"My lord!" Maw shrieked with a cracking voice. With a desperate flick of his wrist, he threw a stone glowing a crimson hue toward Thanos.
Thanos caught the stone with his bare hand just as the world turned inside out. He attached the stone on one of the six housing of his gauntlet.
Clink!
The Reality Stone clicked into the gauntlet just as Satoru's Domain snapped into existence.
"Unlimited Void: Nihility! (Muryōkūsho: Kyomu)."
The part of the Mirror Dimension they were in was suddenly engulfed in a void of infinite color and at its center was an all-consuming black hole — a space where 'nothing' and 'everything' collided.
Cull Obsidian, Ebony Maw and Corvus Glaive didn't even have time to twitch before their eyes lost their focus, and their body was beginning to pixelate.
But Thanos remained upright and reacted in time before they would fully be 'erased'.
A violent flash of deep red aura erupted from the gauntlet, clashing against the oppressive dual nature of the domain. The two forces ground against each other with a sound like space warping.
Satoru floated in the center of the void, the Mind Stone glowing brilliantly in his hand, as he already began to make use of the Mind Stone to shoulder the drawbacks of the technique.
His Six Eyes scanned the Titan, noting the way the crimson energy was rewriting and altering the space around Thanos and his subordinates to protect them from his domain.
'Another one?' Satoru thought, his eyes narrowing. He looked at the red gem on Thanos's glove, then back at the gold one in his own palm as he concluded. 'It's a different color, but it's definitely another one of those Infinity Stones.'
"Well, well, well, it looks like you have a stone of yours as well," Satoru's voice echoed from every direction. "Would you like to set a play date to let them bond with each other, Big Grape?"
Thanos's jaw was locked, but he didn't look defeated. He looked focused. Slowly, he began to rotate his wrist. The crimson light from the Reality Stone began to bleed into the domain.
Satoru saw this and frowned, taking things seriously, he began to push the output of his domain and his eyes flared.
'Whatever stone he has, it's reaching into the fundamental nature of my domain and is changing it to his will,' Satoru thought. He secretly lamented inside. 'Great. Just great. Here I thought this would be over in a jiffy, yet I just had met the nemesis of my evolved domain.'
"A play date… you say," Thanos grunted, his voice gaining strength as the red energy began to unravel Satoru's technique. "Your demeanor… began to bore me, boy."
With a violent surge of crimson power, the starless void began to crack. Satoru felt the feedback through the Mind Stone. The Reality Stone was negating the absolute duality law of the Domain.
'Why can't you do this too, huh?' Satoru turned to look down at the Mind Stone on his palm with a disapproving and disappointed look. He turned his focus back at Thanos, his subordinates are also beginning to regain themselves asThanos healed their pixelating body and mind by washing them with a crimson shroud from the stone he has.
'I can't fight this,' Satoru thought as he sighed. Life had taught him that backing away from a fight of attrition was a much more clever choice than forcing it through and seeing the end result of it. 'Hmm, I do have one technique left to try. Regardless, I can't just let them stay in the same dimensional space as in Nidavellir. I have to make sure to reallocate them in the Mirror Dimension away from the dwarves.'
Just as he was thinking of his next course of action; the walls of the domain began to peel away like burning paper, revealing the distorted geometry of the Mirror Dimension underneath once more.
Thanos had successfully altered the reality of one of Satoru's current pinnacle techniques.
Thanos stood tall, the Reality Stone in his gauntlet glowing with a smug, steady crimson light in Satoru's eyes. His children — Maw, Corvus, and Cull — gasped for air as their physical forms solidified, the red shroud protecting them from being erased.
Thanos flexed his fingers, as he immersed himself in the power of the gauntlet. "It was a wise decision to get the Reality Stone first before heading to the dwarves," He turned his gaze from the gauntlet to Satoru. "You have failed, sorcerer. Now, you will return what belongs to—"
"Yeah, yeah, hold that thought," Satoru interrupted. The playfulness in his eyes was gone, he was now really taking shit seriously.
'Haven't used this one in a while,' Satoru thought. He cracked his neck. 'Let's give this a go.'
Crack! Crack!
He didn't form a mudra this time. Instead, after pocketing the mind stone, he simply opened both palms, as if he was embracing the space between him and Thanos.
Thanos narrowed his eyes, sensing a shift in the energy that was fundamentally different from anything the boy had shown before. He raised the gauntlet, the Reality Stone flaring in a crimson light, ready to intercept whatever was coming.
"Maximum Technique: White! (Goku no Ban: Shiro)."
…
[ Kamar-Taj ]
The courtyard was quiet, save for the distant thuds and grunts of the other apprentices practicing from a distance. Rintrah and Illyaha had only just arrived back through a portal, meeting Wanda who was waiting for them.
"So," Rintrah started. He shifted his large feet, his hooves clacking against the stone. "Master Gojo is gone, in Asgard."
"He's just going there for snacks," Illyana muttered. She was trying to look bored, but her eyes were showing a different feeling. "And to annoy some blacksmiths."
Wanda stood a few feet away, her arms crossed. Her mind was still stuck on the moment before the Bifrost took him — the moment both she and Illyana had asked for a pendant. Specifically, something meaningful.
"He seemed… surprised," Wanda said softly, her eyes meeting Illyana's. "By the requests."
Illyana didn't look away. "Maybe. Or maybe he just thinks we're being sentimental. He likes to pretend he doesn't understand things like that."
"A pendant is a very conventional request as a woman," Rintrah interjected cheerfully, his large, furry head bobbing up and down as he couldn't wait for his own souvenir. Though, I still think my request for the paper was the most logical, you should've asked for them too. Information is the greatest treasure, after all!"
Wanda and Illyana both turned to look at the minotaur. The look they shared was one of synchronized exasperation.
"Information doesn't mean much, Rintrah. Not at this one," Wanda said, though she murmured the last part. Then, her voice became sharper than usual as she turned her gaze back to Illyana. "And I don't think wanting something meaningful is just being 'sentimental'. Some things are worth keeping close."
Illyana narrowed her eyes. "Wanda, the only things that hold meaning for Gojo, as far as I knew him, are sweets and pastries," However, even though she said that, she didn't seem to mean it. She leaned in slightly. "I only asked for one because if he's going to get you something, he might as well get me something too."
"Is that all it is?" Wanda asked, stepping closer. "Just cause I wanted a pendant?"
"What else would it be?" Illyana challenged.
The air between them got heavy. They stared each other down, neither one willing to be the first to look away. It wasn't about magic or training anymore; it was something else that neither of them quite understood yet.
"Why can't you both just agree it's because it's a conventional choice for you women?" Rintrah interjected with a confused tilt of his head.
He stepped right between them. He beamed, looking from one to the other, totally unaware that they were having a moment. "Master Gojo is a man of logic! That is why the paper is best. You two want shiny-materialistic things, but imagine what I can draw and do with paper that won't yellow!"
"Wait," He noticed something from both of them, his ears twitched. "Why are your faces so red? Is something wrong— "
"Rintrah," Illyana cut him off, her eyes narrowing. "Stop talking."
"But I was only trying to—"
"Stop," Wanda added, though her tone was softer, more embarrassed.
Rintrah blinked his large, soulful eyes and went silent, looking like a scolded puppy.
She turned around and started walking toward the library. "I'm going to study. I don't want to be behind than I already am in sorcery when he gets back."
"Aren't you going to go back to your mom's?" Rintrah called out.
Illyana didn't bother responding, as she continued to walk towards the library.
"I'll go study too," Wanda said as she walked on ahead, but then looked back. "Aren't you going to—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion suddenly blew up one of the temples, rocking the balance Rintrah, Wanda, and Illyana, who was walking away from them off their feet.
The shockwave was so violent it sent several nearby apprentices tumbling to the ground.
Dust and debris billowed into the sky from one of the adjacent temples, followed by the sound of the gong sounding out.
Illyana skidded to a halt, spinning around with her hand already reaching into the air to manifest her Soulsword. Wanda's hands flared with a chaotic, flickering red light, her eyes darting toward the source of the blast. Rintrah's ears were pinned back against his head as he shielded his eyes with his arms.
The peaceful atmosphere of Kamar-Taj was gone in an instant, replaced by the smell not unlike rotten eggs and the ringing from the resulting explosion.
"What was that!?"
...
[Author's Notes]: Sorry, I kinda overslept and just woke up.
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