"What's wrong with this?"
Since that day, Galacta had felt that Gaea's attitude toward her had become even worse, as if she were someone who had killed her whole family. All of this made Galacta feel very puzzled. She hadn't done anything, so why was she being targeted by Gaea? Although Gaea's attitude toward her hadn't been particularly good before, it hadn't been this obvious, right? Now, it was as if they were mortal enemies. Galacta was very scared. If Artoria weren't here, she was truly afraid that Gaea would come up and scratch her to Death. Therefore, she hadn't dared to leave Artoria's side for even a step recently, but the more she did so, the more hostile Gaea's gaze toward her became.
"Have I offended her recently?"
While eating ice cream, Galacta began to ponder whether she had offended Gaea recently. After thinking it over and over, she couldn't find an answer. But this situation made Galacta afraid to face Gaea alone easily, for fear that the other party would find something she did displeasing and start a fight with her. She had it really tough; she had actually provoked such a person. What was most infuriating was that she didn't even know how she had provoked the other party, and she didn't dare to ask for the reason. Facing such an awkward situation, Galacta could only continue eating her ice cream and play dumb.
"The guy who came was Silver Surfer, right!"
Artoria thought over and over again, deducing all the possibilities, and finally hypothesized about Silver Surfer, the predecessor of the Planet Eater's herald, Silver Surfer. If it were it, it would indeed be enough to attract Gaea's attention, and Galacta would have a reason to mobilize, after all, this concerned Galacta's father. Artoria felt this guess was very reliable. Why was it a guess? Because after Galacta and Gaea returned, they didn't reveal anything to her about what they had gone to do. Artoria could only guess like this. There was no way around it! Artoria could only rely on guesswork to figure out who had come to Earth.
"Seriously, they're hiding such a small thing from me."
She knew the two were trying to keep her from getting involved in dangerous battles, but they didn't understand Artoria's personality at all. Sometimes, although she was very lazy, she loved exciting things very much. If there were a dangerous battle, she would indeed try every possible way to win it. Even when she first knew that this world was Marvel and that there was a possibility of half the Universe's life being wiped out by Thanos, Artoria had indeed been cowardly at that time. She had regarded Thanos as a natural disaster, a natural disaster that could not be resisted. But now it was different; Artoria held five Infinity Stones in her hand, and she was no longer afraid of Thanos or the Celestials.
Galacta and Gaea's concern made Artoria feel comforted, but she couldn't understand why she had to be excluded from even this small matter. Moreover, small matters often led to big ones. Silver Surfer arriving here meant that Galactus might have already set its sights on this place. Earth was no longer safe. Earth now had not yet stabilized internally, and the influence brought by Hydra had not yet faded, and now an extraterrestrial crisis had already begun. This was not a good phenomenon.
"Symbiote, Celestials, living tribunal."
Thinking of these guys who were no less threatening than Thanos, Artoria suddenly felt the heavy weight on her shoulders. If she were to become an enemy of these guys, she had to be prepared for the consequences of Death. Artoria did not want to go and meet the Goddess of Death, this 'lonely' and empty woman. Although they had a good impression of each other when they first met, and even if she died, the other party might give her special treatment, Artoria had no intention of leaving her loved ones.
"Artoria, what's wrong? What are you thinking about? You're dazed."
Just as Artoria was thinking about future matters, Galacta saw Artoria's dazed expression and called out to her with some concern. She didn't know what Artoria was thinking about. Was it that the two of them had hidden something from Artoria, which made Artoria very unhappy? Thinking of this, Galacta felt that there was indeed such a possibility. She didn't like others hiding things from her either, but Gaea had given her a strict order: if she revealed anything about her father, Gaea would completely expel her and make her leave Earth. Galacta, who was somewhat reluctant to part with Earth's delicacies... oh no! Reluctant to part with Artoria, of course, readily agreed.
"Sorry, I was thinking about other things."
Following Galacta's call, Artoria snapped out of her thoughts. She finished the ice cream in her hand in one bite; after all, she wasn't afraid of 'brain freeze'. Artoria gently clapped her hands together; she needed to take a break. Recently, Artoria had been feeling a bit 'drained' from the food intake Galacta had suddenly increased, to the point where she didn't even dare to conduct Shadow Clone training anymore, truly afraid of exhausting herself to Death. Naruto was a guy with protagonist halo; as the Child of Destiny, how could he possibly train himself to Death? Training that would cripple or kill an ordinary person was no match for his cockroach-like vitality combined with his protagonist halo, not even for Artoria as she was now. Artoria had already completed the qualitative change of her Wind attribute, and her Taijutsu had also progressed rapidly due to the Bajiquan Formal Wear. Now, Artoria's foundation was very solid, lacking only a large amount of actual combat training.
But the training method of this prince, Naruto, couldn't be used, otherwise it would really kill someone. Fighting one's own clone was something only he could think of; after all, the feeling of Death was truly real. Otherwise, this Ninjutsu of the Second would not have been sealed by the First. Facts proved that this technique could indeed exhaust a person to Death. Was it only Naruto? That was a creature that wasn't human, definitely not belonging to the human category.
Artoria was now very worried about her strength. Galacta absorbed most of Artoria's magic power every day, leaving Artoria unable to activate some of her powers. Although her dragon blood was becoming purer due to the other's actions, and the strength of her individual physical body, which had originally stalled, began to grow explosively, this increase in strength was just a passive growth because her bloodline purity was sufficient. This kind of power required a period of training to adapt to, which was completely different from what Artoria wanted. Artoria wanted something she could absolutely control. It might have something to do with her lazy personality, but Artoria felt this kind of power was very suitable for her. For example, Artoria's telekinesis; with a thought, the remote control, mobile phone, and snacks would fly over to her.
"It's really not simple to increase one's strength. I wonder how Wanda has been these past two days!"
Speaking of strength, Artoria suddenly remembered Wanda, whom she had forgotten in the conversation. This was a quite powerful figure, the possessor of Chaos magic, and the only person capable of using her abilities to destroy the Infinity Stones. In the movie, if not for the plot needs, Thanos could have been torn apart by this powerful girl herself; at that time, there would have been no need for her brother to sacrifice his life to snap his fingers. Thinking to this point, Artoria felt a bit choked in her heart, and she didn't know why. She felt as if someone very close to her was about to leave her; this feeling pressed down on her so much that she couldn't catch her breath, making her feel very uncomfortable.
"Mr. Steve, some powers cannot be touched casually."
Since Steve entered Kamar-Taj, it was like he was cheating; as long as he pondered any magic, he could basically use it. The Ancient One nodded very satisfied seeing this situation. This time, she specifically guided Steve to use the supreme treasure of Kamar-Taj, the eye of agamotto, the artifact containing the Space Stone. In just a short while, she didn't expect Steve to have learned it so well. Just as he was repairing the book that had been torn, which communicated with the Dark Dimension demon Dormammu, the Ancient One summoned the Mirror Dimension to stop Steve from looking further. Actually, it didn't matter if he looked, it was just that now was not the time.
"Uh~! I..., sorry."
Seeing the Ancient One appear, Steve couldn't help but start trembling in his legs; he was truly terrified of the woman in front of him. After putting down the eye of agamotto, Steve apologized and turned to leave. But before he left, he took a deep look at the torn page of the book. His curiosity was very strong, and when no one was around, he would definitely have to see what kind of book this was. All of this was reflected in the Ancient One's eyes, but she didn't show any reaction and let Steve leave directly.
"The most difficult period for Earth is coming soon. I hope you all can get through it."
The Ancient One put the book away. In her mind now was a demon from another dimension called the Eye Demon. It wanted to come to this world through the Ancient One's body, but the Ancient One had schemed against it and sealed it directly within her own body. The Ancient One did not go to find Artoria, this anomaly, to save herself. She knew her mission was about to end, and she didn't want Artoria to fall into danger because of saving her. Moreover, the only way to redeem herself was 'Death', and she would be liberated.
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