Death Mark

"It’s finally over."

Sersi withdrew her nearly carbonized right hand and said excitedly, "I never thought we’d actually defeat Ikaris."

Sprite was quite excited as well. She asked uncertainly, "Is Ikaris really dead?"

"His sense of self has vanished. He is no longer Ikaris. He is merely an Ancient God-level crystal."

Sersi explained, "Simply put, his body isn’t dead, but his consciousness is completely gone."

"Great, we really killed Ikaris."

Sprite beamed. Looking at the red crystalline statue before her, she asked curiously, "Sersi, why did you turn him into a red crystal? Don’t tell me you still have feelings for Ikaris and wanted to keep him as a memento?"

Sprite was referring to Earth’s Ikaris. Sersi had been lovers with him for thousands of years.

"No, it was God’s order."

Sersi shook her head. "God told me to turn Ikaris into material and give him to Tony Stark—uh, the one from the Main Universe."

Sprite was stunned. "Material?"

"Yes, armor material. God cares a great deal about Tony Stark, even though he belittles that guy every day."

Sersi sighed. "It’d be nice if God cared about me that much someday."

Sprite glanced at Sersi and secretly sighed. No wonder Sersi did not care about Ikaris at all. It turned out someone else already occupied her heart.

Of course, that was only natural. After all, that was God.

Sprite smiled. "Looks like Mr. Stark is about to strike it rich."

"Ikaris!"

Seeing S Ikaris fall completely, the remaining strongest Eternals were both shocked and enraged. S Makkari, in particular, was consumed by grief and fury, wishing she could rush over and tear Sersi and Sprite to pieces.

Unfortunately, S Makkari could not get through, because Old Tony firmly blocked her path. Old Tony said coldly, "Don’t worry. You’ll soon follow in Ikaris’s footsteps. I’ll send you to meet him."

"Go to hell!"

S Makkari roared in uncontrollable rage. Then, her fists wildly struck Old Tony at the speed of light. Old Tony activated the powers of the Time Stone and Reality Stone, keeping his speed on the same level as S Makkari’s.

Old Tony and S Makkari fought fiercely through the air like two streaks of light. The surrounding space shattered with crashing sounds, and their afterimages filled the sky.

At first, S Makkari held the upper hand, leaving Old Tony unable to fight back. But soon, the situation began to reverse. Old Tony gradually regained the advantage, for one simple reason: S Makkari was slowing down.

"No one can keep bursting forever."

Seizing an opening, Old Tony lit up with dazzling golden light. Countless golden beams shot densely toward S Makkari like raindrops. It was S Kingo’s ultimate move.

Although S Makkari tried desperately to dodge, she had just unleashed a burst of power, and her speed lagged for a moment. Half her body was blasted into pulp by the golden beams. Even as an Ancient God, she could not help letting out a shrill scream.

Old Tony pressed his advantage. He used the Time Stone to freeze S Makkari’s time while his eyes lit up red. Then, two enormous laser beams blasted toward S Makkari.

S Makkari had no way to evade. She could only watch helplessly as the red light drew closer and closer. In the end, her entire body was enveloped by the red glow. When it faded, she had been completely reduced to nothingness. Only a Concept Crystal remained where she had stood—the Speed and Space Concept Crystal.

Having finally dealt with S Makkari, Old Tony was overjoyed. Just as he was about to take the Concept Crystal, it suddenly vanished.

Old Tony froze, then sensed something and turned to look behind him. Earth Makkari was floating in the air, the Concept Crystal gleaming at her brow. Clearly, she was fusing with the Speed and Space Concept.

A special device stood beneath Makkari’s feet. As Phastos operated it, he asked Old Tony, "You wouldn’t steal something from a deaf-mute person, would you?"

Old Tony’s face darkened slightly. Clearly, the Eternals had come prepared. They intended to take all the Concept Crystals and allow Earth’s Eternals to ascend.

As expected of the Blood God. He thought of every possibility.

Old Tony sighed inwardly, then turned and charged toward S Kingo. These Concept Crystals absolutely could not all fall into the Eternals’ hands. Otherwise, he would gain several more Ancient God-level enemies.

That would not do. Super Heroes were not allowed to exist on Earth.

As the strongest Eternals fell one after another, S Gilgamesh’s heart sank lower and lower. He knew full well that, barring any surprises, he would be the next to die.

That was perfectly normal. Not only was S Gilgamesh seriously injured, but he was also being besieged by Gilgamesh, Captain Marvel, and Thor. There was no reason for him not to die.

"There is only one way to break this deadlock."

S Gilgamesh’s eyes flashed as his body suddenly disintegrated. Then, countless chunks of flesh traveled through space-time and entered Gilgamesh’s body. Gilgamesh screamed, clutched his head, and collapsed to the ground howling in agony.

Captain Marvel and Thor had no choice but to stop. Thor asked in shock, "What’s going on?"

"I have fused with Earth Gilgamesh. Killing me is the same as killing him."

S Gilgamesh spoke through Gilgamesh’s mouth. Gilgamesh roared, "You’re too despicable."

"Isn’t the three of you ganging up on one of me despicable too?"

S Gilgamesh sneered. "Don’t worry. Once we win, I’ll leave your body."

Gilgamesh shouted, "You won’t win! Thanos will definitely die at My God’s hands. When that happens, My God will come deal with you. You’re dead for sure."

"The Blood God is indeed terrifying, but I have already fused with you. Even the Blood God cannot destroy me unless he wants to destroy you along with me."

S Gilgamesh said smugly. Despite his imposing appearance, he was nothing more than a contemptible coward.

"Since I can erase Ajak’s consciousness, I can erase yours too."

Within the consciousness space, Gilgamesh’s consciousness lunged at S Gilgamesh’s consciousness. S Gilgamesh dodged his attack and sneered, "You want to devour me? Dream on.

"I am different from Ajak. Ajak only had consciousness left, but I have both consciousness and a body. In other words, this is not only your home ground, but mine as well."

"So what? You strongest Eternals do not understand what love is at all. I will kill you."

Gilgamesh roared and began fighting S Gilgamesh fiercely within the consciousness space.

In reality, Thor looked at Gilgamesh, who lay on the ground with his expression constantly changing, and asked Captain Marvel, "What should we do?"

"I’m on the technology side. You handle this mystical stuff."

Captain Marvel left those words behind and flew toward S Druig. This time, they not only had to deal with all the strongest Eternals, but also obtain all their Concepts and let the Eternals complete their transformation.

Only then would they have enough leverage to deal with that bastard Old Tony once and for all.

"As expected of the Blood God’s disciple. You sure know how to dump responsibility."

Thor snorted unhappily. After thinking for a moment, he set up a lightning cage around Gilgamesh, then sent it over to Loki.

"Loki, you’re more skilled at magic. You handle it."

Thor shouted. Wasn’t it just dumping responsibility? It was not as if he could not do it too. "Thor, you’ve changed. You weren’t like this before."

Loki shouted with a heartbroken expression. The Lokis burst into laughter. Honestly, they were more than happy to watch Loki and Thor make fools of themselves.

Thor gave them the middle finger, grabbed his axe, and flew toward S Kingo. The strongest Eternals’ defeat was inevitable. Now was the time to reap the harvest.

As for those Ravagers, they had long since been wiped out. They were nothing more than cannon fodder.

On the mountain, Old Loki looked at Gilgamesh’s ever-changing expression and asked the others, "Should we help this big fatty? Their strength is evenly matched. They could fight until next year and still not finish."

"No benefit, no interest."

Loki said lazily, "Leave him there and wait for the Blood God to come back and deal with it. That Gilgamesh is such an idiot. How could the Blood God possibly be unable to solve this? The Blood God not only commands the Mind Concept and the Mind Stone, but also controls the Mind Sea. When it comes to the mind, he’s the biggest expert of all."

"If he weren’t stupid, why would he oppose the Blood God?"

The Lokis sneered. They had never believed Thanos could win, because the Blood God had not even used one trump card yet—for example, Alioth, which could devour energy.

Thanos was not the only one who played things safe. The Blood God did too—even if Thanos had not entered Earth, the Blood God had still been fifty percent certain he could destroy him. But to ensure absolute success, the Blood God had kept waiting for Thanos to walk into the trap himself.

"There is a benefit, actually."

Kid Loki stroked his chin and said, "Gilgamesh possesses two Concepts. One is the Concept of Power, and the other is the Concept of Recovery. If we help him, he should be happy to give us a Resurrection Stone."

"You mean use magic to copy the Concept of Recovery and make a Resurrection Stone?"

Black Loki’s eyes lit up. "That is not bad. It’s equivalent to gaining an extra life. Under normal circumstances, an Ancient God would never agree to let someone copy their Concept, but Gilgamesh needs our help now."

"Since there’s something in it for us, what are we waiting for?"

Loki said excitedly. Then, the Lokis cast magic and entered Gilgamesh’s consciousness space.

S Gilgamesh, who was fighting Gilgamesh fiercely, was startled when a group of Lokis suddenly appeared. He shouted, "How did you get in here?"

Loki chuckled. "You don’t need to care how we got in. You only need to know that you’re finished. By the way, you can scream. The louder you scream, the happier we’ll be."

All the Lokis laughed together, looking every bit like villains. Loki had always been a villain.

"No matter how many ants there are, they are still ants."

S Gilgamesh shouted, "You came in here to die. I’ll grant your wish."

"Let’s hope you can still talk this tough later."

The Lokis sneered. When it came to battles in the sea of consciousness, they were professionals.

One hour later, by consciousness-space time, S Gilgamesh, covered in cracks as if he might shatter at any moment, cried out in terror, "Don’t come any closer!"

While the Lokis were dealing with S Gilgamesh, the Super Heroes completely defeated S Druig and S Kingo. The two lay on the ground barely alive, not far from death.

The reason they had not been finished off was that internal conflict had broken out among the Super Heroes. More precisely, a conflict had arisen between Old Tony and the other Super Heroes.

"Out of the two Concept Crystals, you have to give me at least one."

Old Tony shouted, "If you want to take them both, then we fight right now."

"Then let’s fight. I’ve been sick of you for a long time."

Captain Marvel snorted. "If Thanos and the strongest Eternals hadn’t come so aggressively, we would have dealt with you long ago."

"That’s right."

Quite a few Super Heroes nodded. Thor said, "Why wait for another day? Let’s settle things with you once and for all right here. I’m still waiting to leave Earth and rebuild Asgard."

Star-Lord added, "I’ve wanted to return to the universe for a long time. I hope Xandar is still willing to let us work as temps."

"Star-Lord, you really have ambition."

Tony mocked him. Star-Lord said disdainfully, "Do you think just anyone can be a temp? Only the Guardians of the Galaxy are qualified to be Xandar’s temps. I’m not talking about this with you anymore. You’re just an indigenous Earthling. You don’t understand how impressive the Guardians of the Galaxy are."

"Impressive? In our universe, Xandar applied to join the Earth Alliance not long ago."

Tony scoffed. "We’re considering how to reject them. Xandar’s civilization is too advanced. If we let them join directly, it will affect Earth’s authority."

"Really? Xandar joined the Earth Alliance?"

Starfox looked shocked. Steve said irritably, "You’re getting off topic. Old Tony, we won’t give up these two strongest Eternals. If you want to take them, then we fight. We were bound to fight sooner or later anyway, and now is a good time."

Falcon and the others shouted one after another, "I’ve wanted to beat you up for ages."

"With the Blood God absent, do you think I’m afraid of you?"

Old Tony sneered. Just as the battle was about to erupt, S Druig and S Kingo suddenly let out shrill screams at the same time. Then, their bodies turned into motes of light and scattered, leaving only two Concept Crystals behind.

"What happened?"

Everyone was astonished. Why had S Druig and S Kingo suddenly died? At that moment, ten phantom figures appeared beside Old Tony out of thin air—ten phantoms of the strongest Eternals.

That was right: phantoms of the ten strongest Eternals—S Ikaris, S Kingo, S Phastos, S Druig, S Gilgamesh, S Ajak, S Sersi, S Tina, S Makkari, and S Sprite—appeared beside Old Tony at the same time.

The eyes of these ten strongest Eternals brimmed with hatred. Before Old Tony could do anything, they fused together and transformed into a decagonal mark filled with the aura of death, which flew into Old Tony’s body.

Old Tony had no time to stop it. In fact, the moment the ten phantoms appeared, his consciousness became muddled. He did not know where he was or what he was supposed to do.

After the Death Mark entered his body, Old Tony aged at an astonishing rate. Even his hair turned white. Just as he was about to die of old age completely, four gleaming Infinity Stones floated out from his chest.

Then, the Mind Stone and Space Stone returned, forming a six-colored circle with the other Infinity Stones. The six-colored circle flew above Old Tony’s head and scattered six-colored light over him in protection.

Under the protection of the six-colored light, Old Tony’s body rapidly regained its youth, and his hair turned black again. At that moment, the Death Mark reappeared, and Old Tony began aging once more.

When Old Tony aged to a certain point, he became young again, then aged again. The cycle repeated over and over. Clearly, the two forces were locked in a tug-of-war.