Chapter 84: The Beginning of the Infinite War

The death of Ebony Maw was a regretful event for Peter and the others.

If he had died while still serving as one of Thanos' Black Order, they would have been pleased. After all, they were enemies, and he had come for their lives.

But once Ebony Maw was captured, he held greater value.

They could have extracted that value—gathering intelligence like Thanos' troop deployments and battle plans. As the chief strategist, Ebony Maw was undoubtedly privy to such information.

Yet now, they had only managed to obtain a few key pieces of intel.

The first was that Thanos currently possessed two Infinity Stones. One was the Power Stone, which he acquired a week ago after annihilating a civilization called Xandar. The other was the Space Stone, which he had recently stolen from Thor after attacking the Asgardian refugee ship.

The second piece of information was that Thanos was not heading to Earth at the moment. Instead, he had set his course for a place called Knowhere, where the Collector was rumored to be holding the Reality Stone.

These two points aligned perfectly with Peter's earlier "predictions."

That gave Peter a slight sense of relief.

At least, in the grand scheme of things, reality had not deviated too much from the movie's events.

If nothing unexpected happened, then after acquiring the Reality Stone in Knowhere, Thanos would use Nebula to threaten Gamora, forcing her to lead him to Vormir, where he would obtain the Soul Stone.

As for Thanos "inevitably" collecting the remaining four Infinity Stones, there was nothing they could do to stop him at this stage.

Peter had asked—could Doctor Strange open a portal directly to Knowhere or Vormir?

The answer was no.

Even at his limit, Strange's portals could only reach within the inner solar system.

Neither Stark's technology nor Wakanda's advancements could get them to either of those locations before Thanos.

Besides, they didn't even know where those places were!

Peter did have one potential option—if they could find the Guardians of the Galaxy and use their ship, they might be able to locate and reach those destinations more quickly.

However, if things followed the original storyline, the Guardians were likely already in trouble.

Ebony Maw's intel was from a day ago, meaning events had already begun unfolding.

If everything remained on track, the Guardians should have already split up.

It all started when they picked up a distress signal from the Asgardian refugee ship—only to get slammed into by an unconscious Thor.

What followed was an emotional "tragedy contest" between Star-Lord and Thor as they bonded over their losses.

Thor, as Contestant A, declared, "Thanos killed my brother."

Star-Lord, as Contestant B, countered, "After my mom died, my adoptive father took me in, and I went through a miserable childhood. Then, my real father killed my adoptive father, so I killed my real father."

The others (acting as judges) deliberated for a moment and concluded:

"Hmm... Star-Lord's suffering seems worse."

Contestant B, Star-Lord: +1 point. Temporary lead.

Realizing he was losing, Thor's competitive spirit flared.

He raised the stakes:

"My brother was adopted. My mother was murdered. My brother exiled my father, usurped the throne, and declared himself king. My father died in exile. Then my sister killed a massive number of our people and pushed Asgard to the brink of destruction. Not long ago, my brother was also killed by Thanos. Now, I'm the only one left."

The others (acting as judges) were shocked: "I never imagined someone could be this miserable!"

Star-Lord: "Aba aba aba..." (speechless)

Contestant A, Thor, wins unconditionally.

Moved by Thor's tragic story, the Guardians decided to help him.

At the same time, since Gamora was Thanos' adopted daughter, she understood his ways and managed to convince Star-Lord and the others to join forces with Thor against Thanos.

Thus, the Guardians of the Galaxy temporarily split into two teams.

One team—Rocket Raccoon and Groot—accompanied Thor to find the Dwarves of Nidavellir. Though called "Dwarves," they were actually towering giants. Thor intended to use their forge to upgrade his weapon, transforming from the God of Hammers to the God of Axes, so he could take revenge on Thanos.

Meanwhile, the remaining Guardians—Star-Lord, Drax, and Mantis—headed to Knowhere, where they would inevitably cross paths with Thanos. Gamora would be taken away, and Star-Lord would have his infamous bubble gun moment.

Peter wasn't too concerned about what was happening on their side. He had a general idea of how things would play out, but there was nothing they could do to influence those events.

In any case, once Thor finished upgrading his weapon, he was expected to arrive on Earth for the final battle, so there wasn't much to worry about.

As for the Guardians, without Doctor Strange, Iron Man, or Spider-Man, they were unlikely to head for Titan this time.

Maybe they would also come directly to Earth instead.

Aside from the recent updates, Ebony Maw had also revealed an unexpected piece of information about Thanos—something from long ago.

This event occurred even before Thanos "allied" with the Chitauri.

At that time, his only followers were the original five members of the Black Order.

Back then, Thanos was aware of the existence of the Infinity Stones but didn't pay them much attention. Instead, he was satisfied with carrying out large-scale massacres on life-bearing planets, much like what he did to Gamora's homeworld.

However, over time, he realized that this method was far too slow to bring balance to the universe.

Then, they encountered someone called Lorespeaker, the previous wielder of the Mind Stone.

Lorespeaker had spent his life collecting myths and legends from across the universe, ultimately proving to Thanos that the Infinity Stones were real.

But he wasn't just showing off his knowledge.

Due to holding the Mind Stone for so long, Lorespeaker had been abandoned by its power and left stranded in a forsaken dimension.

Yet, he refused to accept this fate.

He coveted Thanos' body, planning to transfer his consciousness into him!

Luckily, Nebula and Gamora saved Thanos just in time.

Afterward, Thanos killed Lorespeaker and, from his memories and knowledge, realized that collecting all six Infinity Stones was the only way to achieve his ultimate goal.

This was the reason behind Thanos' Infinity War.

Thanos then took the Mind Stone from Lorespeaker and embedded it into a scepter—the Mind Scepter—which he gave to Loki, instructing him to retrieve the Space Stone for him.

However, not only did Loki fail to obtain the Space Stone, but he also secretly kept the Mind Stone for himself.

No wonder Thanos wanted to kill him.

Loki's embezzlement forced Thanos to take matters into his own hands, ultimately leading to the Infinity War they were now facing!

With Ebony Maw's revelation, the group had finally pieced together the full chain of events.

While this information didn't change their current predicament, at least they now understood the true reason behind the war.

That said, even without the Infinity Stones, this war was inevitable!

Because Thanos' ultimate goal was the destruction of life itself.

Sooner or later, he would come to Earth!

(End of Chapter)

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