BOOM!
The Ki and Cosmic Stone–charged punch detonated with the fury of a dying star, the sheer force propelling him screaming toward the crimson planet like a blazing, unstoppable meteor.
WHOOSH!
William's form ignited in a torrent of roaring flames as he ripped through the thin Martian atmosphere, yet the torment carved into his features was not born of the blistering heat. It radiated from the jagged, gaping fracture in his armor, right where Thanos's titanic fist had crashed into him, splintering the plate that proudly bore the emblem of the Resolute Corps.
Twisting into a backward spin mid-flight, he struck the barren surface hard, the maneuver easing the impact just enough for him to spot the advancing Mad Titan. In a flash, his figure blurred, vanishing from one point and reappearing several meters away.
BOOOOOOM!
RUMBLEEE!
The Martian crust split and heaved violently, its scarred terrain erupting in a cataclysmic burst, hurling shards of molten stone into the void like shrapnel from a cosmic cannon.
STEP!
A single footstep reverberated across the entire planet, sending tremors through the ground as William instinctively tensed, his eyes locking onto a colossal mass of rock emerging from the fresh, jagged scar carved into Mars' surface.
STEP!
Before him stood the Mad Titan, clutching a meteor-sized fragment of Martian terrain, its rugged surface veined with crackling streams of vivid purple energy radiating outward from where his fingers bit deep into the stone.
"CATCH, SAIYAN!" With a palm strike brimming with unfathomable might, the Mad Titan hurled the Power-infused boulder through the thin Martian air, the force behind it carrying a singular, merciless intent to obliterate William, crushing him beneath its unstoppable weight.
WHOOOSH!
William's aura erupted in a dazzling explosion, surging outward as he channeled the immense reserves of his ki to push his physical form to its absolute limit. His muscles bulged and strained against his skin as though they might tear free, while his blood coursed like molten slurry, each cell brimming with raw, unrestrained power.
His Super Saiyan 3 hair whipped wildly in every direction, each golden strand alive with arcs of deadly, crackling electricity.
With a grimace, William took an action he knew he would come to regret. Reaching into his system space, his hand vanished into the void itself. Yet, with the Space Stone and Soul Stone already in his grasp, the disturbance could not escape Thanos's notice. Within that rift, the Mad Titan sensed the unmistakable pulse of the Mind and Reality Stones, their energies reacting violently to the resonance of those he already possessed.
The wicked grin on Thanos's face stretched into something almost inhuman, a demonic gleam in his eyes as he spoke, his voice dripping with dark amusement. "So it was you who held the final two stones… yet you do not wield them. The power of godhood rests in the palm of your hand, and still, you merely clutch it. How mad…"
From deep within his system space, William retrieved two extraordinary items: a syringe brimming with pulsating, almost ravenous genetic material, and a black-and-green mass of pure biomass that slithered over him like a living second skin. In moments, it reshaped into a sleek, menacing suit of armor, transforming his Resolute Corps uniform into a darker, more fearsome version, save for the blazing sigil of Resolution that still burned proudly at its center.
"It has been a while since you called upon me, master. I am truly glad. Serving as planetary steward has been dreadfully dull!"
Raising his dark, armored hand, William clenched it tightly.
CRACKLE!
Furious lightning erupted around his fist, his smirk sharpening as his eyes locked onto the massive boulder hurtling toward him. Without hesitation, his other hand darted to his neck, plunging the strange syringe into his flesh.
"MASTER... THAT'S DANGEROUS!" Phage's voice shrieked in his mind, but he dismissed her concern with a wave, rising to his full height as his already colossal aura expanded to its limits.
WHOOOOOSH!
A strange, primal silver energy began to weave itself into the roaring golden Super Saiyan aura, dancing like snowflakes caught in a golden tempest. The swirling power condensed into a small yet impossibly dense orb of ki that hovered in his palm, radiating raw might.
As the meteor-sized boulder loomed overhead, William thrust his hand forward and unleashed the devastating energy.
WHOOOOSH... BOOOOOM!
CRAAAAAACK... BOOOOOOOM!!
A blazing silver-and-gold sphere of ki ripped through the massive boulder as though it were nothing but soaked parchment. The colossal rock didn't even have the dignity to shatter, it simply vanished, atomized into a cloud of incandescent dust as the attack screamed onward, gouging a radiant tunnel through the thin Martian sky.
And beyond that...
THRAAAAAAAM!!
It smashed into Thanos's chest.
The Mad Titan had no time to react. One instant he stood unyielding, raw power dancing along the grooves of his armored skin; the next, his torso bent violently around the blow, snapping backward before his massive frame was launched away like a comet struck by a god's fist.
He crashed with a force that made Mars itself seem to cry out.
SKREEEEEEEEEEE!
THOOM, THOOM, THOOM!!
His body tore a molten trench through the red wasteland, obliterating dunes, rending ridges, and pulverizing slabs of ancient stone. Entire mountains shuddered, buckled, and collapsed in his wake. Then...
STOMP!
Mid-slide, he twisted and landed solidly on his feet, boots sinking deep into the crust as he ground to a halt. Purple lightning writhed and snapped around his form as he rose to his full height, a cascade of dust falling from his broad, unshaken shoulders.
His glare was lethal.
His smile?
Far worse.
It was ravenous.
"Yes…" he growled, voice rumbling like the shifting of worlds. "Show me more, Saiyan."
William was already charging forward, his aura blazing like a golden tempest laced with silver frost. The instant he reappeared, Thanos twisted his fist.
The Space Stone ignited.
CRACK... VWOOM!!
Reality warped, the very air before William folding inward as though crushed by an unseen titan's grip. He slammed into the compressed void, his form twisting and contorting as gravity and geometry collided in chaotic violence.
With a roar, William's muscles swelled, veins surging as he tore the distortion apart through sheer, unyielding force.
But that sliver of time was all Thanos required.
He was there, looming, relentless, fist drawn back.
The Power Stone blazed, purple fire searing through every vein.
DOOOOOOM!!
The blow struck William's jaw with such catastrophic force that the surface of Mars fractured in a perfect ring around them. His head snapped violently to the side, teeth scattering like molten-gold embers.
And then...
FLASH.
Everything froze.
The world drained of color, fading into stark shades of gray.
The Time Stone gripped the moment in an unyielding vice, suspending William mid-fall. Only Thanos prowled through the silent void, circling his helpless foe with the predatory patience of a beast savoring the kill.
"Your durability… is obscene," he murmured, lifting both hands. "Let us peel back the layers."
The Soul Stone blazed to life.
A searing orange radiance engulfed William, and his very essence howled as Thanos plunged into the depths of his being, clawing at the raw core of his life force.
Even in stillness, William's eyes widened with unbearable pain.
"ENOUGH!" he roared, his voice ripping through the temporal cage.
From deep within, silver energy, primordial, unbound, unstoppable, erupted in a violent surge.
KRRRRZZZAAAAAAAH!!
Time's prison shattered into nothing.
Thanos's eyes narrowed, too late.
William was already in motion.
With one hand, he seized Thanos by the throat, fingers digging mercilessly into Titan-forged muscle.
"Don't you EVER reach into my soul again."
BOOOOM!!
He wrenched the Mad Titan upward and drove a brutal knee into his gut, the impact detonating shockwaves that tore skyward into orbit. A blast of purple mist erupted from Thanos's lungs as his breath was ripped away.
William pressed the assault without pause.
He twisted sharply, his heel whipping around to crash into Thanos's skull.
KRAK-THOOM!!
The impact sent Thanos hurtling across the ravaged landscape, but mid-flight he caught himself, the Space Stone flaring to life. In an instant, he reappeared behind William.
His massive hands locked together.
Purple power roared.
Orange soul-flames churned.
Blue spatial ripples spiraled outward.
With a deafening roar, he brought both fists down onto William's spine.
HAAAAAAM!!
William's roar erupted from the depths of his being as the earth beneath him split apart, a vast canyon tearing open from the sheer force of his strike.
Yet Thanos was relentless. He vanished, then reappeared.
Again.
And again.
And again.
In a storm of motion, a barrage of simultaneous punches crashed into William from every direction, the Space Stone granting the Mad Titan the ability to occupy multiple positions at once.
Each strike pulsed with the raw devastation of the Power Stone, dragged through the weight of eternity by the Time Stone, and seared with the soul-shattering essence of the Soul Stone.
William raised his guard, but even his Saiyan reflexes faltered under the overwhelming assault.
His armor split along the side, lightning arced erratically, and his golden aura began to unravel.
Thanos was driving him past the brink, forcing him beyond the very limits he had always depended on. Then, with terrifying precision, the Titan appeared before him, pressing two fingers to William's forehead.
Time crawled.
Space twisted.
Colors of violet, blue, orange, and purple spiraled together in a maelstrom of annihilation.
"Break," Thanos commanded.
CRAAAAAACK… BOOOOOOOM!!
The silver-and-gold sphere of ki shattered the Power Stone-infused boulder into oblivion, ripping through the Martian sky before slamming into Thanos's armored chest with unstoppable force, hurling the Mad Titan across the crimson wasteland. His body gouged a fiery trench through the red rock until, mid-slide, he twisted with predatory precision and drove his boots into the ground, halting himself through sheer, brutal strength.
Dust cascaded from his shoulders.
A savage grin split his face.
"Good. More."
William didn't speak.
He was already surging forward, already detonating through the thin atmosphere, already streaking like a blazing comet of gold and silver.
But deep inside, something felt… wrong.
Something was awakening.
The syringe's payload, the Alpha Rognarr DNA, was never intended for this. Not for a Legendary Super Saiyan's body driven past its breaking point. Not while the crushing, tearing pull of multiple Infinity Stones wrenched at his soul, mind, and very existence.
The serum roared like fire in his veins as Thanos came on, relentless.
DOOOOOOM!!!
The Power Stone's punch crashed into William's jaw, whipping his head to the side and scattering golden teeth like sparks cast into the void.
He staggered, not from the sheer force, but from the alien transformation erupting beneath his skin.
His bones groaned, his muscles spasmed with violent pulses, and a deep, guttural rumble rose unbidden from his throat, something ancient, primal, a presence no Saiyan should ever harbor.
His vision swam.
A second heartbeat thundered within him.
Then a third.
And then, FLASH.
Time froze, the universe bleeding into grayscale as Thanos activated the Time Stone, circling William's suspended form with predatory fascination.
"You are changing," the Titan intoned. "Something feral. Something… deliciously unstable."
He reached forward.
The Soul Stone flared to life, its searing orange light lancing into William's very essence, and that was the mistake.
That was the trigger.
The spark that ignited the powder keg.
KRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!
The roar tore through the Time Stone's grasp in an instant.
It wasn't human.
Wasn't Saiyan.
It wasn't even remotely civilized.
It was the earth-shaking bellow of a colossal predator, a nightmare birthed from the dawn of existence, the feral howl of an Alpha Rognarr Great Ape, erupting raw from the depths of William's soul.
His muscles swelled to monstrous proportions.
His spine cracked and stretched, vertebrae grinding as his frame expanded.
His aura lashed wildly between molten gold… savage crimson… and an untamed, blinding white.
His hair dimmed to shadow, then blazed with light, then burst into chaotic life, whipping and snapping like a sentient inferno.
His pupils narrowed to razor-thin yellow slits.
For the first time in their battle, Thanos took a step back.
"…This is new."
The change was not graceful.
It was an all-out war; William was locked in brutal combat with the beast in his blood.
His hands curled into clawed weapons.
His teeth sharpened into predatory fangs.
And his aura distorted reality itself, warping the air into shimmering waves, bending space like molten metal under impossible heat.
Thanos attacked, of course he did.
VWOOM!
SHOOM!
DOOOOM!
Space warped violently as three identical copies of the Mad Titan materialized around William, each striking in perfect synchronicity, the Time Stone stretching their blows across countless overlapping timelines.
Every punch landed with the cataclysmic force of a meteor, shaking reality itself.
Yet with each devastating impact, William didn't weaken; he grew, not in flesh or height, but in raw, unbridled energy.
The primal force buried deep within him surged, feeding hungrily on Thanos's relentless assault. His skin split in jagged cracks, glowing red light spilling from within.
Black fur erupted in jagged patches along his arms, and with a violent, shadowed snap, his long-lost tail spiraled back into existence, a whip of muscular darkness.
His aura exploded into chaos, a raging storm of red, silver, and gold, warping space as if a singularity were straining to be born.
Thanos struck again, but William caught the massive fist effortlessly in one hand.
A guttural snarl tore from his throat, his voice now layered, Saiyan and Beast speaking in unison.
"Don't…"
The air trembled with a deeper growl.
"…touch…"
The ground seemed to quake beneath him.
"…my soul."
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
The explosion of power transformed Mars into a blazing beacon, visible even from Earth.
William's form was consumed by a raging tempest of feral ki, crackling silver lightning, and roaring crimson primal fire. His outline sharpened, grew denser, more fearsome, yet honed to a terrifying precision.
The immense bulk of his Legendary Super Saiyan frame condensed into a form of brutal efficiency.
Black fur surged across his body, dark as the void of deep space, yet traced with faint streaks of glimmering silver, like scattered stars in the cosmos.
His hair remained long as in SSJ3, but darker, wild, untamed, its edges tipped in gleaming white.
His eyes...
DEEP.
BLAZING.
YELLOW.
They burned with the intensity of a predator glaring from beyond the bars of reality.
And surrounding him?
His aura did not merely shine, It warped spacetime itself.
Reality shimmered and twisted around him, bending like light through a cosmic lens.
Cracks of red and silver lightning danced wildly across the surface of Mars, ripping deep scars into the crimson terrain with every electric breath. William inhaled, his chest rising with raw, unrestrained power. When he spoke, his voice was deeper, resonating with the unyielding will of a Saiyan and the primal fury of the Great Ape.
"This is MY power…"
He stepped forward, the ground shattering and collapsing beneath the crushing weight of his presence.
"…and I'm done holding it back."
In the blink of an eye, he vanished. Thanos had barely a millisecond to widen his eyes before.
KRA-KROOM!!!
William's knee slammed into the Titan's chin, snapping his head back with brutal force as a spray of purple blood exploded into the air.
Then...
THOOM!!!
THOOM!!!
THOOM!!!
A relentless barrage of strikes erupted, faster than the fabric of space could heal, each blow bending the very sky. Thanos was hurled through a towering mountain of red stone, its peak collapsing in a roar of dust and debris. But William was already there, looming above him.
His eyes blazed with golden fury, fur bristling in the cosmic wind, his aura screaming like a fractured dimension. And with a roar that shook the heavens, he bellowed...
"SUPER SAIYAN FOUR!"
The instant William's transformation reached completion, the Martian horizon quaked, and in the next breath, he vanished.
FWOOOOM!!!
Space buckled and shimmered behind him like molten glass, warping violently as he surged forward with a ferocity that eclipsed every clash before.
His fist tore through the thin atmosphere, unleashing a shockwave that stripped layers of red dust from the planet's surface.
Thanos had less than a heartbeat to react.
BRRRAAAAM!!!
The strike hammered into a shimmering arc of golden light, the Mad Titan's force-field projector, flaring desperately at seventy percent capacity.
The barrier bowed inward; the ground blasted outward. The collision birthed a shockwave so cataclysmic it erased a quarter mile of Martian terrain in an instant.
Thanos skidded back, his boots gouging molten trenches as his arm twitched under the crushing force. Even with the shield engaged, William's blow came within a breath of breaking through.
The Titan's lips curled in a snarl. "This is… new." William gave no reply; he was already upon him once more.
CRASH!
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRASH!
A relentless storm of strikes, fists, elbows, knees, and heel kicks, each one amplified by the gravitational distortion radiating from his SSJ4 aura, tore through the air with unyielding ferocity.
The very fabric of the world around them rippled and warped under the crushing pressure.
Thanos slammed the force-field projector controls forward, 74%… 76%… 79% desperation edging into his movements.
And still.
BOOOOM!!! The earth erupted as William drove a devastating hammerfist downward, shattering the ground and forcing Thanos to one knee, the barrier screaming in protest as showers of purple and gold sparks exploded outward.
Thanos's left boot sank deep into the soil, his right arm locked rigid to keep the shield intact, teeth clenched in a snarl.
"The projector is calibrated to withstand a fully enraged Hulk," he growled, his voice trembling with fury and disbelief, "and yet you, " FWASH!!! William was gone.
Thanos's eyes snapped wide, scanning, then, above, "RAAAAAGH!!!"
William descended like a blazing comet, both fists locked together, his body twisted with raw, unbridled fury.
The shield flared to 85% in an instant, warning sirens wailing.
KRA-KA-DOOOOOOM!!!
The impact hurled Thanos deep into the Martian crust, sending him hurtling hundreds of meters down and gouging a collapsing shaft of rock as he vanished like a meteor smashing into a planet's heart.
William didn't hesitate.
He plunged after him.
WHOOSH!
CRUNCH!!!
His knee crashed into Thanos's sternum before the Titan could rise. The violet blaze of the Power Stone sputtered as bones groaned and cracked under the blow.
Thanos's force-field surged, strained now to 92%
Fractures raced across its golden sheen like lightning through glass.
"Enough!" Thanos bellowed, voice echoing like thunder.
The Space Stone flared in his grasp.
SHHLLLNK!!!
Reality folded into a razor-thin blade, a plane of gravitational void snapping into existence along his arm.
He swung, but William's hand clamped around it, stopping the impossible cold.
His fur smoldered, heat rolling off him in waves.
His palm hissed, blood sizzling into steam where it met the searing energy, but still, he refused to let go.
Yellow eyes blazed, locking onto Thanos with unyielding ferocity.
"You're not getting away."
CRUNCH!
With sheer brute strength, he crushed the spatial blade, shattering the warped segment like fragile glass. Thanos faltered, disbelief flickering across his face.
William's aura erupted.
FWOOOOOM!
Gravity exploded outward in an inverted shockwave of raw Saiyan might, and in the same instant, William drove his fist into Thanos's gut with unstoppable force.
The blow tore through the failing shield as if it wasn't there, detonating inside the Titan's body like a collapsing star.
Thanos's vision went white, his body rocketing upward through the tunnel they had carved, bursting onto the Martian surface in a violent spray of red dust. William was right behind him, relentless, like a predator closing in on wounded prey.
Thanos steadied himself, golden armor fractured and scarred, force-field flickering at a perilous 41% and falling fast, the Power Stone's glow pulsing with volatile intensity. A slow, menacing curl formed on his lips.
"Very well, Saiyan… no more restraint."
The Power Stone blazed.
The Time Stone shimmered with ethereal ripples.
The Space Stone throbbed with raw, unyielding energy.
With deliberate finality, Thanos spread his arms wide.
A cataclysmic storm of cosmic power and pure ki exploded outward, tearing at the very fabric of existence, reality splintering into shards of shimmering violet that spiraled around him in chaotic beauty.
William advanced, utterly undaunted, eyes locked on the Mad Titan.
"Then try it."