifting.
Now, you don't even have the chance to survive precariously."
He reached out his hand and flicked his fingers lightly.
The Commander's energy sword flew out of his hand and pinned itself to the ceiling.
The Commander's body was lifted into the air by Ebony Maw's psychokinesis.
His limbs were straightened by an invisible force, like a prisoner nailed to a cross.
"You... what do you want?" The Commander's voice was trembling.
"Your mothership, your soldiers, your knowledge, everything you have."
Ebony Maw said, his voice as calm as reading a shopping list.
"I will take over this mothership, and your people will serve me. Your technology will become my power.
You will live, because dead men have no value—of course, provided that you submit to me.
Now you can make your choice!"
He let go of his hand.
The Commander fell from the air, crashing to the ground, his helmet falling off, revealing his pale face covered in cold sweat.
His vertical pupils contracted to the extreme, his lips trembled, and his hands shook.
But his mouth—he opened his mouth and uttered a few words.
"I submit!"
Chapter 415: Building a Time Travel Device
Seeing that the Commander had surrendered, the remaining Skrulls on the bridge put down their weapons one after another.
Soldiers of the Black Order rushed in, confiscated their weapons, and escorted them deep into the mothership.
Ebony Maw walked over to the Commander's seat and sat down.
The seat was more comfortable than he expected; the ergonomics of the Skrulls were quite good.
He leaned back against the chair, placed his hands on the armrests, and looked out at the starry sky outside the window with his black eyes.
"Very well," he said.
The core laboratory of the Skrulls mothership was much larger than Ebony Maw had anticipated.
It was a huge spherical space with a diameter of more than two hundred meters, and the walls were covered with blue-glowing pipelines, holographic screens, and data nodes.
In the center of the laboratory was a suspended platform, upon which rested a complex device that Ebony Maw had never seen before.
It was a giant annular structure composed of dozens of layers of rotating metal rings, with each layer rotating at different speeds and in different directions.
At the center of the rings was a glowing white, constantly pulsating sphere, resembling a sleeping heart.
The chief scientist of the Skrulls stood beneath the platform, his green skin looking pale in the blue light of the laboratory.
He looked very old, the wrinkles on his face as deep as gullies carved by a knife.
The edges of his pointy ears were somewhat curled, and white hair sparsely covered the top of his head.
His hands were trembling, not because he was old, but because he knew who the person in front of him was.
Ebony Maw sat on a chair in front of him, the hem of his obsidian robe trailing on the floor like a puddle of black Water.
His fingers tapped lightly on the armrest, the rhythm slow and steady.
"What are you researching?" Ebony Maw asked.
The chief scientist's vertical pupils flickered, and his lips moved as if hesitating whether to answer.
"Time," he finally said, his voice hoarse, "We are researching time."
Ebony Maw's fingers paused for a moment.
"Time?" he repeated, something flashing in his black eyes, "Are you researching time travel?"
"Not travel," the chief scientist shook his head.
"At least, not the kind of travel you imagine. What we are studying is the time effect of the Quantum Realm.
Our research has found that the flow of time in the Quantum Realm is different from the macroscopic World.
It is not linear, but folded.
The past, the present, and the future exist simultaneously in the Quantum Realm.
Like a folded piece of paper, different points can coincide under certain conditions."
Ebony Maw furrowed his brow slightly.
"Go on."
The chief scientist took a deep breath and began to explain.
"On Earth, there is a scientist named Hank Pym.
He discovered a substance that can change the distance between atoms, which he called Pym Particles.
Through Pym Particles, he could shrink objects to the subatomic level and enter the Quantum Realm.
He did not know that he had inadvertently touched the essence of time."
"Pym Particles." Ebony Maw noted the name.
"Our spies lurking on Earth discovered the existence of Pym Particles decades ago," the chief scientist continued.
"We spent many years studying it, trying to master this technology.
In the past few years, we finally successfully replicated Pym Particles and discovered a key rule.
When a person entering the Quantum Realm reaches a specific quantum state, they do not simply shrink.
Instead, they travel from one point in time to another."
Ebony Maw stood up from the chair.
He walked over to the giant annular device, stretched out his hand, and his fingers touched the surface of the rotating metal rings.
The metal was ice-cold, but a faint, static-like tremor traveled up from his fingertips.
"Have you succeeded?" Ebony Maw asked.
The chief scientist lowered his head.
"Not entirely," he said, "We can send objects into the Quantum Realm and have them reappear at another point in time.
But the target's precision is very poor, with an error margin of decades or even a century.
We are still unable to accurately send a person to the time and place they want to go."
"Why?"
"Because the Quantum Realm is too unstable," the chief scientist said, "Time and space are vague in the Quantum Realm, without clear coordinates.
We need an 'anchor point', a reference object that can be recognized and located in the Quantum Realm."
Ebony Maw was silent for a moment.
He turned around, facing the chief scientist, his black eyes flashing with an eerie light in the dim lighting.
"What if," Ebony Maw said slowly, "there is a locatable entity with extremely strong energy characteristics at the target time point?
For example, the Infinity Stones?"
The chief scientist's eyes widened.
His vertical pupils expanded to the limit in that instant, and then contracted back.
His lips began to tremble, and his fingers began to shake.
Not fear, but excitement.
A fervent emotion, usually only seen in young people, appeared on the old man's face.
"The Infinity Stones!" he murmured.
"The energy characteristics of the Infinity Stones are unique, and the quantum signature of each stone is different.
If there is an Infinity Stone as an anchor point, we can accurately send people to the spacetime coordinates where that stone is located."
"What is the error margin?"
"Infinitesimally small," the chief scientist said, the tremor in his voice turning into certainty.
"Almost no error."
Ebony Maw turned around, facing the rotating annular device, looking at the white sphere at the center of the rings, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
"Very well, your technology, combined with the power of the Infinity Stones, can create the most powerful weapon in the Universe."
He reached out and pressed his palm onto the shoulder of a Skrulls scientist.
The scientist's body stiffened under Ebony Maw's touch, his green face turning pale, and his vertical pupils contracting into two thin lines.
"I have a task for you," Ebony Maw said, the calmness in his voice replaced by something more eager, bordering on madness.
"I need you to build a time travel device—not a test, not an experiment, but a real, fully functional time travel device.
The target time is about five years ago, and the anchor point is the Mind Stone, because I know that at that time, Thanos possessed that stone."
The chief scientist's lips moved.
"Five years is a huge time span, but if we have the Mind Stone as an anchor point, it is technically feasible."
"How many people do you have?"
"There are twelve hundred scientists and technicians on this mothership."
"Then," Ebony Maw said, "you have seventy-two hours."
Seventy-two hours later, the annular device started up.
In the core laboratory of the Skrulls, twelve hundred scientists and technicians stood at their respective posts.
Fingers hovered above the control panels, waiting for the chief scientist's command.
The annular device was operating, with dozens of layers of metal rings rotating at different speeds and in different directions.
The white sphere at the center of the rings turned into a rotating vortex glowing with blue and gold light.
The center of the vortex was black—not ordinary black, but an absolute nothingness with no light, no color, and no matter existing.
Chapter 416: Do You Want Me to Change the Future?
Ebony Maw stood at the edge of the platform, looking at the vortex.
His obsidian robes fluttered in the energy wind generated by the device.
His slender fingers were slightly spread on both sides of his body, as if embracing everything that was about to happen.
His black eyes reflected the blue-gold light of the vortex, and his pupil-less eyes looked like two mirrors, reflecting the abyss of time.
Proxima Midnight stood behind him with her spear in hand, her blue face expressionless.
Black Dwarf crouched in the corner of the laboratory, his huge body curled up.
His dark red eyes stared at the vortex, fear and anticipation flickering in his pupils.
Corvus Glaive also came, walking out of the hatch that had been closed all along.
He stood on the other side of Ebony Maw with his arms crossed, his golden mask reflecting a cold light under the laboratory lights.
"The equipment is ready." The chief scientist's voice came from the console, hoarse but steady.
"The quantum tunnel is stable, the target time coordinates are locked, five years ago, the moment Thanos possessed the Mind Stone, please board."
Ebony Maw took a step forward.
"Ebony Maw." Proxima Midnight's voice came from behind, cold and hard yet with a trace of imperceptible worry, "Are you sure you want to go alone?"
"Only I can do this." Ebony Maw did not look back.
"Thanos will not believe anyone I send; he will only believe me, his most loyal servant."
He stepped onto the platform.
The scientists around the circular device began to operate the control panel, the speed of the metal rings increased, and the black area in the center of the vortex began to expand.
The hum of energy became sharper and sharper, the laboratory lights began to flicker, and the air was filled with the smell of ozone.
Ebony Maw stood in the center of the platform, his hands at his sides, raising his head.
Looking through the vortex at something not in this space-time, something only he could see.
"Master," he whispered, "I have arrived."
The vortex swallowed him.
Five years ago.
The sanctuary ii flagship floated in the dead Nebula, almost indistinguishable from its appearance five years later.
The same huge black hull, the same war-scarred surface, and the same oppressive feeling that made the entire Universe tremble.
Only its shields were brighter, its weapons sharper, and its Master younger.
Not younger, but rather having not yet experienced the failures and setbacks that were about to come.
Thanos sat on the throne, holding a holographic data pad in his hand.
He wore no armor, only a simple robe, his huge purple body leaning against the cold metal seat.
His amber eyes were reading the contents on the data pad, which were sent by his intelligence network regarding the latest intelligence on the Infinity Stones.
The Space Stone was on Earth, in the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The location of the Reality Stone was still unknown, but clues pointed to the territory of the Dark Elves.
The Time Stone was on Earth, in Kamar-Taj, guarded by a Supreme Sorcerer named Ancient One.
The Power Stone was in a corner of the Universe, in an abandoned temple on Planet Morag.
The location of the Soul Stone was unknown, but he had clues, very cruel clues.
Thanos put the data pad on the armrest and closed his eyes.
He was thinking, he was planning, he was waiting.
Then, the alarm sounded.
Not a battle alarm, not an invasion alarm, but the kind of alarm that only sounded when something absolutely impossible happened.
The sensors detected an energy signal, one that had never appeared in the sensor database before.
The signal source was directly in front of the bridge, less than a hundred meters away.
Thanos opened his eyes, and an amber glow lit up in his pupils.
A small, no, not a spaceship, it was a person.
A person floating in space, wearing black robes, with pale skin and pupil-less black eyes looking at the observation window of sanctuary ii.
Ebony Maw.
Thanos stood up from his throne.
He did not order to fire, because he recognized the person, his most loyal servant, the leader of his Black Order.
"Let him in," Thanos said, his voice low, carrying a confusion that only he could hear.
Ebony Maw was pulled into sanctuary ii by the tractor beam, passed through the airlock, walked down the corridor, and entered the bridge.
His steps were steady, unusually steady.
Thanos watched him approach, watched him stop below the throne, watched him kneel on one knee and lower his head.
"Ebony Maw," Thanos said.
"Master," Ebony Maw said.
"From you, I sense an energy that does not belong to this space-time. Who exactly are you?"
Ebony Maw raised his head, his black eyes looking into Thanos's amber eyes.
"Master, I am Ebony Maw, only an Ebony Maw who has traveled through time from five years in the future."
"Traveled through time from five years later? Why?" Thanos showed a hint of doubt.
"Because at that time, you died without completing your mission, and I want to change this outcome!"
The air on the bridge froze instantly.
Proxima Midnight of this era gripped her spear tightly, a look of shock appearing on her blue face for the first time.
Corvus Glaive's hand pressed against the hilt of his sword, and Black Dwarf let out a low, Beast-like grunt.
Thanos did not speak.
He just looked at Ebony Maw, looking into his eyes, searching for lies or any form of betrayal.
But he found nothing.
"Go on," Thanos said.
Ebony Maw stood up.
He recounted the events of the future, not all of them, but the most important parts.
The formation of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the discovery of the Power Stone, the civil war of the Avengers.
Thanos personally taking action to seize the Infinity Stones, Gamora's betrayal, the war in Wakanda, and LorenMorgan.
"Loren Morgan." When Ebony Maw said this name, there was a tremor in his voice that he himself did not realize.
"An Earthling, no, not an ordinary Earthling.
He has a certain power we cannot understand, able to absorb knowledge and technology from other Universes.
He collected four Infinity Stones and sent out two subordinates.
A synthetic lifeform with a Vibranium body and an android with infinite energy killed you in thirty seconds."
Thanos's amber eyes narrowed slightly.
"Thirty seconds?"
"Yes, thirty seconds," Ebony Maw said.
"You had no power to fight back, your Infinity Gauntlet was stripped away, and your body was cut in half.
You died, Master.
You died at the hands of someone you had never heard of, an unknown person who didn't even bother to show up in person."
Silence.
A long, heavy silence that made everyone breathless.
Thanos sat on the throne, his purple hand resting on the armrest, his fingers slowly tapping the metal surface one by one.
"You came here," Thanos finally spoke, "to make me change the future."
Chapter 417: Three stones, secured!
Chapter 417
"Yes, you need to do it yourself from the very beginning."
"Do not wait, do not wait for them to grow, do not wait for them to unite, do not wait for them to become powerful."
"Strike before they are ready, before they know who you are, before they become a threat."
"Seize all the Infinity Stones and complete your mission."
Thanos fell silent for a long time.
Then he stood up.
"The Power Stone is in Morag, and the Soul Stone is in Vormir."
"The Reality Stone is in the territory of the Dark Elves, the Space Stone is on Earth, and the Time Stone is on Earth."
He turned around, facing the bridge's observation window, looking at the endless twinkling starry sky outside the window.
"Where do I start?"
"The Soul Stone," Ebony Maw said.
"It requires a price, the ultimate price, but if you can make up your mind—"
"If you can do now what you delayed until the very last moment in the future, then the other stones will be much easier."
Thanos's right hand tightened around the armrest.
"Gamora?" he said.
"Yes."
Silence fell over the bridge once again.
Thanos looked at the starry sky, at the stars he did not know, at the distant lights of the Worlds he was about to conquer.
He did not speak, but Ebony Maw could see the change in his shoulders.
Not relaxation, not tension, but a deeper, more fundamental adjustment.
As if deep within his heart, something had been compacted, compressed, and molded into another shape.
"Send Gamora to see me," Thanos said.
His voice was low, flat, devoid of any emotion.
But Ebony Maw could hear what was pressed beneath that flatness—a certainty that he had made a decision, one that no one could change.
"Yes, Master."
Planet Vormir.
Gray-blue sky, heavy clouds, piercing cold wind.
Red Skull stood at the edge of the cliff, his black cloak motionless in the wind.
His red face looked particularly glaring in the dim skylight, and in his hollow eye sockets were two faint, ember-like lights.
Thanos stood by the edge of the cliff, his huge purple body standing in the wind like an unshakable mountain.
His right hand held Gamora's hand, not by force, not by dragging.
But in a manner close to tenderness, holding her hand like a father holding his daughter.
Gamora's hand was trembling.
There were no tears on her green face, but her eyes were red and her lips were white.
She had already cried, on the spaceship.
When Thanos told her "I need you," when Thanos said "The Soul Stone requires a price."
Her tears had run dry, leaving behind only a numb, hollow feeling, like watching someone else's story.
"You don't need to do this," Gamora said, her voice hoarse like someone who had walked in the desert for a long time.
"I need to," Thanos said.
"You don't need to, you can find another way, you can seize other stones, you can—"
"There is no other way."
Thanos turned around, facing Gamora.
His amber eyes looked at her for a long time.
The wind blew between the two of them, stirring her hair and his robes.
"You know, you are my most beloved being in this Universe," Thanos said, his voice as low as a distant roar.
"Not because I raised you, not because you are my daughter."
"But because among all my choices, you are the only one who makes me feel warmth."
"Conquest is cold, slaughter is cold, the mission is cold, but you are warm."
Gamora's lips trembled.
"Then why do you—"
"Because the mission is greater than love, and the balance of the Universe is more important than a father's love."
He let go of her hand.
Not a push, not a throw, just loosening his fingers, letting her choose, or not choose.
Gamora stood at the edge of the cliff, beneath her feet was that black, non-reflective abyss.
She glanced down, then raised her head and looked at Thanos.
"You will regret this," she said.
"Perhaps," Thanos said.
Gamora closed her eyes.
She thought of her mother, thought of the Planet where she was born, thought of the day she was taken away by Thanos.
She thought of the people she once hated, later loved, and now didn't know how to feel about.
Then she took a step forward.
Falling.
No sound.
No light.
Only that black bottomless abyss, and the weeping purple giant standing at the edge of the cliff.
Orange light rose from the abyss, like the Sun slowly emerging from the horizon.
It rose before Thanos, suspended there, emitting a soft, warm halo like candlelight.
The Soul Stone.
Thanos reached out with a trembling hand and grasped the stone.
Orange energy spread from his gauntlet, crawling up his arm to his shoulders, merging with his body.
His eyes turned orange for a split second, then returned to amber, but something deep within his irises had changed forever.
He lowered his head and looked at his gauntlet.
This was the second stone after the Mind Stone, secured.
There was no joy on his face, only a heavy exhaustion, as if carrying the entire Universe on his back.
With the Soul Stone and the Mind Stone, Thanos's actions became unstoppable.
First stop, Morag.
This desolate Planet was covered by gray clouds, its surface an endless expanse of water and ruins sparsely poking above the surface.
Thanos's spaceship landed on the largest expanse of ruins.
He walked through broken pillars and collapsed statues, entering a temple submerged in water.
The water rose above his knees, but he did not slow down.
The resistance of the water did not exist for him; every step crushed the stones beneath his feet, splashing water up to the ceiling.
The temple of the Power Stone was beneath a sunken dome.
Thanos walked in and saw the purple-glowing orb suspended in mid-air.
He reached his hand into the orb and took out the Power Stone.
Purple light poured from between his fingers, illuminating the entire dome.
He sat on the steps of the temple and embedded the Power Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet.
Golden-yellow, purple, and orange lights intersected, merged, and resonated on the back of his hand.
His body expanded for a moment, the contours of his muscles became more distinct, and purple light flowed in the blood vessels under his skin.
His eyes were no longer amber, but had a purple base with orange pupils, looking at his hand, the corners of his mouth curving slightly upward.
Three stones.
Thanos's fleet sailed through the territory of the Dark Elves.
This star region was located on the fringe of the Universe, near the border of the Nine Realms, almost forgotten by everyone over the long years.
The light of the stars became dim here, and interstellar dust blanketed the entire area like thick fog.
Filtering the starlight into a sickly dark-red eerie glow.
The homeworld of the Dark Elves, Vanaheim, was once the most dazzling pearl in this star region.
But after the war with Asgard thousands of years ago, it became a ruin.
The civilization of the Dark Elves was destroyed, and their army was annihilated.
Their leader Malekith took a few survivors and hid in the shadows of the Universe.
Nurturing hatred in the darkness, forging weapons in silence, and brewing revenge while waiting.
Thousands of years of waiting.
Chapter 418 Invasion of the Dark Elves
Chapter 418
Thanos stood on the bridge of sanctuary ii, looking through the viewport at the dark red stellar region.
On the gauntlet of his left hand, two stones glowed in the dim light, purple and orange.
The light of the Power Stone cast a deep purple halo on his purple skin.
The light of the Soul Stone was a softer, almost warm orange, forming a strange contrast with the cold environment around it.
His eyes looked deeper and heavier in the dark red starlight, like two cooling lavas.
Ebony Maw stood half a step behind him.
This leader of the Black Order who had traveled back from the future had rarely left Thanos's sight ever since returning to the past.
There was still no expression on his pale face, but his black eyes had no pupils, looking like two obsidian stones.
He was always observing, always calculating, and always evaluating every entity that could pose a threat to Thanos.
"The Planet of the Dark Elves," Ebony Maw spoke, his voice as smooth as silk.
"Marked as Vanaheim on the map, it was the capital of the Dark Elves' empire thousands of years ago.
In that war, Asgard's King Bor, Odin's father, led Asgard's army to destroy the civilization of the Dark Elves.
Malekith took a few survivors and fled into the depths of the Universe, hiding until now."
"Where are they hiding?" Thanos asked.
"In the darkest corners of the Universe," Ebony Maw said.
"The Dark Elves are born shadow creatures, and their warships can sail without any energy radiation.
Their bodies can adapt to the harshest environments. For thousands of years, the Asgardians thought they were extinct, but they were not.
They were waiting for the day when the Reality Stone is awakened."
The corners of Thanos's mouth twitched slightly.
"The Reality Stone, where is it?"
"Underground in Vanaheim, during the war thousands of years ago.
After Bor defeated Malekith, he sealed the Reality Stonedeep in the strata of Vanaheim.
He thought the stone would be buried forever, but burial is not destruction.
It is still there, sleeping in the darkness, waiting to be taken away."
"Do the Dark Elves know it is there?"
"They know," Ebony Maw said.
"But they cannot take it. Bor's seal was constructed using Asgard's magic plus the power of the Reality Stone itself.
Unless someone breaks it from the outside, the Dark Elvescannot retrieve the stone from the inside."
Thanos lowered his head and looked at the three stones on the gauntlet of his left hand.
The purple Power Stone, the orange Soul Stone, the golden Mind Stone.
"Can Bor's seal block three Infinity Stones?"
The corners of Ebony Maw's mouth rose slightly.
"Bor was a great king, but he was not the owner of the Infinity Stones."
Thanos raised his head, his eyes lighting up in the dark red starlight.
"Then, we will go take it."
The Dark Elves' mothership was an irregular, starfish-like black spaceship moored in the orbit of Vanaheim.
There were no lights on its surface and no energy radiation.
If it were not for the sensors directly aimed at its location, it would be almost invisible.
The technology of the Dark Elves was completely different from Asgard's magic; what they excelled at was invisibility, infiltration, and sneak attacks.
They were not a race good at frontal combat.
Malekith stood on the bridge of the mothership, his pale black eyes staring at the image on the holographic screen.
His face was the kind of paleness only someone who had stayed in the darkness for too long would have.
His black lips were tightly pursed, and his silvery-white hair hung down the sides of his face, gleaming with a cold light in the dim light.
His black armor was embedded with dark red stones, each of which was an energy core he had collected during thousands of years of exile.
Although far less powerful than the Infinity Stones, it was enough to give him power surpassing ordinary warriors in combat.
More than three thousand years.
He had hidden in the shadows of the Universe for three thousand years, waiting for the seal of the Reality Stone to loosen.
Waiting for Asgard's defense to weaken, waiting for a chance to take revenge.
Three thousand years were enough for a Planet to undergo drastic changes, enough for a civilization to go from prosperity to decline.
Enough to turn a person from an angry young man into an avenger who soaked hatred into every cell.
His revenge.
His mission.
His destiny.
"Your Majesty," a Dark Elf officer walked over, his voice low, carrying a trace of unperceived tension.
"Sensors detect an unknown fleet approaching our position.
Fast speed, large quantity, and energy characteristics that do not belong to any race known to us."
Malekith's eyes narrowed.
"Quantity?"
"Over three hundred warships, the flagship's volume is three times that of the mothership."
Malekith's black pupils contracted slightly; three hundred warships, the flagship being three times the size of the mothership.
This was not a passing patrol, not an accidentally passing caravan.
This was a fleet, a huge, purposeful fleet prepared specifically for war.
"Turn on external monitoring," Malekith said.
The main screen lit up, showing the starry sky on the outskirts of Vanaheim.
Against the background of the dark red Nebula, a patch of black, densely packed light points were emerging from the depths of the Nebula.
Not light points, but warships.
Black, cone-shaped warships with surfaces covered in energy turrets formed a huge arrow formation.
Approaching Vanaheim.
The blue light emitted by their thrusters was particularly dazzling in the dark red Nebula, like a group of deep-sea fish glowing in the dark.
Thanos's fleet.
Malekith did not recognize the insignia, did not recognize the design of the warships, did not recognize the approaching power.
But he recognized power itself; he was an entity that had survived in the Universe for thousands of years.
He knew what kind of power could be negotiated with, what kind of power could be resisted, and what kind of power could only be yielded to.
This fleet belonged to the third kind.
"All units, enter combat readiness."
Malekith said, his voice calm, but beneath the calm was something deeply suppressed.
Not fear, but despair.
"Energy shields at full power, weapon systems preheating, combat mechas ready to launch."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The Dark Elves' mothership began to operate.
Energy shields rose from the surface of the hull, and the dark blue translucent shields presented an eerie purple under the illumination of the dark red starlight.
Weapon systems preheated, turrets extended from the inside of the hull, and black barrels pointed in the direction of Thanos's fleet in the vacuum.
Combat mechas flew out of the mothership's belly, hundreds of small, insect-like black aircraft.
Forming a three-dimensional defense formation around the mothership.
They were ready to fight.
But what they did not know was that they were not facing an ordinary invader.
They were facing Thanos.
Thanos, who possessed three Infinity Stones.
Chapter 419: Your king has changed masters!
Chapter 419
The first salvo of Thanos's fleet arrived a few seconds later.
It was not a tentative shot, nor a calibration shot, but a true, full-out salvo with no room left spared.
The main guns of over three hundred warships fired simultaneously.
The energy beams intertwined in space into a blue net of death, blanketing the mothership of the Dark Elves.
The heat of the energy beams could not be transmitted in the vacuum.
But their electromagnetic radiation instantly overwhelmed all sensors, turning the holographic screens into a blinding blue-white glare.
The shield of the Dark Elves mothership withstood the first salvo.
It flickered violently, spiderweb-like cracks appearing on its surface, but it did not shatter.
The shield technology of the Dark Elves was forced to develop under the survival pressure of thousands of years.
It was not meant to defeat the enemy, but to survive the enemy's attacks.
Its strength was not the highest in the Universe, but its resilience and endurance were definitely top-tier.
"Shield depletion is sixty percent, the second salvo will arrive in thirty seconds, and the shield cannot withstand a second round."
Malekith's black eyes stared at the main screen, watching those approaching black warships.
"Counterattack," he said.
The turrets of the Dark Elves mothership fired, and deep-red energy beams shot from the surface of the mothership toward the nearest Thanos warship.
The energy beams hit the warship's shield; the shield flickered and then did not break.
Thanos's warship shield strength was higher than the fire output of the Dark Elves.
This was an overwhelming crushing of technology and power, not something that tactics and strategies could make up for.
Malekith clenched his fists.
His nails sank into his palms.
Then, he saw that person.
Not those warships, not those energy beams, not the approaching death.
It was a huge, purple person wearing golden armor, walking out from the bow of the flagship.
Wearing no spacesuit, carrying no life support equipment, just exposed bare in the vacuum.
Under the low temperature of absolute zero and the fatal Universe radiation, step by step, he walked toward the Dark Elves mothership.
His left hand wore a golden gauntlet, upon which three gems were glowing.
Purple, orange, and gold, the three rays of light appeared exceptionally bright in the dark-red Nebula, like lamps burning in the dark.
Thanos.
Malekith naturally knew him, one of the Universeoverlords, an existence that had slaughtered the lives of countless Planets.
He was not a person; he was a power.
A pure, naked, unadorned power.
Thanos walked up to the shield of the Dark Elvesmothership.
He raised his left hand and pressed his palm against the surface of the shield.
The shield flickered violently under his palm, and energy surged wildly at the contact point.
As if trying to resist some irresistible force.
Thanos's fingers curved slightly, and the Power Stoneemitted a purple glow.
The light poured from his palm into the shield, and the shield's energy was torn apart in the purple torrent.
The shield shattered.
Not gradually shattering, not shattering by spreading outward from the center.
But the entire shield shattered simultaneously at every single point in the exact same instant.
The shattered shield turned into countless dark-blue fragments flying in all directions, like a fireworks display blooming silently in a vacuum.
Those fragments gradually lost their light during the scattering process, turning into transparent, glass-like flakes, and then disappeared into the darkness.
The surface of the Dark Elves mothership was exposed.
Thanos reached out his hand and ripped open a tear on the hull of the mothership using the energy of the Power Stone.
Not blown open, not cut open, but ripped open, like tearing a piece of paper.
The metal twisted and broke under his power, revealing internal corridors and cabins.
He walked in through that breach, stepping into the mothership of the Dark Elves, walking into the destiny Malekith had waited three thousand years for.
Malekith stood on the bridge and heard footsteps.
Footsteps as unhurried as strolling in one's own back garden.
Every step fell heavily on the metal floor, making a dull echo, like a countdown before the arrival of doom.
The door of the bridge was ripped open from the outside.
The metal door was folded like paper in Thanos's hands, thrown aside, and hit the wall, making a harsh metallic clashing sound.
Thanos stooped and walked into the bridge.
He was too tall; the bridge door of the Dark Elves was designed according to the height of the Dark Elves, making it a bit short for him.
His movement at that moment appeared somewhat comical, like My Lord entering a child's room, but no one was laughing.
No one dared to laugh.
He straightened his body, and the space on the bridge seemed to suddenly shrink.
His purple body appeared huge and oppressive in the dim light.
His golden armor reflected the light from various consoles, and his amber eyes swept over everyone on the bridge.
The Dark Elves officers, soldiers, those survivors who had hidden in the darkness for thousands of years, thinking there was still hope for revenge.
Finally, his gaze fell upon Malekith.
"You are the king of the Dark Elves, Malekith?"
Thanos said, his voice low, like distant thunder, like the shaking of the earth.
Malekith's black eyes looked at him; his body was stiff, but his eyes were alive.
In those eyes were anger, hatred, and resentment toward Thanos for interrupting his millennium-long wait.
There was anger at Thanos for breaking into his mothership, tearing his shield, and trampling his dignity.
But there was also fear, not the kind of panic that made people lose their ability to act.
But a deeper, more rational fear stemming from a sober awareness of the gap in power.
"Yes!"
Malekith nodded, his voice hoarse, as if squeezed from the depths of his throat.
"Then the throne has a new master now, and you should call me king."
Thanos said calmly, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.
"What if I refuse?"
"You won't refuse, unless you don't want revenge."
Malekith's black eyes narrowed slightly.
"I don't seem to be of much use to you, do I?" Malekithasked confusedly.
"I need the Reality Stone!"
"The Reality Stone is sealed deep within Vanaheim by the enemies of my race. You coming to me shows that you do not know its location."
"At least not the exact location. Do you need me to take you to find it?"
Thanos looked at him, the light in his amber eyes steady and calm.
"You are smart. Yes, I need you to take me," Thanosnodded.
"What if I refuse?"
"You won't." As he spoke, Thanos raised the arm wearing the Infinity Gauntlet.
Malekith fell silent for a moment.
His black eyes looked at Thanos's gauntlet, looking at those three glowing gems.
He knew what that was, he knew what it meant.
Three Infinity Stones. Having lived in the Universe for thousands of years, he knew that the power of the Infinity Stones was something any mortal—
Even a nearly immortal Dark Elf like himself could not resist.
Chapter 420: Searching for the Reality Stone
"If I take you there, what will you do?" Malekith said slowly.
Thanos looked at him, the light in his amber eyes flickering for a moment.
"I will take the Reality Stone, and then I will leave."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that."
Malekith fell silent again.
His brain was operating at high speed, calculating the consequences of every possible choice.
Resist, die; his people die, and the Reality Stone would still be taken by Thanos.
Cooperate, and he might live; his people might live.
Although the Reality Stone would be lost, he could stay alive and find new opportunities in the future.
Between survival and death, he chose survival.
"I will take you to find it," Malekith said.
Thanos nodded slightly, a gesture of approval.
There was no gratitude, no appreciation, only a confirmation that "you have made the right choice".
"You and your people will live and serve me."
Malekith's eyes widened for a split second.
"You said you would leave."
"I will, and you and your Dark Elves will leave with me.
Work for me, fight for me, conquer for me.
Your technology, your stealth technology, your ability to survive in the darkness are more precious to me than the Reality Stone.
I will take the stone, but after that, I need an army capable of operating in the shadows of the Universe—your army."
Malekith's lips were trembling.
Something was burning in his black eyes—anger, humiliation.
An unforgettable anger at being used as a tool.
But his lips did not utter words of opposition, because his reason told him that the price of opposition was the lives of himself and his people.
"If I refuse?" Malekith asked again.
Thanos looked at him without answering.
He simply raised his left hand, and the Power Stone on the gauntlet lit up.
Purple light surged from the stone, condensing into a small, spinning energy sphere in his palm.
The energy sphere rotated above his palm, growing larger, brighter, and hotter.
The temperature on the bridge rose by more than ten degrees within a few seconds, and the faces of the Dark Elf officers began to sweat.
Malekith looked at that energy sphere, knowing what it meant.
It was not a weapon, not a weapon meant to kill him, but a weapon meant to destroy the entire mothership.
Thanos did not need him alive to find the Reality Stone; he could find it through other means.
From his corpse, from the database of the Dark Elves.
Scanning every inch of Vanaheim with the energy of the Power Stone and the Soul Stone.
He chose to cooperate, not to save his own life, but to give his people a chance to survive.
"I serve you."
Malekith nodded helplessly and said, the hoarseness in his voice heavier than before.
It was as if sand was stuck in his throat, and every word seemed to be grinding across sandpaper.
Thanos dismissed the energy sphere.
The purple light dissipated from his palm, and the temperature on the bridge began to drop slowly.
He looked at Malekith, the light in his amber eyes unchanged.
There was no complacency, no satisfaction, only a cold, blade-like calm.
"Take me to find the Reality Stone," Thanos said.
The surface of Vanaheim was a desolate ruin devoid of any signs of life.
The dark red sky was covered with heavy clouds, clouds that were not formed by water vapor.
Rather, they were a mixture of radioactive dust and magical energy residue left behind by thousands of years of war.
The ground was composed of black, sharp rocks, their surfaces covered with a layer of dark red sand.
It was formed by the corruption and condensation over time of the blood shed during the war.
The wind was strong, but not the kind of wind filled with the breath of life found on Earth.
The wind here was dead, bone-chillingly cold, as if blowing out from the tombs of the Universe.
As it threaded through the gaps in the rocks, it made a sharp, crying sound.
Thanos walked behind Malekith, his steps heavy and steady, each step crushing the black rocks beneath his feet.
His purple skin appeared somewhat darkened under the dark red light.
His golden armor reflected the flowing red clouds in the sky.
His eyes swept over the surrounding ruins.
Looking at the collapsed buildings, shattered statues, and weather-beaten traces of war that were almost unrecognizable.
This place had once been the glorious capital of the Dark Elves' civilization.
Tens of millions of Dark Elves had once lived on this land, building magnificent structures.
Developing advanced technology and creating a brilliant culture.
Then the Asgardians came, bringing their army and their magic.
Bringing their fear of the darkness and their obsession with order.
The war lasted for many years, ultimately ending in the defeat of the Dark Elves.
Tens of millions of lives vanished, a civilization perished, and a Planet turned into ruins.
Thanos did not care.
He walked past those ruins, past those weathered skeletons.
The skeletons of the Dark Elves and the skeletons of the undead warriors were mixed together.
Entangled as one under the erosion of time, making it impossible to tell who was who.
He walked toward the central area of Vanaheim, toward the place where the Reality Stone was buried.
Malekith led the way ahead of him, his pale face devoid of any expression.
His pace was slow, not because of hesitation, but because he knew that with every step he took, he was one step closer to his destiny.
No, not destiny—surrender.
A surrender submitting before a more powerful existence.
His silver-white hair fluttered in the wind, and his black armor emitted a faint metallic friction sound in the wind.
Ebony Maw walked by Thanos's side, the hem of his black robe dragging on the sandy ground, yet not a single grain of sand stuck to it.
His black eyes looked at the surrounding ruins, his pale lips pursed slightly.
"Master!" Ebony Maw spoke.
"I can sense its energy. Very faint, but it is there.
Right ahead, deep in the strata, Bor's seal has been weakened over thousands of years."
Thanos nodded.
They arrived at their destination, the entrance of a huge downward-extending rift.
On both sides of the rift were black rock walls hundreds of meters high, covered with traces of artificial excavation.
Those were the mine tunnels and temple ruins excavated by the Dark Elves thousands of years ago.
The bottom of the rift was pitch black, unable to be seen through.
The cold wind gushing from the abyss carried a strange odor, resembling both metal and rotting flesh.
Malekith stopped at the entrance of the rift.
"Right down below, Bor's seal is five kilometers underground.
Back then, after he defeated my people,
he used Asgardian magic and the power of the Reality Stone itself to construct a sealed space, locking the stone inside.
Only your power, the power of the Infinity Stones, can break it."