Sorry, short chapters!
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Ebony Maw's voice was calm, though his eyes betrayed unease.
"Supreme Sorcerer… we've no quarrel with you. Xandar is not your world."
Nolan tilted his head, amused. "And yet, when you sent the Chitauri to Earth did you ask my permission then?"
He flicked his wrist. Cull Obsidian, the towering brute, froze mid-charge, body locked in invisible chains.
Nolan's hand tightened. Bones cracked like dry twigs. Cull howled in agony, unable to move.
A spear of black light suddenly streaked toward Nolan. Proxima Midnight's soul-linked lance split into three, each darting for his heart. Nolan caught it casually, twisting the weapon in his grip.
Her eyes widened. A heartbeat later, her own spear rammed clean through her skull. She dropped lifeless, shock still etched on her face.
"No!" Cull roared, thrashing helplessly.
Nolan's eyes glowed. With a mere thought, Cull's body imploded flesh bursting apart, blood raining down, only his twisted scythe remaining. Nolan examined it with detached interest.
"A soul anchor forged into metal… interesting." A surge of soulfire consumed it. Cull was gone forever.
Corvus Glaive and Black Dwarf were no more. Only Ebony Maw and Supergiant remained.
Supergiant snarled, psychic tendrils clawing at Nolan's mind. But his own mental force dwarfed hers like a sun crushing a candle flame. She gasped, clutching her head.
"You long for death," Nolan said softly. "Serve me, and I'll grant it when the time comes."
Her resistance broke. She bowed her head. "My master."
Ebony Maw's face twisted. "Traitor! Lord Thanos will flay you for this."
Supergiant met his gaze coldly. "He promised me death and never gave it. Perhaps this one will."
Nolan turned to Maw, who tried to bargain desperately. "I know Thanos's secrets. His weaknesses. Use me—I can be your hound."
Nolan's tone was cold. "I don't need his weaknesses."
His fist clenched. Ebony Maw screamed once before his body collapsed into dust.
The Mirror Dimension shattered. Across Xandar, the Chitauri dropped lifeless as Nolan's power unspooled, collapsing the battlefield into silence.
Then static flared. From the wreck of a Leviathan warship, a holo-transmission bled into the sky.
A massive figure appeared. Purple skin, ridged chin, eyes like burning coals. The Mad Titan.
Thanos.
He studied Nolan across the stars, voice deep, resonant, without surprise.
"So. The Black Order has fallen to you, Supreme Sorcerer."
Nolan met his gaze unflinching. "Thanos. Fitting that our first meeting should be on a world you sought to cull."
Thanos leaned forward, cold amusement flickering across his face. "We will meet again, New God."
Nolan's lips curled into a faint smile. "Yes. But next time… I will kill you."
The transmission ended, leaving only silence, and the smoking ruins of Xandar's skies.
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