The noise that had filled the air monts ago, gunfire, shouting, explosions, faded into sothing distant, almost unreal. It was still there, but it no longer mattered. Sothing else had taken its place. Even the Chitauri had stopped moving.
Sothing heavier.
Gaius stood still, his head tilted slightly upward.
Above them, the sky remained torn open. The shape beyond it shifted in ways that didn't follow any rule he understood. The eye at its center moved slowly, watching everything at once.
He felt it.
Not with his eyes. Not even just with his senses.
His Observation Haki spread outward, instinctively reaching for it, trying to understand what it was. The mont it touched that presence, sothing pressed back.
It felt… familiar.
And not.
There was a trace of sothing he knew. Sothing close to Chaos. Close to the things he had learned to fight, to endure. The kind of presence that ca from beings that did not belong in the natural world.
But this wasn't the sa.
It wasn't the warp. It wasn't a daemon god.
It was sothing else entirely.
And yet,
It still made him feel it.
That quiet, cold sense of dread.
Not fear that froze him.
But the kind that told him clearly, this thing was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Behind him, movent broke the stillness.
Gaius didn't turn right away.
He already knew who it was.
Thanos.
The Titan walked forward calmly, as if the world above them wasn't tearing open. His steps were steady. asured. Like nothing had changed.
He stopped a short distance from Gaius.
Close enough to speak without raising his voice.
"Why don't we have a truce."
His tone was even. Not mocking. Not aggressive.
Just certain.
Gaius shifted his gaze slightly, finally looking at him.
Thanos continued.
"That thing above us," he said, glancing up briefly, "is not part of this world. It is not sothing either of us should face alone."
He looked back at Gaius.
"You claim to protect humanity. Then you understand what this ans."
There was confidence in his voice, not arrogance, but expectation. He believed this would work, because to him, it made sense.
Around them, others were listening.
Tony hovered a short distance away, his helt turned toward them. He didn't interrupt. He didn't move in. But he heard everything.
And for a mont,
He hesitated.
He hated Thanos. That wasn't sothing that could be changed.
But this?
This was different.
That thing in the sky… it didn't feel like sothing they could just ignore.
If there was ever a ti to stop fighting,
This might be it.
Gaius looked at Thanos for a long second.
Then,
He let out a small laugh.
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't mocking.
Just… real.
The first ti he had done that since arriving in this world.
Under his helt, a faint smile ford.
Thanos saw the reaction.
And took it the way he expected.
Agreent.
Of course.
It was the logical choice.
He stepped closer and extended his hand.
"What do you say," he said, his voice steady, almost respectful now. "Warrior."
The word wasn't thrown lightly.
It was earned.
Gaius looked at the hand for a mont.
Then he moved.
His left arm lifted.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
He reached out.
And took Thanos' hand.
Their grip locked.
Firm.
Solid.
For a brief mont, nothing else moved.
Tony exhaled quietly.
Part of him didn't like it.
Not even a little.
But another part,
Understood.
Maybe this was how it had to be.
Gaius spoke.
"You are quite smart."
Thanos gave a small nod.
As expected.
Then Gaius continued.
"…but too stupid."
The shift was instant.
No warning.
No pause.
Gaius' right arm moved.
The Emperor's Claw drove forward.
Fast.
Direct.
Thanos' eyes widened.
He hadn't expected it.
Not now.
Not like this.
He tried to move,
But his left hand was still locked in Gaius' grip.
He couldn't pull away.
His only option,
He raised his right arm.
Tried to block.
It didn't matter.
The claw punched through.
Straight through his forearm.
Bone cracked.
Flesh tore.
And the force didn't stop there.
It continued forward.
Into his chest.
The impact lifted him off the ground.
For a second, everything seed to slow.
Tony stared.
"…what—"
He didn't finish.
Gaius held him there, impaled.
Thanos coughed, blood spilling from his mouth. His body tensed, trying to respond, trying to recover, but the damage had already been done.
He looked at Gaius, not angry, not even panicked. Just… confused.
"…why?" he managed, his voice rough. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Do you not care… about humans?"
Gaius didn't hesitate.
"No."
A brief pause followed.
"I care about humanity."
His grip tightened.
"That's why I'm ending you."
Thanos' body shifted as he tried to move his arm, to pull himself free, but he was weakening fast. His muscles locked, tensing as he tried, for a brief mont, to hold the claw in place.
It didn't matter.
Gaius didn't give him the chance. His right hand closed, and the Emperor's Claw responded.
Inside Thanos' body,
It contracted.
Crushed.
Destroyed everything in its path.
The movent was small.
But final.
Thanos' body went still.
For a mont,
No one moved.
Not even Ebony Maw.
He had watched everything.
From start…
To end.
His mind struggled to catch up.
His lord.
His master.
Gone.
Just like that.
Sothing broke.
He scread.
The sound tore through the air as his control snapped. The ground around him lifted, twisted, surged forward toward Gaius in a violent wave.
Gaius had already moved.
He pulled the claw free.
Thanos' body slid off it, lifeless.
Then,
He threw it.
Straight at Ebony Maw.
Maw reacted without thinking.
He caught it.
Instinct.
Habit.
For a brief second, everything stopped again.
He looked down at the body in his hands.
Then up.
Gaius' arm moved again.
A small device appeared in his hand.
He didn't hesitate.
He threw it.
The lta bomb hit.
The explosion was instant.
A flash of white heat swallowed everything in front of it. The air itself seed to burn as the blast tore through the space.
When it cleared,
Ebony Maw was gone.
No body.
No movent.
Nothing left.
Only Thanos' corpse remained.
It fell to the ground.
Burned.
But intact.
Gaius looked at it.
There was a brief pause.
Even after that,
It hadn't been destroyed.
He stepped closer.
His gaze narrowed slightly.
That level of durability…
It confird what he had already seen.
This being had been strong.
Not just in strength.
But in body.
Most of the damage on him,
Had co from his own attacks.
The Emperor's Claw.
The power fist.
And earlier,
The combined force of others.
Without that…
He might have endured far longer.
Gaius crouched slightly and placed a hand on the body.
A faint light appeared.
Then,
It vanished.
Gone.
Stored.
Tony saw it happen.
The way the body simply disappeared.
He didn't ask.
Not now.
There were more important things.
He flew closer and landed near Gaius.
"…so," Tony said, looking up, "what do we do about that thing?"
Gaius followed his gaze.
Above them, it was still there.
Floating.
Watching.
The eye shifted slightly.
Then,
It stopped.
Focused.
On him.
Gaius held the gaze.
Then reached up.
And removed his helt.
The air touched his face.
For the first ti since the battle began.
He looked directly at it.
No barrier.
No armor between them.
And then,
Everything changed.
The battlefield disappeared.
The sky.
The ground.
All of it.
Gone.
Gaius stood sowhere else.
There was no clear ground beneath his feet.
Only darkness.
Endless.
Stretching in every direction.
It didn't feel empty.
It felt full.
Too full.
Like sothing was hidden just beyond what he could see.
Then,
An eye opened above him.
Larger than anything that should exist.
Watching him.
A voice followed.
Not spoken.
Felt.
"Mortal…"
The word echoed through the space.
"You…"
A pause.
Recognition.
"You outsider… from the multiverse."
Gaius didn't react outwardly.
But he understood.
It knew.
The presence shifted.
There was sothing else in it now.
Interest.
Hunger.
Greed.
It wanted sothing.
Him.
The space around him changed.
Shapes ford.
Tentacles.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
They moved in from all directions, closing in slowly, testing him, surrounding him.
Trying to take control.
Trying to overwhelm him.
Gaius stood still.
Then,
He released it.
His Conqueror's Haki.
Fully.
The force exploded outward.
Invisible,
But absolute.
The space itself trembled.
The darkness cracked.
The approaching tentacles shuddered,
Then collapsed.
Disintegrating under the pressure.
The eye above twitched.
Then,
It scread.
Not a sound.
But sothing that tore through the space itself.
The effect was clear.
It had been hurt.
But only slightly.
The presence remained.
~~~
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