Chapter 375: I'll Go Meet Thanos First (Patreon)

"Why can't I?" Lucas asked with a scoff.

"You cannot use such methods on me!" Loki repeated.

Lucas tsked. "Weren't you acting all tough just a moment ago? Forget it, I'm done playing games with you."

With that, the hand Lucas used to hold the Mind Stone trembled slightly. His eyes began to emit a pale yellow glow.

Reaching out a finger, Lucas tapped it directly against Loki's forehead.

In the next second, the surrounding scenery shifted instantly, and countless ethereal, fragmented images began to flash around them. It was glaringly obvious: the Mind Stone was forcibly extracting and projecting the memories from Loki's brain.

This torrent of information flooded directly into Lucas's mind. If an ordinary person were hit by such a massive influx of data, their brain would overload, leaving them in a vegetative state or completely insane. But for Lucas, processing it was no more taxing than watching a movie.

Soon, guided by the Mind Stone, Lucas witnessed Loki's recent whereabouts and every scheme he had orchestrated.

"Interesting," Lucas murmured, raising an eyebrow as he finished browsing through the memories.

Once the projection ended, Lucas looked down at Loki. "I'll give you one last chance. Are you going to tell them yourself, or am I going to use the Mind Stone to make you speak?"

Loki took several deep, ragged breaths. In that split second, he had felt as though his mind had been entirely stripped bare, left without a single shred of privacy.

"You... you pried into my mind!" Loki glared at Lucas viciously.

"If you had just spoken up earlier, none of this would have happened," Lucas retorted without holding back.

"Even if I had told you the truth, you still would have used that thing to verify if I was lying, wouldn't you?" Loki sneered.

"Then we have nothing left to discuss."

Lucas prepared to channel the Mind Stone to seize direct control of him. Seeing this, Loki's expression violently completely shifted. "I'll talk! I'll talk!"

Seeing Loki fold so quickly, even Hela couldn't help but shake her head in disgust.

'If you're going to put up a tough front, at least carry it through to the end. Breaking so suddenly just makes you look like an utter embarrassment.'

Soon, Loki spilled everything.

It turned out that after resurrecting Surtur and failing to destroy Asgard, Loki had been forced to flee into the cosmos. Relying on his sorcery and cunning nature, he actually thrived, managing to become the chief advisor to a planetary warlord. However, that foolish warlord ended up provoking Thanos.

Thanos's cosmic armada descended and slaughtered the entire planet. Seeing the writing on the wall, the treacherous Loki had tried to flee early. But the self-proclaimed escape artist hadn't anticipated that Thanos had already locked down all the spatial sectors surrounding the planet.

Naturally, Loki was captured.

Yet, relying on his silver tongue, Loki successfully managed to pique Thanos's interest by offering Earth and Asgard as prizes. By leveraging the might of Thanos's army to conquer an entire star sector in one fell swoop, Loki proved his strategic worth. This convinced Thanos to temporarily entrust him with the Mind Stone and the Reality Stone for the invasion.

Furthermore, Thanos's subordinates weren't just limited to Ebony Maw and the other four generals Lucas had mentioned; several other terrifyingly powerful beings had joined his ranks.

Thanks to Loki's assistance, Thanos's forces now included not only the Chitauri but two other massive cosmic armadas. And the military might of these two armies was nothing like the trash-tier Chitauri, who didn't even possess basic energy shields. Their combat capabilities—whether in advanced weaponry or the baseline quality of the soldiers—were more than enough to completely suppress and annihilate a mid-tier galactic civilization.

Let alone Earth, a primitive civilization that hadn't even managed to properly leave its own solar system yet.

As for when Thanos would arrive at Earth, the timeline was uncertain. According to Loki's current knowledge, Thanos's grand armada was currently invading a highly advanced, relatively powerful interstellar civilization. The reason? A rumor that this civilization was hiding the final Infinity Stone—the Soul Stone.

Based on Loki's own estimates, this massive galactic war would take at least two to three years to reach a decisive turning point.

Hearing this, everyone in the room finally breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Lucas was actually a bit surprised. In the original timeline, Thanos was still crusading across the universe and wouldn't actively target Earth for at least another decade. But now, due to a butterfly effect of various factors, Thanos had locked his sights on Earth prematurely.

Still, having a buffer of two to three years kept everyone from spiraling into sheer panic.

"About two years?" Tony stroked his chin, lost in thought.

"Don't be too optimistic. Two years might seem like a lot, but do you honestly expect humanity's technological level to make a miraculous leap to cosmic standards in that short of a time?" Bruce unceremoniously poured a bucket of cold water on their hopes. "We need to think of unconventional methods. Relying on a straightforward technological arms race to match them is simply impossible."

"I agree," Tony nodded solemnly. "Even if all the scientists on Earth put aside their differences and pooled our research for a massive breakthrough, we couldn't elevate humanity's technology to that level in just two years."

"Everyone, let's not be so pessimistic! It's still better than them showing up tomorrow, right? At least it gives us some time to prepare!" the speedster, Bari Allen, said, scratching her head.

"No matter what, I won't back down. If Thanos wants to lay a hand on Earth, he'll have to step over my dead body!" Clark declared, his voice filled with righteous indignation.

"But what exactly should we do?" President Ellis sighed. Two years seemed like a long time to Earthlings, but on a cosmic scale, it was merely the blink of an eye.

Arthur and T'Challa remained silent, choosing not to interject. Given their current capabilities and worldly experience, they didn't know what to suggest either.

Meanwhile, Lucas sat silently in his chair, deeply engrossed in thought.

"Lucas, whatever you want to do, just say it. We will all support you," Kara said softly, walking over to his side.

Lucas looked up at the gathered Guardians and stated, "I have made a decision. I am going to go meet Thanos. While I'm at it, I should be able to buy you all even more time before he arrives on Earth."

"You mean... you're going to head straight into that interstellar warzone?" Tony was the first to react.

Everyone's hearts skipped a beat. That was a war between advanced cosmic civilizations, completely unlike the localized skirmishes they fought on Earth. Furthermore, if Lucas left and Thanos somehow arrived ahead of schedule, what would they do?

"Relax. My counterpart, Lucian, will remain here on Earth. I will assume a different identity, infiltrate that civilization, and do everything in my power to drag out their war for as long as possible," Lucas said seriously.

"I will not be taking any of the Infinity Stones with me on this trip, so engaging Thanos in a direct, head-on battle is practically out of the question. At best, I'll act as a saboteur behind enemy lines, stalling their advance as much as I can for your sake."

"Therefore, you must use this window of time to formulate a viable defense or drastically elevate your own strength." Lucas leaned forward. "This is my current plan. If any of you can think of a better one, I am all ears."