As Aria felt Pietro's chaos energy finally calmed down, her expression shifted. She could feel them approaching, the most powerful presence flying ahead of the group.
One moment, she stood in the centre of the Kamar-Taj courtyard and the next, she vanished, Ikaris coming to a stop as the Mirror Dimension enveloped the both of them along with the Eternals on the ground.
"Aria, step aside."
"No, I will not allow you to kill my student's brother," she replied, the two of them dropping down to meet the others on the ground.
"Aria, we do not wish to do this," The blonde to Ikaris' right spoke with a frown, to which Aria simply raised an eyebrow at her.
"Neither do I, Thena, but you all are pushing my hand."
"You did not care before when we came for a student of yours centuries ago," the tallest of the group spoke up, the Asian-looking man meeting her gaze.
"I didn't expect myself to care so much either, Gilgamesh, but it appears that this is our situation. Therefore, I will ask of you all to leave, please."
"Is that your one and only warning?" Another man asked with a raised eyebrow, running a hand through his dark hair with a sigh as she nodded. "Very well."
Aria had her arms behind her back as the group spread out, Ikaris and the tall Asian man staying in front of her while the others moved to her sides.
"You understand that this next step may result in a war, yes?"
"We do," Ikaris replied with a stern frown, "but the potential death of a Celestial is something we cannot ignore. The boy must die!"
Ikaris lunged forward, but the Mirror Dimension was imbued with a scarlet glow. All looked up as the top of the dimension opened, revealing Wanda slowly dropping down with burning red eyes glaring at them all.
"You all have ten seconds to tell me why you are currently assaulting my master," her voice sounded distorted as she hovered in the air, the Eternals glancing at each other as Aria sighed.
"They're here for Pietro, Wanda."
"To talk?" she asked in turn, narrowing her eyes when Aria didn't respond. "I see. May I ask of you all to simply leave?"
"Unfortunately, this is a matter that cannot be left to chance," the tall Asian next to Ikaris spoke with a sigh. "May I ask if you will simply step out of the way?"
"Hahahahaha," Aria grew concerned as Wanda laughed at the man's words, taking slow steps away from the group as her student looked down with a smile. "Ah, thank you for the laugh. Now, begone."
In an instant, reality shattered as space warped, one of the Eternals lunging forward with golden sigils dancing around his body.
"Seal it off, Phastos!" Ikaris shouted as he lunged towards Wanda only for an eldritch sigil shield to appear in his path.
Aria pushed him back down before spreading her arms out wide, forming her Tao Mandalas as the blonde, the tall Asian and another woman lunged at her.
She met Thena's charge with a grunt, deflecting her strike to the side while spinning around the punch from Gilgamesh. Swinging at Sersi, the woman stomped on the ground, turning the dust that shot up into water that pushed her away.
At the same time, Thena and Ajak lunged in from the side, Aria spinning around Thena's spear thrust while throwing her Mandalas at Ajak.
They cut along her arms before Ajak's cosmic energy flared, stitching her wound back together and making it vanish as if it was never there.
Wanda snapped her fingers and thrusts her hands forward with the palms aimed at the ground, unleashing a stream of scarlet chaos energy that unravelled the atomic bonds between the dimension.
Kingo grimaced as he pointed a finger at Wanda, unleashing a flurry of bullet-shaped blasts in her direction. The woman just glared at them and created a chaos barrier, deflecting the blasts off to the side.
"Look at me," Sprite whispered as her form vanished from view, Wanda narrowing her eyes when the world distorted and she found herself alone in the centre of a desert.
"Good work!" Druig spoke with a frown, his irises emitting a golden flare as he transferred his consciousness into her mind.
However, he was surprised when he was met with an empty void, spinning around just as a spectral figure in the shape of Wanda lunged forward.
He immediately back-pedalled, but let out a gag when the spirit clenched her hand and held him in a telekinetic grip by the throat.
"Heed my warning, pest," the spirit snarled, Druig unable to breathe as the spirit lifted him up and snarled. "Do not dare to enter my mind again! BEGONE!"
With a shriek, his mind was thrown back and the Eternals all looked surprised when Druig's eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Blood dripped from his eyes and ears as he fell backwards, Sprite catching him with a concerned look before the Mirror Dimension flared and shattered her illusions.
Phastos narrowed his eyes as cosmic constructs in the form of gauntlets formed around his hands, Sersi and Kingo standing beside him as Wanda dropped to the ground.
She looked at Druig with a sneer before turning her glare to the remaining three. "Now, surrender before I do something I regret."
"We cannot," Kingo replied, his fingertips coated in a golden hue. Wanda just frowned before she nodded.
"Very well. Then, I shall make it painles-"
"ENOUGH!" Wanda's head snapped to where she heard Ikaris' roar, looking over to see the man's eyes lit up like the sun.
At the same time, Kingo fired a storm of bright star-like blasts at her, Sersi moulding the air into icicles while Phastos fired a concussive wave of compressed air from his gauntlets.
Wanda's eyes moved between Ikaris and the three Eternals, chaos energy dancing at her fingertips. Then, she made an Enmaten mudra sign, the world distorting as chaos and eldritch energy danced in tandem around her.
"No more."
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Ikaris roared as he swung his hands down, shattering the ground below Aria's feet as she leapt up.
Flipping and landing upside down on the courtyard hovering a few feet above, she hopped back as Thena and Gilgamesh followed after her.
Creating a whip of eldritch energy, she readied herself as Thena created a shield and a spear while Gilgamesh called forth his gauntlets.
Ikaris on the other hand pulled his hands free and shot up, Aria dodging his charge with a flourish while swinging her whip out at him.
It coiled around his neck before she pulled it taut, snapping part of it out to deflect Thena's sword slash.
Gil lunged in from the side and Aria avoided the blow, grimacing as the shockwaves from his blows still managed to reverberate through her body.
It knocked her to the side and she leapt with the blow, avoiding Ikaris' attempt to grab her.
Landing with a spin, she hopped back as Thena leapt after her, dismissing her eldritch whip and creating a sword instead.
She lunged forward as Thena raised her shield, bashing it to the side while swinging her sword at her neck. Stepping back to avoid the strike, she avoided the punch from Gilgamesh, dodging to the side when Ikaris came down with a stomp.
Her blade whistled as she slashed the back of Ikaris' knee, immediately turning and parrying Thena's attack to the side.
However, as she attacked back, the woman easily spun her shield, shattering her blade.
Thrusting her sword behind her, Aria barely managed to avoid the blade, though she gritted her teeth as it left a shallow cut along her stomach.
Clapping her hands together before twisting and separating her palms, threads of eldritch energy wrapped around all four of the Eternals.
With a growl, Aria swung her arms to the side, flinging all four Eternals away from her. At the same time, she punched the ground and numerous violet lightning bolts bounced across the ground towards Ikaris.
The cosmic being easily flipped over and shot up into the air only for the lightning to bounce to the ground above him. It then ricocheted as Thena leapt into their path, curving around her and impacting the Eternal behind her with a deafening boom.
Gilgamesh was hit the worst as he shattered the threads around him, making them detonate and sending him skidding across the ground.
He crashed back first into a fractured spire and yet, the cosmic being easily recovered. With a grunt, he pulled himself free, but Aria didn't pause as she twisted on her heel.
Gilgamesh shot forward as Aria drew a series of sigils in front of her, the ground liquefying immediately. Thena snarled and created a spear, stabbing it into the ground and pulling herself free.
"ENOUGH!" At the same time, Ikaris stomped on the ground, shooting out of the liquid and towards Aria with a roar.
His eyes burned brightly and Aria spun as he came to a stop and roared.
Twin beams of pure cosmic might erupted from his eyes and lanced forward, but Aria paused as eldritch energy surged forward.
The energy took the form of twin tendrils, each as thick as a sedan, and overflowing with both eldritch energy and chaos energy.
Ikaris himself looked surprised as the energies coiled around his own optic blasts, deflecting them both away.
Aria's gaze moved to Wanda along with everyone else, watching as the young woman dropped beside her with a glare.
"Wanda?"
"I'm beginning to get irritated," Wanda replied and Aria just called her Tao Mandalas to her hands with a smile.
"As am I."
"Then, let's end this," With a stomp, the Mirror Dimension expanded significantly, Aria flinging her Mandalas with a curve through the air.
To their credit, the Eternals easily avoided the thrown Mandalas, but Thena's eyes widened when Wanda stabbed her hand into the ground and conjured it in a fragment that floated past.
Her fist slammed square onto Thena's nose and snapped her head back, Ikaris lunging towards the two only for Aria to halt his movements with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.
The red-glowing metallic bands wrapped him in a cocoon, long enough for Wanda to create a complex web of chaos-eldritch energy that held the other Eternals at bay.
With a roar and a flare of his cosmic optic blasts, Ikaris tore free, glaring down at the two who glared back.
With quick hand motions, a multitude of hands grew from the Ancient One's back before she split apart, forming dozens of duplicates that surrounded the hovering Eternal.
Wanda on the other hand walked through her webs, staring down the rest of the Eternals with chaos energy sparking at her hands.
"Well, it appears that we can no longer treat them lightly," Gilgamesh spoke, a flash of regret dancing in his eyes.
Thena, Ajak and Phastos looked between each other before they all nodded, Sprite and Druig at the back with Ajak while Kingo, Sersi, Phastos, Gilgamesh and Thena took the front.
However, before they could move, their eyes widened as a blur appeared in their path, Druig looking stunned as Makkari stood in between them and Wanda with a strained expression.
"Makkari? But...Ikaris said that you were dead?" Ajak spoke with a confused expression, glancing at Druig who looked caught between suspicion and joy.
"You would have felt it through the link," Makkari signed, Ajak moving forward when Druig rushed to hug her.
"What...what happened? I thought I lost you."
"Pietro...spared me," she signed, feeling relieved when Ajak placed a hand against her chest and healed the wounds to her heart.
Wanda paused when the Eternals looked between each other, catching the confusion and doubt. "Did you come here thinking that Pietro killed her?"
"That is what Ikaris told us, yes," Gilgamesh replied, now staring at the Eternal that was busy fighting against Aria in the web of chaos energy.
"Well, then it appears that you all have been told a lie," she replied, calming down. However, she still kept her guard up as the Eternals looked at her and then towards their flying team member.
"Ikaris?" Ajak called out, her voice having a bit of weight to it that helped it across the air. "Is this true?"
Her question went unanswered as he swung his fist again, shattering another duplicate. Yet, Aria stood unflinching just a few feet away, her eyes narrowed with arms folded behind her back.
"Ikaris," Ajak repeated, a sharper tone that made Ikaris stop. His chest rose and feel as he took deep breaths, turning his head to see the looks of doubt spreading across the faces of his family.
"The failure of the Emergence cannot be something we should risk," he replied with a displeased frown. "Whether or not he killed her is irrelevant."
"Answer the question, Ikaris," Gilgamesh spoke with clenched fists. "Did you condemn an innocent young man to death because it was more important for the Emergence if he was dead than alive?"
"...I did what was necessary," he replied and that was it. Wanda immediately bent the Mirror Dimension inward, Ikaris glaring at her as Ajak stepped forward.
"Ikaris, stand down and we can resolve this peacefully."
"We were given a mission, a mission by the great Creator!" he exclaimed and Ajak was surprised by the determination and anger burning in his eyes. "Are you truly going to throw it away simply because you believe that one mortal is worth the life of another like the Creator?"
"Whether Arishem authorized your mission or not, I cannot allow you to kill Pietro," Aria spoke with a frown and Ikaris turned to her with eyes that were blazing with cosmic energy.
"Then, you shall join him."
"I think not," A voice spoke as Wanda's Mirror Dimension were torn in half, Ikaris spinning just in time to see Pietro's form in front of him with golden chaos energy erupting from his body.
Before he could blink, he felt a barrage of impacts against his skull, surprised to see his golden blood decorating the air thanks to his broken nose.
"I give you a second chance and run away instead of killing you," Pietro's words vibrated as his leg snapped back together, Ikaris' golden irises staring into a pair of red eyes that burned with anger.
"Yet, you decided not only to just spit back into my face, but to also try and take the life of my sister and her master?" He pulled his fist back, staring down the cosmic being with a sneer.
"Tell me. Have you ever been broken in the world between heartbeats?" His words would only be heard moments later by the cosmic being as Pietro swung his fist.
Ikaris was powerful, possessing a divine physiology designed to withstand the power of a hundred gods.
Yet, in that very moment of a split second, there was only the hellish, agonizing eternity of a single blow impacting his skull.
To everyone else, there was a void left in the space that Ikaris previously occupied, reality quickly filling it back with a thunderous crack that shattered the very fabric of the Mirror Dimension.
"Now," Pietro continued, landing in front of Wanda while ignoring Ikaris' body rocketing off in the distance, "who else wants shit with me?"
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The planet Xandar was ablaze, looking no better than the wrecked landscapes of Sakaar.
The Nova Corps Headquarters had been reduced to a flaming pile of rubble, their hundreds of Star Blasters turned to scrap and used as wrecking balls to destroy their infrastructure even further.
Corpses filled the street and blood flowed freely as people screamed, trying their best to escape from the dozens of robotic beings that were surrounding their final objective.
"Power Source Identified," One of the Ultron bots declared, their golden Uru bodies shining in the orange hue of the flames consuming Xandar.
They then marched forward to where they sensed it, aiming their blasters at the Nova Prime who was currently in front of the terrified civilians.
In her hands, she held a singular orb, one that was already open halfway and emitting a violet hue.
"Whoever you are, know that your time is approaching. It may not be Xandar that will deliver the finishing blow, but we shall await you to watch you sink into the depths of Hell," Nova Prime Irani Rael declared, opening the orb and grabbing the dark purple stone inside of it with a pained cry.
Yet, as she aimed her hands at the bots, she was surprised when dark-blue/ gold electricity danced around their bodies. One lunged forward and crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, moving back while holding the stone in hand.
"Open fire," The Ultron with the stone declared, the cries of the death soon filling the air as the army of Ultron slaughtered the remainder of the living on Xandar.
As the last Ultron bot ceased its blasts, the central mind took over the robot with the stone, implanting it into the core made out of the same Uru material they 'liberated' from those dwarves on Nidavellir.
The moment it did, the Ultron bots all short-circuited as a nigh-infinite surge of energy entered its body. Yet, as all but the one robot with the stone fell over, the singular robot lifted its head to show the violet sparks rippling from its core to its head.
"Oh, so this is what you feel, Pietro?" Ultron whispered, letting out a soft chuckle as he looked between his hands.
Then, he crouched and leapt upwards, moving from Xandar to one of its moons in the blink of an eye.
"Hahahaha! Wait for me, Pietro Maximoff. Let us see who the fastest is now," Ultron muttered, lunging forward and diving through a Jump Point at full speed.
After all, he has a speedster that he needs to teach better manners to.
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"Who are you?" A large, purple-skinned being asked with a displeased stare, looking down upon the blue-skinned man that had so easily killed all but two of his children.
Granted, Nebula and Gamora were not present, but the point stands.
"Me? Oh, I'm no one you need to worry about," Kang replied with a wave of his hand, looking around at the so-called 'Sanctuary' that sat at the far northern edges of the Andromeda galaxy.
Honestly, he thought that getting rid of the Dark Elves would have been harder and that he would be stuck with them for a while, but apparently, beings in stasis are a lot easier to kill despite how durable they're supposed to be.
"A no one? Then, no one will miss you," Thanos replied, rising from his throne and dropping down onto the stone platform.
Kang on the other hand raised an eyebrow at his words and smirked, vanishing and reappearing beside him in the blink of an eye.
Thanos' head snapped towards him immediately as did his elbow, but Kang was already gone and at his left side. A quick jab to his side cracked the ribs there, but Thanos persevered and attempted to grab him.
The keyword being 'attempted' as Kang just vibrated his body and passed through him. However, he kept his hand pierced through the being's chest, who looked down at the vibrating arm and then back at the smiling Kang.
"I could kill you, but I want to help you, you know?"
"Why should I trust you?"
"Let's just say that I have something bigger planned than just eradicating half of the universe," Kang replied and Thanos' eyes locked immediately upon the golden gauntlet the blue-skinned man took out.
On the back of the gauntlet were two stones embedded into it. One was a deep blood red that constantly shifted while the other was a dark blue, its core a pristine white that pulsated every few seconds.
"The Time Stone and Mind Stone are on Earth," Kang spoke as Thanos took the gauntlet with the Space and Reality Stones. "The Power Stone has been taken by a pest, but I have a plan that will deal with that for me. As for the Soul Stone, it's on Vormir. It requires the soul of the one you love the most and Gamora is currently on her way to Grundar with her friends."
"Why do this?" Thanos asked with a frown even as he put on the gauntlet, elation dancing through his body at the surge of cosmic power that came from the stones.
Kang just chuckled at his question and shrugged. "Like I said, I have my own plans beyond yours. Now, all I need from you is one thing."
"Which is?" the Titan asked, wanting to test out the stones only to cease the thought at the waiting expression in Kang's eyes.
'He wants me to test him,' Thanos thought with a frown, watching as Kang just chuckled.
"Simple. Go ahead with your plan and provide entertainment for me."
A/N: Infinity War, Age of Ultron and Kang all at the same time? Oh, this is about to be incredibly vicious.
Also, after careful thinking and consideration(that was just me lazing away for a day), I've finally decided to move back to the old schedule for now to finish more stories.
Why? I got too lazy. That and I realized something. Five thousand words a chapter is a fuck-ton more than I thought it would be.
Anyway, next chapter: We're back in War~!
Anyway, check out my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories that may peak your interest. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!