"My lord," Proxima Midnight shouted, anchoring herself by driving her blade into the hull of a shattered ship. "The restraining force is coming from our armor. He can manipulate metal!"
Thanos answered by tearing his armor off with his bare hands and flinging it aside.
"Then we fight without it."
Free of the metal's drag, Thanos charged again, twin blades cleaving toward Rowan. Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive followed his example, discarding their armor and attacking together.
Rowan smiled faintly.
"No armor," he said. "What about the weapons?"
He shifted his focus.
At once, all three weapons began to wrench themselves out of their owners' grips.
Thanos growled, muscles bulging as he forcibly held the Tyrant Blade in place through sheer physical strength. Proxima and Corvus weren't so lucky. No matter how hard they struggled, their weapons tore free, twisted in midair, and turned back on them.
Rowan's voice drifted across the battlefield, soft and almost gentle, like a lullaby.
"Sleep now, little ones. The blue night sky is beautiful…"
The spell seeped into their minds.
There was a moment's hesitation.
Then steel pierced flesh.
Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive were impaled by their own weapons, bodies locking in shock as blood spilled onto the broken ground.
Thanos staggered as well, his grip faltering for a fraction of a second.
But then he roared.
A small yellow gem appeared in his hand, radiating a sharp, invasive pulse of power. The mental haze shattered instantly.
The Mind Stone.
Thanos slammed it against the center of his blade, its power surging outward and violently severing Rowan's control.
He charged again.
"So the Mind Stone works like that," Rowan murmured, genuine curiosity flickering across his face.
Breaking mental interference made sense. Blocking metal control was unexpected. Perhaps the stone's energy simply overwhelmed the mental link Rowan used to anchor his power.
Either way, it didn't matter.
"Disarm."
The spell struck cleanly.
Thanos's blade, Mind Stone and all, flew from his hands. He froze, disbelief flashing across his face.
Rowan clasped his palms together.
A roaring column of plasma detonated forward.
Thanos was blasted across the battlefield, skidding through wreckage before crashing to a stop. Rowan retrieved the fallen blade, pried the Mind Stone free, and stored it away before descending calmly to the ground in front of him.
Thanos stood again, chest scorched black where the blast had hit, but otherwise intact.
"Still standing," Rowan muttered. "That body really is absurd."
He had to admit it. Thanos's physical resilience rivaled even Rowan's draconic form. The problem wasn't strength. It was versatility.
"You understand nothing of my greatness," Thanos said, straightening despite the damage. His voice was steady. Conviction burned in his eyes. "I am justice."
Rowan shook his head.
"I don't need to understand your greatness," he replied. "I just need to be stronger than you."
People like Thanos weren't villains you debated. They were believers. Zealots who wrapped slaughter in the language of salvation.
Against that kind of certainty, only force worked.
That had always been Rowan's rule.
Before either of them could move again, a blue figure burst from the swamp behind Thanos. An arm reshaped into a sharp blade, driving straight for his heart.
Nebula.
The strike landed cleanly.
And failed.
The blade didn't even pierce his skin.
Thanos snarled and backhanded her, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her off the ground.
"Why?" he demanded, fury twisting his face. "Even you betray me?"
Nebula's eyes burned with hatred.
"Why?" she spat. "You destroyed my world. You slaughtered my people. You punished me, tore me apart, rebuilt me into a machine. And you expected gratitude?"
Her voice shook, not with fear, but rage.
"For years, I was terrified of you. I obeyed because I thought you were unbeatable."
She glanced at Rowan, then back at Thanos.
"But now I see it. You're not a god. You're just another tyrant who can bleed."
The moment she'd been waiting for her entire life had finally arrived.
And she'd taken it.
...
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