Bab 254: Victory
Even the once straight back of the Ancient One became hunched.
In the next moment, a rune emitting a dense dark aura appeared at the center of her forehead. A mysterious power crossed dimensions and flowed into her aging body. It was as if time had reversed; the wrinkles on her face quickly smoothed out, and the cloudiness and dullness in her eyes were wiped away, revealing a wise gleam once more.
But it ended there. Despite siphoning power from the Dark Lord Dormammu, the deeply etched wrinkles in the Ancient One's face showed no signs of fading. Before stepping onto the arena, she had aged significantly. Her body was like a bottomless bucket—no matter how much water was poured in, it would continuously leak out, never to be filled.
Moreover, the Ancient One dared not steal too much power from the Dark Dimension, as it could erode one's sanity. If she took too much, she might become one of Dormammu's minions before her successor appeared.
However, the partially restored Ancient One now had the strength to turn the tide of battle. She was like the last straw that would break the camel's back. Two sharp-looking magic circles appeared in her hands. In the next moment, the magic circles flew out like boomerangs, slicing the throats of the paralyzed Chitauri soldiers around her. They traced a graceful arc through the air, cutting all the minions still fighting the superheroes in half.
As the remaining few hundred Chitauri soldiers tried to fill the gap, an unwilling scream suddenly echoed from the other end of the arena. In the next moment, all the remaining Chitauri soldiers collapsed to the ground like toys with their batteries removed.
Meanwhile, the barrier stopped just behind Thor's heels after turning the main brain's ugly head into ashes. Thor, whose eyes were now extremely dazed, mustered the last bit of his strength to control the direction of his fall, avoiding being turned to ashes by the barrier.
With a dull thud, Thor's body hit the ground. The superheroes, drenched in blood and standing in place, stared blankly at the other end of the arena. After confirming that the main brain was completely gone, the pillar of belief that had kept them standing suddenly collapsed.
The less injured heroes sat on the blood-soaked ground, gasping heavily, their eyes blank. Those covered in bloody wounds smiled faintly in victory. Then their brain waves turned into a straight line, and no more blood flowed from their wounds.
If someone checked their condition, they would surely exclaim in disbelief because these heroes had almost completely bled out. In other words, their bodies should have already been corpses!
There were no cheers of victory, no elation of winning the duel. Everyone present stared in shock at the fallen bodies, as if the peaks they held in their hearts had started to crumble.
The viewers in front of their screens were also speechless. The entire Earth fell silent. Only the eerie sound of the wind echoed through every city, as if playing a requiem for these honorable individuals...
With the death of the Chitauri main brain, the 2,000 Chitauri soldiers remaining outside the arena from the second duel instantly succumbed to brain death and collapsed lifelessly onto the cold ground.
After the duel concluded, Zane, sitting calmly on his throne, snapped his fingers. Instantly, the barrier, now reduced in size, dissipated into a wisp of smoke and vanished into the air, fully revealing the gruesome scene of the arena to the world.
"The third duel, Earth camp wins!" Zane announced, his voice carrying a faint trace of amusement as he looked down at the stunned superheroes below. "Final result, Earth is victorious!"
Tony Stark's armor was in tatters. He struggled to remove the remaining half of his helmet, revealing a stream of red and blue blood that poured down through the gaps in his armor, pooling onto the blood-soaked arena floor.
His lips were pale from blood loss as he stood silently, surveying the devastating battlefield and the fallen superheroes. His eyes were filled with a tumultuous mix of emotions—intense self-blame, sorrow, and an overwhelming anger.
'They didn't have to die; it's all because of me,' Tony mentally tormented himself. 'If I had planned the strategy better... If I had invented better armor... If I had equipped everyone with suits... If...'
'Would they still be alive?' Tony's mind was consumed with these thoughts, each "if" a torturous reminder of what could have been. He stood there, staring at the faces of the fallen heroes, each one becoming a haunting nightmare that surrounded him, torturing his already fragile psyche.
Tony's head gradually bowed, shadows slowly enveloping his eyes. No one could discern his expression, but no one dared approach him, as the oppressive aura emanating from him was overwhelming.
Suddenly, Tony lifted his head and glared at Zane in the sky, his eyes bloodshot and filled with a chilling intensity. The Ancient One stood quietly nearby, observing the scene without intervening, though a trace of concern flickered in her weary eyes. She knew that Earth was facing its most perilous moment.
If Tony were to open his mouth and question Zane, that man, once angered by Tony, would not hesitate to turn Earth into a desolate wasteland. But if Tony remained silent, Zane would leave, and Earth might be spared. The fate of everything hinged on Tony's next move.
Tony locked eyes with Zane, whose expression was becoming increasingly indifferent. The grinding of Tony's teeth could be heard, revealing the immense internal struggle he was facing. Logic dictated that silence was the best course of action; otherwise, the sacrifices of the superheroes would be in vain. Yet, his emotional side urged him to loudly demand answers from Zane:
"Why, when you had the power, did you not save Earth? Is this not your home planet? Why did you orchestrate this meaningless game?"
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