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The shockwave caught Tivan first. He was closest, and the blast launched him off his feet and slammed him into the wall hard enough to crack stone. He coughed up blood and slid down in a crumpled heap.
Quill, Gamora, and the others dove and scrambled, barely keeping themselves upright.
Ronan didn't move. He stood at the center of the explosion and didn't retreat a single step. Instead, like a starving predator lunging at prey, he drove straight into the heart of the energy storm.
His war hammer swung. He cleaved through the raging currents by sheer force, snatched the Orb that had been blasted loose, and resealed it in one fluid motion.
"The Power Stone." His voice dropped to something almost reverent. "It's actually the Power Stone."
He gripped it tight, eyes blazing with a fanatic's light.
"Hm?"
Hermione had been about to move. She stopped. Something caught her attention, she turned, and the corner of her mouth curved up.
"Looks like today's going to be interesting."
A strangely shaped vessel descended slowly onto Knowhere. Its silhouette was unmistakable: a giant doughnut, drifting down through the haze.
Two figures stepped off.
The one in front was a towering brute, enormous battle-axe in hand.
The one behind him was tall, slender, impeccably dressed, every movement radiating studied elegance and cold arrogance.
He looked like Squidward.
Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian. Two of Thanos's Black Order, arriving right on schedule.
Ebony Maw spotted the Orb in Ronan's hand. A satisfied smile spread across his face.
"Well done, Ronan. Hand it over and return with us to face Lord Thanos. He will honor his promise. Your wish will be granted."
Ronan didn't move. His grip tightened. He looked at Ebony Maw with cold, flat eyes. "Ebony Maw. What are you doing here?"
"Lord Thanos received word that an uninvited guest might be interfering. He was concerned for your safety, so he sent me to assist." Ebony Maw's tone was smooth.
The surveillance was obvious.
Ronan's expression curled into a sneer. "I see. Well. Your assistance won't be needed."
The smile faded from Ebony Maw's face. His voice dropped to ice. "Ronan. What exactly are you planning? Are you considering betraying Lord Thanos?"
"Betrayal?" Ronan looked at him like he'd said something absurd. "When did I ever pledge loyalty to Thanos? What we had was a transaction. I retrieve the Orb, he helps me destroy Xandar. That's all it ever was."
He raised the Orb. "I thought this was just a container. I never expected the Power Stone to be inside." His voice rose, raw with excitement. "With this, what do I need that old Titan for?!"
"Seems like a lot of people want this stone." Hermione, who had been watching the whole exchange in comfortable silence, spoke up with a grin. "Shame there's only one. How are you planning to split it?"
Ebony Maw turned toward her.
The moment he saw her face clearly, his pupils snapped tight.
"The Cabbage Witch?!"
The shock lasted half a second. Then his expression cracked open into something hungry and delighted.
"Found without even looking! The Mind Stone and the Reality Stone — it seems today I can bring them all back at once!"
He didn't move a muscle.
But the rubble and debris all around him did. Every broken piece of stone came alive, sharpening into countless jagged spikes that tore through the air toward Hermione from every direction.
At the same moment, Cull Obsidian roared, raised his axe, and charged.
Hermione's expression didn't change.
"Sectumsempra!"
Cull Obsidian's massive body lurched to a stop mid-charge.
An invisible ripple swept through him.
He came apart — chunks of flesh scattering across the ground.
One hit. Done.
On the other side, the storm of stone spikes hurtled toward her and simply ceased. Within one meter of Hermione, every single shard dissolved into powder, like they'd struck something absolute and invisible.
Ebony Maw's expression tightened. He pushed harder, pouring more telekinetic force into the assault, trying to crush her with sheer output.
He felt his telekinesis crumble like wet paper. PFFT, the blowback hit him like a physical blow. He spat blood, and the look in his eyes was pure disbelief.
Both of them wielded telekinesis. Both could be called "mages" of a kind. And in the one domain he had spent his entire existence mastering, she had crushed him without effort.
He finally understood why Lord Thanos had told him, quietly and clearly, not to provoke that particular problem on Earth. The Cabbage Witch wasn't a person. She was a catastrophe wearing a human face.
While Hermione dealt with Ebony Maw, the other battle had already ignited.
Gamora, Quill, Drax, and Rocket all moved at nearly the same moment, swarming Ronan. Groot stretched his branches, reaching to wrap around him and pin him down.
It wasn't enough.
Ronan was the Kree Empire's finest warrior. His body could take punishment on par with the Hulk at baseline. He swung his war hammer through their assault like they were inconveniences, each strike landing with a thunderous crack.
"A rabble," he said coldly. One sweep of the hammer sent all of them flying.
Across the field, Ebony Maw was nearly spent. He could feel Hermione closing in, feel himself running out of options. He did the only thing left to him.
"Ronan!" he shouted. "Help me! Without Thanos's power behind you, you cannot beat her!"
"Shut up!"
The words hit Ronan like a spark to dry tinder. His fury ignited instantly.
One after another, everyone underestimating him. Everyone treating him like he needed saving.
"Since you all want to see it so badly..." Madness flickered in his eyes, bright and certain. "Then let me show you what real power looks like."
He roared.
With everything he had, he forced the Orb open and closed his fist around the Power Stone.
Purple light exploded outward, blinding and violent.
"UGHAAAAAH—!"
The pain hit every part of him simultaneously, like each cell in his body was being shredded from the inside. Purple energy veins crept across his skin in branching lines, pulsing and spreading.
He held on. Through the agony, through the madness of it, he held on, and drove that raging force down into his war hammer.
The hammer fused with the Stone.
The energy that erupted was unlike anything that had ever been released on Knowhere. Purple light detonated upward in a single column that punched through the dome overhead and disappeared into space. Then the shockwave rolled outward from Ronan like the end of something, buildings collapsed, the ground split apart, and everything in its path was scoured away.
Ebony Maw watched it happen and felt his nerve break completely.
"Madman!"
He didn't hesitate. He poured everything he had left into shielding the doughnut ship, boarded without stopping, and ran. No backward glance. He became a streak of light and vanished from Knowhere at full speed.
Ronan watched him go. Then he threw back his head and laughed, full, uncontrolled, brimming with arrogance and something close to ecstasy.
"HAHAHA! THIS is the power of an Infinity Stone!"
He raised the hammer high. His gaze swept the field, taking in everything he'd destroyed, everything still burning, and then it settled on Hermione.
His eyes were full of challenge. Full of certainty.
➤ Next: Star-Lord Gets Beat Up Again
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