Thanos's threat spread through the shattered air of Sakaar.
And in that moment, Soren's resolve was strengthened. Without a word, a thin blade materialized in his palm… the Death Scalpel.
Its presence was quiet… yet the void itself seemed to recoil from it.
As Soren's raging aura suddenly faded, Thanos's eyes widened with delight.
To him, it looked like surrender. "Hahahahaha!"
In his mind, he saw the future unfolding… Soren kneeling, the Infinite Stones gathered under his command, and the universe all mortal and divine bowing before his throne.
What was left to fear, when even Soren had bent the knee?
Grandmaster's expression twisted with vindictive joy. If Soren fell, he would be avenged.
If Thanos ruled the cosmos, then as his servant, the Grandmaster would stand second only to the new god-king.
For the first time, surrender to Thanos felt almost… acceptable.
He never noticed the smile forming at the edge of Soren's mouth.
Shff~
In a whisper of black light, the Death Scalpel vanished from Soren's hand and reappeared sunk deep into Thanos's chest.
"…" The Titan stopped moving.
"Is it still funny?" Soren leaned forward.
Thanos stared at the blade, then at Soren, fury bubbling beneath his surprise.
"You can't kill me. My soul is bound to the Soul Gem. Eternal." He sneered, unfazed by the blade lodged in him.
"No power in this universe can overcome the Infinite…" His words choked off.
A tremor passed through him… then another.
Thanos's eyes widened in dawning horror.
The scalpel carried no aura, no cosmic glow but a chill seeped from it, deeper than space and~
It slid into his soul.
And began to extinguish it.
"This… impossible…" Thanos's voice cracked.
His omniscient gaze flicked downward as his body began dissolving from his chest outward, flaking away into pale motes, like ash touched by moonlight.
His soul, the one he believed untouchable, was unraveling.
Grandmaster watched in disbelief as Thanos's cosmic presence collapsed.
The Titan's vitality plummeted in seconds. The Soul Gem blazed desperately, trying to shield its master, failing.
"What… what did you do…?" Grandmaster whispered, shaken to his core.
"How can anything surpass the Infinite Stones? How can anyone kill a soul protected by the Soul Gem?"
Soren let out a quiet, almost mournful exhale.
"I'm afraid people forget," He said softly, watching Thanos crumble into nothingness, "…that before I was anything else…"
He raised the black scalpel. "I was the doctor."
He twirled the blade between his fingers. "And it's such a pity, that I only had one scalpel."
"…" Grandmaster stared, frozen in horror.
The psychic tether that bound him to Thanos was severed. The overwhelming presence that had overshadowed Sakaar was gone.
And before his eyes, the last fragments of the Titan's body drifted away like dying embers.
A final metallic clink echoed through the throne room as the Infinity Gauntlet struck the floor.
Only then did Grandmaster breathe again. Only then did he accept the impossible…
Thanos was dead.
Soren exhaled a weary sigh.
The Death Scalpel had served its purpose… but now it was gone. His irreplaceable trump card had vanished along with the Titan it slew.
Yet when his gaze fell upon the Gauntlet lying amid drifting ash, all regret melted.
The Soul Gem pulsed brightly in the metal… waiting.
With a flick of his fingers, the Infinity Gauntlet leaped from the ground into his hand.
[Congratulations, Host. World Mission Complete.]
[Infinite Gem Collection: 100%.]
[Conditions met—World Access Initiating!]
The system's voice rang in Soren's mind trembling with excitement, something it had never expressed before.
He set its words aside for later.
Now, there was work to do.
Soren slid the Infinity Gauntlet onto his arm. The Soul Gem's power surged immediately, recognizing a new master, submitting to his will.
A residual thread of energy clung to the gem, the Grandmaster's enslaved soul.
A stain left behind by Thanos.
Soren's brow lowered. With a single thought, he erased it.
Grandmaster collapsed where he stood, his eyes dimming as his soul unraveled to nothing.
The universe would not miss him.
Soren reached into his spatial vault and drew forth the Aether particles, releasing the glowing red liquid and forcing them into the Gauntlet's framework.
The Reality Gem instantly harmonized with the Soul Gem, turning into a ruby gem.
Then came the others.
A shimmer of green light… Time Gem.
A ripple of transparent brilliance… Space Gem.
A pulse of cold, perfect clarity… Mind Gem.
They floated from the magic arrays etched into Soren's very being, orbiting him like miniature suns before settling, one by one, into the Infinity Gauntlet.
Each installation struck the universe like a tuning fork.
Soren felt each power thread through him into unfiltered force.
And then… a surge of violet fire erupted from deep within his chest.
The final gem, the Power Gem, crystallized itself from the cosmic energy he wielded, condensing into existence before embedding seamlessly into the last empty socket.
The Gauntlet flared… six lights, six truths, six infinite laws.
Power flooded Soren's veins unbounded.
He felt the heartbeat of the cosmos and felt the laws that shaped matter, mind, time, and space.
He felt the fault lines between universes.
For the first time, he understood.
The six Infinite Stones were the universe's original vocabulary… the words written at its birth, the laws that bound its every atom.
They all answered to him now.
No being in this cosmos could oppose him… not Celestials, not Titans, not gods.
Only the mysterious Living Tribunal, the rumored judge beyond Infinity, might give him pause.
But even that seemed distant now.
Soren's gaze became something no mortal should possess… cosmic tides flowing through pupils that no longer belonged to any human.
The instant he mastered the six gems, truths buried since the birth of existence surged into him.