"Very well." Loki didn't need to be told twice.
Gungnir resonated in his grip, the spear humming like a caged sun. Sparks of divine power snapped across its length, coiling upward in serpents of gold and emerald.
Maw sensed it.
His eyes widened.
"No—wait—"
But Loki was already moving.
He lunged, spear thrusting forward with regal precision, each step sending cracks spiraling across the ruined floor. The power radiating from Gungnir was the kind only Odin—or someone chosen by Odin—could wield.
Loki had always been vain, ambitious, prideful.
But this was something else.
This was authority.
Maw scrambled to his feet, telekinetic force exploding around him in a wild, panicked surge. Every shard of metal in the room flew toward Loki like a storm of knives.
Galahad stepped forward again, shield rising.
"Lord Camelot—"
"Not this time," Loki hissed.
His free hand flicked outward, and shimmering Asgardian runes appeared in the air like burning frost. They spun around him, forming a whirling disk of golden light.
The debris struck the runes — and disintegrated.
Maw froze.
"You— You can cast Odin's Yggdrasil sigils!?" he gasped, voice cracking.
Loki smiled in a way that was far too sharp to be comforting.
"Yes," he said softly.
"And I am far better at magic than Thor."
Maw tried one last time.
He thrust the Mind Stone toward Loki, unleashing another bolt of golden-blue energy — not a beam this time, but a psychic lance aimed directly at Loki's mind.
A mental spear meant to break worlds.
A command meant to dominate gods.
"BOW!" Maw screamed.
The psychic blow hit Loki full force.
The air shook.
The sealing barrier trembled.
Even Galahad's cloak snapped backward from the pressure.
But Loki…
Loki only blinked.
Slowly.
A grin stretched across his face.
"Oh, Maw…" he said softly. "Mind tricks are my domain; you can't use that against me."
Maw's eyes filled with horror.
Even my expression was one of surprise. Loki might not understand what he was up against, but I did.
That was the Mind Stone, the key to all mental energies in the universe. With that, one could read and control any mind, or all of them at once. It was truly a frightening thing, yet somehow Loki had shrugged it off like it was nothing.
I could only begin to guess at what had happened, but maybe it was the Stone itself? It did have a mind of its own, and perhaps it was being influenced by all the hate directed toward Maw?
If all minds moved through the Stone… then maybe so did hate… and right now, everyone on Earth had that toward the one responsible for everything happening.
Though it could just as likely have been Maw trying to control the mind of an Asgardian, and failing to control Loki due to his true nature as a frost giant.
Loki had no idea how shocking and impressive his feat was and took full advantage of Maw's shock to once more fire a beam of light from his spear.
This time Maw didn't dodge.
The light struck the telekinetic's barrier—
—and shattered it like an eggshell.
Maw was thrown backward with such force that he carved a long gouge across the floor, tumbling end over end until he slammed into my sealing boundary and slid to the ground in a heap.
His breath rattled.
Blood dripped from his nose.
His fingers twitched weakly around the Mind Stone scepter.
He looked up at Loki, trembling.
"This… this cannot be… Asgard should not be this strong… you—should not be this strong…"
Loki towered over him.
Regal.
Terrifying.
Every inch the king he had always pretended to be.
"Oh, Maw," Loki said softly, tilting his head.
"You have no idea what Asgard is."
He raised Gungnir for the finishing strike — bright with the promise of divine retribution.
But Maw wasn't beaten yet.
His lips curled into a shaking grin, thin and sickly.
"You may strike me down…" he rasped.
"But I still have this."
His fingers tightened around the blue gem in his scepter, the sealed Mind Stone.
And as it unsealed, the blue gem turned yellow and began to glow.
Bright.
Brighter.
Too bright.
The golden-blue brilliance flooded the room, warping space, radiating with unstable cosmic pressure. Even the phantom walls of Camelot vibrated from the sudden surge.
"Arthuria—!" Galahad warned.
"Loki, fall back!" I snapped.
But Loki didn't move.
Not because he refused.
Because Maw had seized control of his mind for the briefest instant — not enough to dominate him, but enough to freeze him in place.
A single second.
That was all Maw needed.
"One of you," Maw whispered, eyes burning with manic triumph, "is going to die with me."
The Mind Stone flared.
The chamber filled with raw psychic annihilation.
And the blast fired directly at—
Galahad.
Maw must have doubted whether it would work on Loki again without being able to explain why his last attempt didn't work. So, trying to target him again was not worth it.
As for me… once more, he was likely unsure whether it would work, uncertain of my true power, and unwilling to fail, he targeted the weakest of us.
My Servant, Galahad.
I was unwilling to take a chance, so before the blast could connect, I acted.
"Avalon! The everlasting utopia!"
From my hand burst forth a gentle golden light. It quickly grew into the shape of a beautiful sheath, and from there, the light expanded outward.
A gentle bubble of light surrounded me and Galahad. Inside, peace filled the air; a soft breeze smelling of grass and flowers blew over us. The warmth of the sun kissed our skin, making one feel tired.
Instantly, all the tension just melted away. Camelot's white walls faded, and Galahad lowered his shield and closed his eyes as he relaxed, taking in the feeling of pure peace that surrounded us.
The devastating blast of pure mental energy drawn forth from the Mind Stone itself, as Maw sacrificed himself to channel the infinite power of the Stone, was channeled into the golden shine that surrounded us—
—and just fizzled out, like a drop of dew hitting the sun.
One moment the world itself seemed to shake from the power Maw unleashed, and then it was gone. Not even a ripple in Avalon.
Avalon, the Everlasting Utopia, was my most powerful Noble Phantasm. It wasn't a weapon, but it would end any fight then and there. Within its area of effect, there could be no fights, no deaths, no pain, only peace.
It was the perfect prison, because none could muster the will to try and escape. Not that they would be strong enough, because the very concept of using force to solve problems didn't exist in here.
It was a magical place where all could be happy, where you would never feel needs or wants, no hunger, no thirst, nothing negative at all.
Which naturally meant that as soon as an attack came into contact with Avalon, it ceased to exist.
Outside the bubble, Maw screamed.
He screamed not from pain—
but from the sheer disbelief of seeing his ultimate strike simply evaporate.
His voice was muffled, distorted by the gentle hum of Avalon, like distant thunder trying and failing to pierce a calm spring morning.
His body was failing him, slowly disintegrating from the overwhelming power of the Mind Stone — and yet, it had been for nothing.
His plan had failed, he had failed his master, and made a horrible enemy. If only he could report back, warn his master, but it was impossible.
He could not escape, and he knew it.
From the very moment I sealed him inside, he had been trying to break out; even as he fought with Loki, he had never given it his full focus, constantly using his magic to try and break out.
Trying to reach out to the Tesseract.
I knew not why he did that, what he had planned, but it was a good thing I hadn't included that within my seal, so he couldn't reach it, couldn't touch it, and couldn't use it to escape.
For if there was one thing I feared might be able to break my seal, it was naturally the Space Stone itself.
Slowly, I recalled Avalon, lest I myself get lost in the peace it offered.
"Now that was mighty impressive indeed," Loki said, having been outside its range and not understanding just what had happened. But he still knew that whatever it was, it wasn't something small.
Still, ignorance is bliss.
"Regardless," Loki said, twirling Gungnir in his hand, "the creature is weakened. Let us be done with this farce."
He quickly fired another beam from Gungnir at the still-disbelieving Maw, who still had his eyes locked onto Avalon's true form in my hand.
There was no scream this time.
No resistance.
No final act.
Ebony Maw simply disintegrated — atoms unraveling into dust, dust dissolving into shimmering nothing — until all that remained was the faint outline his body had once cast upon the ruined floor.
Silence fell.
The oppressive psychic pressure vanished.
The air steadied.
The Mind Stone — its glow now dim and sickly — clattered to the floor within the cracked metal frame of the scepter.
Loki lowered Gungnir, exhaling.
"Another enemy of Asgard, gone," he declared.
Galahad stepped forward, retrieving the scepter without hesitation and handing it to me with the utmost respect.
"My King," he said quietly. "It is done."
I closed my hand around the scepter.
Even sealed as it was, the Mind Stone pulsed faintly beneath the casing — a heartbeat of cosmic thought, ancient and incomprehensible.
Cold.
Infinite.
Silent.
And now, in my hand.
"Indeed," I murmured. "It is done."
But the war was not.
The portal still tore the sky open.
The Chitauri still flooded the city below.
The Avengers still fought desperately for survival.
Tony Stark still struggled to stay conscious after dragging a nuclear bomb into another world.
And Thanos…
Thanos had just lost one of his children—
and one of his Stones.
He would not respond kindly.
"Come," I said. "There is still a battle to finish."
Loki lifted Gungnir.
Galahad raised his shield.
The wind roared through the shredded remains of Stark Tower.
And we turned toward the portal.
(End of chapter)
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