The battle between Thanos and Hulk entered its climax the moment they clashed. Hulk came in swinging his axe. Against a pure warrior like Thanos, holding back wasn't even in his vocabulary.
"HULK SMASH!"
He brought the axe down in an overhead strike. Thanos saw the opening, Hulk's guard was down. One well-placed thrust could seriously wound or even kill the green giant. But taking that shot meant eating a face full of axe in return.
Of course, he had no intention of trading blows with Hulk
He deflected the strike with an upward slash, his double-bladed sword catching the axe mid-swing.
But the deflection pissed him off. How was this green moron holding him back? The mighty Thanos, reduced to defensive maneuvers against some gamma-irradiated ape?
His anger translated into raw power. The force behind his blade doubled, and suddenly Hulk was being pushed back, roaring in frustration.
This wasn't Dragon Ball. There was no "anger equals power-up" mechanic in the Marvel universe. Every ounce of strength came from a source.
Across the battlefield, Professor Hulk watched the fight with growing self-doubt eating at him.
"That's supposed to be me? What did he eat to get that strong?"
The memory of his own encounter with Thanos made his scalp tingle. The gap had been like an adult beating a toddler. Thanos had traumatized him so badly that he had refused to come out for five years.
Thanos lifted his foot and drove a kick into Hulk's chest. Even through the specialized armor, the breastplate caved inward. Against absolute force, no metal was truly unbreakable.
Hulk went flying, hit the ground, and rolled a good thirty meters before coming to a stop.
Thanos spat blood onto the ground. Above them, his warship disgorged thousands of soldiers, his most loyal followers.
Mario walked over to where Hulk was picking himself up. "You good? Take a breather. I've got something fun for you to play with in a minute."
Dealing with Hulk required the same approach as handling an angry toddler, appeasement and distraction. After all, Hulk was basically just a three-meter-tall child with anger management issues.
He had already reserved one of the Black Order members specifically for him: Cull Obsidian. The perfect punching bag.
He looked past Thanos at the army pouring from the warship. Every single soldier crumbled to ash mid-stride. Only the Black Order remained standing.
He grinned at Thanos, who spun around, finally sensing something was wrong. The sky was filled with falling ash.
Hundreds of black dots streaked toward his mothership. Ivan leading his research team, with Tony tagging along for the ride.
"Why?" he asked in a flate tone.
Mario knew what he meant. Why didn't you just kill me too?
"No reason. I just wanted to see how strong you really are."
A figure in dark red leather shot past his head, it was Scarlet Witch. She glared at Thanos with pure hatred.
"You took everything from me!"
Thanos met her gaze. "I don't even know who you are."
"You will!"
Chaos energy gathered in her hands. With no large objects nearby to manipulate, she concentrated the power into twin beams of red energy and fired directly at him.
Thanos spun his blade like a helicopter rotor, deflecting her attacks. Even knowing he might fail here, he refused to give up. He pressed forward with his blade, momentum carrying him toward her.
Behind him, the Black Order charged to his defense. Their faces showed fear, the Infinity Stones had shaken them badly, but loyalty won out.
Mario waved at his own team. "Don't let them interrupt Thanos' quality time."
"Got it."
"No problem."
Kaecilius opened a portal and stepped through, materializing directly in front of Ebony Maw. The telekinetic was airborne, floating toward Thanos, when he suddenly found himself face-to-face with an armored sorcerer.
"Just as Mario said... you have an elegance most mages lack."
Before Maw could respond, both figures vanished, pulled into the Mirror Dimension.
Strange and the other sorcerers recognized what had happened immediately. His expression twisted with confusion.
"His strength matches the fallen Kaecilius from our timeline?"
He couldn't make sense of it. He already knew Mario and the others were from a parallel world, their own previous timeline.
Kaecilius shouldn't be this strong, he thought.
The remaining four Black Order members exchanged glances and made a decision, get to Thanos, fast.
But before they could move, Blade materialized in their path. Black armor, silver sword, and two vampire bats perched on his shoulders. Pearl and Stacy had come along for the excitement.
He pointed at Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight. "You two. Let's dance."
Glaive laughed at the challenge. "I'll mount your head on my wall."
He turned to the others. "Help Lord Thanos. I'll catch up in a minute."
Drawing his double-bladed glaive, he launched himself at Blade. The two warriors clashed, while Pearl and Stacy intercepted Midnight.
THUD.
Pearl's massive body hit the ground hard enough to crack the earth. Stacy stood beside him in red leather armor, the contrast between beauty and bulk was almost comical.
Pearl drew his longsword and licked his lips. "Daywalker told us about you two. Gotta say, I never thought I'd get to taste alien blood. Bet it's got some interesting notes."
He charged at her, but Midnight was faster. Her energy spear pierced straight through his gut.
She withdrew immediately, keeping her distance as Pearl clutched the wound.
Pearl smiled despite the hole in his torso. Red energy, eerily similar to Scarlet Witch's chaos magic, began glowing around his hand. "Nah. This is just the warm-up."
Midnight watched Pearl warily, fully on guard. Suddenly, she felt weakness flood her body. The blood in her veins began flowing outward, pulled by some invisible force toward Pearl.
"Oh yeah, that's the good stuff,"he groaned as the stolen blood accelerated his healing. The wound in his gut closed in seconds. He grinned at Midnight, then shouted toward Glaive. "Hey! That woman tastes amazing!"
Mario had briefed everyone thoroughly before the battle, like abilities, relationships, everything about the Black Order.
Glaive faltered mid-strike. That half-second of distraction was all Blade needed. His silver sword went on the offensive, targeting vital points. Even caught off-guard, Glaive' superior strength allowed him to parry every strike.
Once he regained his rhythm, he snarled at Pearl. "I'm going to eat you. One bite at a time."
Pearl just laughed and rolled his spherical body forward like a wrecking ball. Midnight dodged easily, the blood drain hadn't weakened her that much.
But hiding behind Pearl's bulk, a blade shot out at a wicked angle, aimed at her heart.
She twisted at the last instant, barely avoiding the strike from Stacy, who'd been concealed behind Pearl's mass the entire time.
When the surprise attack failed, Stacy showed no disappointment. Her smile never wavered.
Pearl's hands glowed red again. "Incoming!"
Boom!
The stolen blood detonated in an area-of-effect explosion. Even with her speed, Midnight couldn't dodge the dense spray of blood droplets.
While that exchange played out, Mario tapped Hulk on the shoulder and pointed at Obsidian, who was moving to assist Midnight.
"See that big dumb-looking guy?"
Hulk's eyes widened dangerously. "HULK?!"
Mario quickly backpedaled. "Not you! You've got Banner inside, he's a genius. Average that out, you're at least high school level smart. But look at that big guy."
Hulk followed Mario's finger.
"That guy probably didn't even finish elementary school. Way dumber than you. Go beat him up and he'll be your new sidekick. Your personal punching bag. Doesn't sound so bad, right?"
Hulk's limited brain capacity made the connection:
Big dumb guy = no brains = punching bag = sidekick.
"HULK... PUNCHING BAG!!"
He grabbed his battle axe and charged. Obsidian had been about to bring his axe down on Pearl when the massive vampire teleported away with Stacy in tow.
"You're not my problem. I don't have time for you."
Pearl's hand glowed red.
Boom!
The explosion washed over Obsidian's face like a particularly aggressive facial. His defense, traded for every point of intelligence he'd ever possessed, was simply too strong.
Pearl chuckled nervously. "You're tougher than I expected..."
He'd never faced a pure tank like Obsidian before. But then heavy footsteps and a loud roar announced Hulk's arrival.
Obsidian turned and saw a green giant, the same one who'd traded blows with Lord Thanos, charging at him.
"DUMB... BIG GUY!!"
Enraged by the insult, he forgot about Pearl entirely. He hefted his massive axe and charged straight at his new enemy.
Hulk might struggle against Thanos one-on-one without building up his rage first. But against Obsidian? This was a father disciplining his son.
Obsidian specialized in defense, like early-days Thor, his durability vastly exceeded his offensive capability. He was the perfect punching bag for Hulk.
Their weapons clashed. Obsidian's axe went flying, the impact numbing his hands completely.
Hulk tossed his own axe aside and raised his fists. Time for man-to-man communication.
"SURRENDER... TO HULK..."
"ROARRR!"
Negotiations failed. He began hammering away at Obsidian.
Without the Black Order to support him, Thanos struggled against Scarlet Witch alone. Years of combat experience and his powerful physique kept him in the fight, but he was clearly being pushed back.
Mario flew toward the last remaining Black Order member, shaking his head. Without the Infinity Stones, Thanos's individual power was... honestly pathetic. Of course, Scarlet Witch was basically a walking bug. Her chaos magic functioned like a living Reality Stone.
The final member was Supergiant. Though Glaive nominally led the Black Order, their strengths were difficult to compare, just different specializations.
Supergiant possessed immense telepathic power: mind control, telepathy, psychic projection, memory theft. She relayed intelligence directly to Thanos' mind.
She didn't appear in the movies, but here she'd manifested in person.
He studied the blue-skinned alien. Aside from lacking a tail, she looked exactly like a Na'vi from Avatar, right down to her height. Supergiant noticed Mario approaching. Her eyes began glowing white.
He stopped his hovering platform right in front of her, grinning as shock spread across her face.
"You're clearly alive, but I can't sense your mind at all..."
SLAP.
Mario's hand cracked across her face. He wasn't like a certain actor who needed "aliens" to get his rocks off. He had perfectly normal preferences, thank you very much.
"Mind control, huh?"
"Telepathy, huh?"
"Oh, this time, it's subconscious hypnosis, huh?"
As a telepathic specialist, encountering someone completely immune to mental attacks who then got within arm's reach meant her fate was sealed. She was completely helpless.
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50 Advance Chapters!
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