BOOM—!
Thanos' pupils contracted sharply when Black Phoenix suddenly appeared directly in front of him.
He felt the devastating energy contained within her fist.
The sheer power of the Phoenix Force made even him tremble.
Thanos immediately attempted to evade the attack.
But Black Phoenix moved faster.
At the last moment, Ebony Maw used his telekinesis to pull Thanos backward.
Even so—
Black Phoenix's punch still struck Thanos' arm.
The moment contact was made, Thanos' arm began to disintegrate under the Phoenix Force.
Seeing this, Proxima Midnight reacted instantly.
She raised her weapon and severed Thanos' arm before the disintegration could spread further.
WHOOSH—!
The severed arm was quickly reduced to cosmic dust, vanishing into the vacuum of space.
Now only three members of the Black Order remained beside Thanos.
They surrounded him defensively.
Each of them had already realized the truth.
They might not survive this battle.
Meanwhile—
Karl sat calmly on his golden throne, watching the battlefield with amusement.
A faint chuckle escaped him.
At that moment, another figure appeared beside the throne.
It was Hela.
Apparently, she had grown bored watching the battle from inside Skyblade VII.
Karl glanced at her briefly before returning his attention to the fight.
BOOM—!
Black Phoenix, surrounded by blazing crimson Phoenix energy, completely overwhelmed Thanos and the remaining Black Order.
At this point, Proxima Midnight had already lost one of her arms.
Karl smiled slightly.
He could tell what was happening.
Black Phoenix was playing with them.
If she truly wanted to end the battle, she could have disintegrated all of them in a single exchange.
Instead, she repeatedly launched Phoenix-powered attacks.
Thanos and the others were forced to constantly dodge and defend.
Each new attack left fresh wounds.
Even Thanos himself had begun bleeding.
BOOM—!
Finally—
Black Phoenix seemed to grow bored with the game.
She raised her hands.
The Phoenix Force surged violently.
A massive fiery phoenix construct appeared in space.
The enormous creature spread its wings and flew directly toward Thanos and the Black Order.
When they saw the attack approaching, despair flashed briefly across their faces.
Thanos glanced toward Ebony Maw, Supergiant, and Proxima Midnight.
A ruthless thought appeared in his mind.
But before he could act—
The others moved away from him.
Even if they were destined to die—
They refused to become Thanos' shield again.
Seeing this, Thanos' expression twisted with fury.
Immediately, the group attempted to escape the attack's range.
At this point, Ebony Maw and the others were already thinking about fleeing.
Ebony Maw desperately used his telekinesis to propel himself away from the incoming attack.
He rushed toward a nearby nebula, hoping to escape.
Unfortunately—
Reality was far harsher.
BOOM—!
The Phoenix attack detonated.
The explosion engulfed everything.
Within seconds—
Thanos, Ebony Maw, Supergiant, and Proxima Midnight were all consumed by the Phoenix Force.
Their bodies were disintegrated completely, erased from existence.
Thus—
The greatest enemy of the Avengers in another timeline died here.
However, two individuals escaped the disaster.
During his campaign toward Earth, Thanos had not brought Gamora with him.
And Nebula was currently searching for Gamora elsewhere in the galaxy.
Meanwhile, the enormous cosmic disturbance did not go unnoticed.
Many beings across the universe sensed the battle.
Among them were:
Advanced cosmic civilizationsNumerous powerful cosmic entitiesThe CollectorHeimdall of AsgardThe mysterious Watchers
After the battle ended, Black Phoenix returned to Karl's side.
She appeared directly in front of him—
Then naturally sat in his lap.
She leaned against him, gazing at him with admiration.
Karl smiled.
Then the entire group disappeared from space and returned inside Skyblade VII.
Soon afterward, the warship itself vanished.
Back in Asgard, Heimdall reported the events to Thor.
Thor simply nodded.
He said nothing.
With Karl's current strength—
It was only natural that Thanos stood no chance.
Still, Thor could not help feeling a strange sense of awe.
Karl—the man he once jokingly called a prophet—
Had now become a being of unimaginable power.
Meanwhile, aboard Skyblade VII, Karl removed an object from storage.
The Gravity Onion.
He handed it to Yan.
"Study this," Karl said.
"See if it can be used to develop a super gene."
Karl did not give it to Samuel, because Samuel was currently obsessed with studying the blood samples of Thanos and the Black Order.
Yan, on the other hand, possessed the genetic technology of the angel civilization.
Their universe relied heavily on genetic evolution to create godlike beings.
In that field, angels far surpassed Samuel.
Afterward, Skyblade VII continued traveling through the universe.
Whenever the ship encountered interesting civilizations, Karl and the others would occasionally visit them.
Karl made no effort to hide his presence.
Because of his overwhelming power, every civilization they encountered treated them with the utmost respect.
Time passed quietly.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, the global situation continued to change.
The Eastern nations rapidly rose to become the world's dominant superpower.
They eventually surpassed the United States.
America was still suffering from the aftermath of Karl's earlier retaliation.
Large portions of the country had become uninhabitable.
Even New York City had been abandoned due to extreme nuclear radiation.
Creatures that remained in those regions had begun mutating.
Some animals had grown extra limbs.
Others developed grotesque deformities.
Humans were affected as well.
Many children born after the disaster suffered severe mutations:
Two headsThree armsFour legs
And other horrifying abnormalities.
Because of this, many American scientists fled eastward.
The United States government still had no effective solution.
Its military and political systems had yet to fully recover.
Large areas of the country were no longer safe to inhabit.
The economic collapse caused by the deaths of numerous global billionaires had also devastated the world economy.
Outside of the Eastern nations, many countries faced severe economic crises.
In some places, a single loaf of bread cost $50,000.
Even the oil-rich desert kingdoms were struggling.
Although they still possessed oil reserves—
Few countries were willing to trade with them.
Most governments were already overwhelmed by their own problems.
Meanwhile, the former territories of the Sakura Kingdom and the Kangaroo Kingdom had completely disappeared.
Both had sunk beneath the ocean.
There was no trace that those nations had ever existed.
As for Tony Stark—
He had completely withdrawn from public life.
He lived in seclusion with Howard Stark, Maria Stark, and Pepper Potts.
Stark Industries was now managed entirely by an upgraded J.A.R.V.I.S. system.
Then one day—
A seven-colored beam of light suddenly descended upon Tony's secluded residence.
Instantly, dozens of vibranium-based armors activated around him.
Although many were still constructed primarily from adamantium alloy, the number of armors had already reached hundreds.
The rainbow-colored beam was none other than the Bifröst Bridge of Asgard.
From within the light—
A figure stepped forward.
Thor, now wearing the crown of Asgard, emerged.
In his hand was Stormbreaker, the mighty weapon forged for him by the dwarves.
...
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