Chapter Ten: The Second Battle of London!

On the battlefield in London, Thor was forced to retreat step by step, overwhelmed by the aether particles within Malekith’s body. If it weren’t for the Captain and his two companions holding Malekith off, Thor would have already been defeated.

Suddenly, Thor struck Malekith with his hammer, sending them both flying; as they entered a certain space, they abruptly vanished.

The Captain looked at Natasha, then at Barton—what just happened?

At that moment, Jane rushed over with Selvig, Darcy, and an intern, all carrying several barrier pylons.

“Jane, what are you—?”

“No time, help us!” Jane didn’t even pause to answer, turning instead to shout angrily at the three, “Earth is about to connect with the Nine Realms! Hurry and help me seal the spatial barriers, or Malekith will use the aether particles to destroy the universe!”

“What? What do we need to do?” Hearing such an apocalyptic threat, the Captain and his companions didn’t dare waste a second searching for Thor, hastily grabbing the pylons and racing to the designated spots.

They were all members of the same organization, and Steve had great faith in the Illuminati’s scientific prowess. Since Selvig dared to sound the alarm, and given the previous warnings, how could they risk doubting them? Better to simply do as the scientists asked!

“Natasha, follow Darcy; Captain, go with Selvig; Barton, come with me—now, immediately, move!” The six of them dashed off, pylons on their shoulders. The intern looked left and right, then decided to follow Darcy.

Soon, the pylons were set up. Jane twisted a knob on a device—

A pulse of spatial energy swept through, and the dark elf forces locked in fierce battle with the Earth’s military vanished, teleported to some unknown realm.

Witnessing this, the three Avengers were stunned. The Captain quickly asked, “Jane, is London’s space stabilized now?”

“No!” Jane didn’t even turn her head, still adjusting her device. “London is the center of the Nine Realms’ alignment, pulled by all the realms. A few devices alone can’t seal it! Right now, we’re just containing the expansion of the spatial rift, to keep Earth from being devastated by gravitational tsunamis and tides!”

“What? Guys, move faster!”

The Captain’s jaw dropped in shock—tsunamis, tides? Damn! Why had S.H.I.E.L.D. never told them how serious this was when they brought them here? If they had known, they would have insisted on bringing the Illuminati, even if it meant clashing with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the United Nations.

Device after device was planted; the space gradually stabilized, and the massive portal overhead ceased expanding, holding steady at a hundred meters across. The three Avengers, along with the remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and soldiers, gazed in awe at the bizarre sights above—strange creatures passing through the portal, dragons a thousand meters long, colossal beasts hundreds of meters tall. Secretly, they wiped sweat from their brows.

If Jane hadn’t brought Selvig here in advance, who knows what might have happened? If one of those monsters had blundered through, Steve doubted that their small arms—or Earth’s primitive gunpowder weapons—could do a thing to such beings from the other realms.

“Something’s breached the barrier!” Suddenly, Jane Foster, monitoring the instruments, cried out. At the subway entrance nearby, the ground trembled—Thor burst out, dragging Malekith with him.

“Get off me, Asgardian! You’ve enraged me!” Seeing the Nine Realms’ portal shrinking and with Thor relentlessly hounding him, Malekith flew into a rage. The aether surged to its limit, swirling in dark red and violet clouds, nearly black, encircling Thor and pouring into him, as if to make him explode from within.

Thor screamed in agony, Mjolnir flickering as the aether disrupted its power. Barton quickly fired an explosive arrow, but it had no effect.

As the Captain’s expression changed drastically and he readied himself to charge in regardless of the risk, suddenly, a brisk, commanding female voice rang out across the field.

“Wood Release: Advent of the World of Trees!”

Countless giant trees erupted from the earth, instantly transforming the steel city into a primeval forest. The speed was so astonishing that Malekith had no time to react before he was knocked aside by the rapidly growing trunks, forcibly breaking his hold on Thor.

Everyone stared in shock. At the subway entrance where Thor landed, Iron Man Tony stood solemnly by Thor’s side atop a giant tree. Not far away, a woman in striking white casual attire was darting through the towering woods, raining blows upon Malekith.

Wait—wasn’t that woman someone they’d seen before?

“Angel?!”

“Ms. Potts?” the Captain and Natasha cried out in unison. When had the Illuminati’s least reputed hero grown so powerful—single-handedly pummeling the Malekith who had just overpowered Thor?

“Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique!” Seeing her blows blocked by the aether, Angel’s fury erupted. As she kicked Malekith away, her hands flashed through a rapid series of seals, completing twenty-three intricate signs in the three seconds it took Malekith to fall.

A massive wooden dragon soared up from the forest, its vast jaws enveloping Malekith and lifting him high into the air. If not for the aether’s protection, everyone wondered if Malekith’s body could have withstood the dragon’s bite.

“Black Hole Grenade!” Just as Malekith was about to be carried out of Earth and into the portal, he suddenly tossed a grenade. A black hole exploded, its immense pull swallowing the wooden dragon in an instant, leaving Malekith barely holding his ground, the aether shielding him from the black hole’s force.

Suspended in midair, Malekith gazed coldly at those below. These pests had truly enraged him. Originally, he only intended to extinguish the suns of the Nine Realms and enslave their peoples. Now… they would all die.

“Aether, maximum power!”

“Thor, Captain, Tony—protect me! Wood Release: Thousands of True Hands, Avatar of Buddha!”

Steve, Thor, and Tony were startled, rushing to stand before Angel at once. The Captain raised his shield in the front lines; Tony transformed his nanobots into two tower shields, guarding himself; Thor swung his hammer, loosing arcs of lightning to scatter the oncoming aether particles, doing everything they could to help Angel unleash her ultimate move.

But the lightning was absorbed, the shields battered and pitted, Steve forced to retreat again and again. Under the assault of a cosmic force like the aether, the three could barely hold the line. Five seconds later, Thor was knocked away, Steve staggered back, and Tony dropped to one knee—the defense was shattered in mere moments, leaving them utterly exposed.

At that moment, Angel’s sequence of hand seals was only halfway complete; she had no hope of unleashing her superlative technique in time.

In the sky, the aether congealed into four long spears, which shot straight for the four of them, aimed at their vital points.