The moment the two Mind Stones finished merging, Agatha immediately stopped channeling Chaos Magic.
Her breathing was uneven, and sweat soaked the back of her clothes, but none of that mattered compared to the shock currently filling her mind.
Even while she had been pouring out her full magical power, Thanos had casually ignored the chaotic energy surrounding the unstable Infinity Stone and reached directly into it barehanded.
Barehanded.
Agatha had already overestimated his strength multiple times since arriving here, yet somehow she still ended up underestimating him.
His power had completely surpassed her understanding.
After calming herself slightly, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and slowly walked over beside Wanda with a warm smile plastered across her face.
"My dear student," she said gently, "it's wonderful to see you alive."
It was the most fake smile she had produced in over three hundred years.
Although she had seen Wanda arrive together with Thanos, she still didn't fully understand their relationship. Before doing anything reckless, she needed information.
After all, even if she successfully absorbed Wanda's Chaos Magic, she doubted she'd be capable of defeating Thanos afterward.
Not unless she wanted to die immediately.
So caution came first.
Unfortunately for her, Wanda instantly narrowed her eyes suspiciously after seeing that ingratiating expression.
"Teacher, you don't need to suck up to me," Wanda said coldly. "You should give up already. I'll never let you become my stepmother."
Agatha froze.
"…What?"
Stepmother?
When exactly had she decided she wanted to become somebody's stepmother?
No, that wasn't even the important part. She had originally wanted to ask about Wanda's relationship with Thanos.
Before she could organize her thoughts, Wanda proudly lifted her chin higher and continued speaking.
"Even if you are pretty stacked, Father would never like you."
Agatha's expression twitched violently.
Now she genuinely couldn't hold back anymore.
"Weren't your parents dead?" she blurted out instinctively. "Since when did you suddenly get a father?"
Wanda crossed her arms smugly.
"Father already acknowledged me as his daughter," she declared proudly. "So stop trying to seduce him."
Agatha stared blankly at her student.
She understood every individual word Wanda said.
But somehow, once combined together, the sentence became completely incomprehensible.
After a long silence, Agatha finally asked the question weighing on her mind.
"So… who exactly is your father?"
Wanda immediately rolled her eyes with an expression full of disdain.
"My father is my father," she said as if explaining something obvious to an idiot. "Why? Is he your father too?"
Agatha suddenly felt exhausted.
Meanwhile, nearby on the floor, Wanda's Flerken and Agatha's demon cat had quietly crawled toward each other.
"Meow…"
"Meow meow meow…"
The two strange cat-like creatures exchanged noises for several seconds as if attempting diplomatic negotiations.
Unfortunately, the talks clearly failed.
The next instant, the Flerken suddenly opened its horrifying flower-shaped mouth and swallowed the demon cat whole in a single bite.
Agatha's eyes widened in horror.
The demon cat was a powerful demonic beast capable of transforming into a jaguar-like monster with terrifying physical strength.
And yet it hadn't even managed to resist before getting eaten alive.
What kind of ridiculous creature was this thing?
After recovering slightly, Agatha waved her hand and summoned the demon cat again. Thanks to the contract between them, the magical cost of resummoning it was relatively small.
The newly revived demon cat had barely reappeared before the Flerken glanced at it with visible disdain.
Then it opened its mouth again.
Swallow.
Gone.
After finishing, the Flerken proudly lifted its head toward Agatha with a smug expression that practically screamed:
"Try summoning it again. I dare you."
Seeing this, Wanda immediately scooped up the Flerken happily.
"Good job," she praised while rubbing its head. "Looks like we can wait a little longer before feeding you again."
The Flerken's smug face instantly collapsed.
A second later, it immediately began acting adorable instead.
"Meow… meow…"
Its large eyes blinked pitifully while it desperately rubbed against Wanda's chest.
Clearly, it understood exactly who controlled its meals.
Watching the shameless pet and equally shameless owner bullying her together, Agatha could only force an ugly smile onto her face while temporarily giving up on summoning the demon cat again.
What kind of cursed disciple had she accepted back then?
And why was her pet even more insane than its owner?
At that moment, Thanos finally completed stabilizing the fused Mind Stone. He slowly turned his gaze toward Agatha.
"Take a break," he said calmly. "We'll continue later."
Seven days simply wasn't enough time for meaningful improvement through ordinary cultivation, even if he trained near stellar cores.
Enhancing the Infinity Stones was far more practical.
Once he fully understood the fusion process, he could eventually attempt using the Mind Stone containing the true essence of the universe itself.
He still didn't know exactly how powerful that version of the Mind Stone would become.
More importantly…
Would it be capable of directly controlling the ethereal Sentinels?
If the answer was yes, many future problems would become dramatically easier to solve.
Agatha nearly broke down after hearing the words "continue later."
But despite the despair in her heart, she still forced herself to smile obediently.
"Of course, Lord Thanos."
Because she understood very clearly that this wasn't a request.
It was an order.
For the first time in centuries, Agatha genuinely felt that karma might actually exist.
Perhaps all the bad things she'd done over the past three hundred years had finally come back to collect payment.
…
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
During those three days, Thanos personally visited Tony Stark and Bruce Banner.
The gods backing them had apparently abandoned them completely.
Using the Soul Stone, Thanos directly modified their souls and transformed them into absolutely loyal followers.
Afterward, he sent them back to Earth to assist Wanda in suppressing the occasional rebellions still emerging across the planet.
Meanwhile, Agatha spent those same three days continuously melting Infinity Stones one after another.
By the end of it, she had completely collapsed from exhaustion.
At the moment, she was floating unconscious inside a nutrient-recovery chamber while specialized fluids rapidly restored her depleted magical energy.
Inside the throne room, Thanos sat quietly upon his throne while gently rubbing the fused Mind Stone with his fingers.
His consciousness slowly sank deeper into the primal energy hidden within.
The power inside this stone was countless times purer than that of ordinary Infinity Stones.
Any other energy source seemed weak and insignificant in comparison.
This power felt like the very foundation of existence itself.
The truth of the universe.
The root of reality.
At that moment, Thanos suddenly realized something.
The rewards Death usually granted him were probably nothing more than scraps she casually tossed aside.
No wonder she always appeared so indifferent and generous.
To a cosmic entity like her, ordinary Infinity Stones probably weren't worth caring about in the first place.
Just as Thanos prepared to continue studying the stone, Deep Blue's mechanical voice suddenly echoed through the chamber.
"Master, the border defenses are under attack."
Thanos slowly opened his eyes.
Information immediately flooded into his mind.
A few seconds later, he frowned.
The Alliance of Gods and its subordinate civilizations had launched a massive offensive to seize control of the Milky Way.
The Black Order, Hela, Laufey, and even the Ancient One had all been defeated by a warrior named Hercules.
Corvus Glaive had died once again while protecting Proxima Midnight during the retreat.
That was why Deep Blue had no choice but to interrupt his cultivation.
After thinking briefly, Thanos rose from the throne and clenched his left fist.
The Space Stone released a ripple of blue light.
In the next instant, he vanished.
…
Forty thousand light-years away from the Solar System existed a unique binary star system known as the Twin Suns System.
Two massive stars orbited each other there in perfect balance. Each one measured nearly three million kilometers in diameter, creating a breathtaking celestial phenomenon visible from every nearby planet.
Around those twin stars revolved thirty-seven planets.
Three of them were naturally habitable.
With proper terraforming, four additional planets could also support large-scale life.
The remaining worlds possessed vast quantities of rare mineral resources and strategic materials.
Because of its immense value, the Twin Suns System had become one of the most important battlefronts in the war between Thanos and the Alliance of Gods.
At this moment, nearly ten million warships filled the surrounding space.
But calling it a standoff wasn't entirely accurate.
Because the balance between the two sides was horribly uneven.
The Alliance of Gods commanded over nine million ships.
Thanos's forces possessed fewer than one million.
Although Thanos himself was overwhelmingly powerful and had nearly conquered the entire Milky Way through sheer force, his empire still couldn't compare to the Alliance of Gods, which had ruled multiple star systems for countless years.
.....
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