"Human, why are you here?"
Quaggs initially just wanted to have a little fun.
Say, eat some small human being… or something like that.
But when he thought of Aron, Quaggs, for the first time, spoke completely honestly.
"Hm!?"
Tony froze.
He soon realized that in front of him was a huge octopus that seemed to be talking to itself.
"Wait a minute… you, are you on our side?"
"Nonsense!"
"I'm not on your human side, but I'm not on the side of monsters either!"
With his enormous tentacles, Quaggs pointed toward Rocket Raccoon and the others in the distance.
"But they are… on our side too?"
"Hm..."
Quaggs paused, confused.
It looked as if he had just realized that he might have made a mistake again.
"Well… count that as my mistake."
"I'm sorry."
"This time it's over. Don't speak badly of me!"
He gave a short warning, then swung his tentacles.
A huge crack in space opened, and Quaggs simply vanished into it without looking back even once.
"???"
When Tony opened his eyes, there was no longer any trace of Quaggs in front of him.
He came quickly, disappeared even faster.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Everyone on the battlefield was stunned.
With eyes wide open, they looked at each other in silence.
This… what is this even called?
They had set up three lines of defense before the war!
And the result? Except for the first line, everyone else just stood and watched!
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Kunkan hunter and Wakandan vibranium planes were still flying in the distance, on the route between Earth and the Moon.
At first, everyone was ready to die in battle.
A tragic war… ended as an absurd story without any meaning!
Arishem came to observe, then quietly withdrew without a word!
Thanos's fleet looked threatening and unstoppable…
But in the end, it was shattered by the blow of a monster of unknown origin, a gigantic octopus!
And finally...
Even that gigantic octopus didn't try to conquer Earth.
It didn't even communicate with anyone except Tony!
As if it had come only to destroy Thanos's fleet, and then simply left.
No words. No goal.
As if humans and Earth were insignificant to it, like insects by the roadside.
"So… it's over?"
Tony flew closer to the Moon.
His gaze fell on Rocket Raccoon, Quicksilver, Black Bolt, Ares, and the others who were gathering.
All of them were staring at him with wide eyes.
"I'm never coming to this part of the universe again..."
Rocket Raccoon pulled Groot out of the damaged spaceship.
His voice trembled, still full of fear.
When Quaggs had earlier locked eyes with him, the feeling of death was so strong it nearly paralyzed him.
"Guys… did you notice something?"
"It seems we don't see Thanos?"
At that moment, the voice of Star-Lord and his team, who had earlier infiltrated the Sanctuary II ship, appeared on the communication channel.
When Corvus Glaive ordered the antimatter cannon to fire, Mordo reacted with lightning speed and almost instantly cast a teleportation spell, transporting them far away from the Sanctuary II.
"Star-Lord, I was worried about you. I'm glad to hear you're alive!"
Rocket Raccoon initially thought that Star-Lord and his team had died together with the Sanctuary II.
When he heard that they all survived, he felt immense relief.
"So, is this another galaxy-saving mission?"
"Yeah, again."
"I suppose Thanos died together with the Sanctuary II, right?"
"It's finally over..."
Everyone sighed in relief, thinking everything was finally finished.
But while they were speaking, Quicksilver and Mordo, who had been silent until then, suddenly flinched, their faces turning serious in an instant.
"No, it's not over yet."
Mordo quickly opened a magical portal. Target: Thanos's home planet, Saturn's sixth moon, Titan.
"I'm going for reinforcements."
Quicksilver also activated teleportation. His target: Earth.
"Damn it…"
"What kind of monster was that?"
On Titan, Corvus Glaive and his wife Proxima Midnight sat exhausted among the ruins.
They had managed to escape before the Sanctuary II exploded, using the ship's teleportation device.
Now they were on a planet long destroyed.
This was Thanos's home planet, Titan. Once a proud and advanced civilization, now a dead wasteland.
A planet Thanos himself destroyed when he was young.
Of course, he never admitted it. He claimed Titan collapsed on its own due to overpopulation and lack of resources.
But anyone who knew Titanian technology knew the truth.
Titan was a technologically advanced planet that could have easily colonized other worlds, even Earth, if it wanted to.
The real truth was clear: Titan fell because Thanos himself destroyed it, believing it was a "necessary sacrifice."
"What now? The mission failed, the fleet is destroyed," said Proxima Midnight, looking at her empty left glove, her arm burned by antimatter energy.
"Thanos will never forgive us when he returns."
Corvus Glaive looked around and sighed deeply.
"Don't worry. This time we only lost because that monster attacked us."
"But it obviously can't stay on Earth forever."
He paused, then added: "As far as I know... that's not a being from this universe. It's probably a demonic entity from another dimension."
Corvus Glaive quickly came up with a plan.
"Let's hide here, on Titan, until the dust settles."
"Later we'll return to the Dark Quadrant and gather a new fleet."
"When we're ready, we'll attack again."
"By then, no one will even suspect us..."
He didn't manage to finish his sentence.
Two golden portals suddenly appeared in front of him.
The light illuminated them, and his voice went silent.
From the left portal came Tony Stark, Aron, Mordo, Star-Lord, Black Bolt, Ares, Drax, Rocket, and dozens of other warriors.
From the right portal appeared Quicksilver, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Winter Soldier, War Machine, the Wasp, and others.
An army of heroes surrounded Corvus and Proxima.
"Come on then," said Tony coldly, staring straight into their eyes.
"Tell me, how were you planning to kill us this time?"
"Hm..."
Corvus Glaive froze.
He tried to smile, but his face twisted nervously.
"Can we… can we trade information for freedom?"
"For example... we can tell you that Thanos is no longer alive?"
"RRAAAAH!!!"
His answer came from Hulk, a huge roar that echoed across all of Titan.
Then he lunged forward and unleashed a series of eighteen brutal blows, left-right, back-and-forth, just like he once did to Loki.
The sound of shattering armor and rock echoed across the planet's surface.
…
On the other side of the universe, in a distant extrasolar system, stood Arishem, the silent, motionless Judge, looking at the man before him.
"Why are you called Arishem?"