On a mountain peak billions of kilometers high.
Red lava and magma filled the landscape.
The surrounding air reached temperatures of around a million degrees. Any living creature here would be roasted in an instant.
Yet a purple figure hovered inside the crater.
It was Thanos's second true body, the one he had used to incubate the Phoenix Egg.
The Phoenix Egg had shrunk to the size of a van and floated before him.
Wisps of red energy occasionally emerged from the Phoenix Egg and sank into the surrounding rock walls, leaving cracks behind and making the volcano increasingly active.
"After hundreds of years, this Phoenix Egg that only ever absorbed energy has finally had enough.
Looks like it's about to hatch."
Because a fragment of his soul had once merged with the Phoenix Egg, he knew something of what was happening inside.
But the egg was both protection and an obstacle to the Phoenix's birth. Left alone, it would probably take several more years to break through the shell.
Now that he knew the Phoenix had formed, he had no intention of waiting for it to break out on its own.
The next instant, dark purple energy surged forth and became Annihilation Power, washing over the Phoenix Egg.
The power to annihilate anything down to its Quark Particles could only scrape a thin layer from the shell.
Not even a micrometer of it.
Unless he used the Taotie Law, all he could do was wear the Phoenix Egg down bit by bit.
Fortunately, he had plenty of time and was in no hurry to hatch it. Taking things slowly was fine.
As the Annihilation Power washed over the egg again and again, its shell grew thinner. The Little Phoenix inside seemed to sense that its time had come.
"Crack...