The Conqueror left.
The Conqueror was gone.
Doctor Strange and the others looked at each other.
Spider-Man and Star-Lord flipped up their helmet visors and stared in shock at the place where Alex had just disappeared.
Looking at his twin blades, Drax said, "I couldn't even get close to him. I wasn't even qualified to get close."
Quill glanced at his companion with some concern. Back when Drax fought Ronan the Accuser he had still managed to exchange a few blows despite losing.
Just now, against Thanos, he hadn't been able to get close either, but at least Thanos had attacked.
But, against the Conqueror, he had been completely blocked outside the Absolute Domain. He hadn't even gotten the chance to approach his opponent.
From beginning to end, the Conqueror hadn't even looked back at them once.
He simply used the Absolute Domain to keep every attack away, calmly took off Thanos' gauntlet, and left with the Space Stone.
That complete disregard was the biggest blow of all.
"Listen, Drax..."
Star-Lord was about to comfort his friend when Drax suddenly burst into laughter.
"He's unbelievably strong. The Conqueror is too powerful."
Spider-Man whispered, "Is your friend okay?"
"Is it really something to be happy about when the enemy is that strong?"
Star-Lord shrugged, "That's just how he is."
"Damn it! I actually thought about comforting him."
Drax laughed until tears streamed down his face. Gasping for breath, he said, "Next time, I'll make him look at me."
Mantis quietly reminded him, "But he's already gone. Who knows where he went?"
"Earth," Doctor Strange spoke bitterly.
"He's obviously collecting the Stones. He already has the Space, Soul, Time, Power, and Reality Stones."
"Only Vision's Mind Stone is left."
Spider-Man cried out, "Then we have to stop him."
"Wait, Mr. Stark..."
Doctor Strange sighed, took off the Cloak of Levitation, and tossed it out.
A moment later, the cloak carried Stark over.
A blade was still embedded in Stark's body. His Iron Man armor was shattered, and he had completely stopped breathing.
"No... no."
Spider-Man supported Iron Man's body. To him, Iron Man had been both a mentor and a friend.
How could he accept this man's death?
Doctor Strange rested a hand on his shoulder, "If we get the Infinity Gauntlet back and gather all six Stones, we should be able to bring Stark back."
Spider-Man immediately perked up, "Right! If Thanos could use it to wipe out half the life in the universe, then bringing Mr. Stark back shouldn't be difficult."
"And Gamora," Star-Lord reminded him.
Doctor Strange looked at him helplessly.
Quill sized up the former surgeon.
"What? Can it only bring one person back?"
"That's not it."
"But as far as I know, anyone sacrificed to a Stone can't be revived."
Doctor Strange sighed, "So I'm afraid your wish can't come true."
Star-Lord swayed slightly and said blankly, "How could this happen?"
Doctor Strange didn't try to comfort him. Some things had to be endured by Quill himself.
"All right. Let's head back to Earth first."
Mantis asked curiously, "Do you have a spaceship too? Ours probably can't fit this many people."
"And even if we fly back at full speed, we still might not make it in time."
Doctor Strange put on the Sling Ring, "I'm a sorcerer, so I can solve those problems with magic."
"I'll open a portal, but we're quite far from Earth."
"I'll need to concentrate. It may take a little while."
"Please wait a moment."
———
[Earth, Wakanda]
[Inside the Laboratory]
"Success."
Shuri completed the final program, completely separating the Mind Stone from Vision.
Because the entire "operation" had gone perfectly, just as Banner had predicted, Vision did not disappear after the Mind Stone was removed. His consciousness remained and did not fade with the Stone's departure.
Shuri continued controlling the two robotic arms, placing the Mind Stone into a container.
Then she picked up the box-like container and contacted T'Challa through her suit's communication channel.
"Brother, I've separated the Mind Stone."
["Good. Leave there immediately, Shuri."]
["Keep the Mind Stone safe. It's our gift to Lord Conqueror."]
Shuri nodded and stored the box inside her armor.
At that moment, Vision, lying on the bed, covered the wound left by Corvus Glaive and sat up.
He called out to Shuri, "Where are you going?"
"Take the Mind Stone to Wanda and destroy it."
In the hallway, Wanda had already subdued Corvus Glaive and was using Chaos Magic to throw this "Son of Thanos" out the window.
Only then did she have time to turn around. Seeing Vision sitting up on the bed, she burst into tears of joy.
"It worked?"
"Vision, how do you feel?", Vision nodded.
"Without the Mind Stone, my energy level has decreased somewhat, but without the Stone's resonance interfering, I'm actually in better condition than before."
"But..."
He looked at Shuri.
"Why aren't you giving the Mind Stone to Wanda?"
At that moment, two royal guards in battle armor stood beside Shuri, protecting her.
The girl didn't answer.
She simply turned and left.
The Scarlet Witch had no idea what was happening, but she still moved to stop her.
The instant she did, the two royal guards shouted in unison and charged forward, thrusting their vibranium spears at Wanda with murderous intent.
Wanda held back. After all, Shuri had saved Vision, so she didn't hurt the guards. She simply trapped them with Chaos Magic, preventing them from stopping her.
Then Wanda tried to use the same method to stop Shuri, but at that moment Vision's entire body suddenly stiffened. His eyes closed, and he collapsed to the floor.
BANG!
Hearing the sound, Wanda turned around and immediately forgot about Shuri.
She rushed to Vision's side, anxiously calling his name before checking him over. She found that his system had merely been forcibly shut down, and she let out a sigh of relief.
This was naturally Shuri's doing.
While operating on Vision earlier, she had secretly left a "backdoor" in the super robot, specifically to hold Wanda back at a critical moment.
Wanda immediately contacted Steve using the Avengers communicator.
"Captain, something happened."
Captain America was in the middle of fighting. Hearing that, he asked, ["What is it? Isn't Vision better yet?"]
"No, Vision's fine."
"But Shuri took the Mind Stone."
"She may have tampered with Vision. His system is rebooting now."
"But I don't feel comfortable leaving Vision alone."
———
On the battlefield, Captain America nodded, "I understand."
Then he looked toward Black Panther, who was fighting fiercely not far away.
"Is Wakanda the enemy?"
"No way?"