The surviving Avengers immediately tensed when they saw Locke place the Infinity Stones into the Gauntlet on his left hand. Fear spread across every face as they instinctively prepared for another snap.
But something unexpected happened.
Nothing.
The six Infinity Stones remained dull and lifeless, looking no different from ordinary colored rocks embedded into a metal glove. There was no cosmic energy, no terrifying pressure, and no reality-warping power.
The battlefield suddenly fell silent.
Then realization appeared on the Avengers' faces almost simultaneously.
Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet was incompatible with their universe.
Either it was fake, or it came from another reality where the Infinity Stones functioned differently. Whatever the explanation was, the result remained the same.
He couldn't use them.
Only Locke understood the actual truth.
Without the support of those higher-dimensional cosmic entities maintaining the multiversal connection between the stones, Infinity Stones from one universe simply couldn't function properly in another. The restriction had always existed.
In fact, the answer had been revealed long ago.
Now the Infinity Stones had merely returned to their original state after losing the assistance of those unseen beings.
Not far away, Hulk stared at the Gauntlet with a strange expression.
Something about this situation felt familiar. It was as if he were standing at the edge of an important realization, yet some invisible wall prevented him from fully understanding it.
The answer was right there.
But he couldn't grasp it.
Before Hulk could continue thinking, Locke moved again.
The Tyrant Blade rose casually before slashing toward Doctor Strange.
Strange reacted instantly. Golden magical shields exploded into existence in front of him, layering themselves together in desperate defense.
It didn't matter.
Locke's blade cleaved through every shield effortlessly before continuing straight through Doctor Strange's body.
Blood sprayed across the battlefield as the Sorcerer Supreme was split cleanly in half.
The moment Locke turned his attention toward Hulk, a scarlet figure suddenly appeared in front of him with both arms spread wide.
It was Wanda.
Not his Wanda.
Not the daughter he knew.
This was the Scarlet Witch of this universe.
For the first time during the massacre, Locke looked mildly surprised.
But only for a second.
Scarlet energy erupted around Wanda as Chaos Magic surged violently from her body. The surrounding air twisted beneath the pressure while her eyes glowed crimson.
"You're not touching him!" she shouted.
Locke answered with a single slash.
Wanda pushed her magic to its limit, trying to stop the Tyrant Blade midair. Crimson energy wrapped around the weapon desperately, warping space itself under the pressure of her power.
It changed nothing.
The blade cut straight through the Chaos Magic as though it didn't exist.
Then it cut through Wanda.
Her eyes widened in disbelief as her body split apart before collapsing onto the ruined earth below.
Locke glanced once at Hulk's crippled arm before losing interest entirely.
There was no enjoyment in killing someone already broken.
Without another word, he charged toward the remaining survivors.
What followed could no longer even be called a battle.
It was extermination.
One superhero after another died beneath Locke's blade while Wakandan soldiers and Kamar-Taj sorcerers fell by the thousands around them. Bodies piled across the battlefield so quickly that rivers of blood began flowing through the shattered ground.
Within less than a minute, tens of thousands were slaughtered.
Far away from the massacre, Hulk continued staring blankly ahead.
That strange feeling inside him grew stronger and stronger.
He knew there was a hidden truth buried beneath everything happening around him. Some invisible deception clouded his thoughts, preventing him from seeing clearly.
The frustration became unbearable.
Yet he still couldn't understand why.
At that moment, Locke casually wiped the blood from the Tyrant Blade and surveyed the battlefield around him.
"Not bad," he muttered with satisfaction. "Still haven't gotten rusty."
Then another idea suddenly appeared in his mind.
Since this wasn't his universe, what would happen if he destroyed Earth here?
After all, Death had only forbidden him from destroying the blue planet in his own universe. She never said anything about Earths from other realities.
True, there wasn't much practical benefit in doing it.
But he was curious.
More importantly, he wanted to see whether destroying an entire planet would force those hidden cosmic entities to reveal themselves.
Maybe he could even squeeze some useful information out of them.
Once the thought formed, Locke immediately acted on it.
His body shot upward through the atmosphere and into outer space. The planet rapidly shrank beneath him while terrifying destructive energy gathered inside his body.
Dark purple power surged violently around his arm before condensing into a massive sphere of annihilation in his palm.
The surrounding space trembled under the pressure alone.
Then suddenly—
A powerful sense of danger struck him.
It felt as though some unimaginable horror would descend the moment he released the attack.
Locke instantly understood.
The Celestials were warning him.
But he didn't care.
If those cosmic gods truly possessed the ability to kill him directly, they wouldn't have needed to borrow Dormammu's power against him before. And if they could interfere freely whenever they wanted, there would be no reason for them to cultivate superheroes and manipulate events from the shadows.
Clearly, there were rules restricting them.
As long as he didn't actively seek them out or directly violate whatever higher laws governed existence, they couldn't casually erase him themselves.
Just as Locke prepared to throw the destructive energy toward Earth, darkness suddenly swallowed his vision.
Everything disappeared.
The stars vanished.
The planet vanished.
Even time itself seemed to vanish.
When his sight returned, he found himself standing within a black void.
Then he saw it.
A massive shadow nearly four meters tall stood silently before him. Its body appeared hazy and indistinct, almost unreal, yet metallic armor covered its enormous form while two glowing blue eyes radiated cold cosmic light.
A Celestial.
The being didn't speak immediately.
Instead, an overwhelming pressure instantly crashed down onto Locke.
It felt as though an ancient cosmic predator had locked onto him completely. The sheer aura alone seemed capable of tearing worlds apart.
Even Locke's body instinctively tensed beneath the pressure.
But he also knew something important.
The other side couldn't kill him.
So he simply stared back coldly without saying a word.
After several silent seconds, the Celestial finally spoke.
"My name is Gamir," the giant being said calmly. "I am one of the Celestials responsible for monitoring Earth."
Locke felt slightly surprised by the other party's attitude.
There was no arrogance.
No condescension.
The Celestial was actually introducing itself properly.
"My name is Thanos," Locke replied evenly. "Though I prefer people call me Thanos."
Gamir nodded slowly.
"I know who you are," the Celestial said. "Descendant of the Eternal Titans. Servant of Death."
Locke's eyes narrowed instantly.
The small amount of goodwill he'd felt disappeared immediately.
He hated that title.
He was nobody's servant.
"Do you need something?" Locke asked coldly. "If not, I'll continue what I was doing."
Gamir remained completely calm.
"Spare this Earth," the Celestial said, "and I'll give you information about the Doctor Strange in your universe. I can even tell you how to avoid the influence of the Time Stone."
Locke looked at the towering being like he'd just heard something stupid.
"Why would I care about Doctor Strange?"
He had never been blindly loyal to Death. Unlike the version of Thanos from countless other timelines, he wasn't obsessed with carrying out her mission at all costs.
That was exactly why he hadn't rushed to hunt down Doctor Strange in his own universe.
Even collecting all six Infinity Stones didn't mean he intended to fulfill Death's wishes.
Gamir's glowing eyes seemed almost amused.
"Don't you understand yet?" the Celestial asked indifferently. "The reason Death refuses to let you touch Earth in your universe is because she intends to sell you for a better price later."
Locke's expression immediately darkened.
Although he didn't fully trust Gamir's words, the suspicion already existed deep inside him.
Everything about Death's recent behavior had felt strange.
Yes, she'd shown interest in him before. But recently, her attitude had become far too generous. Too intimate. She'd even tried seducing him several times.
Locke didn't believe he was charming enough to genuinely move a cosmic entity like Death.
Who was she?
A primordial god who had existed across eight universal eras.
An omnipotent cosmic being.
Across endless ages, there must have been countless men more talented, more powerful, and more handsome than him. So why him?
Why had he managed to affect her when nobody else could?
Unless—
Unless Gamir was telling the truth.
Suddenly, even the information Death had revealed earlier began feeling suspicious, almost as if she'd deliberately used it to suppress his doubts.
After thinking silently for several moments, Locke finally looked up at the Celestial again.
"Deal."
At that moment, he fully understood why Gamir had been so confident from the start.
Because Locke simply didn't dare gamble otherwise.
.....
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