"Hah…"
Thick, frothing blood gushed from his mouth...
The overwhelming force had nearly shattered his resilient body.
Sean had never experienced anything like this. His body wracked with icy currents, his consciousness blurred, as if at any moment, his life would fade into eternal nothingness.
He felt death approaching with terrifying clarity, yet his fragile self could not resist.
A faint blue light flowed through the metal gauntlet into his body. In his mind, the hazy white glow emitted a crisp clear sound.
The long-standing barrier had been broken. The limits had been surpassed. The flame of life reignited.
His heart pounded like thunder. The dimensional door swung halfway open, and the blazing light of a nova swallowed everything!
"Still alive?" Thanos was genuinely surprised.
Even the most ancient beings in the cosmos could not survive such devastating blows.
He stopped and stared at the motionless body floating in the icy sea. The human's life force had vanished, yet his sharp instincts warned him that this battle was not over.
Suddenly, golden particles swirled like liquid around the broken human form, seeping into it. The fingers of the metal gauntlet twitched almost imperceptibly.
The frozen sea became a mirror-like surface, an overwhelming force suppressing all movement. The churning waves, the howling winds, the swirling currents; everything fell into absolute stillness.
Under Thanos' astonished gaze, Sean stood once more...
His eyes were pitch-black, an unfamiliar aura radiated from him. It was the essence of annihilation, the void of all things.
In A flash of golden light, the Sentinel armor reformed, but now, under the shifting glow of a black sun, the pure gold dimmed and was replaced by deep darkness.
A black cape unfurled behind him, fluttering like a war banner.
"I have touched that unknown universe. The power beyond that door now rests in my grasp." His voice was hoarse and cold.
His black eyes were devoid of emotion. Sean spread his hands... a simple motion, yet it caused space to collapse and gravity to distort.
The frozen sea shattered into countless droplets, suspended in the air like weightless crystal flowers...
"I've never felt anything so sublime. It's as if my consciousness has left my body and ascended to a higher plane, drifting among the stars, wandering through the dark." Sean spoke like a medieval bard, his tone almost poetic.
He was in a strange state. His mind and will floated in endless darkness, both hyper-aware of every minute change in the world yet also lost, like an exhausted traveler without direction.
Thanos stared in shock...
When his eyes met Sean's hollow gaze, an inexplicable dread surged within him. Suppressing it, he charged forward, his colossal form tearing through the collapsing space.
As a conqueror, explorer, and self-proclaimed guardian of cosmic balance; the Titan's long life had granted him vast knowledge and experience.
No matter what, he remained convinced that he would be the final victor. This was the unshakable confidence of absolute power.
Thanos threw another devastating punch. Space groaned under the strain, the shockwave pulverizing the suspended water droplets into nothingness.
His massive purple form advanced, an overwhelming aura erupting from him. The entire planet trembled beneath his feet.
A cataclysmic tide of energy exploded outward, transforming into endless hurricanes of destruction that annihilated all matter in its path! The force surged toward Sean like a storm, intent on reducing him to dust.
*BOOM!*
A deafening impact, like hundreds of grenades detonating at once, sent shockwaves ripping through the atmosphere!
Ignoring Thanos' stunned expression, Sean blocked the descending fist, then instinctively struck back.
The metal gauntlet smashed into the Titan's ridged chin.
*CRACK!*
A sickening crack echoed as Thanos' head snapped back, blood trickling from his lips.
But this was only the beginning...
The black-clad figure pressed forward.
Thanos relied on pure combat instinct to barely dodge the next blow... yet the sheer wind pressure left gashes across his face.
A brutal knee strike followed. Two powerful hands clamped onto his shoulders as overwhelming force hammered into his chest. The nearly indestructible golden armor shattered, cracks spreading before exploding into fragments.
"Consider this my gift to you." The mocking voice faded as a gauntleted hand seized Thanos' skull and slammed him into the frozen depths.
Icy seawater rushed in, the crushing pressure battering his mighty form.
Thanos roared: "Enough–"
*Bam!*
A fist to the face cut him off.
The impact sent shockwaves through the ocean, the Titan's body rocketed upward, tearing through the frigid abyss!
"Not nearly." Sean replied coldly.
With a single step, the sea quaked. The black figure shot forward like an arrow, piercing the water to appear before Thanos again.
The metal gauntlet clenched, and blue light flared. The off-balance Titan crashed into a mountain range.
Before he could react, violent energy erupted like lightning. The earth split, and ice peaks collapsed in an avalanche, burying him beneath millions of tons of snow and stone.
A furious roar exploded from the buried wreckage, "Then we fight to the last breath. Until blood runs dry, and death takes us!"
The Mad Titan emerged, his purple face twisted into a manic grin. His aura seethed with murderous intent and unholy devotion.
The yellow gem on his gauntlet pulsed, and a hidden mental assault lanced out, aiming to shatter Sean's psyche, to drown him in illusions!
For a moment, the hovering figure froze.
Thanos laughed wildly, his massive arm swinging with all his might.
He would crush this skull...
Snap every bone...
Drink his blood...
Savor his screams...
Madness burned in his veins. Memories surfaced... his homeworld, the voices calling him insane. But he alone had seen the truth; the universe has limits. All civilizations end. Death is the only certainty.
His genocidal crusade, his brutal conquests... all of it was to maintain balance, to stabilize the scales of existence.
*BOOOOOOM!*
The explosion hurled Thanos from the sky like a meteor, crashing into the earth with enough force to split the frozen crust.
"The same trick won't work twice." Sean's lips curled coldly.
Behind him, three miniature suns materialized, blazing orbs of plasma which hotter than a star's core.
With a gesture, they slammed into the fallen Titan and pierced his body, drawing a howl of agony.
The ground collapsed. Molten rock geysered from the planet's core, a tidal wave of energy swallowed the battered tyrant.
Sean stepped onto the fractured earth...
Golden light condensed, his body transformed into a swirling nebula. Countless stars birthed and died within him, unleashing unimaginable power.
A deep tremor spread. The planet itself groaned as the ice shell split apart.
The black figure approached...
Thanos lay broken. His purple flesh charred, and his breathing labored. Even for a being of his might, these wounds were fatal.
"Hah… you're like me. We've both gone mad." The Titan grinned, no trace of despair in his eyes, "The darkness will consume you, break you, and drag you into oblivion."
"I face it. I Embrace it. The void and I are one." For the first time, Sean's hollow gaze flickered.
He seized Thanos, plunging them both into the planet's molten heart, a sea of fire at 10 000 degrees Celsius. It was hot enough to vaporize steel.
"I AM THE VOID!"
With a thunderous roar, the two figures tore through the planet's core, and the world shattered...