Before Thanos could finish speaking, Thor steeled himself and brought Mjolnir crashing down on his old friend.
With a crackle of lightning and a roar of thunder, Iron Man was flattened into a slab of steel.
As if that weren't enough, Thor poured lightning into the slab until it was charred black.
When it was done, he said in a low voice thick with grief, "I'm sorry. I didn't want this, but it was the only way to set you free."
Then he turned to Thanos. "What were you about to say?"
Thanos looked at the ashes on the ground. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "But if we kill the Eye-Monger's avatar, they might turn back."
Unlike the strange octopus from before, which had infected its victims through their bodies, the Eye-Monger had used mental corruption to infect living things across the globe in an instant.
Mental corruption spread quickly, covered a vast area, and was almost impossible to guard against. But it had little effect on the body. Once its source died, the corruption would gradually fade, and the physical mutations might disappear as well.
It was only a possibility because anyone corrupted for too long could no longer turn back.
Thor froze. Then he scooped up the charred remains and began to howl.
"No! Why?"
Thor had also been mentally corrupted by the Eye-Monger, but his Asgardian constitution had kept him from falling completely under its influence.
That was why he had acted so irrationally.
But Thanos had no time to worry about Thor.
The Eye-Monger's avatar in the sky had turned its gaze toward them.
The formation of the Infinity Stones could be seen as sealing flaws in the universe, which was bad news for Dimension Lords seeking to devour it.
That was why the Dimension