After all, to some extent, most of the combat techniques he was using now were actually 'learned' from Thanos!
Thanos's combat techniques were truly useful!
Moreover, the fighting style was especially suited for a high-strength fighter like him; it was practically a combat technique tailor-made for him!
This was also the reason Ryan hadn't instantly killed Thanos, as he wanted to see if this Thanos could also provide him with some new combat experience.
But seeing that while every one of Thanos's punches carried the power to shatter mountains and split rocks, his moves were still similar to the Thanos from the other Universe, Ryan's interest in stealing a few more moves gradually faded.
So, having lost his interest in learning, Ryan stopped staying on the defensive and began to take the initiative!
And he even used Thanos's own moves to strike back at him!
First was a Thanos-style liver-busting inch-punch to Thanos's abdomen; the immense force of this punch sent Thanos flying backward like a cannonball!
He finally stopped after crashing into the arena ropes formed by infinite energy, then bounced back and fell face-first into the dirt!
Thanos struggled to climb up from the ground, looking at the armor on his abdomen that had been blown open by that inch-punch, his face filled with utter disbelief!
What kind of hellish strength was this?!
One must know that as one of the top-tier strength races in the Universe, the power of the Titan race was nowhere near this terrifying!
Thanos looked up and stared fixedly at Ryan, who seemed to have just thrown a casual punch without even building up power, his face full of gravity:
"No, your strength is wrong. You could never have been born with this irresistible power; it doesn't fit the law of balance of power in this Universe!"
"Who exactly are you, and what exactly have you done before?!"
Facing Thanos's questioning, Ryan gave him a deep look: "As expected of one of the people in this Universe also cursed by knowledge, compared to those other brainless fellows, you are indeed different..."
"However, precisely because of this, you must die even more. You're just like that Batman; if I let you know my information and let you live, the trouble that could arise is likely beyond even my imagination!"
"So... goodbye!"
As the last word fell, Ryan's figure blurred and appeared in front of Thanos, before even the afterimage on the spot had vanished!
In Thanos's eyes, Ryan raised a fist toward him—it was... a fist so large it felt as if the entire sky was pressing down on him!
This is why, in certain movies or anime, you wonder why the protagonist, who clearly can't beat the big boss, doesn't dodge!
It's not that they don't want to dodge, but that they simply can't!
Thanos could only watch helplessly as Ryan's fist fell, finally landing on his chest!
There was no pain. The moment Ryan's fist touched Thanos's body, before his nervous system could even transmit the pain of disintegration to his brain, Thanos's entire being had already exploded like a firework!
After this, unless the Time Stone's time reversal was used, there was absolutely no saving him!
But unfortunately, the Time Stone was in Ryan's hands, and he obviously wasn't going to resurrect Thanos~
So Thanos was destined to never be resurrected for a kingly return for revenge...
As Ryan retracted the four iron rings embedded with Infinity Stones, it signified that another goal of his cosmic journey was +1 complete!
And killing Thanos was not only one of Ryan's goals this time; there was another person present who held the same goal.
That was Gamora, whose people—including her mother—had been half-slaughtered by Thanos.
Looking at the deep purple blood splattered in a fan shape on the ground, there wasn't much joy of vengeance on Gamora's face; instead, her heart was filled with confusion.
It was as if her life had suddenly lost its purpose...
And seeing that the Thanos who raised her had ended up as nothing more than a pool of blood, Gamora's mood became somewhat complicated.
She even felt a bit of pity for Thanos...
This is the complexity of human nature; even with an enemy, after being together day and night for over a decade, feelings will still grow...
Of course, none of this had a damn thing to do with Ryan.
Thanos wasn't his father. He felt nothing after taking him out, and even felt like laughing a bit.
After all, he had essentially removed a major threat for his own Universe!
Thanos's idea of balancing the Universe was right, but his method was wrong.
Eliminating half the population wouldn't make the other half live better; the World would still be divided into social classes, and the resources ordinary people could consume would still be a tiny fraction of the World...
The survivors might even become more extreme due to the loss of their loved ones...
If you asked Ryan, Thanos should have been more ruthless and directly wiped out all intelligent life in this Universe!
Leave the Universe with only life forms driven by instinct; only then could the resources enjoyed by every living being reach a true sense of balance!
Or use the power of the Infinity Stones to increase the Universe's resources, so everyone could have more materials to use!
But if Ryan were to choose, he wouldn't choose either.
Both choices were thankless tasks and had their drawbacks.
Compared to eliminating life or increasing resources, Ryan would rather directly conquer this Universe and establish an absolutely 'fair' system himself.
But not right now...
Ryan shook his head and set these thoughts aside.
Thanos had interrupted; next, it was time to continue with one of his most important goals: getting the Soul Stone!
"Heh, I've watched a good show; now it's time to continue the 'punishment', isn't it?" Ryan looked at the Planet beneath his feet and gave a cold laugh.
But this time, he didn't use the Ten Rings on his right hand again, intending to use them to blow up the Soul Stone altar.
Before, he had only planned to shatter the altar because he was waiting for Thanos to arrive; he had designated this Planet as the place where Thanos would fall.
Now that Thanos had come and been killed by him, he naturally didn't need to hold back anymore.
This time, he was going to do something big!
That was... blowing up the entire Planet!
One must know that since he gained the strength to destroy Planets, he hadn't actually blown one up in a real sense!
His hands had been itching for a long time!
Snap——
Ryan snapped his fingers, and the iron ring embedded with the Space Stone rotated and enlarged, forming a portal.
The other end of the portal was inside Sanctuary II, which was floating outside Vormir.
This was Thanos's mobile Base, its size blotting out the sky; Yondu's Ravager Ship was like a mouse compared to an elephant in comparison!
Since he had dealt with Thanos and the Black Order, this massive space mobile fortress naturally became his spoils of war!
Ryan said indifferently: "Let's go. This will be your new ship from now on. Gamora should be familiar with its layout; if you don't understand anything, just ask her."
Saying this, he prepared to step into the portal.
And because Ryan had easily killed Thanos—the one who could make children stop crying throughout the Universe—the stunned crowd finally snapped out of it.
"That... Captain, our belongings are all still on the original Ravager Ship. Should we send some people to pilot it into the new ship's hangar?"
Although Yondu was happy about moving to a larger and better new ship, he still felt some attachment to his old partner.
The other Raiders weren't as nostalgic as Yondu, but their belongings were indeed all on the old ship, so they nodded vigorously along with him.
Only Rocket looked disdainful and, taking Groot with him, excitedly walked into the portal toward the new ship.
In his view, out with the old and in with the new; even an animal and a tree understood such a simple truth, yet these brainless guys still didn't!
How much was that junk worth? Was it enough to buy a few screws on Sanctuary II?
However, not wasting resources was indeed a traditional virtue, so Ryan didn't say much.
He just flicked his finger, pinning a red dart onto the Ravager Ship.
The next moment, something magical happened. In just the blink of an eye, the originally massive Ravager Ship shrunk to the size of a toy ship!
This made Star-Lord exclaim on the spot: "Wow! The Captain's magic really comes one after another; every time it opens our eyes!"
Saying that, Star-Lord walked up to the shrunken ship and actually picked it up with ease.
This made Star-Lord even more certain it was a magical effect!
Not only did the volume shrink, but even the weight changed accordingly. Was this something technology could do?
But Star-Lord was to be disappointed, because this wasn't magic at all; it was truly technology...
Ryan said indifferently: "This isn't magic; it's Earth technology, Pym Particles."
Star-Lord was stunned: "I've only been away from Earth for over a decade, and Earth has developed to this extent?"
"You'll know when you go back to Earth and see for yourself next time; its changes are bigger than you imagine..." Ryan shook his head and didn't explain much more to Star-Lord, instead stepping through the portal into Sanctuary II in outer space.
After all, Earth's technology tree was very complex—one could say it was both high and low—and explaining it was complicated.
So low that, except for Wakanda, they couldn't even build the most basic ship for space travel, yet so high they could create black technology like Pym Particles that even those cosmic empires that had achieved interstellar travel long ago couldn't produce...
One could only say the specialization was extremely lopsided...
As for where the Pym Particles in Ryan's hand came from?
Remember the Pym Particles Ryan had Ant-Man steal during the Battle of New York?
That time, besides the amount of Pym Particles returned to the other Universe, Ryan had also kept some for research.
After more than two years, the Pym Particles had long been deciphered by Tony and were now in formal mass production.
It was just that Pym Particles were too special, so they hadn't been released for sale yet and were only used within the Spider Family.
As the head of the Spider Family, he naturally carried a few for emergencies.
Like right now...
With the ship shrunken and held in Star-Lord's hand, Yondu and the others didn't dawdle anymore, stepping through the portal one by one into Sanctuary II.
After everyone was inside, Ryan looked at Yondu: "Yondu, take some men and 'invite' all the 'strangers' in our new ship out."
"Yes, Captain!" Hearing this, Yondu grinned, instantly understanding who the 'strangers' Ryan mentioned were!
Naturally, they were Thanos's original crew!
Ryan didn't stay either; after retracting the Space Ring, he phased his body and passed through the ceiling, arriving on the outer hull of Sanctuary II.
"Like to hide inside the Planet, do you? I'll blow up your shell and see how you hide then!"
Ryan floated above Sanctuary II, the power ring on his left arm leaving his limb to settle in his palm, and then the purple power ring began to spin frantically in his hand!
Finally, Ryan aimed the power ring, which had built up to a violent energy, at the colorful Vormir below!
Watch closely—this will be his most powerful strike to date!
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