Parting Ways

A few minutes later.

More than a thousand small spaceships took off from Xandar and flew toward them.

The Xandarians had clearly spoken with the Kree Empire and confirmed that Ronan's arrival meant trouble. They were preparing for battle.

The moment the enemy ships left Xandar, Ronan ordered his fleet to attack.

Because of the distance, the shots would take three seconds to reach their targets.

The Xandar Fleet used that time to raise its shields.

Light flashed across the battlefield. Not a single hit scored a kill.

Not one ship in the Xandar Fleet was destroyed.

The Peace Alliance believed in peace, so its shield technology was the most advanced of any faction.

Those thousand spaceships might not have much firepower, but their defenses were first-rate.

Ronan had expected this. He immediately contacted Thanos and asked him to intervene.

Thanos readily agreed and ordered Sanctuary II to charge its Dark Matter Fission Cannon.

A moment later, a beam of black light crossed a million kilometers in an instant and struck the enemy fleet.

Before the Xandarians' disbelieving eyes, a vast section of the fleet's center vanished.

At least two hundred spaceships were gone.

And that was not all.

Even Xandar below was left with a crater a hundred kilometers across.

At least several billion people died in that single blast.

At the sight of it, the Xandarians sent their spaceships charging madly toward Sanctuary II.

Ronan broke into an exhilarated grin, gripped his Kree Warhammer, and rushed out to meet them.

Thanos tightened his grip on Tyrant's Blade and went out to help.

Several hours later.

Fireball after fireball lit up the battlefield as the remaining enemies were destroyed. Then the fleet continued toward Xandar.

By the time they were a thousand kilometers from their destination, Xandar was on maximum alert. Anti-aircraft guns and defensive positions stood ready, making the planet look like a hedgehog with its spines raised.

Thanos merely gave a cold smile and opened a channel to Ronan.

"Stay where you are. I'll handle this."

Without waiting for Ronan's reply, he vanished from Sanctuary II.

The next second, Thanos appeared on Xandar, hovering above the deep crater left by the Dark Matter Fission Cannon.

He extended his right hand and activated the Star-Absorbing Technique.

A tremendous surge of energy rose from the planet's core and poured into his body.

The energy was stronger than that of any planet he had absorbed before. For a moment, he felt as though it might burst him apart.

This was clearly a planet brimming with life, with an exceptionally powerful core.

That was probably what had allowed Xandar to sustain such a brilliant civilization.

Minutes later, as the core's energy drained away, earthquakes, tsunamis, howling winds, and other disasters swept across the planet.

The people of Xandar had no idea what was happening. They thought these were merely natural disasters.

Only an hour later, when the planet's magnetic field began to vanish and its atmosphere started to dissipate, did they realize the end of the world had begun before the enemy had even arrived.

Even then, they were powerless to stop it.

In the end, most suffocated without air, trapped in endless despair and agony.

Those who had taken refuge in shelters were buried underground forever by earthquakes and tsunamis.

In just one day.

The beautiful blue planet, once full of life, became a dead world.

After absorbing its energy, Thanos returned to Sanctuary II.

He contacted Ronan and said calmly, "I've fulfilled my promise. Our cooperation ends here."

He had considered bringing Ronan under his command, but on reflection, that would have been too obvious.

So he abandoned the idea.

Ronan, meanwhile, gazed at Thanos with fervent admiration. He brought his hands together and performed the Kree's highest salute.

"Thank you. You will always be my friend."

He had no deeper thoughts about it. After years of hatred, he had finally had his revenge, and he was grateful to Thanos from the bottom of his heart.

After a few parting words, they went their separate ways.

Two months later.

Thanos returned to the Milky Way, to a planet he had named Titan.

He had named it Titan because it resembled the planet where he had first arrived after crossing over.

Its size, atmospheric pressure, and proportion of ocean to land were all similar.

So he had given it the same name.

The day after he returned to Sanctuary, the Black Order, Laufey, and Hela arrived in turn to report on the past four months.

The Black Order had conquered 104 inhabited planets. On most of them, the conquest had been little more than a formality.

Against natives who had not even reached modern civilization, spaceships offered an overwhelming advantage. Unless the natives had individuals of extraordinary strength, they had no way to resist.

Faced with spaceships, the natives soon surrendered.

Of course, many local resistance groups remained.

This time, Thanos intended to rule, not merely conquer.

Conquest, as Asgard practiced it, meant coming by now and then to harvest resources without interfering in local affairs. The native ruling classes might resent it, but they could accept it.

Thanos's rule meant taking complete control of local administration, imposing population controls, and distributing resources evenly. It was a devastating blow to the local ruling classes.

Naturally, the local rulers resisted.

Thanos's subordinates had a standard way of dealing with them.

They wiped out the rulers' clans, then resettled people from Thanos's territories there.

Once the Black Order finished its report, it was Laufey's turn.

He had conquered only seven planets, and he had exterminated the native populations of every one.

He wanted to make room for his Frost Giants to live.

Thanos said nothing, but privately decided that Laufey could never become a trusted confidant.

How could someone so devoted to his own people serve Thanos wholeheartedly, as the Black Order did?

Hela was the last to report.

So far, she had conquered just one planet, and it was the witches' homeworld.

She clearly had not taken Thanos's words to heart. Instead, she had returned to her mother's homeworld, killed half its population, and settled down to an idle life.

Thanos said nothing about that either. He told Laufey and Hela to stay and await his next order.

After the reports, Thanos opened the system to check his stats.

Constitution: 58341.7

Strength: 42315.3

Agility: 36834.4

Mental Power: 41294.5

Active skill: Destructive Power

Passive skills: Titan Bloodline, Super Recovery, Super Physique, Super Strength, Super Agility, Powerful Mentality, Tough Skin

Unique skills: Ruler, Star-Absorbing Technique

Equipment: Tyrant's Blade, Tyrant Armor, Infinity Gauntlet, Power Stone, Mind Stone