As soon as Russell finished speaking, he released his grip.
The Grandmaster didn't hesitate for a moment—his soul flashed and tried to flee.
But the very next second, he slammed into an invisible wall.
Dimensional transfer—failed.
Looking up, he saw blue barriers ignite all around him, forming a thirty-six‑sided enclosure that sealed him completely inside.
Each face of the barrier glowed with a strange symbol.
An overwhelming sense of dread crashed over him.
The next instant, countless golden bolts of divine lightning erupted within the pocket dimension, bombarding his soul from all directions.
A scream of unbearable agony echoed out—just as his own victims had screamed before.
The only difference was that his past victims only suffered for a few seconds.
Here, inside this prison, the torment would last forever.
Russell's mind moved, and the two‑meter‑wide dimensional cage began to shrink rapidly until it became a compact sphere.
He tossed it to his angelic servant, who immediately took flight into the depths of space, disappearing from sight under the horrified gaze of the crowd.
In the far distance, a spaceship larger than an entire star system had halted in place—an endless wall of metal that blotted out the stars ahead.
Next to it, Sanctuary I was no more than a speck of dust.
Thanos's once‑proud expression was gone. He silently gestured for Ebony Maw to carefully maneuver the ship backward.
And then—a gaze fell upon them.
Thanos saw the man floating freely in space, lips moving. Though sound couldn't travel in the vacuum, Ebony Maw read his lips and translated instantly:
"Another Thanos who came seeking death…"
Ebony Maw's face went pale as he blurted nervously:
"Master—it wasn't me! That's what he said!"
Thanos's eyes darkened. If not for the fear of attracting that terrifying man's attention, he would have crushed Maw where he stood.
Then—he saw them.
A pair of piercing, radiant eyes.
And that was the last sight Thanos ever saw.
Snap.
Ebony Maw shuddered as warm droplets splattered onto his face. Slowly, he touched them, raised his hand to look… and then his gaze traveled upward.
A headless corpse floated before him.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
His scream was drowned out by the ship's final warning:
[Warning! High‑energy reaction detected, target—]
Boom!
A blinding explosion tore across the void. Sanctuary I bloomed into a massive fireball, scattering debris in every direction.
From within the light of the explosion emerged a colossal figure—hundreds of meters tall—clad in purple metallic armor, its shadow stretching endlessly across the void.
In comparison to his gargantuan starship, the giant's form did not seem overwhelmingly large.
Yet his presence alone distorted the space around him.
"What a waste…"
The hoarse, resonant voice carried an endless hunger, echoing through the vacuum as if mocking the laws of physics themselves.
Russell's eyes glimmered. In an instant, he understood—the sound wasn't traveling through air.
It was vibrating directly through space itself.
Not merely a skill—this was a threshold few beings could ever cross.
Russell floated up until he was level with the giant's gaze, his tone icy:
"You still have a chance. Leave now."
Galactus didn't seem to care—or perhaps didn't even register—that Russell was also speaking directly through the void.
His eyes locked hungrily on the severed head of the Celestial floating nearby.
"Leave?"
His voice was like a deep abyss.
"Do you think it's not absurd to tell a starving god to walk away… while standing in front of his meal?"
Russell wasn't surprised by the answer.
He had only been testing him.
After all, according to the records of Kamar-Taj, Galactus is nothing less than a cosmic scavenger.
If he truly wanted to throw his life away, Russell wouldn't stop him.
However, Russell couldn't help but ask with genuine curiosity:
"I'm curious—there are countless planets in the universe. Why did you come here?"
He had no idea how the Grandmaster had managed to contact Galactus, but he was certain the World-Eater hadn't been anywhere near this galaxy before.
Galactus, still suppressing his gnawing hunger, finally fixed his gaze on Russell.
A predatory smile spread across his massive face.
"That's because only worlds rich in life force can satisfy my appetite."
His eyes shifted toward the severed head of the Celestial floating in the void.
"And the head of a Celestial… now that is a rare delicacy. I can't even remember the last time I tasted one, though I do remember the cerebrospinal fluid inside—sweet… exquisite."
He paused, then added with a tone that almost sounded generous:
"Since you've reached the level of a singular being, I'll give you one chance to live. Leave now, and I will lift my control over this star system."
Russell ignored the offer and asked instead:
"How long has it been since you last consumed a planet?"
Galactus tilted his head, slightly puzzled, but he never saw the point in lying.
"Only about ten billion seconds."
Russell quickly calculated—ten billion seconds was roughly three hundred Earth years.
That meant… this Galactus was in a long state of hunger, but not a true multi-dimensional manifestation of himself.
Russell's lips curled into a cold smile.
"For the sake of your honesty, I'll also give you one chance. Leave now—or the purpose of your existence ends here."
The faint smile on Galactus's face vanished, his eyes hardening like frozen steel.
"You're not very smart."
His voice deepened, the air between them trembling.
"If you're that foolish, then you can become my food as well!"
He wasted no more words. His colossal hand opened, and from his palm erupted a blinding torrent of cosmic energy.
Wherever the beam passed, dense black cracks tore through space itself—power far beyond anything the Grandmaster could unleash.
Yet even so, Russell didn't move.
A mere thought caused the space before him to solidify into an immense, gleaming mirror.
The destructive ray slammed into its surface, rippling it like water and sending bursts of blue cosmic energy scattering in all directions—completely absorbed and deflected.
But Russell's intent was never to simply block the attack.
The enormous mirror now reflected Galactus's towering form in its entirety.
The next instant, golden magical patterns ignited across the mirror's surface.
Russell raised his right hand and twisted it sharply toward the glass.
Instantly, an overwhelming surge of magic burst forth.
The mirror inverted, reality and illusion blurring for the briefest of moments.
And then—the impossible happened.
Galactus's massive physical body vanished from the real universe…
…and reappeared inside the mirror, suspended in the reflection—completely inverted.
At this moment, space magic fused with divine miracle power to form something truly terrifying.
Russell didn't hesitate.
He clenched his right fist and drove it forward.
Pure, unrestrained force made the surrounding space quake, slamming into the back of the mirror.
Crack!
A sharp, crystalline sound echoed as fractures spider‑webbed out from the impact point—splitting the reflected Galactus into countless fragments.
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