VMMMM—!
The sky above Titan roiled violently. Several blinding points of light condensed in the upper atmosphere, descending like falling stars. At an incomprehensible speed, the high-energy projectiles bombarded the Four Red Yang Formation.
RUMBLE!
A cataclysmic explosion swept across the wasteland. Hurricane-force winds howled, carrying a devastating shockwave that atomized the bedrock. A dazzling, towering mushroom cloud erupted from the surface, piercing through the planet's rings.
High above, aboard the massive Sanctuary II warship, Thanos's command crew was in a state of panic. Blue energy particles cycled rapidly through the ship's primary quad-cannons.
Inside the bridge, a Chitauri commander, clad in spiked armor and a horned helmet, screamed at the ship's targeting AI. "Scan the surface! Lock onto that human immediately!"
The commander stared at the billowing black smoke on the monitors, his limbs trembling with cold terror.
Lord Thanos had brought a small detachment back to Titan on a whim, ostensibly to visit his ruined homeworld, but primarily to test the waters. He wanted to gauge the attitude of the Lord of the Nine Realms. Perhaps Odin was deep in the Odinsleep. Perhaps he simply didn't care about Titan. Whatever the reason, Asgard hadn't reacted to their presence.
But then, the absolute unthinkable happened. A random human appeared out of nowhere. Through the ship's remote telemetry, the Chitauri had watched the entire, impossible battle unfold.
No matter how much the commander revered his master, the telemetry didn't lie. Lord Thanos had been trapped inside an inescapable energy barrier, completely buried under a mountain of the human's clones.
Panicking, the commander had authorized the firing of the ship's star-level, high-energy particle cannons—weapons akin to tactical nukes—to shatter the barrier and rescue his master.
Down on the surface, the billowing smoke began to clear. The sheer heat of the bombardment had turned the yellow sand into fields of smooth glass and bubbling pools of molten lava.
Light Inksworth crawled out of a shallow trench, looking incredibly embarrassed. Blood dripped steadily from a gash on his forehead. He looked up at the sky, his face a mask of bewildered outrage.
"Thanos! You actually called for backup?!" Light screamed at the sky.
He hadn't expected it at all. Just as he was about to secure the win, the orbital strike had obliterated the Four Red Yang Formation and violently blown him away.
Fortunately, he hadn't been at ground zero. The shockwave had merely knocked him down.
A few hundred yards away, amidst a pool of lava, Thanos slowly pushed himself upright. The Mad Titan was virtually undead.
His intricate blue and gold armor was reduced to scorched scraps of metal. He was covered head-to-toe in his own purple blood. There wasn't a single inch of his body that wasn't bruised, battered, or gashed. The sea of Light's clones had been vaporized by the blast, leaving only white smoke drifting in the wind.
Thanos swayed slightly on his feet, but a vicious, open grin split his bloody face. "I suspect the power you suddenly displayed has already reached its absolute limit."
The Titan's combat intuition was flawless. He knew that at the beginning of the fight, the Earthling's raw speed and strength were insufficient. This sudden, godlike surge in power had to be the result of a temporary, potential-burning technique.
Light opened his mouth to retort, but the System's mechanized voice chimed urgently in his mind.
[Warning to Host: Fifty seconds remaining. Please deactivate Ashura Mode manually. Failure to do so will result in complete unconsciousness upon expiration.]
'I'm cutting it close,' Light thought, his heart racing.
He forced himself to stand tall. He stared down the Mad Titan without changing his expression, projecting absolute confidence. "Like I said earlier, Thanos... don't celebrate too early."
Internally, Light was panicking. If he deactivated the Ashura Mode now, his Ninjutsu, Kido, and physical stats would immediately revert to their baseline levels. If he hit Thanos with a regular Energy Ball now, it would just feel like a light sting. He would lose all his capital to fight the Titan.
VMMMM!
The massive turbines of the Sanctuary II roared, whipping up the wind pressure as the colossal warship descended through the clouds, blotting out the sun. The primary cannons hummed with lethal blue energy, locking onto Light.
"Now what, Earthling?" Thanos asked, spreading his massive hands, a maniacal light in his eyes.
The wind pressure from the hovering ship made Light's skin ache. He grimaced. "Same as before."
"You are truly remarkable, boy. I like you," Thanos said, his tone shifting. He looked at Light with genuine appreciation. The sheer combat prowess of this human completely eclipsed the combined might of his Black Order.
A sudden desire to recruit the boy sparked in the Titan's mind.
"Join me," Thanos offered, his voice echoing over the howling wind. "Become my subordinate. Stand by my side, and together, we will share the darkness of the entire universe."
"Oh? Now that's interesting," Light replied, stepping forward slowly. He smiled cheerfully, as if genuinely considering the proposal. "Aren't you afraid I'll go around the galaxy bragging about how the great Overlord stumbled over his own feet fighting me? Or are you just trying to stall until your ship blasts me?"
"You cannot fathom the true aura of an Overlord, boy," Thanos laughed, striking a deeply arrogant, commanding pose. "Tell me. What is your name?"
"Just call me... Kakarot," Light answered.
Light walked right up to Thanos. The two stared at each other, the tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife. Then, unexpectedly, Light extended his right hand for a handshake.
Thanos's eyes gleamed with triumphant satisfaction. He raised his massive, battered hand to accept the gesture of surrender.
[Host, twenty seconds... nineteen seconds...]
As their hands approached, Light suddenly slapped his palm forward, attempting to strike.
Smack!
Thanos wasn't surprised. In fact, he looked exactly like he expected the treachery. He casually caught Light's slap with one hand and firmly gripped Light's wrist with the other. Thanos grinned wickedly. "The strong do not surrender easily. I can see that you and I are exactly the same kind of people."
"But this game is over."
Thanos tightened his grip. The warship above projected a thick beam of blue anti-gravity tractor light down upon them. Both Thanos and Light began to levitate, slowly being drawn up toward the ship. Simultaneously, a secondary cannon locked directly onto Light's chest, glowing with lethal particle energy.
"Over?" Light didn't panic. Instead, he smiled mockingly. "It seems your eyesight isn't very good."
"What—"
Before Thanos could finish the sentence, he suddenly felt a tiny, almost imperceptible tickle inside his right nostril. It felt like a minuscule insect had just crawled up his nose.
Then, his entire demeanor changed.
"I... I am so sorry!" Thanos gasped. "I was wrong! I never should have done this!"
Thanos immediately released Light's wrist. Tears—actual, genuine tears—welled up in the Mad Titan's eyes and poured down his purple cheeks like a fountain. He stumbled backward, his hands covering his face in utter despair.
"I've killed so many people! I'm a monster! I'm a beast!" Thanos wailed, sobbing uncontrollably.
[Nine seconds!]
Light ignored the System prompt, grinning triumphantly.
The Peko Peko Grasshopper—a piece of absolute gag-manga black technology from Doraemon—had successfully breached the Titan's defenses!
When it came to cartoon logic, even a cosmic warlord was just fish on a chopping block.
However...
"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!" Thanos suddenly roared, his face twisting back into a mask of pure, homicidal rage. But in the exact same breath, fresh tears streamed down his face, and he choked out, "I am so sorry I just said that!"
Light's triumphant grin vanished. He was horrified. Thanos hadn't bowed! The Mad Titan's sheer, indomitable willpower was fighting the gag-manga logic!
The black technology was failing!
Light's face turned stark pale. He immediately kicked off the air, using Shunpo to flash violently away from the tractor beam.
Thanos leaped out of the anti-gravity halo, chasing after him like a rabid animal. "HOW DARE YOU HUMILIATE ME LIKE THIS!!" he bellowed, before his face instantly crumpled into guilt. "I was wrong! I'm cursing again! Oh, my heart hurts so much!"
Thanos reached out desperately. "Please! Don't go! Please accept my sincere apology!"
But his other hand formed a fist meant to shatter mountains. "RAAAH! KAKAROT!!!"
Light ran through the air as fast as his legs could carry him. 'How could the Doraemon tech fail?! No, it didn't fail completely. It's half-working!'
Thanos was completely autonomous physically, but his mouth and emotions were locked in a horrific, schizophrenic civil war.
[Five seconds!]
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Light screamed toward the ground.
With a thunderous crash, the dragon erupted from the rubble of the mountain where Thanos had buried it. Its silver scales were scratched, and it favored one leg, but it spread its massive wings and rocketed toward its master.
[Four seconds!]
"Deactivate Ashura Mode!" Light commanded.
He dropped out of the sky, landing heavily on the dragon's broad back. The very next second, it felt as if he were drowning in concrete. An agonizing, unprecedented wave of absolute exhaustion flooded every cell in his body.
[Ashura Mode deactivated. All skills restored to baseline. Due to extreme emotional and physical stimulus, the Sharingan has permanently evolved to the Mangekyō state. Ashura Mode Cooldown: One Week.]
"KILL HIM!!" Thanos roared at the sky, realizing he had lost the physical advantage and was too battered to give chase. He ordered his ship to fire the primary annihilation cannon.
But immediately after shouting the order, Thanos looked up at his own ship in sheer panic. "No! You can't kill him! You can't do this! I need to apologize to him properly!"
"FIRE! FIRE THE CANNON! DO YOU DARE DEFY MY WILL?!"
Thanos was absolutely furious. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He just knew a bug had crawled up his nose, and now he was spewing this pathetic, inexplicable nonsense.
Apologize? His fault? His heart hurts?
He was Thanos! The Mad Titan! How could he ever be wrong? Why would he ever apologize? He had a clear conscience regarding his cosmic destiny!
Listening to Thanos's frantic, contradictory roars over the comms, the Chitauri commander trembled, his finger hovering over the firing console.
"NO! HOW CAN YOU FIRE? IT'S ALL MY FAULT! I CAN'T BEAR THE WEIGHT OF MURDER ANYMORE!" Thanos wailed, collapsing to his knees in the dirt. "WAAAHHH!"
The Mad Titan was literally crying, tears streaming down his face as he chased after the dragon on foot, sobbing incoherently.
"..."
The Chitauri commander was completely at a loss. He wanted to ask his master what to do, but he didn't dare speak. Terrified of disobeying the initial order, the commander slammed his fist down on the launch button, then curled into a fetal position on the floor, questioning his entire reality.
It was the first time he had ever seen Lord Thanos cry. It was... deeply unsettling.
VMMMM!
A blinding flash of starlight erupted from the Sanctuary II's primary cannon, aiming straight for Light and the dragon.
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon opened its maw, preparing to counter with a Burst Stream of Destruction.
"No, don't stop to fire!" Light yelled, gripping the dragon's scales tightly. "Keep flying that way! The Anywhere Door is right there!"
Light pointed toward the pink doorframe standing solitary amidst the glassy plains. He turned around on the dragon's back, forcing his exhausted body to sit up. He stared calmly at the incoming, world-ending beam of particle energy.
A cannon blast of this magnitude was equivalent to a strategic nuclear strike. The dragon's attack wouldn't be able to completely negate it, and Light's baseline Energy Balls were completely useless.
"Kamui!"
Because he had exited the Ashura Mode, his chakra reserves were dangerously low. But the Mangekyō Sharingan remained active. Light's left eye spun furiously. As the invisible spatial waves rippled outward, intense pressure built up behind his eye. Blood began to weep from the corner of his socket, dripping down his cheek. Forcing the use of Kamui with a drained body caused agonizing pain.
Light gritted his teeth, glaring at the incoming beam with all his remaining willpower. A black singularity tore open in the space between them, its gravitational pull expanding rapidly.
WHOOSH!!
The particle cannon beam was simply too massive. As it lased forward, the black dot expanded, but it couldn't swallow the entire attack instantly. The front of the beam struck the singularity and was violently bent, funneled inward. The sheer kinetic force of the beam managed to punch through the gravitational distortion, but it emerged on the other side significantly smaller and vastly slower, a massive chunk of its energy siphoned away into the Kamui dimension.
Light had achieved his goal: delay and diminish.
SWOOSH!
The massive wings of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon narrowly bypassed the weakened, azure particle beam. The beam wasn't a tracking projectile; it relied entirely on overwhelming speed and power. By using Kamui to bleed its momentum, Light gave his dragon the split-second it needed to evade.
Dust flew as the dragon banked sharply, diving toward the ground and landing heavily near the pink doorframe.
Light's entire body screamed in agony. He slid off the dragon's back, his legs instantly giving out as a powerful, numbing sensation shot up from the soles of his feet. He staggered, leaning heavily against the dragon's massive leg to keep from collapsing.
Rrrrgh.
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon lowered its head, nudging Light gently and letting out a soft, concerned whimper.
"I'm fine... just tired," Light rasped, his lips cracked and dry.
He forced his heavy limbs to move, dragging his feet forward. The Anywhere Door stood open before him. Through the frame, he could see the familiar, messy interior of his Chelsea loft.
Just as he lifted his foot to step across the threshold, the Sanctuary II rapidly adjusted its position, aiming its secondary batteries directly at the dragon.
Up on the bridge, Thanos watched the monitors, tears still streaming down his face. (The Chitauri commander who had witnessed his breakdown was currently lying on the floor with a snapped neck. Thanos had a reputation to uphold, after all.)
"That is a spatial portal! Does he have the Space Stone on his person?!" Thanos realized, seeing the distinct, dimensional rift inside the pink doorframe.
"I must let him go... I have done so many wrong things. I can no longer kill. I must apologize for my past sins," Thanos sobbed out loud.
But as the words left his mouth, his demeanor violently snapped again. Thanos's eyes practically cracked with rage. His entire body trembled as his hand hovered over the firing console. He fought his own body, forcing his finger down onto the launch button.
"NO! I MUST REDEEM MYSELF! WHY DO YOU COMMIT MURDER WHEN YOU KNOW IT IS WRONG?!" Thanos screamed at his own hand.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
Thanos was completely schizophrenic, violently oscillating between bloodthirsty warlord and repentant pacifist every second.
Finally, Thanos remembered the sensation of the bug crawling up his nose. If he could just find it and dig it out, he would be free! But how could he reach it? It was deep inside his sinus cavity! Should he rip his own nose off?
Thanos didn't have time to perform self-surgery. He just wanted to obliterate the Earthling!
He slammed his fist onto the console. The particle cannons fired. A barrage of beams fell like meteors, striking the coordinates of the door. Another massive mushroom cloud erupted, turning the surface to glass and lava once more.
When the dust cleared, there was nothing but a smoking crater.
"He's gone."
He was one step too late. Thanos stood frozen on the bridge, staring at the empty monitor. He suddenly realized a bitter truth.
He had lost the battle.
"Oh, that's wonderful! I'm so glad he's safe!" Thanos wept joyfully.
Disgusted by his own words, Thanos raised a massive hand and slapped himself directly across the face.
SMACK!
The crisp, resounding slap echoed through the empty bridge.
The violent impact dislodged a tiny, mechanical bug from his right nostril. Thanos saw it fall, his eyes widening in fury. He reached out to crush it, but the Apology Bug was incredibly agile. The moment it hit his lip, it scrambled up and immediately scurried into his left nostril.
"I have hurt so many people! I need to apologize to them, one by one!" Thanos wailed.
SMACK!
He slapped himself again, harder this time. The bug peeked out, saw the incoming hand, and retreated back deep into his sinuses. Thanos's fingers pinched empty air.
Two bright red handprints were now permanently stamped across the Mad Titan's purple face.
Suddenly, on the monitors, the fabric of space at the center of the blast crater rippled. A tiny, imperceptible sliver of the pink door cracked open.
A single human hand reached out from the void.
The middle finger was raised high, pointing directly at the Sanctuary II.
This blatant, insulting gesture was broadcast in ultra-high definition on the bridge's main screen.
Thanos's pupils shrank to pinpricks. He roared hysterically, slamming his fists into the reinforced glass. "KAKAROT!!! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"
"No, you can't kill! The more you kill, the more sins you accumulate! You should go to his door and apologize immediately!"
"SHUT UP!!!"
Smack! Smack! Smack!
A rapid succession of heavy, self-inflicted slaps echoed endlessly through the halls of the mighty warship.
The Loft, Chelsea
"So tired."
Light Inksworth pulled his arm back, slammed the Anywhere Door shut, and instantly unsummoned the item back into his System Warehouse.
The loft was covered in a fine layer of yellow Titan dust that had blown through the portal. Light collapsed onto the hardwood floor, utterly devoid of strength.
His vision grew increasingly blurred. A heavy, suffocating drowsiness wrapped around his brain. His eyes slowly fluttered shut, and total darkness claimed him.
"Light? Why does your room keep banging?"
"Is something wrong?"
"What? Alice, did you just say Light fainted?!"
The frantic sound of Lorna bursting through the bedroom door was the last thing Light heard before he completely lost consciousness.
Asgard - The Bifrost Observatory
Heimdall, the all-seeing guardian of Asgard, stood upon his dais. A dazzling golden light flared within his eyes as he gazed deep into the cosmos, monitoring the movements of the Nine Realms.
Suddenly, a look of profound, unprecedented horror crossed his stoic face.
Heimdall ripped his hands from his massive sword, turned, and sprinted down the Bifrost bridge toward the royal palace as fast as his legs could carry him.
Along the way, he nearly collided with the Second Prince, Loki. Heimdall merely gave a curt, distracted nod and continued sprinting without slowing down.
Loki stood on the rainbow bridge, a look of deep puzzlement on his pale face. He watched the guardian run, a mischievous, calculating glint flashing in his green eyes.
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Word count: 3164
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