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The battlefield raged.
In the middle of the chaos, Thanos struggled in the dirt. Scarlet Witch had twisted his limbs into painful, mangled shapes as she lost control.
A few feet away, Wanda clung tightly to Hawk.
Just a moment ago.
Her Scarlet Chaos Magic flared as memories from two universes collided in her mind. Without thinking, she hugged the man holding her wrist.
But the instinct was fleeting.
A moment later, Wanda snapped back to reality. She pulled away from his arms and stepped back quickly.
"Sorry!"
"...It's fine." Hawk gave a faint smile and lowered his hands, which had reached out to steady her. He glanced at Thanos, who was still struggling in the dirt.
Suddenly—
Hawk vanished and appeared right in front of Thanos. With a thought, he lifted Thanos off the ground, leaving him paralyzed and floating helplessly.
Thanos's face contorted in agony and rage. He glared at Hawk. "Just who the hell are you?!"
"Phoenix." Hawk kept his hands in his pockets and stared at the armored warlord. "Hawk Phoenix."
Suddenly, a memory from Hawk's past forced its way into Thanos's mind.
Thanos squeezed his eyes shut.
He saw himself pull the Mind Stone from this man's forehead with his bare hands. Then he used the Power Stone to turn the man to ash.
But there was a problem...
Thanos snapped his eyes open. His bloodshot eyes locked onto Hawk. "He isn't you."
"Right." Hawk nodded. "But I am him."
Once again, this universe's Hawk wasn't him.
But he was this universe's Hawk.
So... After hearing Hawk's answer, Thanos sensed something was deeply wrong. His pupils shrank.
Before his eyes could adjust, the world spun in his vision, then suddenly stopped.
Wait, the world wasn't spinning. His head was.
Thanos's head hit the dirt. The last thing he saw was Hawk standing next to his own headless body, still floating in the air. Then everything went black.
Then—
Life vanished. A soul emerged.
Hawk expanded the Hell Dimension with a thought. This pocket reality had followed him ever since his power appeared in this universe.
But just as he reached out to claim Thanos's soul, a familiar voice drifted into his ear. A voice that was cold, yet lazy. "You show up, eat my food, take my things, and now you're stealing souls right in front of me? That doesn't seem very polite."
"...My bad." Hawk let the Hell Dimension fade away. He smirked and replied to Death, "Force of habit."
Looking back, it was actually a good thing that Death wasn't in his original universe.
Death talked to him now like they were old friends. But if she had been in his universe from the beginning, they wouldn't have been friends at all.
They could only talk so casually now because Hawk was strong enough to stand among the top beings.
But before that, before he changed the World Tree into the Phoenix Tree?
Picture it this way: If he had taken a soul from Mephisto back then, Death would have appeared and destroyed him right away.
Sitting as equals with Death?
Yeah, right.
Thinking about it was one thing, saying it was another.
Death's voice stayed lazy. "I actually would love to visit your universe. But your universe is too low-tier. It's so low-tier that I still haven't been able to pinpoint the exact coordinates you jumped from."
"Is that my fault?" Hawk said.
"No. Blame Infinity." Death sounded genuinely amused. "He's the physical form of all space in the multiverse. It's his fault. If you see him, go ahead and punch him. If he hadn't made your universe so hard to find, I probably would have met you a long time ago. Who knows? Maybe I would have tempted you like I tempted Thanos. Got you to wipe out half the universe just to... propose to me."
When she said propose, her voice bore a tone that could make any mortal soul submit and tremble in devotion.
Hawk was no exception.
But Hawk's smile grew wider. His eyes stayed calm. "If you had met me earlier, you would have been incredibly disappointed."
"Oh?"
"I only have eyes for one woman."
"Heh." Death laughed. "Is that so? Then why did your soul just tell me something completely different?"
Hawk's eyes twitched. "Oh really? What exactly did my soul say?"
"Your soul..." Death purred, dragging the word out before suddenly stopping. "Want to know? Come find me on Vormir. Have a drink with me, and I'll tell you. How about it?"
Hawk beamed. "When you say it like that, it makes me want to go even less."
"Your loss." Death didn't insist.
Hawk was about to reply. But before he could say another word, she was gone.
And so was the freshly-harvested, still-warm soul of Thanos.
Hawk looked at the headless corpse floating in front of him. He sighed and lowered his gaze.
Thud!
Thanos's boots hit the ground. Gravity made his knees buckle right away, making it look like the headless titan was kneeling in front of Hawk in total submission.
From a distance.
It looked just like a conquered warlord bowing to a God.
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Meanwhile.
Because Hawk's arrival was so explosive, Natasha kept one eye on him the whole time. When she saw the Mad Titan's headless corpse drop to its knees, her eyes went wide. She turned to the alien army still tearing through their ranks and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Thanos is dead!!"
Clint Barton and Star-Lord, who were fighting nearby, instinctively turned their heads toward where she was looking.
And then...
"Thanos is dead!"
"Thanos is dead!"
As Hawkeye and Star-Lord confirmed the kill, more and more eyes turned toward the headless corpse kneeling in the dirt.
The news spread across the battlefield like wildfire.
Ebony Maw, who was currently chasing Spider-Man to rip the Nano Gauntlet out of his hands, heard the shouts. He instinctively turned his head. The exact second he saw his master's headless corpse, he froze.
And then he died.
An explosive arrow from Hawkeye tore through the air. The moment Ebony Maw dropped his telekinetic guard, the arrow shot straight through his throat.
BOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!
The explosion blew Ebony Maw's head off.
Truly Thanos's most loyal servant. Even in death, he matched his master perfectly.
With Thanos's most powerful sorcerer gone, only trash mobs were left on the field.
Steve and Tony, having secured the Nano Gauntlet from Spider-Man, locked ranks and formed an impenetrable defensive line around it.
The rest of the Avengers went all out.
Crack!
With a deafening boom of thunder, the overweight Thor swung Stormbreaker like a baseball bat, smashing into the center of the alien horde like a lightning-charged bowling ball.
Arcs of lightning jumped between the soldiers, vaporizing whole squads in a single massive AoE strike.
Wanda watched the out-of-shape God of Thunder tear through the ranks. She looked at Hawk, confused.
"How did Thor get so fat?"
"He gave up," Hawk said, glancing over. "You forgot. Back in Wakanda, he didn't aim for the head. He let Thanos snap his fingers."
Because Thor struck Thanos in the chest instead of the head, the Mad Titan smiled, snapped his fingers, and ended half the universe.
Ever since that day, one single thought had haunted Thor. 'It was all his fault.'
If he had just aimed for the head, the Snap would never have happened.
But time doesn't rewind.
So Thor gave up. He drowned himself in cheap beer and video games, trying to numb his mind so he wouldn't have to stay sober.
The only time he wasn't drunk was when the memory of that day came rushing back.
But today?
Thor was sober. And he was furious. He tore across the battlefield, cutting down the remaining alien soldiers like wheat.
It was like he was playing a hack-and-slash game in real life.
Hearing Hawk's explanation, Wanda thought back to the Wakanda battle and nodded in realization. She quickly changed the subject. "The Thor in our universe didn't give up like that, did he?"
Hawk laughed. "Oh, he wanted to. He wanted to run off to Earth and play house with Jane."
"But?"
"But I yelled at him. I handed him Vanaheim on a silver platter so he could rebuild his kingdom. Before the paint was even dry on the new houses, he tried to sneak off to Earth to drink and chase girls. I told him he was dreaming."
Hawk laughed coldly and mockingly.
He literally saved the World Tree, and the reward he got was being separated from his wife across infinite multiverses.
Sure, the World Tree became the Phoenix Tree, and he was technically the biggest winner in that deal.
But aside from that, the Asgardians were the ones who really benefited. They got their whole family back together, playing happy house on a brand new realm.
Was that fair? So he was the only one who had to suffer?
Hawk refused to let that happen. He forcefully transitioned Odin into the God of Light, and Frigga into the Goddess of Darkness.
Until Gwen came home, the God of Light and the Goddess of Darkness were permanently forbidden from seeing each other.
Thor got the exact same treatment.
He wanted to sneak off to Earth, drink beer, and spend time with his girlfriend?
Dream on.
Hawk letting Thor use an interstellar burner phone to call Jane now and then was already being merciful.
If Hawk had been even a little more petty...
A million versions of 'If I'm miserable, I'm making sure everyone else is miserable too' flashed through Hawk's mind.
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Just then.
Something clicked in his mind. Hawk snapped out of his daydream. He looked up. His golden, double-pupiled eyes looked through the atmosphere, past the stars, and locked onto the edge of the solar system.
Someone had just arrived. A massive entity breached the solar system's perimeter and stepped inside.
An old friend!
The Celestial. Gargaratus!
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