The Final Battle – Part 5
The four Infinity Stones shone at the same time.
The pressure surrounding the battlefield suddenly increased, making even the air itself seem heavier.
Thanos was no longer holding back.
Every movement he made distorted the space around him. Reality constantly shifted while the purple energy of the Power Stone coursed through his entire body.
Stormbreaker came crashing down wrapped in an ocean of lightning.
Owen appeared from the side, covered in flames, every one of his blows carrying not only repulsion, but pure heat.
Blue Marvel threw another punch coated in antimatter.
Strange split into multiple copies of himself, raising chains from different angles as he once again tried to bind the Titan. He even transformed space itself into a mirror and hurled it toward the Titan, but Thanos shattered it effortlessly with a single punch.
And Hercules brought his mace down with enough force to split a mountain apart.
But Thanos simply shifted his body to one side.
The Space Stone diverted Thor's next attack.
The Reality Stone turned Strange's chains into smoke before they could even touch him.
The Power Stone collided head-on with Blue Marvel's antimatter.
And the Titan's free fist blocked Hercules' crushing blow as a shockwave swept across several streets of New York.
Tony watched everything from the air.
He couldn't even find an opening to fire.
Thanos slowly raised his gaze toward all of them.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Anthony Stark."
His eyes immediately shifted to Strange.
"Stephen Strange."
Then to Blue Marvel.
"Adam Brashear."
Thor caught Stormbreaker again after it emerged from yet another portal.
"Thor Odinson."
Hercules climbed back to his feet from the rubble.
"Hercules."
Finally, his eyes settled on Owen.
"And you..."
A slight smile appeared on the Titan's face.
"I never imagined I would find so many warriors capable of forcing me to fight like this... of making me feel the true power the Infinity Stones possess... even if I am still missing two of them," Thanos said, unable to hide that faint smile.
Owen was breathing heavily.
His body was already covered in small wounds that could barely keep up with their rapid regeneration thanks to the fragment of the Phoenix Force the Dark Phoenix had given him.
Even so, his expression remained calm.
"And yet, you still lack the power to defeat me in the end," Thanos added.
"What are you talking about?" Owen replied calmly as he slowly began catching his breath. "Ever since our battle started, we never said we were fighting to defeat you. At least not us," he added with a tone of disdain.
Thanos raised an eyebrow.
"We're just buying time until the others finish," Owen said simply.
The Titan's expression changed, and he stood motionless for a fraction of a second.
His gaze left Owen and slowly swept across the rest of the battlefield.
It was as though only now he had noticed the silence surrounding them, so different from the chaos of their own battle.
And when his gaze swept across the rest of the city, he understood.
There wasn't a single Leviathan left in the sky.
The last warships were falling one after another, engulfed in flames.
The few Outriders still alive were surrounded by dozens of fighters.
Especially around them.
Because of their own battle, every building nearby had been completely devastated, without a single one of Thanos's warriors anywhere close.
While he had focused all of his attention on Owen and the others...
It was as though the war around them had already ended long ago.
And now...
Only he remained.
Thousands of heroes stood in the distance, watching them.
Wonder Man, Monica Rambeau, Jean Grey and the X-Men, Wanda and the former members of Vitae, Steve and the former Avengers, War Machine, Hulk, and many, many more heroes.
As though they had simply been watching the fight unfold.
They had all finished their own battles.
Some of them even looked ready to join in and end it once and for all.
For several seconds...
Thanos remained silent.
Then his serious expression suddenly broke as he began to laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
His laughter echoed throughout the entire city.
"Magnificent..." he said, wearing a smile that wasn't pleasant in the slightest as he slowly raised the Gauntlet.
"An army can be gathered again with ease. But it doesn't matter anymore. I no longer need them," he added indifferently as the four Stones lit up once more.
His gaze swept over Tony, Strange, Adam, Hercules, Thor, and Owen again.
And the smile slowly disappeared from his face.
"Now I understand why this planet is so dangerous. I was arrogant, certainly. But..." He looked at the ground beneath his feet, then raised his eyes toward the horizon. "I have dragged this on for far too long, and this world can no longer be allowed to exist."
"I was going to spare half of you, but you've shown me that not a single one of you will stop. That is why you call yourselves heroes. I will recover the remaining Stones from the ruins of this planet," he added as the four Stones now shone with even greater intensity.
The ground began trembling once again.
But Owen looked remarkably calm and raised one hand before Hercules and the others could continue attacking.
Owen looked toward the heroes who had just finished wiping out Thanos's army.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"We need a break," he said out of nowhere, making Strange and the others stare at him strangely.
His gaze returned to Thanos.
"Time for the next shift," he said before looking toward the nearby S-Class heroes.
The moment they heard those words, excited smiles spread across their faces. They didn't need him to repeat himself twice before vanishing from where they stood and charging straight at the Mad Titan.
"Fool. You couldn't have arrived on Earth at a worse time. After all..." Owen said with disdain as he watched the second group take over the fight against the invader threatening Earth.
"...this is the Age of Heroes."