The blue glow flickered in the cracks of the gravel, like a marble carelessly discarded.
Strange made a grasping motion with his right hand, and dark purple energy threads shot out from his fingertips, lifting the gem into the air and landing it steadily in his palm.
Before Yabbat could speak, the ground suddenly sank half a meter.
In the distance, from the direction of the battlefield, a golden figure swooped down from the sky, its Stormbreaker slashing out an arc of lightning.
The axe blade struck Infinity Ultron on the head, wedging this ultimate the Murder Machine, which contained all Six Infinity Stones, into the Earth's crust.
boom--
The ground within a three-kilometer radius cracked simultaneously.
The shockwave, carrying debris and dust, spread in all directions, even shifting the rubble beneath Yabbat's feet by several meters.
Strange's tentacles automatically adjusted their balance, holding the three "captives" firmly in place.
But his own body swayed slightly.
Infinity Ultron was smashed into the earth's crust to a depth of twenty meters.
Six Infinity Stones flashed wildly on its chest, attempting to construct a defensive barrier—purple power, green time, and red reality—three layers of light superimposed together, desperately resisting the downward pressure of the battle axe.
Thor ignored Infinity Ultron's struggles, gripped the axe handle with one hand, and reached out with the other to pinch the Mind Stone at the very top of Ultron's chest.
It snapped off, like pulling out a nail.
The golden gem detached from Ultron's Vibranium body, revealing a charred groove underneath.
Infinity Ultron emitted a sharp electronic screech, its mechanical arm suddenly rising and firing six beams simultaneously.
Thor tilted his head to the side, the beam of light grazing his ear before exploding into a mushroom cloud behind him.
The second one is the Reality Stone.
Ultron's body trembled violently, and irregular cracks began to appear on its Vibranium shell. Thor's face was reflected in its electronic pupils.
"Impossible..."
The synthesized sound of Infinity Ultron shattered.
Its system is recalculating tens of thousands of times per second, trying to understand the result before it.
It annihilated eight universes.
It has crushed cosmic-level defenses, destroyed the remains of Galactus, and even trampled some of the most powerful beings in the universe under its feet.
The Six Infinity Stones grant it near-omnipotent power, making the entire multiverse a lamb to the slaughter.
However, at this moment, it is being held down in the earth's crust by Thor, who is dismantling its core power source piece by piece, like taking apart parts.
" Thor... couldn't possibly possess... this level of power--"
The third one is the Power Stone.
The fourth one is the Time Stone.
The fifth one, the Soul Stone.
The moment all five gems were removed, Infinity Ultron's Vibranium shell completely dimmed.
The once Infinity energy patterns that covered its entire body gradually faded away, leaving only the empty frame in the center of its chest and two mechanical arms that flared wildly but could not grasp anything.
Thor stood at the bottom of the pit, looking down at the Murder Machine that had once swept across the multiverse.
Ultron struggled, its Vibranium body emitting a piercing metallic scraping sound, its two mechanical legs kicking wildly through the rubble, and its synthesized electronic voice turning into intermittent shrieks.
The resentment reached its extreme.
Who do you think you are... what gives you the right to...?
Thor tilted his head.
"Someone like you dares to ask me what gives me the right?"
He crouched down, casually gathered the five gems together with his left hand, and tapped Ultron's visor with his right index finger.
"I have something to tell you."
Ultron's electronic dual pupils suddenly focused.
"You've slaughtered eight universes and think you're invincible. If I didn't hate seeing the multiverse being ruined by someone like you, I wouldn't have bothered making this trip."
Thor stood up, slung his battle axe over his shoulder.
There are countless beings in the entire multiverse stronger than you, but they simply don't have time to bother with you.
This statement struck Ultron's core, proving more lethal than any physical attack.
It remembered.
In the battle just now, it pushed the power of the Six Infinity Stones to the absolute limit—reality distortion, space tearing, time freezing, power bombardment, Mind Stone erosion, and Soul Stone attack, all six ultimate powers were unleashed simultaneously.
The energy, enough to destroy the universe, struck Thor, but was automatically neutralized by an invisible barrier of laws, leaving no trace, not even a splash.
It has been attacking the opponent using the laws of the Six Infinity Stones, but the opponent itself is proficient in these six laws.
Looking back, this battle was destined to be a one-sided Carnage from the very beginning, except that it was itself that was slaughtered.
"Wait--"
Thor didn't give Infinity Ultron his last words; he raised his hand, activating all three laws simultaneously.
The Law of Power, deep purple.
The Law of Destruction, dark purple.
The Law of Oblivion, a deep purple.
Three beams of purple light of different shades converged in his palm, condensing into a ball of light the size of a fist.
There was no fancy release motion; he simply pressed down.
The sphere of light entered Ultron's body.
Infinity Ultron did not explode, melt, or shatter.
It disappeared.
Starting from the material level, we peel away layer by layer— Vibranium shell, energy core, data matrix, and conceptual origin.
Layer upon layer, spotless.
Three seconds later, only the outline of a human figure remained at the bottom of the pit, along with a faint lingering smell of ozone in the air.
Not a single speck of dust remained.
Yabbat was suspended in mid-air, her cold white eyes fixed on the giant pit in the distance.
This is conceptual erasure.
The definition of Infinity Ultron has been completely removed from the information layer of the multiverse.
She had only read about such things in the ancient archives of the Black Swan Order, and the number of beings capable of doing so could be counted on one hand.
And this Thor did it in just three seconds.
Strange, who was standing next to him, didn't say anything either.
He held the Space Stone he had just obtained between his fingers, and for the first time, the dark purple tentacles showed signs of contracting.
Thor flew out of the crater and landed at the edge of the ruins, his boots crushing several pieces of charred concrete.
The five Infinity Stones jingled in his left hand, making a crisp sound as they clattered together.
He glanced around—the three people suspended by tentacles, and Strange standing beside them holding the Space Stone.
He tossed the five gems in his hand toward Strange.
"Here you go."
Strange caught it instinctively.
Five gems fell into his palm: Mind Stone, Reality, Power, Time, Soul Stone, plus the Space already in his hand—six in total.
He stared at the gem in his palm for two seconds.
"... You just gave me this Infinity Stones that can work across the multiverse like that?"
"Useless against me." Thor planted Stormbreaker in the ground and stretched his shoulders. "I have a bunch more. If I need more, I can just go to the Time Variance Authority and get another batch."
Strange's fingers tightened slightly, clutching the six gems together, as he looked at Thor with a puzzled expression.
What is the Time Variance Authority?
Yabbat's body stiffened for a moment.
The Time Variance Authority, or Time Variance Authority for short, TVA.
She had heard of the name before; she had discovered traces of this organization more than once in the remnants of certain pruned branch timelines on the edge of the multiverse.
An organization dedicated to pruning branch universes that "deviate from the Sacred Timeline ".
prune.
Simply put, it's about human decision-making regarding which timeline should lead to life and which should lead to death.
Yabbat clenched her teeth.
This organization is completely contrary to what she believes in.
She believed in destiny, that everything has its own trajectory and should not be changed by any external force.
What this so-called Time Variance Authority is doing is precisely using human will to forcibly interfere with the fate of the universe.
What made her even more uncomfortable was the attitude with which Thor said those words.
To describe it lightly.
Just a casual remark.
It's like saying, "I have a fruit tree in my backyard; I can pick fruit anytime I need."
What kind of being is this man who can treat an organization that makes the entire multiverse tremble as his own backyard?
While her mind was still racing, Beta, the Beta Ray Bill beside her, suddenly moved.
The tentacles loosened considerably the moment Ultron was destroyed, Strange's attention was clearly not on guarding the prisoners.
Beta broke free of the tentacle binding her left arm, leaned against a broken wall to stand up, and stared at Thor for a long while.
" Thor?"
His horse's face was covered in dried blood, one eye was swollen shut, and most of his armor was shattered, but his voice was still relatively steady.
"Wasn't Asgard destroyed by that monster?"
Thor turned and glanced at him.
Beta Ray Bill, the Beta -Beta Ray Bill.
The Korbinite, wielder of Stormbreaker, is normally a bit stronger than the average Thor, but only by a fraction.
The upper limit... is completely on a different level from my own.
"I am not Thor from your universe."
Thor pulled his battle axe from the ground, tossed it casually, and hoisted it back onto his shoulder.
" The Watcher asked me to help clean up the mess. The version of me in your universe is no longer here."
Beta remained silent for a few seconds.
Beside him, gladiator Karrak also broke free of the tentacles. This Shi'ar warrior was more seriously injured than Beta; half of his armor was shattered, revealing large areas of burn marks underneath, and his red cloak was tattered.
The two people looked at each other.
This universe was plowed through by Infinity Ultron; Asgard was gone, the Shi'ar Empire was gone.
More than 90 percent of the civilization infrastructure in the entire universe has been destroyed.
"Would you like to come with me?"
Thor's question was straightforward.
Beta glanced at Kallark again, Gladiator nodded slightly.
"OK."
Beta only uttered one word.
At this moment, Yabbat spoke up.
She was still hanging in mid-air. Strange's tentacles hadn't completely let go of her; they had simply reduced from five to two, each wrapped around one of her wrists.
His cold, white eyes passed over Strange's shoulder and landed directly on Thor.
"So it's you who wants me to work for you?"