บท 628: Battle of New York (II)
"How did you bypass our defense?" Fury asked.
"You called that defense?" Loki taunted.
"Why are you here?" Thor asked. However, before Loki could answer, Natasha fired; she emptied her clip on him. Sadly, this did nothing as the bullets passed through Loki's body.
"That wasn't very nice," he smiled before looking at his brother. "To answer your question, I'm here to offer a gift."
"Watch out," Thor yelled to a confused Banner. However, it was already too late. Another Loki appeared behind him, holding the scepter with the Mind Stone pointing at the back of his head.
"What a strong spirit. Sadly, it's futile," Loki commented. Banner rapidly transformed into the Hulk, roaring like a wild animal. Thor turned into a lightning bolt to rush toward his brother. However, as soon as he touched him, he was encased in a green sphere.
"I hope you enjoy this present," Loki's voice echoed. Hulk started to smash everything in sight. He flew upward, smashing his way up more than three floors.
"Damn it," Fury yelled as he rushed to the main deck. He needed to take control to ensure the helicarrier did not fall from the sky. The others went to suit up. After getting his shield, Steve went after Hulk to see if he could calm him down. Tony followed after him.
"You need to slow down the carrier's fall," Steve ordered.
"Who are you speaking like that to?"
"This is not the time for this. You're the only one who can fly."
Tony stared at him before flying away. His first thought was to fix the propelling system, and he did so. However, a few minutes later, Hulk destroyed them.
'I thought the old man in red and blue would stop him,' Tony complained. With the propellers busted, the only thing he could do was hold this thing on his own. However, he did not know whether his armor could do such a feat. After what happened two years ago, his pride was hurt, so he accelerated the development of his suit. But he was not prepared for such a situation.
'This is not the time to be overthinking.' Tony rushed underneath the Helicarrier, holding it all its weight.
"Sir."
"What is Jarvis?"
"At this rate, we will lose all power in 35 minutes."
"It's fine since our objective is not to hold this thing for as long as possible. We only need to lower its altitude to reduce the damage caused by it crashing," Tony said, and that's precisely what he did.
After 10 minutes of holding up, his armor had many problems due to bearing too much load. Lightning suddenly rushed out of the Helicarrier, shocking Tony and everyone else. 'Thor?'
Thor had broken through the illusion world his brother had placed him in. "Loki," he roared. He flew out of his room toward Hulk. He smashed the hammer in the green giant's head, knocking him out with one hit. The battered Steve Rogers looked at him in shock. However, Thor ignored him as he flew outside and slowly carried the Helicarrier to the ground.
"You're really the God of Thunder?" Tony asked. Thor effortlessly took the carrier from him.
"Let's go check on the people," Thor answered. It took a while to settle everything, and the result was 12 people dead — including Agent Phil Coulson.
The group looked at Caulson's body, covered by a white cloth, and silence and sadness overwhelmed the room. Almost everyone had met this kind and geeky secret agent, and if there was one thing Caulson had going for him—it was his likability.
"Loki…must pay." Everyone turned to look at Banner, who had awakened. His face was pale, but his anger and hatred were almost palpable.
"Whatever he's planning cannot be good, so we must stop him at all costs," Steve stated, and the others agreed. A loud boom resonated outside as they were about to discuss their next state. They rushed to check and saw a crack in the sky, followed by countless alien creatures rushing into New York.
"That was his plan from the beginning — an invasion," Steve analyzed. "The Tesseract was the key to opening the portal. We must stop him."
Before finishing his words, Thor raised his hammer, releasing a massive electrical storm that killed most of the Chitauri from the crack. However, he soon realized that the next batch was harder to kill; it was as if someone had blessed them with immunity to lightning.
The Avengers scattered to deal with the situation. Tony, Thor, and Hulk focus on the enemy in the air, while Cap, Natasha, and Clint concentrate on the energy on the ground. They also took charge of evacuating the citizens. Fury spoke with the council to ask for additional aid, which they provided.
After dealing with all the Chitauro, the crack opened again for a second wave, and this time, the Avengers were more efficient. Thor tried to find his brother on the Stark's tower to stop this madness, but there was no one. They had to fight four waves before Thor sensed a powerful energy wave on top of the building. He and Tony rushed up there while Hulk jumped. The others took one of the Chitauri's gliders to reach up there.
"It's time for the grand finale," Loki said with a smile, looking at this group.
"Is this a game to you?" Natasha asked.
"It is."
"What happened to you, brother?"
Loki looked at Thor. "This will be our 457th battle. If I remember correctly, I've only won 56."
"Wait, I thought your record was 205."
"I no longer feel the need to count those dishonest victories."
"It seems you've changed."
"More than you can imagine."
"This is not the time for a family reunion," Tony said.
"That's right. You've gone too far this time, brother," Thor said.
"But you're wrong. This is child play compared to what you will face," Loki smiled. First, let's remove nuisances." Natasha and Clint suddenly felt dizzy and fell to the ground, unable to get back up. They were conscious, but their bodies could not move. Steve immediately went to check on them.
"Their pulse is okay," he announced.
"Damn God," roared Hulk as he jumped next to Loki, swinging his enormous fists downward. Loki calmly evaded him before punching his stomach and making Hulk flinch. However, the green monster became even more enraged and swung with even more fever.
"You have the strength but no technique," Loki calmly stated as he evaded and hit Hulk with an elbow; he followed this act by hitting his knee, forcing him to his level before upper-cutting the creature in his jaw, knocking him out with relative ease.
"Haha, it was so easy," Loki laughed, thinking about how Hulk had treated him in his original timeline. The group was quiet. Everyone, besides Thor, experienced significant heart palpitations. They knew of this rampaging monster's strength, but he was taken down so quickly.
"Stand aside, "I'll deal with him," Thor declared. He calmly walked forward. "It seems you've become stronger."
"I can say the same to you," Loki replied.
"Why not use this strength to help Asgard? Why do this?"
"Defeat me, and you'll know the answer," Loki sneered.
บท 629: The Truth
Boom!
Loki caught the hammer with his two hands, dragging him backward. "You can now detect my clones."
"You're not the only one who has improved," Thor declared as a unique Battle Aura coursed through his veins, elevating his already terrifying battle prowess.
"I guess this will be fun." Loki created more clones, and Thor started to look for the real body. In the process, he ignored the actions of the illusions, a crucial mistake. One hit him on his face, and Thor flew to the ceiling before crashing down.
'His illusion can affect reality?' Thor stood up and started twirling his hammer, releasing a potent wind that blew all the clones away. Then, in one swoop motion, he turned his left hand to the right to release a lightning blast. Loki appeared with a cracked green shield.
He summoned a pair of daggers and started a close combat duel with Thor. Usually, he is easily overwhelmed by this way of fighting, but this time, they were evenly matched — at least physically. Loki was slightly better in skill, but it was evident that Thor had more experience in close combat.
A clone appeared behind Thor, but his body released a lightning bolt to destroy it, and he did not even have to turn around.
'His senses are sharper than I expected,' Loki thought, wondering how his brother could see through his illusions. Loki observed closely as they clashed but could not find an immediate answer, so he used Edward's lesson: basic divination.
Loki turned his life force into mana to cast the spell, and he had his answer: Thor could detect the electrical impulses of his clones and judge their nature.
'Oh, brother, how clever. This was definitely not your idea,' Loki mentally sneered. As their weapons clashed, another Loki suddenly appeared beside Thor and plunged his dagger into his ribs. The original Loki then kicked him more than 2 meters away.
Thor landed on his feet but on his knee. He grunted as he removed the dagger. His body released an electrical light that closed the injury. Loki once again created hundreds of illusion clones, but Thor could not find the original this time. He raised his hammer in the sky, summoning the wrath of heaven.
Lightning and thunder descended from the sky, and Thor perfectly controlled them to the point that not a single one of the shocked Avengers in the room was harmed. Sadly for him, Loki was also unharmed. He turned his illusion clones into an intangible state, including his original body.
Once the attack ended, the clones became real and started beating Thor. The Thunder God tried to fight back, but he could not tell which were real, tangible, and faking an attack. So, he was soon overwhelmed.
Thor decided to use a skill that he had recently learned: Thunder Teleportation. He accessed a dimension full of thunder energy and used its space to teleport. Although he currently can only teleport a short five-meter distance, it was an excellent mobility skill for battle.
Thor's approach should have been an excellent tactic. Unfortunately for him, Loki's original body can teleport by exchanging places with his illusion clones. Lastly, one of the first lessons he learned when dealing with mages is how to limit their mobility. So, he immediately used a Dimensional Blockage Spell to stop Thor, returning him to his original position.
Ultimately, Loki won the battle by impaling his brother in all four limbs to render him immobile. "Victory is mine," Loki declared as he looked at his brother on his knees, his arms extended like he was on a cross, two spears impaling them as their tips pointed upward.
"I admit you've won this battle," Thor declared. "However, I won the war." His body suddenly released a massive amount of thunder energy. Loki realized he was too cocky. Now that he was so close, it was too late for him to react. As the potent lightning rushed to him, he used the only spell that could help: Ice Coffin. He surrendered himself in a giant block of ice to block Thor's last struggle attack.
"That was very close," Loki said as the ice melted. "And thank you for the lesson." Thor looked tired and listless. His body even appeared a few percent smaller. "Brother, it's not too late to stop this." Loki was about to say something when he detected something. He turned around to see Steve and Tony preparing to fight him.
"After all of this, you still want to fight?"
"You're a threat to this planet, and we won't stop defending until our last breath," Steve declared while holding his shield. He rushed toward Loki while Tony started his weapons. The two fought Loki for over 30 minutes before Tony ran away out of energy, and Steve was tired.
Loki ended his illusion, revealing they were fighting each other the whole time. "Do you see how pointless your struggle is?" Tony's suit could not move, but Steve was a man of intense willpower. So, he stood up, ready for another round. Loki rolled his eyes, and with a finger snap, the shield rushed out of his hands, and green shackles captured Steve.
"Ultron was right. Such a unique metal and you people made a frisbee out of it," Loki shook his head. He threw the shield away before looking at these people. "Now, what to do with you? What to do with this planet now that their guardians are no more? Just enslaved them? No, this could be the start of my Empire — An Empire even more grandeur than Asgard."
"Having a little too much fun, aren't we?"
"Teacher," Loki said, a little embarrassed. "I had to sell it, just like you told me to."
Edward wanted to roll his eyes. This man was simply a drama queen. He looked at the shocked Avengers.
"Aren't you that sorcerer from Midgard?" Thor asked.
"Secretary?" Natasha asked.
"Come, we have much to talk about," Edward declared. He waved his hand to heal or free everyone before opening a portal to the Helicarrier. He used the Reparo Charm, returning to its pre-destroy state. He followed up with another portal inside, where an on-guard Fury awaited. He watched everything from a satellite, and his mind was on the highest alert.
Edward walked to the room where they kept all the dead agents, and everyone quietly followed him for some reason. "Wake up," he said, and those agents suddenly moved.
"What's going on?" Coulson asked.
"Don't ask any questions since I'll answer everything together. As for the rest of you, return to your station." Alas, the group returned to the main room.
"You can be at ease," Edward stated, offering them a seat, but no one took his offer.
"Can you explain what's going on?" Fury asked. He had a feeling he was about to peep at the truth of the world.
"Where to start?" Edward stated. "I guess from the beginning." He looked to his side, and another portal appeared, revealing his main body, which was dressed in his magical robe. Secretary Edward stood up to give his spot to Sorcerer Supreme Edward. Such an act made things even more complicated.
"For those unaware, Earth has a magical community based on Kamar Taj," Edward started. "These sorcerers have protected the planet from magical and dimensional threats for countless millennia. The leader of that community holds the title of [Sorcerer Supreme], which is my current position." Edward paused to give them time to process.
"Kamar-Taj usually does not interfere in the world's affairs unless we recruit people or some threats bypass our defenses, and we need to venture into the world to deal with it. However, something changed that forced us to intervene.
"My predecessors peered into the future and predicted a cataclysmic event on a cosmic scale, unlike anything in the universe's history. To ensure Earth and this universe's survival, she chose a radical person like me as her successor."
Edward summoned a pot of tea and sipped it.
"I've done many things to prepare for this event, including forming a deeper alliance with Asgard and sending a clone to intervene in the world's affairs. His job was to unite the Earth's government and pool their resources to prepare for the upcoming catastrophe.
"I sent my apprentice, Loki, to set up this invasion as the first lesson for you, the Avengers, and a wake-up call to the Earth's citizens. The world is about to change rapidly, and the people need to be prepared."
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