Aether in the Crosshairs

Every inch within sight was covered, every possible avenue of escape sealed off. Aether surged forth like an overwhelming tide, enveloping everything as it bore down on Nexus with crushing force.

Naturally, this would inevitably affect his own side. Aether—or rather, the Reality Stone—was simply too advanced for the Dark Elves. Even though Malekith had done everything he could to focus the energy on Nexus, the residual shockwaves alone were more than the other Dark Elves could withstand.

But those were acceptable losses.

By this point, Malekith no longer dared underestimate the opponent before him in the slightest. His earlier belief of "I have Aether, so I'm invincible" had quietly changed. Before he knew it, unease had begun to creep in, and he had even started wondering whether this opponent could actually be defeated.

This was no longer the time to hold back. Malekith made up his mind—no matter the cost or the means, he had to destroy this silver freak here and now!

The age of magic had declined, and there were truly not many people left in the modern universe who still used dark magic. Malekith could more or less be considered one of the last great archmages. Moreover, Aether had been the Dark Elves' exclusive weapon since ancient times, and he wielded it with considerable ease.

Richard could feel the surrounding elements becoming utterly chaotic, along with subtle changes he could not explain.

Reality itself was changing. Through Aether as its vessel, the Reality Stone had leaked a fraction of its authority and warped reality.

Nexus used Quantumization and shot into the sky, but he still could not evade the ferocious assault. He tried teleporting out of the area, only to find that he could not. Even the Space Stone's power failed to respond. No matter how