Chapter 450: Silas Turns to Ash
Wanda stumbled toward Silas, her legs giving out as she desperately reached out to hold him.
"You... why did you..." Before she could finish her sentence, her body began to disintegrate from the feet up, turning into fine gray ash that drifted into the air.
Silas reached out, his fingers passing through the ethereal dust, and looked up at the remaining Avengers standing before him.
Tony's face was a mask of pure disbelief. "Why? Why would you do this..." As the words left his lips, Tony followed suit, crumbling into a cloud of ash.
"Tony!" Rhodey lunged to catch him, but his hands only grasped at the empty air where his friend had been.
"Steve!" Bucky Barnes called out once, but he too vanished into gray particles before he could reach his old friend.
Steve Rogers watched it all with agonizing pain in his eyes. He wanted to stop it, to fight it, but he was utterly powerless.
In rapid succession, T'Challa, Sam Wilson, and Groot vanished where they stood. It wasn't just the superheroes; half of the warriors who had come to the Antarctic battlefield were being erased from existence.
"No! Loki!" Thor cradled Loki on the frozen ground, his eyes brimming with tears.
"Brother... Asgard is... in your hands..." Loki reached up to touch Thor's face, his hand going limp before he, too, dissolved into the wind.
"No! I don't want to die!" Kingpin cried out, spreading his arms. He had only just become a Shadow General! He had only just become the Emperor of the Underworld! He refused to accept this!
But the power of the Infinity Stones was absolute. Kingpin scattered into the wind, leaving nothing behind but a hollow mask on the ice.
The other Shadow Generals watched their comrade disappear. Soon, they too began to turn to ash. Of all the Generals, only the Shadow Eeka General, Rei, remained. She sheathed her demon blade and silently knelt, gathering the masks of her fallen brothers that lay scattered on the ground.
"WHY?!" Thor roared, raising Stormbreaker. "Just because you were a coward who wanted to save your own skin! You gave him the Stone—"
Thor's tirade cut short when he realized that Silas was also beginning to turn into ash. However, compared to the others, his disintegration was incredibly slow.
"We had no choice, Thor. Sometimes life is a gamble. If you win, everyone's happy. If you lose... well..."
Silas let out a faint, self-deprecating laugh. The only reason he was still standing was because the Horse Talisman within him was working overtime. Its endless healing power was fighting desperately to reconstruct his body as the Stones tore it apart. But even the Horse Talisman was beginning to buckle under the cosmic weight of the Infinity Stones.
Based on the Talisman's power, Silas could have held his physical form together for another day. But he didn't. He intentionally suppressed the Horse Talisman's effect, allowing the death to spread across his skin.
"Do me a favor," Silas whispered as his form grew translucent. "Tell Peter... to think of me often."
With those final words, Silas vanished, his ashes swirling upward to join the dust that had once been Wanda.
Steve stared into the empty sky, whispering under his breath, "I will. I promise."
No one noticed a small mote of light fly out from Silas's dissipating remains, only to be caught by a lingering Shadow Ninja.
[System Notification: For helping Thanos assemble the Infinity Stones and indirectly killing half of all life in the universe, you have earned Villain Points...]
Queens
"Don't worry, May. The boys will be back soon," Ben Parker said, walking into the living room with a tray of pizza.
May looked at Ben, her eyes red from crying. "Ben..."
And then, right before Ben's eyes, she turned into a pile of ash.
"May!" The pizza tray hit the floor with a crash. Ben lunged forward, his hands grasping at the dust that was once his wife.
The Streets of New York
Countless people watched in horror as their friends and family vanished. They were helpless, caught in a catastrophe they couldn't understand.
"Peter!" Gwen Stacy screamed into the chaos, her heart racing with terror as the world around her fell apart.
The New York Sanctum
Bang!
Misty kicked the doors open, finding Wong standing ready in a defensive stance.
"Are you Silas's girlfriend? What are you doing here?" Wong asked, his magical shields raised.
"Where is Silas?" Misty's eyes searched the room frantically.
"They went to Antarctica to face Thanos. I have to stay and guard the Sanctum."
Titan
"Doctor!" Peter gasped, clutching his wounded abdomen as he crawled toward Stephen Strange. "Why did you give it to him?"
"Peter... we had no choice. There was only one way." Strange held up a single, trembling index finger.
Whoosh.
A breeze blew through the ruins of Titan, and Doctor Strange was gone. Peter watched in stunned silence, only to see the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy vanish one by one.
"Thanos did it. He actually did it," Nebula said, standing on a jagged rock and staring into the horizon.
"Did what?" Peter asked blankly.
"Eliminated half of the universe to let the other half flourish." Nebula looked down at him.
"Half..." Peter's eyes widened as a horrifying realization struck him. "Gaia, can you reach Earth?"
"I'm sorry, Peter. The distance is too great," Gaia replied.
"I have to go back." Peter forced himself to stand, his body shaking as he limped toward the ship the Guardians had arrived in. Nebula stepped in to support him. "Your condition is terrible."
"It's fine. The bleeding stopped," Peter said, shaking his head. "Where are you going?"
"With you. I have nowhere else to go," Nebula admitted. Her friends were gone. Aside from Peter, she was alone. Earth seemed as good a place as any.
"Come on then. You'll like it there," Peter said, managing a weak smile. Half. Silas has a fifty-percent chance.
On the ship, Peter closed his eyes. The Carbonadium suppression was finally wearing off, and his enhanced healing factor was kick-starting his recovery.
"The ship is damaged," Nebula reported from the cockpit. "The thrusters are shot."
"Can you fix it?"
"I could, if Titan had any spare parts," Nebula said, frustrated. If they stayed here, they would starve.
"Leave it to me." Suddenly, the nano-suit detached itself from Peter.
"You can do that?" Nebula asked, surprised.
"Of course." Gaia operated the nano-material, flowing out of the ship to the damaged thrusters. Gaia analyzed the machinery and integrated the nano-particles into the broken components. The suit, once human-sized, shrunk significantly as its mass was used for the repairs.
Once finished, the remaining material returned to the cabin. "It's fixed."
Nebula hit the ignition. The ship's engines roared to life like a hungry beast. She gave the suit a look of genuine respect—this AI was impressive.
The ship broke orbit, heading for Earth. To ensure they made it through any further mishaps, Gaia took over the pilot's seat. Being an AI, Gaia didn't need sleep or food, making it the perfect navigator.
Peter looked down at his stomach. The jagged wound had already closed, leaving nothing but a fresh scar.
"Is there food?" Peter asked. He felt ravenous; his body needed nutrients to fuel the rapid healing.
"Yes. I'll get it," Nebula said. She opened the storage lockers, her expression quickly souring.
"What is it?"
"We should have had enough for the trip, but there's barely anything left." She tossed Peter a few cans.
Peter looked at the strange animal depicted on the label. "What is this?"
"A type of giant octopus," Nebula replied.
Peter's face twisted in disgust, but his stomach growled so loudly it echoed. "I swear... the moment I get back to Earth, I'm spending a hundred bucks on a real meal."
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