Herald of Galactus
Thanos and the Black Order were first drawn to Magneto, who was making a sarcastic remark, before their gazes quickly fell on the red-haired woman behind them.
Jean Grey.
She stood behind Magneto, hovering about thirty meters above the ground.
The flames of the Phoenix Force flickered around her, her red hair swaying gently in the misty flames, each strand seemingly imbued with a light from a higher Dimension.
Corvus Glaive's fingers tightened slightly.
He sensed a power far greater and more ancient than anything he had ever seen.
Proxima Midnight instinctively reached for the spear at her waist, but found nothing.
Cull Obsidian kept his head down, as if trying to avoid Jean's gaze.
The Supergiant's spiritual perception encountered a barrier in front of Jean, like trying to see through a deep sea, only able to see the surface, with nothing but the unknown below.
Only Ebony Maw was watching Magneto.
"How dare he, a mere mortal from Earth, speak to His Majesty like that?" Ebony Maw said indignantly.
Upon hearing this, Magneto flew to Russell's side, turned around, and looked at Ebony Maw.
Beneath the helmet of the Mind Stone, those eyes, which had witnessed so much, narrowed slightly.
"What did you say?" Magneto smiled faintly.
"It sounds like you look down on ordinary people from Earth?"
Before Ebony Maw could answer, Thanos spoke first.
"That's enough, we didn't come here to fight."
Thanos's voice wasn't loud, but every word sounded like the tolling of some ancient bell.
Ebony Maw immediately shut his mouth and lowered his head.
After saying that, Thanos didn't look at Ebony Maw.
His gaze lingered on Magneto for a moment before settling back on Jean.
An ancient Mutants manipulates magnetic fields, a host chosen by the Phoenix Force.
In the past, these two would have posed a significant threat to his plans.
However, it no longer exists.
Russell once said that he brought himself to Earth so that he could see "those who would follow in his footsteps in the future."
Magneto is likely one, and Jean Grey is another.
Thanos looked at Jean, and Jean looked back at him.
"You killed your daughter." Jean suddenly spoke, her voice icy, each word like a knife piercing Thanos's heart.
"It's all for obtaining an Infinity Stones."
Thanos looked at Russell, assuming that he was the one who told Jean Grey about the wrong thing he had done.
Russell shook his head.
Magneto briefly exchanged a glance with Russell.
"He's the one you brought back from Titan."
"Yes." Russell said casually, his hands in his pockets.
"He doesn't seem to be under control," Magneto, sizing Thanos.
"Because he wasn't under control."
Magneto paused for a second, then carefully examined Thanos.
Erik Lehnsherr has seen far too many people in his life.
He had seen Nazis, America, Mutants, and even God.
But Thanos, Thanos possesses something I've never seen before.
A person who truly believes in their destiny seems to be quite extraordinary.
"Thanos," Magneto said to Thanos.
"Russell told me about you. He said you were a ruler, that you had dominated countless Galaxy in search of an answer."
Thanos looked at him calmly.
"Did you find it?" Magneto asked.
Thanos remained silent.
"I've found it," Magneto continued.
"In Auschwitz, in those gas chambers, and in front of my compatriots being pushed into the incinerator, I found an answer: humanity will not change."
Humans will always hate us, and they will always try to destroy us, so we must destroy them first.
He paused.
"I did a lot for that answer, I even tried to change the Earth's magnetic field, tried to destroy all of humanity, and tried to save Mutants in my own way."
He looked at Thanos.
"Then I was locked up in a plastic prison, lost my daughter, and finally discovered that the answer I had found was wrong."
Upon hearing that Magneto had also lost his daughter due to a wrong decision, Thanos's eyes narrowed slightly.
How long did it take you to understand?
Magneto tilted his head slightly.
"Long time."
He turned around to face the Mutants below who were still praying.
"But you're different. You met Russell, and he gave you the right answer, so you should have realized sooner than I did that destruction isn't the answer."
He turned his head and looked at Thanos.
"Russell has given you an opportunity to replace subtraction with addition, and destruction with construction."
So it's best not to waste it.
Thanos hovered above New York, looking down at the city below.
The Mutants below, devout to Russell, were still praising Om Messiah; their Faith was utterly genuine.
Jean Grey to Russell's side, without looking at Thanos or the Black Order.
"Can you feel it?" she asked Russell.
Russell tilted his head slightly.
"What do you feel?"
Jean's gaze passed over Russell, over Thanos, over New York below, and landed in the direction of the Hudson River in the distance.
Just then, a whirlpool appeared on the surface of the Hudson River.
The vortex appeared without any warning.
One second, the river was as calm as a mirror, reflecting the Manhattan skyline and the clouds in the morning light.
The next second, the river water began to swirl.
The initial velocity of rotation is not fast, but the acceleration is astonishing.
Looking down from above, the whirlpool appears so deep it's as if someone had carved a hole in the riverbed, leading straight to the Earth's core.
The diameter of the vortex is still expanding at a visible rate.
It was only a few meters wide at first, then tens of meters, and finally more than a hundred meters wide.
The Hudson River was being violently swallowed by the whirlpool, and the river level dropped at a visible speed.
The silt, shipwrecks, and rocks that had been eroded by the water for hundreds of years were all exposed at the bottom of the river.
The coastline of New Jersey across the river trembled, and the docks, warehouses, and piers built along the river seemed to be torn from their foundations by some unseen force, falling piece by piece into the whirlpool.
Deep within the vortex, it seemed as if some ferocious beast was devouring everything.
Qin's eyes widened slightly.
The flames of the Phoenix Force surged around her for a moment.
"Russell." Her voice was very soft.
"I saw it." Russell nodded.
His expression remained casual and calm.
In the void, the voice of the Ancient One rang in his ears, soft and distant.
"Disaster has struck Earth; this vortex was created by the Herald of Galactus."
Russell nodded thoughtfully at the Ancient One's reminder.
"I know."
After saying that, he lowered his head and looked at the whirlpool on the Hudson River that was frantically devouring everything.
Thanos approached silently, hovering behind Russell, looking at the strange vortex with no change in expression.
"If we don't stop it, this Planet will probably be swallowed up in no time."
"That's true." Russell did not refute this.
What are you planning to do?
"It must be what this Herald of Galactus is planning to do." Russell rubbed his chin.
"The Earth these days isn't so easy to digest."