508

Masked Challenger

"I went to Knowhere and had a drink at the tavern there. Have you ever been to Knowhere?" asked Loki.

"Never heard of it at all," Carol said.

Loki smiled: "If you get a chance, you should go. It's a good place to play and trade. The Collector, Taneleer Tivan, is there."

"Where's Thor?" he asked again.

"Back to Asgard."

"Back to Asgard? Why?" Loki asked in surprise.

With Thor's character, he naturally wouldn't leave the battlefield easily. The reason he returned to Asgard this time was mainly because Odin had entered the Odinsleep again, and he had been sleeping longer than ever.

Obviously, Odin has been alive for a few years and may die at any time.

Forseti didn't explain the reason. Odin's sleeping time was a secret known only to a few. There were dozens of people in the room, and he certainly couldn't reveal it in public.

Seeing that Forseti didn't speak, Loki didn't ask any more questions. He changed the topic: "Have you locked Thanos' Sanctuary II spaceship?"

"That's right." Carol looked at the star map projection. "It's not easy to lock onto this guy. We have to set off immediately. Prince Loki with long hair, do you want to join me too?"

As an excellent pilot, Carol's character is inherently tougher than most women. After these years of experience, her character had been further strengthened, and her feminine traits had almost completely disappeared.

Coupled with her ultra-short hair, people would sometimes ignore or even mistake her gender, making some jokes.

For example, Thor once called her "Mr. Carol" and was mocked by Loki for that.

Even though Thor got Carol's gender wrong, Carol didn't dislike him. In contrast, she looked down on Loki, a man with longer hair than hers, and she seemed to feel that Loki had a personality problem. She was always unfriendly towards him.

Loki naturally felt the unfriendly tone in her voice and replied with a smile: "Of course, Ms. Carol with short hair, I am also a member of the coalition."

Carol frowned.

Loki subconsciously took a half step back. Although their relationship was not good, Carol's strength was obvious to all. Except for Forseti, no one in the room was her opponent.

"Don't talk about irrelevant things," Forseti coughed twice. "It's about to be a decisive battle between us and Thanos. Get ready."

...

After a series of intensive defeats and the loss of almost all of its territory, the Sanctuary II was filled with a depressing and solemn atmosphere.

Both ordinary soldiers and Thanos himself became more taciturn, and everyone's heart was tense and repressed, like the low, gray sky before a storm.

Nonetheless, the brutal duel continued.

"Please, father, stop torturing Nebula... I can admit defeat and take the punishment in her place," Gamora begged Thanos.

Thanos was unmoved: "I didn't torture her, and the operation was almost painless. I was making her stronger, and she was actually very adaptable to these transformations. What really tortured her was weakness, or a mentality that didn't match her strength."

Then he suddenly changed his tone: "You can't admit defeat, and it's not you who will duel with Nebula this time."

Gamora was startled: "Who will it be?"

Thanos didn't answer and led her to an empty, flat room where the duels had been held. It seemed darker than before.

"Come out," he said.

The doors on both sides of the room opened, and a masked figure walked out.

They were dressed the same, fully covered, with similar body shapes, making it impossible to tell who was who.

"Which one is Nebula?" Gamora asked.

Thanos didn't respond, still looking at the two people in the room: "Start the fight."

The two masked figures didn't say a word. After staring at each other for a while, they attacked almost simultaneously, waving their short swords and rushing towards each other.

"Chong!"

With the sound of a metal crash, they pressed against each other in an almost symmetrical posture, sparks bursting between the blades.

"Clang! Clang!"

An intensive and fierce confrontation followed. The two sides had hundreds of exchanges without a clear winner or loser.

The two were not only close in strength but also had almost the same fighting style.

Gamora watched the battle for a long time, unable to tell which one was her sister Nebula.

Due to their high degree of consistency in strength and style, the battle between the two masked figures dragged on until they were exhausted. A winner was barely determined when one of them pierced the heart of the other with a sword, the tip of the sword protruding from their back.

"Nebula!" Gamora didn't know which one was Nebula, but with a 50% chance of losing her sister, she couldn't help but shout.

Hearing the sound of the weapon falling, the masked figure with the pierced heart dropped their weapon to the ground, collapsing and unable to move.

The victorious masked figure took off their mask, revealing Nebula's true face.

She panted, looking at the fallen masked figure, her eyes complicated and silent.

"Thankfully, you're all right," Gamora breathed a sigh of relief and walked to Nebula's side.

"Father, I want to rest for a while," Nebula said after a moment of silence.

"Go, reflect on the battle just now. Such a fight is rare," Thanos said.

Nebula turned and left silently.

Gamora couldn't help but flash a trace of doubt in her eyes, then looked at the fallen masked figure: "Who is this masked person? Aren't we going to save them?"

"No." Thanos snapped his fingers.

"Crack!" He seemed to practice often and had a special finger-snapping technique, so the sound was very loud, like a slap.

As soon as his fingers snapped, the floor of the room opened, throwing the masked figure out of the spaceship.

Gamora opened her mouth, hesitating.

Thanos turned his head, about to say something, when the Sanctuary II suddenly trembled violently, causing his expression to change.

"Asgardians!"

Outside the spaceship, in the starry sky.

Forseti led thousands of the most elite warriors to attack Thanos' ship, and the Paladins' Hammer of Judgment initiated the decisive battle.

"Boom!" The Hammer of Judgment exploded on the side of the spaceship, releasing a burst of holy light.

"For the alliance!" The rebels were indeed an alliance, and many people shouted this, including Forseti himself.

But at this moment, a masked figure suspected of being a corpse was suddenly thrown from the spaceship, flying right next to Forseti.

Forseti subconsciously grabbed the masked figure and tore off the mask.

Under the mask was a blue-skinned girl with no hair. She closed her eyes, bleeding from the corners of her mouth, and seemed to be dead.

This is... Nebula?

Looking at the blue-skinned girl, Forseti was a little surprised.

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