Annihilus

"Thor, defeated."

The referee descended from the sky and loudly announced the result. The Warriors Three and Sif immediately rushed into the arena. Sif checked on Thor, while Fandral and the others drew their swords at Hulk and roared, "You despicable bastard, I’ll kill you!"

"If we really fought, I wouldn’t be afraid of Thor. But we’re friends, so I don’t want to keep fighting."

Hulk waved his hand and said, "Take him away. When he wakes up, tell him I’ll be ready anytime he wants another fight."

The dwarf wanted to say something, but Sif called out, "Get Thor out of here first."

"Fine."

The Warriors Three nodded and carried Thor out of the arena. Grand Duchess Sarah slammed the table bitterly. They had still lost. Now they could only place their hopes on the Guardians’ members.

"The match is suspended until the Defense Shield recovers."

The referee shouted. These powerhouses were too formidable. Without the Defense Shield, people would definitely die.

No one objected. Only Skye said, "Make it hemispherical and cover the entire arena."

The referee nodded. "All right. That’ll be safer."

A while later, the Defense Shield rose again. Skye flew to the center and said to the six Guardians’ members, "Come at me together."

The six Guardians’ members flew into a rage at once. "Queen Skye, aren’t you afraid the wind will make your tongue slip?"

Tony was also furious in the back. "Hey, Skye, if you beat everyone by yourself, what are we supposed to fight?"

Skye shouted, "Relax. I’m just putting on a show. You’ll definitely get your chance."

"Skye!"

The six Guardians’ members grew even angrier. They rushed forward and surrounded Skye, then activated their abilities. Their bodies rapidly changed—some ignited in flames, some altered their density, and others transformed into metal.

As one of the Three Great Empires, the Shi’ar Empire had gathered countless experts in its Royal Guard. None of them were easy opponents.

But Skye did not care at all, because she really was powerful now. Her Master’s graduation gift had completely transformed her.

"Skye, die!"

The six members did not waste words. They attacked Skye together. Skye smiled disdainfully and pointed at the air. The atmosphere began to vibrate violently, and then the vibrations spread through the six members’ bodies. Their skin, muscles, blood, bones, organs—everything was vibrating.

The six members froze in midair, trembling nonstop, their faces filled with terror—if Skye wished it, she could take their lives in an instant.

The audience gasped in shock. Though it did not look particularly spectacular, Skye’s ability was truly terrifying, like that of a god.

At that moment, Skye suddenly smiled. Most of the people present felt their hearts skip a beat, then their hearts began beating at a perfectly synchronized rhythm.

That was right, perfectly synchronized. Because they were so synchronized, the thumping of their heartbeats was exceptionally clear.

Their heartbeats were all under Skye’s control. The representatives were both alarmed and enraged. Grand Duchess Sarah was about to demand an explanation when everyone’s heartbeats returned to normal at the same time.

"Just a little joke. Please forgive me."

Skye smiled. The audience snorted inwardly. Clearly, Skye was displaying her strength. Still, her ability truly was terrifying—even the Defense Shield could not block it.

In other words, Skye could easily destroy an entire fleet—by shaking everyone aboard to death.

"With strength like this alone, Skye is qualified to become an elder."

Many representatives changed their minds. The strong were respected. It was that simple. Age did not matter at all. Blood God was only in his early twenties, yet he was still invincible across the universe. Skye has grown stronger. There are even traces of a concept around her. Could Master’s graduation gift have been a concept?

Hela was somewhat shocked. Her Master was far too generous. He had actually given someone a concept as a gift? Even Death did not have the means to do something like that—from-god was a position, not a gift. The gift Death had given Hela was merely a divine artifact of death.

Divine artifacts were precious, but compared to concepts, they were nowhere close—divine artifacts could be bought with money, while concepts were priceless.

Of course, that referred to ordinary divine artifacts, not conceptual divine artifacts like Godly Armament.

After displaying her strength, Skye stopped wasting time. With a wave of her hand, all six members were sent flying backward. They crashed to the ground and gasped for breath.

Skye glanced at them disdainfully, then turned to the others and asked, "Who wants to come up?"

"Too weak. Not interested."

Everyone shook their heads at once, including Tony Stark—these people could not possibly demonstrate his true strength.

The six members climbed to their feet and gritted their teeth. "We are members of the Shi’ar Royal Guard. You have no right to humiliate us like this."

"I didn’t humiliate you, but your strength is far beneath ours."

Skye shook her head. "Admit defeat. I’m determined to claim the fourth elder’s seat."

"We will not admit defeat."

The six members exchanged looks, then each took a syringe from their clothes and injected it into their necks. Skye could have stopped them, but after considering it, she did not act.

Skye had confidence in herself. Besides, this was a good chance to see what trump card the Shi’ar Empire had.

After injecting the potion, the six members’ auras immediately surged. Then they took out glasses and put them on. The glasses emitted hypnotic waves, making them see themselves as the strongest people in existence.

"I am the strongest. I am the strongest. I am the strongest…"

One member suddenly flew into the sky, the flames around his body swelling wildly. Then he shouted and transformed into a massive fireball that blasted down at Skye. The surrounding temperature soared, and even the air twisted severely.

"Hm? God-Devil Level?"

Skye was a little surprised. She pushed forward with her hand, sending layered waves of air crashing out. With a bang, the giant fireball exploded in midair and turned into a rain of fire that fell from the sky.

"I am the strongest! No one can defeat me!"

The flaming member was not dead. He shouted, and the rain of fire gathered again, transforming into a massive flaming spear that shot fiercely down at Skye.

At the same time, another member struck. The surrounding air transformed into chains that tightly locked Skye in midair.

"We are invincible!"

The remaining four members did not stand idle either. They attacked Skye at the same time, and the energy fluctuations around all of them had reached the God-Devil Level.

Though it was only the lowest tier of the God-Devil Level, a God-Devil Level was still a God-Devil Level.

"Good. Very good."

Grand Duchess Sarah was overjoyed. The Gladiator Potion developed by the Imperial Research Institute had not disappointed her.

"What’s going on?"

Tony immediately used his glasses to scan and analyze them. A massive amount of data appeared on the lenses.

"You have indeed grown stronger, but unfortunately, the gap between you and me is still far too great."

Facing the six-man assault, Skye smiled disdainfully. Her body trembled slightly, and the air chains snapped apart. Then she pointed at the air. Space shook, forming six spatial shockwaves that blasted toward the six members.

Though the six members resisted with all their might, the spatial shockwaves were simply too powerful. They could not withstand them and were sent flying backward with screams, vomiting blood when they hit the ground.

Skye had thought she could declare the match over, but the six members immediately climbed back to their feet. Then their injuries rapidly healed at a visible rate.

"We are the strongest. We are invincible. We are undefeated…"

The six members muttered to themselves as they charged at Skye again. Skye curled her lip in annoyance. She hated opponents who could regenerate.

Damon asked in surprise, "What potion did they just take? Its effects are incredible."

"I never expected the Shi’ar Empire to develop god-level power, and such a twisted kind of god-level power at that."

Captain Marvel sighed. God-level power had always been the goal of major factions, but aside from Sovereign in the past and the Shi’ar Empire now, almost no one had succeeded.

After finishing his analysis, Tony said with disdain, "What’s there to be amazed about? We have this stuff on Earth too, but Bert won’t let us use it."

Captain Marvel was deeply shocked. "Earth has this kind of potion too? Really?"

"Really. Lizard Doctor developed it a year ago. It’s a byproduct of the Permanent Bloodline Potion. Because the side effects are too severe, Bert explicitly banned its use."

Tony explained, "This potion uses Gladiator’s blood as its raw material. Uh, do you remember Gladiator?"

Captain Marvel cursed, "I remember. That bastard with the rooster comb."

"Right, that bastard with the rooster comb."

Tony laughed. "Gladiator’s power grows stronger the more confidence he has. Those injected with the Gladiator Potion inherit that ability. To maximize it, they are generally equipped with Hypnotic Glasses or hypnotic chips to infinitely amplify their confidence.

That’s why they can reach god-level."

"I see."

Captain Marvel suddenly understood. "What are the side effects?"

"There are two side effects. One is psychological."

Tony said, "Afterward, users of the Gladiator Potion become cripples. Not physically crippled, but mentally crippled, just like that Gladiator back then."

Captain Marvel nodded. "That makes sense. With both hypnosis and a massive surge in strength, it would be strange if nothing went wrong."

Tony continued, "The other side effect is lifespan."

"Lifespan?"

"That’s right. They don’t have Gladiator’s bloodline. They’re forcibly gaining this ability through a potion, so they naturally have to pay a price."

Tony nodded. "The price is their lifespan. Haven’t you noticed that all six of their hair has started turning white, and wrinkles have even appeared at the corners of their eyes? Whether they increase their strength or regenerate, they consume massive amounts of lifespan."

Captain Marvel looked up at them and said, "No wonder Master banned it. This is basically a suicide potion."

"Exactly, a suicide potion. That’s why Bert rejected it and had Lizard Doctor focus on researching the Permanent Bloodline Potion instead."

Tony said, "Also, the Gladiator Potion’s effects vary from person to person. These people were already powerful, which is why they could break through to god-level. If it were ordinary people, at most they’d be worth one or two Captain Americas."

"Since when did Captain America become a unit of strength?"

Captain Marvel complained, then sighed. "I never thought Earth’s genetic technology would be this advanced."

"Our high-end technology is no worse than the aliens’, because Earth has an unparalleled genius like me."

Tony said arrogantly. Everyone could not help rolling their eyes. This guy’s skin is way too thick. Although Skye did not understand the members’ exact circumstances, anyone could see that there was something wrong with those glasses. So Skye waved her hand, and all six pairs of glasses exploded at once.

"My glasses! My glasses…"

Without the glasses’ hypnosis, the six members’ confidence plummeted, and their strength rapidly fell, even lower than before.

Worse still, they lost the courage to fight. They knelt on the ground, clutching the broken glasses, their faces full of fear and panic.

"Damn it."

Grand Duchess Sarah cursed inwardly. The technology was still immature, and everything had happened too suddenly, so they had not been properly prepared. Otherwise, the six members would not have had such an obvious weakness.

In truth, even if Grand Duchess Sarah had been prepared, the six would not have been Skye’s opponents. After all, their lifespans were limited. Besides, when had disciples of the Dragon Subduing Sect ever lost to others in terms of external tools? Their lack of preparation had instead saved the six members’ lives. Of course, perhaps it would have been better not to save them.

"Trash."

Skye smiled disdainfully and shouted to the surroundings, "I’ll be an elder. Who agrees? Who objects?"

The representatives exchanged looks, then all chose to applaud. With Skye’s strength, she was absolutely qualified to become an elder.

Skye was brimming with satisfaction when a voice suddenly rang out. "I object."

Along with that voice, a black sword slammed into the defensive light barrier. The barrier shattered instantly, dispersing into points of light. Then two cloaked figures flew into the sky and looked arrogantly at Skye and the representatives.

"The defensive light barrier broke again?"

The representatives were greatly startled. They rose to their feet and watched the two people in the sky warily, while secretly calling nearby warships over for support.

That was right, they called warships, not guards. These two Cloaked Men were clearly super-powerhouses.

Skye recognized them and coldly shouted, "Junior Sister, you actually dare come here? You’ve got some nerve."

"Junior Sister?" Everyone was stunned. What was going on? "Why wouldn’t I dare come?"

Hela and her companion removed their cloaks at the same time. There was no need to describe Hela—she was still wearing that sinister outfit of death. As for her companion, it was a green insect-man with wings.

This was no ordinary insect-man. It was the ruler of Negative Space, Annihilus.

As Annihilus revealed himself, nine figures flew behind him. They were nine god-level insect generals, all looking disdainfully at the lifeforms below as though they were merely food.

"The insect race."

The representatives’ expressions changed dramatically. They quickly gathered together and ordered someone to activate the Defense Shield. The newcomers clearly had hostile intentions.

Skye led Tony and the others into the sky to confront Hela’s group. Little Hela, Valkyrie, and Mindy flew up as well. This battle was unavoidable.

Besides them, quite a few Super Heroes also flew into the sky, such as Human Torch, Electro, and others. It was worth mentioning that Ivan, Doom, and Jarvis were not there. They had gone to the Frontlines to fight.

Wang Bert did not go up. He hid in the void and watched the show.

"Hela’s aura of death?"

Thor suddenly regained consciousness. Seeing Hela in the sky, he immediately charged upward in fury and roared, "Hela, I will defeat you!"

"You, this idiot? You’ve thrown away all of Asgard’s dignity."

Hela said disdainfully, "You were defeated twice in a row. The second time, you looked even more like a clown."