Standing there was Loki, and beside him stood Hawkeye, Clint Barton, who was under the control of the Mind Stone.
While assessing the situation, Ethan reached out and wagged a finger at Nick Fury, who was standing not far in front of him. Did Director Fury think that just because Ethan was not looking at him, he would not notice his little movements?
"Don't make any futile attempts. Your weapons have no effect on me."
Fury's hand was still on his gun. He did not have high hopes, but in this situation, he could not do nothing.
"Who are you? Are you with that guy?"
"That guy?" Ethan glanced at Loki, the Prince of Asgard, who was also sizing him up. "Probably not."
From the reactions of these people, Ethan knew they did not recognize him. This meant that although this was the Marvel Universe he was familiar with, it was not the one he had visited before.
This also meant that Loki had no connection with him whatsoever, so it was not surprising that he would act this way.
Taking a step sideways, he twisted his body to dodge the attack coming from behind. His left hand shot out and grabbed the scepter Loki thrust forward, while his right hand lifted slightly, casually throwing out a magic missile.
Calling it a magic missile was not entirely accurate. The various energies within Ethan, under the previous state of high-pressure condensation, had completely merged into a higher form of divine power. However, "Divine Power Missile" sounded too silly. He would absolutely never name this move that.
Loki, struck by the missile, was sent flying directly backward, and the scepter in his hand was also taken by Ethan. However, as an Asgardian, or rather, a Frost Giant, Loki's physical constitution was very strong. Although Ethan's blow hurt him badly, it did not cause any serious damage.
Seeing that Ethan could casually unleash strange energy attacks, Fury, who was nearby, knew that this guy was also not someone to be trifled with. He was probably another alien similar to Thor.
Although Fury had known this guy was unusual when the Cosmic Cube suddenly flared up with a bright light, he had still hoped in his heart, please do not be some troublesome monster!
His wish was shattered. The only thing worth being happy about was that these two did not seem to be together, which gave him some opportunities.
Quietly reaching toward the Cosmic Cube not far away, Fury was just about to touch it when a chillingly cold blade touched his wrist.
"Don't just reach out."
Ethan used the scepter he had snatched to stop Fury's movement, then reached out and picked up the Cosmic Cube, which was stuck in some kind of device.
"Are you here to steal the Cosmic Cube too? Who exactly are you?"
"Me?"
Ethan shook his head. He did not want to explain too much, because there was no need.
To this world, he was purely a passerby and would not stay for long. His purpose in coming here was to obtain the key, namely, a few of the Infinity Stones.
Were the Infinity Stones themselves the key to opening that door, or was the key hidden within the Infinity Stones? Ethan did not want to delve into which situation it was. He just needed to quickly obtain these few Stones, achieve his goal, and leave.
"You don't know me, and you don't need to know."
Holding the Cosmic Cube in his right hand and the Mind Scepter in his left, he needed to collect a total of six Infinity Stones, and he had already obtained two.
It seemed this task was much simpler than he had imagined?
At this moment, Loki stood up again, standing not far away and staring at Ethan. In his heart, he wondered where this guy had come from. Not only could Ethan see through his magic, but Loki also saw that the other party was a sorcerer just like him.
That was not the main point. The main point was that he saw the shadow of Asgardian magic in the way the other party used magic.
"Are you Asgardian?"
"Me?"
Ethan thought for two seconds, realizing that Loki had seen traces of Asgardian magic in the way he cast spells. He had learned a lot from Loki back then, and it was precisely for this reason that he did not strike this Loki in front of him with full force.
"I am not Asgardian."
"It doesn't matter if you don't admit it. Some things just can't lie!"
Loki charged forward fiercely and leaped up, a pair of short blades suddenly appearing in his hands. As a Prince of Asgard, even if he was a sorcerer, he also possessed considerable close combat ability.
But his attack had no effect. Ethan's left hand, which held the scepter, swept lightly in front of him, and a large blue energy shield appeared above and beside Ethan. Loki's attack struck the massive shield without even causing a ripple.
But this did not make Loki stop. After landing from midair, Loki made a diving roll to the side while simultaneously throwing the short blades in his hands. The two blades attacked different positions on Ethan. An ordinary person encountering this situation would easily focus on defending against one and then be injured by the other.
Ethan, however, could not even be bothered to dodge. With a slight squeeze of the hand holding the Cosmic Cube, the blue spatial energy was activated, and the two short blades passed directly through Ethan, who was emitting a faint blue light. They nearly hit Fury on the other side.
"..."
Loki, who had been preparing follow-up attacks, stopped. He had discovered something. This guy of unknown origin seemed to know a lot about the Cosmic Cube and could easily use its power.
In this situation, he had no way to defeat the opponent at all.
Unable to contend with force, Loki began to think of other methods.
"It seems you know a lot about what you have in your hands."
Ethan did not speak, while Loki continued his performance.
"You might not know this, but a very terrifying guy is after that thing. If you don't want to cause trouble for yourself, you'd better hand it over to me."
Ethan, who originally did not want to say anything, still could not help but make a bold statement.
"Thanos? You think I would care about him?"
"..."
Loki had not expected this person to say that. From his tone, this person did know who Thanos was. But since he knew what kind of being Thanos was, how could he dare speak like that?
"You... might not fully understand what kind of being Thanos is."
"No, I understand very well. Even better than you do."
Ethan did not want to continue talking. It was not that he no longer wanted to show off, but the massive energy released by the Cosmic Cube earlier was becoming increasingly unstable, and that energy could explode and turn this base into ruins at any moment.
He certainly did not want to be buried alive, and besides, his goal was only the two Infinity Stones in his hands.
With a forceful squeeze of his right hand, the square Cosmic Cube was crushed by Ethan. His right thumb gently nudged it twice, and the blue Stone, previously hidden by the debris, appeared before everyone's eyes.
"That's..."
When the Cosmic Cube was crushed by Ethan, Fury's mouth twitched involuntarily. Seeing such a valuable item destroyed made him feel a pang of pain. But when he saw what was in Ethan's hand, he suddenly realized he might be about to learn something incredible.
Loki's pupils also contracted slightly. The power Ethan displayed when he crushed the Cosmic Cube just now startled him. He knew how terrifying the energy contained within that thing was. Ordinary people, let alone crushing it, would be injured by the energy released by the Cube just by touching it.
And that blue Stone was even less something just anyone could touch. Directly touching that thing was infinitely more dangerous than touching the Cosmic Cube.
But Ethan was holding it like an ordinary stone. This mysterious guy's strength was probably no less than Thanos's.
After taking out the Space Stone, no one saw clearly what this guy did, and the blue Stone disappeared from Ethan's hand. Then he reached out again toward the glowing part at the tip of the scepter.
"Can you give it back to me?"
Ethan did not answer. He simply reached out and grabbed the glowing object. Again, with a gentle squeeze, accompanied by a burst of energy, a yellow Stone floated in midair above Ethan's palm.
"Now I can give it back to you."
He threw the scepter, now without the Mind Stone, back to Loki, ignoring Loki's surprised expression and Fury's even uglier face. With a flick of his hand, he also put away the Mind Stone.
Just as he was preparing to leave, Ethan suddenly thought of a question. Everything else was fine, but how was he going to get the Soul Stone?
This problem was a bit tricky.
"I came too early. If Thanos had already thrown his chair off the mountain, I could just snatch it from him directly."
How was he supposed to snatch it now? Should he give the Stone back, then find a place to lie low and wait for the plot to develop?
He decided to set the matter of the Soul Stone aside for now and go collect the other Stones first.
He glanced at the people around him again. Ethan casually withdrew the energy controlling Hawkeye and the others, freeing them from the Mind Stone's control, then activated spatial teleportation and left this S.H.I.E.L.D. secret base.
"A friendly reminder, this place is about to explode!"
Leaving behind this sentence, he no longer paid attention to those people. Ethan used spatial movement to arrive at Kamar-Taj.
He was not using the power of this world's Space Stone. As his power recovered, the ability of spatial movement had long since returned.
Plus, he was very familiar with Kamar-Taj's coordinates on Earth, so he arrived here easily.
However, in this world, he was purely an outsider, a stranger, an intruder. So as soon as Ethan appeared in Kamar-Taj, a bald woman in a yellow robe appeared before him.
"Hello, Ancient One!"
"Hello."
The Ancient One's expression seemed relaxed, but beneath that relaxed expression, she was fully alert, because she had never seen this scene in any "possible" future.
"May I ask what you came to Kamar-Taj for..."
"I hope to take something."
The Ancient One suddenly showed a smile of understanding.
"Let me guess. You want the Eye of Agamotto?"
"To be precise, I only want the Stone inside it."
The Ancient One still maintained a faint smile and straightforwardly expressed her refusal.
"I'm afraid it will be difficult to grant your wish."
(To be continued.)