The Infinity Stones were absurdly overpowered.
Especially against beings that existed within a single universe.
The power the Infinity Stones could unleash could only be described as monstrous.
Thanos had only gained slightly greater control over that power,
yet for a time, he was actually able to trade blows evenly with Karl.
The two of them clashed back and forth.
In no time at all,
more than a dozen city blocks were reduced to ruins once again.
Half of New York City had already been smashed into rubble by them.
Karl sent Thanos flying with a single punch.
Thanos shot backward for several thousand meters.
The terrifying force punched straight through a hundred-meter-tall building before he finally slowed.
Karl pressed the advantage without mercy.
He immediately chased after him and launched another attack.
With a tiger pounce,
like a ferocious beast descending the mountain, he charged straight at Thanos, who had just fallen from the sky.
If that blow landed on Thanos,
then even with his body strengthened by Dark Power and the Infinity Stones, he would probably be badly injured.
But—
just when Karl's previous force had already been spent and his next burst had yet to form,
Dormammu moved from the sky.
He had watched Karl and Thanos fight for quite a while without showing the slightest intention of interfering.
But at that perfectly chosen moment, he struck.
A pitch-black needle of light shot toward Karl's face.
Even the surrounding light seemed to be swallowed by it.
The strange power contained within it
was enough to shake a person's mind with a single glance.
Dormammu flicked a finger.
That terrifying attack shot out instantly.
The timing was exquisite, and the strike was vicious.
His title as the Dark Dimension's demon lord was well deserved.
With a sharp hiss,
the black needle of light had already arrived before Karl's eyes.
If this attack hit him,
then even Karl's body would probably collapse on the spot.
Fortunately,
he had already been on guard.
Even while fighting Thanos,
he had kept part of his attention fixed on Dormammu.
The moment he saw Dormammu make his move,
Karl reacted at once.
His body curled up in a strange way, like an infant in the womb.
With a sudden flash of movement, he avoided the fatal blow.
The black needle of light stabbed straight into a hundred-meter stone mass,
traced an arc through midair,
and came at Karl once more.
Karl had no choice but to retreat through the air.
The black needle of light came within mere centimeters of his eyeball,
yet it still could not touch him.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
A series of shattering sounds rang out.
Thanos shoved aside countless chunks of collapsed wreckage and burst out from the rubble.
Without the slightest hesitation, he threw a punch straight at Karl.
Karl took the blow head-on without dodging.
Before Thanos could even feel pleased,
he sensed a horrifying force strike his chest.
His whole body was dragged uncontrollably right in front of Karl.
Then,
Thanos felt a pain so deep it pierced into his bones, erupting from his chest.
It was as if
his body and his soul were both being crushed by some immense force into a single point.
The agony was so overwhelming
that even Thanos's astonishing willpower could not withstand it.
"AAAGH!!!"
Thanos let out a scream of unbearable pain.
Dormammu's expression changed in the sky.
He immediately canceled half the power behind his attack.
But even so,
Thanos collapsed to the ground, with half his body turned black.
If not for the power of the Infinity Stones supporting him,
he might have dropped dead on the spot.
"Tsk tsk, what terrifying power."
"Thanks for helping me deal with Thanos."
Karl spoke with complete sincerity.
Dormammu, however, was burning with rage.
That useless fool!
Not only had he failed to do anything useful, he had even taken the hit for someone else.
At the same time,
Dormammu was also deeply shocked.
This human brat really was monstrously abnormal.
Karl's attack had no energy fluctuations at all, and it was unbelievably fast.
Could it be that while fighting Thanos, this kid had still been keeping track of him the whole time?
Dormammu's expression shifted unpredictably, as if he were calculating something.
Karl did not care what Dormammu was thinking.
Without another word,
he charged straight forward.
With a grab of his hand,
a Rift-Cleaving Blade appeared in his grasp.
He swung it in a full arc and slashed at Dormammu.
That incomparably sharp spatial blade tore through everything around it.
Everything in its path was ripped apart.
Even the hundred-meter-high buildings nearby were split open by Karl's blade and began to collapse slowly.
Dormammu was caught off guard for a moment.
Karl's slash cut him cleanly in half, and half his body fell to the ground and dissolved into dark energy.
Fortunately,
Dormammu's avatar was formed from the true dark body of the Dark Dimension.
Even if half his body was cut away, he would not die.
The power of the Dark Dimension continuously poured into him.
Dormammu's severed half actually grew back.
He waved both hands.
A massive surge of Dark Power erupted.
"Hahaha, sorcerer!"
"What can you possibly do to me? My power is endless!"
"You have no means of destroying me completely!"
"Even if I have to wear you down, I'll grind you to death today!"
Dormammu had truly gone all in.
No matter how much power he had to spend, he was determined to kill this brat.
This kid was simply too monstrous.
Dormammu felt threatened.
If Karl kept developing at this rate, then one day he feared he would be casually wiped out.
A vast tide of Dark Power surged once more.
The power within his body became even more overwhelming.
Dormammu was drawing on the accumulated reserves of hundreds of years.
He was determined to kill Karl.
Yet Karl's expression did not change in the slightest.
"No way to destroy you completely?"
"You shouldn't speak so confidently."
A bright smile appeared on Karl's face.
A sense of foreboding suddenly rose in Dormammu's heart.
Whatever it was, it could not be anything good.
Without the slightest hesitation,
Dormammu's body suddenly dove downward.
Without any restraint at all,
he threw a punch straight at Karl.
That fist, dozens of meters across,
was like a mountain falling from the sky.
"You're only reacting now?"
"Too late!"
"Astral Exile!"
Spatial light flashed between Karl's hands.
Dormammu suddenly felt
as though his body were being dragged by some mysterious force.
His entire body froze in place.
That strange power acted directly upon his avatar.
A black flash flickered.
Dormammu's avatar—along with the immense power he had accumulated over many years—vanished directly from Karl's Mirror Dimension.
In the blink of an eye,
it was sent to some unknown space.
Within the Dark Dimension,
Dormammu's true body let out an enraged roar.
"Damn it!"
"What kind of magic is this?!"
Dormammu was utterly shaken.
He could actually feel
that the connection between himself and his avatar had been severed.
This was the avatar most closely linked to his true body!
This was the power he had built up over hundreds of years!
He was unwilling to accept it.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
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