Chapter 88: End of a War (1)

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"Are you really trying to shoot me? I like you."

- Dio, (Jojo's Bizarre Adventures)

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<(Atem POV)> 

"Stop stalling and fight me, or are you too much of a coward to do so?" Ronan yelled with an angry expression on his face, enraged at the languid pace with which I was flying towards him.

Honestly, I was just pondering about the best way to go about this. I was still confused if I should kill him, try to enslave him somehow, or just ship him back to Thanos after breaking all his limbs to send a message. All of those options had their own benefits and downsides, but the question was which one to choose. Do I go the safe route and neutralize the threat, try to use him and his army for my own benefit, or increase my fame and reputation by sending his battered body to Thanos? It was truly a dilemma. 

"Have some patience blue-balls. I am trying to think of the best way to use your little worthless life here." I grumbled before landing in front of him on the ship's hull with a thud. "Plus, what's the rush? It's not like you need to go anywhere or have anything better to do." I smirked.

"Such arrogance... I will enjoy breaking you." Ronan remarked before raising his weapon at me while gritting his teeth. 

Suddenly, without warning, a crimson-red beam shot out from the war hammer in his grasp, hurtling towards me at blinding speed. My senses, however, were sharp enough to detect the incoming beam, allowing me to effortlessly block it with a silent 'Protego' charm.

Yet, it looked like Ronan had only begun to showcase the might of his weapon as he silently rotated the top part of the weapon's handle, causing his war-hammer-esque weapon to emit a sinister purple glow. Aiming the weapon at me once more, a surge of purple energy burst out from its tip, swiftly coalescing into a cone-shaped barrier enveloping my entire body, as if attempting to immobilize me to prevent any further movement. It was like a spectral prison meant to prevent even the slightest twitch of my muscles. 

Truthfully, it was an ingenious way to imprison or bind a target, something that even Susan should take inspiration from but for someone like me who possessed strength rivaling that of Hulk, this was like being bound by a wall of thin cardboard. I didn't even have to pour that much effort into destroying the barrier around me. All I had to do was just normally walk forward without even acknowledging the forcefield; and voila, the barrier shattered like fragile glass. 

Ronan, witnessing the effortless destruction of his forcefield without any apparent attempt from me, was virtually rendered speechless. Despite his attempts to conceal the immense shock on his face, his surprise became increasingly evident as I approached him.

"You are stronger than most, but not invincible," he declared, flicking his weapon toward me like a magic wand from Harry Potter, unleashing a torrent of sharp wind vortexes aimed to tear me to pieces. Yet, he didn't stop there. Along with the vortexes, he launched a relentless onslaught of energy beams, seeking to find and exploit any vulnerability in my defenses. However, his efforts were all in vain as I effortlessly erected an invisible telekinetic shield before me, easily blocking the incoming attacks. The beams did put some strain on the shield, mainly due to my limited training in telekinesis, but it held firm against the barrage of energy blasts. 

The Kree warlord was not deterred by the ease with which I parried his attacks. On the contrary, he appeared somewhat smug, as if he was assured of his imminent victory, and still had many tricks left up his sleeve. With a slight smirk, he tapped the ship's metal beneath us with his weapon's base, which seemed to trigger a special function of the Universal Weapon, altering its purple radiance to a darker hue. 

"Huh?" I voiced aloud in confusion as my body began to feel increasingly heavy. It was as if gravity intensified with each passing second, striving to immobilize me and force me to my knees. It almost felt like I was inside the gas giant, Jupiter, multiplied by a few dozen times.

In fact, the gravity had intensified to such an extent that the ship should have sunk under the water from its augmented weight, or at the very least, its shape should have been distorted due to the drastic gravitational shift. Yet, astonishingly, it appeared that only I was affected by the change of gravity.

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<(Omniscient POV)> 

"Why did he stop walking all of a sudden? I thought he wanted to end this quickly." Brunhilde mused aloud to no one in particular, taking another swig from her leather flask as she watched Atem from atop her unicorn.

"He cannot move. That weapon in Ronan's hand is manipulating the gravity around him. It is one of the most advanced pieces of technology that the Kree had ever developed after all. In its full power, it only falls short of the mythical quantum bands that they once developed as the ultimate weapon for their chosen champion. The Universal weapon or the Cosmi-rod as some of them call it is the reason why the Kree Accusers are so feared across the galaxy. As a matter of fact, the weapon is one of the primary reasons why the Krees always had an upper hand against its enemies." Gamora casually answered from on top of her hoverbike. 

"That hammer is that powerful? But why don't the other Kree soldiers have one as well then? Wouldn't that make them even more undefeatable as an army? I mean, if the person I just fought a few minutes ago also possessed a universal weapon like that, then my battle would have gone a lot different." Susan pondered aloud; her face etched with confusion after hearing Gamora's words. Despite her dislike for the green-skinned alien, who was obviously their adversary, Susan recognized the value of extracting useful information from her. 

"Because as powerful as the weapon is supposed to be, it's just as hard to make. The production of a single Cosmi-rod demands countless resources and billions of units, an expense not even the Kree empire can justify. Moreover, the Kree high council and Supreme Intelligence harbor fear that arming every Kree soldier with a Universal weapon grants them excessive power. The Accusers, authorized to wield such arms, are viewed as significant threats to their authority, particularly following their recent attempt at a coup. Consequently, the Kree empire has initiated efforts to 'suspend' the Accusers, beginning with their leader, Ronan the Supreme Accuser," Gamora said with a snort, gesturing towards the Kree warlord. 

"Wait, so he doesn't work for this Kree empire you are speaking of. So, who does he work for, and why the hell is he fighting us?" Susan asked with a frown since she just remembered that she didn't even know the reason for this war in the first place. 

"... He works for... my father, Thanos," Gamora said after a few seconds of silence leading to a slightly surprised expression on Brunhilde's face. However, she instantly hid her surprise the very next second.

"My father employed him to find something that he had been looking for quite some time. He knew that Ronan was the most capable Kree Accuser and possessed one of the most powerful Universal weapon designs ever made. Ronan had even successfully unlocked the full capabilities of his weapon, something that when combined with his will to succeed could make him a very useful pawn. Even this army belongs to my father as well." Gamora admitted with a sigh. 

"There is a chance, however small, that you could have defeated me in battle," Gamora said while pointing at Brunhilde. "But he won't be able to win against Ronan. There is a saying in Kree history that the Universal weapon was inspired after they once witnessed a God fighting other gods in a bloody battle with his hammer. The Krees made the Cosmi-rod that Ronan is holding in a splitting image of that divine hammer. 

"Even my father has been unable to reverse-engineer that technology. That's the reason he recruited him initially, knowing that only a few individuals in the galaxy could stand against Ronan, the Accuser. Thanos never makes mistakes, and he always wins at the end." Gamora declared, her expression stoic. Despite her attempt to appear smug and self-assured, she couldn't quite manage it as a trace of helplessness seemed to seep through her tone.

"Nah, this weapon is nothing like the hammer it is copied from. Honestly, it is pretty disappointing that the best of Kree science could only manage something on this level. The real weapon this one was inspired by is much more useful and versatile. This is like a toy in front of it." Brunhilde interrupted Gamora before taking another sip of her drink.

"And how would you know, you drunk slob?" Gamora asked with a snort, annoyed at not being taken seriously.

"Because I used to work for the old asshole who owned the real hammer." The Valkyrie casually mentioned, her voice filled with contempt and disdain. "As for that Cosmi-dildo or whatever you call it, Atem is not at all threatened by that weapon. He just lost his focus again. Honestly, he is like a kid who is in his early teenage years with an extremely limited attention span. He likely became captivated by some intriguing aspects of the weapon and just desired to test its full capabilities. While curiosity is commendable in a future ruler, it can sometimes be really annoying especially since it leads to his unfortunate and irritating tendency to toy with his adversaries."

"... What?" Gamora seemed confused just like Susan, but they couldn't ask Brunhilde for further details because it was at this time that Atem finally decided to move again.

Ronan had already increased the gravity around Atem to about a hundred times the original gravity of the planet. At this moment, his own weight was acting against him, forcing him down but contrary to how one would expect, there was no change in his posture or gait. The young god still stood still, his back straight with an impressed look on his face. Even when he began to walk towards Ronan again, it looked like he wasn't being affected by the increased gravity at all.

"That gravity increase could have been some good exercise you know. Lately, I have been feeling like I wasn't exercising enough. But now, it turns out that I just didn't have the right amount of gravity. Hell, I almost want to do a thousand or so pushups right now... Man, I almost feel bad for killing you. But still, I got to do what I got to do." Atem shrugged before leaping at Ronan with a balled-up fist. 

"NO," Ronan screamed in fear as he could feel the explosive power hidden within the simple punch. He knew that if he got hit once, that would be it. So, without any hesitation, he squeezed the base of his weapon and instantly disappeared in thin air before reappearing again behind Atem. Then with all his strength, he took a swing, targeting Atem's head. He even engaged the plasma coating on his hammer, aiming to obliterate the god's head with a single strike. However, Atem's cosmic awareness allowed him to detect the slightest vibrations in his vicinity. It was impossible for him to be taken by surprise, especially by someone like Ronan.

The New God effortlessly caught the blow with his palm, and as soon as the hammer made contact with his skin, he seized it firmly, thwarting Ronan's attempt to withdraw his weapon. "That's enough. Unfortunately, I can't give you more time to give me a demo of this weapon. I'll have to make do with what I saw." Atem mocked before slowly exerting all of his strength to crush the hammer's head.

"No, you'll break it. It's a sacred weapon for the Kree," Ronan yelled in panic, struggling to wrest his hammer free from Atem's grasp, but to no avail. In a desperate move he never imagined taking, he declared, "You wish to destroy the Universal Weapon, the Accusers of the Kree's emblem, correct? Very well then. Witness and bow before its true might." With that, Ronan bellowed as the glow of his weapon shifted swiftly from purple to silver.

"No, shit. That crazy xenophobic Kree idiot activated the temporal displacement core at full power. It's going to explode. I need to escape, all of us need to escape... NOW." Gamora suddenly yelled, looking quite distraught as she eyed the glowing silver light of the Cosmic rod.

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