When Wanda saw that it was Thanos, her expression became extremely grim. She had initially thought the strike came from a cannon on the mothership above.
"You truly are a stubborn bunch," Thanos said with a cold face and an even colder voice. "Since you insist on resisting, I will personally make you hand over the Tesseract."
With that, he slowly raised his right hand. As he clenched his fist, the gems on the gauntlet began to flash, and an endless purple light swirled like a vortex.
The dazzling brilliance made everything around them seem dreamlike, but it contained a terrifying power. The power condensed on his right hand, causing the ground around him to crack. Even nearby stones lost their gravitational pull and slowly floated into the air.
In the next moment, the countless purple lights abruptly contracted into a single sphere.
Thanos violently swung his right fist. The moment he did, everything in the vicinity went dark. A ball of purple energy burst from his fist, unleashing a storm of purple light and a rapidly spreading cloud of dust. Even the aftershock of this power was enough to crack the surrounding land. In an instant, the blast surged toward Wanda's group.
Boom!
Hela spread her arms, and a black miasma swirled around her before quickly gathering in front of her. In the blink of an eye, it coalesced into a solid wall of black mist.
The moment the purple light storm smashed into the black mist wall, the mist instantly scattered.
Hela didn't try to maintain the wall. Instead, she pulled with her right hand, and a vortex of black mist separated from the main body, shooting toward Thanos. When the black mist was released, one could faintly hear the roars of the dead within it.
Thanos didn't react, instead watching the struggling Hela with a look of indifference. "If this is all the power you have, there's no need to continue resisting."
At that very moment, the black mist vortex slammed into Thanos. When Hela saw what happened next, her face went utterly pale. Thanos hadn't resisted at all; he had simply withstood the black mist vortex with his bare body. He stood completely still, merely looking at Hela from a distance with his massive sword.
"This… this is impossible!" Thor gripped a nearby pillar, his face changing dramatically. He knew how powerful his sister was. While he was strong in his own right, his power was nothing compared to hers.
Hela's strength, though not on par with Odin, was still one of the top powers in the Nine Realms. This was her full-power strike, yet Thanos was completely unaffected. This was simply inconceivable!
"The Reality Stone!" Loki's eyes fixed on Thanos's gauntlet. Two of the stones on the gauntlet were glowing. One was purple, which was clearly the Power Stone. The other was red, the Reality Stone! This meant Thanos must have used the Reality Stone to neutralize Hela's attack!
"Damn it! How does he have the Reality Stone?!" Hela gritted her teeth, her voice a low hiss. She had never imagined that Thanos would possess the Reality Stone in addition to the Power Stone.
Thanos waved his right hand, and a gust of wind instantly blew away the black mist vortex.
"You fools, just give up. It will be easier."
Thanos looked at Hela and the others with a detached expression, as if delivering a final ultimatum. He wasn't particularly interested in killing them; he just wanted the Tesseract. If they handed it over willingly, he wouldn't mind letting them live.
"Give up? Are you dreaming?" Thor said without a word, leaping high into the air and bringing his hammer down toward Thanos.
The Black Order made no move to stop him, instead looking on with a mocking expression. Just as the hammer was about to hit Thanos, a flash of joy appeared in Thor's eyes. But in the next second, a large hand simply grabbed the hammer and, with a casual flick, sent Thor flying.
As Thor crashed heavily to the ground, Thanos looked at him with his still indifferent eyes. "Does a weakling like you think you're worthy of raising a hand against me?"
These words felt like a dagger twisting in Thor's heart.
"What about me?" a voice came from behind Thanos. A shadowy figure had appeared there at some point. Two sharp Necroswords plunged violently toward Thanos's back! The swords carried the aura of death and were shrouded in a black miasma. They even emitted a dark glow that corroded and blackened the surrounding Bifröst.
Faced with this fierce attack, Thanos's expression didn't change in the slightest. He spun his body, using his right foot to pivot, and brought his massive sword up in a powerful upward swing.
BAM!
With a thunderous crash, the clashing energies erupted. The ground shook violently from the impact. The black and purple lights collided, unleashing a hurricane of power that blew everything away.
"Damn it! This power is insane!" The powerful winds made Hela's hair whip around. She was constantly releasing her Death Force, her eyes filled with shock.
In her mind, this surprise attack, even if it couldn't harm Thanos, should have at least caught him off guard. But what was happening before her exceeded all expectations. Even a last-second block was enough to effortlessly stop her power.
Hmph!
Thanos abruptly pulled back, and as he raised his massive sword, Hela was forcefully pushed backward and sent flying. Thanos remained standing calmly where he was, as if he had just swatted away a fly. Holding the massive sword in one hand, he looked at Hela through the spreading dust.
Hela glared at Thanos with a grave expression. Just as she was about to move forward, Thanos lunged at her. He swung his sword at blinding speed, and when he reached Hela, he brought it down in a powerful strike.
It was more a bludgeon than a slash. The immense pressure from the blade's wind even forced Hela's body down.
In that instant, the only thing Hela could do was raise her Necroswords with both hands to parry the cleaving blow.
Bang!
The impact nearly forced Hela to her knees. The sheer force was all she could do to resist. Death Force surged around her body, yet it still wasn't enough to withstand Thanos's attack.
Hela gritted her teeth, her muscles trembling as she tried to force herself up against the weapon. But she couldn't. Just barely maintaining her stance was a feat in itself. She could even hear her bones groaning under the strain.
The power was far greater than Odin's!
Watching the blade of the massive sword draw closer, her expression grew even more grim.
At this critical moment, a crimson light suddenly shot toward Thanos.
This unexpected crimson flash helped Hela at the perfect time. Thanos's moment of distraction gave Hela a precious second to breathe.
She slammed her Necroswords up, and just as she was about to counter with a strike of her own, Thanos lifted his foot and kicked her, sending her flying backward. At the same time, he punched with his right hand, dissipating the crimson light.
"How interesting. That must be… Chaos Magic." A cold glint flashed in Thanos's eyes. He was thankful he had noticed it; otherwise, he might have been hurt.
He had found the crimson light familiar earlier but couldn't place it. Now he realized it was Chaos Magic!
However, the person wielding it was far too weak. He didn't have the slightest interest.
Hela gritted her teeth and got up from the ground. It was safe to say that Thanos was even stronger than Odin. That last kick had seriously injured her. She had never imagined he had become this powerful.
"Hela, are you still going to struggle?" Thanos walked slowly toward Hela, casually resting his massive sword on his shoulder.
"Do you think that's enough to make me surrender?!" Hela waved both hands, and a torrent of black mist erupted. In just a second, it enveloped the entire area. Black voids suddenly cracked open in the space around them. Countless wails and roars came from within, and terrifying hands crawled out of the tears in space.
The Realm of Death!
In the next second, countless spirits of the dead flew out from different locations. The moment they appeared, they shot toward Thanos like a swarm of black arrows. The spirits wailed and roared incessantly, the piercing sound even causing Thanos to frown slightly.
Thanos swung his massive sword, cleaving the spirits that got too close. But as soon as he dealt with one, more swarmed him. He was about to leap away when more than a dozen spirits emerged from the ground, wrapping around his legs and preventing him from moving.
"Hmph!" Thanos's expression finally shifted from cold to enraged. He swung his massive sword at a furious pace while using his other hand to knock away any spirits that got too close.
But even with his infinite stamina, Hela's spirits were clearly greater in number. They were like maggots eating into his bones, relentlessly refusing to back down. No matter how many he cleaved apart, more swarmed him, clinging to his body. While this didn't cause Thanos much harm, it at least temporarily immobilized him.
Thanos could only grab the spirits and throw them off one by one. But no matter how many he tossed aside, more spirits climbed up. They were like drowning people, constantly grabbing at Thanos's body. In an instant, Thanos was submerged under an endless tide of spirits, resembling a growing black mountain.
"Looks like he can't get out!" Thor clenched his fist, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes.
With that many spirits, no matter how powerful he was, he could never escape. Each spirit was at least as strong as an Asgardian golden-armored warrior. This was like countless golden-armored warriors clinging to Thanos. Even if Thanos was powerful, he couldn't deal with an endless swarm of them.
"It won't be that simple," Loki said, gritting his teeth, his expression grim. He had noticed that the Black Order nearby wasn't making a move. Instead, they were calmly watching the battle… and they didn't show the slightest sign of concern.
"I'm going to help!" Thor gritted his teeth, preparing to charge again, but Loki stopped him after only two steps.
"You can't intervene. You don't have the strength to get involved in this fight!" Loki said coldly. He knew that Thor was weaker than he was now. Without Mjolnir, he couldn't possibly harm Thanos.
Meanwhile, the thoroughly encased Thanos tried to clench his left hand, which wore the Infinity Gauntlet. But the spirits were constantly tearing at him, trying to rip the gauntlet from his hand. Because there were too many spirits, he couldn't even make a fist. And if he couldn't make a fist, he couldn't use the power of the Infinity Gauntlet.
"Thanos, you'll be staying right here!" Hela waved her hands, and more and more spirits surged out. Her only target was the Infinity Gauntlet on Thanos's hand. As long as she could take the gauntlet, she would have a chance to fight.
Thanos gritted his teeth. His entire body was now bound. Even his head was being pulled backward by the spirits. If his eyes weren't just as powerful, these spirits would have probably tried to gouge them out. And many of the spirits were trying to pry the gems directly from the gauntlet.
"Hraahh!!!" Thanos roared, a look of grim determination in his eyes. He slammed his foot down and let go of his massive sword with a furious heave. With that, he used all his strength, and the spirits on his right hand were violently flung away.
In the next second, Thanos placed his hand on the left-side Infinity Gauntlet. With a mighty tug, he ripped the Power Stone directly from the gauntlet. Then, he held the Power Stone in his bare hand. The Power Stone continuously emitted an aura of destruction. He held it in his hand, compressing the destructive power. In the next moment, a terrifying force burst forth. The moment the power erupted, the surrounding spirits were all blasted away.
"Damn it!" Hela never expected this lunatic to use the Power Stone with his bare hand. But before she could send the spirits in again, Thanos's face became incredibly twisted.
The destructive aura was burning his body. Using the Power Stone with a bare hand would cause immense damage, but he couldn't worry about that now. If the gems were taken, all his efforts would be for nothing.
He didn't stop his actions. He unleashed a devastating beam. The blinding ray, like an endless line of light, sliced through the millions of spirits, who couldn't even stop it for a moment.
"No!" Thor instantly noticed that the damn Thanos wasn't just trying to eliminate the spirits. He was also aiming for Hela in the distance.
"No, I can't make it!" Wanda waved her hands, but there was still a distance between her and Hela. That distance seemed like an impassable chasm.
Hela was seriously injured by Thanos's earlier kick and had no chance to escape. In her final moments, she opened her eyes wide.
The devastating light engulfed Hela.
Bang!
With a loud crash, the mountains and land began to split apart.
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