Ajak frowned when she saw the two dying Inhumans and immediately stepped forward to heal them.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Ambur and the others became suspicious.
They had no idea how they had suddenly escaped the deadly ice pit and the terrifying enemy, but when they saw Ajak and Sersi dressed similarly to Ikaris, they instinctively remained cautious.
Ajak, however, ignored them. As the leader of the Eternals, she wasn't as friendly as in the movies. Normally, she wouldn't save someone just because they were dying—whether human or Inhuman made no difference to her.
But since Ikaris was the one who almost killed these two, she made an exception.
"Don't worry, Ajak will heal your teammates," Sersi reassured them.
Even though they were still skeptical, they relaxed when Ajak used her powers to stabilize the two nearly lifeless Inhumans.
"Are you Inhumans too?" Ambur asked after seeing that his friends were safe.
To her, anyone who looked human but had special abilities was probably another hidden group of Inhumans.
Ajak didn't answer, and Sersi only shook her head slightly.
The Eternals knew all about the Inhumans—this misunderstanding had happened before, centuries ago. But the Inhumans from that time had long since turned to dust, while the Eternals remained unchanged.
"You lasted this long—that's a miracle. Rest now, leave the rest to us," Sersi said gently, but her worried gaze was already focused on the excavation site.
The fierce battle was causing the ice to continually collapse, widening the battlefield. The broken robots and machines around the pit were being buried under the falling glacier.
At this rate, the entire ice field might be destroyed.
A streak of black flashed by, and Makkari appeared beside Ajak, using sign language to report the situation.
"Then I'll leave it to you," Ajak nodded.
The battle below was not going well. Gilgamesh, the second strongest Eternal with incredible strength and durability, could hold off Ikaris. But since he couldn't fly, he had to endure not only Ikaris' attacks, but also the constant bombardment of falling ice.
Makkari wanted to help, but the narrow space below also restricted her speed.
So, they decided to lure Ikaris to the surface, where they could take him down properly.
But that meant Ajak and the other non-combatants had to move even further away. A few hundred meters wasn't enough distance to escape the shockwaves from such a high-level battle—especially since they were now carrying five burdens.
Ajak had no objections. When Thena lost control in the past, it had already caused enough chaos—let alone Ikaris now.
Ambur and the others felt dizzy again. By the time they regained their senses, they were already at the edge of the ice field, more than a kilometer away from the excavation site.
Now they finally understood how they had escaped the pit earlier—it was the work of this woman.
Her speed was terrifying.
What was even more frightening was that they hadn't felt anything despite moving at such an extreme speed.
But their confusion was quickly put aside.
Because shortly after they were relocated, a loud explosion came from the excavation site.
A figure burst out of the ice, sending shards flying everywhere.
It was Gilgamesh.
Yes, the inability to fly and the lack of long-range attacks were the main reasons why Gilgamesh was weaker than Ikaris.
But not being able to fly didn't mean he couldn't jump.
With enough strength, his jumping ability was also greatly enhanced.
The movies didn't show it, but in reality, Gilgamesh could jump quite high. He wasn't as extreme as the Hulk, who could leap several kilometers, but a few dozen meters was no problem for him.
As he shot up from beneath the ice, another figure immediately followed, flying out of the ground and hovering in the air, looking down at Gilgamesh.
For Gilgamesh and Makkari, it was a relief to move from the cramped underground space to the open ice field.
But for Ikaris, who could fly, it was equally liberating.
In this situation, if Ikaris stayed in the air, Gilgamesh wouldn't even be able to touch him.
But the Eternals had planned for this.
One moment, Ikaris was floating high in the sky. The next, a thick golden beam blasted him down onto the ice.
Before he could get up, Makkari was already there, using her incredible speed to push him across the ground.
Each time Ikaris tried to counter, Makkari effortlessly dodged and returned in the next split second to press him down again.
She couldn't do much damage, but she made sure he couldn't get up.
Seizing the opportunity, Gilgamesh rushed over, pinned Ikaris to the ground, and began delivering powerful blows to his head.
When Thena lost control in the past, Gilgamesh hadn't gone easy on her either—he had knocked her out with a single punch.
So against ikaris? No need to hold back.
After all, the Eternals didn't have many powers, but they were extremely durable. Without vibranium, Uru metal, or special cosmic energy weapons, they were almost impossible to kill.
However, as the strongest Eternal, Ikaris could take more hits than Thena.
Even after Gilgamesh's relentless assault, he didn't lose consciousness. Instead, he found an opening and blasted Gilgamesh away with his heat vision. Then, with a single blow, he sent Makkari flying as she tried to restrain him again.
But this brief counterattack did not free him.
In the next second, another massive beam shot down from the sky, slamming him back into the ice.
Then golden constructs formed in the air and surrounded him. From them, glowing golden ropes shot out, binding him tightly—just like how Ebony Maw had restrained Thor in Infinity War.
Ikaris struggled, channeling his energy to break free.
But it was useless. These restraints were absorbing his cosmic energy, strengthening themselves while making it even harder for him to escape.
Clearly, this device was specifically designed to subdue Eternals.
And on Earth, there was only one person capable of creating something like this.
Phastos, of the Eternals.
Sure enough, after Ikaris was bound, a massive triangular spaceship descended from the sky-The Domo, the Eternals' spaceship.
The earlier energy bursts and the current restraints had all come from this ship. Or rather, from Phastos, who controlled it.
"Haha, are you enjoying the gift I have prepared for you, Ikaris?" Phastos grinned in the control room, watching Ikaris struggle below.
Even though the Eternals were a team—practically family—Ikaris' arrogance and overwhelming popularity with women had always been a sore point.
Among the five female Eternals, four—excluding Makkari—had shown interest in Ikaris at some point, even Thena before she lost control.
Naturally, this caused some resentment among the other male Eternals.
Aside from Kingo, who admired Ikaris, the now-deceased Druig, Phastos, and Gilgamesh had all found him insufferable.
However, after thousands of years of devotion to Thena, Gilgamesh finally succeeded in winning her over after her battle with Mahd Wy'ry. With that, his resentment faded.
Phastos, on the other hand, held no such restraint.
In the past, he had no excuse to act. But now, with a justified reason to suppress Ikaris, the big guy was overjoyed.
But nothing ever goes as planned.
Just as Phastos was celebrating, disaster struck.
From beneath the ice where the ancient, long-frozen ship lay, a beam of energy erupted, far more powerful than the ones the Domo had fired earlier.
It tore through the Eternals' spaceship, piercing it from end to end.
Inside, Phastos was thrown to the ground by the impact.
The Domo, its structure compromised, plummeted to the ground like a kite with a broken string.