Interception

Malekith felt a hand on his shoulder.

It was light, with hardly any strength behind it, yet it sent a chill through half the blood in his body. A coldness from the deepest recesses of Life Law itself crawled up his spine to the back of his head.

He spun around sharply and found a calm face right before him.

"You..."

He only managed to squeeze out one word.

Chu Hang had no interest in listening to his nonsense. His gaze passed over Malekith like two scalpels, locking onto the dark red stream of energy connecting Jane and Malekith in midair.

The laws of reality were being transferred by force.

"Too slow," Chu Hang said softly.

Then he made the Snap.

Time stopped.

The entire world seemed to have had its pause button pressed.

The wind stopped, and the flying Black Noir sand froze in the air. On a distant hill, Loki's startled expression stiffened like that of a wax figure.

Thor, suspended in the air by Malekith, also froze in pain and rage. Even the lightning in his eyes stopped flickering.

The flames of vengeance that had burned in Malekith's eyes for five thousand years became two motionless sparks.

The only one still moving was Chu Hang.

He moved as though stepping into a three-dimensional oil painting, walking around the frozen Malekith and approaching the dark red stream of energy.

The Reality Stone. Aether.

It was neither energy nor matter. It was a concept.

It was a rule unto itself.

Trying to seize it by force was like reaching out to grasp river water. It would only slip through one's fingers, perhaps even lash back.

But Chu Hang was different.

He extended his index finger. A nearly imperceptible distorted halo lingered around its tip. That was the blade of