Goddess Death had a lovely figure and a graceful posture. The only problem was that her face was extremely bony. From the neck down, she was a ten out of ten. From the neck up, she was negative ten out of ten. Remove the highest score, remove the lowest score, average them out, and the final score was zero.
Skyl placed a hand over his chest in greeting to this cosmic entity, but Thanos beside him made no movement. He only stared foolishly at her ancient, timeworn white-bone face. In his calm, resolute eyes, there actually flickered a beast-like desire to possess and a primitive man's natural worship.
She was the embodiment of the concept of death throughout the universe, and her solemn, ancient body stood silent as a sculpture.
A low, hazy voice flowed from her throat like yellow sand trickling through one's fingers.
"Another ten thousand years have passed. Once more, the living who pursue the Soul Stone have come before my divine seat."
"Your honored majesty, I have come to request the Stone."
"Do you know that to obtain the Stone, you must sacrifice a soul? This transaction is an iron law I established. No one may violate it."
Skyl chuckled softly. "Even stone can be made to yield, so why can't an iron law be broken?"
Death wore a silk robe as bleak as the night. Above her high, full chest, the Soul Stone pendant glowed brightly. As long as Skyl obtained the final Infinity Stone, he could become the destined will of Heaven in the Marvel universe, but this Goddess Death did not seem easy to negotiate with.
"Offer your beloved."
Skyl asked politely, "It's nothing more than a transaction. Can't we change the terms?"
"So you have no beloved." Death let out a hoarse sneer. "A lonely soul is destined never to obtain my treasure."
"So there's no room to talk?" Skyl raised an eyebrow. "To Your Majesty, is the Stone truly so precious that it is worth fighting a lonely traveler like me?"
The cosmic entity mocked the wizard for overestimating himself.
"Spellcaster, you have only just set foot on the supreme path, yet you dare speak of challenging Death. You should learn reverence. Arrogance will destroy your divine path. Leave my domain now. Leave this world, and never appear before me again."
Skyl thought to himself, OAA doesn't even mind me coming to Marvel to explore, yet you sure love sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.
He did not waste any more words. With one hand, he unfolded the Book of Mora. With the other, he gripped the Infinity Scepter and poured the endless energy of the Power Stone into the Book of Mora.
A satisfied sigh echoed through the void.
"Hehehe… My honored lord, your humble servant-god Hermaeus Mora shall remove your worries."
The Book of Mora fired a pitch-black pillar of energy straight into the sky. Then, tens of thousands of bleak vortexes appeared overhead, and from within them stretched the tentacles and cold chaotic eyeballs of an alien god. The power of the Daedric Prince of Knowledge and Fate manifested.
Goddess Death raised a hand, plucked out one of her molars, and crushed it into powder. The bone dust outlined intricate, profound trajectories in the air. A cold gray spiritual light emerged from her palm and shot straight toward Skyl.
Mora's tentacles blocked the path of the ray, but they were pierced through one after another. The wounded tentacles withered and dried out, like octopus fossils that had been left in the sun for ten thousand years.
The Time Stone's green radiance lit up, and the gray ray reversed back before suddenly dissipating.
"Death is destined," the cosmic entity said hoarsely.
Hearing this, Skyl suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. He gritted his teeth to keep himself from screaming.
"So it's a guaranteed fate."
He lowered his head and saw that the gray ray, which had already been reversed, had transformed into a long nail that pierced through his thoracic vertebrae. A grotesque numbness kept spreading from the wound, as though his muscles and bones were rapidly drying out.
This divine spell had directly penetrated dozens of defensive layers around Skyl, wounding him severely for the first time. Skyl lost strength in his legs and fell to the ground.
"My lord!"
Mora's tentacles hurriedly dropped from the sky and pressed against Skyl's back, releasing healing spells one after another to stabilize his injuries, but that numbness was still slowly spreading.
For the first time, Skyl experienced what it was like to have death within arm's reach. He had thought he would be afraid, but what surged into his heart was curiosity instead. To a great wizard, death was the beginning of another adventure. Deep down, Skyl was a Gryffindor. He wanted to see whether the world after death had another kind of scenery.
The cosmic entity sat upon her divine seat and sneered. "Another magic-user who does not know his limits."
Thanos stepped forward on his own. He did not seem afraid at all. He remained ambitious, and even filled with admiration. He asked, "God of Death, if I kill half the life in the universe, can their civilizations avoid destruction?"
"They cannot. But I will be delighted." Goddess Death stared at the madman, Thanos, and nodded in satisfaction. "Go and slaughter, then. Make my underworld strong and crowded, and I shall bless you."
"I don't want your blessing. I want you!"
Goddess Death covered her skeletal face and giggled. "Very well, bold mortal. If you fall in love with Death, then that is also your honor."
"I need to gather all the Infinity Stones."
"Offer the soul of your beloved, and you may obtain the Soul Stone." Goddess Death did not make an exception for her new lover. "This iron law cannot be violated, not even by me, for it is the will of the Supreme God."
Skyl's mouth twitched when he heard this. He knew exactly what kind of Supreme God's will this was. It was clearly something he had drawn with the divine pen. This was what it meant to shoot himself in the foot.
If he tore up the page of drawing paper in his robes right now, he could break the iron law. Perhaps he could even reach an agreement with Death.
However, the grudge Death had formed with him could not simply be forgotten like that.
Skyl pressed the Infinity Scepter against the door-shaped mark on the back of his left hand.
Surging energy poured into it. Then, magnificent blue doors of light rose one after another behind him.
The Tower of Tomes descended.
Goddess Death abruptly stood, for she had already sensed the terrifying aura coming from those blue doorways.
"That power?!"
Skyl used the scepter to support his body and slowly stood. He lightly touched the wound on his chest. That gray ray, clinging to him like a festering curse, abruptly shattered. Then the Time Stone activated, and the flesh around the wound gradually filled back in, restoring itself to its original state.
"Death is not destined. In fact, I have already stepped into eternity." Skyl declared war on the god in a deep voice. "I will repay harm with harm. Whether it is the intangible passage of time, tangible enemies, destined fate, or uncertain accidents, all will be defeated by me."
He raised the scepter and cast magic.
[Gemino Curse]
[Avada Kedavra]
Ten thousand Killing Curses surged toward Goddess Death like clouds of green poison gas.
She found it amusing. "You dare use my laws against me?"
"Even Death can die," Skyl declared indifferently.
Goddess Death was struck by the Killing Curses. She suddenly turned into a pile of decayed bones, and the wails of all the dead in the universe echoed out.
Death would only die under one condition, when all life in the universe had vanished.
Without life, there was no death.
Goddess Death had been struck inside Skyl's Tower of Tomes. She had been temporarily killed.
Skyl looked at Thanos and smiled. "You have been drawn to Goddess Death. Now, you love her deeply. Then I will use her soul to exchange for the Stone."
Thanos's expression turned strange. "You killed her?"
"No. As long as there is still life in the universe, she will not be destroyed."
In the next second, Goddess Death's withered bones sank into the water, while the Soul Stone floated into Skyl's hand and embedded itself into the final socket of the Infinity Scepter.
At this point, all six Infinity Stones had been gathered.
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