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Chapter 437: Death
Over billions of years, far too many secrets have been buried on Earth.
Four billion years ago, a maddened member of the Celestials came to Earth and died here, giving birth to the planet's first life forms—single-celled organisms in the ocean.
A million years ago, a team of Celestials wandering the universe in search of an experimental base finally chose Earth, where they augmented a group of primitive life forms.
Twenty thousand years ago, two major factions that had evolved from the original test subjects—the Deviants with their uncontrollable mutant genes and the Eternals with their perfect genes—waged a civil war for supremacy over Earth. The Deviants won a pyrrhic victory, and the remaining Eternals fled into interstellar space.
Shortly after, before the Deviants even had a chance to celebrate their victory, they were met by a team of Celestials—their creators—who had come to inspect the results of their experiment.
After their evaluation, the Celestials judged the Deviants to be failed products and decided to annihilate them.
Already greatly weakened, the Deviants negotiated several times to no avail. Falling into despair, they activated their most powerful war weapon, the "Star Fortress," to fight the Celestials to the death.
The entire race fought with all its might. Continents were shattered and sank, the Star Fortress exploded, and the Deviants fought a bloody battle, but they were utterly crushed before the Celestials.
From then on, the Deviants were wiped out.
A small portion of their mutant genes was studied and modified by the Celestials. The primitive humans who possessed these genes survived and developed into today's human civilization.
The residual genes of the Deviants would occasionally awaken. This mutant gene is known today as the "X-Gene," and humans who undergo this mutation are called "mutants."
The humans on Earth today can be considered distant relatives of the Deviants who fought a bloody war against the Celestials—it wouldn't be wrong to call them descendants.
As for the remnants of the Eternals who had fled into the galaxy, they endured numerous hardships before finally escaping to a satellite of Saturn. They named this place Titan, and from then on, they called themselves the "Titan Eternals."
Thus, the Eternals abandoned their old name, only remembering their people as the "Titans." In the blink of an eye, twenty thousand years passed.
Until one day, when Susan, the wife of Titan's ruler Alars, gave birth to a purple infant with skin as shriveled as old tree bark, causing widespread panic.
In her terror, Susan's first instinct was to grab a scalpel and kill the infant, but she was stopped by Alars.
The Eternals generally had light-colored skin, yet she had given birth to a purple-skinned, deformed, mutant baby... Theoretically, this should have been impossible. They possessed perfect genes, which weren't uncontrollable like those of the Deviants.
Regardless, holding onto principles of kindness and universal love, Thanos was born and raised.
The inhabitants of Titan did not discriminate against Thanos. On the contrary, they treated him with immense tolerance and compassion. Thanos, in turn, deeply loved his planet and its people.
Until one day, a young girl with green eyes suddenly appeared by Thanos's side.
The nightmare began.
Step by step, the girl grew closer to Thanos. Step by step, she used gentle words to warm the kind, benevolent Thanos, who was considered the rising star of Titan.
Thanos gradually let his guard down and came to trust the girl completely. The same Thanos who used to vomit during anatomy class was persuaded and guided by the girl to take his classmates on an expedition into a deep cave. The result was that Thanos escaped, while his three classmates died.
From that day on, under the girl's gentle companionship and persuasion, a subtle change occurred in Thanos's kind heart, and he gradually developed a curiosity for the anatomy of various creatures.
It was a complex process, but there was no doubt the girl was a genius. She successfully guided Thanos in a completely different direction.
Thanos began to develop a strong interest in dissecting different creatures, starting with the local animals of Titan, then moving on to dissecting his classmates alive, and eventually... all of Titan.
He had gone mad, because he suddenly realized he knew nothing about the girl. Who was she? Where did she come from? What did she want from him? He didn't know. He didn't know any of it.
He was willing to give everything for the girl. Not long after, upon reaching adulthood, he ventured into interstellar space and took command of a band of space pirates.
Later, when the girl, who had been gone for a long time, suddenly reappeared and said, "I can't stand the scent of those alien whores on you," he killed all his lovers and children.
But the girl's demands became more and more excessive. Thanos led his pirate crew on a mad rampage across interstellar space, attacking and slaughtering the inhabitants of one planet after another. Villains, civilians—Thanos's hands were stained with blood.
The girl appeared once more and touched upon Thanos's greatest vulnerability: his home, Titan.
Thanos lost his mind. He roared, ordering his guards to arrest her, but the guards just stared at each other, not understanding why their boss was yelling at thin air, much less why he wanted them to arrest it.
Thanos returned to his homeland, launched a nuclear bombardment to raze the surface, and then personally finished the job, killing all of his people, including his parents.
From then on, the Eternals were wiped out.
Only one genetic mutant remained: Thanos.
All of this stemmed from the girl's light, airy words: "Don't you love me? Aren't you willing to give everything for me?"
In the end, Thanos was left utterly alone and discovered a terrifying truth—he could kill everyone else, but he could not kill himself.
His entire being had already become the girl's private property.
The cosmic tyrant, Thanos, was, from beginning to end, nothing more than a plaything in the girl's hands. From the moment they met, their story was destined to be a tragedy.
This girl, this girl with green eyes and green lips, was one of the five primordial deities responsible for maintaining the balance of the universe—Death!
She was Death, known as one of the five creator gods, one of the five primordial gods of the multiverse!
A terrifying woman who toyed with Thanos as if he were a clown, a powerful deity whose true form was that of a skeleton!
This time, Death seemed to have found a new target. She set out once more, just as she had guided Thanos step-by-step all those years ago, to guide... Tony.
She had found a potential One-Above-All, a candidate who, aside from his power level, already possessed all the other traits of the One-Above-All.
She arrived with great interest, observing and contemplating.
For Death, confirming Tony's special nature was simple. As a deity responsible for maintaining the balance of the multiverse, timelines were like toys to her. Yet, when she traveled through time, she could not find Tony's past, no matter how hard she looked.
The past and future were completely sealed, suppressed, and nailed down by some strange power.
And Tony was that special node. The point in time where Tony existed was real; all others were illusory.
Death had found her brand new target.
(end of chapter)
Over billions of years, far too many secrets have been buried on Earth.
Four billion years ago, a maddened member of the Celestials came to Earth and died here, giving birth to the planet's first life forms—single-celled organisms in the ocean.
A million years ago, a team of Celestials wandering the universe in search of an experimental base finally chose Earth, where they augmented a group of primitive life forms.
Twenty thousand years ago, two major factions that had evolved from the original test subjects—the Deviants with their uncontrollable mutant genes and the Eternals with their perfect genes—waged a civil war for supremacy over Earth. The Deviants won a pyrrhic victory, and the remaining Eternals fled into interstellar space.
Shortly after, before the Deviants even had a chance to celebrate their victory, they were met by a team of Celestials—their creators—who had come to inspect the results of their experiment.
After their evaluation, the Celestials judged the Deviants to be failed products and decided to annihilate them.
Already greatly weakened, the Deviants negotiated several times to no avail. Falling into despair, they activated their most powerful war weapon, the "Star Fortress," to fight the Celestials to the death.
The entire race fought with all its might. Continents were shattered and sank, the Star Fortress exploded, and the Deviants fought a bloody battle, but they were utterly crushed before the Celestials.
From then on, the Deviants were wiped out.
A small portion of their mutant genes was studied and modified by the Celestials. The primitive humans who possessed these genes survived and developed into today's human civilization.
The residual genes of the Deviants would occasionally awaken. This mutant gene is known today as the "X-Gene," and humans who undergo this mutation are called "mutants."
The humans on Earth today can be considered distant relatives of the Deviants who fought a bloody war against the Celestials—it wouldn't be wrong to call them descendants.
As for the remnants of the Eternals who had fled into the galaxy, they endured numerous hardships before finally escaping to a satellite of Saturn. They named this place Titan, and from then on, they called themselves the "Titan Eternals."
Thus, the Eternals abandoned their old name, only remembering their people as the "Titans." In the blink of an eye, twenty thousand years passed.
Until one day, when Susan, the wife of Titan's ruler Alars, gave birth to a purple infant with skin as shriveled as old tree bark, causing widespread panic.
In her terror, Susan's first instinct was to grab a scalpel and kill the infant, but she was stopped by Alars.
The Eternals generally had light-colored skin, yet she had given birth to a purple-skinned, deformed, mutant baby... Theoretically, this should have been impossible. They possessed perfect genes, which weren't uncontrollable like those of the Deviants.
Regardless, holding onto principles of kindness and universal love, Thanos was born and raised.
The inhabitants of Titan did not discriminate against Thanos. On the contrary, they treated him with immense tolerance and compassion. Thanos, in turn, deeply loved his planet and its people.
Until one day, a young girl with green eyes suddenly appeared by Thanos's side.
The nightmare began.
Step by step, the girl grew closer to Thanos. Step by step, she used gentle words to warm the kind, benevolent Thanos, who was considered the rising star of Titan.
Thanos gradually let his guard down and came to trust the girl completely. The same Thanos who used to vomit during anatomy class was persuaded and guided by the girl to take his classmates on an expedition into a deep cave. The result was that Thanos escaped, while his three classmates died.
From that day on, under the girl's gentle companionship and persuasion, a subtle change occurred in Thanos's kind heart, and he gradually developed a curiosity for the anatomy of various creatures.
It was a complex process, but there was no doubt the girl was a genius. She successfully guided Thanos in a completely different direction.
Thanos began to develop a strong interest in dissecting different creatures, starting with the local animals of Titan, then moving on to dissecting his classmates alive, and eventually... all of Titan.
He had gone mad, because he suddenly realized he knew nothing about the girl. Who was she? Where did she come from? What did she want from him? He didn't know. He didn't know any of it.
He was willing to give everything for the girl. Not long after, upon reaching adulthood, he ventured into interstellar space and took command of a band of space pirates.
Later, when the girl, who had been gone for a long time, suddenly reappeared and said, "I can't stand the scent of those alien whores on you," he killed all his lovers and children.
But the girl's demands became more and more excessive. Thanos led his pirate crew on a mad rampage across interstellar space, attacking and slaughtering the inhabitants of one planet after another. Villains, civilians—Thanos's hands were stained with blood.
The girl appeared once more and touched upon Thanos's greatest vulnerability: his home, Titan.
Thanos lost his mind. He roared, ordering his guards to arrest her, but the guards just stared at each other, not understanding why their boss was yelling at thin air, much less why he wanted them to arrest it.
Thanos returned to his homeland, launched a nuclear bombardment to raze the surface, and then personally finished the job, killing all of his people, including his parents.
From then on, the Eternals were wiped out.
Only one genetic mutant remained: Thanos.
All of this stemmed from the girl's light, airy words: "Don't you love me? Aren't you willing to give everything for me?"
In the end, Thanos was left utterly alone and discovered a terrifying truth—he could kill everyone else, but he could not kill himself.
His entire being had already become the girl's private property.
The cosmic tyrant, Thanos, was, from beginning to end, nothing more than a plaything in the girl's hands. From the moment they met, their story was destined to be a tragedy.
This girl, this girl with green eyes and green lips, was one of the five primordial deities responsible for maintaining the balance of the universe—Death!
She was Death, known as one of the five creator gods, one of the five primordial gods of the multiverse!
A terrifying woman who toyed with Thanos as if he were a clown, a powerful deity whose true form was that of a skeleton!
This time, Death seemed to have found a new target. She set out once more, just as she had guided Thanos step-by-step all those years ago, to guide... Tony.
She had found a potential One-Above-All, a candidate who, aside from his power level, already possessed all the other traits of the One-Above-All.
She arrived with great interest, observing and contemplating.
For Death, confirming Tony's special nature was simple. As a deity responsible for maintaining the balance of the multiverse, timelines were like toys to her. Yet, when she traveled through time, she could not find Tony's past, no matter how hard she looked.
The past and future were completely sealed, suppressed, and nailed down by some strange power.
And Tony was that special node. The point in time where Tony existed was real; all others were illusory.
Death had found her brand new target.
(end of chapter)
