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At this moment, Black Dwarf also stepped out from Grandmaster's team, returned to Thanos's side, and stood beside Proxima Midnight.
Grandmaster walked to a spot ten meters away from Thanos and stopped, wearing an inscrutable smile on his face.
"Welcome to Sakaar, great conqueror." Grandmaster bowed politely.
He pointed to Thor, Valkyrie, and the Guardians of the Galaxy who were captured on the ground.
"These are my property; they just caused some trouble in my establishment." Grandmaster spread his hands. "Please hand them over to me; I want to execute them personally."
Thanos glanced at Grandmaster indifferently.
"No."
The refusal was crisp and decisive, leaving no room for negotiation.
Grandmaster didn't mind and remained smiling.
"Don't be in such a hurry to refuse, friend. We can make a deal."
Thanos didn't speak, just watched him quietly, waiting for him to name his price.
Grandmaster shrugged, feeling slightly rebuffed.
"You want this, right?"
He pulled a controller from his robe and pressed the switch.
In mid-air, a holographic image of a cube emitting a faint blue light was immediately projected.
The Tesseract.
How did it end up in the hands of this old madman?!
Seeing this projection, Thor hurriedly turned his head to look at Brunnhilde, his face full of disbelief.
Brunnhilde avoided Thor's gaze, whistled, and pretended to look at the sky.
Watching the slight change in Thanos's eyes, Grandmaster smiled triumphantly:
"I've put this thing in a very safe place. No one can find it."
"But if you hand these people over to me for disposal, this thing will be yours."
Thanos narrowed his eyes, weighing the options for a moment.
If it were anything else, he might have just switched to conquest mode immediately.
But the Infinity Stones were essential core items for his universal population control plan, and there could be no mistakes.
Ultimately, he nodded slightly.
"Deal."
Grandmaster clapped his hands in satisfaction.
His guards immediately stepped forward and roughly dragged Thor, Brunnhilde, and the Guardians of the Galaxy up.
"One hour from now, I will publicly execute them in the city square. After the execution, the item will be handed over to you intact."
Grandmaster turned to Thanos and issued a warm invitation.
"If you are interested, I also welcome the famous overlord of the Universe to attend the ceremony."
Thanos didn't say much more.
He waved his hand, took the Black Order and his royal guard, boarded Grandmaster's flying vehicle, and headed toward the city square of Sakaar's main city.
...
One hour later.
The city square of Sakaar's main city had been temporarily converted into an execution ground.
It was densely packed with over a million people.
Scavengers, gladiators, nobles, commoners, and slaves—everyone was gathered here.
In the center of the square, a row of tall execution platforms was erected.
Thor, Brunnhilde, Star-Lord, Rocket, Drax, Groot, and Mantis were firmly secured to the execution racks.
"Hum!"
The giant holographic projection equipment above the square activated.
Grandmaster's giant figure and the disheveled appearance of everyone on the execution platforms were clearly projected across the entire sky.
Everyone in Sakaar City could see it.
Grandmaster stood in front of the execution platforms and began his speech.
"Citizens of Sakaar!"
"The people you see before you. They enjoyed my generosity, yet they repaid me with riots and destruction!"
"They ignored the rules and attempted to challenge the authority of the Grandmaster!"
"Today, we are gathered here to witness the price of betrayal!"
Grandmaster's speech was incessant, aimed at making an example of them.
Making it clear to everyone that resisting him would definitely not end well.
While Grandmaster was pontificating in front.
On the execution platforms, the group began to whisper to each other.
"How could the Tesseract be with Grandmaster?!"
Thor turned his head to ask Brunnhilde.
Valkyrie curled her lip, indifferent.
"I sold it to him."
Thor nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
"You sold it?! Then what about my axe?!"
"Sold as a package deal," Valkyrie said righteously. "Friends and family discount."
"Are you crazy!" Thor was furious. "That is stormbreaker! It is the royal artifact of Asgard, the symbol of the royal family!"
Brunnhilde sneered and retorted mockingly:
"It's exactly your royal symbol that I sold! This is what the Asgardian royal family owes me!"
"When your sister Hela killed our sisters, she also used a royal artifact!"
Thor was left speechless, only able to seethe with anger.
On the other side, the atmosphere among the Guardians of the Galaxy was completely different.
Drax puffed out his chest, looking serious.
"As long as I stand still, perfectly still, they cannot see me. I will be able to turn invisible and escape soon."
Mantis, tied up on the side, widened her innocent eyes, trying hard to stare at him.
"Drax, are you invisible now? Why can I still see you?"
"That is because your thoughts are not focused enough," Drax replied solemnly.
"I am Groot." The tree-man let his branches droop powerlessly.
Star-Lord rolled his eyes speechlessly.
"Can you all shut up! We are about to be killed! Can you act normally for once?!"
Then he looked at Rocket Raccoon on the other side.
"Rocket, do you have any ideas? Aren't you supposed to be the best at breaking out of prison in the entire Universe?"
Rocket was constantly twisting his body, trying to get the back of his hand toward the lock.
"Shut up! Quill! I am trying to think of a way!"
"What are you doing? Scratching an itch?"
"I am using my fur to make an unlocking device!" Rocket retorted in a low voice.
"Using fur?" Star-Lord looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Are you serious? Have you been scared out of your mind? Trashy little panda!"
"I am not a little panda! And this is called hair-based electrostatic interference technology, you idiot Quill!"
At this moment, Grandmaster's speech finally reached its end.
"Now, the execution begins."
Grandmaster turned around and took the melting staff, topped with a golden sphere, handed to him by his subordinate.
He walked toward the first execution rack.
Brunnhilde was tied to it.
He came before Valkyrie and sighed pretentiously.
"Scavenger 142."
Grandmaster shook his head, his tone full of regret.
"I actually quite liked you, really. You found me quite a few good items."
"But rules are rules; you shouldn't have, you absolutely shouldn't have, mixed with this group of thugs."
Valkyrie silently closed her eyes and said impatiently:
"Do it already, too much talking."
She had already calmly accepted this ending in her heart.
Death, for her, might have long been a form of release.
To be reunited with those sisters who died in battle—this was the fate Valkyrie was meant to have.
"As you wish... Goodbye, 142."
Grandmaster raised the melting staff high and tapped it toward Brunnhilde's shoulder.
"Clang!"
A crisp sound of metal colliding rang out.
There was no expected excruciating pain, nor any burning sensation of melting.
Valkyrie opened her eyes in confusion.
She only saw a tall, upright figure standing in front of her.