A Decisive Victory

The five members of the Black Order had joined Thanos at different times.

Corvus Glaive had been the first to serve Thanos, followed by Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, Cull Obsidian, and finally Supergiant.

To become the leader of the five, Corvus Glaive had allied himself with Proxima Midnight.

As the weakest of the five, Proxima Midnight had agreed to secure her position.

The Black Order was not nearly as harmonious as it appeared.

Still, they had not reached the point of hating one another.

After some discussion, they resumed their assault on the Asgardians.

The battle was all but decided, with over a million Asgardians surrounded, but it would still take time to finish them off.

Even slaughtering a million pigs would take a while, let alone Asgardians whose individual strength was twice that of the Black Order's troops.

On the planet that had just been destroyed.

"Hah... hah..."

Odin and Thanos stood facing each other, both gasping for breath.

Ordinarily, they could fight for ten days or two weeks without breaking a sweat. But today's all-out battle had drained vast amounts of their strength and energy.

Both were exhausted now. They had dropped their overextended states, but neither immediately resumed fighting.

After a while, Odin said, "Hah... hah... Thanos, if you leave now, I can let bygones be bygones..."

He was no longer sure he could defeat Thanos, so he had no choice but to seek peace.

When he was young, that would never have happened.

Even knowing he could not win, he would have fought to the death on sheer conviction.

But he was old now, with too much he cared about. His days of staking everything on a fight were behind him.

Thanos answered Odin with a cold laugh.

"Heh... You must still be dreaming. Why don't you look behind you?"

His forces held an overwhelming advantage. Once they wiped out the Asgardians, they could come to his aid.

By then, more than ten thousand Spaceships could wear Odin down to death.

At Thanos's words, Odin cautiously turned to look behind him.

What he saw made his eyes widen in disbelief.

The Asgardians were surrounded like lambs awaiting slaughter, powerless to fight back.

And he had no way to return and help them.

After a moment, Odin turned back with difficulty and said through gritted teeth, "Tell me. What will it take for you to leave?"

Thanos shook his head without a word.

Even now, Odin did not understand his position.

Besides, they had no basis for peace.

Thanos wanted the entire Milky Way, along with the other five Infinity Stones.

Their interests were irreconcilable.

Unless, of course, Odin willingly became his subordinate.

That was impossible.

Odin was the king of the gods and overlord of the Milky Way. He would sooner die than serve someone else.

Seeing Thanos's response, Odin knew reconciliation was almost impossible. Ignoring the backlash, he forcibly entered Divine Descent again.

Every second he wasted meant more of his people might die. He had to end this quickly.

Thanos immediately activated his Ruler state and Destructive Power.

The two clashed again, evenly matched.

After fighting for a while, Odin's eyes suddenly flashed. His gleaming golden armor burst apart, its fragments wrapping around Thanos and restricting his movements.

The armor was a high-grade divine artifact. Beyond its formidable defenses, it could be sacrificed to bind an enemy.

While Thanos was trapped, Odin drove Gungnir into his chest.

As Thanos stared in disbelief, Odin smiled in triumph and slowly pulled Gungnir free.

"Hahaha! I won in the end!"

After a burst of triumphant laughter, he ended Divine Descent and went to aid his people.

With Gungnir, he soon slaughtered the enemy forces to the last.

Just as he was basking in victory, the Eagle Helm on his head flashed several times.

Then he sensed something was wrong.

Everything had gone too smoothly. Impossibly smoothly.

Once the thought struck him, everything around him began to feel unreal.

Without warning, nausea washed over him.

"Ugh..."

After a bout of dry heaving, his vision blurred. Then he found himself back where he had struck down Thanos.

Thanos stood before him, unharmed. The planet around them was still breaking apart, and his people behind him were still under siege. Odin understood at once: everything he had just experienced was an illusion.

"When? You can do that too?"

Thanos touched the Mind Stone in his hand, bitterly disappointed.

He had used its power when Odin turned to look behind him.

Yet even after expending so much energy, Odin had still awakened from the illusion.

I still don't have enough control over the Mind Stone.

When Odin received no answer, he tightened his grip on Gungnir, entered Divine Descent again, and charged.

But now that Thanos knew about Odin's hidden move, he fought with extreme caution.

He was wary of being trapped by the armor again.

As time passed, Odin realized Thanos was driving him toward another planet. His heart sank.

Though he had used Divine Descent inside the illusion, it had consumed his real energy and potential.

He could not sustain it much longer.

He had to flee.

Only by joining forces with others could he stand against this enemy.

But the people he had brought with him...

Forget it. As long as I'm alive, there's still hope. Staying alive comes first.

Once he decided to retreat, he immediately looked for an escape route.

After knocking Thanos back, he darted away, abandoning his people on the front line as he flew off at full speed.

Thanos gave chase at once, afraid Odin might escape.

But just then, a rainbow-colored beam shot toward them from afar.

At the sight of it, dread seized him.

Before he could react, the beam enveloped Odin. An instant later, it vanished.

Odin had vanished with it.

He had called for Heimdall to activate the Bifrost and take him away.

It was an interstellar cannon and teleportation gateway unique to the Asgardians.

Thanos's face darkened.

But there was nothing he could do.

He had no way to stop technology like the Bifrost.