The most important thing for a family is to be together, and Ronan achieved that.
His grandfather perished alongside his fleet;
His father also met his end with the fleet he commanded;
And Ronan, the last male heir of his family, ultimately followed in the footsteps of his elders, perishing with his fleet on Xandar.
Thanos, who had orchestrated it all, sat calmly on his floating throne, his actions shrouded in secrecy as he stared at the energy output of Lothar's previous attack.
'Can his base form achieve a tenfold energy amplification for Lothar?'
Thanos, calculating inwardly, narrowed his eyes and dismissed the light screen before him. The peak amplification value of the armor he had given Lothar was theoretically tenfold, but that was just a conceptual limit.
Thanos had never expected Lothar to perfectly utilize it; theory was, after all, just theory. His initial estimate was only a five to sevenfold amplification. But the stark reality laid out before him left no room for disbelief.
His son, as always, had managed to surprise him.
"Lord Thanos, should we update Lothar's power data in the database?" the respectful Ebony Maw inquired. Among Thanos's many databases, one was specifically for tracking Lothar's power growth, but it had been sealed by Thanos after Lothar's spatial exile over a thousand years ago.
"No, do not save it."
"Destroy it."
Thanos's right index finger unconsciously tapped the armrest of his throne, the cold touch sharpening his mind.
"I understand." Ebony Maw nodded in comprehension, then respectfully withdrew to handle the aftermath of the situation.
Lothar wasn't a fool; if the loose ends weren't properly tied up, Ebony Maw would likely find himself the target of Lothar's wrath. Ebony Maw didn't ask why he shouldn't save the data; Thanos gave the order, and he would follow it—that was all that mattered.
'Is my feeling correct?'
Thanos, seated on his floating throne, looked up at the sky, surrounded by the lonely void and the distant starlight. He felt that Woz's report on [Lothar's Otherworldly Journey] was off. It wasn't that Woz or Lothar seemed strange, but that Darkseid seemed out of place. He had said too much "before his death." So much that Thanos, putting himself in Darkseid's shoes, saw those words as a warning, or rather, a prelude to an invasion.
A prelude to an invasion.
Darkseid had seen the coordinates of this universe on Lothar's body; this was a fact Woz had already confirmed.
Thanos understood Darkseid's covetousness of Lothar, just as he had in the past. Most importantly, Darkseid couldn't have known that Lothar was alone in this universe and not part of an entire race.
'Perhaps I'm overthinking it.'
Thanos closed his eyes, his thoughts returning to the matter of finding the Soul Stone. It wasn't so easy for beings of Darkseid's caliber to personally invade the multiverse, just as it wasn't easy for the current Thanos to cross into other universes to plunder resources.
Between universes, for powerful beings who were born and raised in their home universe, there seemed to be an indestructible barrier that was difficult to break. Otherwise, why would Thanos need to go through the trouble of searching for six Infinity Stones to maintain universal balance? Wouldn't it be much faster to take the Black Quadrant army and plunder resources from another universe?
"Lord Thanos, Princess Gamora is here to see you."
The Black Quadrant base's AI system interrupted Thanos's thoughts.
"Let her in."
Thanos nodded, sitting serenely on his floating throne.
"Father, a message from Asgard." Gamora knelt respectfully on one knee, presenting the communication device in both hands.
"Asgard?"
"Yes, from the current Asgardian Queen, Frigga." Gamora herself was a bit confused. After completing her mission to find the Power Stone, she had decided to take a short break, but not long after her ship left the Centauri Galaxy, a graceful, dignified woman suddenly appeared before her. She said her name was Frigga, a name Gamora had heard of. The wife of Odin, the Queen of Asgard.
"Frigga... is it?"
Thanos toyed with the black, cube-shaped communicator that Gamora had handed him, then dialed the frequency. The prepared Frigga's projection instantly appeared before Thanos and Gamora.
"It's been a long time, Thanos." Frigga bowed slightly, looking at the Titan whom she hadn't seen since Lothar's disappearance.
"Are you here to plead for Odin?"
Leaning on his cold throne, Thanos's expression was utterly devoid of emotion.
"Our relationship shouldn't be like this, Thanos, and neither should the relationship between Asgard and the Black Quadrant." Frigga sighed. Compared to the now gray-haired and aging Odin, Frigga appeared to have not aged as much.
"That was Odin's choice." Thanos's noncommittal attitude made Gamora's body shiver on the floor below the throne. She was all too familiar with that tone. She desperately wanted to leave, but Thanos hadn't dismissed her, so she dared not move.
"But what about Lothar?" Frigga countered. Back when Lothar wreaked havoc on Asgard, even killing Heimdall, Odin went to great lengths to resurrect the gatekeeper.
"He is my son. I respect every choice he makes."
"..."
Frigga was a bit tired. "But Hela is Odin's daughter."
"But she owes Lothar a reflection paper."
"Debts must be paid; it's only natural, isn't it?" Thanos brought up the same argument Lothar had been using, and even the good-natured Frigga almost couldn't hold back a curse.
"Hela is not dead! Odin would never kill his own daughter!"
"I know." Thanos's calmness was a stark contrast to Frigga's agitation.
"But Lothar almost died."
Frigga was speechless.
"Odin is old, and he's even ready to die, otherwise you wouldn't be so desperate as to come to me, would you?" The calm Thanos began to take control, relentlessly pressing Frigga. The elderly Odin, even with a significant increase in divine power compared to his past self, how long could he possibly last against the young and vigorous Lothar?
"No, please, Thanos."
"Odin, he—"
"Odin's private struggles are no concern of mine. All I know is that Lothar almost died, and that's all that matters." Thanos mercilessly cut off Frigga's pleas.
"He could have let me go to Asgard to retrieve Lothar, but he didn't."
"He chose to pay the price of the Space Stone to have Agamotto stop me."
"I told him I would make him pay, and pay a heavy price." Thanos's massive body rose from the throne and slowly walked toward Frigga's projection.
"The Ragnarok of Asgard will be initiated by Lothar himself."
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