Upon seeing that familiar yet unfamiliar figure on the screen, I began to wonder who it was.
I had been in this world for over five hundred years, and I had long forgotten most of the movies I'd watched before. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that the other person's entrance looked familiar, as if I'd seen it somewhere before.
After a moment, as the figure drew closer and closer, a name finally surfaced from the depths of my memory.
Captain Marvel?
Of course. Only the arrogant and conceited Captain Marvel would make such a flamboyant, colorful entrance.
Upon hearing the name, Proxima Midnight immediately nodded and said, "Yes, yes. When I fought her before, she mentioned that her name was Captain Marvel."
Hearing this, Thanos fell into deep thought.
After encountering Captain Marvel, memories from before the time travel slowly began to resurface. Now that she had appeared, it meant the Marvel Cinematic Universe's storyline had officially begun.
Blue Star—that familiar homeland. I wondered what it was like in this world.
Time passed second by second. Soon, Captain Marvel flew out of Ice Crystal Star and headed straight toward Sanctuary II at ten times the speed of sound. The distance between them was only about a thousand kilometers.
In space, a thousand kilometers was practically point-blank range.
Seeing that Thanos was still lost in thought, Proxima Midnight could only whisper, "My lord… what should we do?"
If the enemy hadn't been about to arrive, she would never have dared to interrupt her master's contemplation. After all, compared to Captain Marvel, the lord before her was the most terrifying being in the universe.
Thanos snapped out of his reverie, glanced at the screen, and said calmly, "Let the Black Order test the waters."
The Dark Order were his most core and loyal soldiers. They had six arms, sharp fangs, jet-black skin, immense strength, absolute fearlessness, and unwavering loyalty.
Their only flaw was their lack of intelligence.
Yes—them, because the bio-warriors produced by the Dark Order's incubators were not natural life forms.
As for testing the waters, the purpose was simple: to wear down the enemy and probe her strength.
Thanos was confident, but not arrogant. Charging in without understanding the enemy was suicide. If you ran into an unreasonable monster, you'd be finished.
After all, the Marvel universe was an absurdly complex place.
Under Thanos's command, ten space attack ships broke away from Sanctuary II's formation and advanced forward.
Each ship was eight kilometers long, one kilometer wide, and one kilometer high, shaped like massive flying coffins. At the front was a gigantic cannon nearly a hundred meters in diameter, capable of firing extremely powerful laser beams.
In addition to the main cannon, each ship was equipped with ten secondary guns and twenty-eight laser cannons along its hull. Their engines used third-generation warp drives, allowing them to instantly cross a hundred light-years.
They were also protected by energy shields capable of resisting both laser and physical attacks.
It was no exaggeration to say that if these ten attack ships reached Earth, they would be more than enough to wipe out the planet's entire military.
Of course, that was normal Earth—not the Marvel world, where heroes were everywhere and freaks were as common as dogs.
Soon, the main cannons of all ten ships lit up with blue light as they charged.
Five seconds later, a blinding flash erupted, followed by beams of pale blue laser light shooting forward.
Space warfare was completely different from planetary warfare.
In the vast universe, distances between enemies could easily reach millions or even tens of millions of kilometers. Even light, traveling at 300,000 kilometers per second, would take ten seconds to cross a distance of three million kilometers.
As for kinetic weapons, by the time the shells reached their targets, the battle would probably already be over.
That was why kinetic weapons were useless in space. Laser cannons were the most common weapons in space warfare.
Other weapons—space-collapse cannons, particle-ray cannons, warp-rate cannons—existed, but they were far too large to be mounted on small attack ships.
Milliseconds later, all ten laser beams struck Captain Marvel.
Yet she radiated an even brighter rainbow of light and continued charging forward without slowing down.
A few seconds later, she reached the front of the attack ships, ignored their protective shields entirely, and slammed straight into one of them.
A violent explosion followed.
Moments later, she burst out from the opposite end of the ship and immediately charged toward the next one.
Watching Captain Marvel tear through the fleet, Proxima Midnight said with clear distress, "My lord… what should we do now?"
Their power might be immense, but these ships didn't come out of nowhere. Each one required enormous resources to build.
Hearing this, Thanos turned to her coldly and said, "After this war ends, you and the other four will train harder. You can't even deal with someone like this."
Captain Marvel stood at the peak of power in the early Marvel universe. But later on, characters like the Green Hulk, Scarlet Witch wielding the Dark Book, a corrupted Doctor Strange, or Iron Man in his god-tier armor could all completely overwhelm her.
Even Captain Marvel herself would later evolve, entering her binary form and becoming far more powerful. But the current Captain Marvel was merely someone who had absorbed the Space Stone's energy and used it in a crude way.
In the early stages, my own Obsidian Five could fight these heroes evenly. By the later stages, however, they were reduced to nothing more than background characters.
Hearing Thanos's words, Proxima Midnight lowered her head in shame, silently vowing to train harder and never disappoint her lord again.
A dozen minutes later, Captain Marvel finally destroyed all ten space attack ships.
Having confirmed her strength and with no other backup plans remaining, Thanos stood up.
It had to be said—although this cheat relied on crude energy usage, her energy reserves were nearly limitless.
If he didn't act soon, every ship here, except Sanctuary II, would likely be destroyed.
"None of you move," Thanos ordered.
Then he flew out of Sanctuary II and appeared in front of Captain Marvel at the speed of light.
Captain Marvel, who had been about to attack the remaining ships, halted abruptly when the massive purple figure suddenly appeared before her. She stared at him with open curiosity.
The two figures hovered silently in the vacuum of space, darkness stretching endlessly behind them.
After a long moment, Captain Marvel asked, confused, "You're Thanos, right?"
Although she had never met him before, she could clearly sense the terrifying destructive force radiating from his body. His purple skin only confirmed the rumors.
Sound couldn't travel through space, but she used special means to transmit her voice.
Thanos nodded calmly and replied in a low voice, "Tell me your name."
Of course, he already knew who she was—but since this was their first meeting, he couldn't act like he knew her well.
Captain Marvel lifted her chin arrogantly. "I am Captain Marvel, guardian of the universe. You and your lackeys should leave now, and I'll spare you."
"Haha…"
Thanos shook his head and laughed.
She really was just as arrogant as she'd been in the movies.
But this wasn't the weakened Thanos from the films.
For five hundred years, he had never slacked off, cultivating relentlessly and growing stronger every day. His attribute panel showed just over 20,000 strength—but that was only physical power.
Combined with the Power of Destruction and the Ruler skill granted by the system, he felt confident he could destroy an entire planet.
Captain Marvel frowned at his laughter and snapped angrily, "What are you laughing at?"
Though she sensed his terrifying power, she had never lost since absorbing the Space Stone's energy. In her mind, she could still crush him easily.
The near-limitless energy within her made her look down on everyone.
The next second, Thanos stopped laughing and slowly raised a finger.
Seeing this, Captain Marvel asked in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"
Thanos replied calmly, "One punch. If you can survive a single punch from me, then we can talk."
Hearing such blatant contempt, Captain Marvel laughed in fury.
"Heh… In the entire universe, no one dares to say they can defeat me with one punch!"