"Soren! Please be merciful!"
A voice echoed across the battlefield, halting Soren's raised hand mid-cast. The deadly light in his palm flickered for a moment, and the space-bending glyph began to dim.
Across the smoke and fire of the ravaged city block, a shimmering portal opened, and from it stepped a tall, robed figure with multicolored gems stitched into his sleeves and eyes that flickered with cosmic light.
The Collector had arrived.
The very air shifted as his presence settled over the battlefield, and both combatants instinctively held back.
The Flame Titan growled, muscles still tense and shoulders steaming, but even he paused.
Soren was waiting to see what the ancient being would do.
"Took you long enough, Tivan."
The Collector exhaled, sweeping a hand over the wreckage.
The city block was nothing more than a smoldering crater, buildings melting, streets cracked like dry earth. With a weary sigh, he said.
"Must the two of you always resolve things by leveling districts? This is my favorite marketplace, you know."
Soren didn't look amused.
"He tried to kill me."
"A fair exchange."
Before the Collector could respond, the Flame Titan finally found his voice, filled with fury and shame.
"Collector! Why are you stopping me? My kin has been slain! This insect, this mortal dares mock the legacy of the Flame Titans!"
He stepped forward, flames flaring around his body like a solar flare.
"You may have ties to the Grandmaster, but don't insult me by thinking I'll kneel to a scrawny worm who hides behind tricks and glyphs!"
The Collector's eyes narrowed.
"Careful, Brannox." His voice turned quiet, but no less powerful.
"You forget yourself. You're not the only one with bloodlines worth remembering."
The Flame Titan, Brannox, stiffened, caught between pride and confusion.
Soren raised an eyebrow, stepping closer. His tone was cold and cutting.
"So the Grandmaster's lapdogs still bark, huh?" He looked at the Collector with a smirk. "Your friend here seems to think I'm bluffing."
The Collector groaned. "Of course he does."
"Brannox, if I hadn't come, you'd be a smear across the mountainside by now."
"That 'insect' you're taunting? He bends space and warps time like it's a hobby. Your flames might scorch a planet, but he erases them from memory."
Brannox looked stunned.
"You… side with him?"
The Collector chuckled darkly. "I pity you."
He gave the Titan a once-over, eyes full of disappointment. "You Flame Titans used to be proud. Now you're loud and dumb and bleeding your own spine out just to make a scene."
Soren's hand was still glowing faintly with power.
"Get out of the way. He asked for this. And I don't give second chances."
The Collector's gaze flicked to Soren, then back to Brannox. His shoulders sagged in resignation.
"Soren."
"I know I'm asking a lot. But if you can… don't kill him."
He looked at Brannox with a bitter smile. "He's an idiot, but he's our idiot. The Grandmaster would be... annoyed if you vaporized one of his toys."
With that, the Collector gave Brannox one last pitying glance, then vanished into thin air, leaving only a parting echo.
"Try not to embarrass yourself again, Brannox."
The Titan stood frozen, heat still radiating from his body, but now it was laced with uncertainty. That final comment stung. Was the Collector really implying he couldn't beat the man standing before him?
"Ridiculous!" Brannox, sneered inwardly.
"So what if the light on his hand gives off a bit of pressure? He's still just an insect. I'll crush him and bring back my brother's artifact."
"And perhaps the Collector would like his corpse to add to his collection."
The towering Titan grinned savagely, flames rippling across his molten skin. He took a thunderous step forward, raising his fists, until a single word stopped him cold.
"Idiot."
Soren's voice was almost bored.
The glow in his palm pulsed violently, and then exploded into blinding brilliance. The glyphs spun to life around him as the laws of space twisted and bent in obedience to his will.
Suddenly, the air around Brannox locked into place, unmoving.
He was trapped mid-step, his words frozen in his throat. The fiery rage in his eyes flickered. Something deep in his bones began to scream.
The Titan's expression twisted,from fury to confusion… then horror.
He felt it.
The Space stone.
His kind had known of the Infinity Stones for millennia. Ancient flame-tongue legends whispered of them in fear. And now, here it was.
"No… it can't be…" Brannox's voice cracked.
Soren raised a hand slowly, his tone devoid of mercy.
"Space Strangulation."
The space surrounding the Flame Titan shattered like fragile glass. Each fragment twisted inwards, slicing through flesh, bone, and magic with surgical finality.
The Titan's body convulsed as the forbidden zone became a living execution chamber.
There was a final, awful scream—!~
All that remained was a scattered pile of burning gore, rivers of magma pooling beneath ruptured flesh. Among the remains, a single item hovered, untouched. A sacred artifact shaped like a bloodstained spine, humming with dormant power.
Soren approached slowly, eyeing it with mild interest.
"Tch. Durable little thing."
With a gesture, the artifact floated toward him, shrinking as the power of its master faded. The crimson hue slowly drained from its form, revealing a crystalline white spine with a single blood-red thread pulsing faintly at its center.
He reached out and grasped it.
Soren frowned.
"Sealed."
"Needs a key."
He looked over at the remains on the ground, then extended a hand again.
Chunks of dense flesh and melted organs lifted into the air as Soren extracted several intact core tissues, dense marrow, and strands of Titan blood.
"If you won't give me access, your DNA will." He stored the pieces away carefully, eyes already considering the research possibilities.
Far in the distance, hidden in a fold of warped reality, the Collector watched in silence.
He had come to prevent a massacre, not to witness the destruction of the most powerful Flame Titan alive.
"He didn't listen at all…" The Collector muttered. "Damn it, Soren."
His thoughts turned dark.
The Grandmaster will not forgive this. That much was certain.
Soren had killed one of his ancient allies, his agents, and worse, seized his sacred artifact.
A chill crept through him.
Would Soren go after the Grandmaster too?
Just then, Soren turned his head. His eyes met the fold in space the Collector was hiding in. A smirk tugged at his lips.
He raised a hand and waved lazily. "Tell your friend."
"That it's best not to test me. There are worse fates than death, and I'm very creative."
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
PhantomDream