Aboard Sanctuary II in the Milky Way.
Thanos's avatar sat on the Throne, the Soul Stone in his hand and a faint smile on his face.
He had always thought the Soul Stone was inferior to the Mind Stone. It turned out he had simply been using it wrong.
The Mind Stone could control someone directly, but it impaired their intelligence and left them with little ability to think or act on their own.
They would only carry out orders like a robot.
The Soul Stone, on the other hand, could guide people down the path he wanted without them ever realizing it.
Of course, he was the reason the X-Men had appeared in the Alliance of Gods' territory, right near Gorr.
A few days earlier, after thinking it over for a long time, he had realized where he had gone wrong.
If he could not split his attention dozens of ways yet, why not bring in a team?
As long as he kept influencing the team's leader with the Soul Stone, he could make the whole team act according to his will.
So he had gone to his daughter's universe and sent the X-Men, along with some Mutants who were not members, into the Alliance of Gods' territory.
He had then influenced Professor X to speak out against the Gods' misdeeds.
Otherwise, how could the cautious Professor X have dared offend the Gods, much less failed to stop Phoenix?
He had chosen the X-Men because, while they were not especially powerful, they were easy to control.
And among them was Phoenix, host to one of the three ancient forces.
If necessary, he could unleash her Phoenix Force at any moment, make her lose control, and destroy everything.
As for how he could still unleash her Phoenix Force, and why