Soul Stone

Where the Light of the Mind shone, Astros, who had worn a blank expression all this time, suddenly came alive and shouted angrily, "Blood God, I will avenge this!"

With that, Astros dissolved into motes of light. Wang Bert opened his eyes and said proudly, "I’ll be waiting. This time, only your projection died. Next time, I’ll make your true body fall."

"Blood God is mighty!"

Doctor Doom, Strange, and Adam flew over at once, their faces full of delight. They had won this battle. The Demon God Projections had been completely wiped out.

"No time to waste."

Wang Bert waved his hand and said, "Doctor Doom, go kill the Demon God army below. Strange, enemies have appeared on Earth—go deal with them. Adam, help Odin deal with that Great Serpent. The faster, the better. The final battle is about to begin."

"Alright."

No one wasted words. They immediately split up, and before long, amid a dazzling burst of white light, the Demon God army met its doom.

On Chthon Prime Plane, Chthon and the three Ancient God phantoms all wore livid expressions. This time, they had been utterly humiliated. Even those Demon Gods were beginning to doubt them.

Astros cursed unhappily, "You really are useless. You couldn’t even defeat two god-level mages."

Seth retorted, "Aren’t you the same? You couldn’t even take down a mere Blood God avatar."

Astros shouted, "But the Blood God is a Creator God, and he has the Mind Stone!"

"Enough."

Chthon raised a hand to stop Seth and Astros from arguing. Then, with an ugly expression, he said, "Hela’s side won’t be able to hold on much longer. Prepare for the final battle. No matter what, we must wash away this humiliation."

"Of course."

Astros and Seth nodded at the same time. Eye Demon did not care. It had never possessed dignity, nor did it care to.

"Make every preparation. If we lose again, it won’t simply be a matter of losing face."

Chthon said, "If we lose again, we will fall. Completely fall."

Seth said with complete confidence, "As long as the Blood God doesn’t come, we cannot lose."

Astros complained, "That’s true, but it sounds pretty cowardly."

Eye Demon added, "It really does."

"The Blood God will not appear. We are guaranteed to win."

Chthon smiled, but there was not the slightest trace of amusement in his eyes. Once his true body entered the Main Universe, he would definitely tear Adam to pieces.

Not merely out of hatred, but because there was something wrong with Adam!

My name was Red Skull. Decades ago, I nearly conquered Earth, only to be stopped by a muscular brute in a skintight suit carrying a shield. To be honest, I never understood how I lost. Was it because his pecs were bigger than mine? In any case, I lost in the end. Worse still, the Space Stone teleported me to Vormir, where the Soul Stone was located, and made me its slave.

My duty was simple: guide others to obtain the Soul Stone, which I desperately wanted for myself. Without question, this was the Infinity Stones’ punishment for me, condemning me to live forever in pain and solitude.

That life continued for decades. I thought it would go on forever, but one day a few months ago, the Soul Stone suddenly fled with me.

Yes, fled. The Soul Stone told me that if we did not run, the Blood God would come. At the time, I did not know who the Blood God was. Later, the Soul Stone told me of his experiences, and after hearing them, I had only one thought: We were both from Earth, so why was the gap between us so vast? After escaping, the Soul Stone asked me to find a way to destroy Earth. I gladly accepted. Since that cursed place would not accept my rule, it might as well be destroyed.

If I could not have something, neither would anyone else. That was me, Red Skull.

After that, I reached the pinnacle of my life—under the Soul Stone’s assistance, I laughed and conversed with lofty Ancient Gods, was courted by them, and constantly devised schemes. It was simply a heavenly existence.

Today, the moment of the final battle had finally arrived. The arrangements I had made came to fruition one after another. I was thrilled as I set foot on Earth once more, prepared to lead ten billion Ghosts in destroying this hateful place.

Then… then my head flew off. The last thing I saw was a mighty suit of Blood-colored Armor. Uh, its chest was just as broad and muscular as that man in the skintight suit.

What a pity.

With that final thought, Red Skull’s consciousness sank completely into darkness, declaring his death.

To avoid any mishaps, after killing Red Skull, the Blood-colored Armor scattered bloodfire to burn his remains. At that moment, an orange light flew from Red Skull’s body and fled toward outer space.

The Blood-colored Armor raised a hand and grabbed the orange-glowing Soul Stone. Then he said coldly, "So Death did not take you away. You escaped on your own. Soul Stone, you truly exceeded my master’s expectations."

Who was the master of the Blood-colored Armor? Naturally, it was the Blood God, Wang Bert. This armor was what Wang Bert had worn before becoming a god-level being, and it had been forged by Ancient One.

Later, Wang Bert upgraded the Blood-colored Armor with treasures from another universe and his own blood, turning it into Earth’s guardian god.

The Soul Stone did not try to flee again. It was only a stone; it could not escape from an Ancient God. It sighed and said, "I didn’t expect the Blood God to leave behind such a trump card as you."

The Blood-colored Armor said indifferently, "Earth is my master’s base of operations. Naturally, he would leave behind a trump card."

"Using an Ancient God as a trump card is such an extravagant, wasteful thing. Only the Blood God could do something like that."

The Soul Stone complained. It knew the Blood God would leave a trump card behind, but it had never imagined he would leave an Ancient God as one. That was utterly insane.

"Can’t help it. My master is rich. I even have concepts within me."

The Blood-colored Armor shrugged and said, "Besides, I am only an Ancient God on Earth. Once I leave Earth, I am merely at the peak of godhood."

The Soul Stone was stunned. "You are only an Ancient God on Earth? You are Earth’s guardian god?"

"That’s right. My master fused me with Earth. Earth is the Ten Thousand Realms Passage, enough to sustain an Ancient God."

The Blood-colored Armor nodded. His situation was similar to Annihilus’s.

"No wonder."

The Soul Stone sighed and said, "I admit defeat. Let me go."

The Blood-colored Armor sneered. "Why do you think I would let you go?"

The Soul Stone threatened, "If you refuse to let me go, I will have ten billion Ghosts attack Earth. Even if you can stop them, Earth will still suffer catastrophic devastation."

"Is that so? Panther God Bast!"

The Blood-colored Armor smiled disdainfully. An elegant black panther suddenly appeared nearby and said lazily, "I have already activated my divine authority and made all souls return to the earth."

"Panther God Bast?"

The Soul Stone was stunned. It hurriedly tried to sense the ten billion Ghosts, only to find that it could no longer contact them. It asked in disbelief, "How can you possess such immense power?"

"Perhaps you do not know that even Ancient One had no choice but to let me remain on Earth."

Panther God Bast smiled contemptuously, then suddenly vanished—she was a homebody and did not like staying outside.

The Blood-colored Armor said, "Panther God Bast is also one of my master’s Trump Cards. Earth has long been made impregnable by my master. No one can destroy Earth."

With that, the Blood-colored Armor transformed his glove into the Infinity Gauntlet, then set the Soul Stone into it.

Just as expected, the Infinity Gauntlet could not control the Soul Stone. This was normal. The Soul Stone possessed a true self, unlike the other Infinity Stones.

"You are now my prisoner."

The Blood-colored Armor asked, "Tell me, why did you want to destroy Earth?"

"To revive Nemesis."

The Soul Stone did not conceal anything, because there was no point in concealing it. It said, "The Blood God cares deeply about Earth. If Earth is destroyed, he will definitely spare no cost to save it, including snapping his fingers."

The Blood-colored Armor understood somewhat. "You wanted the Infinity Stones to gather?"

"That’s right. With the Blood God’s personality, even if he knew there would be major problems after the Infinity Stones gathered, he would still gather them and snap his fingers."

The Soul Stone said, "Because he is extremely confident."

The Blood-colored Armor asked, "The problem is that my master has already devoured the Space Stone."

"The Blood God is the Space Stone."

The Soul Stone said, "As long as he gathers the other five Infinity Stones and snaps his fingers, my master, Nemesis, will revive."

"So that’s how it is."

The Blood-colored Armor finally understood completely. Everything the Soul Stone had done was to revive Nemesis.

The Blood-colored Armor snorted. "With me here, your plan is destined to fail. Soul Stone, obediently follow my orders, or do not blame me for sacrificing you."

"The Reality Stone cannot sacrifice me. I have lost this time, but one day, I will revive Nemesis. You and your master cannot stop me."

As it spoke, the orange light on the Soul Stone gradually dimmed. The Blood-colored Armor snorted and sealed the Soul Stone away, intending to let his master deal with it when he returned.

Then, the Blood-colored Armor looked down at Earth and discovered that the Worthy had already been dealt with by Strange and Elektra. All the hammers had been gathered at the Space Station.

This was only natural. Strange’s Space Magic ranked among the top three on Earth. With him and Elektra working together, dealing with the Worthy could not have been easier.

At this moment, Strange was dealing with the controlled Queen Medusa. With his strength, that was not difficult at all.

The Blood-colored Armor nodded in satisfaction and teleported back to the underground space to continue being a quiet, imposing suit of armor.

It was Earth’s final line of defense. Normally, it did not need to act unless Earth truly could not do without it.

Let us turn to the brotherly battlefield in Asgard. Old Odin was powerful, but the Great Serpent was even stronger. Odin, who had originally excelled at offense, had now been forced entirely onto the defensive. Gungnir in his hand had been smashed by the Fear Hammer countless times.

As the Great Serpent wildly swung the Fear Hammer, he laughed loudly. "Odin, the power of fear is flowing into me without end. Clearly, my Worthy are destroying Earth. You cannot protect Earth, just as you could not protect Asgard."

"Brother, this time, even I cannot save you."

Odin smiled bitterly. "Of all things, you should not have attacked Earth. No one can afford to provoke that one on Earth."

"Who in this world can I not afford to provoke? I am Cul, king of the gods of Asgard. I will destroy Earth, destroy Asgard, and bring fear to the entire universe!"

The Great Serpent shouted arrogantly. Odin sighed and said, "Brother, do you have any last wishes? I will do my best to fulfill them."

"Playing tricks. I only have one wish now: destroy Asgard and complete Ragnarok."

The Great Serpent snorted coldly and swung his hammer down at Odin with world-shattering force.

Before the hammer even arrived, countless terrifying things surged into Odin’s mind, slowing his reaction slightly. He barely raised Gungnir in front of himself.

At that moment, the Fear Hammer suddenly vanished, then abruptly appeared at Odin’s side and smashed down with incomparably ferocious force. Odin screamed and flew backward.

The concept of fear—fear was everywhere. Simply put, the Great Serpent’s hammer could appear anywhere.

Breaking it was not difficult. As long as there was no fear in one’s heart, the Fear Hammer could not appear nearby. But how could an intelligent lifeform possibly have no fear?

"Odin, after all these years, you have not improved at all."

The Great Serpent recalled his hammer and spoke disdainfully. Odin spat out a mouthful of blood laced with lightning and sighed. "For us Asgardian gods, the older we get, the stronger our divine power becomes. I do not even dare cultivate, because the more I cultivate, the shorter my lifespan becomes."

Greater divine power was not necessarily a good thing. The barrel was only so large; if the divine power grew too strong, it would burst the barrel.

Though the Great Serpent was even older than Odin, he did not have this problem. He had remained sealed the entire time and could not receive divine power from the World Tree at all.

"You really are useless. If it were me, I would never have such a problem, because I would bring fear to the universe and ascend to a higher level."

The Great Serpent could not be bothered to waste more words. He shouted, "Odin, die! I will take your head and complete Ragnarok. Everyone in the Odin royal family must die!"

"A family’s most important thing is being together, nice and complete. Odin, your brother is treating you quite well."

At that moment, a figure tore open a small space and walked in from outside. It was Hell’s Satan, Adam.

"Adam?"

Odin was overjoyed and hurriedly asked, "Have you dealt with the Demon God Projections and the situation on Earth?"

"It’s handled. Old Odin, let me inform you of something first."

Adam said solemnly, "The Fear Hammer killed more than five thousand people on Earth. The Great Serpent must die."

"Can’t you show him some mercy?"

Odin was somewhat bitter. No matter what, the Great Serpent was his brother. Before Odin betrayed him, the Great Serpent had treated him very well and even trusted him deeply. That was also why Odin’s betrayal had succeeded.

The reason the Great Serpent hated Odin so much was because of this. How could he not hate being betrayed by the person he trusted most? Adam said, "His true spirit can be allowed to reincarnate, but he must die."

A true spirit was the purest origin of life. Once a true spirit reincarnated, everything from its previous life would vanish. In other words, the Great Serpent would no longer be an Asgardian and would have no connection whatsoever to his past life.

"Are you two putting on a show? Who can kill me?"

The Great Serpent was deeply disdainful. "I am Cul, the God of Fear. As long as fear exists on Earth and in Asgard, I will never die."

The concept of fear—as long as fear existed within my domain, I would not die.

Odin sighed and said to Adam, "Do as you said."

"Fine."

Adam wasted no more words. Holding the Lucifer Greatsword, he shouted at the Great Serpent, "Great Serpent, you killed more than five thousand people on Earth. In the name of the Blood God, I sentence you to death. Do you submit?"