Chapter 221 — Fracture
The scream in the dark did not fade.
It lingered.
Not as sound, but as pressure.
Gaius stood in that endless black space, the presence above him still watching, still pressing down from every direction at once. The eye had not retreated. It had only… adjusted.
He understood that much.
This thing did not think the way mortals did. It did not react with panic or anger the same way. It simply adapted, shifted, continued.
So did he.
Gaius raised his right arm.
Even here, in a place that did not follow the rules of the physical world, his armor remained. Auramite still covered him, solid, unmoving, as if it had forced its existence into this reality through sheer will. His helmet was gone, but everything else endured.
Then something changed.
His arm began to burn, not with pain, but with power. A golden flame spread across his gauntlet, flowing over it and wrapping around his hand and forearm. It did not flicker like ordinary fire; it held its shape, steady and controlled.
Then the Emperor's Claw formed.
It manifested over his right hand just as it did in the real world, solid, certain. The moment it took shape, the space around him reacted. The darkness trembled, and the ground beneath him, if it could even be called ground, shifted, as though disturbed by something it could not fully contain.
Above him, the eye stilled, its attention sharpening.
It was focused. Interested.
It had not expected this. Gaius felt that clearly.
He could still fight here.
That mattered.
Then the space moved again.
The eye pulsed once.
And the tentacles returned.
Not a few.
Not dozens.
Hundreds.
Larger this time. Thicker. Moving faster. Filling the space from every direction as they surged toward him.
Trying to overwhelm him.
Trying to break him down through sheer force.
Gaius did not move to meet them.
He ignored them.
His focus stayed on his right arm.
On the Emperor's Claw.
Armament Haki flowed into it, reinforcing it, strengthening it further. The golden surface darkened slightly under the pressure of it, becoming heavier, more solid.
The tentacles closed in.
They struck.
And stopped.
They couldn't reach him.
His Conqueror's Haki compressed inward forming a dense, invisible barrier around him. The moment the tentacles touched it, they faltered, slowed, then began to break apart.
Not completely destroyed.
But unable to push through.
Gaius didn't look up or react to the attack.
Instead, he moved.
He brought his right arm down, driving the Emperor's Claw straight into the ground beneath him. For a brief moment, nothing happened.
Then the space broke.
A thin, sharp crack formed at the point of impact, burning gold and orange. It spread quickly, tearing through the darkness like a fracture in glass, widening as it split the ground open in a long, jagged line.
The entire space trembled. The tentacles paused. Above, the eye shifted slightly, yet it did not stop. It continued to press forward, sending more of itself against the barrier around Gaius.
But the damage had already been done.
The crack widened further, becoming a deep, endless crevice.
Gaius felt it, that instinct, that pull, the exact moment to act.
Without hesitation, he let it take him and leapt into the crevice.
—
He opened his eyes.
The battlefield returned instantly.
Smoke.
Fire.
Broken ground.
The sky still torn open above.
He was back.
But something had changed.
The eye was no longer where it had been.
It was moving.
Descending.
Slowly at first, then faster.
Gaius straightened.
Not far away, Tony turned as well, his sensors picking it up immediately.
"…that's new," he muttered.
The entity dropped toward the ground.
And then it landed.
The impact was not loud.
But it spread.
The ground beneath it darkened instantly, turning black, then twisting into something else entirely. The surface warped, like it was being rewritten into something unnatural.
The corruption spread outward in a slow, steady wave.
Too slow to chase.
Fast enough to catch anything that stayed too close.
A group of Chitauri near the landing point didn't react in time.
The wave touched them.
Their bodies froze.
Then changed.
Their movements became wrong. Jerky. Uncontrolled. Their posture shifted as their heads tilted at unnatural angles.
They turned.
Not as soldiers.
Not as living beings.
But as something else.
Mindless.
Controlled.
Around the field, people saw it.
And moved.
Fast.
Korg was one of the closest.
He had been fighting near the edge of the area when the entity landed. The moment he saw the ground change, he grabbed one of the nearby Asgardian soldiers and pulled him back.
"Move, move!" he said quickly, stepping away as fast as his heavy frame allowed.
They cleared the edge just as the corruption reached where they had been standing moments before.
Korg let out a breath.
"Good thing we moved fast," he said, glancing back at the area. "Otherwise, we'd be like those unlucky guys."
The Asgardian beside him nodded.
Neither of them moved closer again.
Across the battlefield, Thor saw it happen.
Saw his own people get caught in it.
Saw them change.
His grip tightened around Stormbreaker.
His expression hardened.
Without a word, he lifted the axe.
Lightning gathered instantly, building along the weapon, crawling up his arm, surrounding him in a storm of energy.
Then he swung.
The strike wasn't aimed at the ground.
It was aimed at the entity.
A massive bolt of lightning tore through the sky and crashed down onto it, the impact exploding outward in a bright flash.
For a moment,
It looked like it worked.
Then the light faded.
The entity remained.
Unchanged.
The surface of it shifted slightly, reacting to the impact, but there was no real damage.
Then it responded.
The same energy.
The same shape.
A bolt of lightning surged out from it.
Straight at Thor.
Thor saw it.
And didn't move.
He faced it head-on.
After all,
He was the God of Thunder.
The bolt hit him.
And his expression changed instantly.
This wasn't lightning.
It only looked like it.
The force behind it was something else entirely.
It slammed into him, pushing him back across the ground, tearing through his guard and sending him sliding several meters before he managed to stop himself.
He stood.
But barely.
Smoke rose from his armor.
His breathing was heavier now.
Captain America reached him first.
"Thor!" he called, moving in quickly. "You okay?"
Thor straightened slightly.
"…I am," he said.
But it was clear he had been hurt.
—
On the other side of the field, Gaius started walking.
Straight toward the entity.
Tony saw it immediately.
"…what are you doing?" he asked, stepping forward slightly.
Even now, even after everything he had seen,
He wasn't sure this was something Gaius could handle.
Before Gaius could answer,
Something else moved.
High above.
The Sanctuary II.
It had remained in place until now.
But that changed.
Inside the ship, the one left in command stared down at the battlefield.
Thanos was gone. Dead. He had seen it happen.
He felt no grief, only fear. Fear of what had killed him. And something else.
Freedom.
He didn't have to stay. Didn't have to fight. He could leave.
He turned to the controls.
"Pull back," he ordered. "Take us to orbit."
The plan was simple, leave the battlefield, destroy the planet from a distance, then go.
But before the order could be carried out, the entity reacted.
A single tentacle formed, pure energy, and shot upward with terrifying speed. It struck the ship, sending a violent shudder through the entire structure. Then the energy spread, wrapping around it, covering it completely.
Inside, the systems flickered. Then failed.
The ship stopped responding.
On the ground, Tony and Gaius both looked up.
"…what is it doing?" Tony asked.
A voice answered behind them.
"It's corrupting them."
They turned.
A portal closed just behind where Doctor Strange had stepped through.
Tony looked at him.
"…you know what that thing is?"
Strange hesitated for a moment.
Then nodded.
"…an interdimensional entity," he said slowly. "A god… or close enough."
His gaze stayed on it.
"Even as a fragment, we're not a match for it."
Tony's jaw tightened.
"…can it be killed?"
Strange didn't answer right away.
"…maybe," he said finally. "With the Infinity Stones. We could banish it. Send it back."
Tony's eyes sharpened.
"Then we find them."
He opened his comm.
"Scott. Status."
No response.
He tried again.
Nothing.
"Clint?"
Still nothing.
A pause.
Something felt wrong.
Tony lowered his hand slightly.
Strange saw it immediately.
"…you can't find them," he said.
Tony didn't answer.
He just gave a small nod.
Strange looked back at the entity.
For the first time,
There was real concern in his expression.
"This… wasn't in any future I saw," he said quietly.
Then he looked at Gaius directly.
There was only one explanation he could think of.
Something had changed.
And Gaius… was part of that change.
Which meant he might know something.
Gaius didn't respond. He stepped forward again, his hand briefly moving to his chest, resting against the auramite. For a moment, he closed his eyes, just briefly, and reached for something deeper.
The Emperor.
~~~
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PS: Hey guys, yesterday, I brought my parents to another city, somewhere more modern, and treated them to a hotel stay. We went to the mall, and I even got to buy them some clothes and bought them things.
All of this was possible because of what I've earned, thanks to you guys, along with months of saving. I really made it happen because of your support.
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