Chapter 353: "How Could Anyone Possibly Be Stronger Than Thanos?"
Hearing Strange's answer, the Avengers' first instinct was to assume he was joking.
"No way. You're already this strong — what danger could possibly be left out there?"
"Ethan just beat Thanos. What could possibly rattle a man like that?"
"Never expected another universe's Stephen to have a sense of humor. Way funnier than our own."
"Seriously, quit joking around — that one's not even funny. I genuinely can't imagine anything more dangerous than Thanos existing."
"If I had Ethan's power, I'd stop right there. Universe-tier unstoppable, and worried about what, exactly? Just go enjoy touring the cosmos, man."
The Avengers, on the whole, didn't quite buy the idea that someone as powerful as Ethan could still feel this kind of urgency — still feel like he wasn't strong enough.
A few people didn't push back, though.
One was Steve. In his view, only a man driven by genuine self-discipline and purpose could ever reach that level of strength.
He could already picture it: Ethan grinding through relentless daily training, living a life of near-monastic austerity.
As for the idea of an even stronger enemy out there somewhere — Steve honestly hadn't given it that much thought.
If Ethan had actually been present for this conversation, he'd have pointed out that he did none of that — he ate well, drank well, slept well every single day, and every ounce of his strength came straight from his cheat-code System. Monastic austerity had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Tony didn't push back either, but for a very different reason — he'd taken a hard, rational look back at his own history and realized: yeah, that tracked. The stronger he'd gotten over time, the stronger the threats he'd ended up facing had gotten too.
He'd started off dealing with ordinary criminals. Then criminals with serious tech. Then aliens. And eventually, a cosmic-tier warlord with an entire empire behind him.
If even he'd run into progressively stronger enemies at every stage, why would someone at Ethan's level be exempt from the same pattern?
If anything, whatever Ethan might eventually face could easily be worse than Thanos. Just because it hadn't shown up yet didn't mean it never would.
And if a threat stronger than Thanos ever did show up someday, what exactly were the Avengers supposed to do about it? Who would even be capable of standing against it?
Their own universe, after all, had nobody remotely on Ethan's level. Without him showing up, they might not have survived this crisis at all.
Tony had already started thinking seriously about retirement before all this — he'd actually begun scaling back, wanting to spend more time with his daughter.
But Strange's comment had reignited something in him — a real, urgent need to get stronger, if only to actually be able to protect his own kid.
With that thought, Tony's mind went straight to the Infinity Stones — still the fastest, most direct route to real power he knew of.
He'd already used the Stones once before, to create an AI — Ultron.
This time, his thinking had shifted. What he needed now was to either enhance his own physical body directly, or find some technological means of channeling multiple Infinity Stones' power at once.
Doctor Strange found himself pulled toward the same conclusion.
He hadn't pushed back on Strange's warning either, because he'd already seen Dormammu firsthand — he knew this universe held plenty of other dimensional deities out there, and knew exactly how powerful they could be.
Doctor Strange shook his head. "Guess it's back to the books for me. Time to actually get stronger."
Back on the main battlefield, Home-Thanos's expression had soured considerably. Nearly none of his attacks had landed — every one dodged clean by his opponent.
If Home-Thanos had to name the single most infuriating type of opponent he'd ever faced, Ethan would rank near the top. Thanos's own fighting style ran heavy and direct, blow after committed blow — while Ethan, every single time, slipped away using some skill or another, never quite where he seemed to be. Every punch Thanos threw landed on nothing but empty air.
"So you're exactly like those Kamar-Taj sorcerers, then — hiding behind flashy little tricks. Pathetic. Cowardly. Skulking around dimensional corners like a rat, never once willing to stand and fight properly," Thanos sneered, his voice low and mocking.
Ethan just laughed it off. "I'm nothing like those Kamar-Taj sorcerers. Or is it only allowed for you to use the Infinity Stones' power, and not me?"
"That skill set of yours reminds me distinctly of someone. He was particularly fond of that kind of technique too. I refuse to believe he hasn't recruited you." Seeing his taunt land with zero effect, Thanos didn't bother dwelling on it.
"Calling my style flashy is a little rich coming from you — you're not exactly making great use of the Stones you're holding either. Frankly, the power in your hands is going to waste," Ethan shot back.
Fair criticism, honestly. Home-Thanos currently held the Reality Stone, the Soul Stone, and the Power Stone — but he wasn't leveraging any of them effectively. The only one that genuinely suited his fighting style was the Power Stone.
And unfortunately for him, that particular attack had already gotten swallowed whole by Ethan's Space Stone trick.
The dig didn't rattle Thanos much either — at the level the two of them were operating at, words simply didn't carry that kind of weight anymore.
Thanos watched as Ethan drew a knife, muttered a few words under his breath, and then made the blade vanish entirely.
"Hmph. Flashy nonsense." Thanos scoffed, shaking his head in open contempt.
A fresh surge of violet energy rippled up around him, denser and heavier than before. He'd already come to respect just how capable an opponent Ethan actually was — which meant it was time to bring the Soul Stone into play.
The instant Thanos willed it, the Soul Stone's power swept across the entire battlefield in an instant.
Ethan felt his own consciousness get seized by some overwhelming outside force, his mind swimming, everything going slightly hazy.
That was the exact moment Thanos vanished from where he stood, reappearing directly in front of Ethan.
Ethan's heart lurched — but he didn't let panic take hold. He drew a slow breath, steadying himself.
Just as Thanos's fist was about to land, Ethan's entire form seemed to dissolve into nothing — a phantom, gone in an instant, vanished into thin air.
Thanos's punch met empty space. Surprise flickered across his face.
But the next second, he spotted Ethan again — standing directly behind him.
Gram had already reappeared in Ethan's grip, and without hesitation, he drove the blade straight into Thanos's back.
Watching from a distance, the Avengers lit up with excitement, convinced Ethan had landed a second successful ambush.
But just as the blade's tip was about to sink into Thanos's body, his entire form suddenly blurred and softened.
An instant later, Thanos shattered like a mirror, breaking apart into countless violet fragments that scattered and vanished into the air.
The Avengers stared, baffled, unable to make sense of what had just happened.
Before the confusion cleared, Thanos's voice rang out from directly behind Ethan instead. "Did you really think the same trick would work on me twice?" Before the words had even finished, his fist had already slammed hard into Ethan's body.
Ethan hit the ground with brutal force, and Thanos, apparently not satisfied, drove a few more punches into him for good measure.
Thanos had used the Reality Stone the entire time — the "Thanos" that vanished had only ever been a decoy.
He stopped his assault and began searching Ethan's body, hunting for the remaining two Infinity Stones.
No matter how thoroughly he searched, he found nothing. Just as his fury started to boil over, a familiar, thoroughly irritating voice rang out from behind him.
"When exactly did you start hallucinating that you'd actually hit me?"
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