章 36: Fight on
Thanos was aware that the humans in front of him were very smart and powerful, so trapping them in mental illusions would not be an easy task even with the mind stone and soul stone combined. It was especially so for beings like Jean Grey who was the host of a multiversal entity, Blue Marvel with cosmic awareness, and Dr. Strange the sorcerer supreme.
But he needed to isolate Adam Warlock and defeat him with minimal interference from the others to get the stones first. Then he could deal with the others with a literal snap of his finger. So, he used a classic deception method, burying the falsehoods within the truth.
The moment he changed reality to turn the spaceship into a planet, the senses of the heroes were shocked, trying to figure out the change in reality. This was an optimal time for Thanos to use the combined powers of the soul gem and mind gem to create an illusion.
After the heroes were trapped, Adam Warlock would be left alone to be dealt with by Thanos.
Adam tried using his own powers to wake his friends up but he was interrupted by Thanos, "You can try that, but you should know that if any external force tries to break through the illusion, your friends' psyche could be permanently damaged."
Although Adam was aware of just how strong the people he brought with him were, he couldn't risk it. And from what Thanos said, there might be a chance that they can break out from the inside. He could only believe in the heroes of Earth.
Of course, Adam had considered that it was a word trap laid out by Thanos to confuse him with the play of words. But no matter what, he only had one choice from the very beginning and that was to fight.
Adam once again teleported in front of Thanos and punched straight at the purple face. Thanos smirked and dodged the punch with a slight tilt of his head to the side. "This is more like it. Come on, let out your rage. Let the Magus inside of you come out."
Thanos was taunting Adam Warlock and stabbing right at Warlock's sore spots. Magus was one of the largest regret and fear for Adam Warlock because it was his evil future self.
In one of the possible futures, Adam Warlock would fall into a desperate situation. And due to the influence of Master Order and Lord Chaos, instead of rising to the occasion like the heroes usually do, he just kept sinking until he turned evil. This was Magus.
Magus had his own intergalactic empire and all. It was based on a religion Magus had created surrounding himself. He was the god of his people and their ruler. But in the end, that whole timeline branched off to form an independent universe that was isolated.
That version of Magus was defeated by Adam Warlock and banished. Even then, the traces of Magus still remained within the universe and Adam Warlock himself. Adam's existence itself signified a possibility for Magus to exist in the future.
"Don't try to play mind games with me. I have defeated myself before and I can do the same again. I won't lose myself to some negative thoughts." Adam answered Thanos as well as himself.
During this short verbal exchange, they also had a physical exchange of kicks and punches infused with all kinds of powers. So far, Thanos had the upper hand but with the use of time and space stone, Adam Warlock wasn't too far behind.
Adam could use space stone for movement and blocking attacks using space shield and also using space as an attack medium while he could also recover from injuries or slow down Thanos' attacks using time stone.
The overall effect of the infinity stones in their fight was massive but also very minimal. Due to both parties having the infinity stones, the effect of the stones on them was mostly nullified using other stones so it was mostly a tug of war between the two parties.
This situation didn't last too long though. When Adam was focused on one of Thanos' attacks, he was sneak attacked from the back, and a sword bathed in hellfire pierced Adam through his back.
Adam was shocked and didn't even have the time to prepare before Thanos started his beatdown. Adam wasn't weak though, he managed to create some distance while pulling out the sword lodged in his chest and once again assumed a defensive position.
But no matter how vigilant he was, the opponent would always take advantage of his concentration on Thanos to attack him from the shadows.
"Mephisto! Stop sneaking around and come out. Face me head-on, you coward." Adam screamed in frustration. He had almost lost the fight on two occasions already due to Mephisto. But the only reply he got was a mocking chuckle that rang out from everywhere.
The cycle continued until finally, Thanos and Mephisto's partnership paid off. Adam in his spiritually exhausted state was attacked by the combined force of the mind and soul stones. Unlike the previous times, Mephisto's interruption and his own exhaustion meant that Adam couldn't offset the effect using the stones in his hands.
Adam Warlock's defense was finally breached and the duo of Thanos and Mephisto made full use of it to bring down Adam in the shortest time possible.
Just as Adam fell, his friends also managed to escape the illusion thanks to Jean Grey. But when they regained their sense, they found that Adam was already defeated. But they weren't the heroes for nothing. They attacked Thanos immediately after determining the situation
While Thanos was being attacked by the Earth's strongest heroes, Mephisto wanted to sneakily pick up the two stones that fell out of Adam's hands. Thanos was aware of this too and wanted to attack Mephisto while defending against the incoming attacks.
But a new variable entered the battlefield surprising everyone. Before Mephisto could even lay his hands on the gems, a magical attack hit him making him assume a defensive stance with dark magic swirling around him.
A portal then opened up right in front of Mephisto and a man covered in a metal suit and a green cloak walked out of the portal. Doom had arrived on the battlefield.
"It's this pest again. Move out of my way and I will fulfill your desire and let your mother's soul go." Mephisto tried to get past Doom as fast as he could.
"I will free her today no matter what, I don't need you to let her go, demon." Doom's cold but magnetic voice sounded as he tried to pick up the infinity stones himself.
Mephisto stopped him with magic blasts and shouted, "I will let you see her in hell yourself then!"
A new battle started with Mephisto and Doom duking it out on the other side of the battlefield. Tony turned to Reed and asked, "Why is Doom helping us?" Reed knew Doom better than anyone.
Reed shook his head, "He is helping himself. We are just incidental beneficiaries in whatever scheme he is playing. Nothing that Doom does is designed to help anyone other than Latveria and himself."
Their conversation was cut short when their vision was suddenly covered by a lot of green and they were hit by a flying hulk and thrown away.
"Hulk Angry!" Hulk just shouted, got up, and jumped towards Thanos once again, a bit stronger with his rising anger. Tony and Reed followed suit and got back up to help in the fight against Thanos.
The desperate battle continued for a while before Thanos started to dismantle each hero using the infinity stones. "We have had enough fun. I can't make my lady wait for too long."
The heroes were very powerful, so powerful that without the stones, Thanos had no doubt that he would lose to them. But even a single infinity stone represented one aspect of the universe and he had four of them. So he was a master of four aspects of the universe, and this made him an equal if not superior to beings like Mistress Death already.
Just using the power stone, Thanos could throw the most powerful punches in the universe or strengthen his other attacks to defeat all the heavy hitters of the heroes.
He first sent out a massive flurry of punches to beat out Bruce Banner from inside the Hulk. Then he removed Blue Marvel's soul from his body and trapped it in the soul stone. Thor was beaten half to death.
Every hero was defeated very easily by Thanos. This defeat felt even bitter when they realized that Thanos was only playing with them the whole time when he could defeat them so very easily.
The only person Thanos was careful with was Jean Grey. He didn't want the phoenix to awaken so he settled for trapping Jean in an isolation chamber created with reality-warping. He just needed her gone until he had all the stones. Then even if the phoenix awakened, he could fight with it. It wasn't the complete phoenix, after all, just one part of many.
After getting rid of the heroes, he looked back at Mephisto and Doom who were fighting. Mephisto had the upper hand but Doom was like a leech that stuck on to Mephisto and continued to persist. Thanos just frowned and threw an energy blast that flung Doom away hundreds of meters away.
Thanos walked up to the infinity stones to pick them up. Mephisto chuckled, "Oh, you are done already? I was about to present you with the last two gems but a pest interrupted me. You don't have to bend down for such a thing, let me pick them up for you."
Thanos said coldly, "No need!"
But under Thanos' vigilant eyes and combat-ready hands, Mephisto who was closer still went to pick up the stones. Thanos had never believed Mephisto and with his earlier display, he wouldn't trust Mephisto even more. So without hesitation, he sent an attack to push Mephisto away.
But at this moment, another golden flash appeared in between them and a man appeared. In his hands were the two gems. "Thankfully I wasn't late to the party! I almost thought I had to change my plans."
"Wait! Wait! No attacks! I don't want to fight." Savant added while raising his hands comically while Thanos and Mephisto were prepared to attack him.
Thanos growled, "Hand over the stones if you want to live."
"No introductions? Well, that is fine. I am willing to hand over the gems but under one condition. You have to leave Earth alone when you do whatever it is you wanted to do." Savant put forward his demands.
"And what makes you think that you are in a position to make me follow your conditions here?" Thanos glared at Savant.
"Because if you attack me, these two gems will go on an inter-dimensional voyage to wherever they feel like it. If the shield I placed on them feels even the slightest bit of any external powers including other gems, then you can spend your life chasing the gems." Savant smiled.
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I'm slipping in the rankings. Send stones. Moreee stoness.
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