What level of power was truly hidden within the Infinity Stones?
Put simply, their power was far beyond the cosmic level, even surpassing it in certain respects. At the very least, before the Infinity Stones became physical objects, the goddess who wielded their infinite power had already reached such a level.
Hulk and Thanos possessed astonishing physical strength, something that could be judged by comparing them to Thor.
Marvel and DC had published crossover stories before, and in those stories, the standard Thor was essentially comparable to the standard Superman in terms of combat power. Normal Hulk and Thanos were at least in Thor's league as well.
Yet these two beings, each comparable to Superman and equipped with a gauntlet specifically designed with predetermined energy pathways and insertion sequences, were still overwhelmed by the combined power of all six Infinity Stones.
And Axel...
Granted, Axel was stronger than both of them, but he did not possess a container capable of properly regulating the energy of the Infinity Stones.
Grabbing all six Stones without any preparation still came at a tremendous cost.
In an instant, the flesh covering half of Axel's body fell away like severed pieces, leaving the entire right side of his body exposed down to the skeleton.
Even the armor covering Axel's body seemed shaken by the sight. The four components of the Chainmail of Gold conveyed the same message: they had never witnessed such a method of fighting.
Feeling his armor tremble, Axel grinned and took a deep breath.
Air rushed through his nostrils and traveled down toward the exposed flesh in his windpipe. A moment later, it was expelled through his throat and sprayed directly across his bloodied ribs, carrying droplets of blood and fragments of flesh with it.
"Hoo!"
Axel exhaled another breath mixed with bloody foam. He then tightened his skeletal fingers around the six Infinity Stones and looked toward the stunned Thor and Thanos in the distance.
"How about it? Did you see clearly? Do I have five or six?"
As he spoke, Axel chuckled and raised his left hand.
He casually twisted his wrist, and another Cosmic Cube immediately appeared in his palm.
Holding the crystal-clear cube, Axel sat down.
The earth behind him responded to his movement, rising and shaping itself into a chair that supported his body.
He crossed his skeletal leg over the other and began shaking it lazily.
Then he continued provoking them.
"If you think six isn't enough, that's fine. I can still have a seventh.
"If seven isn't enough, that's not a problem either. When it comes to things like Infinity Stones, I can have as many as I want."
The moment his voice fell, Axel's eyes narrowed slightly.
The next instant, hundreds of thousands of crystal-clear Infinity Stones appeared before him, suspended in the air.
Their combined radiance was so intense that the daylight itself seemed to brighten several times over.
Thanos's expression finally changed.
His entire understanding of reality was on the verge of collapsing.
Fortunately, Thanos had never gone to Zaun to study advanced science. Otherwise, he probably would have unleashed dozens of curses in a single breath before screaming, "My mother!"
What had his entire life been for?
He had pursued the six Infinity Stones, intending to use their infinite power to carry out his vision of universal balance.
But had he ever considered what it would mean for someone to truly possess all six?
If six weren't enough...
Then what about more?
It was important to understand that Infinity Stones only became powerless decorations in certain special regions of the Marvel Universe, where their fundamental rules did not function.
But once they entered a proper Marvel Universe, they truly became Infinity Stones.
And now, with so many of them floating above Earth, the effects were already appearing.
The planet's tides began to shift, while the gravity throughout almost the entire Solar System experienced subtle disturbances because of the sheer number of Stones gathered together.
Fortunately, the Stones did not fall to the ground.
If hundreds of thousands of Infinity Stones had crashed into Earth, the tens of billions of people living on the planet would, on average, have hundreds of lives owed to them by the Stones' destruction.
After displaying the countless colorful Stones before Thanos, Axel returned them to their original locations.
Without the overwhelming radiance of the Infinity Stones filling the sky, Thanos finally swallowed.
With considerable difficulty, he asked,
"Who... are you?"
"Don't be silly, buddy. My identity means nothing to you. Your ideals are what matter to you.
"Forget about all that nonsense. Don't you still want the six Stones? Then let my game continue.
"Just like I said before, it's my game now.
"And my game is very simple. I'm giving you a fairer environment, a battlefield where nobody gets to rely on an overwhelmingly powerful item!"
As Axel spoke, his right hand, still gripping the Infinity Stones, slammed downward through the air.
Boom!
He had clearly struck nothing but empty space, yet the impact produced a heavy metallic boom, as though his fist had smashed into solid steel.
The moment Axel's hand descended, the ruined land of Wakanda was forcibly torn away from Earth.
The grasslands, devastated by war and smoke, began reversing their destruction. Then the entire section of land was lifted from the planet and sent directly into outer space.
Even those who had already escaped the battlefield were forcibly dragged back by Axel.
A spaceship appeared over the battlefield at that moment.
The instant it materialized, Rocket, who had been hiding beneath Groot's protection, widened his eyes.
"Holy crap! What kind of power is that? Is that guy actually the God Peter is always talking about?
"I've never seen what God looks like, but that idiot Peter always prays to God whenever Gamora kicks him off the ship.
"He said God is the strongest guy among you Earthlings, so God looks like this... Wow!"
Rocket turned toward Axel in disbelief.
"So Peter's stupidity isn't entirely his own problem? Are all you Earthlings like this?
"Quill, Thor, and now this guy?"
"Damn it!!!"
Before Rocket could finish, the spaceship's hatch opened.
The people who had previously been fighting Thanos on Titan stepped onto the battlefield one after another.
"Oh, holy shit!"
The moment Tony's feet touched the grass, he opened his helmet and cursed.
He looked around in disbelief before continuing,
"I know you guys can't possibly have been sitting around doing nothing, but can someone explain what's going on with Earth?
"The terrain looks like Wakanda, but where the hell did the sun go?!"
"Yeah, where did the sun go?!"
As soon as Tony finished speaking, Clark immediately called out to Axel.
"Axel, being without the sun isn't exactly pleasant. Where did you send us, into space?"
"Haha, Clark, forgive my oversight. I completely forgot about you.
"You haven't reached the point where you can recharge yourself through sunlight indefinitely.
"But this is actually better. This is true fairness. Otherwise, who would want to fight someone like you, a walking perpetual-motion machine?
"In short, we're now outside the Solar System, where sunlight can't reach you. I've used infinite power to create a battlefield that's extremely difficult to destroy. Now you can all fight here!"
As he spoke, Axel gently rubbed his constantly deteriorating chin with his intact left hand.
Meanwhile, Tony, who had just emerged from the spaceship, became increasingly confused.
"Wait, who are you again? What do you mean by 'the battlefield you prepared'?
"And damn it, why have you already taken all the Stones from Thanos, but we're still expected to fight to the death?
"Since you have the Stones, why didn't you end this war immediately? Aren't you a member of humanity?
"Damn it, that's not even all of my questions.
"What I want to know right now is that before this, I was fighting Thanos on Titan.
"So what's the deal with all these Iron Man suits on Earth?!"
Honestly, even as an experienced superhero, Tony couldn't help but feel a headache when he saw the additional Iron Man suits surrounding him.
There was one thing Tony Stark hated more than almost anything else: having his scientific research stolen.
And now, Tony couldn't help but suspect that the thick-browed, big-eared Steve Rogers had secretly stolen his research and built an entire Iron Man army of his own!
In the short time it took to process the situation, Tony had already imagined ten thousand ways Steve could apologize.
Before he could begin cursing Steve and the others, however, the most conspicuous armor in the distance had already removed its helmet.
"Tony!"
The younger Tony awkwardly shrugged at the older, gray-haired Tony while offering a bitter smile.
"Can I just say I got lost?
"My new friends and I were originally trying to travel to another universe."
"Damn it, Tony... Stark. My enemy is myself!"
The older Tony stared at the younger version of himself in disbelief.
"So you cracked the secret of the Mobius strip, reverse-engineered the quantum realm's equations, opened a doorway to another universe, and accidentally ran into me?
"Damn, I always knew I was the smartest guy in the room, but even I didn't realize I could be this impressive!"
The older Tony swallowed hard again, then strode toward his younger counterpart.
After examining the younger Tony's stance, he frowned and pointed toward Clark and the others.
"So who are they? Your new friends, or the little 'Robins' following you around?
"Have you evolved from Iron Man into Family Man, where you need to bring dozens of companions with you every time you leave the house?"
"Damn it, can you be serious for a second? You know this isn't the time for jokes, right?"
The younger Tony rolled his eyes before pointing toward Thanos.
"Thanos is still here. We don't know what Axel is planning, and the crisis in your universe isn't over yet!"
"What?"
Hearing this, the older Tony narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Are you sure the war isn't already over?
"What's even left to fight over?
"I haven't personally witnessed what happens when all six Infinity Stones are gathered, but considering how much trouble Thanos went through to collect them, I always assumed that once he had all six, everything would be over.
"And now, aren't the six Infinity Stones already in your friend's hands?"
"Yes. Didn't you hear what I said? The six Stones are in my friend's hands, not mine!"
The younger Tony interrupted him.
He pointed toward Axel and gave a bitter smile.
"Honestly, I'm not even sure that guy is my friend.
"Can you believe that in my world, he spanked Pepper's ass raw, and he did it more than once!"
"Wow..."
The older Tony immediately fell silent, his expression becoming utterly speechless.
While the two Tonys were talking, Peter Quill charged toward Thanos like a man with absolutely no sense of self-preservation.
Actually, that description might be more appropriate for Drax, whose unusually sensitive nipples had become infamous.
Peter Quill was simply reckless.
"Thanos!"
Star-Lord roared.
His powered boots activated, allowing him to cross dozens of meters in a single stride. In the blink of an eye, he reached Thanos.
"Give me back my Gamora!!!"
As he shouted, he raised the blaster in his hand.
Then, rather than firing it, he swung the weapon and used its stock to deliver an attack that was considerably less impressive than the weapon itself.
Thanos frowned as he watched Star-Lord charge toward him like a crazed animal.
"My pain is no less than yours, and I don't appreciate your choice of words... 'your Gamora.'
"No matter what, Gamora is my daughter. My most beloved... daughter!"
Looking at Peter Quill, Thanos felt as though he were watching some yellow-haired delinquent charging toward him on a motorcycle.
When the gun stock came toward him, Thanos simply slapped it away.
Smack!
The impact sent Peter Quill flying backward, knocking him unconscious.
If Thanos wasn't serious, Peter might have managed to put up a decent fight.
But once Thanos became serious, Peter failing to withstand even a single move was entirely normal.
Just as Star-Lord was about to crash into the ground, Spider-Man leaped forward and caught him.
Peter caught Peter.
But Spider-Man quickly realized that the force behind Star-Lord's body was far greater than expected.
He released his mechanical spider-arms and drove them into the ground behind him, using them to stabilize himself and finally catch Star-Lord safely.
The sequence was chaotic, but it all happened within an instant.
After securing Star-Lord, Spider-Man lifted his mask slightly and exclaimed,
"Wow! I thought we were finished, but I didn't expect reinforcements from another universe!
"God, there are two Tony Starks!
"What about everyone else? Who are the others? I can't wait!
"Could they be Avengers from another universe?"
"It's the Pan-Universal Human Supremacy Alliance, kid."
Lex chuckled as he answered Spider-Man.
He then ordered an armored suit to approach and carry Star-Lord away for treatment.
Watching Star-Lord being taken away by the armor, Spider-Man asked curiously,
"Pan-Universal Human Supremacy Alliance? What's that? At least the name isn't as complicated as S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Pfft, that name is terrible. I don't like it!
"Are humans really that important? What's with the 'Human Supremacy' part?
"What about me? Where's my credit?"
Rocket interrupted Spider-Man and shouted toward Lex in dissatisfaction.
Lex was slightly stunned by the reaction before grinning at Rocket.
"I won't deny your contribution, Raccoon. But I still stand by Human Supremacy."
"Oh, damn! Someone actually recognized my species! Oh ho!
"Buddy, you're officially my friend. I'm Rocket. What's your name?"
Rocket clearly didn't care much about Human Supremacy. What mattered to him was that Lex had correctly identified his species.
He excitedly hurried over to Lex, dusting off the large weapon in his hands as he continued,
"Before today, only Thor and Groot ever got my species right!
"I'll remember your name, buddy. We'll be good friends!"
"Is that so? That's great.
"Besides your species, I also appreciate your intelligence, Rocket.
"As for my name, I'm Alexander Luthor. You can just call me Lex."
===
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