Ancient Arcane Wraith

Mjolnir crashed to the ground, unleashing countless bolts of lightning that rampaged outward, turning everything within ten thousand meters into a thunderstorm—such earth-shattering power was worlds apart from Storm's usual attacks.

In an instant, the swift, dark-skinned Dark Elf warriors wielding sharp blades fell in droves beneath Thor's furious lightning before they could even conceal themselves.

"It's Lord Thor!"

The elf maidens holding longbows finally relaxed when they saw the Asgardian reinforcements. The prolonged battle and overwhelming disparity in numbers had already exhausted them.

"All troops, withdraw. Leave this place to me."

Thor stood with his hammer held across his body. Facing the tide-like enemy army, blazing battle intent burned in his eyes.

In the next moment, an earth-shaking roar erupted from deep within the forest. Tens of thousands of Dark Elves cast spells at once. Pitch-black bone-eroding arrows, crimson rain of fire, azure ice spikes, jagged earth thorns, and even meteors from beyond the sky swept over them, blotting out the heavens.

"Just what I wanted!"

Mjolnir erupted with blinding lightning as Thor soared into the sky, drawn upward by the divine weapon. Since the elf forces had already withdrawn, the only way to shatter this world-ending magic was to charge into the enemy ranks and strike at their throat!

"Livestock, submit to slaughter!"

Thor, having unleashed his divine power, was like a tiger breaking free of its cage. The Dark Elf formation was no more than paper before him. Wherever his massive hammer swept, flesh and blood flew and wails filled the air.

Meanwhile, within the Dark Elf royal court, their leader watched the battlefield through a crystal ball. Seeing Thor rampage through the army as though no one could stop him, the generals under his command were furious.

"Your Majesty! That bastard is massacring our people!"

"I request permission to go to war!"

"I swear to take Thor's head!"

Faced with the enraged generals, the leader did not answer immediately. Instead, he asked in a deep voice, "How many exchanges do you believe you can endure against Thor?"

That simple question made every fierce general in the hall lower his head—if they faced the God of Thunder head-on, how much longer could they last than ordinary soldiers? They would likely die beneath his hammer the moment they met.

Even if they barely managed to fight him, it would only mean more needless casualties.

"Do not be impatient, my people. I have recovered our ancestors' sacred relic—the Aether Particle."

"We need only wait a little longer, and the overall situation will be decided."

"Once I fuse with the Aether Particle, whether it is Thor or Odin, the Father of the Gods, they will all submit to our power!"

The Dark Elf leader flicked his finger, and the container behind him, sealed with a crimson glow, opened in response. A trembling pressure immediately filled the air.

This liquid substance flowing with scarlet light was the true form of the Reality Stone among the Infinity Stones.

People often pride themselves on their views as being "true," yet this stone could manifest every fantasy into reality without embellishment.

0. Its bearer could fulfill any wildly imaginative wish.

All scientific laws and natural principles were meaningless before it; rules and order could be reshaped at will.

The Reality Stone could not only weave illusions indistinguishable from reality, but also permanently imprint the unreal upon the dimension of reality.

When crimson energy flowed, even light could twist into multicolored bubbles, while flesh-and-blood bodies could be freely reconstructed into geometric forms.

According to the predetermined fate, this should have been a treasure extracted from Jane Foster's body. But the disrupted timeline had created a subtle deviation, allowing the Dark Elf leader to obtain this power ahead of time and giving rise to his rebellion.

"Three days from now, once I have fully absorbed the ancestral relic..."

"Unfortunately, it belongs to the great Azir now."

"Who goes there?!"

"Eye of Annihilation!"

Dazzling arcane radiance suddenly erupted from the Dark Elf camp, and all life instantly vaporized within the torrent of energy. When the light faded, only a spirit body condensed from pure arcane energy remained—[Ancient Arcane Wraith] Xerath stood suspended in the air.

The arcane energy surging through this Near-Super-Dragon-Level calamity creature even surpassed Thor without Stormbreaker...

The arcane shock shattered the Aether Particle's containment device, and crimson mist twisted through the void.

"Crack—"

As though tearing open the curtain of space, a figure clad in golden armor stepped through the dimensional barrier. In ancient times, every inch of the Shurima Empire's territory had been conquered by invincible armies led by Ascended beings. Those demigod-like warriors had spread the Sun Disc's radiance to the ends of the world.

During Shurima's golden age, an ambitious figure ruled this vast land. Above the temple at the heart of the capital, a floating golden disc released the power of the sun, bringing fertile soil and abundance to the empire.

Even after crossing time and space into a new world, Shurima's conquest continued.

"Honorable Emperor Azir, only you are worthy of the power of these Infinity Stones." Xerath knelt upon the ground and presented the Aether Particle with both hands, loyalty filling his eyes.

During this time, Shurima had not been idle. They had gathered vast amounts of information about this world and naturally understood the precious value of the Infinity Stones. Azir's foremost objective was to collect all six Stones.

"Crack—" Azir crushed the Aether Particle's container, revealing a deep-red Reality Stone in his palm. He brought forth the Sun Disc, the sacred relic that bore the empire's glory, with six grooves upon its surface.

The moment he embedded the Reality Stone into it, the Sun Disc erupted with heaven-shaking power. Torrential energy poured into Azir's body, making him let out a delighted roar.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on obtaining the first Stone!"

Under Azir's control, the Reality Stone's power was fully unleashed. Countless sand soldiers were granted souls, as if the legions that had once conquered all directions had returned to the world.

As the earth trembled, the majestic city of Shurima rose from the ground. Landmark structures emerged one after another, transforming half of Vanaheim into the empire's former appearance in the blink of an eye.

"All troops, attack! Crush these insects!"

The fanatical army of sand swept across the battlefield like a golden tide. A force ten times larger than the Dark Elves launched a surprise attack from behind, throwing the enemy ranks into chaos.

"What is that?" Thor knocked down several Dark Elves and stared at the distant golden flood in confusion. Before the sand soldier legion, the Dark Elves' vast army collapsed like withered grass.

"Damn." Thor's mouth twitched. "Heimdall, have you ever seen anything like this?"

"Never," the gatekeeper replied gravely.

"Send word immediately. Have the elf queen withdraw to Asgard. Something is wrong."

Having endured countless trials, Thor had learned to assess the situation.

When facing an unknown and powerful enemy, a strategic retreat was the wise choice—otherwise, the entire army could very well be annihilated.

Although the elf race had a large population, evacuating them in batches would take time.

But with the hundreds of millions of Dark Elf troops forming a defensive line, coupled with his own cover, they should be able to buy enough time...

"Boom—"

A sudden heavy blow sent Thor flying like a cannonball.

He rolled across the desert for several thousand meters before slamming hard into a cliff, finally stopping his momentum. "Damn it!"

Wiping the blood from his body, he discovered wounds cut by something sharp. Thor spat.

The attack had been so fast that he had not had time to react at all.

When he focused his gaze into the distance, he saw a spiked dragon turtle radiating a dangerous aura.

Dragon-Level calamity [Armored Dragon Turtle] Rammus!

There were countless legends about this mysterious creature: a demigod? An oracle? Or a magical mutant?

But no one knew. This being, forever wandering the desert in solitude, possessed defenses and reflective damage abilities that inspired despair.

"Hiss—"

The piercing screech sounded like mockery, and the surrounding Dark Elves launched attacks against their will.

Yet tens of thousands of elves were blasted into blood mist by the reflected force in an instant.

"A troublesome ability..."

Thor quietly retreated. Attacking this thing was practically self-harm. Before he could think further, a crimson meteor suddenly streaked across the heavens.

Amid a deafening roar, a monster wielding a crescent battle axe descended from the sky. With a single spin, the violent gale tore all Dark Elves within several miles into pieces.

Dragon-Level calamity [Butcher of the Sands] Renekton!

The formidable Shurima generals of old arrived one after another.

[Battlefield Locked]

The moment the Dark Elf legion collapsed, Thor put away his war hammer and frowned. "Level 4.1 dragon disaster alarms are being triggered one after another. This sign..."

The thunderous boom of a massive axe splitting a mountain interrupted his thoughts. A burly figure with a canine head and golden armor emerged from the sand and dust—Near-Super-Dragon-Level threat [Curator of the Sands] Nasus. Decaying divine power churned around this Ascended being, whose oppressive aura was second only to the legendary Goddess of Death, Hela.

"Shurima's judgment has arrived, Asgardian." The blade of his deathly axe lit up with crimson light. "After this battle, all souls shall perish."

＜Thanos's Fortress · Outer Space Outpost

The purple-skinned giant walked alone across the scorched earth, his vertical pupils visible through the gap in his helmet as he gazed at the stars. Titan's ashes had made him understand: when the burden of civilization exceeded the shackles of resources, only balance could restrain ultimate collapse.

Blue-and-gold armor was stained with stardust from Xandar, and the Power Stone awakened in the groove of the Infinity Gauntlet. Ebony Maw's tribute echoed through the ruins: "Please use this Infinity Stone to clear the final obstacle from the path of your destiny."

The setting sun was blood-red, and the Stone's purple light dyed Thanos's pupils. At that moment, he heard destiny's whisper—the future in which millions of galaxies would be reborn with a snap of his fingers.

This gauntlet likewise had grooves for six Stones, but only one had been set into it so far. "Congratulations, Lord Thanos. You have taken another step toward your grand ambition!"

"No, the journey has only begun. Someone in the universe has already gained control over the power of the other Infinity Stones." "What?! Without an Infinity Gauntlet, how could they wield the Stones' power?"

"It remains unclear. But I can sense that the Reality Stone is being controlled by some kind of solar power, while the Space Stone has completely vanished from perception." Thanos clenched the Infinity Gauntlet on his left hand, surging energy flowing between his fingers as he spoke in a low voice.

The disturbance of the Reality Stone meant that a divine artifact similar to the Infinity Gauntlet had appeared in the universe—this enraged him. He had clearly severed the Dwarf King's hands long ago, cutting off the inheritance of the highest forging arts.

What unsettled Thanos even more was the disappearance of the Space Stone. It did not feel as though it had been shielded, but rather as though it had been completely devoured by some existence. As long as the Stones remained, they could always produce a subtle resonance with one another, even if they could not be precisely located.

"Someone began collecting the Stones before us." Thanos's mountain-like body abruptly rose, his metal boots striking the ground. "There is no time. We must act immediately!" "As you command!"

Thanos looked down at the group of four below his throne. They were his most elite Black Order: Corvus Glaive, gaunt as a skeleton; Proxima Midnight, wearing a tattered cloak with a twisted face; the hulking Black Dwarf carrying a massive axe on his shoulder; and Supergiant, who looked relatively normal beside this group of freaks.

Suddenly, Supergiant's pupils contracted. "My lord! An ultra-high-energy reaction is approaching!"

"Heh, it seems uninvited guests have arrived."

"Boom—"

A shadow that blotted out the sky engulfed the base in an instant as a main warship comparable to Sanctuary II tore through the clouds. Even through its steel hull, Thanos could sense an energy equal to his own, along with three presences no weaker than the Obsidian Five.

"The visitors have hostile intentions."

Amid the roar of machinery, the hatch at the bottom of the ship slowly opened.

Four figures stepped from the shadows. The pressure brought by the leader made even Thanos's muscles tense. Without the Power Stone's enhancement, he even suspected that he might fall at a disadvantage—this was a one-eyed, blue-skinned monster, with pink hair standing upright like steel needles. Heavy golden armor glinted coldly beneath his black cloak. Simply standing there, he exuded a deathly aura that made one's hair stand on end.

The leader of the cosmic Dark Matter Thieves—Boros—had entered the battlefield with three Peak Dragon-level Threat generals under his command. His single eye swept over the surroundings as his metal boots crushed the ground. "Where is the opponent spoken of in the prophecy?"

Three Dragon-Core officers followed like shadows:

• Psychic Overlord "Geryuganshoop"

• Undying Body "Melzargard"

• Ultimate Martial God "Groribas"

Thanos's army stood ready for battle. "Stand down." Thanos stopped the Obsidian Five from stepping forward to protect him. "This is not a battle you can interfere in."

Two generations of cosmic overlords faced each other across the distance:

"Titan's Eternal Night King—Thanos."

"Dark Matter Tyrant—Boros."

"You trespass here. What do you want?"

"I seek only defeat!" Scarlet light erupted from Boros's single eye. "Your energy fluctuations... make me tremble!"