North America lay in ruins beneath the harsh daylight.
This region had once been one of the strongest centers of resistance on the entire planet. Now it had been reduced almost completely to shattered remains. Fires still burned across the scarred landscape, and ashes drifted through the air like gray snow.
Collapsed buildings stretched for miles in every direction. Occasionally, the jagged skeleton of a skyscraper still stood, but most structures had already crumbled into piles of broken concrete and twisted steel. The ground was littered with wreckage—destroyed fighter jets, overturned tanks, and the scattered remains of military equipment.
All of it told the story of a desperate battle.
Humanity had fought with everything it had.
Unfortunately, the outcome was obvious to anyone who looked up.
Several alien warships hovered silently in the sky above the ruined cities. Their metallic hulls reflected the sunlight as they drifted slowly through the clouds, untouchable and terrifying.
Compared to these invaders, Earth's technology might as well have belonged to insects.
The gap between the two sides was like the difference between an ant and an elephant. No matter how fiercely humanity resisted, it simply lacked the ability to challenge enemies capable of interstellar travel.
And yet, today, battle had erupted here once again.
A man wearing a tight blue combat suit and a flowing red cape streaked across the sky. His arms stretched forward as he accelerated like a missile toward one of the hovering spaceships.
The ship's defense systems reacted immediately.
A shimmering energy shield flared to life around the vessel, glowing brightly as it attempted to block the incoming attack. But the barrier barely slowed the flying figure.
He smashed straight through it.
A thunderous explosion followed.
The impact shook the sky, and a massive fireball erupted as the spaceship was torn apart from the inside. Fragments of metal rained down toward the earth below while burning fuel spread across the clouds.
Just before the next charge, the man's eyes flashed bright red.
Crimson light flared from his pupils as he locked onto another target and rocketed forward again.
On the ground, Wanda watched helplessly.
She wanted to stop him, but she couldn't even protect herself at the moment.
She was surrounded.
Dozens of enemies pressed in from every direction, leaving her trapped in a desperate battlefield. Scarlet energy flickered around her hands, but every time she tried to focus, something interrupted her concentration.
I should have told my father.
Only a dozen minutes earlier, Wanda had received a report that one of the alien warships had suddenly been destroyed. Curious about the situation—and not wanting to disturb her father—she had brought her brother along to investigate.
What she never expected was to run straight into ten extremely powerful enemies.
The strongest one was clearly the man currently destroying the warships in the sky. Just judging by the pace of destruction, he was taking down roughly one spaceship every minute.
The remaining nine were no less dangerous.
Each of them possessed a unique and terrifying ability.
Right now, a woman wearing a red-and-blue combat suit was racing across the battlefield. Her movements blurred into streaks of color as she competed directly with Quicksilver in a contest of speed.
Although their battle hadn't reached a conclusion yet, Wanda could already tell her brother was slowly falling behind.
Another enemy stood nearby—a massive man clad in bronze-colored armor. His body seemed built like a walking fortress, and every punch he threw sent more than a dozen Dark Order warriors flying through the air.
He was essentially a living tank.
Standing farther back was a man in a blue-and-purple combat suit whose palms constantly emitted beams of blazing energy. He bombarded the Dark Order soldiers from a distance, unleashing relentless laser attacks.
Occasionally, he even combined both hands to release a devastating blast aimed directly at Wanda.
He clearly specialized in ranged combat.
Nearby, a woman with long golden hair moved gracefully across the battlefield. Her silver-white bodysuit shimmered as glowing energy formed around her hands.
That energy could transform into any weapon she desired.
Blades, spears, shields—she created them instantly.
Each strike she launched killed a Dark Order warrior in a single blow, and from time to time she hurled glowing weapons toward Wanda from afar.
She fought like a nimble assassin.
Then there was a black man in another blue-and-purple suit who wielded a powerful hammer crackling with energy. With a flick of his mind, nearby debris rose into the air and assembled itself into weapons, barriers, and traps.
His telekinetic abilities allowed him to control the battlefield itself.
It was this man who had personally restrained Wanda earlier, making it extremely difficult for her to move freely.
Not far away stood a young man dressed entirely in black combat gear. His eyes constantly shimmered with strange light as illusions spread across the battlefield.
The illusions twisted Wanda's vision again and again, making it almost impossible for her to focus her magic properly.
He was clearly a support specialist.
Beside him stood a small boy wearing a light-blue combat suit. Despite his age, his mental abilities were terrifyingly strong.
Several Dark Order warriors had suddenly turned on each other after falling under his control.
Occasionally, he even interfered directly with Wanda's spellcasting, disrupting her concentration.
Another woman with long brown hair wore a gold-and-blue suit that radiated gentle energy. Every time one of her teammates suffered an injury, golden light flowed from her hands and healed them almost instantly.
She was their healer.
Finally, there was a woman with long black hair wearing a sleek green combat suit. Her combat ability seemed weaker than the others, but she possessed the strange power to alter the properties of matter.
Weapons, armor, tools—she could create all of them from nearby materials, providing equipment to support her teammates.
Ten people.
All wearing matching suits.
Wanda would never believe they weren't part of the same organization.
Just as anxiety tightened around her chest, the man destroying the warships suddenly fell from the sky.
A deafening boom echoed across the battlefield.
His body slammed into the ground like a meteor, blasting a massive crater into the earth.
Seeing this, the remaining nine enemies immediately grew tense.
They clearly wanted to rush over and check on their fallen teammate.
Unfortunately, they couldn't.
Dark Order warriors surrounded them on all sides. Hundreds of soldiers pressed in relentlessly, forming a dense wall of bodies that prevented any escape.
After a brief moment of hesitation, the speedster woman made a decision.
She abruptly abandoned her fight with Quicksilver and sprinted toward the crater.
Her figure vanished in a blur as she raced toward the edge of the pit.
If their companion had been seriously injured, she intended to carry him back to their captain immediately for treatment.
But the moment she reached the crater's rim, something appeared behind her.
A massive purple figure.
The next instant, her consciousness vanished.
Thanos stood silently behind her.
His enormous blade dripped with blood as the speedster's body collapsed into two separate halves.
He casually flicked the blood from the Tyrant's Blade before turning his cold gaze toward the crater.
Inside the pit, he could still sense life.
His strike had wounded the enemy severely, but it hadn't killed him instantly.
Soon the dust began to settle.
At the bottom of the crater, the fallen warrior slowly came into view. A deep slash cut across his chest, nearly splitting his torso open, but the wound had missed his heart.
He coughed violently.
"Cough… cough…"
Clutching his chest, the man wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and stared upward with a grim expression.
Seeing this, Thanos didn't rush forward to finish the fight.
Instead, he spoke calmly.
"You dare interfere in my affairs?"
He remembered something now.
There were indeed ten members of the Eternal race stationed on Earth. The Celestials had sent them long ago to fight against the Deviants.
What surprised him was that they had dared to interfere in his mission.
The wounded warrior ignored Thanos completely.
His eyes had already fallen upon the corpse lying nearby.
"Makari! Die!"
The man roared with fury.
Bright red beams erupted from his eyes as he fired heat vision directly at Thanos.
He and Makari had arrived on Earth together thousands of years ago. Over the centuries they had fought side by side and built a bond stronger than family.
Now she had died trying to save him.
The rage inside him burned hotter than the lasers blasting from his eyes.
Yet Thanos didn't even bother to dodge.
The beams slammed into his chest, scorching the air with intense heat.
He simply stood there.
Compared to the heat he had endured while training within the heart of stars, this attack felt almost insignificant.
After several seconds, the attacker finally realized the truth.
The heat vision wasn't working.
Frustration twisted his face as he cut off the beams and clenched his fists.
Then he launched himself forward.
Thanos calmly raised the Tyrant's Blade.
The weapon fell in a single, merciless arc.
A wet slicing sound echoed through the air.
Another wound tore open across the man's chest, sending him flying backward.
He crashed back into the crater with explosive force.
Boom.
The impact carved an even deeper pit into the earth.
"Cough… cough… cough…"
Struggling painfully, the man forced himself back onto his feet. His face was pale from blood loss, and each breath rattled through his lungs.
Yet his eyes still burned with determination.
Staring at the towering purple figure above him, he asked hoarsely, "Who are you?"
This was the most powerful enemy he had ever faced in his entire life.
The strength before him was so overwhelming that it inspired pure despair.
Thanos looked mildly confused by the question.
"Didn't the gods tell you anything?"
But after thinking for a moment, he slowly shook his head.
Considering the personalities of the Celestials, perhaps they really hadn't bothered explaining anything to their servants.
"Forget it," Thanos said calmly. "Whether you know or not, since you've chosen to interfere, be prepared to face death."
.....
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