The sudden appearance of Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive brought the retreating fleets to a jarring halt. Their arrival was not accompanied by fanfare but by a suffocating silence, so profound it seemed to extinguish the light of the stars. The duo stood at the prow of their flagship, their armored forms gleaming in the cold illumination of distant suns, exuding an authority that sent chills down the spines of all who beheld them.
Proxima's eyes shone like twin abysses as she raised her spear in a silent declaration of challenge, while Corvus rested his menacing glaive with an air of casual menace, a predatory smirk playing across his lips. Behind them, the massive, jagged fleet loomed ominously, blotting out constellations and casting a shadow of inevitable destruction.
On the front lines, high-ranking officers froze, their faces slick with nervous sweat, their throats constricting under the crushing weight of fear. Lower-ranking soldiers exchanged empty, despairing glances, the inevitability of defeat already carving itself into their hearts, as though the battle had been decided before it began.
Adam, still weary from his previous clash, struggled to raise his head. His golden-orange eyes glimmered faintly, their light dimmed and flickering like a storm-battered flame. His gaze settled on the poised figures of Proxima and Corvus, apex predators who had slain champions beyond imagination.
"They are strong," Adam murmured to himself, his voice unsteady despite his attempts to summon courage. His hand trembled violently as he clenched it into a fist, his eyes fixed on the faint, erratic sparks of energy dancing across his knuckles. "In this state... can I truly stand against them?"
Within the Shi'ar flagship, Gladiator's towering figure lay still, his chest heaving with shallow, uneven breaths. His eyelids trembled, shadows of torment crossing his face as he battled unseen demons within his soul, haunted by the echo of Adam's devastating attack. Though unconscious, his body emanated an unyielding vitality, a testament to the indomitable spirit of a being unfamiliar with surrender.
All around him, the soldiers of the Shi'ar Empire worked with grim determination, their fear suppressed by unwavering discipline. Pilots hurried into their fighters, bombers roared to life, and ranks of gunners methodically loaded and prepared every weapon system. Despite their uncertainty, they moved as a single unit, steeling themselves to defend against the oncoming darkness.
Then it arrived.
The stillness.
A silence so profound that it felt as though the universe itself had paused to hold its breath. Both the Sovereign and Shi'ar fleets stood poised, their weapons trained on the advancing armada of the Mad Titan. Every soldier's heartbeat echoed like thunder in their ears, every flicker of a console seemed unnaturally loud. For one fleeting moment, the battlefield was frozen in time, two colossal forces locked in a tense standoff, each awaiting the other's first fateful move.
And at the center of it all, Adam stood alone. Battered and weary, yet unbroken, his fragile flame of defiance burned resolutely against the encroaching abyss.
The stillness ruptured.
Proxima Midnight darted forward like a streak of obsidian lightning, her spear slicing through the void with such velocity that even the stars seemed to shrink away in dread. Instinctively, Adam raised his arm, releasing a burst of golden-orange energy that solidified into a radiant shield. The collision echoed across the battlefield, the clash of metal and cosmic fire resounding through every ship in the sector. Shockwaves rippled outward, scattering smaller vessels like leaves in a galactic storm, as though the universe itself were fracturing under the force of their impact.
Adam's legs trembled under the unrelenting power of her assault. Proxima advanced with a relentless grace, her movements both fluid and merciless, each strike of her spear calculated to obliterate rather than merely wound. Adam retaliated with searing beams of radiant energy, golden flares erupting from his fists like miniature suns. Each blast illuminated her midnight-black armor, sending sparks flying as her weapon deflected his attacks with unerring precision.
"Already faltering?" Proxima taunted, her voice a chilling blend of mockery and melody, the cadence of a predator savoring its prey's struggle. Her spear spun in a whirlwind of motion, its edges carving through the very fabric of space. "Your light is fading, champion. Soon, it will be extinguished."
Adam gritted his teeth, his aura blazing ever brighter in defiance, though his body groaned under the strain. "I will not… fall here," he growled, launching a desperate punch that detonated like a newborn star. The explosion sent Proxima staggering back a step, a faint crack splintering the armor on her shoulder.
Yet even as Adam's resolve surged, the true peril began to unfold elsewhere.
Corvus Glaive wasted no words on declarations. As Proxima engaged Adam, Corvus slipped from their flagship with predatory precision, his form merging seamlessly with the void as he closed in on the Shi'ar fleet. His gaze burned with ruthless intent, locked on the comatose Gladiator deep within the flagship's core.
By the time the Shi'ar sentries noticed him, it was too late. Corvus moved like a phantom, his glaive cutting effortlessly through armored hulls and energy shields as if they were mere paper. Squadrons of interceptors exploded in his wake, their pilots reduced to ash in the silent expanse of space. The Shi'ar defenders fought valiantly, coordinating their fire in a desperate attempt to stop him, but each blast seemed to veer away, while Corvus's glaive reaped lives in swift, merciless arcs.
Inside the flagship, alarms screamed as Corvus breached the outer hull, stepping into the pressurized corridors with calm, deliberate strides. Shi'ar soldiers rallied, unleashing torrents of plasma fire, but his glaive spun with lethal grace, deflecting shots and carving a blood-red path toward Gladiator's chamber.
"Rise, warrior," Corvus murmured, his voice laced with dark amusement as he pressed forward. "Rise and see your empire fall… or remain as you are, and I will end it myself."
The battle had fractured into two fronts: Adam's fierce struggle against Proxima's unyielding assault, and the Shi'ar's desperate bid to shield their fallen champion from the relentless shadow inching closer.
The universe itself seemed to hold its breath, waiting to see which light would extinguish first.
Proxima's spear arced with lethal precision, its razor-sharp tip slicing through Adam's shield like gossamer and grazing his shoulder. A burst of golden light erupted from the wound, flaring in brilliance before disintegrating into drifting motes, like fading stars. Staggering back, Adam clutched at the injury, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Exhaustion weighed heavily on him, dragging at his every motion, yet his eyes blazed with unyielding determination.
"You bleed light," Proxima hissed, advancing with deliberate menace. Her midnight-hued spear twirled lazily in her grasp, each movement exuding an aura of deadly intent. "How poetic… for such radiance to flicker and fade into the void."
Adam's lips twisted into a feral snarl. "Even if my light fades… it will scorch you before it dies!"
With a guttural roar, Adam surged forward, his entire form engulfed in a golden-orange inferno. His fists became meteors, each strike shaking the battlefield as though celestial bodies were colliding. Proxima spun her spear with fluid precision, weaving a shield of obsidian steel to deflect the blazing onslaught. Every clash sent shockwaves rippling through the void, tearing rifts of raw energy in their wake.
The two fighters blurred into streaks of gold and black, their relentless collisions echoing across the fleets. Massive ships groaned under the gravitational strain of their duel, while smaller vessels shattered into debris, consumed by the cataclysmic aftershocks of their divine conflict.
Adam seized her spear mid-swing, its blade cutting into his palm as blood mingled with radiant light. With a primal cry, he yanked her closer, slamming a searing headbutt into her helm. Cracks splintered across its surface, and though Proxima staggered, the predatory grin beneath her fractured mask only widened.
"Good," she murmured, tightening her grip. "Show me your final breath."
The battle reignited with unparalleled intensity as Adam unleashed blinding bursts of stellar energy, tearing through the void and piercing the consuming darkness. Proxima's spear distorted space itself, collapsing beams of light and cutting through his defenses with ruthless precision. Adam's aura flickered, its glow faltering dangerously, yet each strike he delivered carried the unyielding defiance of a soul fighting to survive.
Mustering the last remnants of his waning strength, Adam focused his energy into one ultimate, earth-shattering attack. Clasping his hands tightly together, he brought them down in a cataclysmic hammer strike, his aura exploding into a miniature supernova that bathed the battlefield in searing brilliance. Proxima was hurled backward, crashing into the hull of her flagship with such force that the metal groaned and buckled under the impact.
Adam staggered, his chest rising and falling heavily as his dimming glow threatened to extinguish. His knees trembled, but sheer determination kept him upright, his blazing eyes fixed on her silhouette as she emerged defiantly from the wreckage.
And in another part of the battlefield—
Within the Shi'ar flagship, Corvus Glaive's relentless advance left a trail of devastation. Lifeless bodies lay scattered across the corridors, and the once-pristine halls glowed ominously under crimson light. At the heart of the carnage, Corvus entered Gladiator's chamber. The mighty colossus lay motionless, bound in chains and rendered unconscious, his once-imposing figure reduced to a vulnerable shadow of its former glory.
Corvus's eyes gleamed with cruel delight as he raised his weapon, the blade vibrating with a menacing hum that promised destruction.
"The mighty Praetor," Corvus murmured, his tone laced with mock pity as he tilted his head. "Not felled in battle, but silenced without glory."
The glaive descended.
In that critical instant, Gladiator's eyes snapped open.
Twin beams of searing crimson energy erupted from his gaze, obliterating the chamber walls with enough force to annihilate entire fleets. Corvus was flung backward, his confident smirk twisting into a grimace of shock as he barely managed to block the attack with his glaive. The weapon screamed under the unbearable strain of Gladiator's unleashed power.
Rising slowly, Gladiator's towering form radiated a renewed and formidable strength, his very presence an overwhelming force, like a living star igniting the room. His thunderous voice resonated with unshakable resolve, each word echoing with a promise of vengeance.
"You will not harm my people."
The battlefield erupted with renewed intensity, outside, Adam clashed with Proxima in the endless void, while within the flagship, Corvus faced the unrelenting wrath of a titan reborn. The true war had only just begun.
On the outer battlefield, Adam staggered under Proxima Midnight's unrelenting spearwork. Each thrust warped gravity itself, pulling fragments of wreckage into the path of her attacks. The very fabric of space quaked and twisted, as though her precision was tearing reality apart.
Adam countered one strike with a desperate surge of radiant energy, the impact unleashing shockwaves that obliterated nearby cruisers, reducing them to molten debris. His breathing was labored, but his determination sharpened with every passing moment.
"You fight like a dying star," Proxima taunted, blackened strands of hair spilling from her fractured helm. Her abyssal eyes burned with bloodlust. "And I will be the one to extinguish your light."
Adam's response was a primal roar. He surged forward, their collision erupting in an explosion of golden fire and void-black sparks, scattering entire fleets like leaves caught in a tempest.
Elsewhere, Gladiator and Corvus engaged in their own ferocious duel. The assassin moved with deadly precision, his glaive slicing through plasma fire and carving starfighter wings in flawless arcs. Every strike carried an air of inevitability, as though fate itself guided his blade.
But Gladiator was no ordinary combatant. Each blow he delivered radiated unwavering conviction, his punches distorting space, his eye-beams searing molten trails into the assassin's armor. The more his troops gazed upon him, the more powerful his attacks became, their faith transforming into strength, their courage fueling his cosmic might.
"You hide behind inevitability," Gladiator roared, slamming Corvus into the crumbling remains of a Sovereign dreadnought. "But I am inevitability!"
The fleets encircling them could no longer hold back. The Sovereign unleashed radiant golden barrages, the Shi'ar fired precise and relentless volleys, and Thanos's armada retaliated with equal ferocity. What had been a tense stillness erupted into a storm of destruction.
Within this chaos, two duels blazed brighter than the rest, Adam and Proxima carving paths of fire and gravity through the void, Gladiator and Corvus tearing through fleets with every earth-shattering blow. The battlefield transformed into a stage for gods and monsters, where each strike reshaped the destiny of entire civilizations.
Yet, in the quiet voids between the clashes, one undeniable truth emerged: the true war was not waged by the fleets, but by these titanic combatants.
[AN - This was extremely fun to write so please tell me what you all think?]