Floating, in the deepest, remote regions of space, lies a ravaged castle made entirely of crystal. It stirs, with a quiet moan, after an expansive period of inactivity.
"Clang!" Rang the sounds of metal beating metal.
"Bang!" Rang the armor, as the reverb of the cold forge echoed against them.
And silent, was the forgemaster, who hammered the furious sounds of creation into a chest plate of gold and blue.
The fires of the forge, though as burning as a thousand suns, felt cold to him, as was to his liking. His sweat, dancing off his rugged brow.
And with every hit he pounded into this suit of armor, the universe trembled in fear. For it felt the coming of a herald's return, and the blood they would soon spill anew...
He raised his armor off the disheveled anvil and a smirk rose between his purple cheeks. He put the armor on, legs and all, and tightened a five-fingered glove unto each hand.
The familiarity in this garb was one of few things that could make this man happy, but there was one thing missing...
He turned to a crystal case on his right protecting a helmet with slightly elevated horns on the sides, and crushed the case open in one hand.
Slowly raising the helmet to take seat upon his head once more, his smirk now was but a smile. A cold, calculating, sinister smile.
And his eyes, so pure of red, pure of hate, pure of anti-life, projected his malicious gaze towards the burning forge...
And like that, the fires that'd sustain a thousand worlds perished in an instant.
And the cold, bitter chill, enveloped his body like a blanket.
He began a long march back to his throne at the peak of this empty castle. Along the way he passed a hall filled with crystal statues, memoirs of captures from other worlds...Their purpose for existing, known only to him and one other, whom he'd loathe to speak the name of.
He sits on his broken throne, leaning towards the void of nothing that manifested as his entrance.
He embraces this solitude, and the air of death surrounding him. The specter of a thousand dead worlds hangs over him. The blood of a thousand culled species drips off his hands. That is but the manifestation of his pleasure, and joy.
He is no master to life, but the servant of Death. He carries out their will, and longs for their embrace.
And woe be to the worlds he sets his eyes upon, for his is a mission without end, a conquest without rest, a tribute lacking good or ill intent.
He simply is.
HE is Thanos, the Mad Titan. The last of his kind, and the last Marvel alive...in all the known universes.
And though outliving the end of days would feed his insatiable hunger, his tribute is without a recipient. Death fell in the end of days, splintered into servants that were scattered across many worlds.
He sought to gather these fragments, and seek the fool who dared trespass upon his domain. But his mission led him elsewhere, where he suffered defeat for the first time in eons.
But for Thanos, defeats become victories, just as victories become defeats. He took this lesson to heart, and became reborn.
No longer donning the disguise of "Cryxis", he leaves his true name bare for all to see. From this cold, bitter throne, he invites the world to know true fear once more.
The universe trembles, but meets his invitation.
He feels it. The universe stirs. The air grows thicker, more tense, more grim...
The slow approach of footsteps echoes throughout these hallowed halls.
Death marches towards him.
And he smiles.
The first to walk towards their own grave was a cat. Not a mere, domestic feline, but a prideful, irritable warrior who strode tall on his two feet, his thin and bony arms tucked behind the blue sash on his waist. His pointed ears were large and alert while he peered across the room with his one golden yellow eye, the other covered by a skin-deep metallic eyepatch. His attire was of Egyptian descent, curious for one who bears no relation towards them.
Beside him was a taller humanoid with pale blue skin, white hair, and rather effeminate features. Though his appearance boasted a sense of grandeur, he was of no concern to Thanos.
The cat stopped, meeting eyes with the Mad Titan from a hundred feet away, who sat upright and gripped the sides of his throne with anticipation.
"Welcome, to my castle..." Uttered Thanos in a commanding baritone, "Beerus...God of Destruction."
Chapter 65: Death and Destruction
"So you were here after all..." Beerus poked his head around and ushered the first retort as though he was speaking to an old friend, "This run down place suits you. Its broken and ugly..."
He faced Thanos head-on, "Just like the Mad Titan licking his wounds."
Thanos simply smirked and laughed, "So, you know who I am too then?"
"Oh, I'm well aware of you, " The God of Destruction said mockingly, "And the state of the world you came from."
"Yes, we are of similar states of existence now, aren't we?" Thanos spoke with a vulgar manner of reverence towards him, "Masters of death, now reduced to hapless wanderers..."
"Do not compare me to you," Beerus arched his brows, "There is purpose in my destruction. You cull lives without end, and for what? To serve a mistress who only sees you as a tool..."
"You are not worthy of being compared to me, God of Destruction," Thanos stood from his throne and put his arms behind his back. Not to mock his guest, it was mere coincidence that they bear the same stance, "You, who represent the violent, primal side of Death. You, who erases entire worlds just cause you were denied a good meal."
Beerus yawned and his jaw stretched wide, "And your point being?"
"You are but a child. And even they, shall spill blood by the thousands in my wake."
"You have guts to say that to a God of Destruction," Beerus gave an unamused smirk, "You have information I want, and if you don't comply..."
His eyes narrowed and a dull, purple glow began to form around his body, "There won't even be any blood left of you."
"Heh," Thanos gestured his hand up from aside his hip, his stance stone-cold and unflinching, "Speak your purpose in coming here, God of Destruction. I am...curious, as to what boon you'd think I'd part with."
"I heard you had an encounter with the Elemental Overlord not too long ago," Beerus raised his head and smirked, "And he gave you a thorough thrashing at that."
"Ah," Thanos chuckled, "That is most interesting...Such information shouldn't be easily heard, let alone by you."
He began to pace left-to-right before his throne, Beerus eyeing him the entire time.
"And it is grossly misrepresenting what occurred that day..." Though the Mad Titan denied his defeat, he could not hide the meager hint of shame in his voice.
Nevertheless, he confidently gestured aside at the God of Destruction, "Don't you find this meeting a little too opportune, God of Destruction?"
He stationed himself before the throne and began to descent the small, wide flight of stairs, "Two survivors from dead worlds, left to remain as pawns on the board in someone else's game..."
At the bottom he waved his hand out beside his hip and remarked, "Tell me, Beerus, just whom was the name of our little...chessmaster?"
"Who knows?" Beerus shrugged, "He didn't feel like saying it, nor do I care to know. What matters is where these answers take me..."
He raised his narrowed eyes to gaze straight into Thanos' death-filled eyes, "The place where those bastard 'higher-ups' reside."
A grin instantly surfaced on Thanos' face, followed by the intensifying of his eyes, "Then you seek vengeance too?"
"I seek destruction, and nothing more."
"I am beginning to understand now..." Thanos' mind churned with foreboding intent, "Our meeting here was...inevitable."
Beerus' expression softened a little as the Mad Titan tried speaking to him as equals, "We should work together to end these 'higher-ups' then."
Beerus closed his eyes and remarked, "I'll pass, thank you."
"Just like that?" Thanos seemed hardly surprised.
"Your place reeks of Death. And I'd hardly get a night's sleep on these uncomfortable floors," Beerus started to crack his neck around and wiggle his elbows, "Now, give me what I want, or I will send you to oblivion."
"So, an alliance is not what you seek..." Thanos gestured towards the ground, "Then...kneel."
"Pardon me?" Beerus' brows perked with irritation.
"I will grant you what you most desire, God of Destruction...But only if you bow your head to me." He replied with a smirk.
"Bold of you, commanding a God of Destruction like a house pet..." Beerus' tail began to move, as a tension rose around his body thicker than the air of Death around them.
"Your title holds no weight here anymore."
"Nor does your name even cast fear into the hearts of ants," Beerus began to take one step forward, his nails clawing into the hardened crystal with ease, "Here, you're just another garden variety nihilistic tyrant."
Thanos withdrew his hand to his side, drawing the other one out of hiding slowly with a smile, "Rash and impulsive...As though I expected any less from a common cat."
The purple light grew to a dull tint around Beerus' body, "You won't have time to regret those words."
He gestured his hands up to summoning two orbs with chaotic winds swirling about them and set them after Thanos.
Right as the orbs made contact, clouding him in dust, Beerus flew behind him in an instant, thrusting his right towards the back of his neck.
He was grabbed by the ankles, and the dust settled to show Thanos didn't even turn to grab him. Beerus looked mildly surprised as he was then tossed towards the ground, bouncing once before getting back on his feet.
Thanos tucked his hands behind his back and smirked, "I am more than equipped to deal with your kind."
"Heh..." Beerus' aura grew thicker, highlighting his more prominent features in shadow, except for the glow in his eyes, "Then there's no point in playing around."
The ground cratered beneath his feet as he tackled Thanos straight on and swung his foot into his gut. Thanos budged an inch back then immediately swung his hand down to try and break Beerus' leg.
Beerus retreated, leaving a field of orbs around the Mad Titan that detonated all at once.
Thanos thrust his hand into the air and the shockwave released dulled the explosions. He then made his first step towards his foe, blue fires from the cosmos spouting from the corner of his eyes.
Whis watched from a distance, a box of alien popcorn delicately tucked against his chest.
Thanos' hands became enveloped in the same cosmic fires, the bolts that break free carving through the ceiling above.
"You know not, what true destruction is, Beerus." Boasted the Mad Titan, a tone only he was allowed to take with this enemy.
He thrust his fist out and a beam of cosmic energy nearly grafted the truth of his claims into Beerus' body. Instead the cat flew out of the way, and the energies smashed through many walls behind him, burning out close to a nearby star.
Beerus grazed across the ground and ducked under the Mad Titan's beheading swing, ensnaring his leg with his tail and dragging him to the floor.
He then turned with a sharp flip and buried his foot into Thanos' back. Thanos hardly flinched, and quickly rose with a snicker.
"I am not the man cowering behind a facade any longer..." Thanos turned and caught Beerus off-guard with a clear punch to the chest, "I am, and forever shall be, Thanos!"
And upon that utterance Beerus was launched through the throne, shattering it to a thousand pieces. Having cast off the last chain that shackled him to a lie, Thanos marched towards his foe with a renewed sense of purpose.
Beerus vaulted out behind the settling dust, launching a variety of orbs Thanos' way.
The Mad Titan had to merely wave his hand and his strength would topple them in an instant. But Beerus redirected the orbs' path, dancing them around Thanos' body like a swarm of gnats.
The Mad Titan expressed some irritation as he was made to reduce his hand to a flyswatter temporarily. The explosions upon his body roughened him up a little before Beerus dove and bashed his head upon Thanos' helmet, making his head bow with it.
Right upon landing Beerus thrust his fists into Thanos' chest three times each, the ground cracking with every blow.
As Thanos retaliated Beerus appeared behind him and strangled him with his tail. Thanos grabbed his tail in both hands and threw him over into the ground like a hammer, then bashed him down behind him.
He then gripped the tip of the tail extra tight, reeled back his fist, and thrust it down with a surge of cosmic energy behind it.
Cracks spread throughout the entire room bursting with this energy, and in the brief calm that followed Thanos dragged Beerus out of the rubble by the face, forcing his eyes open so that they'd see the death in his.
"So this is the power of a God of Destruction?"
Beerus clamped his hands around Thanos' wrist as a show of desperation, and a meal to feed the Mad Titan's growing amusement.
"I am not impressed..."
In one sudden twist, Beerus cracked Thanos' wrist and forced him to let go. The Mad Titan staggered back gripping his wrist with a grunt, while Beerus put his hands behind his back and smirked.
A few bruises on his face were hardly worth his attention.
"How arrogant. You haven't seen anything yet." Beerus took one step and then was off like a rocket, thrusting his palm towards Thanos' chest.
In his way rose a barely visible barrier, wrapped around Thanos like a sphere. The Mad Titan smiled and rose to full height, confidently tucking his arms behind his back.
"Nor, have you..."
Beerus arched his brows and started rattling the barrier with a flurry of fists, each blow dislodging more from the walls of this already shaky room.
Thanos remained stalwart against every blow and raised his glowing right hand out towards his face, "You will not be able to breach this barrier. Not even the All-Father had the power to do so."
Beerus' aura grew brighter as he hunched down and growled, "I'll pretend I should care who that is!"
He then lunged straight into the barrier, shoving it and Thanos a few feet along the ground. Thanos fired a blast in retaliation, hurtling Beerus across the room, the archway of the entrance breaking on the back of his head.
The entire castle trembled and Beerus rocketed back into the room and swept his leg down against the top of Thanos' barrier. Thanos fired another blast to send him away, but the God of Destruction came right back on the attack.
Thanos' eyes glowed, and he fired a blast of condensed heat through the barrier to put Beerus on edge.
The God of Destruction was forced to guard with his arms, suffering the heat of a collapsing supernova. The temperature rose astronomically, melting down the material that held their battleground together.
Beerus pulled his head out from behind cover with a furious scowl adorned on it. He summoned dozens of orbs out from his aura and launched them upon Thanos' barrier, but they couldn't even qualify as a distraction anymore.
His fur was singed, and he was getting greatly irritated by the lack of progress.
"Ok, that's quite enough out of you!" He yelled, putting every ounce of god-like strength he had into his arms to dive into the heat beam and smash the energy against Thanos' barrier.
The barrier dug into the melting floor, and a heated set of cracks appeared on the surface. Thanos bent at the knee, grunting momentarily in surprise, only to then mend the wounds in his barrier with a snap of his fingers.
Beerus fell upon the wavy ground and immediately thrust both his palms into the barrier. The force of his blow ricocheting beyond the barrier and shattering the walls beyond the once mighty throne of lies.
As the pieces of that wall drifted into space, Thanos' eyes glowed once more, and the glow of his hands changed from blue to red.
The pieces of the wall were ensnared in this energy and lobbed through the air towards Beerus.
Beerus hopped away, disappearing and reappearing right before each shard could impale him through the skull, forever fighting against the vacuum of space.
When the last shard dropped Beerus charged forward, shattering each of them on his warpath to Thanos. He then stood before his barrier with his palm outstretched and the glow around him deepening.
Thanos smiled and confidently stood eye-to-eye with his enemy, "You bluff, God of Destruction. You need me alive."
"True," Beerus remarked, then quickly pointed his hand downward, "But I'm not aiming for you..."
"Hakai." He uttered with disdainful authority, reducing the floor beneath Thanos non-existent in an instant.
As gravity exerted its will upon the Mad Titan, Beerus dove and smashed his full body into the barrier to hasten their descent to the bottom floor.
Before they hit the bottom Thanos' hands radiated exponentially, and he combined his fists together to fire one mega concussive blast upon the God of Destruction.
Beerus braced against the force to his best ability and bashed his forehead against the beam to send it down into the barrier, then continued his charged.
Finally smashing Thanos into the bottom floor, a shockwave ruptured through the entirety of the castle, filling the air with cold dust and ripping a crevice through each tier.
Beerus hovered over the cracked sphere cupping his hands before his chest. Through sheer strain of will and energy, a miniature sun formed between his fingers.
"Mad Titan, you shall know true destruction!" He shoved the energy sphere through the hole in the barrier and made it grow outwardly until it was ten times its size.
An ear-rupturing sound rippled across the corners of the solar system, as a cataclysmic blast obliterated the entirety of the castle, scattering its parts every which way.
What remained was a floating mass of bedrock beneath them, and hundreds of crystallic effigies floating in the air, representing the fragments of Thanos' lost beloved.
Beerus hopped off Thanos as the Mad Titan stirred to life, now devoid of his protection. A shard of crystal had sliced through his cheek at hypersonic speeds and drawn blood, which he let fall upon his creasing smile.
"All that for a drop of blood..." He murmured, failing to instill dread into his foe.
Beerus had a few cuts to his name as well. And just the same as his foe, he felt nothing for them.
"You're a hard one to budge, aren't you?" Beerus cricked his neck around and smirked, "Heh! I'll admit, its been a long time since I've had to push myself this far."
With cosmic energies bathing his outstretched hands, Thanos stared upon Beerus' fearless face and uttered, "And it'll all be for naught. You should have bowed, God of Destruction."
His cosmic energies filled the surroundings, enveloping dozens of crystal shards. Beerus' eyes darted towards them, his stance at high alert at all times.
"Now, you will grovel in the dirt of your grave!" Thanos squeezed his fists and the crystals condensed immediately upon Beerus.
Beerus tried to budge, only for the grip of adamantium to begin crawling up his feet and binding him in place. Thanos heated the crystals, melding them down into a coffin around Beerus' body.
Beerus struggled, gritting his teeth as the crystals wound tighter and tighter, the brittle breaking of bones echoing within.
Thanos then gestured his pointer finger at the ground, forcing the God of Destruction onto his knees. He then walked up, gripping his hand onto his head, and using the thumb to force his eyes to look at him.
"Gaze upon the one...who shall walk you into Hell."
"Never." Growled Beerus with determination.
Cracks formed in his enclosure and burst open with a cascade of multidirectional energy blasts splashing outward from his roaring body.
Thanos found himself battered back by most of them before he could mount a defense with his hand. By then Beerus had vanished, appearing behind to deliver a hard kick to his neck.
Thanos coughed lightly and thrust his hand back to grab Beerus' leg, only for the god to nimbly dance around him, delivering a flurry of kicks and punches to his armor.
Thanos gathered energy in his hands and smashed them into the ground, throwing his enemy aside with the shockwave.
Thanos then lunged forward, grabbing and dragging Beerus' face down through the ground for a few seconds, swinging him loose through a large, wandering by asteroid.
As the asteroid shattered the Mad Titan fired blast upon blast of cosmic energy to keep the God of Destruction at his mercy.
Beerus powered up and kicked one of the blasts away, then grabbed hold of one of the asteroid shards to fling at his foe.
Thanos shattered it with a massive blast from both hands, only for Beerus to then fly in and drive his foot into his jaw.
Thanos held his footing and clobbered Beerus to the ground with the back of his hand, etching a thick crescent that struck Beerus multiple times to hold him in place.
Thanos then raised and squeezed his hand overheard, crunching down the energies of space into a black electric void around his fist.
He pulled his fist back ready to strike with all his might and then, he hesitated. Beerus had his palm held up, exuding the same ghastly glow that heralded his greatest technique.
Beerus used his moment to get on his feet and headbutt Thanos in the chin. The energy he had gathered was disrupted, bursting like a stormcloud upon them both.
The two were forced to separate, taking deep breaths as the storm raged in before them. Beerus eliminated it with a quick Hakai, only to be caught unawares as Thanos charged him like a mad bull, and clobbered his energy clouded fist across his face.
Beerus endured the wailing blows for a steady ten seconds before the Mad Titan had his fill, and grinned at the sight of blood on his gauntlets.
Beerus' eyes widened with a ghastly glow, signaling his counterattack. He exerted a burst of energy to repel Thanos, then cupped his hands to create another miniature sun, albeit one twice as big as his own body.
He threw it at Thanos who easily caught it against his hands and began to crush down on it. Beerus filled the sun with energy blasts to increase its size, then raised one pointer finger and shot a single thin blast to detonate the sun upon him.
He then took a moment to roll the stiffness out of his neck and stroll towards his enemy, taunting their tenacity, "I know you aren't dead yet, Mad Titan."
"And yet still, you approach me...!" Thanos uttered cruelly a glimmer of his energy emerging beyond the dust.
Beerus shifted left out of the way of one blast, only to get pegged by the second. He dug his heels into the ground and raised his hand to destroy the third with a Hakai.
He then paused, and glanced upward. More crystals were gravitating upon his location, but their purpose was different, he felt it in the air...
He gestured his pointer finger around to destroy them as he did the sun, keeping his one eye on the Mad Titan as they walked nearer.
Thanos smirked and fired two blasts in rapid succession, both getting kicked higher up. But right then and there he snapped his fingers, turning the blasts into bright flashes amplified by the crystals surrounding them,
He pushed on as Beerus screamed and hissed, planting one hand over his eye as it felt like it was being boiled over.
Thanos gathered the power to make a planet kneel in his right fist, and thrust it straight at Beerus' chest ready to cave the God of Destruction's heart, and raise it in tribute to his lost mistress.
But then, there was a calm. For a brief moment, Beerus' aura turned blue and silver, and his body shifted away from the graze of enemy's fist before they could comprehend what was happening.
In this moment Beerus got behind Thanos, planted a hand on his back, and concentrated most of his power into his armor.
A large number of cracks appeared across his chest plate, and Beerus' aura returned to normal with him confidently putting his hands behind his back as Thanos staggered forth.
The Mad Titan leaned over shoulder with a sneer as he uttered with unfathomable intrigue, "Ultra Instinct...?"
Beerus was smug, believing himself to be untouchable in that moment.
He truly did not know how Thanos defiled the meaning of that word.
Thanos raised his energy clad hands to his sides and turned to Beerus appearing ready to strike. Then, suddenly, he was gone, and Beerus didn't even have time to change expressions before the Mad Titan clapping both hands against his skull.
He then grabbed on tight and squeezed, burrowing one of his giant hands into Beerus' eye socket.
"Hardly makes a difference when your reflexes can't perceive where your enemy is coming from."
Beerus grabbed onto Thanos' wrists and grunted with all his might, "And you're hardly the first teleporter who has annoyed me!"
The two were locked into a grappling war, neither budging an inch. It took Beerus splashing a huge amount of energy blasts into Thanos' body to get the titan to budge enough for him to break free.
Beerus then turned and dashed backwards, evading another of Thanos' blasts.
His vision was taking a bit to readjust to things. He'd have to rely on rusty instincts a bit to stand toe-to-toe with the Mad Titan.
He stood and waited for Thanos to strike, his body moving on its own towards the right. Thanos struck with a heavy backhand, and Beerus ducked under it.
He then tapped his pointer finger against the center of Thanos' armor and the cracks grew larger. Thanos grit his teeth and bashed both his hands on top of Beerus' skull.
Beerus crossed his arms to block the attack then thrust them out to throw the arm off, whipping around to kick Thanos in the back of the neck.
Thanos teleported behind Beerus and grabbed his tail, dragging him back down into the dirt.
"Stay down." He uttered as he raised the gravel around his foe to envelop him in a shell of adamantium.
Beerus wasted energy to break free and then quickly thrust out to headbutt Thanos in the chest. Thanos smashed his fists against the sides of Beerus' head, rattling his brain, then turned and tossed him out into space like trash.
Beerus spun around and then regained focus long enough to press his feet against another wandering asteroid. He paused with mischievous intent and then flew behind the massive rock, launching it towards Thanos with one swift kick.
Thanos raised his hands to his sides and glared at the asteroid without fear. Beerus prematurely ended the asteroid's charge by detonating it, only to start zipping around and kicking the separate rocks towards the Mad Titan.
It was a little difficult, for Thanos to admit, that he could not lock onto the God of Destruction and mount a counterattack. He focused on blasting apart the rubble with ease, remaining on the lookout for anything purple in the air.
The moment even a glimpse of it entered his sight, Thanos concentrated all his firepower upon him.
Weary nerves made for slight, but powerful miscalculations. For what he saw wasn't the mighty destroyer, but an energy blast he had left behind.
Thanos realized this the moment he fired. A moment too late.
Beerus darted straight forward and delivered a flurry of punches to Thanos' armor, shoving him across the ground. Thanos buckled down and clobbered Beerus down the side of his face, stalling his advance. He then grit his fist and smashed the bottom of Beerus' jaw.
Once he launched the God of Destruction into the air he commanded the crystals around them to form a coffin upon him once more. Even if the end result of death was impossible to achieve, he would see that Beerus wore his body out breaking free.
He ensnared Beerus and dragged him straight down into the ground, taking this chance to pound him a few times in the face.
Beerus grit his teeth and let loose a series of blasts, much like the first time he broke free. He then guided the stray bullets upward, and rained hell upon the battleground.
He floated in the middle of this rain as it ripped through the stone and left less room for Thanos to stand upon. Thanos teleported behind Beerus and attempted to grab him behind the skull.
Beerus dodged out of the way and then jabbed Thanos in the elbow to try and break it. Thanos backhanded him in retaliation, gravity dragging him to a large stone platform.
He tucked his hands behind his back as Beerus floated there, shaking off the weight of the Mad Titan's blow. His body was bruised all over, and a bit of blood dripped from his nose.
He put his hands behind his back and rolled his head around. Thanos sneered, gesturing his hand towards the God of Destruction with a mildly respectful tone.
"I have faced and felled many gods," A smirk grew on his face, "If nothing else, you're more stubborn that the rest."
Beerus looked down upon him and scratched the side of his face, "I have wasted enough time on you. I will finally make you yield in under a minute."
"Bold claim," Thanos uttered, "But its a waste of your last breaths."
"You fail to understand," Beerus tucked his hands behind his back, "I still haven't shown you the full extent of my power."
His body went calm, as a subtle, melancholic air began to surround him, "I wanted to save this power for you."
Thanos watched as Beerus' aura began to dwindle a smile crossed his face. As that expression of happiness flashed, suddenly, all the lights in the starry depths disappeared. They had been destroyed, for but a brief moment.
Thanos trembled, but the universe did not do the same.
"Before death comes life. Before life comes creation..." Pure power reverberated through space like a heartbeat, as Beerus body became enlightened with pure, refined sapphire light, shining most brilliantly in his smile, "Before creation, comes destruction."
The embers of life in the universe reignited, sounding the climax of this battle of titans.
Thanos clenched his fists and grit his teeth, defying the destructive might that calmly washed over him.
Beerus was there one second, then gone the next, his re-emergence joined by a hurricane gale throwing the debris of this castle into chaos.
Thanos felt cracks in his skin and bones form as he grappled with the God of Destruction's full might. His cosmic energy shattered slowly as his fists made contact with Beerus'.
He attempted to grab Beerus out of the air and crush his skull, putting finality to their struggle.
Beerus dodged right out of the way and his enhanced speed allowed him to rapidly pummel Thanos' body all over, a thousand blows unleashed in a second.
Thanos blocked half of them with his bare hands, the rest putting the final damage necessary to shatter his armor.
He staggered back, plummeting off the edge into the eye of this destructive space storm.
He concentrated a massive blast straight at the God of Destruction that parted these devil's winds, but Beerus flipped over and rode atop the beam, grinding down towards its master quicker than the speed of light.
He rammed his knee into Thanos' face and purple blood sprayed out on his pants. Still the Mad Titan raised his mighty hands in defiance, his quick bursts of energy disintegrating upon contact with Beerus' aura.
And in that moment Thanos shook, knowing then the true power of his foe, and a momentary lapse of fear upon his stone heart.
Thanos stretched his hands out and forced them together, gathering all the remaining crystals into one massive spear behind Beerus.
Beerus glanced over his shoulder for a smirk and then launched an invisible blast into Thanos' gut to send him hurtling upon a wandering asteroid.
Thanos rose slowly and raised his arm to block Beerus' descent, his gauntlet shattering in the process.
He then smirked and teleported behind Beerus, applying a hand to the back of his skull. Though the demon lord was long dead, the Mad Titan readily invoked the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind Beerus to the asteroid via a multitude of crimson chains.
Then he pulled away and let the spear rapidly descend to deliver its masters' edict of Death.
Beerus squeezed his fists and hundreds of energy blasts erupted around the chains to reduce the the spear to dust. Thanos dropped out of the sky and smashed his back hard enough to shatter the asteroid but, in doing so, gave Beerus enough freedom to tear the chains right off him.
He then ignited the chains with his destructive anger and whipped them across Thanos' flesh, burning huge wounds close to his vital organs.
Thanos charged and grabbed Beerus by the face, intent to drag the two through the eternal depths of space for eternity if that's what it took to end his life.
Beerus used his arms and legs to twist around Thanos' arm and break it with a powerful snap, then threw him off behind him. Still the Mad Titan fired powerful blasts with his free hand, slowing but unable to ever truly stop the God of Destruction's charge.
Beerus widened his eyes and crashed into Thanos' chest with all his might, hurtling their bodies through space at breakneck speeds until they finally crash landed on a moon light years away.
Thanos' head lurched back, blood spewing from his grimy mouth as the moon splintered in half behind him.
And Beerus, having laid into his foe with all his might, smirked triumphantly at the success of his final blow.
He dialed back his power a little and then wrapped his tail around Thanos' neck, raising him off the ground and panting slowly from exhaustion.
Suddenly Whis appeared behind him, and a flash of light covered the area. The moon had been restored thanks to Whis reversing time, and the Angel chided the God of Destruction with a few rowdy clicks of his tongue.
"My my, you really had a fun time, didn't you Lord Beerus?" He took his mystical staff and used it to lightly bonk Beerus on the head, "But lest we forget, we don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves."
Beerus glared over his shoulder with his hands tucked cleanly behind his back, "It hardly matters now anyways. We got what we came here for..."
"Hmmmm, yes," Whis stared at the confident, smirking face of the Mad Titan and said following a curious hum, "So, Mr. Mad Titan, had your fun too?"
"Heh..." Thanos chuckled weakly and offered little resistance, "Tell me what it is you wish to know, God of Destruction...and I shall watch as the futility of your mission destroys you."
Beerus arched his brows and applied a tighter grip, "Defiant to the bitter end, aren't we? Very well, Thanos. Now that I've thrashed you so thoroughly, tell me..."
His eyes gave off a sinister glow as he growled, "Where. Is. The Elemental Overlord?!"
Next Time: My World, His World