20 The Epic Battle

[3rd POV]

"Thanos, I've come to bargain." He heard the Ancient One say behind him. He did not even bother turning back as his mind raced and quickly analyzed the situation.

Firstly, he was stuck in a time loop. Fuck!!!

Secondly, this was bad, extremely bad because his opponent had the power of time on her side.

Thirdly, everything was not bad in this situation. They were stuck in a time loop so time should not be passing in the rest of the world, which means this little problem should not affect any of his plans overall.

The main cause of concern was his sanity but with the mind stone still strapped tight on his belt, he did not think that would be an issue.

Fourthly, he was way more powerful than the Ancient One. That much should be obvious since she used the time stone this way, something which was only required to fight against a literall world eater like Dormmamu.

She said she was here to bargain, which means his loss and gain could still be controlled. Nothing was set in stone.

The Ancient One did not hold the upper hand in this situation, she merely evened out the playing field. Like a girl challenging a boy in chess instead of a fight.

It would be a battle of will and wisdom.

Finally, he should stop worrying about the negativity of the situation and instead, he should start considering the best move on the chessboard. He needed to reap as much benefit as he could from this situation, such that it would amount to whatever he would also lose from the situation.

Now he has an infinite amount of time was in his hands and who doesn't need time? He could already imagine how he could use this obscene amount of time to gain experience or make adjustments to his plans.

He had read about how Dr. Strange used his time loop with Dormmamu to perfect his magic and study the dark dimension. It was why he was suddenly one of the strongest Avengers after the fight. He was stuck in the time loop, dying and fighting Dormmamau for 5000 years.

If a mere mortal could do that, he could do better, especially with the mind stone in his hand to prevent him from insanity. He reckoned he could do this infinitely until the Sorcerer Supreme went crazy.

He finally turned around and a small smirk played on his lips. His eyes met the Ancient One who narrowed her eyes seeing him.

"Hmmm." the Ancient One rolled her lips inwards as she made different noises while shaking her head.

"Nah-uh. I don't like the look in your eyes." She said, realizing that Thanos was not panicking or despairing as she thought he would.

"This would be a good time to panic you know. This spell was created to stop entities way more powerful than yourself." She said and Thanos laughed.

"Hahaha. Annoying them until they agree to whatever you say? Quite a spell this is." He said, his voice rolling off his throat in a heavy ancient tone very similar to the Ancient One.

The Ancient One frowned, "Who said I can't figh-"

She did not even complete her words as Thanos had torn off her hand and the Eyes of Aggamoto from her body. He was so fast that she could not even react to him.

*VVVOOOOOOOOTT*

But time turned back and they returned to the first moment they met. Now everything was back to where it began.

Instead of saying her usual line, the Ancient One admitted, "Fine, I can't fight you."

Thanos also nodded and admitted, "Seems like I can't simply steal the Time Stone or even prevent you from turning back time by tearing your hand off either."

The Ancient One paused, only realizing now that Thanos also had other plans than simply proving a point. She noted his weird intelligence as one of his traits.

She said weird intelligence because he was extremely sharp in some areas while he was also clueless in some parts.

Like his deduction of the nature of the spell when he only experienced the loop one time. He said 'Annoying them until they agree to whatever you say' which was truly the nature of the spell.

And he knew exactly what the situation was, hinting at his great deduction. Yet he was also stupid in many places, getting easily tricked during the fight like a child.

In the end, she concluded that he has high IQ but low battle IQ. Probably because he never fought someone with his strength that would require intelligence to overcome. He must've always breezed through his opponent with brute strength,

'A curse of being born strong.' she mused to herself.

Thanos did not blindly engage with the Ancient One. He knew it wouldn't matter since time would rewind again and again.

The obvious thing was to kill her as painfully as possible or kill her again and again until her mind collapsed into insanity. But why would he do that when it was literally the hardest way things could be handled?

He was not delusional enough to think he would break the mind of a Sorcerer who has lived thousands of years in a few tries, she would have legilimency and other magical shit. If young Dr. Strange can handle 5000 years, he expected her to be able to go 10000.

So no, he was not going to waste his time and sanity killing her for 10000 years straight in hopes that eventually her mind will break.

He sat on the ground and with a thud, he rested his rear on the dusty ground of the dimension. He sighed in relief while putting his hand behind him to hold his weight and sat there, resting.

The Ancient One who was anticipating Thaos to make his move or attack was left stumped as she stared dumbly at Thanos.

She could not remember how many times he had completely thrown off her expectations of him. She couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

She also sat down with her legs crossed as she conjured a table and a steaming pot of hot tea. She poured the tea and she drank it with grace.

"haaa." She let out a sigh of peace as she continued enjoying her tea. She maintained her vision on the big purple alien and a small smile graced her lips.

Thanos huffed in amusement before he laid down on the ground and put his hands on the back of his head as a pillow. He stared at the colorful sky and for the first time since he came to this world, he was calm.

His eyes soon got tired while staring in wonder at the sky so he closed them and calmed down his breathing. He trusted his instinct to warn him if the Ancient One attacked.

Then Thanos slept.

The Ancient One bursted out in peals of laughter as she saw him fall asleep. She could not believe what was happening, it baffled her to no end how weird her opponent was.

She shook her head and continued watching Thanos's sleeping body and the beautiful sky above. She sipped her piping hot tea as she relaxed.

She did not even try to attack Thanos, she knew there was not much she could do to kill him. Heck he would probably wake up the moment she had malicious intent.

Besides, she recalled how Thanos was able to survive a hit from arguably one of the most potent spells in her arsenal. He was so durable to the point of being invulnerable.

And she did not want to provoke him. She was here to bargain after all.

So she sat back and relaxed.

...

...

The battle between Thanos and the Ancient One had reached its climax.

Yet one was drinking tea peacefully and the other slept.

But who could blame them? They had all the time in the world after all. Eternity was within their grasp.

Say what you want but this was the epic battle that would decide the fate of the Earth and possibly the entirety of the Universe.

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