The Ancient One

Hovering in the air, Thanos watched Hela kill her father, then put away Ruler and his Destructive Power.

He flew above Hela and pointed Tyrant's Blade at her. "Submit or die," he said coldly.

He certainly wasn't going to spare her just because she had killed her father.

In his eyes, there were only two kinds of people in this universe.

Subordinates and enemies.

Anyone who refused to obey him would be destroyed.

Hela looked up at Thanos and conjured a Black Sword in her hand.

They might have exchanged a few words, but that didn't mean she would live at anyone's mercy.

"I am Odin's daughter, the Death Goddess!"

With a roar, she charged at him.

But Thanos pressed down with a surge of power, slamming Hela to the ground in an instant.

The gap between their strength was not something hatred could bridge.

"I'll ask you one last time. Submit or die!"

Impatience flashed in his eyes as he spoke.

If she still refused, he would have to eliminate her for good.

Hela tried to resist, but an overwhelming force bore down from above. She couldn't budge it in the slightest.

After all, raw strength wasn't her specialty. She was an agile sorceress.

In the end, she gave up resisting.

She dispelled the Black Sword in her hand, knelt on one knee, bowed her proud head, and said respectfully, "I submit."

If she hadn't feared death, she would have killed herself rather than remain sealed away by her father for a thousand years.

If she hadn't feared death, she would not have endured a thousand years of torment in the Underworld without surrendering to death.

Fear of death was only natural. Even Gods were no exception.

Hearing that, Thanos put away Tyrant's Blade and nodded. "Good. Take me to Odin's Vault."

The war in space had not yet ended.

But Asgard's defeat was inevitable, so there was no need for him to take part.

All he needed was for the Black Order and Laufey to avoid any major mistakes.

Hela nodded. "All right. Follow me."

The two of them soon flew off into the distance.

Before long, they arrived above a magnificent temple.

The Asgardian warriors stationed nearby spotted Thanos and immediately raised the alarm.

"Enemy incoming! Prepare for battle!"

Enchanted arrows soon flew toward him.

Thanos didn't need to lift a finger. Hela conjured a Black Sword and blocked every attack, then sent blades flying at the enemies below.

"Ah!"

"Help!"

"I've been stabbed!"

Amid the screams, the entire garrison of more than a hundred guards was slaughtered.

Hela stopped attacking, turned to Thanos, and said respectfully, "My lord, please follow me."

The two entered the temple and headed for the vault.

In California, United States, on Blue Star.

It was August, the hottest time of year, when the sun beat down hardest.

Few people walked the streets. The heat had driven everyone indoors.

If they absolutely had to go out, they drove with the air conditioning on.

As people complained endlessly about the weather, dark clouds suddenly covered the sky, followed by several flashes of lightning.

"Huh... Is it finally going to rain in this blasted heat?"

"My God, finally! If it doesn't rain soon, I'll dry up into a husk."

"Haha! Rain at last! Let's go outside and have some fun."

But their hopes were soon dashed.

A rainbow-colored beam appeared, and the sky returned to normal.

It was as though the clouds and thunder had been a joke played by the heavens.

Disappointed, people went back inside to escape the heat.

At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters in New York, however, faces turned grim.

"High-level energy fluctuations detected. Suspected return of the aliens from last time."

"Destination is California. All personnel, prepare emergency protocols."

"Notify the director immediately. Level-ten classified file."

When Thor and the Destroyer had wreaked havoc on Blue Star, S.H.I.E.L.D. had lost a great many people.

Though a man calling himself Thor had eventually destroyed the Destroyer, S.H.I.E.L.D. had recorded the Bifrost's energy signature.

Now that it had detected the Bifrost again, it sprang into action.

A minute later, someone knocked on Nick's office door and reported the situation.

Five minutes later, a massive helicarrier took off and headed for the destination.

But fast as they were, they were still too late.

By the time they reached the Bifrost's landing site, Thor was nowhere to be found.

On the other side of Blue Star.

This place held Blue Star's highest Mountain Range, as well as a group of its most mysterious people.

It was called Kamar-Taj, a secluded home for sorcerers.

Wearing a yellow cloak, The Ancient One frowned gravely at Thor on the sickbed.

"What happened? How did he get hurt so badly?"

As Blue Star's guardian and currently its only Skyfather-level combatant, she naturally knew Thor.

She was even well acquainted with Odin.

Blue Star had once been one of the Nine Realms, and it had been no weakling.

But after an invasion by the Frost Giants, Blue Star had begun to decline.

The number of cultivators had also plummeted, and it had fallen out of the Nine Realms' ranking.

It was during that very war, however, that Odin defeated Laufey and went on to rule the Milky Way.

She had fought alongside Odin in that war.

That was why Odin had left Blue Star alone even after taking control of the Milky Way.

Having witnessed the power of the Time Stone, Odin had even made the Infinity Gauntlet in hopes of gathering the Infinity Stones.

After some thought, The Ancient One opened her pendant and activated the Time Stone.

Thor's arrival, grievously wounded, filled her with a powerful sense of unease.

She even had the feeling that something more terrifying than Dormammu's invasion was about to happen.

So she intended to use the Time Stone to look into the future.

But after watching for a while, she grew even more uneasy.

"How is this possible? Why does everything in the future look normal? Thor isn't even supposed to appear now."

She had used the Time Stone to foresee the future long ago.

She had never seen Thor appear like this. That was why his arrival had shaken her so badly.

She thought the Timeline ahead must have changed for some reason.

But looking again produced the same result. Nothing seemed to have changed at all.

That was terrifying.

Only two possibilities could explain it.

First, someone had gained control of the Time Stone's source, preventing her from using her Time Stone properly.

Second, the person she was trying to foresee would reach Multiversal Level in the future, making them impossible to predict.

If it was the first possibility, that would not be so bad.

Even if someone truly controlled the Time Stone's source, they might not do anything to Blue Star.

But if it was the second, the enemy they faced would be Multiversal Level—beyond the Time Stone's ability to predict.

A Multiversal Level powerhouse could destroy a universe. Neither she nor all the people with Superpowers on Blue Star combined could stand against one.