"You want to kill me?"
Thanos wasn't surprised by Vilgax's fury.
After all, Vilgax had attacked him mercilessly out in space. Anyone else would've been dead already, disintegrated by the Power Stone's energy.
He hadn't expected Vilgax to be this tenacious—still not fully healed from his injuries, but already able to move around freely.
By comparison, Thanos himself was alive, sure, but he didn't have the slightest capacity to fight back.
To be honest, if Death hadn't rejected his soul, he would never have been resurrected at all.
Now that he'd fallen into Vilgax's hands, Thanos had made his peace with it.
But Vilgax just gave a cold, chilling laugh.
"Why would I kill you, Thanos?"
He bent down, grabbed Thanos's broken, mangled body, and before any of the Xandarians could discover them, he fled the planet in a small spacecraft.
Not long after, at what had once been Thanos's main base of operations...
The now-empty Void Throne welcomed its master once again.
Thud!
Vilgax hurled Thanos to the ground like a piece of garbage. Thanos looked like nothing more than a stray dog, beaten and broken.
He gasped in agony, yet his eyes remained fixed on Vilgax. He couldn't fathom what Vilgax was up to.
"My goal is the Omnitrix," Vilgax said as he rummaged around, pulling out a machine and fastening it to Thanos's body. "But that brat's even stronger than you."
He went on, his voice cold and ruthless:
"I need even greater power. Only then can I take what I want!"
"You—" Thanos's eyes flew wide. "You want to steal my power?!"
"You got it."
The instant the words left Vilgax's mouth, the machine—designed to siphon superpowers—roared to life.
In the cartoons, Vilgax had used this same device to drain the powers of the Galactic Enforcers. Not only that, he'd conquered ten worlds and stolen the powers of ten planetary guardians.
And now, the Vilgax standing right here had the exact same plan.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
The sheer agony of having his power ripped away tore an earsplitting scream from Thanos—a body that could withstand the Infinity Stones itself—but he couldn't hold it in.
Vilgax paid him no mind.
He was already drunk on the power now flooding into him, power that rivaled a Skyfather's might!
"Such overwhelming strength... even the Omnitrix—"
He caught himself mid-sentence, reining in his excitement a little.
Back then, Vilgax had been drifting through space, badly wounded, so he'd never witnessed the real battle between Bant and Thanos.
But even Thanos, brimming with this kind of colossal energy, had been no match for Bant.
That made Vilgax even more cautious.
Just Thanos's power alone wasn't enough.
Not even close!
"I will conquer ten mighty worlds and concentrate all their powers into this body of mine. Only then will victory be assured."
That was the thought searing through Vilgax's mind.
He was going to launch the War of the Ten Worlds!
Now that he'd fully absorbed Thanos's abilities, Vilgax no longer feared most of the cosmic powers out there. Even the gods themselves—he could put up a fight.
But he wasn't about to take unnecessary risks.
During the time he'd spent at Thanos's side, he'd picked up quite a bit of cosmic intelligence, and he intended to proceed step by step.
Vilgax departed the Void Throne.
He certainly didn't spare Thanos; he dealt the killing blow without a second thought.
He also took Thanos's broken Tyrant's Cleaver with him.
Vilgax planned to reforge it into a weapon of his own.
He'd heard that the Dwarves were masters of weapon-smithing, so he had a target in mind.
Of course, the Dwarven realm was still under Asgardian rule. Having learned from Thanos just how powerful Asgard really was, Vilgax didn't plan to move against the Dwarves right away.
His first target would be the already-ruined realm of the Giants: Jotunheim.
And after Vilgax left, Thanos once again clawed his way back from death's edge into the land of the living.
He looked even more haggard than before.
His once-towering physique was gone. Now he looked like a dried-out husk, as if every drop of blood had been drained from his body, leaving him emaciated beyond belief.
He resembled a shriveled purple yam, nothing but skin clinging to bones.
The heavy armor that once adorned him had become his prison. He no longer had the strength to move while wearing it.
Barring a miracle, he would spend the rest of his existence—thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of years—bound in these unyielding restraints, suffering the torment of starvation without end.
And yet...
Just when Thanos believed his wretched fate was irrevocably sealed...
Another visitor arrived at the Void Throne.
"Gamora... my daughter..."
It was Gamora.
To be honest, Thanos was stunned to see her. He never imagined his daughter would return after his death. He'd half-expected her to fall back into the hands of the Plumbers.
But her appearance here and now gave Thanos a sliver of hope.
At least he was still alive. As long as he was alive, he hadn't lost. If Gamora could save him, he could still rise again.
"Nebula let me go..."
Gamora said it quietly.
Back on Sanctuary, her resolve had wavered, and she'd lost to Nebula.
She'd assumed Nebula would take that chance to return every ounce of suffering she'd ever endured right back onto her.
But to her surprise, Nebula not only didn't do that—she set Gamora free.
"Our father's already dead, anyway..."
That was all Nebula had said, leaving the sentence unfinished. Then, with Bant's permission, she released Gamora.
So when Gamora laid eyes on Thanos now, she was utterly shocked.
"I thought you were dead..." She crept cautiously toward that skeletal frame draped in wrinkled, cracked purple skin and whispered, her voice trembling, "You're still alive?"
She wasn't entirely sure.
Because right now, Thanos looked less like a living being and more like some kind of undead wraith.
"Of course I'm alive. The King of Sakaar couldn't kill me, and neither can Vilgax," Thanos said.
"But how did you end up like this?"
The mention of it twisted Thanos's face in agony.
Never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that Vilgax could build a machine capable of stealing someone's superpowers.
And clearly, Vilgax's device was nothing like Bant's watch.
Bant's watch extracted his genetic code, then swapped Bant's DNA, allowing him to transform into a warrior just like Thanos.
That kind of tech, as ridiculous as it was, still followed some kind of logic.
It was similar to how the Skrulls, after mimicking someone's genes, could sometimes manifest similar abilities.
But when Vilgax drained his powers, he didn't change physically at all—and he inherited Thanos's strength in its entirety. That was just completely unreasonable.
"Vilgax stole my power. But don't worry—Destiny still blankets me. The fact that I cannot die is proof of that."
Thanos spoke with absolute conviction.
He wasn't sure whether Death was still watching over him, but he had indeed returned from the brink of death multiple times.
That kept him from ever giving up.
He believed that one day, he would offer half of all life in the universe to Death. And when that day came, Death would surely return his love.
So, with a tone that was half command, Thanos said to Gamora, "Free me from this prison, my daughter. Just as I once saved you from that dying planet."
But he waited a long time, and Gamora didn't move.
"You call 'saving' me slaughtering my parents, destroying my home, and massacring my people?" Gamora's voice came out strangled.
Thanos froze.
His sunken eyes turned toward her.
Gamora's eyes glistened with tears as she clenched her teeth, glaring at him with pure, raw hatred.
Her whole body trembled.
After her battle with Nebula, Gamora's heart had already been full of doubt.
And now, hearing Thanos bring up the past again, that suppressed rage—decades of vengeance—exploded like a powder keg.
Thanos looked at this girl, tears streaming down her face yet her expression twisted with fury. She was like a wounded animal desperately hiding its injuries, trying to bare tiny claws and fangs to scare off a predator.
Maybe it was because he'd never imagined Gamora would defy him. Or maybe it was the first time he'd felt the full weight of that decades-old hatred she'd kept buried. Thanos opened his mouth but, for a moment, didn't know what to say to this daughter he'd poured so much love into.
Still, he didn't try to defend himself.
Instead, after a brief silence, he chose to fan the flames of her anger.
"So," he said, "are you going to avenge them now? Your parents?"
"I can't resist right now. Go ahead. Use the skills I taught you and cut off my head. Or... don't you have the guts?"
It worked. Gamora snapped.
She drew the short blade from her waist and lunged at him in a few furious strides. The razor-sharp edge pressed against Thanos's throat, biting into his desiccated skin—but barely any blood oozed out.
How much life could possibly be left in that ruined body?
"You think I don't have the guts?!"
Gamora sobbed silently, then screamed the words.
She really couldn't bring herself to do it.
"I taught you, my daughter," Thanos said, his voice dripping with a twisted tenderness. "Never waste words on an enemy."
He could feel her arms—both hands gripping the dagger—shaking violently. From rage. From fear. From his provocation.
But Thanos decided to push even harder.
"I remember this little gift I gave you, on the very day the Black Order trampled your homeworld... Remember what I taught you about balance."
"H-HOW—DARE—YOU—BRING—THAT—UP!"
Gamora went berserk, as if the blade had stabbed into her own heart.
Like a woman possessed, she reversed her grip on the dagger and drove it into Thanos's body over and over and over, stabbing with every ounce of strength she had.
In that moment, Gamora was utterly consumed by the flames of her hatred.
But Thanos, as though he felt no pain at all, just watched her madness calmly.
"You can't kill me."
"Bant Parker couldn't do it. Vilgax couldn't do it..."
"But I can tell you what will help you fulfill your wish."
Like a demon whispering temptation, Thanos spoke to Gamora.
"The Infinity Stones."
Gamora's body went rigid.
The Soul Stone flashed through her mind.
"You deceived me, Gamora, but I won't deceive you," Thanos said softly. "Only the Infinity Stones can truly kill me. Especially the one you already know about... the Soul Stone."
To be honest, Thanos wasn't that set on staying alive anymore.
But he still hadn't given up on his destiny.
It was just that his destiny would no longer be carried out by his own hands. It would be realized through the hands of his daughter—Gamora.
Some time later.
Planet Vormir.
A lonely, desolate world.
Jagged mountains rose steep and treacherous, and the grand, imposing structures looked as if carved by gods themselves—shrouded in mystery and dread.
There was no sign of life anywhere, but the howling wind seemed to carry the whispers of souls. Like wailing. Like murmurs of old grudges.
When the wind swept past, white snowflakes brushed across the face like drifting funeral veils.
It didn't feel cold.
Just... lonely.
And across this windswept, snowy wilderness, two figures pressed steadily forward.
"You said the Soul Stone demands a soul in exchange?" Brunnhilde wore her silver armor.
She was the one accompanying Bant this time.
"Don't tell me you're planning to sacrifice me and trade me for the Soul Stone." She grumbled the words, but her steps stayed right behind Bant, without a flicker of hesitation.
If he really wanted her to jump, she probably would.
"What are you thinking?"
Bant reached out and lightly rapped her on the head.
"The sacrifice has to be a soul you love. Got it?"
Brunnhilde's eyes lit up.
"You mean... I sacrifice you?"
Bant: ???
This is utter rebellion!
They traded a few more playful jabs, but of course, Brunnhilde knew exactly why Bant had come.
With Loki—who had considerable knowledge of the Stones—on their side, ever since Sakaar had acquired three of them, they'd begun monitoring the remaining two for any signs of activity.
A few days ago, Loki reported that the Space Stone had sensed another Stone beginning to stir.
The location emitting the Stone's unique gamma energy signature was Vormir.
That struck Bant as extremely odd.
Right now, the location of the Soul Stone was known only to him and Gamora.
But how could Gamora possibly claim the Soul Stone?
Who could she sacrifice?
Nebula was now employed on Sakaar, and Star-Lord had never even met her in this timeline.
Gamora couldn't just chuck the Red Skull off the cliff, could she?
Worried something might go wrong, Bant set aside his research on the cosmos, grabbed Brunnhilde—who happened to be relatively free at the moment—and headed straight for Vormir to investigate.
As a bonus, if the Soul Stone was still there, he wanted to test whether he could swap it for the fake Soul Stone he had on hand.
A soul for a soul, right?
A fake Soul Stone was still, in some sense, a Soul Stone.
So they crossed the snowy plains, climbed the sheer cliffs, and came face to face with the Red Skull, wrapped in his tattered cloak.
The moment he saw Bant, the Red Skull spoke with that all-knowing air of his:
"You are too late, King of Sakaar. The Soul Stone has already found its master."
Bant frowned. "Who took it?"
The Red Skull's lips moved slightly, and he uttered a single name:
"Requiem."
/-\
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