Marvel: Empire of Power-Chapter 156 - 155: Stellar Sentinels Forged, the Gauntlet Gathers, and a Cosmic Alarm

The successful transformation of Marcus "Nox" Thorne, David "Technopath" Secundus, Elena "Scythe" Petrova, and Samuel "Argent" Miller into [Tier 4 Prime Legionnaires – "Stellar Sentinel" Class] was a watershed moment. Their power was now undeniably cosmic, their integrated Klyntar/Legionnaire/Trauma-Variant physiologies seamlessly merging with advanced energy systems, personal FTL jump capabilities, and adaptive interstellar armor. They were Elias Thorne's ultimate instruments, his vanguards for the coming galactic storm. His remaining [0.3 Prime Essence Shards] felt almost laughably insufficient for the challenges ahead, but his four Stellar Sentinels represented a qualitative leap in his power projection.

Elias didn't have the luxury of a slow rollout. Almost immediately after their metamorphosis and initial system calibrations, Warlord Kryll of the Skrulls, via their now well-established (if still deeply distrustful) communication channel, relayed urgent, fragmented intelligence: "Thanos moves. The 'Children' gather. He seeks the Soul. On Vormir. Kree elements are attempting interference. An opportunity for you, Thorne Ascendancy? Or a grave?"

The Soul Stone. Vormir. The Children of Thanos. Names out of cosmic nightmares, whispered in fear by those who knew the galaxy's darkest secrets. The System instantly cross-referenced this with Finch's recovered Hydra occult texts and Namor's deepest Atlantean lore: Vormir was a dead world, a place of sacrifice, intrinsically linked to the Soul Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones. Thanos was making his move for the complete Gauntlet. The Kree, perhaps learning of its location through their own ancient archives or captured Skrull intel, were trying to secure it first.

[COSMIC ALERT – INFINITY STONE CONVERGENCE (SOUL STONE – VORMIR). MAJOR FACTIONS INVOLVED: THANOS (CHILDREN OF THANOS – CULL OBSIDIAN, PROXIMA MIDNIGHT PRESUMED), KREE EMPIRE (SPECIAL FORCES). OBJECTIVE (HOST): SECURE SOUL STONE OR DENY IT TO ALL FACTIONS. HIGH RISK OF CATASTROPHIC CASUALTIES/ESCALATION. URGENT DEPLOYMENT OF STELLAR SENTINEL COHORT RECOMMENDED.]

This was it. The grand game for the Infinity Stones had begun in earnest. Elias knew he couldn't allow Thanos, or even the Kree, to possess another Stone. The Scepter (Mind Stone) was secure in his vault. The Tesseract (Space Stone) was supposedly safe on Asgard (though Loki's recent 'imprisonment' there always made Elias uneasy). The Power Stone and Reality Stone were still unaccounted for, galactic rumors. But the Soul Stone... its acquisition would grant Thanos unimaginable power over life and death.

"Nox, Argent, Scythe, Technopath," Elias's command was instant, relayed via their neural links to the Nightfall III, which was already on high alert in its Kuiper Belt hidden dock. "Vormir. Your objective: secure the Soul Stone. Engage any and all hostiles – Kree, Thanos's 'Children,' anything else that crawls out of that cursed rock. O'Malley, set a direct FTL course. Logan, you are tactical command. This is a zero-fail mission." He needed Logan's brutal pragmatism and centuries of combat instinct to guide his new, cosmically powerful, but relatively inexperienced (in this kind of inter-factional cosmic melee) Stellar Sentinels.

The journey to Vormir was a blur of FTL jumps and sensor sweeps. As they approached the desolate, crimson world, they detected multiple energy signatures: a small Kree reconnaissance fleet locked in a vicious firefight with what appeared to be a heavily armed, distinctively brutalist attack transport – undoubtedly belonging to Thanos's forces. Both sides were already bleeding, the void lit by plasma blasts and strange, dark energy weapons.

The Nightfall III, cloaked, slipped through the battle towards Vormir's surface, guided by Nox's Klyntar-enhanced cosmic senses which could feel the Soul Stone's baleful, sorrowful resonance emanating from a specific mountain peak.

They landed amidst a scene of ongoing slaughter. Kree Commandos, their blue armor stained with alien blood, were battling hulking, four-armed Outriders (Thanos's shock troops) and two of his "Children" – Proxima Midnight, a deadly, graceful warrior with an energy spear, and Corvus Glaive, a gaunt, shadowy figure whose glaive seemed to phase through conventional defenses. The ground was littered with the dead of both factions. The Soul Stone's altar, a stark, sacrificial edifice, loomed on the peak.

"Party's already started," Logan snarled, his adamantium claws, now faintly glowing with channeled System energy, extending. "Nox, you and Argent take the big uglies. Scythe, Technopath, with me – we clear a path to that glowing rock. O'Malley, keep the engines warm."

The four Stellar Sentinels and Logan erupted into the fray like vengeful gods. Nox, a black comet, slammed into Corvus Glaive, their battle a whirlwind of symbiotic tendrils, phasing glaive strikes, and cosmic energy blasts that shattered the alien landscape. Argent Miller, his cryo-resonant talons leaving trails of frozen vapor, engaged Proxima Midnight, his Legionnaire resilience shrugging off her spear's searing energy, his cold rage a terrifying counterpoint to her focused lethality. Scythe's kinetic blades tore through Outrider formations. Technopath began systematically disabling downed Kree and Thanos-faction weaponry, his mind a whirlwind of alien code. Logan was simply a force of nature, a berserker carving a bloody path through anything that stood between him and the altar.

The Kree remnants, seeing these new, impossibly powerful combatants decimating Thanos's forces, hesitated, then, recognizing a potential (if terrifying) temporary ally, focused their fire on the remaining Outriders.

The battle for Vormir was short, brutal, and utterly decisive. Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive, despite their formidable power as Children of Thanos, were ultimately outmatched and overwhelmed by the combined might of two Stellar Sentinels specifically designed to counter cosmic threats, backed by Logan's centuries of combat experience. Proxima was disarmed and critically wounded by Miller's relentless assault. Corvus Glaive, after a vicious duel that saw Nox unleash the Klyntar's full shapeshifting fury (forming adamantine-hard bio-armor and multiple bladed appendages), was literally torn apart, his glaive shattering against Nox's symbiotic defenses. The remaining Outriders were hunted down and exterminated. The Kree survivors, seeing their chance, hastily retreated to their damaged ships and warped out of the system, wanting no part of these terrifying new players.

[CHILDREN OF THANOS (PROXIMA MIDNIGHT/CORVUS GLAIVE) – NEUTRALIZED (PROXIMA CAPTURED – CRITICAL; CORVUS TERMINATED). KREE RECON FLEET (VORMIR) – DECIMATED/ROUTED. OUTRIDER FORCES – ANNIHILATED. PRIME ESSENCE SHARDS ACQUIRED: +4.5 (from Corvus/Proxima/Elite Outriders – significant Dark Quadrant energy/Thanos-imbued power). TOTAL SHARD RESERVE: 4.8/5.0. AGAIN! VORMIR SECURED (TEMPORARILY).]

Logan and Nox stood before the Soul Stone altar. The air thrummed with an almost unbearable sorrow, a psychic scream of countless sacrifices. The Stone itself pulsed with a baleful, orange light.

"Creator," Nox projected, his voice strained. "The Stone... it demands a sacrifice. A soul for a soul. Something loved... irrevocably lost. That is its price."

Elias, receiving this, felt a cold knot. He had no one he "loved" in that conventional sense. His assets were tools, loyalties engineered or bought. Could he even pay such a price? Would the System allow it?

Then, a chilling realization. Miller Argent, who had fought beside Logan with such desperate fury, had formed a bond with the feral mutant deeper than mere comradeship – a pack bond, a brotherhood forged in shared trauma and rebirth. And O'Malley, their ever-loyal engineer, often spoke of Miller as the son he never had.

No. He wouldn't. He couldn't ask that of them. Not for this.

Before Elias could formulate a response, before Logan or Nox could attempt to claim the Stone (a feat Elias knew was likely impossible without the correct sacrifice), a new, terrifying energy signature ripped through Vormir's thin atmosphere. A colossal, obsidian warship, shaped like a grim throne, a vessel far larger and more menacing than any Kree or Skrull dreadnought, decloaked in orbit. On its bridge, a hulking, purple-skinned figure rose from his own throne, his eyes burning with cold, cosmic fury, a golden, empty gauntlet already adorning his massive left hand.

Thanos the Mad Titan had arrived. And he was not pleased.

His voice, a psychic roar that echoed across Vormir and directly into Elias's mind through his link with Nox, was pure, genocidal intent: "Insects. You have interfered with my designs for the last time. The Stones... are MINE. And this universe... will know BALANCE."

The game had just reached its apotheosis. The final player had taken the board.