Chapter 293: The Soul Stone Acquired

May 11, 2018, Vormir.

This is a desolate planet, gloomy and cold, with dark clouds filling the sky, and an air of chilling gloom all around, as if one has stepped into hell.

The light of the stars in the sky is blocked by the planet's moon, and the light that does make it through fails to offer the slightest warmth.

If anyone were to open their eyes and suddenly find themselves in such a scene, they would be terrified beyond belief. It would be like being transported directly into the world of "Diablo," landing straight onto the fourth map.

However, for the two individuals who have arrived here, the hellish environment does not affect them in the slightest. To them, any demon that crawls out of hell is insignificant!

These two are a dark emperor, feared across the universe, and a top assassin in the cosmos.

They are Thanos and Gamora.

Led by Gamora, Thanos walks up a path that leads directly to the mountain summit. The two of them walk in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Thanos has his goals, but Gamora cannot understand him. To her, Thanos, the murderer of her kin, is nothing but an endless source of hatred.

Tony Stark's daughter can sincerely say to her father, "I love you 3000 times," but Thanos's daughters would rather stab him 3000 times in hatred!

And if that doesn't satisfy them, they would resurrect and stab him another 3000 times, until they are exhausted, until the end of time...

As they reach the middle of the mountain, Thanos suddenly senses something and looks up to see a figure floating in the air at a broken stone archway, waiting for them.

The blood-red face, resembling a skull, and the tattered grey cloak make it look like the Grim Reaper from Western legends, instilling fear at first sight.

However, for ordinary people, that is. In Thanos's eyes, the red skull seems quite handsome. If feminized, maybe it could have a fraction of the grace of his ideal goddess?

"Thanos, son of A'lars," the red skull speaks calmly to Thanos. "Have you come here for the Infinity Stones as well?"

Thanos is startled: "Who are you?"

What surprises him even more is that the other party knows his father's name, a name that has been rarely mentioned since the destruction of Titan.

"Follow me," the red skull leads the way, adding, "I too was once a seeker of the Stones' power, even possessing one of the Infinity Stones. However, it abandoned me, banishing me here to guide others to what I could not possess."

As they speak, the three arrive at the cliff's edge, flanked by towering stone columns, like the gates to hell.

The red skull continues, "The Soul Stone holds a unique place among the Infinity Stones. You might call it a form of wisdom. To take the Stone, one must lose what they love most, a soul for a soul!"

Hearing this, Thanos trembles, feeling as if struck by lightning, and turns his complex gaze to Gamora, with tears of sorrow starting to fall.

Gamora laughs upon seeing Thanos's tears.

She laughs joyfully, triumphantly, as if finally able to vent her years of hatred for this murderer.

"Do you feel disappointed, helpless? But there's no way around it; this is retribution!"

"You are a heartless man; you don't understand what love is!"

At this moment, the red skull focuses on Gamora: "He is not crying for himself, but for you!"

Shocked, Gamora tries to run, but Thanos grabs her arm.

Not wanting her life to end at the hands of this purple-skinned old man, Gamora struggles, cries, and fights, trying to make Thanos let go and save herself from her tragic fate.

However, she is no match for the physically strong Thanos.

His grip on her delicate arm is unyielding, dragging her toward the cliff's edge. Despite her struggles, it's all in vain. She can only show her determination to resist, but she is still at Thanos's mercy.

Now, nothing can change her tragic fate.

Gamora's youth is doomed to end at the hands of this demonic stepfather.

Finally, at the cliff's edge, Thanos closes his eyes, filled with endless guilt, and pushes Gamora off the cliff.

As he listens to Gamora's screams of despair, tears of sorrow fall from Thanos's eyes.

The next moment, he experiences a brief moment of disorientation. After sacrificing Gamora, he finds himself in a water-filled space, waking up with an orange stone in his hand.

Now!

Just as Thanos is lost in the moment, soul separated from body to obtain the Soul Stone, a figure swiftly emerges from the shadows, swiftly passing by Thanos, who suddenly has seventeen high-tech circular devices attached to his bald head, making his bald head look more like a unique hairstyle.

The red skull, intending to lead, turns to see Clark standing ten meters away from Thanos and himself.

The red skull wants to tell Clark that he's too late, the Soul Stone has already been claimed by another.

However, he doesn't voice this because, after a moment of shock, Thanos regains consciousness, with an orange Soul Stone now in his left hand as well.

Thanos's face shows neither joy nor sadness, just confusion.

Why, after obtaining the Soul Stone in the soul world, does he feel an itch on his scalp, as if something has been added?

Before he can understand what has happened, Clark behind him presses a button on a remote control.

The next moment, seventeen neural toxin electric shock devices activate simultaneously, injecting toxin!

Thanos convulses...

Before this, Clark had tested the device's power.

For him, a single neural toxin electric shock device could only cause extreme discomfort, far from incapacitating him. Considering Thanos's strength, to be effective, he had to increase the output power.

Thus, Clark, having acquired the electric therapy devices from the Grandmaster, installed seventeen on Thanos's forehead!

As the saying goes, a quantitative change leads to a qualitative change. When seventeen neural toxin electric shock devices focus on one person's brain, even someone as strong as Thanos is instantly incapacitated, eyes rolling back, falling unconscious.

However, given Thanos's strength, such a heavy blow can only cause temporary unconsciousness, lasting about three minutes at most.

But for Clark, this is enough!

With the quantum battle suit at his disposal, no matter how he handles these stones after taking them back, and no matter how long he meddles with them, he can choose to return everything the second after taking the stones.

Quickly removing the neural toxin electric shock devices from Thanos's head and taking the Soul Stone from his hand, Clark smiles at the red skull, a smile that sends shivers down the skull's spine, despite it having no hair...

Originally, Clark had prepared two plans to acquire the Soul Stone.

One was to take it from Thanos, simple and direct but risky.

The other was to target the red skull, whether it involved sacrificing someone he loved or someone who loved him. As long as Clark had enough power, he could freely decide their fate, and the Soul Stone would be his

.

However, considering his unfamiliarity with the red skull and the potential for prolonged meddling in the timeline, with too many uncertainties, Clark decided to spare the red skull and directly target Thanos.

This unfortunate Hydra thus avoided disaster.

As the skull looked on in confusion, Clark said, "Hail Hydra!"

Then, Clark's body vanished from sight with a "whoosh."

...

Returning to the Avengers' base in 2023, Clark breathes a sigh of relief, having circumvented Black Widow's fatal destiny.

Speaking of Black Widow in 2023, she was particularly unlucky.

Firstly, there was the Widow's pursuit...

Don't misunderstand; here's what happened.

After Hawkeye's family died, he began ruthlessly killing criminal organizations worldwide to cope with his grief, with extremely brutal methods. To bring back this lost companion, Black Widow flew to Japan in a Quinjet, hence the "Widow's pursuit."

After retrieving Hawkeye, she and Hawkeye went to Vormir to obtain the Soul Stone. Since Old Man Cap didn't experience it firsthand, he didn't elaborate, but considering the rules for acquiring the Soul Stone and the superheroes' characters, it's not hard to deduce what happened.

Clark guesses that upon learning a sacrifice was necessary for the Soul Stone, Hawkeye and Black Widow fully embraced the Northeastern tradition of fighting to pay the bill, even resorting to physical confrontation.

Considering their combined strength, the weakest Avengers, though both at the bottom, have a slight difference in power. Naturally, Black Widow, being the second-to-last, defeated Hawkeye, the last, and won the "battle to pay the bill."

And then, she died.

___________________

(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)

If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters

Read Ahead

Patreon.com/INNIT