BOOM.
An explosion shook the field, a shockwave threw both of them back, and the lightning was so violent it harmed even the one who wielded Mjolnir.
The hammer, which had once again clashed against Thanos' fist, finally gave in and shattered on impact with a burst that echoed like thunder.
Thor fell to his knees, staring at the broken handle in his hands, taking a moment to understand what had just happened.
Thanos did not hurry. He glanced toward where Corvus and Proxima were still fighting, overwhelmed by the impossible number of asgardians surrounding them. They could barely hold on.
"Hold on a little longer, my children" he murmured calmly, advancing toward Thor with slow steps.
Thor tried to stand, but his body barely responded. The movement was clumsy, nearly useless. His arm, the one that had held the hammer, was blackened, charred, like several parts of his chest and shoulder.
"How... are you using the power of the stone?" he managed to ask with a broken voice.
Thanos raised his arm. On his wrist was a strange device, like several bracelets fused together, most of them broken and full of cracks, almost destroyed. Only one remained active. On it shone the Power Stone and the Soul Stone.
"After obtaining them I discovered that using them directly is almost impossible. Even with my body, each use kills me faster than I expected." He touched the wrist brace with his fingers, almost with pride. "I invested years and all my resources in this. And even then the result is mediocre. Only five uses, and I cannot combine them. But that is acceptable. It only made me understand how valuable the dwarves of Nidavellir truly are." His eyes narrowed. "Satisfied, asgardian?"
Thor clenched his jaw. "You will not make them forge anything for you. Even if I die, even if all of us fall, Thanos... you will never force Nidavellir. And you will not have your gauntlet."
Thanos did not answer. He simply extended a hand and lifted Thor by the neck with ease.
From his position Thor saw the orange stone on the bracelet begin to glow.
Thor felt something inside him being torn apart, something that should never be touched.
An indescribable pain ripped through every fiber of his being. It was not physical. It was deep, primal, as if he was being dismantled from the soul outward. For a moment, Thor wished to die to stop it.
And suddenly, silence.
Absolute darkness.
Thor floated in an endless void, weightless, bodiless. There was no pain. Only a warm, enveloping, seductive peace.
For an instant he considered resting. Surrendering.
"A king does not abandon his people" he whispered, barely audible, resisting that comforting pull that tempted even more than the pain.
Time ceased to exist there. It could have been seconds or eternity. Thor only knew he continued fighting, clinging to duty, resisting his own dissolution.
When clarity returned he saw how the void was slowly being consumed by an orange energy, advancing toward him like a sea that would swallow everything.
"Where the hell am I..." he muttered.
He could not move. He could not escape. He could see nothing, only that orange glow drawing closer in silence, consuming everything without illuminating anything.
After resisting for what felt like ages, Thor finally understood where he was.
Inside himself.
His soul.
And if this was his inner world... he could shape it.
Like a lucid dream.
His first thought was simple.
Light.
He was tired of this darkness in which he had spent either much or little time.
Concentrating, a tiny spark appeared in the middle of the void. A spark of lightning.
"I did it" he exhaled with relief. He made it grow. More. More. Until it became an outburst so massive even he could not control it.
"Damn it"
No matter how he tried, the lightning no longer obeyed. It came to life on its own. It grew, expanded, consumed the orange energy completely and filled the void around him.
Staring at the terrible power of that lightning Thor looked in astonishment, the bolt reflected in his eyes.
And in the real world, those same eyes opened. What had once been a reflection, an image within his eyes... burst outward.
Lightning exploded from every inch of his body and blasted forward, striking Thanos directly.
Every charred piece of flesh fell away like ashes, leaving Thor's body renewed.
The titan staggered, coughing, his chest scorched with a dark burn mark, and he stared at his destroyed wrist brace.
"It seems the soul of a true-blooded asgardian god is not easy to break..." he murmured.
Thor smirked, almost mocking.
"It seems you cannot use the stones anymore, Thanos. What will you do now?"
"Come, my children" replied the titan, ignoring him as he called Corvus and Proxima.
Both managed to push through the corpses to reach him. Hundreds of asgardians had fallen, yes, but at a great cost. The two were ruined, bleeding, trembling just to remain standing.
Thanos placed a hand on each of their shoulders.
"The next time we meet, you will die, Thor Odinson."
"You will gain nothing from Nidavellir" Thor replied firmly.
Thanos stared with indifference.
"I no longer need it."
Thor did not understand what he meant. But he knew it was something terrible. He attacked, refusing to give them the chance to escape.
Lightning fell like divine judgment. It did not matter if Corvus or Proxima were in the way, it was meant only for Thanos.
But they cared. Both threw themselves forward to shield the titan, sacrificing what little remained of their bodies to stop the bolt.
A portal opened behind Thanos.
And he crossed it, vanishing from the battlefield.
"Thanos!"
Thor roared his name for the third time that day, with more fury than ever.
But Thanos did not return.
Corvus and Proxima remained, not because they were abandoned, not because they decided to stay. But because their bodies could no longer endure. Thor's lightning had burned them from within, leaving them rigid, hands clasped, petrified in death.
---
"Thor, bad news!"
Returning to Asgard, bleeding, exhausted, barely able to stand, he heard Loki's voice greet him.
Loki normally would not be there. He should be on Earth with his wife and daughter. But SHIELD had warned that Amora might be involved with Thanos. Thor had promised that the best would interrogate her... but the best were with him, facing the titan.
So he called Loki, who was left in charge of watching her.
"What is wrong?" Thor asked, seeing his brother pale, uneasy, something uncommon in him.
"It is Amora." Loki swallowed hard. "No... Ebony Maw. The gauntlet from Asgard's vault... he took it."
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+13 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)