Hearing Thanos's words, Wanda found it absurd. She roared, "You'll never understand!"
Thanos didn't get angry. Instead, he gently stroked Wanda's head with his massive hands, making everyone worry he might crush her skull. He calmly said, "The losses I've endured today are beyond your comprehension. But there's no time for grief now. Time itself has lost all meaning!"
Before anyone could figure out what Thanos was planning, he arrived at the spot where Vision had been destroyed. The emerald light of the Infinity Gauntlet erupted, and time in that area began to reverse.
Time was actually reversing!
This scene wasn't unfamiliar to them. Doctor Strange had used a similar technique before to restore the streets of Hong Kong after they were destroyed and force Dormammu into a humiliating surrender.
Stephen Strange watched this, realizing he wasn't the only one capable of such a feat.
The true power lay with the Time Stone itself, not with any individual. By using the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos could wield the Time Stone's power without needing the magic of Kamar-Taj.
Vision reappeared, completely bewildered. *Didn't I just die?* he wondered. *How am I back here?*
He stared in shock as Thanos materialized before him.
"No!" Wanda roared, her eyes filled with despair. She had made such a resolute, agonizing decision to destroy the Mind Stone in Vision's head, to protect the world. Now Thanos was back, threatening to force her to relive that brutal scene.
She couldn't bear it. She crumbled instantly.
Just as she lunged forward, Thanos sent her flying with a single blast.
Moments earlier, fueled by righteous fury, she had rivaled Thanos. But now, drained and unable to channel her Chaos Magic, she was easily defeated.
Thanos seized Vision and, with terrifying ease, ripped the Mind Stone from his forehead, even as Vision's eyes widened in terror. The sheer force of the extraction shattered his skull.
Though Ultron had originally forged Vision's body from the Earth's most durable metal, intending it for himself...
But facing Thanos, even Vision's sturdy body proved utterly insignificant.
When Thanos could even shatter the Vibranium shield, his strength was unimaginable. Amplified by the Power Stone, Thanos now stood truly invincible.
Of all the heroes, Vision suffered the most. He had just been killed by his lover, believing the ordeal was over after one final agony. But when he opened his eyes, he found the massive purple titan's face looming before him, and then had the Mind Stone ripped from his forehead.
The sheer brutality of the scene was unbearable even to those watching from beyond the screen.
Especially those watching from beyond the screen, they witnessed how Thanos gathered the Infinity Stones one by one, gradually transforming into the ultimate world-destroying demon lord.
Each Infinity Stone represented a trail of staggering slaughter.
Then, a colossal power surged through his body, a torrent of vibrant lightning crackling around him. The sheer energy even overwhelmed Thanos's formidable physique.
But just as Thanos reveled in his triumph, a terrifying bolt of thunderous power swept across the battlefield—Thor, the last of the Asgardian gods, had arrived.
With a single axe strike, he grievously wounded Thanos. The Stormbreaker, its power boundless, actually managed to withstand the might of the Infinity Gauntlet and cleave through it to strike Thanos's body.
Everyone was stunned. For the first time, they had witnessed a method to grievously wound Thanos. All previous attempts had failed; even Tony Stark's full-powered strike had only managed to cause minor skin damage.
Could this future Thor actually achieve such a feat?
Though he had relied on the power of Stormbreaker—an axe forged with the fury of the Dwarves—now, saturated with Thanos's blood, it had completed its vengeance.
The outcome left everyone speechless, including Thor and Allfather Odin within Asgard. Even they were dumbfounded. *Is this something we're allowed to see?* *This is too miraculous!*
In the vision, Thor stared intently at Thanos and declared, "I told you—you would pay with your life!"
As he spoke, Thor drove the Stormbreaker even deeper into Thanos's body.
"Did we... did we actually turn the tide?"
Everyone was dumbfounded. *Doesn't that mean we won?*
*Then why would he say it was a pity the axe missed its mark?*
*It didn't miss at all!*
Could this be another timeline, not the Sacred Timeline?
As the crowd pondered this, Thanos, breathing heavily, said, "You should—you should—aim for my head!"
A faint smile spread across his face as he snapped his fingers with the Infinity Gauntlet. Everyone watched as he seemed to enter a special space bathed in crimson light.
Beneath a pavilion, a young girl awaited him.
It was none other than Gamora in her childhood.
Thanos gazed at her and murmured, "Daughter?"
The crowd suddenly remembered Nebula's earlier mention of Thanos's daughter—the one he had taken to a place to obtain the Soul Stone. This must be her.
What shocked them most was the profound sadness that washed over Thanos's face, a stark contrast to the ruthless cosmic warlord they knew.
"Did you succeed?" asked the young Gamora.
"Yes!" Thanos nodded, then looked at the girl before him with overwhelming sorrow.
He lowered his head, his gaze fixed on Gamora. Slowly, she asked, "Then what was the price?"
"Everything!" Thanos answered, his voice filled with anguish.
To achieve this moment, he had lost everything, including his two daughters. He had personally killed one and maimed the other. Five of his most trusted lieutenants were also dead, though he showed no outward emotion to the subordinates who had followed him on his campaigns.
And countless unnamed soldiers had sacrificed their lives for him.
Everything he had ever possessed—his reputation, power, strength, even himself—had been lost, all for the sake of maintaining balance across the universe.
Moments later, the illusion vanished. It had been conjured by Thanos through the Soul Stone, a vision of his daughter Gamora.
But he quickly snapped back to reality. His entire left arm felt as if it had been scorched, and even the previously intact Infinity Gauntlet was now damaged.
Everyone was stunned. What had just happened?
Even when Thanos had personally traversed space, he had shown no ill effects. Even Tony Stark's full-power strike had only caused minor skin damage.
Now, the only weapon capable of harming Thanos was Thor's Stormbreaker; no other weapon could do so.
And yet, even for a being as formidable as Thanos, a mere snap of his fingers came at such a devastating price: half his body was severely burned—no, it was likely far worse than a burn.
"I understand!" Tony Stark immediately realized. "In the earliest video about my death, wasn't I snapping my fingers? I suspected back then that I might have already died, but I wasn't sure how. Now it's clear: the cost of that snap was too great."
Everyone suddenly remembered and understood what Tony Stark meant. If even a Celestial-level being like Thanos had to pay such a horrific price, what hope did Tony have?
The snap must have represented his death.
That explained why Spider-Man Peter Parker, unable to get into college after his identity was exposed, later went on to cause the multiverse crisis. If Tony Stark had been alive, Peter Parker wouldn't have lost his chance at education just because his secret was out.
After all, Tony Stark treated Peter like his own son—a son he'd never had.
The subsequent deceptions and betrayals Peter faced were all rooted in Tony Stark's death.
And that death could be traced back to that single snap.
Suddenly, many previously disconnected pieces fell into place.
In the image, Thor stood helpless, asking, "What have you done? What have you done?"
He still hadn't grasped what had happened.
Thanos didn't linger. He activated the Space Stone and vanished from the scene.
Clearly, he had completed his mission and was now retiring.
For this day, he had sacrificed everything—his conscience, his fatherly love, his power, his very being—all for the balance of the universe.
No one could understand him, nor did he need anyone to. He was Thanos.
"Where did he go?" Captain Rogers asked, struggling to his feet. "Thor? Where did he go?"
It had to be said that Captain Rogers was truly Lin Feng's officially certified 50/50 match. Even after a devastating hammer blow to the head that would have shattered an ordinary person's skull, he still survived.
Then, the first person turned to ash. For the first time, everyone witnessed the scene of people turning to ash that Lin Feng had described in his diary, and a collective gasp of horror swept through the crowd.
This was far more terrifying than any bloody slaughter or endless death—it sent a chill down their spines.
-----------------------
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