Astra slumped to the ground, his expression bitter.
"The hardest choices require the strongest wills."
Thanos's meaning was self-evident, and he was completely incapable of resisting. He couldn't even defeat Beckett, let alone Thanos. If only he hadn't spoken up. Now, the king of B48 Planet was dead, and he was the one who had to make the choice.
Although Astra desperately wanted to tell himself that the people of this planet had nothing to do with him, the old man's dying plea kept echoing in his mind, affecting his soul.
It was as if a voice in his head kept telling him: Don't say it, you can't say it...
"Can you tell me what you want to do with that gem?" Beckett, after clearing out all the external warriors, walked into the royal palace. Astra glanced at him, then smiled casually and looked up at Thanos.
"Is that very important to you?" Thanos asked, thrusting his giant blade into the crystal floor of the royal palace once more. He looked at Beckett, who had returned to his side, and a smile curved his lips.
"Ah, I suppose. I'm just curious what you intend to do with that gem, to the point where you'd sacrifice the lives of this entire planet without hesitation." Astra lowered his eyelids, a flicker of yellow light flashing in his eyes.
"War always involves sacrifice and bloodshed, Astra. You shouldn't forget that."
As if sensing Astra's strangeness, Thanos turned around, hands behind his back, and looked down at Astra, who was slumped on the floor of the royal palace with his head bowed.
"But wars always have a purpose. So, what is yours?"
"To maintain the balance of the universe."
"This universe has gone down the wrong path. It needs to be corrected."
"That sounds rather interesting." Although it was Astra's voice, Beckett found it particularly off. This way of speaking was nothing like Astra's usual demeanor.
"Maintaining the balance of the universe isn't interesting," Thanos said, his voice tinged with a hint of heaviness as he gazed up at the boundless starry sky. Closing his eyes, the memories of his efforts over the years flashed through his mind.
"What do you consider yourself to be? The creator of this universe?" Astra's voice held a touch of curiosity.
"No, I am merely a survivor. A survivor of a catastrophe."
"Oh?"
Ebony Maw, rushing into the shattered royal palace, saw Astra's disrespectful expression as he spoke to Thanos. Just as he was about to reprimand him, Beckett, who had appeared beside him, covered his mouth with his hand. The Other, holding the Azure Scepter, wisely moved behind Beckett and sealed his own lips.
"My homeland, Titan, like many planets, was beautiful and prosperous..." Closing his eyes, Thanos stepped onto the crystal throne. With each step, images of his homeland, Titan, flashed before his eyes.
"But like many planets, it faced a very serious problem: too many mouths to feed, but not enough to eat. When we faced the danger of extinction, I proposed a solution." His tall, imposing figure slowly sat on the throne, recounting the history of Titan.
"Randomly eliminate half of all life to rebalance population and resources? What a novel idea, Thanos."
"It may be cruel, but it's the only way." Thanos, on the crystal throne, opened his eyes, his gaze filled with determination. He had always believed this and had been working towards it.
"Are you serious?" Astra, still slumped on the ground, looked up, his eyes filled with yellow light, complementing his green helmet.
"The universe is finite, and resources are finite. If life is not controlled, it will perish."
"It's a simple truth, but unfortunately, only I know it. At least, only I in this universe am willing to take action for it." Thanos raised his right hand, clenching it into a fist.
The next second, the light in Astra's pupils intensified, and his body began to float!
"Interesting idea, though I don't agree." Smiling, Astra's body suddenly appeared before Beckett, and he reached out to grip Beckett's right fist, which had been reflexively thrown.
"So, what about you? What is your purpose in fighting?"
Astra's question caused Beckett's brow to furrow. He wanted to break free from Astra's grasp but found himself unable to.
"His Highness Beckett!"
The Other, in utter shock, instantly raised his scepter and charged at Astra. The next second, he hit an invisible wall and fell to the ground, clutching his head.
"Who are you?"
Beckett's face was cold, his voice laced with barely suppressed rage. Roaring waves of air swirled up from beneath his feet, flipping The Other, who was still lying on the ground groaning.
"Look me in the eyes and tell me, Beckett."
As their eyes met, Beckett felt a blur before his vision, and the next moment, he was in the midst of a planet-wide explosion!
The clear cries of infants, the sinister laughter of ugly killers, the voices and smiles of mothers, and the promise made with his adoptive father, Thanos, under the starlit sky of a dark base...
The cacophony of sounds repeatedly stimulated Beckett's nerves.
"Get... out of my... body!"
"Get out!"
Fists clenched, veins bulging. Roaring at the sky, thunderous waves of air erupted from beneath Beckett's feet!
His anger surged, and the light directly shattered the ground beneath Beckett. The force, undiminished, continued to blast towards the energy radiating tower still orbiting the planet's core!
"You two father and son are quite interesting."
Astra, whose body was already in tatters from Beckett's punch, chuckled lightly as the ground suddenly began to tremble. The energy radiating tower, just hit by Astra's energy wave, tore through the ground at an incredibly fast speed, appearing before Thanos and Beckett.
A yellow gem voluntarily detached itself from the energy radiating tower and appeared before Beckett. Astra's body, floating in mid-air, then fell to the ground, his green helmet shattering into two pieces from the unbearable energy impact.
"Tsk, is this... an Infinity Stone..."
Beckett frowned and reached out to touch it, only to be stopped by his adoptive father, Thanos.
"Your body cannot withstand the side effects of the gem, Beckett," Thanos's majestic voice rang out. His arm, clad in golden armor, replaced Beckett's hand in grasping the floating Mind Stone. Instantly, an extremely dazzling light accompanied by surging energy coursed through Thanos's body.
Beckett watched as his adoptive father, Thanos, whom he had never seen injured in his memory, developed several gorgeously colored wounds on his chest simply by holding this Infinity Stone in his right hand. These wounds caused Thanos's expression to change drastically.
"Huh?!"
The Other, who had finally managed to get up from the ground, felt an irresistible force snatch the Azure Scepter from his hand. He looked up and saw the scepter appear beside Thanos, under Ebony Maw's control.
"Lord Thanos."
Snap!
With a crisp sound, the Scepter of Kings, a sacred artifact worshipped by the Chitauri race for generations, instantly changed its color and style after the Mind Stone was embedded at its tip...
Thanks to Little Wood o for the reward~
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