Chapter 252 253: Two Against One

Each of those black swords was as large as a mountain, with strange light flowing along their blades, their tips pointed directly at Thanos.

"Go!"

The black swords descended.

The scene was like a rainstorm made of blades; the black sword bodies obscured the sky, shooting toward Thanos from all directions. Each one carried the power of corrosion from Death Energy, and each was capable of piercing through a mountain peak.

Thanos looked up at the black swords pouring down, his expression unchanged. He raised his left hand, and the Power Stone glowed with purple light in his palm.

He did not dodge; he raised his hand and threw a punch towards the rain of black swords.

The purple energy condensed into a massive beam of light on his fist, piercing through the formation of black swords from bottom to top.

The moment the black swords touched the purple beam, they began to shatter, disintegrate, and dissipate, like ice meeting a raging fire.

But Hela's black swords were not just one; there were dozens, hundreds. When one shattered, more descended simultaneously from the sides, from behind, and from above.

Thanos had to withdraw his fist, and the Space Stone glowed with blue light in his hand.

A spatial rift opened above his head like a giant maw, swallowing most of the black swords that were pouring down.

The remaining few grazed his body, carving dozens of bottomless trenches into the ground at his feet. Gravel flew, and dust filled the air.

The corners of Hela's mouth lifted slightly.

"You dodge quite quickly."

Thanos lowered his hand and looked at Hela. "Your power is stronger than I imagined."

Hela's voice carried a smile. "You imagine too many things, Thanos. Think less, and you will live more easily."

She raised her hand again, and more black swords condensed in the sky.

This time, the black swords did not fall directly; instead, under her will, they circled, combined, and arranged themselves like a flock of hunting falcons forming a formation in the air, then dove simultaneously.

The speed was faster, the angles trickier; each one pointed toward Thanos's weak points, and each one sealed off his escape routes.

Thanos was forced to hold his greatsword with both hands, rotating and cutting in front of himself, shattering the black swords one by one.

His movements remained steady, but the frequency had clearly increased. The light of the Power Stone danced on his blade, imbuing every strike with overwhelming force, exploding into dazzling sparks the moment it shattered a black sword.

Hela and Mavuika moved at the same instant.

It was not something they had discussed, nor even something they had exchanged glances over; it was the tacit understanding that only siblings who had fought together for thousands of years would have.

While Hela's black swords suppressed Thanos from the front, Mavuika had already circled to his side, out of his field of vision.

The golden-red flames on his body were restrained to the extreme, emitting no light, like a moving shadow, silently approaching Thanos's right side.

Thanos was blocking the third wave of black swords Hela fired from the front. The combination of the Power Stone and his greatsword allowed him to handle the dense frontal attacks, but on his right side, in his blind spot, Mavuika moved.

The blade of Thousand Blazing Suns condensed golden flames. At that point, Mavuika compressed his power to the limit, the temperature of the blade so high that the surrounding space was distorting.

He thrust that sword, aiming for the elbow of Thanos's right arm that held his sword. It was not to pierce, but to disrupt his balance.

Thanos felt it; his combat instinct captured that faint aura at the last moment.

He turned abruptly, holding his greatsword horizontally in front of him. The purple light of the Power Stone instantly flared, forming a temporary energy shield.

Mavuika's sword struck the shield, and the golden and purple energies collided, erupting in blinding light.

The shield cracked but did not shatter. Mavuika was pushed back by the recoil, flipped twice in the air, and steadied himself.

But just as he thrust that sword, Hela's second wave of attacks had arrived.

In order to block Mavuika's sneak attack, Thanos had turned his greatsword to the right, leaving an opening in his frontal defense for that instant.

Hela's black swords pierced through that opening, and three black swords struck his chest almost simultaneously.

The sound of metal shattering resonated through the sky. Three deep cracks were cleaved into the armor on Thanos's chest, and purple blood splashed from the wounds, shimmering with a strange light in the sunlight.

He was knocked backward by the force of those three swords, sliding hundreds of meters through the air before barely stopping, his feet plowing two deep trenches into the ground.

He looked down at the wounds on his chest; blood was still seeping out, and the edges of the wounds showed signs of corrosion from Death Energy, which was slowly spreading.

He raised his hand, and the Soul Stone on his gauntlet glowed with orange light. The light swept over the wounds on his chest, the Death Energy was dispelled, and the wounds began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Thanos looked up at the two figures hovering side by side in the sky.

Mavuika and Hela were on his left and right, surrounding him like two stars of different colors.

One was Burning with golden-red flames, like the Sun; the other was surrounded by black-green power of death, like the night.

They did not communicate, but their positioning, their breathing, and the orientation of the weapons in their hands precisely covered all of Thanos's possible directions for evasion.

Thanos was silent for a moment. He was now immensely glad that he had made full preparations, waiting until Odin grew old and the Ancient One vanished, and having secretly obtained four Infinity Stones before launching the frontal invasion.

Asgard's sun goddess and Goddess of Death were truly worthy of their reputations. If not for the great power of the four Infinity Stones, he would find it difficult to win against either one of these two alone.

Let alone facing both of them at the same time; without the power of the stones, he feared he wouldn't be able to last three moves.

Mavuika and Hela seemed like one person split into two, launching synchronized attacks from different angles.

Hela's black swords suppressed from the front, forcing Thanos to meet the attacks head-on. Mavuika's flames slashed from the side, forcing him to defend against two directions simultaneously.

Their speed and rhythm reached perfect synchronization after just a few exchanges.

Hela attacked left, Mavuika attacked right; Hela retreated, Mavuika advanced; Hela's black swords created openings, and Mavuika's flames precisely pierced into those openings.

Every time Thanos tried to use the Space Stone to distort their positions, Hela's power of death would tear a rift in that distorted space, allowing Mavuika's flames to pass through.

Every time Thanos tried to use the Mind Stone to interfere with their consciousness, Mavuika's flames would explode at that instant, preventing the Mind Stone's energy from locking onto him.

Thanos's breathing began to become rapid.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth; it was left behind when Hela's sword slashed across his jaw just a moment ago.

His greatsword was covered in fine cracks; those were the traces left behind after being continuously struck by Thousand Blazing Suns.