It wasn't that the Celestials particularly cared about their universe, but rather that there were still some Celestials yet to be born.
As long as those unborn Celestials were still alive, the Celestials still had hope—at least, they had the seeds to continue their lineage.
However, if they revealed the coordinates of their universe, those unborn Celestials would undoubtedly perish, and even those who were already alive might not survive. After all, they had already witnessed Thanos' decisiveness in killing; they did not believe that revealing everything would allow them to live.
From the brief encounter alone, the Celestials could tell that the Thanos of this universe was somewhat different from the Thanos of their original universe. This Thanos was even more ruthless, as if he had undergone some kind of trauma.
Thus, the Celestials had no choice but to fight to the death and break through. The final outcome was self-evident—only the Eliminator managed to escape, while the rest of the Celestials were completely annihilated.
This was also why, when the Executor attempted to contact the Celestials earlier, no one responded. They were already in a life-or-death crisis—who had the time to check incoming messages?
As for why the Eliminator was the one to escape, it was purely a matter of luck. His strength was clearly inferior to the Judicator, Arishem, yet even Arishem had perished, his corpse becoming one of Thanos' trophies.
The Eliminator had only survived by shrinking his body and hiding on this desolate planet, avoiding Thanos' pursuit. However, he still didn't dare to reveal himself, unsure whether Thanos had noticed him.
Before the Eliminator could even confirm whether he was truly safe, the Executor and Robert arrived in front of him one after another.
But when Robert appeared, the Eliminator actually felt relieved. After all, the Celestials had already suffered such a miserable fate. Even if Robert came, he could only kill him—perhaps also the Executor at most. For the Eliminator, that was an acceptable loss.
And if Robert clashed with this universe's Thanos, that would be even better for the Celestials. No matter who won or lost, it would be a gain for them. Even if all the Celestials were wiped out, as long as either Robert or Thanos died, their vengeance would be partially fulfilled...
"So, the Thanos of this universe has already gathered all six Infinity Stones? Not only was wiping out half of the universe's population not enough for him, but now he has set his sights on other universes? What exactly is his true goal? Moreover, the Infinity Stones are products condensed by the rules of their respective universes—would they even work once taken beyond their original universe?"
After listening to the Eliminator's account, Robert's gaze flickered as he pondered.
Even before Robert had killed the Thanos of his own universe, he never believed in Thanos' so-called grand vision—that halving the universe's population would balance its resources and inhabitants.
To Robert, such a vision was simply laughable, riddled with flaws, and lacking any feasible long-term solution.
In Robert's mind, Thanos must have had a much greater conspiracy at play. Unfortunately, since he had already killed the Thanos of his own universe, he never had the chance to extract more information from him.
However, since this universe's Thanos had walked a similar path, Robert figured that they must have many similarities—perhaps even identical motives.
Especially considering that this Thanos also harbored the grand vision of wiping out half of the universe's population, and had even successfully carried it out. This indicated that, at their core, the two Thanos were the same person, sharing the same ideology and actions.
"This is what we experienced after arriving in this universe," the Eliminator concluded, then turned to Robert. "I know you chased us into this universe to eliminate us as a potential threat. But you didn't need to bother—we are nearly wiped out already, and I don't think I can keep hiding forever..."
"If I hadn't chased you here, how would I have known you were about to be wiped out?" Robert shook his head slowly, speaking softly. "To me, you have always been a threat. More importantly, if you truly did reveal the coordinates of our universe, then this Thanos would also become a threat..."
"A threat to you? We were only a threat to Earth," the Eliminator sighed. "Honestly, we don't even know why Earth is so special, why even the seeds of our Celestials are fused with Earth's dimensional consciousness."
"But since it has already merged with Earth's dimensional consciousness, it is no longer a pure Celestial. Perhaps you could negotiate with it—you don't necessarily have to fight to the death, do you?"
"How can I tolerate a threat sleeping beneath my feet?" Robert sneered, shaking his head. "And besides, it lurks in the shadows, unseen and untouchable. Just because you say it won't be my enemy, does that mean it won't? What if it decides to strike at us whenever it pleases?"
"That's just your assumption. Have you ever had an open conversation with it?" The Eliminator sighed, still trying to advocate for Earth's dimensional consciousness.
But his words failed to sway Robert. To Robert, the hidden presence of Earth's dimensional consciousness was a far greater threat than the Celestials—even more dangerous than the entire Celestial race.
After all, the Celestials, despite being troublesome when escaping to other universes, were not particularly difficult to kill. This was evident from the fact that Thanos had nearly wiped them out in this universe.
But Earth's dimensional consciousness was different. It had no physical form, yet it could control elements within Earth and even monitor every being on the planet.
The idea of such an entity constantly watching, with clear hostility toward Robert and his allies, was deeply unsettling.
And the most critical point—while Earth's dimensional consciousness seemed incapable of harming ordinary humans, it had previously abducted the Ancient One, making her disappear without a trace.
Even though the Ancient One had eventually returned unharmed, with no recollection of what had happened, the fact that she had vanished for a period of time proved that Earth's dimensional consciousness had far more capabilities than it had shown.
What if, in the future, it decided to imprison one of the Avengers? Robert wouldn't even know where to begin looking for them. After all, even a Skyfather-level being like the Ancient One had been taken. Who knew what the true limits of Earth's dimensional consciousness were?
Therefore, it had to be dealt with—there was no other option.
Only an Earth's dimensional consciousness without self-awareness would be a good one—one that made the planet a safer place to live.
"Speaking of which, if the Infinity Stones can be used across universes, perhaps they could be used to deal with Earth's dimensional consciousness?"
Ignoring the Eliminator's continued persuasion, Robert had instead set his sights on the Infinity Stones.
Originally, he had no intention of collecting the Infinity Stones. Especially since, in his own universe, the Power Stone and Reality Stone had been destroyed by Galactus, the Mind Stone had been detonated when Thanos died, and the Soul Stone had disappeared along with Vormir's explosion.
As for the Time and Space Stones, only their containers still existed in his universe, and Robert had no idea if new Infinity Stones would ever be formed again.
While the rules governing the Infinity Stones still existed in the universe, Robert figured that forming new Stones would take time—time he didn't have the luxury to wait for.
But if the Infinity Stones could be used across universes, that would simplify things. He could just take the Infinity Stones from this universe back to his own.
"The question now is—can the Infinity Stones truly function in a different universe?"
As Robert pondered, his eyes suddenly lit up as he turned his gaze toward an empty patch of land.
"Mm?!" The Eliminator, who had been trying to persuade Robert, also froze and followed his gaze. The sight before him made his pupils contract sharply.
"Thanos?!"
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