"Is this it? How laughable."
Martin gazed at the severed threads of fate, like some terrifying force had forcibly collapsed the branching timelines, converging all futures into a single point, sealing the destiny into one absolute outcome.
This, no doubt, had been the Ancient One's final gambit: to surrender the Time Stone, and in doing so, set him, this man driven by an innate, monstrous desire for conquest, on a path to eventually face off against an enemy from the future.
To ensure that, in his pursuit of domination, he would unwittingly become a guardian against a greater threat.
A brilliant maneuver. Bold, calculated, transparent, a trap cloaked as a bargain.
And yet...
"Just this?"
"A force that collapses timelines? Sure, it's powerful. But so what?" Martin scoffed. "I've never cared about the outcome. I savor the process of conquest, the struggle, the rise, the imprint I leave behind! I came to this universe to carve my legacy into its highest peak, permanently!"
He rose to his feet, standing atop a drifting asteroid. Above him, stars glittered like diamond fire across the black sea of space, breathtaking in their immensity.
His expression twisted into something rapturous, and ravenous.
Arms wide, as though to embrace the entire cosmos, Martin stood defiant. No matter how powerful his enemies were, he would find a way, always, to become stronger than them.
Any force standing in his way would either be crushed... or annihilated.
In the void, three Infinity Stones pulsed with radiant light, illuminating the surrounding dark.
And then...
A subtle ripple of divine energy unfurled across the vacuum.
"They've finally arrived, haven't they?"
Martin's cold smile widened.
He had waited a long time for the return of the gods, those lingering, third-generation deities birthed by the World Tree. He had long since prepared for this moment.
It was time to slay the gods.
And on their corpses, unlock secrets worth more than their immortality.
With a flicker of motion, Martin surged forward, an astral predator hurtling toward his prey. The ancient gods of the World Tree would learn firsthand what it meant to be hunted.
...
Mount Olympus.
High upon his throne, Zeus surveyed the realm from above. His arms, forged from divine muscle, rippled with the latent power to crush stars in his grip.
As King of the Olympian Pantheon, Zeus relished this elevation above all others. Ruthless and cruel, he never hesitated to strike down anyone who dared threaten his supremacy, even his own children.
Especially his own children.
"Father, esteemed King of the Gods, we approach the World Tree. Soon, Olympus shall once again cast its divine light across the Nine Realms," said Athena, graceful and poised, clad in a flowing white chiton. Her smile was subtle, her allure, undeniable.
Zeus's gaze turned to her, cold and calculating. He saw not a daughter, but a threat. Of all his offspring, she was the most gifted, peerless in both intellect and power. She was, by any metric, the prime candidate to succeed him as God-King.
And so, she had to die.
Every being that might challenge his throne was already sentenced.
Nearby, Ares roared with anticipation, swinging his war axe through the air. "Good! Let those tree-born fools of the World Tree taste the might of Ares! It's been three millennia since the realms last trembled at my fury!"
The other Olympians cast him sidelong glances, their expressions icy. Inwardly, several gods cursed him as an idiot.
The Olympian pantheon was infamous for its internal strife, uprisings were a tradition. Fratricide was as old as Olympus itself.
Bolts of lightning danced along Zeus's shoulders. His tone was grim as he looked to the realms beyond.
"Prepare for the worst. Asgard has fallen. A new era of chaos has begun. The World Tree is on the brink of another great war. It will not end... until a new overlord reigns supreme."
His eyes gleamed.
"And that victor will be me, Zeus."
The Twelve Olympians bowed their heads in solemn deference.
"Don't forget the Heavenly Court," Hades muttered, his voice like a death knell. "The Heavenly Realm stirs. We must remain vigilant."
Zeus waved a hand dismissively. "Compared to those dusty relics of the Jade Palace, I'm more concerned about the Midgardian who defeated Odin. The old Allfather may have withered into irrelevance, but he was still a Skyfather-class god. The one who crushed him... deserves our full attention."
At the mention of Martin, silence fell over Olympus.
None of them were fools. They'd kept their ears to the World Tree, monitoring events with grim interest.
This newcomer, this ascendant warlord, was not just another cosmic tyrant. He was a force of nature. Ruthless. Tactical. Without weakness.
Even a deity as ancient and arrogant as Zeus couldn't ignore him.
Beneath the mountain, among the countless mortals who had yet to awaken their divine blood, one man stepped forward.
A towering figure, his body inscribed with blood-red runes of glory and suffering. His voice boomed across the sacred mountain:
"O mighty gods, grant me strength! I, Kratos, shall slay all your enemies in your name!"
While others bowed in worship, he stood tall, demanding power.
The gods turned their attention to the defiant mortal.
"The Spartan... they call him the Ghost of Sparta," Athena murmured, intrigued.
Ares sneered. "I was considering making that arrogant whelp one of my warriors."
Zeus's eyes narrowed, probing deeper. He could sense it, this Kratos carried his blood. A demigod, born of Olympus.
But what use was a mere half-god against the terror they now faced?
"Forget that fool," Zeus growled. "We should be focusing on Martin, and how to stop him."
Suddenly—
A violent spatial rift tore open the skies above Mount Olympus, ripping through the pocket dimension that concealed it.
The heavens screamed as the cosmos yawned wide.
"You won't have to worry much longer... because you're about to die."
From the breach descended a fearsome figure, clad in terrifying Apex Armor, his right hand adorned with a sinister Polarity Gauntlet, glittering with three Infinity Stones.
Martin had arrived.
Not with stealth.
Not with diplomacy.
But with war.
He had come to personally tear down the mountain.
"Y-You're... Martin?!"
The Olympian gods froze, thunderstruck by the audacity of the invasion. Their expressions twisted from arrogance to dread.
Zeus stood slowly, his white hair billowing, his presence an aura of divine wrath.
"You dare challenge Olympus itself?!"
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