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A ripple of violet light tore open above Xandar's capital, and Nolan stepped calmly through. His cloak flared as he glanced over the battlefield, expression flat.
"I warned you," he said, voice echoing across the command chamber. "But you chose not to listen."
Nova Prime Irani Rael, who had been watching her forces crumble under Thanos's onslaught, felt despair lift for the first time. "Supreme Sorcerer," she pleaded, "please—help us."
Nolan's gaze hardened. "I am Earth's protector, not Xandar's. Why should I risk my hand for you?"
Her face faltered. He was right, and yet "We've defended Earth in the past—"
"Defended Earth?" Nolan cut her off with a dry laugh. "Xandar's fleets have never once pierced Asgard's borders, nor passed the wards of Kamar-Taj. Earth has never needed you."
Her words died in her throat. Outside, the sky burned as Nova fighters fell.
At last, she exhaled in defeat. "…If the Power Stone is what you want—take it. Just… save us."
Nolan folded his arms. "That was the bargain half a month ago. Now? I can simply let the Black Order take it from you, and then take it from them. Less trouble for me." His eyes gleamed. "Unless you offer more."
"What… more?"
"The Stone. Worldmind's schematics and source code. And the designs of your orbital dreadnoughts."
Irani stiffened. The Worldmind? Their living AI was Xandar's crown jewel, the core of their Nova Initiative. "Earthlings," she whispered bitterly. "Always greedy."
"I am a scientist," Nolan said smoothly. "Knowledge is survival. Choose, Nova Prime. Believe me, Thanos won't ask permission."
The chamber shook as another Leviathan crashed into the city. On the feeds, Nova Centurions were being torn apart by alien monstrosities. The elite Nova squads, her "enhanced" soldiers, empowered by borrowed dimensional energy, were already crumbling.
She closed her eyes. "…Fine."
"Good." Nolan snapped his fingers.
A wave of shimmering glyphs expanded from him like ripples in a pond. The city, the battlefield, the very sky folded in on itself reality bent into mirrored shards.
The slaughter froze. Buildings reflected into infinity. Chitauri squadrons found themselves vanishing into endless kaleidoscope skies.
The Black Order stopped.
Ebony Maw's eyes narrowed. "…Mirror Dimension. Kamar-Taj sorcery."
Nolan appeared before them, his aura pressing like a tidal wave. "Not many off-worlders recognize it. You've studied well."
Before Maw could respond, a thunderous roar split the air. Cull Obsidian, the hulking brute known as Black Dwarf, leapt from a Leviathan, chain-hammer swinging. "Another sorcerer? I've killed your kind before!"
His massive blade-scythe came down for Nolan's skull.
Nolan didn't move. His gaze sharpened.
Cull's strike halted inches from Nolan's head, frozen mid-swing. The titan strained, veins bulging, but the weapon refused to budge.
"What—?!" Cull snarled. His body began to creak, joints cracking, bones snapping like twigs. Agony ripped from his throat.
"Cull!" Proxima Midnight snarled. Her black spear flashed into three streaks of light, each one soul-linked to its target. The weapon was infamous none survived its mark.
Nolan caught it with a casual flick. The threefold lance quivered in his grasp, neutralized like a toy. He turned it over thoughtfully.
"A soul-tracking construct bound by necromantic law," he mused. "So Thanos has dabbled in mysticism. Interesting."
He raised his eyes to the Black Order, cloak billowing with power. "But magic is not his strength. And here, you stand in my domain."
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