Chapter 356: The Stolen Infinity Stones
Ethan looked down at Thanos, already on the verge of his last breath — confirming, once and for all, that his own universe's version of the man was going to die here, in a universe that wasn't even his.
He'd also confirmed this wasn't some Reality Stone illusion Thanos had conjured up — the right hand that had worn the Gauntlet had been physically destroyed in the blast.
Two men from the same universe, only one of them ever going home.
And that one was him.
"Cough... cough..." Thanos's coughing broke the silence around them, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth — an unusual color, distinctly their own universe's shade.
He didn't look at Ethan. His gaze had drifted upward instead, out toward the endless sky, as if searching for something out there.
"You won, Ethan." Thanos's voice came out faint and rasping, but every word carried clearly enough.
Ethan nodded — he acknowledged the win as his. But something like genuine respect settled in alongside it.
Thanos, after all, ranked among the strongest opponents he'd ever faced. Stronger, even, than the other Thanos before him.
"That's right. I won. But you're the strongest Thanos I've ever come across — stronger than the last one, at least," Ethan said, something almost reflective in his tone.
He understood, in that moment, that he'd just pulled off something no other transmigrator he knew of had ever managed: killing two Thanoses in a single day.
He walked over and sat himself down right next to Thanos.
One sitting, one lying flat, both gazing up together into that vast, bottomless sky.
To anyone who didn't know better, they might have looked like old friends who'd known each other for years.
Ethan knew better, of course. There was an unbridgeable gulf between the two of them.
Still, right now, he found himself genuinely curious to know more about Thanos.
The two of them fell into conversation, almost like old friends catching up.
"I've got a question. Why do you Thanoses — all of you, across the multiverse — always end up going for the whole 'wipe out half of all life' thing? I know some versions of you do it for love — that Death character apparently promised a date in exchange for erasing half the universe."
"Then there's the version that believes overpopulation eventually drains all resources and causes the universe itself to collapse — so they wipe out a portion preemptively to rebalance things. That version casts himself as some kind of savior."
"And there are other reasons too, I'm sure. Which one were you?" Ethan asked first.
There were, in fact, other variants too — some believed that once life grew abundant enough, the god-tier races would be reborn and end up destroying the universe as a consequence.
Watching the film, Ethan had always genuinely wondered how Thanos could throw away everything — even his own life — for something as abstract as "cosmic balance."
A man this ruthless, capable of such genuine self-sacrifice? It never quite added up to him.
And it wasn't even about ruling the universe — after the snap, this Thanos had just retired, spent his days tending a garden.
Ethan had noticed a pattern: every villain who reached a certain threshold of power always seemed to develop some grand, lofty ideal driving them. And that ideal was never something an ordinary person could ever really get behind.
Ethan certainly didn't have one himself. He was just a regular guy. He didn't get it.
Thanos didn't answer the question. Instead, he turned it back on Ethan.
"Cough... does that question even matter anymore?" Thanos's voice had faded to barely a whisper, each word dragged up from somewhere deep in his throat.
He looked at Ethan, exhaustion and unresolved defiance both etched into his eyes. "Then answer me this — did the other versions of me, in their own universes, actually succeed?"
"This universe failed. Ours failed too, the moment I died with it. Does that mean my story was always destined to end this way?" Thanos said, voice distant, unfocused.
His body trembled continuously, as if it might simply give out at any second.
Whatever strength, whatever presence he'd once carried, had all dissolved into nothing now.
Ethan looked up at the sky — that deep blue expanse, beautiful enough to take his breath away, like some enormous, impossible gem.
He found himself struck, suddenly, by how small human struggle and human desire looked, set against a universe this vast.
"Not entirely," Ethan said. Thanos was dying anyway — no reason to lie now. "Your odds of failure were actually pretty low. One in fourteen million. Out of fourteen million universes, exactly one ends with you failing.
Unfortunately, that one happens to be you."
"One in fourteen million?" A weak, bitter smile pulled at Thanos's mouth. "What terrible luck. I managed to land in three failed universes, all at once."
Ethan nodded. He understood exactly which three universes Thanos meant — this one, the 2014-timeline Thanos's own, and Thanos's own home universe.
"No," Ethan said, rising to his feet, looking down at him. "You've got it wrong. The bad luck wasn't the universes. The bad luck was running into me. Wherever I show up, your failure isn't a probability — it's a certainty. A hundred percent, every time."
"So all that — still comes back to me just having bad luck, doesn't it." Thanos gave a self-mocking laugh, one thick with bitterness underneath.
His body was breaking down further by the moment, life draining out of him steadily now.
Ethan looked down at him, something complicated churning in his chest. If Thanos hadn't been hell-bent on this insane genocidal scheme, Ethan might genuinely have wanted to be friends with the man. Strip away the population-control plan, and honestly, the guy was a surprisingly thoughtful philosopher. But there was no "if" here. Just what had actually happened.
"I'll bring your body back to our universe. Dying somewhere that isn't home doesn't seem like a good way to go." In the end, Ethan's resolve softened.
Something flickered in Thanos's eyes at that — genuine gratitude.
He forced the words out with real effort. "Thank you..."
"So tired... Finally, I can rest."
Going home, even in death, felt like it closed the circle. A fitting end.
"Wait — hold on, don't die yet. One last question." Something important had just occurred to Ethan.
"Ask it... while I've still... got breath left..."
"How did you even get to this universe?" Ethan genuinely wanted to know — his own universe didn't have anything remotely resembling a Quantum Realm.
"Someone... someone helped me..." Those were the last words he ever spoke.
The moment the sound faded, his body collapsed completely, dissolving into nothing.
Thanos hadn't finished the thought, but Ethan understood the gist well enough — someone had helped him get here.
Ethan's brow furrowed. Whoever could grant someone passage across parallel universes had to be operating at a power level comparable to the Ancient One herself. But as far as Ethan knew, he hadn't crossed anyone like that. So who was it?
Puzzled as he was, this was still his moment to collect the spoils of victory — the remaining three Infinity Stones lay scattered on the ground not far away.
If Ethan claimed them now, his System would complete its full upgrade, and his own strength would rise accordingly.
Just as he started walking slowly toward the Stones—
A sudden bolt of black lightning tore across the sky, streaking forward like some massive black dragon.
Ethan's pupils contracted sharply. Before he could react at all, the black lightning shot past him and slammed straight down onto the Soul Stone lying on the ground.
Right in front of his eyes, the Stone — sitting quietly on the ground a moment before — simply vanished under the lightning's touch, as if it had been devoured whole.
Then the black lightning surged toward the Reality Stone next.
"Damn it!" Ethan roared, immediately triggering his own super-speed, his body blurring into an afterimage as he shot toward the Power Stone. He had to reach it before the lightning did — or everything he'd fought for would be for nothing.
Just as Ethan managed to grab the Power Stone and turned to hunt down the source of that black lightning—
It was already gone. Vanished without a trace.
"That's impossible. Faster than me?!"
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