Hovering quietly in the cold void of space, Thanos watched with chilling indifference as the Warriors Three charged toward him.
His Outrider legions and Leviathans hadn’t exactly let them pass freely, but the trio had carved right through the beasts.
They were undeniably skilled, sure, but to the Mad Titan, they were nothing more than slightly larger ants.
He had no idea why Odin had sent these three fools to throw their lives away, but since they were so eager to meet their end, he was more than happy to oblige.
Thoroughly unimpressed, he sheathed the Tyrant Greatsword on his back and casually crossed his massive arms over his chest.
Moments later, the Warriors Three closed the distance in a tight, triangular formation.
The hulking Volstagg spearheaded the charge, flanked by Fandral and Hogun.
Seeing the purple giant looming ahead, Volstagg’s heart hammered with wild excitement.
If he could just sever the head of the enemy commander, this entire invasion would crumble!
He would be hailed as the absolute savior of Asgard.
He might even secure a permanent seat on the High Council!
Fueled by visions of ultimate glory, his divine energy flared, rocketing him forward even faster.
“Die, you purple freak!” Volstagg bellowed, raising his massive double-bladed battleaxe high before bringing it down with everything he had.
Thanos didn’t even bother to properly look at him.
He just shook his head in sheer disgust.
“So much nonsense.”
He casually raised a single massive hand and swatted downward.
Seeing Thanos refuse to even draw a weapon, a triumphant thrill shot through Volstagg.
His battleaxe was a legendary Asgardian artifact—a weapon that had once cleaved a thousand-kilometer moon right in half!
If this arrogant monster wanted to play tough, he was going to die in a single strike.
‘Rot in Hel!’ Volstagg thought fiercely.
With a booming roar, his highly anticipated strike finally met the titan’s bare palm.
But the very next millisecond, Volstagg felt an impossibly catastrophic resistance travel up the haft.
His eyes widened in absolute, unadulterated horror.
His legendary axe—the weapon capable of splitting moons—was instantly pulverized like wet paper.
Thanos’s palm didn’t just stop the blade; it completely shattered the entire weapon into dust.
‘How is this possible?!’
Squeltch.
His skull was crushed just as effortlessly as his axe.
A grotesque mixture of red and white matter erupted into the zero-gravity vacuum.
Thanos didn’t even slow his swing; his hand continued its downward trajectory, utterly pulverizing Volstagg’s entire body into a floating mist of minced meat and gore.
“No!” Fandral and Hogun shrieked, their voices tearing through the comms.
Volstagg was the eldest of the trio.
He was more than just a brother-in-arms; he had been their mentor.
Back in the day, Volstagg had been the strongest among them, willingly sacrificing his own growth to train them.
Sure, his age and expanding waistline had played a part in his physical decline, but that could never erase the profound gratitude, respect, and deep friendship they shared.
Completely blinded by grief and ignoring the insurmountable gap in power, the two warriors burned their life force, swinging their weapons at the titan in a suicidal frenzy.
“Don’t!
Get back!” Thor roared from a distance, his voice cracking with absolute panic and fury.
He was furious over Volstagg’s brutal death, but he desperately needed Fandral and Hogun to retreat.
If Thanos could casually swat Volstagg into mist, the other two stood zero chance.
But consumed by pure rage, Fandral and Hogun didn’t hesitate.
They threw themselves at the giant.
The outcome was exactly as Thor feared.
With two casual, almost lazy swats, Thanos crushed them like bothersome mosquitoes.
Blood, bone, and pulverized armor sprayed outward into the cold void, painting a horrifyingly gruesome scene.
Watching his elite warriors get butchered, Odin’s face remained a mask of cold marble.
The only regret flickering in his lone eye was that their sacrifice had been completely in vain; they hadn’t even managed to force Thanos to reveal his true strength.
This only deepened the All-Father’s absolute caution.
He was completely unsure if he could actually defeat this monster.
If he charged in blindly and lost, Asgard would burn.
Seeing his father hovering motionless on the flagship, a bitter spark of disappointment flared in Thor’s chest.
But it was quickly drowned out by blinding, uncontrollable wrath.
He tightened his death grip on Mjolnir and launched himself at the titan.
Die!”
Thor’s bond with the Warriors Three ran deeper than blood.
They had fought side-by-side in countless crusades, forging an unbreakable brotherhood on the battlefield.
When Loki had tried to assassinate him, it was the Warriors Three who defied the throne to save him on Earth.
His body erupted in blinding, crackling arcs of lightning.
Mjolnir practically hummed with apocalyptic power.
As he tore through the void, any Outrider or Leviathan unlucky enough to graze his lightning was instantly vaporized into floating ash.
Nobody was going to stand in his way.
Nobody was going to stop him from claiming his vengeance.
“No!
Come back here!” Odin bellowed, his stoic facade finally shattering.
Even as a Skyfather, Odin wasn’t entirely confident he could take Thanos down.
Thor was only at the Sub-Skyfather tier; charging the Mad Titan now was literally just throwing his life away.
Seeing his son completely ignore the command, pure panic seized the All-Father.
He couldn’t let his heir die!
If Thor fell, who would inherit his empire?
Gripping Gungnir tight, Odin blasted out of the command deck, rocketing after his son at top speed.
Hovering in the void, Thanos watched the raging Prince of Thunder and the desperate King of the Gods hurtling toward him.
Finally dropping his casual stance, he reached over his shoulder and drew the Tyrant Greatsword.
He could easily look down on the pathetic Warriors Three, but he absolutely did not dare underestimate Thor, and he certainly wasn’t going to take Odin lightly.
Odin was the undisputed ruler of the Milky Way, standing at the absolute pinnacle of the Skyfather tier.
His divine spear, Gungnir, possessed a terrifying causality effect—it never missed its mark.
Alongside Zeus’s Thunderbolt, it was hailed as one of the two most powerful divine weapons in the cosmos.
And as for Thor?
He might be relatively weak now, but Thanos knew exactly what the God of Thunder was capable of in the future.
After all, it was Thor—wielding Stormbreaker—who nearly soloed a fully-powered, Infinity-Stone-wielding Thanos, coming terrifyingly close to ending the Infinity War with a single strike.