Chapter 618: A Single Slash Burns Through the Dark Dimension
The massive vortex above New York spun at a frantic pace. The blue and purple energies had completely lost control. It was no longer the rule of life erasure. Thanos's forced snap had simply ripped a massive hole straight through the dimensional barrier.
The once-clear sky was instantly swallowed by heavy darkness. A terrifying, bone-chilling aura of evil spewed out from the center of the vortex.
At the top of an abandoned church in the distance, the Ancient One violently coughed up a massive spray of blood. The Eye of Agamotto on her chest grew dim. Swaying unsteadily, she crashed heavily into the rubble.
"It's over... the Dimensional Barrier is shattered," she rasped, her voice steeped in despair. Her worst fear had come to pass.
High above the firmament, the endless darkness began to writhe violently. A colossal face, constructed entirely of pure dark energy, slowly emerged from the vortex.
Dormammu had descended.
His giant, purplish-red eyes greedily looked down upon the Earth. His arrogant laughter echoed across the sky over the New York ruins, the sheer sonic force rattling the broken glass around them.
"What a delicious world! Ancient One, you can finally stop me no longer!" Dormammu's voice rang out from every direction simultaneously.
Along with his manic laughter, countless pitch-black energy tentacles descended from the sky. The moment these tentacles touched the ground, they swiftly wrapped up the remaining fleeing Chitauri soldiers. Before the Chitauri could even scream, they were drained of their life force and turned to ash by the dark appendages.
Tony stared at the off-the-charts readings on his radar and yelled inside his armor. "Where the hell did this monster come from!? Did Earth poke an alien hornet's nest today!?"
Rocket Raccoon backed up continuously, his heavy rifle raised, his face full of terror. "This is definitely not something we can handle! Hurry up and find a ship so we can get out of here!"
Star-Lord stamped his feet in panic. "Run where!? The sky is completely blocked by that black stuff! Where are we supposed to fly!?"
Just as panic overtook the Avengers, a figure shot up into the sky. Imu hovered in mid-air, glaring dead at Dormammu. The red aura around her exploded once more, attempting to stabilize the chaotic situation.
"Dormammu! Have you forgotten our deal!?" Imu shouted sharply.
She had spoken with Dormammu in the Dark Dimension earlier, striking a bargain. Right now, she needed to borrow his power to suppress these disobedient pirates.
Dormammu's giant eyes shifted, landing on Imu. "A deal? What kind of insect are you, thinking you are worthy of a deal with me!?" he mocked, his laughter deafening. To a Dimensional Demon God, the entire Earth was just food about to enter his mouth. There was no need to negotiate with the food on his plate.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a thick, dark tentacle violently whipped toward her.
Imu's face paled. She hastily raised a single hand, gathering a red ki blast for defense. But the tentacle's physical power was absurd. Imu was already missing an arm and severely exhausted; the moment her ki blast met the tentacle, it was crushed by the dark energy.
Smack!
With a loud crack, Imu was brutally swatted out of the air. Tumbling wildly, she crashed heavily into the ruins of a skyscraper, unable to get back up for a long time.
Garp watched from below, slapping his thigh and roaring with laughter. "Hahahaha! She gets what she deserves! She was acting so arrogant earlier, and now she got swatted into the dirt with one slap!"
Kizaru stroked his chin, slowly looking up at the sky. "Oh my, my. That big face looks quite frightening. My light doesn't seem like it would work against something so purely black."
Whitebeard tightened his grip on Murakumogiri, preparing to step forward with a cold snort. "I don't care what kind of demon or monster it is, I'll just cleave it in two."
Right at that moment, an intensely violent wave of heat began to roll through the ruins.
Sakazuki strode forward. The ground beneath his feet had already melted into boiling magma. Dark red bubbles continuously churned and burst within the molten rock. He raised his head, his heavy-set face radiating a brutal, murderous intent.
"A piece of trash playing cheap parlor tricks dares to act so arrogant in front of me." Akainu's voice was bone-chilling. Slowly, he drew Ryujin Jakka from his waist.
The moment the blade left its scabbard, the terrifying heat warped the air around him.
Doctor Strange watched from a distance, his eyelids twitching. He could feel an energy coalescing around that man in the red suit—an energy capable of burning straight through the laws of reality.
"What is he doing!? That's a Dimensional Demon God! Physical attacks are completely useless!" Strange yelled frantically.
Akainu couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the fuss of these natives. Gripping the hilt with both hands, the magma radiating from his body rapidly converged onto the blade. "Scum that only dares to hide in the dark and swallow the weak deserves to be burned to ash."
High in the sky, Dormammu noticed this insignificant human. He felt provoked. Dozens of dark tentacles changed direction simultaneously, crashing down toward Akainu in an overwhelming wave.
Facing the darkness that claimed to swallow all things, Akainu didn't dodge or evade.
"Bankai!" he roared.
The Ryujin Jakka in his hands underwent a bizarre transformation in that instant. The flames that had been wrapped around the blade suddenly vanished without a trace. The entire sword transformed into a charred, battered, blackened blade. There were no earth-shattering explosions, nor any sky-filling seas of fire. All the heat, all the flames, were entirely compressed into that razor-thin edge.
Zanka no Tachi, East: Kyokujitsujin!
Akainu drove power into his legs, shooting into the sky as a dark red blur. Facing the dozens of descending dark tentacles, he swung his blade without a second's hesitation. As the blade cut through the air, even space itself was seared with black fissures from the extreme heat.
The moment the charred blade touched the dark tentacles, a bizarre scene occurred. There was no loud collision, nor any clash of energies. The dark energy that claimed to swallow everything was impossibly fragile before Kyokujitsujin. The tentacles didn't even have time to be severed. In a tenth of a second of contact, they were vaporized by the extreme heat.
White steam exploded in the sky.
Akainu didn't pause for even a fraction of a second. Using Moonwalk, he kicked off the air in rapid succession, sprinting relentlessly upward.
Tony stared at the temperature readings on his armor's screens, completely dumbfounded. "J.A.R.V.I.S., are your sensors broken? The temperature reading has already surpassed the core of the sun!"
The blade in Akainu's hands carved a searing white line of fire through the sky. Not only did this line of fire burn through all the tentacles, but it followed the massive dimensional rift and burned straight into the interior of the Dark Dimension itself.
Dormammu's arrogant, colossal face instantly twisted into an expression of utter agony.
"Ahhhhhh! What kind of fire is this!? My dimension is burning!" Dormammu let out a shrieking, blood-curdling scream. He had lived for eons, swallowed countless planets, but he had never encountered such an unreasonable level of heat.
The searing white line of fire spread rapidly through the Dark Dimension. Wherever the fire passed, all dark energy was burned into nothingness.
Akainu hovered in mid-air using Moonwalk, looking down at Dormammu struggling agonizingly within the rift. "What garbage Dimensional Demon God. In the face of Absolute Justice, you're nothing but a pile of kindling."
Dormammu was terrified. He was genuinely terrified. He could feel that if he let this fire keep burning, the entire Dark Dimension would be ignited. The massive face desperately recoiled. Dormammu severed the ignited dark energy himself.
Amidst Dormammu's despairing screams, the dimensional rift torn open by the snap finally couldn't withstand the extreme heat. The massive spatial fissure rapidly collapsed and shrank. In just a few seconds, the vortex in the sky completely closed.
Sunlight spilled back over the ruins of New York.
Everyone let out a long, collective breath.
Star-Lord plopped down onto the ground, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. "What the hell is going on? I feel like I've used up a whole lifetime's worth of terror in just one day."
The younger Captain America watched Akainu slowly descend from the sky, his eyes full of shock. He simply couldn't comprehend a power that so thoroughly defied science.
Akainu landed, casually flicking his wrist and sheathing Ryujin Jakka. Only then did the suffocating heat finally begin to dissipate.
The lingering shockwaves of extreme heat and spatial collapse had scrambled everyone's Observation Haki. While everyone was rejoicing at having survived, very few noticed the subtle shift occurring in the ruins at the edge of the battlefield.
Thanos lay in a massive crater. Over half his bones were broken, and his armor was shattered. The snap just moments ago had drained nearly every drop of his stamina. But he wasn't dead. On this chaotic battlefield where gods were clashing, the once-feared Overlord of the Universe had briefly been forgotten.
Thanos struggled to open his remaining eye. Breathing heavily, his gaze locked onto a piece of rubble not too far away. Lying quietly next to that slab of stone was a gem radiating a yellow glow. It was the Mind Stone that Doflamingo had dropped during the chaos.
Thanos gritted his teeth, forcing himself through the agonizing pain that felt like his body was tearing apart. He funneled all his remaining strength into his left hand. On the broken Infinity Gauntlet, the Space Stone flickered with a faint blue light.
With a soft swish, the yellow Mind Stone vanished from its spot, landing perfectly in the empty slot of Thanos's gauntlet. The power of three stones reestablished their connection on the glove.
A cruel, cold sneer curled onto Thanos's lips.
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