People in Marvel: Starting to Create Miss 2B
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Chapter 421 Obtained
Thanos walked to the edge of the rift and looked down into the pitch black.
His amber eyes could see a long way in the dark.
He saw the shape of the rock walls, the structure of the strata, and the ancient energies sleeping in the dark.
He saw the seal, the one constructed jointly by Asgardmagic and the energy of the Reality Stone.
A dark red glowing thing like a huge cocoon.
He reached out his left hand.
The Power Stone lit up, and purple light surged from his Infinity Gauntlet, turning into a beam of energy that shot into the depths of the rift.
The energy beam hit the surface of the seal, and the seal flickered violently.
The dark red light and the purple light intertwined, collided, and bit at each other in the dark, and cracks began to appear on the surface of the seal.
Those cracks spread around like a spider web, extending from the top of the seal all the way to the bottom.
The Soul Stone also lit up, and the orange light joined the purple energy beam.
The two lights fused together to form a more powerful and penetrating energy.
The cracks in the seal began to expand under the illumination of the orange light.
They went from as thin as a hair to as wide as a finger, and from as wide as a finger to as big as a fist.
Thanos clenched his fist.
The seal shattered.
Unlike the way shields shattered, shields shattered explosively and instantly.
But the seal shattered slowly and painfully under the power of the Infinity Stones, like a heart being dug out of someone's chest cavity.
Fragments of the seal flew out from the bottom of the rift, spinning in the air and flashing with residual dark red light.
Then they gradually dimmed, turned into colorless transparent fragments, turned into dust, and were blown away by the wind.
Where the fragments of the seal disappeared, a mass of dark red liquid flame-like thing hovered in mid-air.
The Reality Stone.
It was not solid, not liquid, not gas.
It was an unstable, constantly changing existence between all forms.
Its color was not red, not orange, not any color that could be precisely described.
It was a flowing color spectrum constantly changing between red and purple, like the North Pole aurora.
Energy flowed on its surface like ripples on the water, spreading, converging, disappearing, and reappearing in the breeze.
Thanos reached out his left hand.
The Reality Stone rose from the bottom of the rift, slowly and solemnly, like a Sun rising from the horizon.
It rose to Thanos's height, hovering in front of him, and the dark red light illuminated his face.
Dyeing his purple skin dark red and his amber eyes blood red.
He embedded the Reality Stone into the groove of the Infinity Gauntlet.
The fourth groove on the Infinity Gauntlet was filled.
Four colors of light—purple, orange, gold, and red—intertwined, fused, and resonated on the back of Thanos's hand.
Energy spread from his Infinity Gauntlet, crawling up his arm to his shoulder.
Integrating with his skin, muscles, bones, and consciousness.
His body expanded for a split second, and the contours of his muscles became sharper.
The blood in his veins flowed with four colors of light, and the power of the Reality Stone surged within his body.
He could feel every inch of matter, every wisp of energy, and the existence of every possibility in the Universe.
He could feel the mineral deposits deep underground in Vanaheim.
He could feel the heartbeat of every warrior on the Dark Elves mothership, and he could feel Ebony Maw watching him on the sanctuary ii.
He could feel on Earth millions of light-years away.
An existence named Loren Morgan was doing things he did not know about.
He could feel everything.
"This is power," Thanos said in a low voice.
The voice was very soft, so soft that only he could hear it.
Malekith stood at the edge of the rift, watching him.
In his black eyes, there was fear, unwillingness, and the pain of losing the treasure guarded by his clan for thousands of years.
There was also a strange relief, as if he was finally liberated.
He knelt down, and no one ordered him to kneel.
Thanos did not look back at him, and Ebony Maw did not look at him.
The Dark Elves officers and soldiers were all in the distance, and no one saw this scene.
He knelt because he chose to kneel, because the moment he saw Thanos absorb the power of the Reality Stone.
The moment he saw the three-colored light spinning in Thanos's eyes, he knew this was his last chance.
Not a chance to maintain dignity in front of Thanos, but a chance to find a place in Thanos's World.
"Malekith, at Your Majesty's service."
His voice was almost blown away in the wind, but Thanosheard it.
Thanos turned around and looked at him.
The three-colored swirling eyes looked at the Dark Elf leader kneeling on the ground.
"Get up," Thanos said.
Malekith stood up.
"You and your Dark Elves, from now on, are my people.
Your hatred, your revenge, and your mission, starting today, coincide with my mission.
What I want to destroy is not Asgard, not any Planet, not any race.
What I want is balance. The balance of the Universe, your technology, your invisibility ability.
Your combat experience are the tools for me to fulfill my mission."
Malekith looked at Thanos and nodded.
"The Dark Elves fight for Your Majesty," he said.
Thanos turned around and looked at the sky.
The dark red clouds moved slowly in front of him, like a curtain that could never be penetrated.
His gaze passed through the clouds, through the atmosphere, through the starry sky, and fell on that blue Planet.
Earth.
There were still two Infinity Stones there.
The Space Stone, the Time Stone.
"Take your army, we still have two stones to get."
Thanos said, his voice as calm as if he were talking about a daily trivial matter.
Thanos's fleet set sail from Vanaheim, with four stones glowing on his Infinity Gauntlet: purple, orange, red, and gold.
Behind him, the Dark Elves mothership followed, black, silent, like a deep-sea fish cruising in the sea.
Malekith stood on the bridge of the Dark Elves mothership, looking at Thanos's back on the holographic screen.
Something was burning in his black eyes, not loyalty, not obedience.
But a combination of worship and fear for power itself.
The invisibility technology of the Dark Elves was unique in the Universe.
Their mothership formed an invisible barrier around Thanos's fleet.
Enveloping the entire fleet in it, making all known detection methods unable to discover their existence.
This fleet was crossing galaxies, crossing Nebulas, and crossing all obstacles standing between them and Earth.
Two stones.
Thirty thousand light-years.
Thirty days later, Earth would usher in a true doom.
Not the doom when Thanos came to Earth for the first time, when Thanos had not yet obtained the stones.
That time Earth was guarded by No. 18 and Alice, and that time Loren Morgan did not even need to make a move personally.
This time, Thanos had four stones, the Dark Elves army, and complete intelligence provided by Ebony Maw who traveled back from the future.
This time, Loren Morgan is the only existence standing between him and the balance of the Universe.
Chapter 422: Seizing the Time Stone
Thanos stood on the bridge of sanctuary ii, looking at the starry sky on the holographic screen.
The Infinity Gauntlet was worn on his left hand, resting on the armrest.
The glow of the four stones pulsated slowly in the dim bridge, like four hearts breathing in the darkness.
"Loren Morgan," Thanos whispered, uttering the name he had heard countless times from Ebony Maw.
His fingers tapped gently on the armrest.
The four stones lit up simultaneously, then dimmed.
Thanos closed his eyes.
In the deepest part of his consciousness, where the energy of the stones could not reach, he saw Gamora.
Not seeing her for real, but imagining her.
Green skin, black hair, stubborn eyes, and that pair of doors to her heart that would never be fully opened to him.
She stood in a pitch-black expanse, looking at him, her lips moving as if saying something.
He could not hear her voice, but he knew what she was saying.
"You will fail," she said.
Thanos opened his eyes.
"No," he said.
The fleet continued to sail toward Earth.
When Thanos's fleet arrived in Earth orbit, Earth's defense system did not even have time to activate.
Where was the Space Stone on Earth?
In the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Who was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Nick Fury.
Inside Fury's office was a secret vault, and inside the vault was a silver metal box containing the Space Stone.
Thanos did not go personally.
He dispatched the Skrulls.
The information that Ebony Maw brought back from the future contained the list and identities of all Skrull sleeper agents on Earth.
Thanos selected one from among them, a Skrull who had worked in S.H.I.E.L.D. for fifteen years, named "Karl".
He transformed into the appearance of Nick Fury and walked into the headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Passing through all security checks and verification, he opened Fury's secret vault and retrieved the Space Stone.
By the time the real Fury discovered it, Thanos had already obtained the Space Stone.
No one knew what happened, no one knew who did it, and no one knew where the stone had gone.
Only Thanos knew.
He stood on the bridge of the spaceship, raising his left hand, and the Space Stone on his gauntlet lit up with blue light.
Five stones—purple, orange, red, gold, and blue—formed an incomplete circle on the back of his hand.
Five stones.
One more to go.
The Time Stone was located in Kamar-Taj on Earth, guarded by the Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One.
Kamar-Taj was located deep within the Himalayas, in a valley hidden by magic.
Thanos's spaceship landed on the periphery of the valley, and he walked in alone.
He brought no army, no Black Order, and no one else. Just himself, and the four Infinity Stones on his gauntlet.
Ancient One stood before the gates of Kamar-Taj.
She wore orange monastic robes, was bald, and had mysterious tattoos on her forehead.
Her body—not her physical body, but her avatar.
Her true body was deep within Kamar-Taj, within the energy field of the Time Stone.
But even as an avatar, her power was one of the most powerful on Earth.
"Thanos," Ancient One said, her voice calm, as if reciting the name of an old friend, "you should not have come here."
"I need the Time Stone," Thanos said.
"You cannot possess it."
"I need it to fulfill my mission."
"Your mission is destruction, not salvation," Ancient Onesaid.
Thanos was silent for half a second.
"Perhaps, but I will accomplish it."
He raised the Infinity Gauntlet.
Purple light surged from his fist, transforming into an energy beam shot toward Ancient One.
Ancient One did not dodge; she extended her hand and drew a golden circular magic circle—a sling ring portal—in front of her.
But not as a portal, rather as a shield.
The energy beam struck the golden shield and was refracted and dispersed.
It splashed in all directions, blasting countless holes into the walls of Kamar-Taj.
Ancient One's avatar dissipated.
Not because she was defeated, but because she voluntarily dissipated, since her purpose had already been achieved.
In that instant, she saw clearly Thanos's intention, saw the stones on his gauntlet, and saw the trajectory of this timeline.
When her avatar dissipated, her true body deep within Kamar-Taj opened its eyes.
She held the Time Stone in her hand, and the green glow illuminated her face.
She closed her eyes and used the power of the Time Stoneto scan the past and future of this timeline.
She saw the original timeline: Thanos only began his actions five years later, was defeated by Loren Morgan, and was killed.
She also saw this tampered timeline: Thanos took action early, acquired five stones, and stood before the gates of Kamar-Taj.
"Loren Morgan," Ancient One whispered, uttering the name.
She knew what she had to do.
She projected her consciousness outside of time, to that place where there was no past, no future, and no flow of time.
She saw Loren Morgan, not the Loren of this timeline.
But the Loren of another timeline who possessed the six Infinity Stones.
"Thanos has advanced his actions and has already obtained five stones. The Time Stone is about to be seized by him; you need to prepare."
Ancient One sent a message to that Loren, then she severed the connection and opened her eyes.
Thanos stood before her.
On his gauntlet, the fifth stone—the Space Stone—was glowing.
His eyes looked at Ancient One, looking at the Time Stonein her hand.
"Give it to me," Thanos said.
"Impossible!" Ancient One frowned and said coldly.
She gripped the Time Stone in her palm, and the green light gushed out from between her fingers, illuminating the entire room.
Under normal circumstances, she could reverse time and send Thanos back to where he came from.
She could pause time, freezing Thanos in a moment of Eternity.
She could accelerate time, causing Thanos's body to age and die within seconds, turning into dust.
But unfortunately, the current Thanos possessed five Infinity Stones; the energy of the Power Stone could tear apart the shackles of time.
The energy of the Soul Stone could resist the erosion of time, and the energy of the Reality Stone could rewrite the rules of time.
The energy of the Space Stone could shatter the cage of time.
Therefore, Ancient One, who only possessed one stone, was simply unable to defeat Thanos!
Understanding this, Ancient One chose the final method.
She condensed the power of the Time Stone to its limit, opening a passage leading to another spacetime.
Not an escape passage for herself, but a passage for the Loren Morgan of that timeline.
She pulled Loren Morgan's consciousness from another timeline into this timeline.
Allowing him to witness this Thanos with his own eyes, letting him know that the enemy had changed.
Then, she let go of her hand.
Thanos took the Time Stone from her hands.
Chapter 423: Thanos is Coming Again
Green light joined the chorus, and the six stones formed a complete circle on the back of his hand.
His chest, no, not just his chest, his entire body was filled with energy of six colors.
Five-colored light flowed beneath his skin, and his eyes turned into five-colored whirlpools.
Ancient One stood in front of him, with nothing in her hands.
She looked at him, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly.
"You have won," she said.
"I have not yet completed my mission," Thanos said.
"You will never complete it, because you are not a god.
You are merely a person holding a weapon greater than your ability, and the weapon will be taken away by someone stronger."
Her body began to dissipate, not death, but a return.
Returning to the energy cycle of the Universe, returning to the river of time, returning to the place where she should be.
Her avatar disappeared, and her true body disappeared as well.
The depths of Kamar-Taj became empty, with only the green light trail left by the Time Stone still flickering on the walls.
Thanos turned around and walked out of Kamar-Taj.
He walked through the valley, across the snow, and past the clearing where his spaceship landed.
His feet stepped on the snow, making a creaking sound, every sound seeming to measure the end of this World.
He stood in front of the spaceship and raised his left hand.
The six stones glowed on the back of his hand, illuminating the entire valley, illuminating the snow-capped mountains, and illuminating the sky.
Morgan Manor, study.
Loren sat in the high-backed chair, holding an old book taken down from the bookshelf in his hand.
Not a technology guide, not a product of the system, but an ordinary book about botany.
He turned to the page about oak trees and was reading the growth cycle of oak trees.
His gray eyes moved slowly across the pages, his expression as calm as a lake in the afternoon.
Alice stood by the window, looking at the lawn outside the window.
The gem between her eyebrows emitted a faint golden glow in the sunlight, forming a strange contrast with her skin.
No. 18 sat on a chair in the corner, holding a comic book in her hand.
Brought back from Avengers Headquarters, recommended to her by Tony, saying it was the greatest art form on Earth.
Her blue eyes moved between the pages of the comic book, with an almost invisible, relaxed arc at the corners of her mouth.
Nymph was in the laboratory, squatting barefoot on the operating table, studying the gene granting device brought back from the Skrulls mothership.
Her golden eyes flickered in the blue light of the equipment, and her fingers danced quickly on the control panel.
It was like having some kind of silent dialogue with the machine.
Her antennae, not antennae, her hair ornaments swung gently in the wind.
Everything was calm.
Then, Loren's hand paused for a moment.
The pages were still between his fingers, and his eyes were still looking at the words about oak trees.
But his body, his body knew something was wrong.
Not hearing, not vision, not any kind of feeling that could be described.
It was a subtle feeling as if tiny folds appeared in time and space around him.
Then he found that his body was empty, not meaning the internal organs inside were empty.
But energy, more accurately, the energy of the Infinity Stones he had previously fused with suddenly disappeared.
As if it had never appeared, all the power completely vanished out of thin air.
Loren sat there, his black eyes examining his own body.
"Master." At this moment, Nymph's voice came from behind, calm but with a trace of imperceptible urgency.
"I sense an anomaly in space-time. It seems someone went back to the past and changed history."
Loren turned around and looked at her.
"Go on."
"The energy signature of the Time Stone has disappeared from my perception," Nymph said with a frown.
"Someone went back to the past and changed history, causing the stones of the future not to be where they should be."
"Thanos," Loren said.
Not a question, but a confirmation.
No. 18 stood up from the chair, the comic book slipped from her hand, falling to the ground with a slight paper sound.
Her blue eyes looked at Loren, her expression changing from relaxed to focused.
That kind of focus that only appears before a battle, like a cheetah tightening its muscles.
"Thanos is already dead. Alice cut open his body, and I watched him die with my own eyes," No. 18 said very seriously.
"That Thanos did indeed die, but there is another Thanos.
A Thanos who was warned at a point in time in the past, acted in advance, and gathered the six stones."
Just at this moment, a crack appeared in the air in front of him.
Not a spatial crack, not an energy crack, but a temporal crack.
The crack opened in the center of the study, like an invisible mouth, spitting out golden light and green halo from the void.
Out of the crack came a person, a bald woman wearing orange monastic robes with a tattoo on her forehead.
Ancient One.
Her body was translucent, not a ghost, but a cross-time-space projection.
Her energy was not enough to send her whole person here, so she could only send an avatar.
A shadow enough to transmit information but not enough to participate in combat.
"Loren Morgan," Ancient One said, her voice calm, but beneath the calmness lay a deeply suppressed sense of urgency.
"Sorcerer Ancient One," Loren said.
"Thanos has gathered the six stones, and the Time Stonehas been taken away by him.
He is heading towards your location—no, not here, but above Earth. He will complete his mission there."
Loren looked at her, his gray eyes without any ripples.
"You have already seen it?"
"I have seen it. In your timeline—no, in all possible timelines, this Thanos is the most powerful one.
He advanced five years, he got all the stones, he made no mistakes.
His will is pure, his determination is complete, and his power is almost unstoppable."
"Almost," Loren repeated the word.
Ancient One's mouth turned up slightly.
"Yes, almost, because you are here, you might be able to do what others cannot."
Her avatar began to dissipate.
"He is coming, be prepared." Ancient One's voice became distant in the dissipating light.
She disappeared.
The crack closed.
The study returned to calm.
Loren's gray eyes looked at that patch of air, the place where Ancient One had once stood.
"Alice!" he said.
"Present." Alice nodded.
"Notify everyone, have them get ready, a new battle is about to begin!"
"Understood!" Hearing Loren's words, everyone present nodded in unison.
At this very moment, above Earth, the sky split open.
Not the splitting of clouds, not the splitting of the atmosphere, space split open.
A golden crack tore apart the veil of space and time from the exact center of the sky.
On both sides of the crack were endless darkness and occasionally twinkling starlight.
At the center of the crack was a huge whirlpool composed of six-colored energy.
Thanos walked out from the whirlpool.
Chapter 424 It is not that your power has decreased, but that my power has increased!
He held the Infinity Gauntlet on his left hand in front of him, and six stones glowed on the back of his hand.
Six stones.
Six colors.
Six powers.
The purple Power Stone, the orange Soul Stone, the red Reality Stone.
The blue Space Stone, the green Time Stone, the yellow Mind Stone.
They glowed on the back of his hand, their lights intertwining to form a continuously rotating galaxy-like energy field.
The energy field enveloped Thanos's body, his skin flowing with six-colored light, and his eyes turning into six-colored vortexes.
His body was larger than before, not a physical enlargement, but an expansion on the level of existence.
His figure cast a shadow over half a continent in the sky, not a true shadow.
Rather, it was a spiritual and psychological feeling that caused every creature that saw him to well up with despair from the deepest recesses of their hearts.
On the streets of New York, people stopped and looked up at the giant in the sky.
There was no fear on their faces, not because they were not afraid.
But because fear had exceeded their capacity to bear, turning into a numb blankness where they could feel nothing at all.
Over the ruins of Wakanda, the workers who were rebuilding stopped what they were doing in their hands and looked at the sky.
T'Challa stood at the highest point of the ruins, his Black Panther armor reflecting the six-colored light in the sky, his eyes narrowed and lips pressed tightly together.
On the ground of Avengers Headquarters, Tony, Steve, Natasha, Carol.
Everyone raised their heads, looking at that figure in the sky.
Carol's hair fluttered in the wind, and her body had not fully recovered yet.
The life burned while confronting the energy sphere would not recover within a few days.
But she stood up, her blue eyes looking at Thanos, with no fear in her gaze.
Only a serene acceptance that a warrior would have when facing an invincible enemy.
"Things are indeed not as simple as imagined, that guy is back." Carol said with a frown.
Although she did not know what was going on, she had already witnessed the terror of Thanos once.
Therefore, seeing Thanos appear again at this moment, her expression was naturally very solemn.
"Different, this Thanos is not the previous Thanos, what on earth is going on here?"
Tony also had a solemn face, and besides that, a full look of doubt.
Part of his Mark LII armor was still not repaired, and the armor on his left hand was exposed nanoparticles.
But he had already put it on, because it was the only tool he could use to protect this World.
"This Thanos is stronger than the previous Thanos, much, much stronger, it looks like a big battle is inevitable!"
Steve did not speak, he just raised his shield, blue eyes looking at the sky.
Quill stood at the door of the headquarters, holding the element gun in his hand.
His right leg was still hurting, his eyes were still red, and his heart was still thinking of Gamora.
But his hands were steady, his jaw was firm, and his voice was flat.
"Since you've come, then don't leave, let us kill you a second time!"
Rocket squatted at his feet, energy cannon carried on his shoulder, black eyes staring at the sky.
"Damn it, what on earth is going on, wasn't Thanos already killed by that woman?"
"Yeah! We clearly watched him get cut in half by that woman with our own eyes, how did he appear again, could it be that he has an immortal body!"
"It's not that he has an immortal body, but because this Thanos is not the Thanos in our time dimension.
He traveled through time from the past, this is Thanos from five years ago, he used the power of the Time Stone."
Right at this moment Doctor Strange crossed space and came, appearing in front of them.
"Traveling through time?! Damn it, is it that perverted? Won't we be doomed then!"
Groot stood behind Rocket, new branch arms had already grown out from the broken arms, tender green, but already possessing power.
His black eyes looked at the sky, his lips moved slightly.
"I am Groot."
"Yes, we will all die." Rocket looked at Groot and nodded as he said.
Thanos walked down from the sky.
His feet stepped on the void, like stepping on invisible stairs, walking down step by step.
Behind him, the fleet of the Black Order poured out from the cracks in the sky.
Not twenty-eight ships, not hundreds of ships, but thousands of ships.
A fleet so massive it blotted out the sky, densely covering the entire sky of New York in dark masses.
Thanos stood above the sky of New York, not Wakanda, but New York.
He chose the most densely populated city as his stage.
Because his mission was to eliminate half of life, and New York was a very good start.
His feet stepped on the asphalt road of Fifth Avenue.
The asphalt cracked under his weight, the cracks spreading all around like a spider web.
He raised his left hand.
The six stones glowed simultaneously.
He opened his mouth, preparing to speak the command that would turn half of the life in the Universe into ashes.
However, right at this moment, a golden light shot from the direction of Morgan Manor.
No. 18.
She flew toward Thanos at supersonic speed, her right fist clenched, her Vibranium fingers dragging a white shockwave through the air.
Her blue eyes stared at Thanos's gauntlet, that gauntlet where all six stones were glowing.
She wanted to snatch it away before Thanos snapped his fingers.
Thanos did not dodge.
He extended his right hand, the hand without the gauntlet directly catching No. 18's fist.
The wind stopped.
A ring-shaped shockwave exploded between No. 18's fist and Thanos's palm on the ground, shattering all surrounding buildings completely.
Broken glass, broken bricks, and broken steel splashed all around like rain, leveling everything within hundreds of meters to the ground.
No. 18's fist stopped in Thanos's palm, motionless.
Thanos's hand did not tremble, did not retreat, and didn't even have any trace of being impacted.
No. 18's blue eyes widened slightly.
"You should be No. 18, your power is smaller than I imagined!"
Thanos said mockingly, his voice low, like distant thunder.
He clenched No. 18's fist tightly.
No. 18's fingers made a dangerous creaking sound under Thanos's grip.
No. 18 tried to pull her hand back, but Thanos's fingers locked her down like five steel pillars.
Her body struggled in the air, the infinite power reactoremitting a sharp screech, but she could not break free.
"Wrong, wrong, it's not that your power has decreased, but that my power has increased.
Six Infinity Stones, they are not addition, they are exponential.
You were able to defeat me before because I only had two.
Now, I have six, and you right now are nothing in my eyes."
Having said that, he threw No. 18 out.
No. 18's body passed through dozens of buildings, flying all the way from Manhattan's Fifth Avenue to the East River.
Slamming into the river water, splashing up a column of water dozens of meters high.
Chapter 425 Now, You Are Nothing!
After falling into the water, Number 18 immediately rushed out of the water and dashed toward Thanos once again.
But she was subjected to Thanos's energy attack once more, tracing another silver trajectory in the air.
It was not flying, but being hurled.
The force of Thanos's toss exceeded the instantaneous compensation capacity of her infinite power reactor.
Her body was like a pebble shot from a slingshot, completely losing autonomous control.
Her body scraped a sharp screeching sound in the air, dragging out a white shock wave that shattered all the glass along the way.
She passed through Third Avenue and crashed through the 30th floor of an office building.
Concrete and steel were like paper in front of her body.
She burst in through the left wall and out through the right wall, stirring up a sky full of dust and scrap paper.
Then she crossed Second Avenue and crashed through the roof of another building.
She flew out from the foundation of the first floor, plowing a deep gully on the ground.
Then she crossed First Avenue and crashed into a park sculpture on the bank of the East River.
The sculpture was smashed into pieces by her, and her body rolled through gravel and mud for dozens of meters.
Finally, she was embedded in the concrete wall of the river embankment in a distorted posture.
The river water flowed over the top of her head, the cold East River water pounding against her blonde hair and blue eyes.
She kept her eyes open, looking at the sand and stones at the bottom of the river stirred by the current, looking at the fish swimming in the darkness.
Looking at those unidentified fragments drifting down from upstream.
Her body was not injured; after all, her body was crafted from nano-Vibranium through bio-engineering.
The atomic structure of Vibranium would not be destroyed by this level of physical Impact.
A few seconds.
She only needed a few seconds to adjust.
But Thanos did not give her a few seconds.
The river water above Number 18's head was suddenly split by an invisible force—not pushed away, but separated.
The power of the Space Stone cut the East River in half, and the river water surged to both sides.
Revealing the silt and gravel at the riverbed, and the blonde woman embedded in the concrete wall.
The riverbed split open a new crack under the pressure of the spatial force.
That crack extended toward Number 18's position like a snake, and the ground around her collapsed, shattered, and plummeted.
Number 18 broke free from the concrete wall of the river embankment, her body rolling a few times on the riverbed.
Then she knelt halfway in the mud, raised her head, and looked at the huge figure wrapped in six-color light above the riverbank.
Thanos stood on the riverbank, looking down at her.
His six-colored vortex eyes shone like six lamps in the darkness.
The six stones on his left-hand gauntlet were pulsing with different colored lights.
His golden armor flickered with an eerie, shattered light in the reflection of the river water.
"You can still stand up? Your strength is truly impressive!" Thanos's voice was low, carrying a surprise that was close to appreciation.
Number 18 did not speak; she stood up from the mud and shook off the silt on her body.
Her blue eyes looked at Thanos, as calm as two windless lakes.
Her right hand was slightly open, her left hand clenched into a fist, her body slightly crouched with her center of gravity forward.
This was her most basic yet most fatal combat posture.
Although she did not possess various superpowers, she still had her body and the inexhaustible power provided by the infinite power reactor.
She had only one goal: to take his gauntlet before Thanossnapped his fingers.
Thanos saw the determination in her eyes and her physical posture.
"You are still thinking you can defeat me?" Thanos said.
He walked down from the riverbank, stepping into the river water split by the Space Stone.
The water retreated to both sides at his feet, like Moses parting the Red Sea.
He walked to the riverbed, standing in front of Number 18 at a distance of less than ten meters.
His height was more than twice hers, and his physique was several times hers.
The light of the six stones on his gauntlet illuminated the entire riverbed, dyeing Number 18's silver into six alternating colors.
"Before you, countless people tried to challenge me, but they all died.
You will be the same as them, or different.
After all, you are not true life; you are artificial, and you have no soul."
The Soul Stone flashed on Thanos's gauntlet, and immediately, an expression of surprise could not help but appear on Thanos's face.
It was the first time he had ever seen a living entity without a soul, which completely subverted his imagination.
But now was not the time to think about this; he had to quickly resolve the woman in front of him.
Number 18 did not speak; she merely narrowed her eyes slightly and rushed forward.
Her speed was still shockingly fast; the contraction speed of her Vibranium muscles far exceeded any biological tissue.
Every step she took on the ground crushed the rocks and silt beneath her feet, leaving a string of deep footprints on the riverbed.
Her right fist swung upward from below, striking Thanos's jaw.
This angle could bypass the thickest part of the armor on his chest and directly attack his head.
Thanos did not dodge; he blocked in front of his jaw with his right hand.
Number 18's fist hit his palm, the sound like two trains colliding, shaking the surrounding river water violently.
Thanos's feet slid back half a meter in the silt of the riverbed.
But his knees did not bend, his body did not sway, and his hand steadily blocked her fist.
"Your strength is quite good, but it still cannot shake me!" He tightened his grip on Number 18's fist.
His fingers hooked into the gaps of Number 18's fist, trapping her fingers.
The surface of the Vibranium made a dangerous creaking sound under his grip—not because the Vibranium was deforming.
But rather the friction sound generated when his grip tried to deform the Vibranium but failed.
Number 18 tried to pull her hand back, her infinite power reactor operating at full power.
Elevating the energy output within her body to the maximum, the muscle fibers of her arm tightened to the limit under the infusion of energy.
But her strength in front of Thanos, who was fully equipped with the Infinity Stones, was like an ant trying to push a mountain.
"Wanting to retreat is not that easy!" Thanos sneered, his voice carrying a teasing ease.
He bent down, bringing his face close to Number 18's face.
"I said it before, right now you are nothing."
With that, he gave a powerful toss.
Number 18's body flew out once again.
This time, she was hurled across the East River, across Queens, across Long Island, and finally smashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
Falling into the sea surface from thousands of meters high, the Impact between the Vibranium body and the water surface generated an Impact equivalent to a meteorite fall.
Stirring up huge waves tens of meters high. This time, she did not stand up immediately.
Because even for her, suffering such a terrifying attack was a bit too much to handle.
Not only that, but at the very last moment of throwing her out, Thanos applied a continuous compression field around her body.
Every joint of hers was locked by the force of the compression field, unable to bend or move, like an insect frozen in amber.
She sank deep into the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by endless darkness and silent pressure.
Her blue eyes looked at the increasingly smaller one directly above her head.
The light point being blurred by the refraction of seawater—that was the six-colored light of Thanos.
She could no longer move.
Chapter 426: The snap echoed, and life began to fade!
Thanos walked back from the riverbed to the ground, and the East River closed up behind him.
The river water filled the space he had split within seconds of his departure, emitting a huge roar.
His golden armor was stained with silt and water stains, but it quickly dried under the illumination of the six-color light.
He walked through the already ruined Manhattan blocks.
He walked past the piles of rubble that had been skyscrapers just minutes ago.
He walked past the crowds fleeing in all directions in panic.
He did not look at them.
He walked to the center of Manhattan, a place that used to be Times Square.
Now, Times Square no longer existed.
The surrounding buildings were shattered by the Impactduring the first attack on the 18th.
The ground was burned into a glass-like state by the energy beam, and the air was filled with dust and the smell of burning.
The once-shining giant screens turned into shimmering broken glass all over the ground.
Those screens that used to play Coca-Cola advertisements and Broadway musical trailers.
Now only scattered currents remained jumping in the broken lines, emitting a weak, sigh-like buzzing sound.
Thanos stood in the center of the ruins, looking at this area that once represented the peak of human civilization.
In his six-color vortex eyes, there was no complacency, no mockery, only a solemnity close to a religious ritual.
He was not here to mock humanity, not here to show off power, and not here to conquer.
He was here to fulfill his mission.
"Universe!" He spoke, his voice not loud, but the entire city heard it.
Like the echo of distant thunder, like the tremor deep within the earth.
"Born in balance, stars burn in the balance of gravity and nuclear fusion.
Planets operate in the balance of centripetal force and centrifugal force, and life continues in the balance of birth and death.
When the balance is broken, the Universe will fall ill."
He raised his left hand.
The six Infinity Stones lit up simultaneously on the back of his hand.
Purple Power, orange Soul, red Reality, blue Space, green Time, golden Mind.
The six-colored lights intertwined to form a continuously rotating galaxy-like energy field.
The energy field spread from his gauntlet, wrapping around his entire arm.
The light flowed on his armor, under his skin, and in his blood vessels.
"I once thought that balance could be achieved through conquest.
Conquering a Planet, annihilating its army, and enslaving its subjects.
But conquest brings hatred, hatred brings war, and war brings more death.
This is not balance; this is just another imbalance."
He clenched his fist.
The light of the six Infinity Stones became more intense, and the rotation speed of the energy field became faster and faster.
Visible ripples began to appear in the air, not heat waves, not Impact.
But a slight distortion of Space itself under the power of the Infinity Stones.
The gravel on the ground began to jump, not by vibration.
But levitating, rotating, and slowly rising into the air amidst slight changes in gravity.
"Later, I understood.
What balance needs is not conquest, not enslavement, not any form of rule.
What balance needs is randomness, without prejudice, without choice, without selfishness.
Half of life disappears, completely random, everyone has an equal probability.
This is not cruelty, this is mercy, this is the fairness the Universe gives to every life."
His index and middle fingers together, ring and little fingers together, thumb spread out.
The gesture of preparing to snap his fingers.
"I spent decades searching for the Infinity Stones, killed countless people, and sacrificed the person I loved most.
I changed history, advanced time, and overcame every obstacle.
Today, I stand here, standing on your Planet.
Standing in your ruins, I am going to fulfill everything I promised the Universe."
He looked at his fingers, looking at the light of those Infinity Stones flowing between his fingerprints.
"Do not hate me, hate fate, hate probability, hate the injustice of the Universe, but do not hate me, because I am merely an executor."
His thumb and fingers began to close inward.
"Stop!"
A gold-red figure flew out from the ruins.
Tony Stark.
His Mark LII armor was incomplete, and the armor on his left arm was shattered.
Revealing the circuits and sparks inside, the arc reactor on his chest emitted a harsh buzzing sound at the limit of overload.
Half of his mask was shattered, and his exposed face was covered with dust and dried blood.
His brown eyes burned with a kind of uniqueness belonging to Tony Stark.
A stubbornness close to foolishness that would still not be extinguished in desperate straits.
He flew towards Thanos, the palm cannon in his right palm lit up with blue light.
He was not here to fight; he knew he couldn't beat Thanos.
He was here to stall for time.
Even if it was just zero point one second.
Even if it was just to make Thanos's fingers close a split second later, even if it was just to take one more breath of this already destroyed air.
Thanos glanced at him.
Just a glance.
The Space Stone lit up with blue light.
Tony's body was fixed in mid-air by an invisible force, less than five meters away from Thanos.
The light of his palm cannon went out under the suppression of the power of Space, and the thrusters of his armor were locked.
The fragments of his mask were peeled off his face by an invisible hand, revealing his complete, scar-covered face.
"Tony Stark, your will is stronger than I imagined, but will is not power."
His fingers continued to close.
Tony reached out his hand, as if he could reach out and grab those closing fingers.
His fingers could only move a tiny distance under the suppression of the power of Space.
But he still reached out his hand, reaching towards those fingers that were about to determine the fate of half the lives in the Universe.
His lips moved.
No sound came out.
But Thanos read his lip movements.
"I will find you."
Thanos's fingers closed the final distance.
The snap.
Sound, no, not sound.
Sound cannot describe that feeling.
That was not sound waves propagating through the air, nor mechanical waves transmitted through vibration.
But a kind of resonance directly generated from the consciousness of one life.
And ending in the consciousness of another life, spanning distance and dimension.
Click.
Like a bone being gently snapped.
Like a heart stopping its last beat in the silence of late night.
Like the echo of a drop of water falling into boundless darkness.
Thanos's fingers stopped in his palm.
The World became quiet.
Then, it began to fade.
Not death; death has a process, has struggle, has pain, the last flash of consciousness.
Fading is not like this.
Fading is in an instant, turning from a complete, flesh-and-blood person into a pile of ashes.
Not ashes after burning, not dust after air-drying.
But a more thorough, more essential disappearance, as if that person had never existed.
Tony Stark was the first.
He was in mid-air, fixed there by the power of the Space Stone.
His armor was still there, his body was still there, his eyes were still looking at Thanos.
Then, starting from his fingers, his body turned into ashes.
Not from outside to inside, not from inside to outside.
But every point at the same instant, breaking simultaneously on the same carbon-based life network.
His armor lost support, fell from the air, landed in the ashes, making a crisp sound like metal hitting stone.
The gold-red Mark LII, Tony Stark's painstaking effort, lay on a pile of gray dust, like an uninhabited gravestone.
Chapter 427: Gone, they are all gone!
Steve Rogers was on the other side of the ruins, his shield still held up before him, still running in the direction of Thanos.
His blue eyes watched the entire process of Tony turning into ash, and his footsteps stopped in that very instant.
Not out of fear, not out of shock, but because his heart had shattered at that moment as well.
The shield slipped from his hand, crashed against the ground, bounced twice, and then lay quietly among the rubble.
Steve sank to one knee.
Not because he was injured, but because he found his legs could no longer support his body.
Not because of physical weight, but because of the weight of loss.
He looked at that pile of ash, looking at that empty suit of armor.
Looking at the person who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him upon the ruins of the Battle of New York.
The person who had split apart with him, made up with him, and fought side by side with him once again, was gone.
Disappeared right before his eyes.
"Tony..." His voice was as hoarse as sandpaper scraping against metal.
He reached out a hand, wanting to touch that suit of armor, wanting to touch those ashes.
Wanting to touch anything that could still prove Tony Starkhad once existed.
When his hand was halfway out, it stopped.
Not because he had stopped himself, but because his own hand had also begun to turn into ash.
Starting from his fingertips, his skin turned gray.
Then it transformed into countless tiny particles sparkling under the sunlight, drifting away in the air.
Steve Rogers, Super Soldier, Captain America, the little guy from Brooklyn.
Turned into ash.
Natasha Romanoff was on the other side of the ruins, still gripping an electroshock baton in her hand, her red hair covered in dust.
She watched the process of Steve turning into ash, her green eyes devoid of tears.
There was only a black, hollow void, like an emptiness hollowed out from within by something.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
Perhaps his name, perhaps an order, or perhaps she just wanted to say "No".
But she didn't have time to say it.
The very moment she opened her mouth, her body turned into ash.
Her electroshock baton slipped from her fingers, landing on the gravel alongside her clothes with a faint sound.
Carol Danvers was in a medical tent not far away.
Her hair was scattered across the pillow, her blue eyes half-closed, her body not yet recovered from the previous energy burn.
She heard that sound, the sound of that snap, and she opened her eyes, knowing what that sound meant.
She tried to stand up.
Her legs were going weak, her hands were trembling, and her entire body was protesting.
Yet she still stood up, supporting herself against the tent's frame, walking outward step by step.
When she walked out of the tent, she saw the people turning into ash.
Medical staff, wounded soldiers, Wakanda warriors, female warriors of the Dora Milaje.
They disappeared right before her eyes, one after another, like dandelions blown away by the wind.
She reached out a hand, trying to grab the hand of a Wakanda warrior who was turning into ash.
Her fingers passed right through those gray particles, catching nothing at all.
She knelt down on the ground.
Not out of weakness, but because the ground beneath her feet was shaking.
But not because of an earthquake, but because Earth itself was also feeling the excruciating pain of half its life disappearing.
Her knees slammed into the ground, her head lowered.
Tears welled up from her blue eyes, dripping onto the land that had already turned gray.
"No..." she whispered.
No one heard.
Quill stood at the entrance of Avengers Headquarters, holding the elemental blaster in his hand, the old injury on his right leg still aching.
He looked at the distant sky, that sky illuminated by six-colored light which was turning gray.
His lips were trembling, his eyes were red, and in his heart he was thinking of Gamora.
"Gamora..." he whispered, as if calling a name that would never answer.
His body turned into ash.
The blaster dropped to the ground, bounced twice, and then grew quiet.
Rocket was at the entrance of the armory, still holding his huge energy cannon in his arms.
He saw the entire process of Quill disappearing; his black eyes widened and his mouth opened, but there was no sound.
Not because he didn't want to scream, but because his throat felt as if it were being choked by something, unable to make any sound.
Groot stood behind him, new shoots still wrapping around his arms.
He looked at Rocket, tears in his black eyes.
Not water, but sap, transparent and viscous, sap like tears.
"I am Groot." Groot said, his voice as faint as a whisper in the wind.
Rocket turned around and hugged Groot.
He pressed his entire body against Groot's trunk.
His small paws tightly grasped Groot's branches, his face buried in Groot's bark.
"Don't go." Rocket's voice shattered.
"Don't go, Groot, don't..."
His voice cut off.
Not because he couldn't go on speaking, but because his body turned into ash in that exact instant.
His paws slipped from Groot's branches, and his energy cannon dropped to the ground.
His ashes drifted around Groot's roots.
Groot stood there, embracing empty air.
His sap tears slid down his face, dripping onto the ground, mixing with the ashes at his roots.
"I am Groot." He said, his voice very soft, as if saying "I love you".
Then he turned into ash.
His branches fell from the air, slammed onto the ground, bounced twice, and then grew quiet.
His tender shoots still hung on the broken branch, tender green and tiny, trembling slightly under the sunlight, before turning into ash as well.
Across the land of Wakanda, ashes drifted in the wind.
The warriors of the Dora Milaje turned into ash, their golden spears falling onto the black Earth.
The warriors of the Border Tribe turned into ash, fragments of Vibranium cloaks fluttering in the wind.
T'Challa stood at the highest point of the Wakanda ruins, the Black Panther suit gleaming with a dark golden luster under the sunlight.
He watched his people disappear one by one, his fingers trembling, his lips tightly pressed.
He did not turn into ash, at least not yet.
He looked at his hands, looked at those Vibranium claws, looked at his own skin.
Black, healthy, and vibrant skin.
He did not know if he would become one of the disappearing half, but he knew he could not just stand there and wait.
He jumped down from the ruins, running toward those struggling amidst the ashes.
Then, as he ran across a patch of rubble, his body turned into ash.
The Black Panther suit dropped to the ground with a muffled metallic sound.
Shuri rushed out from the laboratory, looking at that empty suit of armor, her black eyes filled with tears.
She ran toward that suit of armor, wanting to pick it up, wanting to bring it back to the laboratory.
Wanting to find evidence from within that T'Challa was still alive, even if it were just a glimmer of hope.
Before her hand could touch the armor, it turned into ash.
The ashes fell onto the armor and were blown away by the wind.
Across the Universe, half of all life disappeared.
Not disappearing slowly, not disappearing gradually.
But disappearing simultaneously in every corner of the Universe, on every Planet, on every spaceship at the same instant.
From the center of the Milky Way Galaxy to the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy, from known civilizations to unknown life forms.
From cross-dimensional entities to half of the tiny creatures within the Quantum Realm.
Cold, random, merciless.
Half.
Chapter 428: Loren Morgan, here I come!
Thanos stood in place, lowering his head and looking at his own left hand.
The six gems on the Infinity Gauntlet were still glowing, and his entire arm looked as if it had been scorched by a raging fire.
The skin of his entire arm was wrinkled, covered in shocking scars.
But he directly ignored his own injuries and closed his eyes.
Deep within his consciousness, in the most secretive corner he had never shown to anyone, he saw Gamora.
It was not a memory, not an illusion, and not a projection of the Soul Stone.
Instead, it was a more essential, true existence as if on the other end of time and the other side of space.
She stood there, with green skin, black hair, and a stubborn look in her eyes.
Her lips were moving, saying something.
He could not hear it.
But in his heart, he knew what she was saying.
"You did it." She would say.
"I did it." He would reply.
"What was the price?"
"Everything."
"Was it worth it?"
He was silent, not because he did not know the answer, but because he knew the answer.
But that answer was too heavy, so heavy that even his Soul Stone could not bear it.
He opened his eyes.
Around him were ruins, ashes, and silence.
The skyscrapers of Manhattan had been razed to the ground by No. 18 and his own battle.
Times Square had turned into a huge crater, and the water of the East River was still rippling violently due to the spatial cutting just now.
The dust in the air was slowly settling, like a gray snow.
Half of all life had vanished.
The remaining half, those humans who had not been randomly chosen.
Were crawling and crying in the ruins, searching for their relatives, friends, and loved ones.
Their screams and cries came from all directions.
Rebounded, refracted, and mixed by the walls of the ruins into a low, continuous buzzing like the tides of the ocean.
Thanos did not look at them.
He raised his head and looked at the sky.
The sky was grayish-blue, with low and thick clouds like a layer of lead-gray quilt.
His six-colored vortex eyes appeared particularly glaring in the gloomy sky, like six stars refusing to go out during the day.
The corners of his mouth curled up slightly.
It was not a mocking smile, not a contemptuous smile, nor the wild laughter of a conqueror standing on the corpses of enemies.
Instead, it was an exhausted, heavy smile like a person who had walked too far finally seeing the finish line.
His mission was complete.
Half of the life in the Universe had disappeared.
Starting from today, resources would no longer be scarce, balance would be re-established, and all the sacrifices...
Gamora, his army, his time, and his pain all had meaning.
"Finally." He whispered.
The voice was very soft, so soft that only he could hear it.
He lowered his head and looked at his own left hand.
The six gems on the Infinity Gauntlet pulsed in the dim light, like six hearts breathing in the darkness.
He felt their energy: the brutality of the Power Stone, the profundity of the Soul Stone, the chaos of the Reality Stone.
The boundlessness of the Space Stone, the flow of the Time Stone, and the insight of the Mind Stone.
The six powers flowed within his body, like six rivers of different colors.
Converging deep within his consciousness into a vast, boundless energy field resembling a sea of stars.
He clenched his fists.
"I did it." He said, his voice louder, as if declaring to the Universe.
No one responded.
Only the weeping and calling in the ruins, like a melodyless requiem filled only with pain and despair.
Thanos no longer felt those sounds grating.
Previously, hearing these sounds would make him irritable.
Not out of sympathy, but because those sounds reminded him that so many lives were still suffering.
Now, those sounds told him that his mission was complete.
Those who were still alive were the lucky half.
They had resources, space, and opportunities.
They would thank him, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day.
He turned around, preparing to leave.
Just as his foot took the first step, his body paused for a moment.
Not out of hesitation, not out of exhaustion.
But because the six gems on his Infinity Gauntlet flashed violently at the same time.
It was not the normal pulsation of energy, nor the natural resonance between the gems.
Instead, it was an abnormal, sudden occurrence, as if some external force was interfering with them.
Thanos's brow furrowed.
He raised his head and looked in the direction of Morgan Manor.
Tens of kilometers away, outside the ruins of Manhattan.
Between the forests and lakes of northern New York, Morgan Manor still stood there.
Its walls had not collapsed, its roof had not shattered, and there were no ashes or bloodstains on its lawn.
Thanos could see it, not with his eyes, but with the perception of the Soul Stone.
He could see that there was a life within that building, a strong, bright life like a star.
That life had not disappeared.
Thanos's eyes narrowed.
In that snap, at the moment when half of the life in the entire Universe was randomly erased.
Unexpectedly, not a single person belonging to that life, namely Loren Morgan, had been selected.
Because Thanos's snap was random, regardless of wealth or status, regardless of strength, completely random.
Half of the Universe's life vanished without any exception.
Yet not a single one of Loren Morgan and his women had disappeared.
What did this mean?
Did it mean they were not life forms of this Universe?
Did it mean their mode of existence prevented them from being covered by the random rules?
Did it mean he had done something to protect himself at the exact moment the snap was made?
Thanos did not know.
But he knew one thing: that presence which had always made him uneasy and lingered deep within his consciousness.
Stuck like a thorn on the edge of his victory, had not yet been rooted out.
He turned around, facing the direction of Morgan Manor.
His six-colored vortex eyes lit up in the darkness.
"Loren Morgan, here I come!" He said.
Morgan Manor, underground laboratory.
Loren stood in front of the console, his gray eyes staring at the constantly jumping data on the holographic screen.
The surrounding air was filled with a tense atmosphere, not because of battle.
The battle was dozens of kilometers away, in the ruins of Manhattan.
But because of time.
He had received the news from Ancient One that Thanoshad gathered five gems ahead of time.
He knew Thanos would come to Earth, he knew Thanoshad six gems, and he knew No. 18 and Alice were no match for the six gems.
But what he did not know was whether his Silver Superman serum could succeed.
The Super Biological Weapon Technology Guide was spread out on the console, its golden glow appearing much softer under the white lights of the laboratory.
Those complex formulas on the pages regarding the fusion of Kryptonian genes and human genes.
Had been repeatedly studied, deduced, and verified by Loren over countless days and nights.
He had tried 3,700 different fusion schemes, and not a single one had succeeded.
He had found the genetic plasticity mechanism of the Skrulls and used it to resolve the rejection reaction between human cells and Kryptonian genes.
He had seized the gene granting device from the Skrulls, using it to optimize the molecular structure of the serum.
But success was never one hundred percent.
Chapter 429: Silver Superman, Descent!
Through his efforts, he increased the success rate of the Silver Superman serum from the initial 34.7% to 79.3%.
Even after he obtained the gene granting device from the Skrulls, it only rose to 79.3%, not 100%.
This meant that when he injected the serum, there was a probability of more than twenty percent...
...that it would cause his own genes to collapse or mutate into an uncontrollable biological weapon.
"Master!" Alice's voice came from the communicator, faint yet clear.
"Number 18 was shot down, she fell into the Atlantic Ocean, locked by the compression field of the Space Stone, unable to move.
Nymph is trying to hack into the system of the Infinity Gauntlet, but the energy field of the six stones is too strong, and her consciousness cannot penetrate it."
"Make her stop," Loren said.
"Nymph?"
"Make her stop, don't continue fighting, just protect yourself well!"
"Then Master, what about you?"
"I will handle it."
The communication was cut off.
Loren stood at the console, his fingers tapping out the final line of instructions on the keyboard.
On the holographic screen, the molecular structure model of the serum finished its final rendering.
A perfect, double-helical three-dimensional image wrapped in a golden energy field rotated slowly in the darkness.
He took that tube of serum out of the small constant-temperature container.
The serum was silver-white, neither liquid nor solid.
It was a substance flowing like mercury, somewhere between the two.
It flowed along the inner wall of the glass tube, with a golden glow shimmering on its surface, like a galaxy trapped in glass.
The tube wall was cool, but the serum itself was warm, as if alive, like a slumbering lifeform.
Loren raised the serum to his eyes, his black eyes watching the flowing silver-white light.
"Carol Danvers gained power from the Space Stone. Bruce Banner gained power from gamma rays.
Gwen gained power from a radioactive spider; all powers come from the outside, from accidents."
He pulled out the seal plug of the serum tube.
"I am not them, my power comes from myself, from my research, from my adventures.
From the knowledge and technology I obtained from other Universes, this Silver Superman serum was created by me.
Its success or failure depends on me, not fate, not probability, not the will of God."
He brought the serum tube to his lips.
"It is me."
He tilted his head back and poured the serum into his mouth.
There was no taste.
The silver-white liquid spread across the tip of his tongue, not flowing into his throat.
Instead, it penetrated directly from his oral mucosa into his blood vessels.
He could feel those liquids flowing in his blood vessels, not flowing downstream like water.
But like a conscious lifeform, climbing along the walls of his blood vessels, searching, entering every single one of his cells.
The first sensation was cold.
Not ordinary cold, but welling up from the depths of his bone marrow, like the cold of a person immersed entirely in liquid nitrogen.
His teeth began to chatter, his muscles began to contract, and his blood vessels bulged beneath his skin like twisted blue snakes.
His breathing in his chest became rapid and shallow, every inhalation feeling like swallowing ice shards.
Then, heat.
Not ordinary heat, but heat released simultaneously from the mitochondria of every cell like the core of the Sun.
His skin began to turn red, from pale to rosy to crimson, like a piece of iron thrown into a fire.
His clothes began to curl, char, and then turned to ashes in the high temperature.
His hair stood on end in the high temperature, every single strand glowing like thin white filaments.
His body began to change.
Not cell division, not tissue proliferation, but the fundamental remodeling of every cell.
His DNA double helix structure was pulled apart, recombined, pulled apart again, and recombined again under the action of the serum.
Human gene fragments were replaced by Kryptonian gene fragments.
Not a crude replacement, but precisely carried out according to every step in the Super Biological Weapon Technology Guide.
Genetic reprogramming just like a programmer writing code.
His muscle fibers became denser, tougher, and more efficient in the cycle of rupture and rebirth.
His bones became harder, lighter, and more compressive-resistant in the process of dissolving and recasting.
A new, almost invisible bio-energy field grew beneath his epidermis, capable of resisting physical and energy attacks.
His eyes began to glow, not reflecting light, but with him himself becoming the light source.
His irises changed from black to silver-white, and from silver-white to gold.
And then from gold to a color impossible to describe in words, like the North Pole lights, like the Nebula, like time itself flowing.
His hair changed from dark brown to silver-white, and from silver-white to nearly transparent white.
Floating in the halo of energy, like dandelions blown apart by the wind.
His body rose from the ground, not flying.
But lifted by the energy surging from within his body, suspended in mid-air inside the laboratory.
His limbs hung down naturally, his head tilted back slightly, and his mouth was slightly open.
A deep sound came from the depths of his throat, like the lowest string of a cello being plucked.
Not pain, not joy, but metamorphosis.
In that instant, his consciousness was torn into countless fragments, and every fragment was a him.
Every him existed on a different timeline, in a different dimension, in different possibilities.
He saw all versions of himself, all possible versions of himself, all versions of himself that once were him, are him, and will be him in the future.
Then, those fragments reaggregated together.
Forming a new him.
A him that transcended time, space, dimension, causality, logic, and all known and unknown laws.
He became the Silver Superman.
Loren opened his eyes.
The laboratory became different in his field of vision.
He no longer saw objects through the reflection of light; he could see atoms, and could see the trajectories of electrons around atomic nuclei.
He could see the vibration of quarks inside protons, and could see those virtual particles constantly appearing and annihilating in quantum foam.
He could see time flowing in the air, like invisible rivers flowing from the past to the future.
He could see Thanos.
Dozens of kilometers away, in the ruins of Manhattan, a purple giant wrapped in six-color light...
...was standing on the banks of the East River, looking towards the direction of Morgan Manor.
He could see Thanos's eyes, the eyes of the six-color vortex scanning his location using the energy of the Soul Stone.
Loren reached out his hand, his fingers gently tracing in the air.
Space split open a crack under his fingertips, and blue light surged out from the crack.
The energy of the Space Stone, but he didn't need the stone; he could do it by himself.
He stepped into that spatial rift.
Chapter 430: I admit that your six Infinity Stones are strong, but they are not stronger than me!"
Thanos was still looking in the direction of Morgan Manor, vigilance and confusion flashing in his six-colored eyes.
He felt a powerful energy surging from that direction, not the energy of the Infinity Stones, nor any energy he knew.
That was a strange, ancient energy, as if coming from before the birth of the Universe, more essential than the Infinity Stones.
Then, the space in front of him split open.
A blue fissure opened in front of him, not the light of the Space Stone, but a purer spatial tearing without any medium.
A man walked out from the fissure.
Silver-white hair, golden eyes.
No, not gold, but a flowing light beyond color like the North Pole.
His height was about the same as an ordinary person's, but his sense of presence made Thanos's six stones flash violently at the same time.
He was wearing a simple dark shirt and trousers, in the same style as the one he wore before his transformation.
But in reality, the previous set of clothes had turned to ashes in doch high temperature.
This was not the original clothes, but condensed from his own energy.
It looked like clothes, but was actually an extension of his body's energy field.
Loren Morgan.
Thanos instinctively took half a step back.
Not fear; at this moment, he was not someone who would feel fear.
After all, he was wearing the fully equipped Infinity Gauntlet on his hand.
This was a deeper, more primitive instinctive reaction.
It was an automatic adjustment made by the body when facing an unassessable threat to buy more reaction time.
Loren stood in front of Thanos, less than five meters away.
His feet stepped on the rubble of the ruins without making any sound.
Not because he was light, but because his energy field completely isolated the contact between his body weight and the ground.
He was like a leaf falling on the surface of the Water, disturbing nothing.
He looked around.
Ruins, ashes, silence.
In those ashes, he could see Tony's armor, Steve's shield, Natasha's shock baton.
Carol's uniform fragments, Quill's element guns, Rocket's energy cannon, Groot's broken branches.
His golden eyes—no, let's call them golden eyes for now.
Because no more accurate word could describe the color in his eyes, his gaze lingered on these relics for a moment.
"Thanos, you did it." Loren said. His voice was not loud, as calm as if he were talking about a daily triviality.
Thanos looked at him, the light in his six-colored vortex eyes flashing violently.
"I did it." Thanos said.
"Half of the life has vanished."
"Half."
Loren nodded.
Not approval, not acceptance.
It was a confirmation, as if confirming a fact he already knew.
"Congratulations." Loren said.
Thanos frowned slightly.
He couldn't understand Loren's tone; it wasn't mockery, anger, sadness, or any emotion he expected.
Was that calm?
No, deeper than calm.
It was an acceptance... welling up from a place his will could not reach, as unprobeable as the deep sea?
"Your mission is complete." Loren continued.
"Half of the Universe's life has vanished; starting today, resources are no longer strained, and balance is re-established.
You have done everything you promised, and paid every price you were asked to pay.
You are a savior, an executioner, a god, a sinner.
No matter how others view you, in your own heart, you know you are right."
Thanos's lips moved slightly.
"You know why I came." Thanos said, not a question, but a statement.
"I know." Loren nodded.
"You are here to kill me, because in your snap, I did not vanish.
I am an exception, a loophole, an existence that makes you uneasy.
You must eliminate me to make your mission flawless."
"You will resist."
"I will."
Thanos raised his left hand.
The six stones lit up simultaneously on the back of his hand, the light of six colors intertwining together.
Condensing on his fist into a huge, rotating, Nebula-like energy cluster.
The heat of the energy cluster made the surrounding air begin to distort, and the gravel on the ground jumped.
The clouds in the sky were pushed upward by the energy field, forming a huge invisible dome.
"You don't have the Infinity Stones." Thanos said, his voice low, like a vibration coming from the Earth's core.
"You only have your body, your energy, that kind of power that does not belong to this Universe.
But the Infinity Stones are the embodiment of this Universe's fundamental forces; their power transcends time, space, causality, and logic.
You may be strong, but you cannot transcend the rules of the Universe itself."
Loren looked at him, his golden eyes as calm as two mirrors.
"Perhaps I can!" Loren said, taking a step forward.
Thanos's energy cluster fired from his fist, not an Impact, not an energy beam.
But an attack that fused the power of the six stones together, possessed all six attributes, and could not be resisted by any known force.
The purple Power Stone, the orange Soul Stone, the red Reality Stone, the blue Space Stone, the green Time Stone, the yellow Mind Stone.
The six colors rotated, intertwined, and fused in the air into a white, dazzling light like a supernova explosion.
The light swallowed Loren's location, swallowed the earth behind him, and swallowed everything in sight.
The earth split open under the Impact of the energy cluster into a huge, bottomless fissure, stretching from Manhattanall the way to Central Park.
The air was ignited by the heat of the energy cluster, forming a plasma fireball hundreds of meters in diameter with a temperature of up to millions of degrees at the center of the explosion.
The light of the fireball illuminated all of New York, illuminated New Jersey, and illuminated the Atlantic Ocean.
When the light dissipated, when the fireball cooled, and when the dust began to settle, Loren was still standing in place.
With one foot forward and one foot back, his hands hanging naturally at both sides of his body, his posture was exactly the same as before Thanos launched the attack.
His shirt wasn't wrinkled, his hair wasn't messy, and his eyes were still looking calmly at Thanos.
Where he stood, the ground beneath his feet was burned by the energy cluster into a smooth, vitrified hemispherical depression.
His feet hovered in the center of the depression, touching nothing.
"Your attack was weaker than I expected." Loren said, his voice still calm.
Thanos's eyes flashed violently.
"Impossible." For the first time, a crack appeared in his voice, not fear, but shock.
"A full-strength blow from the six Infinity Stones cannot be ignored by any existence."
"I didn't ignore it; I endured it.
Your attack hit my body, and my body endured it.
Your Power Stone tried to tear my cells apart, but the density of my cells left your Power Stone nowhere to start.
Your Soul Stone tried to strip away my soul, but I don't have a soul as you define it.
Your Reality Stone tried to rewrite my existence, but my existence spans beyond your reality.
Your Space Stone tried to compress me into a singularity, but my energy field propped open your space.
Your Time Stone tried to age me, but my time is flowing, and the source of my life is not on your timeline.
Your Mind Stone tried to control my consciousness, but my consciousness is not a single existence that can be controlled."
He took a step forward, walking out of that vitrified depression.
"I admit that your six Infinity Stones are strong, but not stronger than me, so you cannot shake me!"