At a certain moment, Thor suddenly swung Stormbreaker down toward the ground.
Instantly, countless bolts of lightning descended from the storm clouds above, crashing into the battlefield.
Every one of Thanos's minions struck by the lightning burst apart like overinflated balloons. Not a single alien survived direct contact with the thunderbolts.
Lightning gathered within Thor's remaining eye, divine power coursing through his body at levels far beyond what it had once been. At this moment, he even carried a faint resemblance to Odin himself.
Valkyrie rode her winged steed through the alien ranks, continuously harvesting enemy lives. Yet as she fought, she felt an overwhelming urge to kneel.
Thor's aura was almost identical to Odin's.
He finally possessed the qualifications of a king.
Meanwhile, Karl climbed to his feet, covered in dust and sand. He was just about to brush himself off when the surrounding aliens rushed him, eager to take his life.
Just as he was about to draw his pistol and start taking heads, Chaos Magic descended from above, instantly crushing every alien around him.
Wanda landed beside him, her face filled with concern.
Karl waved her worries away, signaling that he was fine.
Then, on top of Limit Break, he activated Odin Combat Arts.
Boom!
A shockwave exploded outward.
The sand beneath him burst apart as Karl shot toward Thanos like a cannonball.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Judgment continuously fired.
Six magical bullets streaked through the air from six different angles, converging on Thanos.
At that moment, Thanos was occupied fighting Captain Marvel and had no attention to spare for his back.
Nor did he notice the incoming bullets.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The six rounds slammed into the armor on his back.
The metal instantly melted like ice exposed to extreme heat, leaving six fist-sized holes that continued to expand.
A sharp pain shot through Thanos's back.
After forcing Captain Marvel away with a slash of his blade, he immediately tore off the ruined armor, revealing the combat suit underneath and six horrific burns on his back.
Before he could inspect the damage, Karl had already reached him.
The Ultimate Divine Weapon was right before his eyes.
Caught off guard, Thanos raised his double-bladed weapon to block.
But then—
Bang! Bang!
Two gunshots rang out.
Blood exploded from Thanos's abdomen.
Without his armor's protection, the point-blank shots tore into him mercilessly.
His stomach was blown open, exposing internal organs.
Staggering backward several steps, Thanos stared in disbelief at the gruesome wound.
A burning sense of humiliation and rage erupted within him.
Never in his life had he suffered injuries this severe.
Not even when he had fought an entire army on Titan alone.
And the one who had wounded him was merely a weak, ignorant human from Earth.
---
Elsewhere, the forces Thanos had brought with him were suffering devastating losses.
No one had expected such a technologically backward world to possess warriors capable of resisting them so fiercely.
After Wakanda's defensive formation broke apart, everyone entered the fray.
To everyone's surprise, Wakandan soldiers proved extraordinarily powerful.
Empowered by vibranium, they were actually fighting Thanos's troops on equal footing.
For a time, the invaders even found themselves at a disadvantage.
And that wasn't even counting top-tier powerhouses like Thor and Captain Marvel.
There were also Wanda and Skye, whose potential seemed limitless.
---
"HULK!!"
A massive green figure suddenly launched into the sky and landed atop a Leviathan.
Hulk raised both fists and smashed them down onto the creature's skull.
The Leviathan's thick armor shattered like chocolate beneath a hammer, fragments flying everywhere.
But instead of continuing to pound it, Hulk plunged both arms directly into the creature's flesh.
Then, as though piloting a vehicle, he seized control of the Leviathan and began steering it recklessly into nearby enemies.
Captain Marvel had already destroyed Thanos's fleet.
The only things left flying in the sky were the hundreds upon hundreds of Leviathans.
"Looks like Bruce and Hulk reached a pretty good understanding."
Floating amid crackling lightning, Tony watched Hulk ride a Leviathan through the battlefield.
Gone was the old Hulk who simply smashed everything in sight without regard for friend or foe.
Tony couldn't help smacking his lips in amazement.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Rhodey flew over from behind.
With his targeting systems doing all the work, the machine guns and mini-missiles mounted on his armor fired continuously without him needing to aim.
Tony said nothing.
Instead, a shrugging expression appeared on his faceplate's holographic display.
Then he transformed into a gigantic ball of lightning, soaring through the air and unleashing thunderbolts in every direction.
The blue flames from his thrusters blazed like giant lamps.
Thanks to the magical "recharge" provided by Karl and Thor, the Destroyer Armor was operating at full power without any concern for energy consumption.
"Jarvis, keep pumping energy into the system!"
Tony grinned wildly.
"I've got two super-sized batteries backing me up now!"
Lightning erupted around him.
Like a massive electromagnetic cannon, he detonated wave after wave of thunder across the battlefield.
---
On the ground, Thor led the charge with the Avengers behind him.
Like the God of Thunder descending from legend, he carved through enemy lines.
Any soldier who merely brushed against his lightning was instantly charred black.
Thor advanced like an unstoppable spear, rapidly splitting the battlefield apart while charging directly toward Thanos.
For the man who had murdered his brother and slaughtered half of the Asgardians, Thor had only one goal:
To kill him personally and avenge the dead.
---
Elsewhere, Doctor Strange led the Masters of the Mystic Arts in a sweeping assault from the outer battlefield inward.
The power of the sorcerers was anything but ordinary.
Having spent years battling entities from the Dark Dimension, their combat abilities and battlefield experience far surpassed those of the Avengers and Wakandan troops.
As a result, their efficiency in eliminating enemies was unmatched.
And their methods were brutal.
Since most of them specialized in close-quarters magical combat, none of the enemies they encountered remained intact.
"Reduced to pieces" would be an understatement.
Mystic weapons and spells filled the sky, harvesting alien lives at a terrifying rate.
Strange himself created countless duplicates.
Each clone cast different spells simultaneously.
Hovering overhead, he resembled a mobile artillery platform capable of launching attacks in every direction without a single blind spot.
---
Clutching the wound in his abdomen, Thanos surveyed the battlefield.
The Black Order was dead.
Nebula had betrayed him.
Gamora had been sacrificed by his own hand.
And the army before him was being slaughtered in droves.
Suddenly, brilliant purple and green light erupted from the Infinity Gauntlet.
The entire battlefield became flooded with those two colors.
Then the green radiance spread across the sky like a vast curtain.
Time itself began to reverse.
But only for Thanos's forces.
The aliens who had been torn apart, crushed, or reduced to bloody fragments suddenly reassembled themselves.
Bodies restored.
Wounds vanished.
The dead rose once more.
Howling and screaming, they charged back into battle against the Avengers.
"FUCK! This bastard's actually cheating!"
High above the battlefield, Rhodey couldn't stop himself from cursing.
They had worked so hard to kill those enemies.
Now they had to do it all over again?
If this continued indefinitely, they'd eventually be exhausted to death.
"That's the Time Stone."
Doctor Strange's gaze locked onto Thanos's left hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 20 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~