32 Chapter 32 – The Price of Hubris

[A/N: So there seems to be a bit confusion about the word sentient in regards to the Infinity Stones, so let me explain that.

The Stones don't have a mind of their own like humans do, let's make that clear first. But they are capable of making decisions or acting on their own volition.

An example for this would be Red Skull being teleported to Vormir by the Space Stone and turned into a specter by the Soul Stone. The Stones did that on their own, and certainly not on his wishes. And the Soul Stones requiring a sacrifice to even obtain, is another noteable point that displays the stones ability to test other beings, i.e. make decisions. The Power Stone also needs a wielder that is capable of withstanding its power, which kinda makes sense.

What I am trying to say here, is that the Stones don't judge by character or words, but by actions. Certain actions make one a worthy recipient of their power, like withstanding their baptism, or scarificing a loved one.

It is a clear indicator that the stones have some kind of sentience. They don't care about good, or bad. As long as you fulfill the criteria to use them, you can.

Well, that is basically everything I had to say about last chapter.

Now some additional information about this chapter you will find at the bottom, as I don't want to spoil anything.

Anyway, enjoy the story!]

[2012 – August]

As Wanda saw a gentle pulse of blue light traveling over her barrier, with the source being Pietro, she knew, he had succeeded.

The pride and excitement she felt from him through their mental bond only confirmed her guess.

Dispersing her barrier, she saw Pietro standing tall. His rippling physique being on perfect display, as his clothes hadn't survived being exposed to the cosmic energies of the stone. His hand was still holding the dagger to his face-level with a softly glowing blue stone inlaid on the blade near the handle.

As he turned his head towards her, his crystal eyes were shining with power, as a content smile sat on his lips. His long ash-blonde hair whipping around his head and giving him a wild look.

Seeing him like this, Wanda felt like falling in love with him all over again.

Approaching him, Wanda was still a second too slow, as Silver jumped into his arms, chittering away happily. Thankfully, her love always had more space for her in his embrace.

…

Vanishing the dagger in my hand, I wrapped my hand around Wanda's waist. My other hand already busy with holding up Silver. And while embracing the universe's two most beautiful girls for some time, I mentally checked out the changes in my body.

Proving oneself worthy of holding an Infinity Stone, has more benefits than just gaining access to the powers of said stone. One's pyhsical body also received an enhancement, which was even more true for me, as my adaptation skill had triggered constantly, while I endured the Space Stone's baptism.

On a rough estimate, I would say that my physical strength had probably doubled, while my endurance had also reached an insane level. My inner fire was also vibrating with power.

Suddenly Wanda tensed for a moment, before she turned around in my embrace and stated calmly.

"He is coming."

"Thor?", I questioned.

She responded with a simple nod, as she took Silver from my embrace and with a flick of her wrist and a small pulse of red magical energy, conjured some new clothes for me.

"Take Silver with you. I will finish this up real quick and follow you soon.", I said with a calm voice.

I knew that a fight with Thor was probably unavoidable should I stay, but that didn't scare me.

Even before gaining the Space Stone I was not afraid of confronting him, as I was confident in my chances to reach at least a tie with him. I honestly thought that his superhuman durability was more of an obstacle than his lightning.

Still, now with the Infinity Stone in my hand, I was basically in an unbeatable position.

How do you beat someone way faster than you, that can also manipulate the very fabric of space? You don't, that's how.

Of course, I had only just gained access to the incredible powers lying dormant inside the Space Stone, but it was more than enough to confront the arrogant Asgardian Prince.

In truth I wanted this fight to happen, as I wanted to test myself against Asgard's Strongest.

"Be quick, or I will come and get you.", Wanda warned, a trace of worry coloring her tone.

The moment she wrapped herself and Silver in her magic and teleported away, was the same moment that Thor landed on the roof with a loud *THUD*.

"The cube, Pyromancer. Where is it?", he questioned, obvious anger in his tone.

Sadly for him, I was not intimidated by his actions.

"Destroyed.", I answered calmly.

A heavy frown on his face, he bore his gaze into mine.

"Stop your deceit! How could a mortal like you possibly destroy the Tesseract? Now tell me where it is, or I will force you to reveal its location! You are not fit to control its power, hand it over before you bring doom to yourself and those around you!", he said, spinning around his hammer.

Summoning my spear and twirling it around for a moment, I replied with the same calm tone as before: "Today, your hubris will cost you dearly, Prince of Asgard."

Using my Superspeed, I easily evade the hammer thrown at me, while I approached Thor.

Moving to his back with my fastest speed, which had been enhanced considerably thanks to the Space Stone, I drew my spear with all my considerable power, while channeling the full force of my inner fire into its blade.

Twisting my waist as I swung the spear, I executed a perfect slicing motion with the weapon, causing godly blood to flow.

"Argh!!", a short shout of pain erupted from Thor's throat the moment my attack ended.

As he fell to one knee, a two-foot-long inch-deep cut could be seen on his back.

Seeing this, a frown crossed my face.

The moment my blade had touched the Asgardian's body, it felt like carving Uru all over again. Last time that had only been possible for me, as Wanda had used her magic to enhance the cutting power of my weapons.

And while I was happy that I had reached the level of strength to do it on my own now, Thor's natural defenses were simply incredible.

He hadn't even reached his full potential yet, being entirely too dependend on his precious hammer and not delving into the well, that was his own strength.

As Thor recalled his hammer and blasted a bundle of lightning bolts my way, I had long since moved to the sky, avoiding his attack easily.

Thor with all his considerable power, had no idea how to be subtle in his attacks. And why would he when he had never met someone that could match his might?

Still, this style of fighting made him very easy to read, as he telegraphed his moves in an obvious manner.

The next few exchanges went practically the same, with me avoiding his strikes and adding a few more cuts to his form. Though I simply couldn't deliver a decisive blow as his muscles and bones were too tough to cut, even with my strength.

I knew that I may be able pierce through his natural defenses with an all-out piercing attack using my top speed, but it was equally risky as I would be vulnerable, if my attack failed.

Stopping a few meters in front of the bleeding Thor, I took a deep breath and reached out for the new power slumbering within me.

"Have you decided to fight like a man and stop running, Earthling?!", Thor shouted with great wrath, his hammer already sparking with lightning, ready to unleash a blow at any time.

Suddenly the blue glowing edge of my spearblade transformed slightly. The whole blade gained a slight blue sheen to it, giving off an extreme sense of sharpness.

Opening my eyes, I could see Thor's shocked expression, as he asked in disbelief.

"T-this power, how could you have managed to subdue it? You... Maybe you are-"

I didn't bother waiting for him to finish his sentence, as I shifted into my own dimension of speed.

Why would I care about his words now more than I did a few minutes before? His acknowledgement meant nothing to me afterall.

Once again, I executed a precise and perfect slicing motion, after having approached him. Twisting my waist, as I spun around, to ensure my full weigth was behind the swing of my spear.

This time my blade wasn't stopped by his ultra-durable muscles, as even Thor's defenses couldn't stop a blade, that was able to rip apart space itself.

"ARGRGHH!!"

The next moment an arm was sent flying, while Thor's scream of pain was only overshadowed by the colossal bolts of lightning his plight summoned.

Even I, with my speed, wasn't able to avoid these strikes at all.

Thor's strikes before were easy to avoid, as I just moved while he was making his attacking motions. This time though the lightning strikes came from the sky itself and covered the area all around him, as if protecting Thor.

Lightning moved with approximately more than 300.000m/s, which was absolutely impossible for me to dodge.

Feeling the lightning impact my body and scorch my flesh to the bone, I could only try and endure this onslaught, at least that should have been the case.

Thanks to my resistance training, I wasn't completely paralyzed due to the lightning coursing through my body. Even now I was able to focus enough to enter my Superspeed. And though that was only for a moment, it proved to be enough.

A moment later I simply vanished in a burst of dark blue smoke, along with the cut-off arm from the god of thunder.

[A/N: So I had a hard time deciding on Thor's strength in general, as he was kinda weka in the first few movies, but then does something crazy like endure the heat of a neutron star with but some burns on his body. Ultimately, I decided to chose a more powerful version from the movies for this FF, which explains his absolutely insane durability. I hope that cleared up some confusion you might have. Also, there was a reason he didn't kill Thor and maim him even more severely, which I will explain in the next chapter.]