Knowhere was truly worthy of being a Celestial's severed head. Though the god had long since died, the remnants of its skull remained unyieldingly solid.
Artillery fire engulfed Knowhere, and the stench of death and gunpowder choked the reaches of outer space.
As a barrage of superweapons rained down, an invisible viral storm slipped through the void and entered the massive face embedded within the Celestial's skull.
Inside Knowhere was a fully functioning cosmic outpost, a hub that bustled like a massive interstellar black market. Aliens of all kinds moved through its halls, conducting shady business far from the eyes of the galactic empires.
Here, illicit trade flourished. From smugglers of all star systems to backdoor dealers, no place was more infamous than Knowhere. The one who held the most sway here was none other than Taneleer Tivan, the Collector, and brother to the Grandmaster.
In an instant, the viral storm swept through Knowhere like a vast, unseen net, enshrouding the god's skull in black corruption.
As Lucius had anticipated, Thanos and his Black Order had not braved the bombardment. Instead, they had teleported directly into Knowhere using the Space Stone.
The Kree Empire's warships continued their relentless shelling from outside, plunging the entire facility into chaos. With over 60% of its inhabitants listed on the wanted boards of galactic empires, panic was inevitable.
But that chaos played right into Thanos' and Lucius' hands.
Lucius, the embodiment of the Old One Virus, summoned a storm of black miasma within Knowhere.
In a matter of seconds, every exposed being, alien, humanoid, synthetic, was infected. Only figures like the Collector, the Runner, and other cosmic beings, along with the demigod Thanos, were spared.
Meanwhile, Thanos and his Black Order wasted no time. They breached the Collector's sanctum and clashed directly with his elite retinue.
In the original film, the Guardians of the Galaxy arrived at Knowhere only to find the Collector already defeated by Thanos, who had taken the Infinity Stone. What they saw was merely an illusion.
But here, with Thanos and his Black Order arriving without a full army, the battle was far from over. The Collector's forces were putting up a fierce resistance.
The Collector, immortal with mastery over temporal traversal and precognition, became locked in a blinding duel with Thanos, the wielder of the Space Stone. The two flashed across Knowhere in bursts of light, each one too powerful to overpower the other quickly.
Yet it was the battle below between their respective forces that truly stole the spotlight.
The Black Order, Thanos' most elite enforcers, each possessed powers to rival gods.
Corvus Glaive wielded a cursed glaive bonded to his soul. So long as the weapon remained intact, he could regenerate from even total bodily destruction.
His wife, Proxima Midnight, was a master of martial arts across the known galaxy. Armed with a spear forged by Thanos himself, she could hurl it to split into three homing black rays, each fatal on contact.
Together, the deadly couple carved a path through gunfire and gore, their weapons painting the corridors in crimson arcs. The Collector's forces didn't last a single round against them.
One of the Collector's warrior handmaidens took aim at Proxima with a laser rifle as the latter soared dozens of meters into the air, but her expression suddenly twisted. Her jaw clenched with an audible crack. Then, without warning, she turned and shot her ally point-blank in the head.
Not far away, Ebony Maw smirked darkly.
Despite his twisted visage, the Black Order's chief strategist stood tall and composed on the battlefield, radiating an eerie sort of elegance. Bullets fired his way veered aside midair under his gaze alone.
Unlike his brute-force comrades, Ebony Maw specialized in telekinesis and, more terrifyingly, his "black tongue," a voice infused with magic capable of reshaping a victim's will. With mere whispers, he could manipulate thoughts, turn loyalties, and create mindless puppets.
In the source material, he even managed to sway Thanos' own son, Thane.
But unfortunately for him, such power was poorly suited for the frenzy of mass combat.
Suddenly, a golden flash streaked past Ebony Maw like a bolt of light.
Blood sprayed through the air.
"Ugh… ugh…" The elegance vanished from Ebony Maw's form as he crumpled to his knees. Clutching his throat with shriveled fingers, he tried to speak, but only a whimper escaped his black tongue.
Purple-black blood oozed through his grasp.
Floating above, laughing with savage glee, stood a golden-skinned, stark-naked man. In his fist, he held a still-dripping chunk of flesh, Ebony Maw's crushed trachea.
"The Runner…" Thanos turned briefly toward the golden figure, recognizing him immediately: Gilpetperdon, the cosmic Elder known as the Runner.
"Die."
Black Dwarf, the Black Order's tank and strongest defense, roared as he lunged through the air, double-bladed axe raised high.
But the Runner only chuckled, and vanished.
A golden streak flashed once more. In the blink of an eye, he'd circled the air around Black Dwarf.
The hulking brute's limbs detached midair, his body slamming into the ruined floor with a thunderous crash. Dust and debris exploded upward.
Compared to the Runner's speed, Black Dwarf might as well have been a statue.
Even the Black Order's renowned durability was meaningless before a being on the level of a cosmic Elder.
Like the Grandmaster and the Collector, the Runner was one of the ancient Elders of the Universe.
They were among the first intelligent species to emerge after the birth of the cosmos. As the final survivors of their respective ancient civilizations, the Elders of the Universe were immortal beings whose lifespans rivaled the stars themselves.
Over the eons, these remnant titans had united, forming a group known as the Elders of the Universe, also referred to as the Cosmic Elders' Council.
Each Elder possessed a unique set of powers. The Grandmaster, for instance, boasted near-immortality, immunity to age and disease, and resistance to physical harm. He could channel cosmic energy into flight, projection, telepathy, matter manipulation, even time and space travel.
Most terrifying of all, he held the divine gift of resurrection, so long as a being had died within 30 hours, he could bring them back.
The Runner, too, had such divine power. His speed bordered on the speed of light. His body was immune to all disease, rendering him effectively immortal, no form of harm could bring about his death.
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