Without a single word exchanged, the battle erupted in an instant.
Missiles and lasers raining down from the sky were intercepted mid-air by rising yellow magic circles and blue defensive barriers.
This was Greenwich, a small town in London, and in London, there just happened to be a Sanctum Sanctorum that housed Earth's defensive array. With a few modifications, it could be used to defend against attacks from above, intercepting space fleets outside the atmosphere.
The bay doors of Sanctuary I opened, and Thanos, gripping the Infinity Gauntlet adorned with two Infinity Stones, floated in mid-air, his massive, muscular body imposing.
The Power Stone shone brightly as Thanos raised his hand and unleashed a colossal purple beam downwards.
Clearwater, who had already flown beyond the atmosphere, raised his hand, channeling the power of the Mind Stone to fire a golden energy shockwave, intercepting the purple beam.
Thanos's gaze shifted, and he pointed towards the massive spatial wormholes above Earth.
Above Greenwich, due to the celestial convergence, there were a total of eight spatial wormholes, with several of the farther ones located outside the atmosphere.
Thanos only needed his army to enter one of them as a transit point. With just one more jump, finding a spatial wormhole that connected below Earth's atmosphere would allow them to reach Earth's surface.
And this was precisely why Clearwater had chosen this location for the battlefield.
Just as Thanos's army could enter these spatial wormholes, Earth's forces could as well.
This way, the enemy, including Thanos, could be intercepted outside of Earth.
Two streaks of light continuously crisscrossed and clashed in the vacuum outside the atmosphere.
In the blink of an eye, countless exchanges occurred in the silent void, destroying several starships.
*Boom!*
Clearwater, whose personal time flow was accelerated, easily dodged the Power Stone's shockwave. In return, golden lightning bolts, unleashed from the Mind Stone, struck Thanos.
"Bolts of Balthakk!"
Thanos raised his hand, blocking with the Infinity Gauntlet. It emitted a brilliant orange-purple light, shielding his entire body. He even counter-activated the two Infinity Stones, sending their power surging towards Clearwater.
Clearwater's brow subtly arched, and he continued to fight.
Every one of his attacks carried a mental judgment, yet Thanos, after the power was diminished by the two stones, managed to withstand it purely through his extraordinary mental fortitude.
Thanos's attacks also carried a soul attack judgment from the Soul Stone. Clearwater, after the Mind Stone and Destroyer armor blocked the initial impact, could endure them and then use the Time Stone to repair any damage.
*Boom!*
Another silent collision occurred, and finally, both of them were propelled by the shockwave into a spatial wormhole.
Molten lava flowed, jagged rocks jutted out, and smoke thick with the smell of sulfur rose.
This was Muspelheim, the realm of fire, where Surtur, the fire giant, was born.
Large expanses of magma were scattered by the shockwave.
Thanos touched a deep gash on his shoulder, leaving blood behind, and a fierce glint appeared in his eyes.
"Clearwater, your soul is strange. You are not entirely of this world. You should not appear in this world in such a manner to thwart me."
"None of your damn business," Clearwater scoffed, raising his hand to cast a spell with the aid of the Mind Stone.
Flames of Faltine!
In Muspelheim, a world of fire, fire-related magic significantly increased in power due to the environmental influence.
Thanos quickly retreated, raising his hand to unleash a shockwave with the Power Stone.
Deep purple energy and golden-red flames exploded simultaneously, scattering a large area of magma and even unearthing some skeletons buried deep beneath the lava.
These were the countless skeletons accumulated over untold ages from various creatures, like Surtur, born in this fiery world.
*Snap!*
Thanos, wearing the gauntlet, snapped his fingers.
Under the influence of the Soul Stone, skeletal undead shambled to their feet, bone-creakingly, among them several fire-breathing bone dragons.
Clearwater also snapped his fingers.
Instantly, countless clones flew out from behind Clearwater, simultaneously casting Kraken Chains and weaving them with the Web of Zoroyades into a large net that enveloped Thanos and the undead army.
...
Earth, Northern Europe, Norway.
Under Carol's deliberate guidance, her battlefield with Hela shifted from land to sea.
In her full Binary state, Carol was stronger than Hela, able to suppress her and control the initiative of the battle.
Even though Hela saw the anomaly in the sky above London and tried to steer the battle there, hoping to tie Carol down with numerous variables, Carol ultimately pushed her back.
So Hela could only wear Carol down in the waters of Northern Europe.
But she wasn't panicking.
As long as Asgard remained, she wouldn't die. She had all the confidence in the world to outlast Carol.
And at the very moment, a great battle was unfolding in Asgard, the very place Hela yearned for.
Thunder surged, weapons clashed.
Thor, wielding his hammer in one hand and his axe in the other, fought ambidextrously. He brawled with Kurse while simultaneously unleashing Lightning Technique, engaging Malekith in an intense exchange, effectively holding back the dark elves' two strongest fighters.
Kurse was stronger than Thor and skilled in combat, even surpassing the Thor of old in close quarters.
Though Malekith had been sealed away for countless years and was in a weakened state, his power diminished, he was still formidable after retrieving the Aether.
If it had been Thor before his enhancements and before obtaining Stormbreaker, he would have struggled significantly against either one of them.
As it was, while still difficult, he managed to hold off his enemies. He even grew stronger as he fought, further familiarizing himself with Lightning Technique and developing his own lightning power and the divine power inherited from Odin, gradually gaining the upper hand.
On a more distant battlefield, Loki clutched Frostmourne, a wicked, wild grin on his face. With arms outstretched, he unleashed torrents of cold and dark magic, ruthlessly slaughtering the dark elves.
Through that arrogant smile, everyone could see that Loki was enjoying himself.
Enjoying the admiration and approval the Asgardians showed him at that moment.
In the past, all of this had belonged to Thor, who was more valiant and had completely overshadowed Loki on the battlefield.
But with Thor currently tied up by the enemy's two top-tier fighters, Loki was now Asgard's brightest star.
He yearned to be like a king, the center of attention.
The triumphant Loki couldn't help but hum with delight.
Muspelheim.
The light of four Infinity Stones was almost enough to incinerate all the lava there.
The vast Muspelheim was also disintegrating under the impact of terrifying forces, like the end of the world.
"I can't kill you, and you can't defeat me, Earth wizard. Are you really willing to keep fighting me here?"
Thanos was covered in blood, yet his aura remained undiminished, his spirit soaring as he loudly addressed Qingshui.
Eternals inherently possessed extraordinary endurance and adaptability, capable of thriving in most of the universe's harsh natural environments.
They possessed powerful regenerative abilities and the capacity for passive energy absorption. While his regeneration wasn't on par with those who lived by it, like Wolverine or Deadpool, he could recover from any non-fatal injury in a relatively short time.
His passive energy absorption wasn't as potent as Carol's, but with the Infinity Stones providing power, this Titan's health bar became incredibly difficult to deplete.
That is, assuming Qingshui only had his current means.
Thanos clearly rationally believed that continuing to fight like this would be fruitless, so he hoped to temporarily call a truce. Both sides would retreat, find new methods, and then engage in the next round.
But Qingshui didn't think that way.
"Of course, you can't kill me, but I can kill you. The reason is actually quite simple."
Qingshui hovered in mid-air, looking at Thanos with a slight smile.
Thanos's eyes narrowed slightly, then without hesitation, he slammed his fist into the shattered ground beneath his feet. Using the recoil, he accelerated towards the wormhole above.
"That's a very decisive reaction."
Qingshui looked up at Thanos. The Destroyer armor's arm rippled like flowing water, glowing with the faint blue light of the Space Stone.
The Tesseract had already been given to Qingshui by Odin as an advance payment.
He hadn't rushed to reveal it earlier because he was setting a trap for Thanos.
Even with the Destroyer armor and an extra Infinity Stone compared to Thanos, he could win against Thanos. However, if Thanos was determined to flee, Qingshui wasn't absolutely certain he could stop him.
So he needed a space that was large enough to serve as a battlefield, yet enclosed enough that Thanos couldn't escape.
Muspelheim, or the dark elves' Svartalfheim, or Niflheim where Hela was imprisoned, could all serve as this location.
He just needed to lure Thanos in first, then use the Space Stone to seal off the area, preventing Thanos's escape.
Of course, Thanos couldn't discover this process, or he would escape prematurely, so Qingshui had to hide the Space Stone and do it secretly.
Thanos's mind worked quickly, and he reacted almost instantly, flying towards the most likely escape route: the spatial wormholes in the sky.
Unfortunately, Qingshui had already prepared.
Several green Time Magic arrays enveloped the spatial wormholes. As the Space Stone's ethereal blue energy surged, the spatial wormholes vanished in the blink of an eye.
Thanos struck empty air, but his momentum didn't diminish as he continued to charge forward. He pushed the energies of the Soul Stone and Power Stone to their limits, causing his strong, thick purple body to glow with mixed orange and purple light. His golden half-armor shattered on the spot under the influence of the power, falling downwards.
*"Ping—!"*
A sound like shattering glass echoed, and the space impacted by the energy cracked like a mirror.
If the force is great enough and the energy strong enough, even space and time can be affected.
Of course, that's difficult.
The Space Stone flashed, and Qingshui instantly appeared before Thanos, unleashing a beam of light infused with the colors of three Infinity Stones, striking him down. The spatial cracks behind him rapidly healed, replenished by the Space Stone's energy.
Thanos, at this point, stopped speaking, simply circling Qingshui, searching for an opportunity to escape.
However, as time passed, Thanos found his hope of escape growing increasingly slim.
His opponent had already predicted the future using the Time Stone and chosen the most advantageous path, laying an inescapable trap for Thanos.
This was the greatest crisis Thanos had faced since birth, apart from almost being killed by his mother shortly after he was born.
Several massive lava boulders, pulled by the Power Stone, blocked Thanos, intercepting one of the attacks. But Qingshui, who had appeared behind him, struck them with a lightning bolt imbued with the power of three Infinity Stones, sending them flying.
As blood flowed, Thanos gasped twice, steadied himself, and, while parrying, angrily shouted at Qingshui:
"Clearwater! Tell me! What exactly do you want?!"
"What do I want? Weren't you the one who brought your people to Earth first, trying to steal my two Infinity Stones? Thanos, I'm just conveniently blocking the path you want to take. After all, I'm not actually going to give you the two Infinity Stones I have."
Thanos fell silent for two seconds, then said darkly, "That Mind Stone of yours... it's actually mine."
"Pfft, what's yours? What's yours is mine. Believe it or not, these two Stones you have are also mine?"
Thanos's old face darkened, then he said seriously.
"So, when you have five Infinity Stones, what will you do? I imagine by then, the sixth one won't be hard for you to find either. At that point, you'll possess the power to change the entire universe. What purpose do you intend to achieve with that power?
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. If you possess that power, you should bear the responsibility and use it to do what's right!"
"It certainly won't be a foolish method like killing half of all life. The development of all things in the universe has its own rules. Even if you have six Stones and can reverse all rules, you shouldn't be so simplistic and brutal with a one-size-fits-all approach like yours.
When you have that power, you won't even need to do much. All intelligent life in this universe will spontaneously align with your choices and act according to your will, and countless wise people will be able to offer you advice.
All you need to do is give them a clear enough goal, guide them constantly, check on them constantly, improve them constantly, and correct them constantly."
Thanos actually started to ponder this.
"What you're saying seems very right, and it certainly has feasibility, but your method is too inefficient and uncontrollable.
Because the essence of life is greed; it's a coexistence of rationality and disorder. As the guide, you are not perfect either. Even with the Time Stone, you cannot ensure that you'll be right about everything, because even if you can see the future, your judgment is only your own subjective judgment. But whether subjective or objective, it's not absolutely correct, and it takes longer this way. The longer it drags on, the greater the uncertainty."
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