The voice was filled with mockery and supreme arrogance.
Amidst laughter that sent chills down the spines of countless Aesir gods, the heavy shadows gathered and solidified once again.
Five shadow gods reappeared!
Their colossal forms sat in the darkness, just as they had at the beginning, staring down at their prey—
as if everything that had happened before was nothing more than a false illusion.
In reality, Thor's breathing faltered. He couldn't believe that even death itself could be undone. Terror and despair flooded his heart.
How could they possibly win?
Was the fate of Ragnarök truly unbreakable?
At that moment, he felt despair clawing deep within him.
The Supreme Tony Stark, standing nearby, felt his very understanding of the universe collapse.
He was not like Thor, who could only perceive appearances.
As a master sorcerer, he could see clearly: the ancient gods had not only been destroyed physically, but their spirits and souls had also perished!
So why had they returned?
He felt no trace of temporal energy, no breath of life magic. Nothing.
Tony's eyes darkened with worry.
He wasn't only concerned about Russell… he was worried about reality itself.
If these beings were no longer satisfied with devouring Ragnarök, perhaps their next target would be Earth.
At that moment, a trembling voice rang out again.
The God of Deception—Loki's shadowed counterpart—looked down at Russell as if watching prey squirming in a trap. His expression was playful as he sneered:
"How naive."
"Do you think no other Aesir gods have transcended across countless ages?"
"The reason we let you grow is simple—because we have never feared you!"
Perhaps to deepen the enemy's despair, the Storm God added with a cruel smile:
"We can make Ragnarök repeat endlessly. Naturally, we can also make our lives cycle without end!"
"After death comes rebirth!"
"You can never kill us. But we… can return again and again. You are destined to be our food!"
"And that time is now!"
This voice carried the weight of reality itself, pressing down with hopeless despair.
But Russell only narrowed his eyes.
In the Marvel universe, there were few beings truly beyond death.
Even the Living Tribunal had once fallen.
So these shadow gods in front of him could not be exceptions.
They weren't immortal. He simply hadn't uncovered the truth yet.
White light ignited in Russell's eyes. The power of light—his ability to shatter delusions—was pushed to its very limit.
He wanted to see clearly: were these ancient gods truly resurrected? Reincarnated? Or merely revived?
Resurrection meant returning to life after death.
Reincarnation meant a new life—rebirth.
Revival, however, was something else. Revival was like restoring a record: after destruction, the being would reappear in the exact form that had been imprinted before.
If his Angel projection died, he could summon it again in that form.
But that required his own power to sustain it. If he died, the Angel could never return.
So these ancient gods had to be anchored by something else.
If one attempt didn't reveal it, then he'd try again.
If twice wasn't enough, then a third time.
Eventually, he would find the truth.
He would not be shaken by a few arrogant words from ancient gods.
Suddenly, violent fluctuations surged in the darkness.
The shadow gods had no intention of sitting still and waiting for death.
Russell once again unleashed golden time-energy, creating a temporal void.
But at that moment, a cold, scornful voice cut through:
"We are beyond time."
The God of Deception's words carried divine power.
At once, the five colossal figures shifted—becoming strange, abstract forms constructed of pure white lines.
The golden temporal waves swept across them… but it was as if they had struck immovable stone. No effect at all.
The time void had failed!
"Heh…"
The God of Knowledge laughed coldly:
"You use the same ability, and you expect it to work twice?"
"Ignorant fool."
As soon as the voice faded, five torrents of destructive energy burst from the hands of the shadow gods, instantly engulfing the tiny figure of Ansu!
The entire Shadow Realm trembled violently, and the barrier of reality exuded a suffocating aura.
Most creatures in the universe could not perceive the manifestation of this lower dimension. They only felt the formless pressure pressing upon them, as though they were standing at the edge of hell itself.
Screams. Terror. Chaos.
At that moment, the scattered Infinity Stones suddenly flared with light. The cornerstone of the real world grew more solid, stabilizing reality itself.
"Is this… the power of Mephisto's multi-dimensional eruption?"
The Supreme Tony finally understood how insignificant he was.
Even the aftershocks of such turbulence could annihilate him in an instant.
It was unimaginable what kind of pressure Russell must be enduring, attacked simultaneously by five ancient shadow gods.
Then—within the storm of destruction—a crimson light flared!
Through the terrifying blast, molten golden magma energy splashed wildly, as though some colossal being was trying to rise from within.
Seeing this, the God of War burst into wild laughter:
"Trying to crawl out?!"
"Get back down!"
Scarlet light flared in his eyes, glowing with etched runes.
The power surging in his hand shifted, no longer pure energy but a crimson torrent, heavy with crushing force equal to billions of tons.
Instantly, the colossal figure struggling to rise was slammed back down, drowned beneath the raging magma-like torrent.
The God of War roared with triumph, his laughter echoing.
But outside the shadows, in reality—Tony's eyes widened in shock, as though witnessing something beyond comprehension.
At some point, the backs of the five shadow gods had turned a deep blood-red!
It was as if another world was pressing down upon them.
The God of Knowledge sensed the anomaly and turned sharply—
But it was already too late!
BOOM!
A deafening sound, like a colossal bell, shook the entire Shadow Realm.
A massive tear split across the space, revealing part of a vast, incomplete body—and a blazing eye as large as those of the shadow gods themselves!
It was the overwhelming power of a being who had swallowed the energy of an entire dimension!
Not even entities like Chthon or Mephisto could gather such energy in an instant… but the elements could.
The colossal body—larger than a galaxy—was his true form!
What the shadow gods had just suppressed was nothing more than an illusion, a projection he had left behind.
His real body had already been transferred into the Mirror Dimension… where it completed its transformation.
The next moment, a pair of titanic hands made of flames gripped the edges of the rift. From them dripped magma-like energy, and each drop carried the weight of a star.
With a cold snort—
The Shadow Realm itself tore apart, revealing the Mirror Dimension beyond.
And there, looming over all, stood his unfathomable, flame-clad form.
At this moment, the pair of blazing eyes—tens of thousands of times larger than any star—looked down from on high, glaring at the five insignificant ancient gods.
Compared to the opening of this battle, the reversal was complete.
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