Ronan froze as he stared at the figure who had appeared out of thin air.
"Why are you here?!"
His voice carried a trace of alarm and uncertainty.
Hadn't she already made a deal with him? Why had she followed him all the way to Xandar?
Hovering in midair, Hermione tilted her head.
"Well... I gave it some thought. Something as dangerous as the Power Stone really shouldn't fall into the hands of a lunatic like you."
"You tricked me?!" Ronan flew into a rage, the humiliation of being played robbing him of all reason.
"Then you can perish along with this damned planet!"
Roaring, Ronan raised his warhammer again. This time, he aimed all its energy at Hermione in the sky!
A thicker, even more violent pillar of purple energy tore through the air and shot straight toward Hermione, carrying enough destructive power to blast a massive hole through a planet!
Faced with this world-shattering strike, Hermione merely extended a pale hand.
A faint red glow, like flowing, living liquid, rapidly gathered before her, forming a seemingly fragile barrier.
The Aether!
Boom!!!
The purple pillar of destruction slammed into the red barrier!
There was no earth-shaking explosion, no deadlock between opposing energies.
Something bizarre happened.
The moment the violent purple energy touched the red barrier, it seemed to meet its nemesis, rapidly being "eroded" and "transformed."
An eerie red took its place.
In the blink of an eye, that beam of destruction had turned entirely into a harmless, flowing stream of red particles.
"..."
The vicious expression on Ronan's face froze completely, and his pupils contracted sharply.
"This... this is impossible!"
He could clearly feel the Power Stone's boundless might. It was power enough to destroy stars!
*They were both Infinity Stones, and his was the one that represented