Somewhere in the universe.

A giant purple figure was sitting on a floating throne.

"Master, Ronan was captured by the Nova Corps," said a gray-skinned alien.

"And the orb?" asked Thanos.

"It was sold in Knowhere," said the alien.

"Then we can assume it fell into that man's hands. How many does he have now with this one?" Thanos asked, more to himself.

"It's very likely he already has 5 of the 6 stones," said the alien.

"That's right," said Thanos. Things really hadn't gone well.

"Only the Soul Stone remains," Thanos commented casually, although even if he obtained it, he couldn't see how he could turn the situation around.

He had studied Damian in great detail for many years since he acquired the Space Stone.

He knew he was an opponent he couldn't defeat, which is why he had focused all his attention on the Infinity Stones to gain power.

The task of searching for the Infinity Stones had been entrusted to his favorite daughter, Gamora, who was incredibly good at gathering and analyzing information.

She quickly obtained the Mind Stone for him, although this stone wasn't very useful to him, which is why he made his plan with Loki to get the Space Stone upon learning it was no longer under Damian's protection.

Unfortunately, he was left without the collar and the dog.

Now Gamora had betrayed and escaped, but there were no more stones to get anyway.

They were all already in Damian's hands, and he was undoubtedly the most powerful being in the universe currently.

The Mad Titan could only sigh; he was truly defenseless. All he could do was wait.

Time was something that had usually been on his side, and the reason he wanted the stones was to fulfill his dream quickly and efficiently.

But even without the stones, he could still continue helping the universe, one planet at a time.

....

Three days had passed since Damian had sat in the middle of the base in the mountain, and the final moment was approaching.

Cortana could feel this through her connection with Damian, so all her attention was now on Mars.

She didn't have to wait long when suddenly a terrifying explosion of magic burst from Damian's body.

His clothes were immediately pulverized as the magic surged violently.

Damian didn't open his eyes immediately; instead, he tried to make the energy explosion more gentle.

The energy soon filled the entire room before starting to flow through pipes at high pressure.

Cortana was a bit scared, seeing the whole mountain tremble. She feared the base wouldn't withstand it, while at the same time, she was watching the system's expansion advance at unprecedented speeds.

Entire solar systems were devoured in seconds, and the energy didn't seem to show any signs of stopping.

The energy was being used by the system as fast as it could, but little by little, the trembling in the mountain increased until it began to spread throughout the planet, a sign that the energy was escaping faster than it was being used.

The pipes broke, causing the pressure to reach its limit, generating a chain magical explosion that destroyed the entire mountain.

When the dust settled, the silhouette of a person slowly became clear.

A man with a tall, muscular body; his skin was pale, and his face seemed a perfect balance of masculinity and beauty.

Damian looked at his hands, feeling an indescribable sensation. Although he expected to become stronger, he didn't really believe he would become this powerful.

"Master," said Cortana, appearing next to Damian.

"Is everything okay?" Cortana asked, looking at Damian, who seemed a bit dazed.

"Yes, it's just that I think I've become too strong," Damian said, looking at Cortana.

"That's good," said Cortana, smiling.

"It seems the containment base really couldn't withstand it," Damian said, looking around.

"Yes, there goes all the money and time invested in this place," said Cortana, gently kicking a stone in front of her.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"It's okay. What happened with Monica and the stone?" Damian asked, looking at her.

"She recovered the stone and is currently traveling with a group of friends she made," said Cortana.

"I see, that's five now, huh," Damian said, nodding.

"That's right, but there don't seem to be any traces of the sixth stone," said Cortana, nodding.

She had spent some time researching.

"Hm," said Damian, not commenting further.

"I'll go do something. Wait for me at home," Damian said, disappearing from the place.

Cortana immediately pouted when she saw that he wouldn't take her with him, she was also very curious about his new power, she has no choice but to pry into his memories afterwards.

Damian appeared in a very distant place. Below him was a planet with a slight orange color; in the background of the planet, there seemed to be an eternal solar eclipse, greatly diminishing the light and temperature of the planet.

From the planet, a large ray with purple tones was shooting into space.

Damian didn't even try to descend; he knew what had to be paid to receive the Infinity Stone, a price that was impossible for him to pay.

Looking at the planet, Damian's two hands extended towards it. A magical circle appeared in his hands, quickly growing to 10 meters in diameter.

A blue fireball began to spin in front of the magical circle, growing rapidly in size.

Damian's magic didn't seem to have a limit, as the fireball grew to the size of a small moon.

Damian pushed his hands slightly, causing the fireball to start flying towards the planet.

The fireball was about a tenth the size of the planet.

Suddenly, an orange light shone on the planet, trying to stop the fireball.

With his sight, he could see it was the work of the Soul Stone; it really seemed to have consciousness, as was said.

Damian only watched as the Soul Stone did everything possible to wear down the fireball, seeing it slowly decrease in size.

The Soul Stone, apparently from the effort, also began to lose its shine little by little.

"Surrender and come with me," Damian said, looking at the stone and transmitting his thoughts.

Damian was ignored, and the stone continued to resist. The fireball kept decreasing in size until it was undone after a few minutes.

This was not easy for the stone as its light seemed to have completely gone out.

Seeing the stone in that state, Damian advanced to take it, but to his surprise, he ended up hitting a barrier that covered the entire planet.

His hand extended as he began to break the barrier when suddenly he heard a crack, which made him stop immediately.

Damian frowned at the Soul Stone, which had a very small crack in the middle.

"You're really stubborn," Damian said in annoyance before sighing and disappearing from the place.

There was no point in insisting; if he continued, he might end up destroying the stone, eliminating any possibility of obtaining it.

Damian appeared directly in his room, encountering a rather interesting scene.

Carol was sitting on the bed while playing with Nate, her hands gently tickling him as she talked to him.

"My little Damian, you are really adorable," Carol said, laughing happily.

The baby also laughed without understanding what Carol was saying, just moving his hands to play with Carol's.

Damian only cleared his throat slightly, causing Carol to be startled and quickly look at him.

"It's not what it looks like," Carol said, embarrassed.

"Don't call him that, he's very smart. If you say it too much, he'll think it's his name," Damian said, sitting behind Carol and hugging her.

"How did it go with your magic circle? I suppose you completed it successfully," Carol said, taking Nate in her arms before leaning back against Damian.

"That's right," Damian said, playing with his son's cheeks now that he was closer.

"It looks like this little one is hungry," Carol said, laughing lightly as she saw Nate opening his mouth against her chest.

"He surely recognizes good quality food," Carol joked.

"Don't be silly and take him to Nat," Damian said, laughing at her remark.

"Hm, I'm sure you wanted to take a bath. Go and relax," Carol said, kissing Damian's cheek before gently floating towards Natasha.

Damian smiled as he watched her leave before heading to the bathroom and immersing himself in the hot water of the bathtub.

When he submerged, his body completely relaxed, and he felt really drowsy. He couldn't help but recall those little pleasures of life he had when he was human.

He had been under tension for more than a year with the constant interruptions in the construction of his magic circle.

This level of difficulty made him think that perhaps besides him, no one could reach the sixth circle.

For someone else to achieve it, they would have to solve several problems; the constant magical consumption was one of them, tracing the runes wasn't free.

There was also the matter of sustaining the body. Although Damian took more than a year, it was mostly because he only dedicated about 8 hours a day. If he tried to do it all at once, it might take around 5 or 6 months.

A human, even if they were a magician, would surely need some kind of sustenance unless they learned to do it through magic, which would be another magical consumption.

Running out of magic halfway would definitely mean death.

Damian only smiled slightly, feeling relaxed as he looked at his state. His improvement was truly significant.

Damian Alucard.

Species: Progenitor Vampire.

Magic: 1,500,000,000

Strength: 3,134 (subject to change)

Agility: 4,000 (subject to change)

Intelligence: 10

His entire body was being covered by the energy of the Reality Stone, minimizing his changes until he could fully control himself. If he hadn't done this, even the least magic-sensitive people would feel something terrifying appearing on the planet.

His magic had directly tripled, reaching that absurd figure.

Damian's mind wandered to all sorts of things, and for the first time in a long time, he totally relaxed, falling asleep.

While Damian was in the bathtub.

Carol came downstairs with the little baby in her arms.

It had to be said that the house had been quite lively since the little one arrived.

Carol arrived at the living room where Jen was having tea with Sophia, Natasha, and Ana.

"What's up?" Natasha asked, seeing Carol arrive with Nate.

"He's hungry, but I must say this little one really knows where the quality is," Carol joked, seeing Nate still trying to burrow into her chest.

"Just give him to me," Natasha said, annoyed, before lifting one side of her shirt to nurse him.

"By the way, Damian is back," Carol said, sitting next to Ana and snatching her tea.

Ana only looked at her with annoyance, though it wasn't the time to take it out on her.

"How long ago did he come back, and why didn't he come down?" Ana asked as her senses quickly detected Damian in the bathtub.

"He came back a few minutes ago. He went to take a bath to relax," Carol said, sipping her tea.

"I see," Jen said, her heart beating a little faster upon hearing that Damian had returned. She wondered how Damian would react upon seeing her and knowing who she was.

"I'll see how he is," Ana said, standing up before climbing the stairs. As she climbed, a slight smile couldn't help but form on her face. She detected that Damian was truly asleep without any caution around him.

Ana quickly entered the bathroom and stood right at the edge of the bathtub as her dress fell to her feet.

Her completely naked body is now exposed.

Ana gently entered the water before approaching Damian and hugging his waist while resting her head on his shoulder.

Ana did nothing, just stayed in that position, hugging Damian. The beats of his heart seemed to hypnotize her as her eyes slowly closed until she also fell asleep.