GUARDIAN OF THE MARVEL REALM

"Your Majesty—Maximus—those people are far too powerful!" Tarbo rushed into the throne room, visibly pale and breathless. "Our loyalists are completely overwhelmed. One of the women—she may even surpass Black Bolt himself. Hundreds were scattered by a single strike..."

His words choked off suddenly.

Because Maximus was already seated on the obsidian throne, his body cloaked in a black mantle, draped loosely across his form like a funeral shroud. He lounged there almost languidly, yet the air around him trembled with tension.

His bloodshot eyes, burning with a twisted intensity, locked onto Tarbo with a look that could unravel a man's soul.

Tarbo had only left minutes earlier to assess the outer perimeter.

"Stronger than Blackagar?"

Maximus's voice was slow, deliberate. He gazed at his shaken assistant as if dissecting him with his mind, trying to extract the absolute truth from every twitch and flicker of expression.

Though Earth's progress had accelerated in recent years, from Maximus's view, they were still primitives—children playing at power.

"My king…" Tarbo backed away, his entire body trembling. "You… you don't look well…"

"Me?" Maximus's voice dropped an octave. "I've never felt more alive."

He rose from the throne. Each step forward caused Tarbo to instinctively step back.

"What's wrong, Tarbo?"

Blood leaked from the corners of Maximus's eyes, yet he seemed unaware. His twisted, blood-veined gaze never left Tarbo's, and slowly, his features warped into something monstrous.

"You're thinking it, aren't you? If the people of Earth have that kind of power, then maybe Blackagar was right all along! And me? Maybe I never had what it took to be king—IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!?"

His sudden bellow cracked through the room like thunder, dropping Tarbo to his knees in fear, tears streaming down his face.

"No! I swear I didn't—please, forgive me!"

He didn't know what was happening, only that Maximus—his king—was no longer the man he served.

"Liar!"

A psychic explosion, raw and deafening, detonated inside Tarbo's mind.

"I can hear it!" Maximus pressed his fingers into his temple. His voice was ragged, tortured, frenzied. "You can't hide from me anymore. Your thoughts are like screams. Blackagar is a coward! With all his might, he could've crushed the world, ruled it in our name! But he chose compromise. He knelt. He shamed our people!"

Tarbo felt his consciousness sliding, his skull pounding from the psychic feedback. But even through the agony, he understood now.

Maximus had undergone a second Terrigenesis.

And this time, it had granted him terrifying telepathic powers—but also shattered his mind entirely. He was no longer tethered by reason, no longer human by any measure. He had become a living madness.

"Heh… yes… those eyes…" Maximus whispered, now giggling as he bit into his own finger. Blood streamed down his hand, staining the floor. His expression seemed almost childlike—disturbingly so.

He stared into nothingness, eyes glistening with tears and blood, as if seized by long-buried memories.

For most of his life, Maximus had stood in the shadowed corner of the palace, watching from the sidelines. His parents showered Blackagar with warmth and pride, while Maximus received only glances of pity.

"…Father. Everything will be different now." His voice dropped into a chilling whisper. "I was always the one. I was always meant to rule."

He clenched his bloodied hand. Now, finally, he had power even Black Bolt could not rival. Earth, the royal family, the Inhuman people—they would all kneel.

---

Outside the palace, Shen He and the others had already defeated the last of Maximus's rebel forces.

All that remained was the mad prince himself, waiting in the heart of the palace.

"He might try to seal off Attilan," Shen He muttered, recalling the ancient records. "If he's anything like his variant from the classic continuity, he'll try to destroy it all just to make a point."

Qi Mu Nanzi nodded and teleported beside her, his pupils shifting into a cross pattern. "Something's wrong inside. Maximus… he's awakened a powerful mental dominion—he's taken control of everyone in the inner sanctum, including Queen Medusa."

"Mind control?" Shen He stiffened. "That's... not in his original abilities."

Qi Mu Nanzi's voice echoed telepathically to the group and to Black Bolt himself.

"Second Terrigenesis," Black Bolt signed grimly. "It damages the soul. He must be stopped."

"…It's already too late," Nanzi added quietly, lowering his eyes. "You can't face him now. You'll be forced to strike your own wife… your brother. Let us finish it. According to our agreement, he's ours to contain."

Black Bolt stood still, then slowly made a sign.

"I only ask to see him. One last time."

If Maximus had truly completed a second Terrigenesis and gained powers of this scale, there was no saving him. But Black Bolt, as both king and brother, needed that farewell.

Qi Mu Nanzi sighed, clearly reluctant. But Black Bolt was already walking into the depths of the ruined palace.

"What's wrong?" Shen He asked.

Qi Mu Nanzi hesitated, then nodded. "He knows... Maximus has always envied his place beside Medusa."

"…"

Shen He's expression darkened. She remembered. There had been subtle signs.

"Nanzi… this is the real world."

"...The real world is horrible."

Nanzi pouted slightly. "I liked my daily slice-of-life reality better."

"Speaking of reality," Shen He narrowed her gaze, "Maximus can control minds now. Isn't it dangerous for Black Bolt to go in there?"

Qi Mu Nanzi's face shifted instantly, and he vanished.

Boom!

An enormous wave of force erupted from the palace, sending tremors throughout the city. The ground cracked. The air screamed.

Jeanne leapt in front of Shen He, raising her flag with a solemn shout.

"My lord is here!"

The shield blossomed around them, protecting even the stunned Inhumans behind.

"Dammit… we underestimated him." Shen He's voice tightened.

From the dust and ruin, Black Bolt emerged—visibly dazed. His face was twisted in grief, clearly locked in a mental prison.

And behind him, Maximus stood, triumphant, one arm wrapped around Medusa, laughing maniacally.

"Earthlings! Behold Attilan's might! Despair! Your agony will be the anthem of a new kingdom!"

This moment, this madness—this was everything Maximus had longed for.

"For a first meeting," Shen He said quietly, locking eyes with the bleeding madman, "you're more pathetic than I imagined. You remind me of someone... sloth, maybe? But even they were more disciplined. You're like a half-baked tyrant on a budget."

"I'm ready," Nanzi's voice chimed behind Maximus.

"—!"

Maximus turned, trying to project his control into the mind behind him—but what he touched was a vast, unfathomable consciousness, a cosmic mental ocean.

Before he could react, Qi Mu Nanzi's telekinesis hurled him into the air.

A colossal, spinning sickle cleaved downward.

Blood painted the skies.

The body collapsed in the ruins.

Violet retrieved her sickle with practiced grace. Black Bolt and the other controlled Inhumans snapped back to themselves. The chaos stilled. The shattered palace had no casualties.

It was over.

It was perfect.