"Halt, Thanos. This is not a place thou shouldst come."

Within this empyrean where neither direction nor depth nor any measurable concept could be defined, a woman’s voice echoed out. It was slightly husky, filled with a soul-melting seduction.

"A tiny mortal creature has crossed the forbidden boundary of the mundane world and arrived within our domain. Interesting. Interesting. Interesting."

Three consecutive declarations of interest. It was the youngest voice among the vast shadows.

"[Death], is this the apostle you chose? No... not him. What about that amusing human? Which one do you favor more?" Following the youthful voice came a mature, soft, enchanting tone, like that of a breathtakingly alluring beauty. "[Eternity], because of this young Titan’s recklessness, your gardener servants have already collapsed into oblivion."

"...Then restore... the rules... must not be broken." A drifting voice like the self-recitation of the cosmos itself, devoid of joy or sorrow. "Thanos of Titan, follower of [Death]... self-terminate."

"Matters of the mortal world shall be restrained by mortal beings themselves. But gods... interferers of the universe... must be reshaped."

"Agreed." This was [Death]’s response.

...

"Ghh—ha—"

This was an intertwined conversation between the primordial gods of cosmic creation. The matter contained within any one of Their abstract incarnations surpassed the endless overlapping of countless universes, beyond the limits describable by mortal language and beyond the conceptual boundaries mortal logic could ever reach.

Merely hearing the lingering echoes of Their divine voices caused a sudden, violent pain to flood Thanos’ entire mind. He cried out involuntarily and nearly collapsed.

An invisible force instantly gripped Thanos’ soul. It felt as though an icy iron clamp had seized his throat. He could not breathe. Even time itself seemed unable to flow.

He struggled desperately, pushing the authority of the Gemstones to its absolute limit, yet he remained weak and insignificant, incapable of stirring even the slightest ripple.

Even with all six Infinity Stones embedded within him, the ultimate excavation of Eternal bloodline potential, the limitless breakthrough power granted by an extraterrestrial heavenly mandate [Limiter], as well as the Sentry power "gate," seeds of Chaos magic, and fragments of Phoenix Force host characteristics he had absorbed after battling the Divine Empress Order...

One could say that Thanos had already stepped firmly onto the divine path, surpassing the ultimate boundary of mortals, reaching the realm of his ancestors and even exceeding the highest peak they had once attained.

Yet before the majesty of true gods of reality, he was still this fragile.

No different from an infant in a marketplace.

Like a little tyrant who had just dominated kindergarten, only to step outside the school gates and instantly leap across countless weight classes onto the stage of heavyweight boxing champions.

"Lady Death, I fulfilled my promise."

The declaration that nearly crushed his soul and erased his thoughts forced Thanos onto one knee, clutching his head with both hands. The six Gemstones embedded into the flesh and energy of his left hand radiated brilliant light simultaneously, barely allowing him to maintain coherent thought.

He understood.

He had no interest in hearing words akin to "what belongs to God belongs to God, what belongs to Caesar belongs to Caesar." All he knew was that [Death] had effortlessly discarded the fruits of everything he had fought for.

Namely—the complete equality, justice, and indiscriminate salvation regardless of wealth or race that he sought to achieve had been castrated.

And she had rejected him.

"Why? Why should I not come here? What do you mean by this...?"

The hope he had carried like sunlight after a storm was smashed apart in an instant. His mentality shook violently. Enduring the agony threatening to drive him mad, enduring the torment of both body and soul, Thanos roared:

"I saved the lives of the cosmos! I brought a new era to the universe! I should have become one of you! Why can I not come to your side?! I gave up everything! You said it yourself! You came to meet me because of that!"

"You truly are arrogant, Thanos."

It sounded like a skeleton speaking. Facing Thanos, who was overflowing with confidence and self-righteous conviction, [Death]’s voice carried no trace of emotion whatsoever.

Thanos froze in place.

"Pfft—!"

A sudden suppressed laugh drew the attention of the gods of reality and made the burden upon Thanos’ soul and every concept composing the Titan named Thanos even heavier.

Ripples suddenly spread through the air.

A dazzling outline of starlight abruptly manifested. A blurred, radiant figure appeared at the horizon, encompassing all things and filling the emptiness.

"Love. How wonderful."

Her eyes opened.

Eyes more catastrophic and blood-soaked than the collapse of an entire multiverse.

Selene breathed greedily of the concepts belonging to the [Marvel Universe].

"The newborn [First Firmament]."

The youngest primordial god, [Oblivion], regarded Selene with wary vigilance as she manifested from another world.

This had nothing to do with hostility or contradiction. This was the unified attitude held toward Selene by every cosmic creator god and secondary abstract cosmic entity other than [Eternity], including [Infinity], [Death], and [Oblivion].

After all, the [First Firmament] was the original [Eternity]. The undivided [Eternity]. The sole unified whole that contained all Their concepts and abstract existences.

None of Them wished to be devoured completely, lose Their forms, and have Their abstract concepts seized away—even if that meant returning to Their original positions.

(PS: To use an imperfect analogy, the relationship between the [First Firmament] and the other cosmic creator gods is similar to the relationship between the Ten-Tails God Tree combined with the Ōtsutsuki and the Nine Tailed Beasts in Naruto.)

With Selene’s arrival, even the stable and silent empyrean began to buckle beneath the strain. Void storms howled through the realm from time to time, while violet-red cracks spread high across the curtain of existence.

These countless fractures occasionally emitted strange ghostly light, overflowing with violent Honkai energy as they hung overhead.

Although the extraction of such energy was beneficial to the universe itself, the quantity was simply too enormous. The current universe already possessed the complete status of the Five Cosmic Gods. Facing Selene, whose existence was equivalent to a unified amalgamation of all five divine statuses forcibly squeezing into reality, it simply could not contain her.

"According to the contract, thy right of observation—"

"I have the right to interfere."

Selene directly interrupted [Eternity]’s accusation. A gloomy radiance appeared upon her face as she smiled faintly, both gorgeous and awe-inspiring.

"And now, I need to use it."

As she spoke, Selene looked around the four domains.

The black-robed woman was [Death].

The graceful naked woman with platinum-white skin was [Infinity].

The humanoid figure woven from the stars of the cosmos was [Eternity].

The gaunt purple-robed shadow of emptiness was [Oblivion].

Galactus was absent. Although ranked among the cosmic creator gods, he was not an abstract conceptual entity. Many habitually excluded him from the ranks of true creator gods.

As for everything else... that could wait until he had eaten his fill.

"I lost my apostle in this world. I require him to become my new apostolic representative."

How does one destroy a person?

By shattering their hopes. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

By crushing their pride.

By making the person they love and worship most personally deny everything they sacrificed for.

By destroying or altering the fruits they exchanged everything to obtain.

Selene looked toward [Death].

"Agreed."

There was not the slightest attachment.

Because this was a forbidden truth sealed away by Marvel’s God "OAA." Even as cosmic creator gods, They did not know of Thanos’ unique heavenly mandate—the path of unification and the burial of all gods.

To the current universe’s [Death], the Thanos of this timeline was merely a small amusement within an endlessly tedious existence.

She had no interest in this Thanos whatsoever.

Even if Thanos offered half the life in the universe to Her...

Even if he unexpectedly sacrificed Eternity’s gardener Celestials and other divine races before Her...

She remained unmoved.

"..."

"..."

As though his heart had turned to dead ashes, Thanos said nothing more.

An unprecedented calmness.

The calmness of death itself.

He closed his eyes and silently remained kneeling on one knee within this empty supreme realm.

He had been abandoned.

Discarded and handed over to another cosmic creator god.

He was nothing more than a toy of the gods.

Love.

Devotion.

Sleeping forever within Lady Death’s embrace after death.

All of it had merely been his own wishful thinking.

Accidentally glimpsing Lady Death’s incarnation.

Falling in love at first sight.

Deeply loving Her.

All of it had merely been his own cheapness and self-deception.

This false love had never belonged to him.

And the love that truly did belong to him...

He himself had personally strangled it not long ago.

"You are the god of ’Gorgon,’ aren’t you? Thank you for your mercy."

Thanos struggled to raise his head toward Selene and spoke with certainty.

"Oh?" Selene revealed an interested expression.

"I learned one thing from that foolish illusion—"

Heavy.

Thanos revealed a crazed expression unlike anything before. Empty, yet hideously savage.

He grinned.

"That all things are vanity!"

"If the direction of one’s efforts is wrong, then the harder one struggles, the more meaningless it becomes! To realize a grand ambition, one must surpass the gods themselves! I am absolutely not your toy!!"

—

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