After watching the video, many of the attendees' selfish schemes were extinguished. They couldn't win, not really. They couldn't afford to provoke him, not really.
In the video, Thanos, faced with his subordinates' flattery, calmly said, "There are two more Infinity Stones on Earth. Find them for me, my children, and bring them to Titan!"
*Two more?*
The group was puzzled. Besides the Space Stone and Time Stone, there was a third one on Earth?
*How could this wretched place, Earth, possibly possess three Infinity Stones?*
"The Mind Stone!" Bruce Banner suddenly remembered. "The one on Vision's forehead—the Mind Stone!"
Everyone suddenly recalled that the stone on Vision's forehead was indeed an Infinity Stone.
"And after our people rashly gave him the Time Stone, he only needs one more—on Earth," Nick Fury said.
Tony Stark immediately felt awkward. *Weren't they referring to him when they mentioned the "rash" people?*
The others weren't here.
But he had his own explanation. Who knew Thanos was such an absurd, universe-level Big Bad? He'd thought he was just an ordinary boss.
"Your will is my command, Father!"
At that, the Black Order members knelt in unison, pledging their allegiance.
"Excuse me for interrupting!"
Suddenly, Loki spoke up. "If you're going to Earth, you might need a guide. I know that place pretty well!"
He was referring to his previous experience leading the invasion of Earth.
Seeing Loki kneel again, everyone frowned.
Tony Stark couldn't help but remark, "He really hasn't changed. Hopeless!"
As a severe paranoid, Tony wasn't pleased to see Loki still clinging to his old ways, compromising even under the threat of death.
"If your failures count as experience..." Thanos sneered.
Thanos had never thought much of Loki, seeing him as nothing more than a pawn, a mere tool.
He had given Loki the Mind Stone Scepter and an entire army, yet Loki couldn't even conquer the insignificant planet Earth, even being defeated and killed in the process. It was utterly laughable.
If not for Loki's special status, Thanos would have eliminated him long ago.
Loki, however, tried to defend himself, saying, "That was experience beyond compare!"
"O All-Knowing and All-Powerful Lord Thanos, I, Loki, Prince of Asgard..." Loki hesitated here, then added, "...Son of Odin..."
Clearly, in his heart, all those titles combined paled in comparison to the glory of being the Son of Odin.
In Loki's mind, nothing—not being the foremost sorcerer of the Nine Realms, not honor, not even being a god—could match the sense of pride he felt from being the Son of Odin.
He was truly deeply attached to Asgard.
For this, he was even willing to betray his own kind, to kill his own father, just to win the trust of his adoptive parents.
He glanced at his furious, speechless brother, then continued, "I, the rightful monarch of Jotunheim, the God of Mischief, swear to you now, to demonstrate my undying loyalty..."
Just as everyone expected Loki to kneel as usual, to bow down to power, he suddenly produced a dagger and lunged at Thanos.
This sudden turn of events stunned everyone. No one had anticipated such an act from him.
But the dagger failed to strike Thanos. The Space Stone on his gauntlet glowed with a faint, eerie light.
It was the power of the Space Stone that thwarted Loki's attack.
In truth, even if he had succeeded, it would have been utterly futile. With Thanos's formidable physique, a close-combat weakling like Loki could never inflict any real damage.
"Undying?" Thanos sneered, his eyes fixed on Loki, who had betrayed him once again. He seized Loki's hand and mocked, "You truly are full of yourself!"
Thanos lifted Loki with one hand, like a chick, and turned to face the grief-stricken Thor.
Loki was struggling to breathe under the chokehold, but he refused to yield, gasping, "You... will never become... a true god..."
Before the words had even left his lips, Thanos crushed him to death.
Thor could only watch helplessly, his voice choked with agony, "No..."
Thanos tossed Loki's corpse at Thor's feet.
"Don't think of resurrecting him this time!" Thanos said coldly, utterly disregarding Loki's final words and Thor's despair.
With a squeeze of his Infinity Gauntlet, empowered by the Power Stone, the entire colony ship crumbled inch by inch.
Then, using the Space Stone, Thanos vanished from the scene.
Only then did Thor break free, crawling painfully to his brother's side. "No... no, Loki..."
He could only stare helplessly at Loki's corpse as the entire spaceship disintegrated into ash.
At this point, everyone fell silent. No one had expected Loki to make such a choice at such a critical moment, truly living up to his legacy as the Son of Odin and the God of Mischief.
"This explains so much," Black Widow Natasha said. "For example, why the Bifrost sent Banner back—it was because of this. The only remaining question is why Hulk left Earth and appeared in the Grandmaster's arena."
The others nodded, their minds connecting the dots.
At this point, the timeline had split into two: the normal Sacred Timeline and the zombie timeline.
Thor sighed. He had wanted to see the events of Ragnarok to try and prevent them, but witnessing the truth had shattered his resolve.
The others felt much the same. Though the destruction of Asgard had nothing to do with them, Thanos's invasion was imminent. How could they not be utterly devastated?
They were on the verge of completely losing it.
"I never imagined our backwater planet, Earth, would possess three Infinity Stones," Hawkeye Barton said with a wry smile. "It's truly..."
From a human perspective, having three Infinity Stones on Earth was far from ideal.
Even though the Mind Stone had arrived later, two had originally been on Earth: the Space Stone and the Time Stone.
These came from two Celestial Father-level beings: the Ancient One and Odin.
Neither of them could interfere with either.
"Moreover, this confirms our earlier suspicion: Thanos can sense the existence of the Space Stone. Though we don't know how, it's likely similar to how Loki can sense it. That's why, shortly after Asgard was destroyed, they caught up to the refugee ship!" Tony Stark said. "The Asgardian refugees didn't even have time to reach Earth!"
"And logically, a ship used by Asgard, if it's functioning properly, should be capable of faster-than-light travel. Otherwise, on a cosmic scale, such a ship would be utterly meaningless—it might never reach Proxima Centauri, even if it flew forever. Just like our own probes: those launched decades ago haven't even left the solar system!" Tony Stark added.
Everyone nodded in agreement with this theory. Tony Stark continued, "If it's a faster-than-light spaceship, it means they could be using warp drive or even wormhole jumps during their voyages. Either way, intercepting them accurately would be nearly impossible—unless, of course, he had a way to track the Infinity Stone!"
The group listened to this analysis, finding it logical and consistent with the information they had gathered.
"That's why Lin Feng said Loki's moment of greed brought about Asgard's downfall!" Black Widow Natasha said.
Everyone nodded, especially Thor, whose emotions were complex. He felt pride that Loki, even in death, still remembered his status as the Son of Odin and valued Asgard's glory. Yet he also felt resentment, knowing that Loki's actions had led to Asgard's destruction.
But this realization also gave him a new perspective. Asgard's destruction was now almost inevitable. Even without the Goddess of Death Hela's invasion and slaughter, Fire Giant Surtur harbored such ambitions, and Thanos would inevitably track the Space Stone here.
With all three Celestial Father-level beings targeting you, how could you possibly escape?
Without the ultimate deterrent of Odin, Asgard is nothing more than a fallen phoenix, less impressive than a grounded phoenix.
Yet the people of Asgard were not doomed to die.
If Loki hadn't taken the Space Stone, it would have fallen into Thanos's hands anyway, but it wouldn't have resulted in the decimation of Asgard's population.
Thor, the God of Thunder, felt a complex mix of emotions as he realized this.
"I think the real problem isn't that we possess these Infinity Stones," Captain Rogers said. "Didn't we have them before? The real issue is that the two beings who could protect Earth are gone for various reasons, and the rest of us can't safeguard these stones. That's the true meaning of 'an innocent man is no crime, but possessing a treasure is the crime'!"
The others pondered his words and realized he was right. On the surface, the Infinity Stones seemed to be the cause of all this chaos. But upon closer reflection, why had Earth been safe when it possessed these stones before?
Because back then, Earth had a guardian.
-----------------------
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