Two groups of top-tier heroes from different "movie sets" stood there on Wakanda's ruins, staring at each other, mutually "evaluating" one another. The atmosphere was extremely awkward.
Thanos.
This former "Universal Population Control Commissioner" was currently hovering in mid-air, his face blank with shock.
His brain had completely crashed.
He looked at this "dream team" luxury lineup assembled from the top heroes of two universes.
He felt like he had walked onto the wrong set.
The script wasn't supposed to go like this!
Wasn't he supposed to descend upon Earth carrying supreme destiny, then collect the final Stone amid the despairing wails of mortal heroes, snap his fingers, and complete the universe's "balance" and "purification"?
Why?
Why had it become an "All-Star Weekend Challenge" led by some "demon" who had appeared out of nowhere?
And he was the "mascot" being challenged?
"Hey, you purple sweet potato."
Cloud's voice broke the bizarre silence.
He picked at his ear like a streamer king about to start a teaching session, speaking impatiently to the completely dumbstruck Thanos:
"Are we fighting or not? If not, I'm going to take my friends for some of Wakanda's specialty barbecue."
"I heard the meat tastes especially different when cooked on a vibranium grill."
"You... you all... who exactly are you?!"
Thanos finally found his voice amid the extreme shock. His voice was hoarse and unwilling.
"Us?" Cloud smiled.
He pointed to the "Justice Avengers Alliance" behind him and introduced them in an extremely smug and boastful tone:
"Allow me to make introductions."
"This lady is from Paradise Island, my 'martial arts exchange friend,' Miss Diana."
"This gentleman is from Metropolis, my 'exclusive delivery boy,' Mr. Clark."
"And this gentleman is from Gotham, my 'architectural style connoisseur,' Mr. Bruce."
"As for me..."
A devilish smile spread across Cloud's face.
"I'm their... 'Executive Director.'"
After hearing this introduction, Thanos's heart—that "Overlord's Heart" tempered through countless wars and slaughter, supposedly indestructible—completely crumbled in that moment.
He knew he had lost.
Lost utterly and completely.
Lost in the most inexplicable way.
He hadn't lost to "heroes."
He had lost to a "cheater" from a higher dimension who completely refused to play by the rules!
"Kill me!"
Thanos suddenly let out a roar filled with grief and release!
He gave up all resistance and raised his Infinity Gauntlet.
"Come! Judge me with your laughable 'justice'!"
He would rather die in battle than endure this ultimate humiliation of being toyed with like a monkey!
However...
Cloud still refused to follow his script.
"Kill you? No, no, no." Cloud shook his head. "That would be too easy on you."
"You destroyed my hot dog stand, scared my women, and ruined my vacation mood."
"How could so many 'debts' be settled with a simple 'death'?"
With that, he snapped his fingers.
A power of law even more bizarre and unreasonable than the previous spatial annihilation instantly enveloped Thanos!
[Causality Law: Infinite Loop!]
Thanos's body shuddered violently!
He found that he hadn't died.
But the "time" around him began cycling in a way he couldn't comprehend!
He saw himself return to the moment he had just descended upon Earth.
Then he saw that devilish man appear.
Then he saw those three "gates" to hell open.
Then he heard that unforgettable sentence... "Do you... still want... to snap your fingers?"
Once, twice, a thousand times, ten thousand times...
He was trapped in that most humiliating, most despairing "one minute" before his "defeat"!
For all eternity, never to escape!
"Trash, disposal complete."
Cloud dusted off his hands as if he had done something utterly trivial.
Then he turned, preparing to have a good bonding session with his "new and old friends."
However!
Just then!
BOOM—RUMBLE—RUMBLE—!
The entire Earth—no, the entire solar system, the entire galaxy—began to tremble violently!
A "will" even more vast, more ancient, more cold than Thanos with four Stones descended like invisible tides from every corner of the universe!
The sky was no longer blue.
It had transformed into a bizarre "blue screen" state filled with "data streams" and "code"!
"Warning! Warning! Unknown universal law invasion detected!"
"Warning! Irreversible deviation in timeline detected!"
"Initiating... 'Universal Cleanup Program'!"
A system notification—emotionless, machine-synthesized, so vast it froze the soul—resounded in everyone's minds!
Then, before everyone's terrified and disbelieving gazes—
On that "blue screen" sky, several humanoid silhouettes appeared, so massive they defied description in any human language!
Some stood hundreds of thousands of meters tall—a planet before them would be nothing but a marble.
They wore multicolored armor filled with unknown technology and mysterious runes.
Their faces had no features at all—just absolute smooth nothingness.
They stood silently against the cosmic backdrop.
But the absolute divine might they radiated—combining "creation" and "destruction" as one—made every god-level being present—Thor, Superman, Diana—feel an instinctive submission and trembling from the depths of their souls!
They were the universe's gardeners.
They were the seeders of life.
They were also the merciless, absolute cleaners!
—The Celestials!