Boom!!
Throughout the star system, the 'Anti-Black Order Covenant Alliance' anti-air batteries fired almost without pause. The shrill screams of energy weapons rose and fell in succession. More than half the system's space had long since been drowned in endless plasma and chemical fire, sinking into an artificial eternal day.
Esdeath strode forward, swinging shattered blades formed from countless ice crystals. Ahead of her, Thanos—his Eternal genes driven into full activation, his Titan physique fully awakened—charged straight through the chaotic zone formed by shattered ice walls and wrecked starships.
Thousands upon thousands of plasma cannons, laser turrets, and space missile launchers unleashed frenzied fire in their direction. But no matter how much conventional weaponry was piled on, it could not pierce Thanos' purple-glowing skin in a short time. He did not even bother to invoke the power of the Stones. His fists swung at blinding speed, bracing head-on, smashing and scattering everything in his path.
By comparison, though Esdeath's movements were equally broad and unrestrained—wild and beastlike—she was still far more graceful than that hulking, purple-skinned mountain of muscle charging like a moving fortress.
Clang clang clang! Facing the concentrated return fire from the Black Order, the layered, roaming formations of combined ice crystals under Esdeath's control deflected tens of thousands of heavy laser beams back at their source!
Even though sound barely traveled through vacuum, Thanos' superhuman hearing still caught the twisted groans of his own fleet's energy shields and metal hulls behind him. Quite a few patrolling gunships were shot down by their own reflected beams. Even Thanos himself was struck in the face by a missile rebounding from the barrage.
"Tricks."
His already purple face seemed even darker. With a single breath, he spat away the ice blades and explosions rushing toward him. Spreading his arms wide, his broad chest shattered the continuously forming frost. His left hand clenched into a fist, the Infinity Gauntlet blazing. Under the force of his grip and the Stone's power, space itself seemed to boil. Purple gaseous fireballs erupted like volcanic blasts.
"Freeze."
With a casual gesture, the frigid aura unique to Esdeath expanded outward, instantly enveloping a battlefield spanning hundreds of thousands of miles.
Creak.
The purple energy that had just surged from Thanos' fist abruptly stagnated, freezing mid-flight in flowing spirals within the void, like a dark violet tornado locked in place.
Then long conical masses—ranging from hundreds to thousands of meters—slammed directly into Thanos. His clenched form remained unmoving, though the ice storm forced him back several kilometers.
"Not sorcery. Manipulating molecular kinetic energy?"
With a sharp crack, Thanos rolled his neck and let out a cold chuckle. A sweep of his hand burned away the frost clinging to him with purple energy.
At first, he had assumed this ice controller was a sorcerer like those of Kamar-Taj. After several exchanges, he realized she was not. The stronger the magic, the greater its backlash upon the world itself. Magic did not belong to this universe. Especially if one sought to freeze him—wielder of four primordial singularities of the cosmos—the ritual cost would be unimaginably vast.
Yet Esdeath required no incantations, no spell formations, no activation conditions. Even Ancient One, who stood at the pinnacle of her kind, could not accomplish such a feat.
Another heaven-blessed talent, chosen and favored by the universe itself?
Thanos sneered in disdain. "Woman, my patience is exhausted. What is Gorgon doing? Begging for mercy? I will use your skull as a gift when I go to see her."
Boom!!
A powerful wave of cosmic energy spread outward. With a casual swing, Thanos smashed an invisible Shi'ar avian guard attempting a sneak attack into a pulp. Turning slightly, he brushed aside several squads of Nova warriors' energy blasts, then lowered his head and charged straight at Esdeath.
The purple radiance of the Power Stone flooded his entire body. The activity of his physical cells remained unaffected by the extreme zero temperatures. Massive war boots trampled the void as he ran like a living comet, smashing through mountain-like cascades of falling ice. His roaring iron fist descended in a crushing blow toward Esdeath at the heart of the cold tide.
"My skull? Ha. Titan, you'll never get that in this lifetime."
Esdeath laughed, pointing lightly at herself. Raising her hand, she collapsed and fused the manifested ice particles within her frigid domain, pressing them directly against Thanos' charging face. The cold erupted. Vast cosmic destructive particles compressed and condensed at her fingertips.
"Makhabhatma."
When unleashed, it transformed into a flowing vortex of freezing crystal. An icy-blue breath of cold spread across several celestial bodies' worth of space. With a howl, forming the head of a dragon, the absolute frost wyrm collided head-on with the purple comet.
Boom—
A slight delay—then colossal shockwaves of ice fragments detonated across the battling fleets nearby.
Something was wrong.
The impact felt off.
With beastlike instinct, Esdeath reflexively wrapped herself in layers of ice walls and immediately shifted into spirit form, leaping aside.
But she was half a beat too slow.
She had already heard it in her ears—"Got you." Thanos' cruel, low voice.
Crack crack crack.
Amid ice fracturing like cannon fire, Esdeath felt a scorching shockwave slam viciously into her body.
Bang!
She was blasted straight backward.
Her ice wings shattered into powder. Half her body was torn apart. Bright red blood stained her icy attire.
"Decent strength," she coughed, spitting out blood flecked with violet gaseous lightning. Steadying her unbalanced body, frost circulated and her flesh rapidly reformed.
"Energy lifeform? Hmph. Useless."
Thanos moved with extreme speed, no longer charging sideways like before when facing Selene. Blue light flickered from his left hand. Nimbly flipping and weaving, he evaded Esdeath's storm of a thousand blades, then smashed down with a punch.
This time, however, Esdeath made a move that even Thanos found meaningful.
She threw a punch.
Boom!!
Force met force.
Thanos' thick, sinewy arm formed a stark contrast against Esdeath's slender, beautiful one. The unadorned collision cleared all surrounding debris from their vicinity. A second later, the sky-shaking detonation burst outward as a tangible shockwave!
Shock filled Thanos' eyes.
The hollowed gauze armor on Esdeath's left side had shattered. Blood lingered at the corner of her lips. Yet those ice-blue eyes, as if from a frozen hell, carried a heart-pounding smile.
Her Servant base parameters—Strength and Endurance—were both EX.
You possess the Eternal bloodline and the metamorphosis born from merging with primordial cosmic energy.
I possess the evolution of the "Limiter" bestowed upon me by Her Majesty.
"After switching to the Space Stone, without the Power Stone, your strength is merely average," Esdeath said coldly. Even though her right arm had suffered a near-explosive level of trauma, her icy gaze did not waver in the slightest.
Only exhilaration.
Only bloodthirst.
She was enjoying the pain of her wounds.
"Titan? Exaggerated praise!"
Her voice sounded almost joyful. It was the laughter of a berserker.
"Makhabhatma!"
Ring—
Esdeath's eyes shone with icy blue light. In that instant where sea and sky merged into one frozen hue, her right arm twisted. A flash tore through the frozen spacetime—followed by the sound of a blade splitting flesh.
Slash!
Thanos' body carved a blood-red arc through the air before landing several kilometers away. His expression turned solemn as he looked down at his left arm. At the junction between torso and limb, a palm-wide gash split open, packed with ice shards, bone visible within.
The strike had been fast and vicious. Had he not withdrawn a few meters at the crucial instant, the arm wearing the Infinity Gauntlet might have been severed entirely.
"Authority over time? No... not that. Your ability—molecular control. Freezing spacetime."
A red light flashed from the ring finger position of the Infinity Gauntlet. His golden armor restored itself, the ice fragments vanished. Then purple radiance surged again, and the Titan's body returned to perfect condition—as though nothing had happened.
With a stretch of his hand, a double-bladed weapon as tall as a man manifested. His voice turned grave.
"You have earned my respect, woman."
When Selene called him "little Titan" and slaughtered him, the lesson had carved itself deep into his memory.
Don't tell me all of you so-called eternal devotees have some grasp of the laws of time.
Esdeath merely wore the feral grin of a battle addict. In her hand, spiritual particles and frost gathered into a Noble Phantasm—a plain, straight-edged military saber. Beneath the artificial daylight of space warfare, its blade shimmered with cold metallic light. Fresh blood still dripped from its edge.
"Burial."
No more trash talk. No thunderous war cries. The tide of cold surged, and in each other's eyes reflected only the pure killing intent of I will kill you.
That was the greatest respect.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Between Thanos and Esdeath, no other emotion remained. One had shed contempt and the urgency of seeking Gorgon, now facing his foe in earnest. The other desired only to revel in battle—to unleash herself completely before being beaten to death.
Boom boom boom...
"Mystic Ice Kaleidoscope!"
"Makhabhatma!"
"Ice Storm General!"
...
With every collision, Esdeath and Thanos were left riddled with wounds—only to heal in the very next instant, returning fiercer than before. Their attacks intertwined again and again—fists and kicks, ice blades and twin sabers, Noble Phantasms clashing and tearing at one another.
Around them, the super soldiers of the 'Anti-Black Order Covenant Alliance' watched in silence. They were stunned by the sheer power and domineering presence colliding between the Mad Titan and the female general of the Divine Empress Order.
More than a hundred Nova warriors and Shi'ar guards who attempted to intervene were swept aside by mere aftershocks. Their formations were blown into disarray. Under the crushing impact and extreme cold, several super soldiers froze solid midair.
Originally, many of those proud and unruly elite troops had not been entirely convinced when told their forces were to obey the tactical coordination of the Divine Empress Order's super-intelligent servitor. Now, deep awe settled into their hearts.
"What are you cowering for? A general fights a general. Soldiers fight soldiers. Xandarians, do not let hatred blind you. Execute the Covenant mission. Our common objective is to eliminate Thanos and his power bloc. Destroying his army is as important as defeating him."
A figure streaked across the void, cutting through the Chitauri bio-ship formations.
Wearing a high-collared crimson cape and a tight red-and-purple combat suit emblazoned with a golden triangle on his chest, the purple-skinned man descended slowly. He berated a Nova Corps soldier who had been repeatedly trying to strike at Thanos—dragging Shi'ar warriors into pointless deaths in the process.
"Soldiers, you need to learn execution discipline from the Divine Empress Order."
Casting a glance at the Divine Empress Order's "super soldiers"—the Servants—who had broken into smaller units and were independently striking and countering every Black Order unit across the battlefield, the purple-skinned man issued an unquestionable command.
"Return to your assigned tasks!"
"Yes, sir!" ×N
Like quails before a hawk, whether Nova warriors bearing the blood debt of Xandar or the ever-arrogant Shi'ar guards, all nodded rapidly in submission.
"Thanos, this time, I will bring you to justice!"
With a casual backhand energy blast, he reduced a Chitauri bio-ship foolish enough to rush forward into scrap metal. Gazing toward the infernal battlefield where Esdeath and Thanos clashed, his expression turned distant. Failing to eliminate Thanos once and for all that time had been the greatest mistake of his life.
"Requesting authorization. Gladiator requests permission to join the engagement against Thanos."
...
Shhh...
Rubbing the blades of her claws together, Selene watched the unfolding performance between the Covenant Alliance and the Black Order with keen interest.
"Esdeath is going to lose."
Her gaze swept across the battlefield—from the figures of the Heroic Spirits to the mutual annihilation of ship formations, to the planetary fortress-like interstellar anti-air grid—before finally settling once more on the clash between Thanos and Esdeath.
Blasted away yet again, Esdeath's Herrscher armament was already soaked with fresh blood and fragments of flesh. One arm twisted grotesquely under overwhelming force.
Though it did not hinder her movements—in fact, the injuries further stimulated the battle-hungry genes within her, driving her attacks to greater frenzy—the signs of defeat had already appeared. She had evaded fatal blows multiple times only through Makhabhatma. Thanos was adapting.
After Selene's Khorne-style tempering, Thanos' rate of evolution had become terrifyingly fast.
Little Esdeath, at least hold on a while longer...
Selene murmured silently, then looked toward John—the Celestial embryo, who had grown noticeably larger.
"Master Chief."
Understanding her meaning, Master Chief extended his right hand. An enlarged crimson Command Seal flared to life.
Servants naturally had their advantages. A Master's quality could enhance a Servant to a certain degree, but a Servant needed to break through their own spiritual foundation limits to accommodate greater supply. At such times, the value of Command Seals became apparent.
"In the name of Selene, Command Seal—threefold order. General Esdeath, break your limits."
As a military operative by background, Master Chief was clearly not some thrifty jewel mage. The more detailed the command, the better the effect. That was a soldier's common sense.
Hum hum hum—
The three Command Seals transformed into pure Honkai-infused magical power, transmitting along the contract between Master Chief and Esdeath.
The surge of energy stirred the air into gusts, lifting Selene's side locks. The Beast Goddess raised her head, hands clasped behind her back.
"That's enough."
"Master Chief, Lady Gorgon—Shi'ar command is requesting to intervene in the engagement against Thanos," Cortana's voice transmitted.
Gladiator?
Calling up the image of the mohawk-haired, confident purple-skinned Shi'ar in his tight suit, Selene nodded.
"Approved. Inform Esdeath. And issue notice—have all allied forces select their strongest elites and dispatch them immediately to reinforce General Esdeath."
This was war, not a dueling arena. If they could gang up on him, all the better. Many Nova warriors wanted revenge, but lacking sufficient strength, charging in would not be reinforcement—it would be suicide.
As the executor responsible for the worst defeat of Thanos' life, the Shi'ar Imperial Guard commander was indeed appropriate.
"Everyone is trying so hard," Selene said softly, shaking her head. "Though they serve different masters, every side fighting here is undoubtedly striving to eliminate Thanos."
"Unfortunately... I never intended to win."
"The curtain has risen. The foreplay is over."
—
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