While Peter was testing his new suit, events were unfolding in the depths of the universe.
The Void.
This was a planet formed from the severed head of an ancient Celestial. Over time, it developed into a city within its vast interior, roughly the size of a small asteroid.
The ruler of this city was a being known as The Collector.
His true name was Taneleer Tivan, and he was one of the Elders of the Universe—a mysterious race that had existed since the birth of the cosmos, alongside the Five Cosmic Entities and the Infinity Stones.
Not only did he possess immense power, but he also had eternal life, making him one of the most distinguished figures in the universe.
His influence was undeniable—after all, Odin had entrusted him with the Aether (the Reality Stone), and the Guardians of the Galaxy had delivered the Orb (the Power Stone) to him.
However, at this moment, the once-thriving Void had been reduced to ruins.
When Thanos, seated on his floating throne, arrived at the Void, he was met with a lifeless wasteland.
Boom!
Thanos casually struck a crumbling building, causing it to collapse completely, sending clouds of dust into the air.
His expression darkened.
Things were not going as planned.
The Ebony Maw, whom he had sent to Earth, had reported that he had been captured, while Cull Obsidian had been injured. In addition, two Chitauri Motherships and nearly a thousand Chitauri soldiers had been lost.
The expected losses were one thing—but the setbacks with Ebony Maw made Thanos frown.
Among his followers, Ebony Maw was one of the few with a keen intellect. Losing him would bring Thanos unnecessary trouble.
Meanwhile, Supergiant, another of his Black Order, had been assigned to the Beta-35 Star System to monitor a powerful Earth woman. She had just reported that the woman had suddenly abandoned the chaos of Beta-35 and was heading toward Earth.
Even Thanos found this woman's abilities troublesome.
To prevent her from interfering at the wrong time, he had secretly dispatched Supergiant—a telepath with abilities including mind control, psychic transmission, and memory manipulation—to sow discord in a distant system without direct access to a space gate leading to Earth.
Supergiant's mind control abilities were powerful enough to manipulate even the strongest super-beings.
When dealing with civilizations that were difficult to conquer through brute force, Thanos would send her to infiltrate their leadership, causing internal conflicts and self-destruction.
Beta-35 was no exception.
It was an advanced Type-II civilization, far beyond Earth's level of development.
However, unlike Earth, it lacked superheroes and supernatural occurrences.
As the civilization expanded, different factions had settled across various planets. Outwardly, they appeared united, but internally, they remained suspicious of each other.
None of them wanted to start a conflict, so an uneasy peace had persisted.
Until Supergiant arrived.
She secretly manipulated two of the planets into a full-scale war.
The conflict quickly spread, engulfing the entire star system.
In a moment of desperation, one faction even deployed a neutron annihilation weapon—capable of wiping an entire planet clean.
Fortunately, Captain Marvel arrived just in time to prevent total planetary extinction.
She then worked tirelessly to mediate peace between the warring factions.
She even personally punished those responsible for escalating the war.
For a moment, it seemed like the crisis had been averted.
But there was no way Supergiant would let things end so easily…
She remained hidden in the shadows, occasionally using her psychic abilities to control individuals.
This kept the Beta-35 Star System in a constant state of minor conflicts, even if full-scale war had subsided.
Under normal circumstances, Supergiant would have continued her covert operations, stalling Captain Marvel until Thanos had completed his plan.
But now, Captain Marvel had received a call from Nick Fury—and in an instant, everything clicked!
Why had the rebellion never fully ended?
Why were planet-killing weapons always on the verge of being deployed?
Why had the once-peaceful Beta-35 Star System suddenly plunged into war?
It was all Thanos' doing!
Without hesitation, Captain Marvel took action—she destroyed every planet-annihilating weapon she could find across Beta-35, obliterated their interstellar warships, and effectively grounded the warring factions on their respective planets.
Then, without wasting a second, she rushed toward Earth.
Supergiant wanted to stop her, but Thanos ordered her to stand down.
He knew that Supergiant was no match for Captain Marvel.
Instead, he commanded her to abandon the Beta-35 operation and return for the final battle.
And now, his third setback had arrived.
Thanos had long been aware of The Collector's reputation.
He had prepared carefully for this encounter—only coming here after securing the Power Stone and the Space Stone, ready to "negotiate" with The Collector.
But upon arrival, he found Knowhere reduced to ruins.
And The Collector—nowhere to be found.
Which meant… What happened to the Reality Stone?
Thanos felt a wave of frustration and sat down heavily on a nearby rock, waiting for his forces to search the wreckage.
Behind him, squads of Black Order soldiers poured into the ruined city, scouring the debris.
Time passed—how long, he did not know.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted in the distance.
Thanos looked up and saw one of his Black Order commanders striding toward him, holding a small box in his hands.
"What did you find?" Thanos asked.
The commander knelt on one knee, visibly excited. "Great Lord Thanos, we discovered this in the ruins."
"Hmm?" Thanos' gaze drifted lazily to the box—then, in an instant, his expression changed.
"Hmm!"
Without hesitation, he snatched the box from the commander's hands.
It was made of a strange material, neither metal nor wood, and though it was sealed shut, a faint red glow pulsed from within.
"The Aether!" Thanos' eyes gleamed with excitement.
He clenched his fist and crushed the container—revealing an amorphous red substance, fluctuating between liquid and gas, its shape ever-shifting.
As the substance began to dissipate, Thanos extended his Infinity Gauntlet-clad hand toward it.
Whoosh—
The Aether was instantly drawn into the gauntlet, where it solidified into a brilliant red gemstone embedded in one of its slots.
The Reality Stone was his!
Now staring at his gauntlet, with three Infinity Stones in place, Thanos slowly clenched his fist.
He had taken yet another step toward his ultimate goal.
(End of Chapter)
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