Asgard

Two and a half trillion kilometers from the Asgard Continent.

Spaceships suddenly appeared in the void, one after another.

At first, there were only small escort ships. Soon, medium escort ships appeared, followed by large ones.

Then came attack ships, motherships, and logistics ships.

Finally, the flagships of the Black Order arrived.

They had chosen to emerge two and a half trillion kilometers from their destination because they had carefully analyzed Asgardian technology after the previous battle.

Once they knew the enemy lacked long-range spatial lockdown and Spatial Corridor technology, they could safely emerge so far away without worrying about cosmic mines laid in advance.

At that distance, an enemy without Spatial Corridor technology would need a hundred days to reach them at light speed.

A spatial jump was even less likely.

To keep the enemy from escaping, they had already locked down the space around them.

If the enemy dared come to them, Thanos would laugh himself sick.

That was what a technological advantage let him do.

Besides, reaching their destination would take only a day. There was no rush.

That gave them a day to gather their forces instead of rushing into battle with the Asgardians.

An hour later.

An enormous warship appeared in space.

It was Sanctuary II, with Thanos aboard.

Its arrival immediately made everyone feel the pressure.

The Titan-class Spaceship was simply too vast.

Even a large Spaceship looked tiny beside it. They were not in the same league.

In Sanctuary II's control room, Thanos sat on the Throne, gripping the Mind Stone as he quietly sensed the power within it.

The Mind Stone could make up for his lack of mental power, so he naturally trained with it at every opportunity.

A moment later, projections of the Black Order appeared in midair.

As always, they respectfully dropped to one knee.

"My lord."

Thanos opened his eyes, gave a slight nod, and asked, "What's the situation?"

Corvus Glaive raised his head and spoke first. "My lord, our reconnaissance craft have found that the enemy has assembled over fourteen thousand small Spaceships, more than seven hundred medium Spaceships, and eleven large Spaceships.

"They're clearly short on medium and large Spaceships. Their firepower is severely lacking.

"And according to our earlier analysis of their technology, they don't distinguish between escort ships, attack ships, and supply ships. Their tactics are still stuck five hundred years in the past.

"We can surround and destroy them."

Thanos nodded. "Does anyone have another proposal?"

Proxima Midnight, Supergiant, Cull Obsidian, and Ebony Maw all shook their heads. None objected.

"Very well," Thanos said. "Proceed to the destination and begin the war."

With that, he closed his eyes.

The Black Order still had room to improve when it came to strategy, but their tactical planning was sound.

After a thousand years of war, even a pig would have learned something.

With the decision made, the fleet soon opened a Spatial Corridor under Sanctuary II's lead.

Then they flew toward their destination at a hundred times the speed of light.

That sounded fast, but in the vastness of the universe, it was already rather slow.

Meanwhile.

In Asgard.

Once Odin ordered the mobilization, miniature spaceships rose into the sky one after another.

This war would decide whether they lived or died. Though they knew the miniature spaceships would serve only as cannon fodder, no one refused.

Asgardian honor would not be sullied.

Asgard had Warriors who died in battle, not Asgardians who fled.

They were nothing like those who had spent their whole lives away, never returning to the Asgard Continent.

The more than one thousand Asgardian councilors had long lived on their own planets, ruling them like little kings. Naturally, they lacked that fighting spirit.

Perhaps that was why Odin had always been so opposed to Asgardians breaking away.

Odin now sat aboard a large Spaceship, quietly awaiting the enemy's arrival.

Thor and Heimdall were beside him.

Frigga had exhausted her magic healing Thor some time ago and still had not recovered.

Odin began weighing another thought.

Thor and Heimdall were both at the Sub-Celestial Father Level, but he felt that was not enough.

The two of them probably could not give Thanos much trouble at all.

If only Frigga were here.

With her power at the peak of the Sub-Celestial Father Level and her uncanny Witchcraft, she could have supported him in battle.

As for these two Warriors, Thanos would probably cut them down in a few strokes.

Odin might even have to divide his attention to save them.

That made him miss his daughter, Hela.

With her Witchcraft and strength, she could certainly have kept Thanos occupied.

He began to consider releasing her.

After thinking it over, though, he gave up on the idea.

He had gone to great lengths to imprison that troublemaker. If he let her out again, she would be hard to contain.

Time passed, minute by minute.

In addition to the fifteen thousand Spaceships, more than a million miniature spaceships had gathered nearby.

Those spaceships could not make spatial jumps, had little energy, and were not especially fast.

But there were plenty of them, and they were expendable.

A few hours later, an Asgardian hurried over and dropped to one knee.

"God King, strong spatial fluctuations have been detected ten million kilometers ahead, but they aren't from a spatial jump."

Odin rose at once. "Could it be another of the enemy's new technologies?" he asked gravely.

He quickly turned to Heimdall.

Thanos possessed too many technologies Odin knew nothing about. Heimdall, who had watched the battles from Asgard, was probably the only one who could identify this.

Heimdall did not disappoint him. He stood and said, "God King, during the first battle, I saw them use a technology that lets them travel at a hundred times the speed of light. It doesn't produce strong spatial fluctuations."

"A hundred times the speed of light..."

Odin fell silent again.

Heimdall had also been the one to predict that the enemy would arrive in a day.

Odin had wondered what that prediction was based on. So they had technology that let them travel at a hundred times the speed of light.

The more he learned about Thanos's technology, the more alarmed he became.

How many technologies did Thanos possess that Odin did not?

Power reigned supreme in the Marvel Universe, but that did not mean technology was unimportant.

If he had possessed these technologies before, perhaps they would not have lost.

Thor could wait no longer. "Father, what do we do now?"

He had matured considerably and no longer rushed straight into a fight.

Odin was pleased to see it.

After a moment's thought, Odin said, "We wait for them to come to us."

Thanos's technology had clearly shaken him. Now he wanted a head-on clash, not some elaborate tactic.