Marvel: Extraordinary Comprehension

Chapter 139 139: Annihilate the Target! In the Face of Absolute Power, Numbers Are Meaningless — All I Need Is a Single Opportunity!

Wakanda's battlefield was still reeling from the shock of such devastating destruction and the abrupt return to nothingness.

"What… just happened?"

Hawkeye wondered aloud, half-suspecting he'd dreamed it all.

Tony Stark's expression beneath his visor was frozen solid.

"Prince Lucci… did he just wash away an entire alien army with seawater? And then… toss them through another portal?"

The genius scientist's worldview was completely shattered — and in the most absurd way imaginable.

Captain America clenched his shield tightly, tracking Lucci's receding figure with a complex look.

He'd been through WWII, witnessed the most brutal bombardments — but this… this defied all he understood of warfare. This wasn't about tactics or courage. This was — divine punishment.

T'Challa of Wakanda and Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons were equally shaken, overwhelmed with awe.

"He… is a true god," Hippolyta's voice trembled. As a demigod herself, she knew better than anyone the limits of human power — and what Lucci displayed was far beyond.

T'Challa inhaled sharply, his estimation for Lucci reaching an unprecedented height. He'd once believed Wakanda's technology was Earth's greatest, but Lucci had shown that before true power, technology was trivial.

Compared to their shock, the mutants' reactions were much simpler. In their eyes, all fear and doubt had vanished, replaced with a near-religious fervor for Lucci.

He was their king, their guardian god! As long as he stood, what did it matter if all the universe's enemies came? What could Thanos's army possibly do?

…

On Sanctuary's bridge—

Not long before, Ebony Maw watched with supreme confidence, prepared to witness Earth's natives ground into despair. But now, he stared blankly at the main screen, seeing his master's army erased in an instant.

That signature calm was gone — replaced with utter shock, as if he'd seen a ghost.

"This…this can't be… Sire…the first wave…all gone…!"

Thanos slowly stood from his throne, his massive frame leaning forward in shock, purple skin taut with tension.

He stared at the screen, unable to comprehend what he saw.

For thousands of years, he'd conquered worlds, annihilated civilizations. He'd never — never — seen a battle turn so bizarre and absurd!

Over a hundred thousand elite troops — wiped out without even brushing the enemy's hem.

After a stunned moment, Thanos was engulfed in unprecedented humiliation and boundless rage.

He felt like a proud giant, utterly outwitted by ants using means beyond his imagination.

"Aaaaaaaah—!"

Thanos let out an uncontrollable roar, the bridge shuddering intensely from the force.

From his clenched right fist, a purple ball of power glowed ominously, leaking wild energy.

"Lucci…" he growled the name through gritted teeth.

"Master, please calm yourself!" Ebony Maw cowered on his knees, terrified.

Thanos took a deep breath, forcibly subduing his fury, but the killing intent in his eyes was terrifying.

"I admit — I underestimated him," Thanos spoke in a voice colder than hell.

"But I will not allow him to pull this off twice!"

He spun and barked orders:

"Activate all spatial jamming beacons! Seal the entire area at full power — I don't want to see another portal appear!"

"Yes, my lord!"

"Second — deploy the second and third ground echelons! Unleash all alien beasts!"

"Yes!"

"And one more!" A cruel light gleamed in Thanos's eyes. "Deploy the Reapers. I want to see these arrogant Earthers ground into powder along with their precious territories!"

"Yes, Master!"

As soon as his orders flew, the hatches of Sanctuary II opened again. A second, even larger and fiercer wave of troops, surged from the giant portal like a dark plague.

This time, many rapid, fearless beasts raced on all fours — but what truly chilled every member of the alliance were the two colossal "Reaper" machines lumbering behind the alien beasts.

These were like rolling mountains — two endlessly spinning gigantic wheels.

As they thundered forth, the ground shuddered.

Wherever they rolled, the land split, rocks shattered, leaving deep, bottomless trenches behind.

The whistling sound of those spinning wheels struck terror into even the bravest warrior.

In the face of this hellish nightmare, the burgeoning confidence of the Earth Alliance was once again tested harshly. Even the battle-hardened Captain America felt his spine chill.

Such war machines vastly outclassed conventional weapons — missile attacks might barely scratch them.

"Jarvis, analyze for weak points!" Tony yelled, his armored arm reshaping, loading the strongest cluster missiles.

"Sir, the targets' structures are extremely dense, encased in unknown superalloys. Internal energy readings…cannot be scanned! No effective attack points found!" Jarvis's voice was tense.

A doomsday pressure threatened to smother all.

At that crucial moment, a clear, strong voice rang out:

"Let me handle it."

Everyone turned to see Jean stepping forward beside Lucci. Her burning red hair floated despite the windless air, her beautiful face void of fear, brimming with the confidence of a Phoenix host.

She glanced at Lucci, eyes questioning. He, barely glancing at the monstrous machines, only nodded lightly.

A beautiful smile blossomed on Jean's lips. She floated up, spread her arms, and faced the massive wheel to the left.

Buzz—

Inexpressible, infinite golden energy erupted from Jean's body. At her back, with a resounding phoenix cry, a gigantic bird-shape of golden flame unfurled its wings, enveloping the sky!

This was not mere fire — it burned with the primal force of the universe. Its light and heat sent the temperature soaring and even warped the surrounding space.

"Go," Jean said softly.

The mighty phoenix of golden flame crowed in joy, becoming a streak of blazing light, and crashed straight into the monstrous Reaper!

There was no earth-shaking explosion — just a sight no one would ever forget.

The flaming phoenix wrapped the spinning wheel as gently as a cotton pillow, as tightly as a steel net. Regardless of how ferocious the crushing power, the Reaper moved not an inch!

Ultimate force of metal and energy clashed, producing an eerie, silent deadlock.

The raging Reaper was effortlessly blocked by the beautiful firebird!

"So…so powerful..."

The Avengers were stunned, staring in awe at Jean's might.

At that moment, another figure stepped forward.

"Let me have one too!"

It was Wanda!

Having seen Jean's brilliance, a fiery fighting spirit, a need to prove herself, surged in Wanda's heart. No longer the confused girl once manipulated by Hydra — she stood as a true Scarlet Witch, empowered by Lucci.

Before anyone could react, she flung her arms wide; deep scarlet energy, churning with chaos, surged forth like a pair of furious red serpents.

In a blink, the crimson chaos-magic wrapped around the other gargantuan Reaper.

"Stop——!"

Wanda shouted, and a strange sight ensued.

The monstrous, spinning titan — weighing tens of thousands of tons — was raised off the ground as if by invisible hands, all its energy contained by the scarlet force. Suspended in midair, the machine spun desperately yet futilely a few meters off the ground.

Silence fell once more.

The might unleashed by Jean and Wanda was as awe-inspiring as that of goddesses!

Two doomsday-class war machines, enough to crush modern armies, were nullified by two shockingly beautiful young women.

"Are all the girls this fierce these days?"

Tony Stark muttered, feeling as though his prized armor was mere child's play in the face of these two.

After this moment of shock, the Allied troops let out thunderous cheers and war cries!

Their mightiest threat was neutralized. What did they have to fear anymore?

Seeing the alliance's morale hit its peak, Lucci finally said only two words:

"Begin war."

At the moment the order was given, the floodgates of battle opened!

"The future belongs to mutants!"

The cry resounded in every mutant's heart. The field commander's eyes blazed, his invisible psychic storm engulfing thousands of mutants at the front, sowing chaos among the enemy, and driving their own ranks to frenzy.

"Let them witness my magnetic might!"

Magneto raised his arms, controlling the Chitauri shipwrecks and metallic parts into a storm of steel, sweeping the field and splitting blood and flesh wherever it passed.

"Avengers! Assemble!"

Captain America roared and threw his shield, bouncing off targets and felling multiple Chitauri.

"Let's go, Professor!"

Hulk became a green blur, leaping dozens of meters high, landing in the densest foe-packed zone like a meteor, sending shockwaves and flinging enemies aside.

Superman's eyes spat searing beams that swept the enemy ranks, melting ground, vaporizing hundreds in an instant.

The Wakandan warriors advanced as one, forming an impenetrable vibranium shield wall, unleashing spear and sonic cannon strikes. The Amazon fighters charged like valkyries, their arrows striking true, swords cleaving through ranks.

Battlefield lightning flashed red and silver, as Quicksilver and Flash streaked across from one crisis to the next, their speed rendering them phantom-like saviors, saving allies and breaking enemy assaults.

Explosions, warcries, and roaring energy filled the sky!

Despite their numerical superiority, the Thanos army's advantage was completely erased by the earth's unreasonably top-tier defenders. Defensive lines held!

…

On the Sanctuary's bridge, Ebony Maw stared, dumbstruck, at the live battlefield feed. The gentle, controlling smile he once wore was replaced by utter shock.

What had he witnessed?

The terrible Reaper was dominated by two earth women with world-shaking prowess! The golden-flame one seemed buoyed by a cosmic will. The red-energy girl radiated chilling chaos.

On the battlefield, a flying man clad red and blue met every artillery barrage with invulnerability, his heat vision rivaling capital-ship cannons.

The huge green monster was an inexhaustible engine of destruction, easily outclassing the Reapers for raw power.

And that old man — controlling metal — singlehandedly decimated their air force and turned the field into a metallic graveyard!

On top of all that, psychic disruptions and flashes of lightning fast as sensors could track…

Ebony Maw felt as if his brain was about to crash. Could this really be the strength of a primitive planet?

This was not a battle for the Infinity Stones. This was an invasion of the stronghold of the mighty!

"Master, master…" Ebony Maw forced himself to look at Thanos, still seated in silence, voice dry as dust.

"Earth's resilience far surpasses expectations…

Too many top-tier experts with too many freakish powers…

Our numerical advantage is being nullified by completely illogical methods.

At this rate, our ground troops will be…"

He couldn't finish — but the implication was clear: they'd be ground down and wiped out.

Yet to Ebony Maw's surprise, Thanos did not rage. Instead, he gave a low, cold laugh.

"Strong? Indeed, very strong," Thanos said, staring through the screen at the unmoving figure behind the alliance lines.

"But… so what?"

He rose, the Power Stone and Soul Stone blazing in the Infinity Gauntlet.

"Our target was never these rabble. The outcome of war, the fate of the universe, depends only on—whoever can gather all the Infinity Stones. If I seize those four from Lucci, this so-called coalition will be nothing—mere dust before my hand."

"In the face of absolute power, numbers are meaningless!"

Ebony Maw instantly understood, brightening.

"Master, you are wise! In other words—"

"Correct." Thanos's voice was icy.

"I'm going to settle this personally."