Chapter 253 254: Flaw

The armor on his left arm was almost completely shattered, revealing the purple skin beneath, and several deep wounds were still bleeding. Although the Soul Stone was healing them rapidly, the speed could no longer keep up with the rate at which new wounds were being inflicted.

Mavuika and Hela stood side by side opposite him; both were panting slightly, but their eyes remained sharp.

Hela's Death Energy surged around her, while Mavuika's flames illuminated half the sky.

Thanos took a deep breath and held his greatsword horizontally in front of him.

His gaze swept over the two approaching figures and finally landed on the mass of dark red energy on Hela's arm—the Aether Particle, the Reality Stone.

He needed to break their balance before they could form a more powerful synergy.

His gaze locked onto Hela.

The Space Stone glowed with blue light in his hand, and a spatial rift opened silently behind Hela, swallowing the space behind her and forcing her toward Thanos.

At the same time, the Power Stone condensed purple energy onto his blade, and the greatsword, carrying tremendous force, slashed toward Hela's head.

Hela felt the pressure. Her path of retreat was blocked by the spatial rift, and Thanos's sword was already upon her.

She did not dodge.

She raised her hand, and the Aether Particle on her arm lit up with a dark red glow.

The power of the Reality Stone was activated at that moment. The space in front of her began to twist, soften, and deform in that light—not shattered, but rewritten.

When Thanos's greatsword struck that twisted space, the force of the blade was redirected. Like a bullet refracted after entering water, the greatsword, which should have struck Hela's head, grazed her side and carved a trench hundreds of meters long into the ground beneath her feet.

Taking advantage of that moment, Hela condensed a black sword in her other hand and thrust it toward Thanos's chest.

Thanos had to withdraw his greatsword to block, but Mavuika rushed out from the side, Thousand Blazing Suns slashing toward his right wrist as he held the sword.

Thanos made a split-second decision; he did not retreat to avoid Mavuika's attack, but instead used his other hand—his left hand, the one wearing the Infinity Gauntlet—to take Hela's black sword head-on.

The black sword struck the golden gauntlet and was firmly blocked, unable to advance an inch.

Capable of bearing and channeling the power of the Infinity Stones, the Infinity Gauntlet, forged by the Dwarf King, was naturally no ordinary object, so it was no surprise that it could withstand Hela's black sword.

On the other side, the greatsword that had blocked Mavuika's strike snapped in the middle.

The upper half of the blade spun away and embedded itself in the ground hundreds of meters away, like a tilted stone monument.

Thanos was left with only half a broken sword in his hand, the metal at the hilt glowing slightly red from the high temperature.

He discarded the broken sword and clenched both his fists.

The four stones on the Infinity Gauntlet lit up simultaneously, their light even more dazzling than before, like four Suns Burning on his fist.

He raised his hands, crossed his fists in front of him, and then suddenly threw his arms open.

Purple, blue, orange, and gold—four-colored energy surged from his fists simultaneously, transforming into a massive, violent Impact that spread in all directions.

That Impact covered an area of several kilometers, sweeping away everything; clouds were shattered, buildings were destroyed, the ground was overturned, the air was Burning, and space was twisting.

Mavuika was pushed back dozens of steps by that force, holding Thousand Blazing Suns horizontally in front of him to form a flame shield.

Hela was also pushed back; her Death Energy condensed into a shield in front of her, bearing the pressure of that Impact.

Thanos stood at the center where the light dissipated. His body seemed more massive than before—not a change in physical size, but a change in presence.

The energy of the four stones circulated within him, causing spiderweb-like patterns to appear on the surface of his skin, as if some ancient totem were breathing.

His gaze locked onto Mavuika and Hela, his voice even deeper than before, like a rumble from the Earth's core.

"How much longer can you hold on?"

Mavuika and Hela exchanged a glance. Hela's hand trembled slightly—it was a very faint movement, but Mavuika saw it.

He looked at Hela, watching the flash of exhaustion on her face.

Their battlefield was Earth, not Asgard. Hela's energy consumption exceeded her replenishment; every attack she made drained the power stored within her, rather than being able to draw it endlessly from the land as she could in Asgard.

Mavuika said nothing. He extended his hand, palm up, and looked at the mass of dark red Aether Particle on Hela's arm.

Hela looked at him; the pair's eyes met again. Hela understood and extended her arm toward Mavuika.

The dark red energy detached from her arm like a living snake, flowing along her arm toward Mavuika's palm.

The Aether Particle condensed in Mavuika's hand, transforming into a mass of dark red light that merged into his flames.

Gold-red and dark red intertwined in his palm, like two rivers of different colors flowing into the same ocean.

Mavuika clenched his fist, the dark red light flickering between his fingers. He looked up at Thanos.

"Again."

The two charged again.

With the blessing of the Reality Stone, his flames were no longer just flames; he could make the flames become anything, push his speed to the limit, and reduce the distance between himself and Thanos to zero.

Hela provided support from behind him; she no longer attacked with full force, but instead turned to assist Mavuika.

She used her black sword to block Thanos's retreat, used Death Energy to interfere with the light of the stones on his gauntlet, and used her nearly artistic combat intuition to create opportunities for Mavuika's every charge.

The fluidity of their coordination exceeded even what it was before. Hela's positioning was more flexible; she wove through Mavuika's flames like a black fish swimming in a golden river.

Mavuika's flames burned on Hela's black sword, causing those black swords to burst into splinters of gold-red sparks upon hitting their target.

Thanos's attacks appeared clumsy and slow before them—not because he had actually slowed down, but because they were too fast and their coordination was too perfect, making every punch and kick of his feel like he was hitting the air.

Thanos was forced back over a hundred meters; there were several new wounds on his left arm, and more cracks had appeared in the armor on his chest.

He wiped the blood oozing from the corner of his mouth; it had been a long time since he had bled this much.

Mavuika and Hela stood together. Mavuika's golden flames illuminated half the sky, while Hela's black death swirled at her side.

Both were panting slightly, but neither retreated.

The prolonged battle had drained Hela significantly, and a momentary pause appeared in her next sword swing.

That moment was very brief, but in a battle of this level, it was enough.