The Celestial's energy wave struck gently against the blood cocoon encasing Damian.

The cocoon shook slightly before a crack appeared, gradually widening until the 'cocoon' opened completely.

What seemed like a cocoon turned out to be something entirely different.

A humanoid creature with a pair of gigantic crimson wings stood in space, its eyes opening to look at the Celestial.

Damian, who had just awakened, was utterly confused.

He looked at his hands and saw that his entire body seemed to be covered in a layer of crimson energy that obscured his skin.

He appeared to be a being entirely made of energy. Damian examined his hands from both sides, noticing they resembled claws.

Suddenly feeling something different on his back, he turned and realized he had wings.

He didn't know what had happened. The last thing he remembered was the excitement of the battle and absorbing the blood of all the Celestials.

He didn't know if his current state was something temporary due to the enormous amount of energy contained in their blood, but he felt really great as if everything was within his reach.

"Cortana?" Damian said in his mind, trying to communicate.

Suddenly, his expression changed as he felt he couldn't detect Cortana, immediately frowning with a sense of foreboding.

"Master," Cortana said in Damian's mind, her voice sounding somewhat disheartened.

Damian almost sighed in relief, feeling notably calmer upon hearing her voice.

"Master, I realized you're not a hero. I died, and you didn't appear at the last moment to save me," Cortana complained, sending an image of her aggrieved face to his mind.

"Of course, I'm not a hero. Don't I look more like some sort of final boss?" Damian joked about his appearance.

"What happened?" Damian asked, referring to her.

"My body was destroyed. It's a bit difficult to talk; the Celestial creates a rather powerful interference," Cortana said, sending an image of what had occurred.

Damian immediately frowned, feeling angry about what Cortana had to endure. The excitement and euphoria from his new form noticeably calmed down.

"Hm?" Damian said, frowning as he suddenly felt a slight itch on his body. The energy wave from the humanoid creature in front of him seemed to be the cause.

According to what he saw in Cortana's memories, its effect was to disintegrate, but it didn't seem to have much effect on him.

"Who are you?" Damian asked the Celestial.

"It doesn't seem to be able to speak; its mental waves are chaotic, probably due to the fusion. It likely has trouble communicating, but they clearly know what they must do," Cortana said.

"That's fine, it doesn't matter," Damian said, looking at his body where the Celestial's energy wave continued attacking him.

It almost seemed to have an effervescent effect but didn't seem to cause him much harm.

His eyes fixed on the Celestial again before he flew through it in an instant, his hand, or rather claw now, slashing towards the Celestial's neck, cleanly severing it from its body.

Damian looked at his hand curiously while simultaneously trying to move his new wings. It was a bit strange for him to have two new limbs.

"Hm?" Damian suddenly frowned, turning to see the fused Celestial, its previously severed head reattaching to its neck.

The Celestial's gaze fixed on Damian before it extended its hand toward him, channeling a wave of energy.

Damian looked at the energy ray before glancing at his claw and extending it towards the ray.

The energy wave quickly struck his claw, causing it to disperse to the sides.

Seeing the lack of effectiveness, the Celestial ceased its attack before forming an armor around itself and proceeding to attack Damian in hand-to-hand combat.

Damian merely gave a broad smile before clashing directly with the Celestial.

When their two fists collided, the winner was immediately evident.

The armor created by the Celestial was shattered by Damian's punch before his hand pierced through and struck directly at its chest.

The Celestial was sent flying while Damian pursued and constantly struck it.

"It doesn't seem that strong," Damian said in his mind to Cortana.

"That's because you have become too strong. What happened to you?" Cortana asked, looking stupefied at Damian.

"I really don't know. All I know is that this is the most delicious blood I've ever tasted," Damian said, striking the Celestial's chest with all his strength, causing the entire armor to break into pieces.

"I'm sure Carol wouldn't like to hear what you're saying," Cortana teased, after all, those words had always been meant for Carol.

"It's alright, I'll finish this guy and head home to see who has been misbehaving while I was away," Damian said, shaking his head.

"Can you kill it? It seems immortal," Cortana said.

"Indeed, at the moment it appears to be," Damian said, nodding.

He had struck it hundreds of times over a great distance, but it only kept repairing itself as if physical damage had no effect on it.

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"But master, I have a better idea. Why not capture them alive?" Cortana said, knowing that with more captured Celestials, the system would surely become stronger.

"It's not impossible," Damian said, nodding before launching towards the Celestial at a speed it couldn't react to, grabbing its neck.

From his body emerged a woman with pointed ears and purple skin, quickly wrapping around the Celestial and beginning to reverse the Celestials' fusion.

Seconds passed before the Celestial shone intensely, splitting back into nine Celestials.

Damian's palm immediately extended towards them as chains made of yellow lightning emerged from his body, wrapping around the Celestials' necks.

"I see anything suspicious, and I'll tighten the leash. Don't test me," Damian said, looking at the Celestials, who were completely dazed.

The separation after fusing was a very delicate process that took time. They probably wouldn't be as surprised if they were killed as they were now, having been forcibly separated.

"Master, help me imprison them," Cortana said.

"Sure, how are things on Earth?" Damian asked quickly.

"Everything is fine. Perhaps if you interrupt now, you'll ruin Carol and Hela's fun," Cortana said, smiling as she began to work. For added security, chains made of the stones' energy wrapped around the Celestials.

Subsequently, she began gathering asteroids to form the prison. This wasn't difficult with the asteroid belt within the solar system.

….

On Earth.

Wanda and Pietro were fighting Thanos.

The battle was somewhat at a standstill as neither side had been able to do anything to the other.

Thanos wasn't fast enough to catch Pietro and Wanda.

On the other hand, Wanda and Pietro were having trouble damaging Thanos. His armor and weapon were incredibly resilient, along with Thanos' own physical strength.

Nonetheless, the pair of siblings weren't in a hurry to defeat him. They just had to prevent Thanos from entering the palace; reinforcements would surely arrive soon.

After several minutes of combat, Thanos quickly realized the battle was a waste of time.

So instead of continuing to face the siblings, he ran inside the palace, stumbling slightly every time he received Wanda's attacks on his back.

Once Thanos entered the palace, he was somewhat stunned to see that the place had so many hallways and staircases.

Several energy projectiles snapped him back to reality as he ran randomly through one of the many hallways at the entrance.

He immediately realized that this was one of the flaws in his plan. His scanners detected the energy of the stones in the palace, but they had no way of spying on what the place looked like.

They only knew it was here.

According to his plan, he would come here with his children and a good part of his army to simplify the search.

But now that he was alone, things were quite complicated.

Thanos was running down a hallway when a figure suddenly broke through the wall and blocked his path.

When the light debris cleared, a clearly male figure in red and gold armor could be seen.

"Stark," Thanos said, almost sighing.

"You know me?" Tony said in surprise.

"The Earth's greatest potential threat, of course, if not for Damian," Thanos said.

"Even if you flatter me, I won't let you pass," Tony said, joking as he had Jarvis monitor any of Thanos' movements.

Behind Thanos, another figure suddenly appeared. Tony immediately made eye contact with her, mocking her in his mind.

When he told Laura to surround Thanos, she disagreed, saying she couldn't destroy the palace.

Tony didn't wait and directly fired a beam of energy at Thanos from his hands.

Thanos' weapon quickly blocked the beams, causing them to deflect.

Laura quickly ran toward Thanos before kneeing him in the back of his knee.

Thanos was forced to kneel, making Tony's beams hit his armor.

Laura quickly used Thanos' arm as support before propelling herself and kneeing him in the chin.

Seeing this, Tony also approached Thanos before converting one of his arms into a battering ram and hitting him in the head.

Laura wanted to keep hitting, but Thanos quickly reacted, stopping her blow with his hand before using it as a weapon to hit Tony.

The two fell to the ground with Laura on top of Tony.

Thanos quickly swung his weapon at the two.

Laura reacted first and quickly clashed with Thanos using her rifle. To her surprise, she was sent flying instantly, feeling a crack in her rifle.

Laura smashed through several rooms before stopping, slightly dazed. She hadn't thought there would be such a difference between her and Thanos.

Tony took the opportunity to retreat momentarily before creating missiles with his suit and firing them at Thanos.

Thanos saw the missiles and quickly tried to break through the wall to avoid them, only for his head to hit the wall hard without making a scratch.

The missiles didn't wait and quickly bombarded him, filling the hallway with fire.

When the smoke cleared, Thanos almost seemed to have question marks above his head.

He had clearly seen Tony break through the wall effortlessly, and Laura had also smashed through several rooms.

Tony was also dumbfounded to see this.

Neither of them had any way of knowing that Cortana controlled the palace's enchantments in the background, clearly identifying between allies and enemies.

At that moment, Wanda arrived, attracted by the sounds of explosions. Her hands quickly filled with crimson mist, which wrapped around Thanos' weapon, pulling it towards her and disarming him.

Thanos quickly stood up, trying to grab his weapon back, but Pietro quickly approached and punched Thanos directly in the nose, throwing him off balance.

Pietro reappeared next to Wanda while holding his wrist with a pained expression, feeling his fist throb.

"That guy isn't made of flesh," Pietro said, gritting his teeth next to Wanda.

"Don't be a baby," Wanda said, rolling her eyes as she sent Thanos' weapon flying far away, planning to give it to Damian later as a trophy.

At that moment, Laura appeared from the destroyed wall, her suit unscathed.

"I thought you'd take a break," Tony said upon seeing her arrive.

"That guy hits pretty hard," Laura said.

Thanos, at that moment, found himself surrounded, with no exits through the apparently reinforced walls, no weapon, no army.

Despite this, his expression was still calm. There was no immediate danger to his life; for now, he had to keep exploring the palace to find the way to the stones.

Before they started attacking him, Thanos quickly ran towards Tony and Laura. Retreating was impossible; he had to hurry the search as soon as possible.

With his armor, he almost turned into an armored tank that didn't plan to stop for anything.

His body zigzagged, trying to avoid Wanda's attacks while covering his face with his forearm to protect himself from Tony's repulsors.

Laura advanced to face him. She was much weaker than him, so she could only use the one advantage she had.

The incredible resistance of her suit.

Laura timed Thanos' movements before launching herself at full speed at his legs.

Using her own legs as leverage, she managed to trip Thanos. If it weren't for her suit, she probably would have broken her legs with the titan's great strength.

Seeing Thanos stumble, neither Tony nor Wanda hesitated to hit him.

Pieces of armor flew off from Wanda's magic impacts or turned red-hot under Tony's beams.

Thanos didn't take those attacks for free. As the culprit, Thanos naturally took it out on her.

He slammed Laura several times against the ground, but Thanos, who had never felt anything when hitting, for the first time felt a slight pain in his knuckles.

The attacks kept falling on Thanos. Frustrated with the situation, he grabbed Laura's leg before using her to shield himself from the attacks. When the attacks stopped, he used all his strength to throw Laura at Wanda.

He then ran directly at Tony. Despite receiving several attacks, Tony was also somewhat vulnerable in the narrow hallway.

Thanos grabbed Tony by his arm and leg before using him as a battering ram to break through the walls.

Tony quickly unleashed multiple attacks on Thanos, but he seemed able to endure them calmly.

The worst part was that his back was against Thanos' chest, or he would have fired a good energy beam from his chest.

"Laura, help me, what's this guy's skin made of?" Tony said as he created knives on his limbs and tried to stab Thanos.

Thanos almost ran through the entire palace, demolishing wall after wall until he suddenly reached some stairs going down, with an elevator at the bottom guarded by two sentinels.

He immediately assumed he had reached the place, looking at Tony in his hands. He thought for a moment before simply throwing him back with all his strength.

Two robotic guards quickly launched themselves at him, but being somewhat clumsy, Thanos skillfully caught their heads before crushing them.

Seeing the elevator, Thanos quickly wedged his fingers in between before forcing it open.

Entering the elevator, Thanos looked at the buttons and tried to press them to go down, but it didn't work. He immediately assumed there was some kind of key.

Looking at the floor, Thanos quickly used his fists to break the metal before throwing himself down.