Because Wanda had personally orchestrated Earth's conquest, most humans now viewed her as nothing more than a traitor.
Especially in Sokovia.
The moment the locals saw her arrive, they immediately understood why she had come. The last unconquered region on Earth was finally about to fall.
And they refused to accept it quietly.
They didn't want aliens ruling over them.
But the truly tragic part was that the governments themselves no longer dared resist openly. The massive warships hanging in orbit above Earth had already crushed all military courage.
No nation wanted to become the next example.
So instead, they pushed ordinary civilians to the front lines.
It was cowardly.
But also understandable.
After all, who would dare challenge Thanos directly?
Ordinary people, however, were easy to manipulate. Once a few individuals started shouting, the crowd naturally followed. Fear quickly transformed into collective outrage.
And right now, that exact scene was unfolding around Wanda.
At first, the crowd merely cursed her.
But after noticing that Wanda showed no reaction, they became increasingly aggressive.
Stones flew through the air continuously.
Then came rotten eggs.
Vegetable scraps.
Garbage.
Some people even started laughing arrogantly after seeing Wanda remain motionless.
Eventually, one man in the crowd pulled out a handgun.
But before he could fire—
A massive orange cat suddenly appeared beside him.
Its mouth opened impossibly wide.
Then, in one horrifying motion, it swallowed the armed man whole.
Crunch.
The surrounding crowd instantly descended into complete panic.
"Monster!"
"Run!"
"Help! Something grabbed me!"
"God, what the hell is that thing?!"
Screams erupted everywhere as people fled desperately in all directions.
Yet Wanda barely noticed any of it.
Her mind had already drifted far away.
Back to the past.
She remembered how gentle her mother had been. No matter how little food the family had, her mother always saved the best portions for Wanda and Pietro.
Her father worked constantly and was rarely home, but whenever he returned, he always brought small gifts for them.
That final day…
It had been her birthday.
Her father had brought home the Barbie doll she wanted most.
She still remembered how happy she had been.
Then everything exploded.
The cake shattered apart.
Smoke filled the room.
Her parents threw themselves over her and Pietro instinctively, protecting them with their bodies.
Even now, Wanda could still clearly remember the words printed on the bomb casing.
"Stark Industries. Made in the USA."
That moment destroyed everything.
Afterward, she and Pietro were captured by Hydra and subjected to inhuman experimentation.
Every tragedy in her life had begun with that explosion.
Meanwhile, back in reality, another attack was already unfolding.
Hidden among the fleeing crowd, a masked man suddenly appeared carrying a rocket launcher.
But before he could fire, the Devouring Beast swallowed him too.
Unfortunately, that attack had only been a distraction.
From another direction, a missile suddenly launched straight toward Wanda.
At the critical moment, a massive purple figure appeared directly in front of her.
BOOOOM!
The missile exploded violently against Thanos' body, kicking up a massive cloud of smoke and dust.
The explosion finally snapped Wanda back to reality.
The moment she saw the scene before her, her pupils contracted violently.
For an instant, she felt like she had returned to her childhood nightmare again.
Explosions.
Blood.
Death.
Her parents' mangled corpses lying before her.
The memory slammed into her mind with overwhelming force.
"NO!"
Dark crimson chaos energy exploded from Wanda's body instantly.
Her feet slowly lifted from the ground while terrifying power surged around her uncontrollably.
Then she raised her head and looked coldly toward the crowd.
"You all deserve to die."
The next second, countless stones around the area rose into the air simultaneously.
Under the influence of chaos magic, those tiny stones accelerated like artillery shells.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Bodies were pierced instantly.
Cars exploded apart.
Buildings collapsed under the bombardment.
Blood sprayed across the streets while screams filled the air.
The scene instantly transformed into a massacre.
Yet Wanda still wasn't satisfied.
The chaos energy around her continued growing stronger as her emotions spiraled further and further out of control.
But suddenly—
A massive purple hand rested gently on her shoulder.
"That's enough."
Thanos' deep voice echoed calmly beside her.
"Don't let power cloud your judgment."
Looking at Wanda's current condition, Thanos immediately realized what was happening.
The chaos energy had begun influencing her mind.
Chaos power itself possessed emotional corruption. And at the moment Wanda's emotions became unstable, that influence naturally grew even stronger.
She was being consumed gradually.
A few seconds later, Wanda looked up at the unharmed Thanos standing before her.
The chaos energy around her slowly dispersed.
Then tears suddenly filled her eyes.
"Father…"
She threw herself into his arms immediately.
"I thought… I thought…"
Thanos gently rubbed her head.
"Silly girl. That little explosion can't hurt me."
Wanda clenched his clothes tightly while trembling slightly.
"I know… I just…"
"I was scared…"
After crying for several minutes, Wanda finally looked up again. Her expression became cold once more as she stared toward the surrounding ruins.
"Father," she said hatefully, "I want to destroy this place."
"I'll make them pay for everything."
Thanos simply nodded calmly.
"You can do whatever you want."
"But remember one thing."
"Never allow power to control you."
"There is no such thing as free power in this universe."
Every borrowed power carried a hidden price.
After inheriting part of Nemesis' memories, Thanos now understood many truths hidden behind Earth's superheroes.
The endless emergence of enhanced humans wasn't random at all.
It had been orchestrated deliberately by higher beings.
Earth itself was essentially a breeding ground.
A protected cradle designed to ensure humanity continued surviving and reproducing until the birth of the next generation of gods.
And eventually, even those superheroes would become nourishment for greater existences.
Wanda's chaos power worked the same way.
At first, it merely influenced emotions.
But if she continued losing control, she would eventually be devoured by chaos completely and become part of it forever.
That was the true cost of borrowing chaos energy.
Hellfire worked similarly.
Those who borrowed power from Hell eventually had their souls consumed by it.
The Dark Dimension was no different.
Users who relied on Dark Dimension power would eventually become anchors for that realm until entire universes were swallowed.
In truth, almost every external power source carried a hidden cost.
Only strength obtained through personal cultivation truly belonged to oneself.
But most people didn't care.
Because the price existed in the future.
The power existed now.
And immediate strength was always more tempting.
Wanda nodded slowly after hearing his explanation, though it was obvious she only partially understood.
Still, she clearly understood one thing.
She could do whatever she wanted now.
So without hesitation, she immediately ordered the warships overhead to descend and begin a complete purge.
She wouldn't calm down until her anger was fully vented.
As the massive ships descended through the clouds, high-ranking officials who had secretly observed the situation rushed forward desperately, hoping to beg for mercy.
Thanos ignored all of them completely.
After confirming Wanda was no longer losing control, he activated the Space Stone and returned directly to Sanctuary II.
He trusted Wanda to handle the remaining matters herself.
Back inside Sanctuary II, Thanos sat upon his throne once more.
Soon afterward, several officers pushed the Void Sentinel into the hall inside a reinforced wheelchair.
The man's physical injuries had mostly healed already.
However, the anesthesia still hadn't fully worn off, leaving him unconscious.
This was one of the greatest weaknesses of artificially created superheroes.
Despite possessing overwhelming power, their physical foundations remained fragile.
If it were Thanos himself, even a sedative ten thousand times stronger would have no effect whatsoever.
Meanwhile, while waiting for the Sentinel to wake up, Thanos idly examined the Mind Stone embedded within the Infinity Gauntlet.
Although the Mind Stone contained a fragment of Nemesis' primordial mental power, that energy wasn't infinite. Every use consumed part of it, requiring massive replenishment afterward.
Mental energy itself originated from living thoughts.
Countless fragments of spiritual power were emitted whenever intelligent beings thought, dreamed, imagined, or experienced emotions.
When Thanos first encountered the Mind Stone long ago, he had been dragged into an illusion instantly.
And inside that illusion, every action, every thought, and every emotional fluctuation had generated tiny traces of spiritual energy for the gem to absorb.
Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.
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