"What?!"
A second ago, Strange had still been celebrating.
The next moment, a golden hand suddenly emerged from thin air and grabbed the Eye of Agamotto hanging from his chest.
Before Strange could react, the Eye immediately lit up. The seals carved into it activated one after another, and its outer shell became as hot as molten lava.
Taking a closer look, Strange realized that the golden hand belonged to a gauntlet embedded with four brilliantly shining Infinity Stones.
Thanos!
For a moment, Strange was completely stunned.
Hadn't Karl just killed Thanos moments ago?
Why had he suddenly appeared in front of him again?
Gwen and Peter were the first to react.
Peter was too far away to arrive in time, but Gwen immediately fired a large amount of webbing around the Infinity Gauntlet. Tightening the strands, she tried to stop Thanos from taking the Eye of Agamotto.
At that moment, Thanos had already secured his grip on the Eye.
However, he had underestimated Gwen's strength.
Instead of pulling the Eye away, he was actually dragged forward and staggered.
That instant was all Karl needed.
His figure appeared in a flash.
The Zhan Tie Sword swept downward.
Slash!
An arm flew into the air.
Blood sprayed everywhere as Thanos's left arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder.
The others arrived immediately afterward.
Tony swung his blade and decapitated him in a single strike.
Thanos's massive head soared into the sky while his body crashed heavily to the ground.
Yet no one noticed the faint smile still lingering on the severed head's face.
Before anyone could say anything, Gwen and Peter's spider-senses suddenly began screaming warnings.
At the same time, Karl, Wanda, and Strange all sensed something unusual.
Not far behind them, a surge of magical energy appeared.
And Strange recognized that energy instantly.
It belonged to the Time Stone.
Green light suddenly blossomed behind them.
The scene shifted.
Thanos's corpse gradually faded away.
Standing at the source of the magical disturbance was Thanos himself, holding a glowing green gem in his hand.
"The Time Stone... What a beautiful thing."
Ignoring everyone's shocked expressions, he slowly raised his left hand.
As though drawn by an invisible force, the Time Stone flew into place on the Infinity Gauntlet.
A stream of green energy flowed through his body before disappearing completely.
"Damn it!"
Steve charged immediately.
The moment he moved, everyone else followed.
They rushed toward Thanos together.
Strange opened a portal behind him, countless chains bursting from within.
Wanda gathered Chaos Magic into a colossal scarlet hand that slammed down from above.
Meanwhile, Thanos calmly raised his left hand.
Green light spread outward like a shockwave.
Everything it touched froze.
The charging Avengers were trapped mid-motion.
Under the influence of the Time Stone, time around them slowed to an absurd degree.
For them, a single second could feel like an hour.
"Now only the Mind Stone remains."
Thanos didn't even bother looking at Steve and the others.
Instead, he admired the five glowing Infinity Stones mounted on his Gauntlet.
Then he paused.
"Hm?"
He looked up.
A gigantic black vortex had appeared in the sky at some unknown moment.
An overwhelming surge of magical power poured out from it.
Moments later, a meteor wrapped in blazing flames emerged.
It was so enormous that it dwarfed even the planet orbiting outside Titan.
Buzzzzz—!
A terrifying pressure descended.
It was like an entire mountain range crashing down upon Thanos.
His body trembled.
Slowly, he dropped to one knee.
"This... this is... impossible!!"
Thanos struggled to raise his head.
The magical energy radiating from the meteor told him clearly that it had been created by one of his enemies.
But who?
His gaze shifted toward the frozen Avengers.
Then it landed on Karl.
Karl's body was still engulfed in flames.
Beneath skin that resembled flowing magma, magical power surged endlessly.
The black energy surrounding him was even showing signs of breaking free from the Time Stone's restraint.
So it's him...
That's right.
The object hanging above Thanos's head was none other than the Zodiac Meteor.
Among everyone present, only two people truly commanded Thanos's respect.
Karl was one.
The other was the sorceress cloaked in scarlet power.
Sure enough—
Wanda broke free from the Time Stone's restraint before Karl did.
The next second, an endless tide of Chaos Magic flooded outward.
It gathered above Thanos's head and formed another gigantic meteor.
Together with the Zodiac Meteor, the two celestial masses crashed toward him.
"We'll meet again."
"When that time comes, you may all have become dust."
"Good luck."
Thanos smiled disdainfully.
He now possessed five of the six Infinity Stones.
The final one—the Mind Stone—was already as good as his.
Blue energy surged outward.
A spatial vortex appeared behind him and slowly swallowed him whole.
Using the Space Stone once more, Thanos vanished from Titan.
The moment he left, the Time Stone's restraint disappeared.
Karl waved a hand, dismissing the Zodiac Meteor.
Wanda dispersed her Chaos Magic as well.
The remaining heroes looked at one another in silence.
So many of them had fought together.
Yet not only had they failed to kill Thanos—
He had stolen the Time Stone as well.
Was there really no way to stop him?
"We failed to finish him off."
"So how do we even find him now?"
Clint stared at the spot where Thanos had vanished.
The Space Stone's residual energy had already dissipated.
Finding Thanos again would be nearly impossible.
"Let's return to Earth first."
Steve sighed.
This had already been their best opportunity.
They had crossed half the universe to reach Titan.
And still, they had failed.
Thanos had escaped right from under their noses.
Using the magical network node he had previously located, Strange opened a portal back to Earth.
Everyone returned safely.
Before leaving, Strange also enveloped Quill's spacecraft within the portal and brought it back with them.
---
Earth — Wakanda
The heroes gathered together once more.
Everyone was at a loss.
Thanos had vanished.
With Earth's current technology, locating him was impossible.
Even the equipment aboard Quill's ship couldn't help.
The only silver lining was that Wakanda might be able to reverse-engineer the vessel and finally develop spacecraft of Earth's own.
Shuri couldn't contribute much to the strategic discussion.
So she locked herself inside her laboratory and began dismantling Quill's ship.
Tony, Bruce, and Rocket joined her.
Inside the main hall, T'Challa listened quietly as Erik recounted everything that had happened.
Now he fully understood just how powerful Thanos was.
Especially now that he possessed five Infinity Stones.
"I have a way to lure Thanos out."
Amid the ongoing discussion, Karl suddenly spoke loudly.
The room instantly fell silent.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"But... we don't have time to establish another battlefield."
"We'll have to fight on Earth."
"We need to choose a location."
The Mind Stone was currently in Karl's possession.
Thanos simply didn't know it yet.
The moment Karl revealed it, the unique signal emitted by the Stone would inevitably be detected by the other five Infinity Stones.
When that happened, Thanos would come.
Without question.
But time was running out.
Titan was no longer suitable as a battlefield.
And with the Space Stone, Thanos could reach any location in the universe almost instantly.
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