Ronan stared down at the branches, fury rushing straight to his head. "Get off me, you piece of wood!"
He swung his hammer handle down savagely. A section of the branch snapped, but more vines coiled up his waist and arms like pythons. Seeing this, Shiki's mouth twisted into a vicious sneer.
"A piece of rotting wood thinks it can steal from me?"
He raised his hand, intending to crush Groot and Ronan into paste.
"Don't hurt him!" Star-Lord yelled in a panic. "He's not trying to steal your stuff! It just sounds like he is!"
Rocket bellowed while hanging upside down, "That's the only thing he knows how to say! You old golden-haired bastard!"
Shiki's face darkened even further. "Keep barking, you damn tanuki, and I'll skin you and make a hat out of you right now."
Rocket opened his mouth to shout back, but Gamora snapped, "Rocket, shut up!"
Rocket held it in for half a second. "Fine. But I reserve the right to protest."
Taking advantage of the chaos, Corvus Glaive turned into a blur, rushing toward The Orb. Gamora firmly blocked his path. The two clashed fiercely in a flurry of sparks as their blades met again and again. Every time Gamora parried a fatal strike, her wrists went numb.
Corvus didn't waste a single word; his eyes held only the absolute resolve to execute Thanos's orders. But Shiki brutally intervened from the side. A curved, heavy armor plate whistled through the air, forcefully driving Corvus back.
Pressing a hand over his healing abdominal wound, Shiki reached out toward The Orb with his other hand. "Have you all squawked enough? I'll be taking this."
Star-Lord's expression changed drastically. Ignoring his clumsy posture, he scrambled and dove straight toward Shiki. "Wait! You absolutely cannot touch that stone with your bare hands!"
Shiki's hand stopped half an inch above The Orb.
The throne room descended into a chaotic din. Ronan was frantically trying to break free from the branches. Corvus was coldly looking for an opening for a one-hit kill. Rocket was still dangling, his gun swaying back and forth. Gamora looked at Shiki nervously, her face pale.
Panting heavily, Star-Lord raised both his hands high. "I'm absolutely not joking. The Power Stone will instantly burn anyone who touches it to ash. Normal people explode the second they make contact. Even if you're a top-tier powerhouse, you definitely won't last long."
Shiki slowly turned his head. His Mangekyo Sharingan darkened. "You'd better tell me something useful."
Star-Lord swallowed hard. He finally realized that this golden-haired old man was nothing like Ronan or Corvus. Ronan was a complete lunatic. Corvus was an emotionless machine. But this old man was pure greed mixed with lawless arrogance. If he really dared to grab the stone bare-handed, he might actually drag everyone present to hell with him before he died.
Star-Lord pointed at The Orb. "That shell is just a container. The stone needs a medium. A hammer, a scepter, a specialized vessel, or something that can withstand extreme energy. If you just grab it, it'll tear you apart until there's nothing left."
Shiki said nothing. His Mangekyo Sharingan spun rapidly. Within the cracks on The Orb's surface, violent purple light pulsed like a beating heart. That power didn't feel like a Devil Fruit, nor did it feel like Chakra. It felt more like the absolute law of destruction.
Shiki thought of Blake. That silver-haired brat had said the Infinity Stones were the most valuable divine artifacts in this dungeon. But that bastard Blake had failed to mention that touching one might kill you.
"Jihaha..." Low laughter rolled from Shiki's throat. "This little prize almost took a bite out of me."
Rocket couldn't resist chiming in from mid-air. "Congratulations, golden-haired geezer. Your IQ finally climbed from negative numbers back into the single digits."
Shiki lightly flicked his finger. Rocket spun wildly in the air for dozens of revolutions.
"Ahhhhh! Stop! Stop it!" Rocket screamed. "I take back that last half of the sentence!"
Star-Lord quickly stepped forward. "We can cooperate."
Shiki glared at him disdainfully. "With you?"
Star-Lord tried to straighten his posture. "Yeah, with me. I know how to get the stone out of here safely. You handle these monsters. We'll make sure you don't die a stupid death."
Still dizzy and spinning, Rocket mumbled incoherently. "I didn't agree to this bullshit plan!"
"Quill, have you completely lost your mind?" Gamora hissed.
Star-Lord glanced at Ronan, who was furiously breaking free, and then looked warily at Corvus. "Do you have a better idea right now?"
Ronan had already torn through most of the branches with brute force. His chest was covered in blinding crimson blood, but his face wore a sickly, manic grin. "None of you will take it! Xandar is destined for destruction. And Thanos will not take this power from me either."
Corvus Glaive slowly raised his blood-dripping black glaive. "The Lord of Titan will personally descend to judge you."
Standing between them, Shiki slowly stretched his mouth into a wide grin. He hated being used more than anything. And he hated people stealing his things even more. But Star-Lord's words were indeed useful.
Since the stone needed a medium, he would let these fools spit out every detail on how to use it. Then, he would steal it all for himself. That was simply the natural order of things for a pirate.
Shiki slowly raised both hands. The entire shattered flagship emitted another teeth-grinding tremor. Ship debris, city fragments, and broken turrets rose behind him piece by piece like meteors, blotting out the sky.
"Fine," Shiki declared, his unbridled laughter once again echoing through the bridge. "I'll spare the lives of you little thieves for now."
He turned to look at Ronan and Corvus. "As for you two... If anyone dares to touch my orb again, I'll smash your dog heads first!"
----
Before the Asgardian royal palace.
Thick, green death energy billowed frantically from the glowing rifts in the earth. Odin pressed his knee hard against the shattered stone steps, his single remaining eye bloodshot. His eternal spear, Gungnir, was firmly planted in the center of the rift, projecting rings of vast golden divine power downward to forcibly suppress the howling undead army crawling toward the surface.
But the hand gripping the spear was trembling violently. Not from fear. From age.
Odin, the All-Father of Asgard, ruler of the Nine Realms. He had conquered countless nations and personally sealed away his eldest daughter, Hela. He was once war itself. Now, he was just an aging father on the verge of being caught by his heavy past.
Hela stood coldly at the far end of the palace plaza. Her black combat suit had been burned by Kaido's dragon breath, revealing large, charred gashes. But those wounds were quickly and forcefully stitched together by surging green death energy.
Hela, the Asgardian Goddess of Death, Odin's firstborn. Sealed away for millennia, she had once led the Berserkers to bathe the Nine Realms in blood and conquer them for Asgard. She had no bounty. In this universe, there were very few people capable of putting a price on her head.
She slowly raised her right hand. A massive, terrifying black blade shaped like a crown rapidly extended from her palm, radiating an aura of death. It looked like a sword, but even more, it looked like a merciless judgment.
Thor's expression changed drastically. "Father!"
Gripping Mjolnir tightly, he charged forward. Thor, Prince of Asgard, God of Thunder, future protector of the Nine Realms. He still hadn't truly figured out who was the real God of Thunder—him, or the hammer.
He thought he was fast enough. But Hela's blade was more vicious.
The crown-like black blade cleaved down from mid-air with a mournful shriek, aiming straight for Odin's chest. Roaring, Thor swung his hammer to block it.
Clang!
Mjolnir was knocked out of his hands. Thor was sent flying backward like a cannonball, crashing through three layers of stone steps. His chest armor shattered, and he spewed a large mouthful of blood.
Hela didn't even spare him a glance. "You are still far too weak, my dear brother."
----
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