Wait, why does it feel like my life is flashing before my eyes?
Thanos suddenly snapped awake; he was in the middle of a battle, not a time for reminiscing!
But it was clearly too late by the time he woke up.
The four rings embedded with the four Infinity Stones were already right in front of them!
The first to suffer was, naturally, Ebony Maw, who had stepped forward to speak for Thanos earlier.
Ebony Maw was facing the green Time Ring; he originally wanted to use his telekinesis to freeze it.
But how could time be frozen by telekinesis?
Within the green light of the Time Ring, before Ebony Maw could even use his telekinesis, he found that he couldn't move anything except his thoughts!
He was time-stopped!
Then, without any surprise, Ebony Maw could only watch helplessly as the Time Ring crashed into his body!
Then, in his horrified eyes, he watched his body age and decay at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually turning into a heap of withered, rotten meat that fell to the ground!
Time Stop + Time Acceleration!
The second to suffer was Black Dwarf, who stood in front of Thanos!
As the representative of strength among the Black Order, Black Dwarf didn't care at all about the small iron ring flying towards him.
He swung his axe at the flying purple ring, intending to smash it directly into shards of crackers!
And what he struck was exactly the power ring!
As the representative of strength among the six Infinity Stones, the power ring didn't have the fancy skills of the Time Ring; its main feature was brute force!
Struck by Black Dwarf's overhead blow, not even a scratch was left on the power ring, while Black Dwarf's specially made axe was directly shattered into shrapnel!
Furthermore, after the axe fragments scattered in all directions, they turned their owner, Black Dwarf, into a hedgehog!
Finally, when the power ring slammed into him, it caused Black Dwarf himself to turn into a shrapnel grenade, his flesh and blood exploding all over Thanos behind him!
However, because Black Dwarf blocked it for a moment, it gave Thanos time to dodge the power ring that had pierced through Black Dwarf!
Next to suffer was the husband-and-wife duo under Thanos, Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight.
These two—one the Universe's number one assassin, the other the Universe's number one general—their abilities were reflected in assassination and command; their raw combat strength was not even equal to a pure warrior like Black Dwarf!
So, facing the incoming Space Ring and Mind Ring, the two didn't even have the power to resist and were instantly killed!
Legend says that Corvus Glaive's soul is stored within his weapon, the Glaive; as long as the weapon is not destroyed, he will never die.
This was also why he was able to trick the Avengers with a fake death and ambush Vision in Avengers 3.
But this time, Corvus Glaive encountered the Mind Ring!
The Mind Ring directly wiped out the hidden soul within his Glaive as well, causing Corvus Glaive to truly be reduced to ashes!
As for Proxima Midnight, it goes without saying; her assassin skills were completely useless in the face of absolute power...
She was directly shredded into nothingness by the spatial power attached to the Space Ring, with not even ashes remaining!
In just one round, the Black Order, who had fought alongside Thanos for decades, were all dead!
Finally, only Thanos remained, covered in blood, looking with a grim expression at the four colored iron rings floating around him!
The power just displayed by these four iron rings embedded with Infinity Stones was something he could hardly resist even with any single ring; now that he had to face four at once, it could be said he was doomed!
Tap, tap, tap—
At this moment, Ryan slowly walked not far from Thanos, who was surrounded by the iron rings, and chuckled: "Heh, isn't this little Thanos? Didn't you want my Infinity Stones just now?"
"Now I've placed them right in front of you, why aren't you taking them instead?"
Hearing the other's mockery, anger burned within Thanos, but he didn't impulsively choose to explode; instead, after two seconds, he quickly calmed down.
He thrust his double-edged blade into the ground, took off his helmet and placed it on the double-edged blade, then pointed at Ryan with his bare hands, saying coldly:
"As the controller of the Infinity Stones, only knowing how to use their power won't do; you also need to have enough strength of your own to protect them. Do you have it?"
Listening to Thanos's obvious provocation, Ryan shook his head.
This guy was really out of options, even using such a brainless trick.
But... Ryan actually 'fell for it'.
With a wave of his hand, the four iron rings around Thanos suddenly dispersed and positioned themselves around Ryan and Thanos, finally connecting their respective energies to form an arena surrounded by Infinite Power!
Ryan extended a hand toward Thanos and beckoned: "Out of respect for your great goal of trying to restore balance to the Universe, I'll indulge you this once. You want to see if I'm qualified to possess the Infinity Stones? Then come~"
Seeing this, Thanos didn't show any joy; instead, his face darkened further.
Because, having met countless people, he could naturally see that the other party hadn't fallen for his provocation at all!
The other party faced him as calmly as if facing an ant that could be crushed underfoot at any moment!
And there could only be one reason for such calmness: the other party possessed strength sufficient to rival his own even without using the Infinity Stones!
However, having reached this point, Thanos naturally wouldn't back down.
Since the other party had given him this chance for a fair duel, he had to seize it!
After all, his ultimate goal was not yet complete; he couldn't die yet!
So, after taking a deep breath, Thanos stepped forward with heavy strides, transforming into the Mad Titan who made all races in the Universe tremble, and charged at Ryan!
Ryan didn't move; instead, he stood with his arms crossed, quietly watching Thanos rush in front of him at a speed completely inconsistent with his bulky frame, and throw a fist larger than a clay pot at his face.
Facing this punch, Ryan's body didn't move; he just tilted his head and dodged it, letting his hair dance freely in the wind from the punch!
Thanos naturally wouldn't be stunned with surprise like some idiot just because a strike missed; instead, he continued to launch a storm-like attack on Ryan!
But it was useless!
All of it was useless!
No matter how he made his moves or how unexpected they were, the other party seemed to be able to predict his attack trajectory in advance, dodging every attack with the smallest of movements!
After a series of combination punches, he hadn't even made the other party take a step back!
This was too ridiculous!
As for the reason why Thanos couldn't even touch Ryan...
Besides Ryan's Spider-Sense, it was actually more because he had already faced the Thanos of another Universe once before.
Therefore, he was naturally extremely familiar with Thanos's attack patterns!
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