Marvel's Shendu: Dominating the Multiverse

Chapter 137 Subduing Thanos

Thanos pulled the sword from the ground, purple light flowing along the blades. His breathing was heavy, each breath accompanied by a dull pain from the friction of the bones in his chest.

The enhancements the observer gave him kept his body in a delicate balance, maximizing his output, but he was also just a hair's breadth away from collapse.

Thanos charged forward.

Without any tricks or feints, the cleaver struck the Holy Lord head-on.

Thanos didn't touch Wanda this time. The lesson from that slap was clear enough. Shendu's reaction speed didn't allow him to do anything in that direction.

The Eternal Spear came at them.

The two weapons clashed, and Thanos's right arm went numb from the impact, but with the Power Stone continuously channeling energy into it, his muscles had no chance to relax.

The second, third, and fourth strikes saw Thanos swing his sword like a windmill, each strike delivered with full force. The ground cracked beneath their feet, and rubble was propelled dozens of meters away by the shockwaves.

The Holy Lord caught them all with one hand.

Each time the Spear of Eternity parried, it used only the slightest deflection, not a head-on block, but a precise angle to deflect Thanos's attacks with minimal force. The sounds of sword and spear clashing grew more frequent, Thanos's attack frequency increased, but the effect diminished.

The Holy Lord's position remained unchanged from beginning to end.

Thanos's seventeenth attack missed. Shendu took half a step to the right, and the sword slashed past his shoulder. The butt of the Spear of Eternity struck Thanos's left knee.

The sound of bones breaking was crisp.

Thanos's left knee slumped to his knees, this time not as a result of mind control, but because his kneecap was physically shattered. The Power Stone's energy frantically repaired his injuries, but just as the bone began to heal, Shendu's second attack struck.

The gun barrel swept across, striking Thanos' right wrist joint.

The cleaver slipped from Thanos's hand. Thanos instinctively tried to catch it with his left hand, but Shendu didn't give him the time. The Spear of Eternity flipped, its tip plunging into Thanos's right shoulder from top to bottom.

The spear tip pierced through the armor and the energy field of the Power Stone, embedding itself in the shoulder blade. Thanos's right arm completely lost control.

Shendu released the Gungnir, leaving it on Thanos.

He raised his free right hand, spread his five fingers, and pressed it on Thanos's head.

The Mind Stone hummed within the Holy Body.

The last time Shendu used the Mind Stone to put pressure on Thanos, Thanos withstood most of it because the Watcher was supporting him from behind. The resonant circuit of the Power Stone acted like a wall around Thanos's consciousness.

But this time was different. Shendu's hand directly touched Thanos's skull, the physical distance was zero, and the Mind Stone's output was not reduced in any way.

Thanos's pupils dilated rapidly.

He saw Titan.

It wasn't the ruins beneath his feet, but Titan from long ago. The city was still there, the population hadn't overloaded, and the sky was a bluish-purple. He stood in the council hall, presenting his plan to everyone: randomly eliminate half the population.

Nobody listened.

Thanos had seen this scene countless times, and each time the ending was the same: everyone's gaze towards him shifted from confusion to fear to rejection. He was right, but no one believed him. Titan was ultimately destroyed, proving his correctness in the most tragic way.

Thanos has relied on this memory to support his belief system.

Now that this memory has been unlocked by Shendu, Thanos sees himself standing in the council hall for the first time from an external perspective.

"You are afraid." The voice of the Holy Lord came from the depths of his consciousness.

Thanos's mental defenses are crumbling, the purple light of the Power Stone is beginning to flicker, and the catalyst injected by the Watcher is being peeled away layer by layer by the Mind Stone's intrusion.

Thanos struggled for a moment.

The Observer's power within Thanos loosened; it was Shendu's mental intrusion that severed the amplification link between the Power Stone and Thanos's consciousness. Without Thanos's will as a catalyst, Thanos had nowhere to exert its influence.

The unseen gaze in the void lingered for a few seconds before disappearing.

The observer left.

They left quietly, without any extra energy fluctuations. This is how a cosmic-level being chooses to withdraw: leaving no trace and making no announcement.

He saw the outcome; there was no point in staying.

Thanos felt the force supporting him recede like the tide, the purple light of the Power Stone returned to its normal brightness, and the bloating sensation that had been forcibly filled his body disappeared. The broken bones did not continue to heal, the Spear of Eternity was still embedded in his right shoulder, and blood was seeping down from the gaps in his armor.

He knelt on the ground and looked up at the Holy Lord.

The Holy Lord's hand was still pressing on his head.

The humming of the Mind Gem changed its tone, from a high-frequency intrusion to a low-frequency permeation.

Thanos's "The universe needs balance" has been transformed into "Saint Lord represents order".

Thanos's "I am the only one who has seen the truth" has become "Shen Du is the only truth".

This process was swift; Thanos's mental defenses had crumbled, and the Mind Stone's penetration encountered no substantial resistance.

Shendu removed his hand from Thanos's head.

Thanos's pupils refocused. His eyes were completely different from a minute ago; the obsessive, burning gaze was gone, replaced by a deep sense of obedience—not the fear-driven kind, but an inner conviction.

Thanos closed his eyes and lowered his head: "Master."

Shendu reached out and pulled the Spear of Eternity from Thanos's shoulder. The tip of the spear bled, but Thanos showed no sign of pain. He remained kneeling and began to remove the Infinity Gauntlet with his left hand.

The Infinity Gauntlet peeled off his arm segment by segment, a slight hissing sound as the metal separated from his skin. The energy circuits broke, and the purple light of the Power Stone dimmed. Thanos held the gauntlet above his head, presenting it with both hands.

The power gem was embedded in the joint of the glove; the purple gem had lost its wearer and was now only faintly glowing.

The Holy Lord took the gloves.

The moment his fingers touched the Power Stone, the purple light returned. Unlike the reaction when the Space Stone was absorbed, the Power Stone was not directly fused with by the Holy Lord, but remained quietly in the glove, awaiting new instructions.

The Holy Lord did not put on the gloves, but handed them to Wanda behind him.

When Wanda took the gloves, her fingers touched the metal surface, and the purple light of the Power Gem flickered slightly before settling down.

"Keep it safe," said the Holy Lord.

Wanda put the gloves into the chaotic space.

Thanos remained kneeling on the ground, blood streaming from his right shoulder. The broken bones in his left knee prevented him from standing, but he did not ask for treatment or struggle. He simply knelt there, awaiting the next command.

The Holy Lord looked down at him.

In the entire universe before this, Thanos was the closest being to the definition of "invincible," aside from a few members of the Celestials.

His fleet, his will, and his madness in the face of so-called cosmic balance made him a nightmare for all civilizations.

Now this nightmare is kneeling on the ground, calling for its master.

"Hand over your dark cult, your fleet, and all the pawns you've placed throughout the universe."

"Yes," Thanos answered crisply.