Ch. 254 You Don't Qualify to Negotiate with Me

Ebony Maw?

Russell furrowed his brow, looking at General Corvus Glaive with suspicion.Russell furrowed his brow, looking at General Corvus Glaive with suspicion.

"Explain clearly, what exactly happened?" Russell asked General Corvus Glaive.

"After we obtained the Cosmic Cube, Ebony Maw arrived on Earth by spaceship shortly after, took the scepter, and conveyed a new order from Lord Thanos to us," General Corvus Glaive quickly explained.

Although he didn't seem to be lying at the moment, Russell still felt something was off.

Putting aside whether Ebony Maw really came to Earth by spaceship, if Thanos had given them a new order, Ebony Maw should have stayed to carry out the mission with them instead of taking the scepter and leaving.

This didn't make sense from any angle.

Unless Thanos needed the Mind Stone Scepter for something else, there was no reason for him to be in such a hurry to take it.

In Thanos' eyes, Earth was just a primitive planet that hadn't even mastered interstellar travel technology. Dealing with such a planet, he shouldn't have been concerned about the Mind Stone Scepter being stolen or any unexpected incidents.

After thinking for a dozen seconds, Russell continued to question General Corvus Glaive, "What was the new order Thanos gave you?"

General Corvus Glaive didn't immediately answer Russell. Instead, he turned to look at Proxima Midnight, who was held at swordpoint by the Sword of Athena.

"Release her first, or I won't say anything," General Corvus Glaive began to negotiate with Russell.

Although he didn't know what Russell wanted to do or why Russell knew so much about them, Russell's earlier questions had made him certain of a few things.

Russell wouldn't kill them until he got the information he wanted.

Russell needed his information!

Realizing this, General Corvus Glaive felt like he had regained some control.

His judgment was not entirely wrong.

Normally, an interrogator wouldn't kill the one being interrogated until they got the information they wanted.

However, he overlooked one crucial thing.

Or rather, he had no idea what kind of person Russell was.

After hearing General Corvus Glaive's words, Russell shook his head with a smile.

Then, his eyes shimmered with red light.

Heat beam!

Without giving General Corvus Glaive a chance to evade, the laser-like red heat beam instantly struck his chest, melting his armor and leaving a conspicuous blackened wound on his chest.

Ah!!!

Although General Corvus Glaive was an experienced warrior who had killed hundreds, if not thousands, of enemies with his own hands, he possessed great willpower and endurance. However, there were some things that even strong willpower and endurance couldn't withstand.

For example, the instinctual reaction of a living being to extreme heat.

General Corvus Glaive's agonized scream immediately rang out as he fell to the ground, his face contorted in pain. Instinctively, he raised his hands to cover the burning wound on his chest, trying to alleviate the pain.

However, when his hands touched the wound on his chest, he realized that the wound was not a cut but a burn.

"You don't qualify to negotiate with me," Russell said calmly.

While attacking an opponent who had given up resistance might seem somewhat inhumane, Russell didn't care about that.

Regardless of whether General Corvus Glaive was an alien or a human, Russell wouldn't hesitate due to so-called political correctness.

Although he rarely engaged in the mistreatment of captives, he wouldn't hesitate if it were necessary.

As the saying goes, the only good enemy is a dead enemy.

"You…"

General Corvus Glaive gritted his teeth, enduring the intense pain in his chest, and glared at Russell with a murderous gaze.

"If you look at me like that again, I'll use a heat beam to burn off Proxima Midnight's head," Russell told General Corvus Glaive.

Although his tone was calm, upon hearing his words, General Corvus Glaive obediently lowered his head and stopped looking at Russell with a murderous gaze.

"Let me ask you one more time, what was the new order Thanos gave you?" Russell asked slowly.

"Test the resistance of the people on Earth and see if any hidden powerhouses emerge."

"If there are, retreat with the Cosmic Cube."

"If not, proceed with the plan to kill half the population on Earth."

General Corvus Glaive quickly replied, enduring the pain.

Test?

Upon hearing General Corvus Glaive's response, Russell furrowed his brow slightly.

He had thought that Thanos intended to directly execute the "randomly kill half" plan on Earth this time.

However, it turned out that Thanos was approaching it cautiously.

It was surprising because such caution didn't seem to fit Thanos, who appeared brutish and straightforward.

However, upon closer consideration, it made sense.

Although Thanos appeared to be a brute with great physical strength, anyone who had gained such a big reputation in the universe couldn't be a simpleton.

There were times for recklessness and times for subtlety.

If he couldn't figure out such basics, even with his considerable strength, Thanos wouldn't have earned titles like "Mad Titan" and "Universal Emperor" in the universe.

"What about Ebony Maw? Where is he now?" Russell asked again.

"I don't know. After taking the scepter, he left," General Corvus Glaive quickly replied. "I don't know if Lord Thanos has assigned him any other tasks."

As soon as Russell learned from General Corvus Glaive that Ebony Maw had taken the Mind Stone Scepter, he knew that he probably wouldn't be able to get his hands on it this time.

"One last question: why did Thanos have you bring the scepter to Earth?" Russell inquired.

If Loki had been the vanguard this time and Thanos had entrusted the scepter to him, Russell might have understood it to some extent.

But the problem was that General Corvus Glaive and his two companions were not Loki.

They each had their own weapons and had no need for the scepter to complete their mission.

"The scepter is the key to activating the teleportation portal. We can only make the Cosmic Cube open the portal actively because we have the scepter," General Corvus Glaive explained without hiding anything.

"I see," Russell said. Although General Corvus Glaive didn't explain the exact process, Russell wasn't particularly concerned about it at the moment.

From a "bloodline" perspective, the Space Stone and the Mind Stone were siblings.

It was normal for siblings to help each other out.

Although it seemed a bit unreasonable, it wasn't difficult to understand.

Red Skull had been teleported to Vormir by the Space Stone and forced to serve as the guide for the Soul Stone.

If the Space Stone could assist the Soul Stone, guiding it to a suitable host, then it wasn't difficult to imagine that the Space Stone could actively open a portal for the Mind Stone.

"Seeing how cooperative you are, I won't make things difficult for you," Russell said.

As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes emitted red heat beams, instantly penetrating General Corvus Glaive's head.

Thud!

General Corvus Glaive hadn't even had a chance to say anything before he fell to the ground, lifeless, with an expression of frustration and shock.

Seeing Russell's actions, Diana didn't hesitate either. She raised her hand and swung the Sword of Athena, slicing through Corvus Glaive's neck.

After killing Corvus Glaive, Diana waved her sword to shake off the nonexistent blood on the Sword of Athena and then approached Russell.

"What do we do next?" Diana asked softly.

"I'll take care of the teleportation portal; you go deal with those behemoths in the sky and the gorilla-like creatures on the streets," Russell pointed to the Leviathan behemoths in the sky and the Chitauri gorillas on the streets.

"Understood!"

Although she was a woman, Diana didn't see any issue with Russell's arrangement.

The next moment, Diana soared into the sky and headed toward Manhattan.

Watching Diana depart, Russell also took flight and arrived near the torch of the Statue of Liberty.

The Cosmic Cube was currently hovering at the top of the torch, emitting blue-white energy beams continuously.

After observing the Cosmic Cube for a moment and studying the spherical energy barrier surrounding it, Russell took a deep breath.

Then, his eyes emitted red heat beams.

The laser-like red heat beams struck the energy barrier, and the red energy clashed with the blue-white energy.

Although the heat beams were powerful and could adjust their temperature as needed, they were completely blocked by the energy barrier generated by the Cosmic Cube.

As Russell continued to attack the energy barrier with heat beams, more than a dozen Chitauri flying warships flew toward him.

To the Chitauri warriors on the warships, Russell was now a live target.

However, just as they were about to reach Liberty Island and attack Russell with their energy cannons and blasters, a silver figure streaked across the sky and appeared before them.

Endosymbiotic Battle Armor!

Although Russell hadn't given the order, No. 3 wouldn't just stand by and watch as these cannon fodder interfered with Russell's work.

Under No. 3's control, the Endosymbiotic Battle Armor went all out.

Pulse cannons, beam cannons, laser beams, small air-to-air missiles...

The not-so-imposing Endosymbiotic Battle Armor instantly transformed into a firepower platform, launching a frenzied attack on the Chitauri flying warships.

Silver Endosymbiotic Battle Armor had just joined the battle when the red-painted Endosymbiotic Battle Armor also joined the fray.

Although the second Endosymbiotic Battle Armor hadn't made many appearances, it had been extensively modified compared to the first one.

In addition to pulse cannons and beam cannons, it had an external component that resembled a flight pack attached to its back.

Dragoon Rider System!

The Dragoon Rider System, which the second Endosymbiotic Battle Armor carried on its back, was not a flight pack but a system developed specifically at No  3's suggestion.

As soon as they arrived on Liberty Island, No. 3 activated the Dragoon Rider System on the second Endosymbiotic Battle Armor.

The Dragoon Rider System appeared as an array of twelve pairs of wings, which were used for levitation and flight.

The next moment, twelve small wing-shaped drones resembling dragonflies flew out.

Following that, these twelve drones simultaneously fired energy beams similar to lasers.

Boom, boom, boom...

Within the energy web created by the drones, all the Chitauri flying warships that had been flying toward Liberty Island turned into fiery explosions.

Although No. 3 had executed a beautifully clean sweep of the enemy forces using the Dragoon Rider System on the second Endosymbiotic Battle Armor, Russell wasn't surprised.

If the Dragoon Rider System didn't have this level of capability, then that would have been surprising.

With the first and second Endosymbiotic Battle Armor at his disposal, Russell had no need to worry about other small fry interfering with his work.

Time passed minute by minute.

After continuously attacking with heat beams for over a minute, Russell finally identified the weak point of the energy barrier.

On the surface, this spherical energy barrier had no dead angles, and the Space Stone possessed nearly infinite energy, allowing it to maintain the energy barrier for an extended period.

However, in reality, this spherical energy barrier wasn't as invincible as it seemed.

This energy barrier did indeed have excellent defensive capabilities, capable of withstanding most energy and physical attacks, and it could also repair itself continuously.

Under normal circumstances, this approach of replenishing energy wherever it was lacking wasn't wrong.

However, unfortunately, this spherical energy barrier was created by the Space Stone.

Although the Space Stone had nearly infinite energy, it was not a masterful user of energy.

The Space Stone's method of using energy was extremely crude.

By continuously attacking with heat beams, Russell discovered that the Space Stone's method of repairing the energy barrier was to replenish the energy wherever it was being attacked.

It replenished wherever it was lacking. In normal circumstances, this approach was not wrong.

However, very clearly, the Space Stone had overlooked a small issue.

That was when the energy barrier was simultaneously attacked from different angles, the approach of replenishing wherever it was lacking could lead to delays.

And delays meant vulnerabilities.

Upon discovering this, Russell stopped attacking the energy barrier with heat beams.

He was no longer the Russell of the past, lacking many energy-based attack methods.

After being an Ancient One's disciple for a while, Russell had become a skilled mage.

With a thought, he began to cast a spell.

The Images of Ikonn!

As divine power continuously surged within him, one after another, he appeared in the air.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of him appeared in the sky.

Just a blink of an eye, and the sky was filled with numerous copies of him.

Although The Images of Ikonn was a cloning spell, it was different from other cloning spells. The clones it created were tangible.

In simpler terms, these clones could each cast the same spells Russell could.

As long as it was a spell Russell could cast, these clones could cast it too.

Of course, the prerequisite for the clones to cast these spells was that Russell had to provide enough energy.

After casting The Images of Ikonn and creating dozens of copies of himself, Russell didn't hesitate. He led the way by launching a magical attack on the energy barrier.