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As Thor finished speaking, everyone—Star-Lord and the others—looked surprised and confused, unsure who Thor was talking about.
"Who?" Star-Lord asked in disbelief. "That's three Infinity Stones. Who could possibly stop that?"
"I think that sounds like a huge exaggeration," Rocket agreed.
Gamora frowned. "Who are you talking about?"
Not just Star-Lord—none of them seemed to believe what Thor had said.
Under everyone's curious gazes, Thor answered, "My brother—the legendary God of Light, Balder!"
"According to Asgardian legend, he possesses incredible power. No one could defeat him."
"If he were here, maybe Thanos wouldn't be a threat."
Hearing this, the group was stunned.
The God of Light… Balder? Who was that?
Did Asgard even have such a person?
"Then where is he now?" Gamora asked with a frown.
That was exactly what the others wanted to know.
Thor shook his head. "I don't know. Supposedly, he died young. I don't know exactly how. I only found out because my father told me."
The others exchanged looks, a little speechless. That was as good as saying nothing at all.
None of them believed this so-called God of Light could really stand against three Infinity Stones.
That was the Infinity Stones, after all—three of them!
Even just one was terrifying. Let alone three?
It sounded like a fantasy.
Star-Lord muttered, "I think your dad must've been senile or dreaming when he said that."
"If that guy really existed, how could he have died so easily?"
Rocket and the others nodded in agreement.
Thor wasn't angry. He shrugged and said with a hint of agreement, "That's what I used to think too. Probably just a legend. Asgard was destroyed and he never showed up."
"Even if my brother did exist, he's probably long gone."
"And I agree the legends made him sound too powerful—it just doesn't seem real."
He sighed. "I was just saying. You don't need to take it seriously."
Gamora and the others nodded, brushing it off as a myth.
Soon after, they went back to discussing how to stop Thanos and decided to split up.
Rocket and Thor would head to Nidavellir, while the rest would go to Knowhere to try to stop Thanos.
Time passed quickly.
Not long after, Eitri the dwarf king forged the Stormbreaker axe for Thor.
At the same time, Thanos continued seizing the Infinity Stones, even sending the Black Order to Earth to obtain the Time and Mind Stones.
Things escalated quickly, and the battles raged on.
But in the end, not much changed.
Thanos successfully collected all six Infinity Stones and snapped his fingers.
Before the eyes of Thor, Captain, and others—Bucky and many more turned to dust.
Wanda, holding Vision's lifeless body… Black Panther…
Meanwhile, on the planet where Tony Stark and the others fought Thanos—
The orange sunset bathed everything in its glow.
Mantis suddenly sensed something and murmured, "Something's wrong…"
The next second, she dissolved into dust in Star-Lord's arms.
Everyone was stunned.
Then Drax looked at his hand, seeing it begin to disintegrate.
"Quill…"
He only had time to say Star-Lord's name before vanishing into dust as well.
Tony Stark stood up in panic. "Stay calm, Quill!"
But before he could say more, he froze.
"Oh my god…" Star-Lord whispered.
And then he, too, crumbled away.
Not far off, Doctor Strange, lying on the ground, said solemnly, "Tony… there was no other way."
Then he also faded into nothingness.
"Mr. Stark…"
Wearing his Spider suit, the still-young Peter Parker stumbled over, his voice shaky, "I don't feel so good…"
Tony turned quickly to him. "You're okay, stay with me!"
Peter wobbled. "I… I don't know what's happening…"
"I feel awful…"
He collapsed into Tony's arms.
Holding him close, Peter sensed what was coming, tears streaming down as he cried, "I don't want to die. I don't want to die, sir…"
"Please—I really don't want to die…"
And with that, Peter could no longer hold on. He slipped from Tony's arms and fell to the ground.
"I'm sorry…"
Looking at Tony one last time, Peter Parker also turned to ash—completely gone.
Tony Stark reached out desperately, but his hands grasped only air.
Staring at his empty palms, he was left in stunned, breathless silence.
Not far off, Thanos' other daughter, Nebula, murmured, "He did it…"
Back on Earth—
Looking at Vision's corpse and the missing half of the population, the Avengers were left helpless.
All across the world, people were thrown into panic.
"Oh God!"
"What's going on?!"
"Where did all those people go?! Why are they disappearing?!"
Time passed. Five years later—
While Natasha and others still mourned the past, Scott Lang—Ant-Man—suddenly showed up.
Muttering to himself, Scott caught the attention of Steve Rogers.
"You okay, Scott?" Steve asked with a puzzled look.
"I'm fine," Scott replied, then looked at Natasha and Steve with a serious question.
"Has anyone here ever studied quantum physics?"
The question left Natasha and Steve even more confused. They had no idea what he was talking about.
Natasha responded, "We're fine with humoring you."
"Okay…" Scott paused for a moment, then said, "Five years ago—back before Thanos showed up—I was inside this place called the Quantum Realm."
"It's like a separate, miniaturized universe. You have to shrink really, really small to get inside."
He then brought up his girlfriend, Hope.
"She was supposed to pull me out. But then Thanos showed up, and I got stuck in there."
Natasha nodded with sympathy. "That must've been a really long five years."
"It was… but for me, it was only five hours!" Scott explained.
"Time moves differently in the Quantum Realm. Everything there is unpredictable!"
As he spoke, he grabbed a sandwich and began eating.
Natasha and Steve were both stunned.
Steve asked, "Scott, what exactly are you trying to say?"
Scott replied, "What I'm saying is—the way time works in the Quantum Realm is different. The only problem is… we can't control it."
"But what if we could?"
At those words, Natasha and Steve both froze, their minds racing with possibilities.
(End of Chapter)
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