The moment Zeus heard there were survivors, his expression changed immediately.
"Bring them in! Now!"
A trace of excitement finally appeared on the King of Gods' face. After losing forty-three planets without understanding what was happening, even the smallest clue had become incredibly valuable.
Moments later, several divine guards hurried into the meeting hall carrying a god nearly three meters tall.
Not supporting him.
Carrying him.
The sight instantly caused everyone present to frown.
The survivor's body showed no visible wounds, yet strange black energy tentacles continuously emerged from beneath his skin. They twisted and squirmed like living parasites, occasionally phasing in and out of existence.
Every time the black tendrils appeared, the survivor's body visibly shrank.
His flesh dried out.
His aura weakened.
It was obvious those tentacles were devouring his life force and divine energy continuously.
Several nearby gods were constantly channeling energy into the survivor just to keep him alive. Without that support, he would have died long ago.
Even so, the survivor had already fallen into a deep coma.
Zeus immediately descended from his throne and approached the injured god personally. His expression became extremely solemn as he stared at the nearly transparent black tendrils.
The other gods quickly gathered around as well.
One of them suddenly frowned.
"Wait… this energy feels familiar."
Another god's eyes widened immediately.
"These tentacles… isn't this Hisos' power?"
"Yes! It's definitely him!"
"But wasn't Hisos banished from this universe ages ago?"
"Could this be his successor?"
"No wonder entire planets are disappearing. This absolutely looks like Hisos' methods!"
As the gods realized who might be responsible, the atmosphere inside the hall became even heavier.
Even though most of them had never personally encountered Hisos before, everyone knew the legends surrounding him.
The Titans, former rulers of the Zeus Galaxy, had nearly been exterminated by that monster in ancient times. Their destruction was precisely what allowed the Olympian gods to rise afterward.
According to legend, Hisos had once reached the level of a true universal entity.
A walking apocalypse.
A monster that had nearly slaughtered an entire universe by himself.
Eventually, three supreme beings—Agamotto, Oshtur, and Hoggoth—joined together to form the Vishanti and banished Hisos beyond the outer universe.
If the Vishanti had not appeared back then, countless civilizations would have been wiped out completely.
At that moment, Zeus reached out and grabbed one of the black energy tendrils directly.
The dark energy immediately wriggled violently against his hand.
Closing his eyes slightly, Zeus began sensing the energy inside it carefully.
Several seconds later, he slowly opened his eyes again and released a quiet breath.
"Fortunately," he said calmly, "this successor has only reached the Heavenly Father level."
"He hasn't surpassed us yet."
The moment those words were spoken, the surrounding gods finally relaxed slightly.
Then the entire hall erupted into discussion.
"We need to activate the Level One war protocol immediately!"
"We must find him before he grows stronger!"
"Yes! Eliminate him completely before he becomes another Hisos!"
"God King, please make a decision quickly!"
The hall became increasingly noisy.
However, Zeus remained silent.
Instead, he lowered his head and began thinking carefully.
He didn't believe the appearance of Hisos' successor was a coincidence.
Especially not now.
After all, Hisos himself had originally come from the Milky Way.
And now, enormous changes were occurring there.
Thanos had risen rapidly.
Asgard had fallen.
The Alliance of Gods was losing influence.
And at the same time, Hisos' successor suddenly appeared.
There had to be some connection.
Several minutes later, Zeus finally looked up toward the anxious gods surrounding him.
"Activate the Level One war preparedness plan."
"At all costs, locate the successor of Hisos."
"Also…"
His gaze darkened slightly.
"Bring every remaining Asgardian god here immediately."
Their understanding of the Milky Way remained limited. If they wanted more information about what was happening there, the surviving Asgardians were currently their best source.
As Zeus' commands spread throughout the galaxy, the entire Zeus system rapidly entered a state of emergency.
Countless fleets mobilized.
Divine armies prepared for war.
The Alliance of Gods officially began searching for the successor of Hisos.
Meanwhile, ten days later…
Inside the Milky Way.
A massive spatial fluctuation suddenly appeared near the surface of the red supergiant Stevenson 2-18.
Then Thanos stepped out slowly.
The terrifying stellar matter clinging to his body disintegrated instantly under the pressure radiating from him. Residual nuclear material scattered into space before being erased completely.
The power of ten million stars had finally been exhausted.
But compared to before, Thanos himself had clearly changed.
His aura had become heavier.
Denser.
Even space around him seemed slightly unstable now.
After glancing back at the dying red supergiant one final time, he activated the Space Stone and disappeared.
Moments later, he returned directly to Temple Number Two.
Sitting upon his throne once again, Thanos began reviewing everything that had happened during the past ten days.
First was Jean Grey.
The Phoenix Force inheritor had already been completely imprisoned by the scientists under his command. As their energy extraction technology matured, Jean had essentially become a living battery.
The energy she generated was now enough to sustain a large portion of Temple Number Two's operations continuously.
Next came the Void Sentinel.
After being dragged away by his subordinates and injected with massive amounts of sedatives, the man remained unconscious with absolutely no signs of waking up.
As for the war front, everything was progressing smoothly.
Under the pressure of Laufey, Hela, the Ancient One, and the Black Order, the Alliance of Gods had begun shrinking their defensive perimeter steadily.
However, new problems were already emerging.
Several forces inside the Panlong Galaxy had started eyeing his territory greedily.
Recently, numerous "space pirates" had begun appearing near border systems.
Naturally, Thanos immediately understood what was happening.
Neither side fully understood the other's strength, so both were sending disguised subordinates to probe each other carefully.
If one side appeared weak, war would begin immediately.
This was a common tactic in interstellar politics.
In fact, Thanos himself had used similar methods countless times before.
After considering the situation briefly, he decided to send the Black Order back to the Panlong Galaxy while leaving Laufey, Hela, and the Ancient One to continue suppressing the Alliance of Gods.
Just as he prepared to summon the Void Sentinel again, Deep Blue's voice suddenly echoed through the hall.
"Master, Miss Wanda's emotional state appears unstable."
Thanos frowned instantly.
Not because of Wanda herself.
But because Deep Blue had actually interrupted him over a personal matter for the very first time.
Previously, he had already given explicit instructions.
Unless something truly important happened, Deep Blue was not supposed to disturb him.
So why had it suddenly violated that order?
A dangerous thought immediately appeared in Thanos' mind.
Ultron.
After all, Ultron had once been manipulated by Death herself.
If one existence could interfere with artificial intelligence, why couldn't another?
Could someone be influencing Deep Blue now?
Still, after thinking about it briefly, Thanos couldn't understand the purpose behind such interference.
Even if Deep Blue betrayed him, he had no intention of allowing the AI access to his body or authority core anyway.
In the end, he decided to act cautiously first.
He immediately summoned an executive officer.
"You," Thanos said coldly, "take people with you and format Deep Blue completely."
The officer immediately knelt on one knee.
"Yes, my lord."
Without asking any unnecessary questions, the officer turned and left instantly.
Deep Blue's network existed across nearly all of Thanos' territory. Formatting it completely wasn't something that could be done instantly. Every host system would need to be disconnected and reset one by one.
After issuing the order, Thanos spread his mental power across Earth.
Very quickly, he located Wanda.
But the moment he saw her current situation, his expression darkened slightly.
The next second, he vanished from the throne.
On Earth.
Eastern Europe.
Sokovia.
Wanda stood silently in front of a ruined building.
A crimson leather jacket covered her upper body while black leggings outlined her slender figure. Red chaos energy flickered faintly inside her eyes as she stared blankly at the wreckage before her.
Around her, countless ordinary civilians screamed curses endlessly.
"Traitor! Get off Earth!"
"You're a monster!"
"We don't want you here!"
"Witch! You killed everyone!"
Stones continued flying toward her from the crowd.
Some hit her shoulders.
Others struck her arms and legs.
Yet Wanda didn't react at all.
She could have slaughtered everyone here with a single thought if she wanted to.
But she didn't move.
Because this place had once been her home.
And the people throwing stones at her now had once been her neighbors.
Her conquest of Earth was almost complete already. Most resistance forces had been eradicated entirely.
Sokovia was one of the final regions left unconquered.
That was why she had returned here today.
But instead of welcome, she was greeted with hatred.
With fear.
With disgust.
Still, Wanda could have endured all of that.
The thing that truly broke her was something else.
The crowd had destroyed the house behind her.
The house she had painstakingly repaired herself.
Her childhood home.
Looking at the shattered ruins now, Wanda felt as though she had returned to that nightmare from years ago.
.....
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