"Damn it! What have you done?!"
Captain America stared at the still-warm heart in Axel's hand, then at Wanda's lifeless body lying on the ground. She had died before her body even had a chance to twitch.
The crimson Chaos Magic that had filled the sky moments earlier had vanished along with its source.
Even from a distance, Steve immediately understood.
Wanda was dead.
In that instant, memories of everything he had experienced with her flashed through his mind.
"You killed her!"
Fueled by grief and rage, Steve charged straight at Axel.
His shield was already raised, ready to strike.
Axel merely frowned.
Then he took a deep breath and blew it back out.
"Pfft!"
The breath, mixed with blood from his torn mouth, blasted into Captain America like a shockwave, sending him crashing to the ground.
Watching Steve stumble, Axel revealed his grotesque, bloodstained grin.
"Did you... see my mouth, you bastard?!"
He sneered before lifting Wanda's heart in front of his face.
After examining it for a moment, he frowned in disgust.
Then he casually tossed it onto the ground.
Crunch!
His foot came down mercilessly, crushing it into pieces.
Only then did Axel let out a satisfied breath.
Who was Wanda to him?
She wasn't the innocent girl he had met in another Marvel universe.
She wasn't the cheerful young woman he had known during Hydra's rebellion.
She was simply a Chaos Magic user who had fallen in love with a synthetic being created around the Mind Stone, ignored every obvious impossibility, and even dreamed of building a family with an android.
Someone like that thought she could challenge him with Chaos Magic?
What a joke.
When he had slaughtered entire worlds, she hadn't been there to witness it.
Annoyed, Axel spat another mouthful of blood.
Feeling uncomfortable, he shoved his fingers back into the corners of his mouth and stretched the wound even wider.
In the distance, Lex immediately looked away in disgust.
"Ugh... seriously, can you stop doing that?
"Do you need help? Actually, I probably can't help.
"Why don't you just regenerate with your fire?
"Stop tearing your mouth apart, buddy. It's horrifying."
"Mmm-hmm."
Axel nodded.
"For your sake, give me a second."
Flames immediately engulfed him.
Moments later, he stepped out completely restored.
His face had returned to normal.
Captain America, who had been lying motionless, slowly stiffened.
"You... can regenerate too?"
He muttered before forcing himself back to his feet.
Ignoring the bruises left by Axel's blood attack, Steve gripped his shield and charged once more.
"You're insane!
"She was just a kid!
"You really did kill the person she loved!
"If she'd caused you irreversible harm, maybe your revenge would have made some twisted kind of sense!
"But you didn't even care about what she did to you!
"You could have ignored her!
"You could have sent her away!
"But you chose to kill her!"
"Heh... always trying to be a saint, buddy."
Axel interrupted with obvious contempt.
Then he raised one hand.
"Come here."
A blue blur instantly shot across the battlefield.
Clark appeared in front of Captain America and slammed him to the ground.
"Let me go!"
Steve struggled furiously.
Clark ignored him.
Instead, he looked toward Axel.
"Boss Axel, please stop killing people.
"They don't really understand you, but they're genuinely good people.
"I know I can't stop you.
"So let me stop them instead.
"For my sake, please.
"Once Thanos is dealt with, we'll leave this universe.
"Please don't keep hurting them."
After speaking, Clark gently struck Captain America on the side of the neck.
Thud.
Steve immediately lost consciousness.
After laying him down carefully, Clark looked back at Axel with a pleading expression.
Meanwhile, Old Tony, who had been bombarding Thanos from afar, finally noticed Wanda's body.
He froze.
Middle-aged Tony quickly flew over and grabbed his arm.
"I forgot to tell you something.
"The Tony from my universe fights for justice too.
"But the man leading us doesn't necessarily represent justice.
"Do you know what the Human Federation spends most of its time doing?
"Our biggest job is trying to stop Axel from destroying the world.
"I'm sorry about Wanda.
"But until Thanos is dealt with, don't provoke Axel.
"He's a thousand times more troublesome than Thanos."
He punched Old Tony lightly on the chest before flying back into battle.
Unlike his counterpart, Middle-aged Tony felt very little attachment to Wanda.
In his own universe, she had nearly killed him.
Old Tony inhaled deeply.
After a long moment, he suppressed his emotions and returned to fighting Thanos.
The remaining Avengers reached similar conclusions.
None of them chose to attack Axel.
Wanda's relationship with the Avengers had always been complicated.
If Pietro hadn't sacrificed himself to save Hawkeye years earlier, she might never have become an Avenger.
Outside of Captain America, few of them had ever been especially close to her.
Black Panther barely knew her.
The last time they had met, they had been enemies during the Civil War.
Winter Soldier cared little for anyone besides Steve.
Natasha mourned Wanda's death, but she also knew Wanda had attacked Axel first.
Axel was simply a traveler from another universe.
Nobody truly understood him.
They only knew he possessed terrifying strength.
With all six Infinity Stones now in his possession, no one wanted to provoke him further.
Only then did Natasha realize something.
Vision was dead too.
Wanda had disappeared with him earlier, so nobody had known his fate.
Now both of them were gone.
She quietly sighed.
Regardless of their resentment, they had no choice but to bury it for now.
Axel couldn't have cared less.
After regenerating, he rubbed his lips happily.
"So this is what it's like to talk without a sore mouth.
"Not bad.
"She actually sealed my mouth.
"What, did she think I was Black Bolt?
"What a joke."
He waved his hand.
Wanda's body, her destroyed heart, and every remaining trace of her instantly turned to ash before disappearing completely.
The Avengers watched silently.
Before anyone could react...
Axel casually waved again.
A crimson figure suddenly appeared beside him.
The young Wanda blinked in confusion.
"Huh?
"Wasn't I sleeping?
"How did I get here?
"Wait... these people are different."
She looked at Axel.
"Did you bring me here?
"I thought everyone was heading back to New York.
"You actually came to another universe to save the world?
"The Hydra conflict is still going on back home.
"After Pietro and I stepped back, Captain America led the Avengers to retake New York.
"But General Ross joined forces with Hydra.
"The Navy launched another carrier assault this morning.
"My brother and I helped stop it.
"I've barely slept for two hours.
"I'm exhausted."
She sighed and leaned comfortably against Axel.
Watching the younger Wanda, Axel smiled with satisfaction.
This was the Wanda he knew.
Not the one who had just died.
He gently rubbed her head.
"If you're tired, rest here.
"I just killed an older version of you.
"She wasn't very friendly, and honestly, she wasn't very pleasant to look at either.
"So I brought you here to improve the scenery."
"What?"
Young Wanda blinked.
"You killed... another me?"
"Yeah.
"She died pretty horribly.
"But she attacked me after falling in love with a robot."
"Oh."
She nodded.
"If she attacked you, then I guess that's her own fault.
"I don't really feel anything about it.
"So... who's that purple guy everyone's fighting?
"He looks pretty strong."
"You want to help?"
"Not really.
"If you want me to help, I will.
"Otherwise, I'd rather get some sleep.
"My own world is already a mess.
"I don't have time to interfere with someone else's."
She closed her eyes and rested comfortably against Axel.
Everyone watching was stunned.
Except for Bruce and the others, nobody knew where this young Wanda had come from.
Many even assumed Axel had recreated her using the Infinity Stones.
Regardless of what they believed, the appearance of this younger Wanda quickly shifted everyone's attention away from the Wanda who had just died.
Soon, everyone except Axel and the sleeping Wanda returned to fighting Thanos.
Before Clark entered the battle, Thanos had still managed to hold his own against Thor and the others.
Once Clark joined...
Everything changed.
Clark and Thor attacked from opposite sides, forcing Thanos to divide almost all of his attention between them.
The remaining heroes seized every opening, relentlessly driving him backward.
The battle continued for nearly thirty minutes.
Finally, Clark found an opportunity.
He wrapped both arms tightly around Thanos' upper body, locking him in place with all his strength.
Thor didn't hesitate.
Stormbreaker rose high into the air.
Then it came down in one devastating swing.
Slash!
Thanos' head separated cleanly from his body.
The Mad Titan never managed to utter any final words.
No one found that surprising.
Everyone was exhausted.
Even Thor had suffered severe injuries during the fight.
None of them had the energy to give Thanos a dramatic farewell.
His severed head rolled across the battlefield before finally stopping at the feet of the two Tonys.
Old Tony stared silently for a long time.
Finally, he spoke.
"It's over.
"But... Wanda isn't coming back, is she?
"That younger Wanda belongs to your universe, doesn't she?
"She still looks at me with the same hatred she had years ago."
He turned toward his younger counterpart.
Instead of answering, Middle-aged Tony continued staring at Thanos' lifeless eyes.
Old Tony gently tapped his armor.
"What are you looking at?"
"Hm?"
Middle-aged Tony finally snapped out of his thoughts.
He took two slow breaths.
"Nothing.
"I just saw... a very familiar look."
Determination slowly filled his eyes.
The instant he looked closely into Thanos' eyes, he realized they were almost identical to the mysterious eyes he had seen in his visions.
He still didn't understand why there had been nine pairs of them.
But at least he finally had a direction.
When he returned to his own universe, he would push Earth's technology forward as quickly as possible.
Then he would find the Thanos of his world.
Whatever terrifying future he had witnessed, he was certain it was connected to that Thanos.