The mark left by Mjolnir was not simple. If before, Thanos could dodge some of the lightning and thunder attacks from the sky, now, after being marked by the hammer, it was as though a lightning rod had been planted on him. Every bolt of lightning hit Thanos directly.
Even as an Eternal Titan, with a body stronger than most Kryptonians and superior resistance to both energy and magic, Thanos couldn't guarantee his survival under Thor's relentless barrage of lightning and thunder.
As time passed, Thanos' injuries worsened. Despite his extensive combat experience and unleashing his full strength without holding back, he still hadn't found a way to break free from the situation.
Thanos realized that he couldn't continue like this, or he'd not only face defeat but possibly death.
"Boom!" Thanos was once again knocked to the ground, one hand clutching his injured chest. Suddenly, his gaze shifted to his wrist, then up at the sky where the dark clouds, charged with Thor's divine power, swirled ominously.
Thanos understood that the clouds above weren't ordinary—they were infused with Thor's divine energy. But, no matter how powerful that divine energy was, it was still just a manifestation of energy!
"Buzz!" With a press of a button on his wrist, Thanos activated his ship. In an instant, it soared into the sky above Nidavellir, more precisely, above the storm clouds.
"Zap!"
"Zap!"
"Zap!"
Beams of laser fire rained down upon Nidavellir, striking both the ground and the clouds. Thanos' ship, equipped with the most advanced technology in the universe, unleashed devastating firepower. Had Thanos not been on the planet, the ship could have easily reduced Nidavellir to cosmic dust.
Under this assault, the storm clouds in the sky finally began to dissipate. Thor appeared from the dispersing clouds, frowning as he was forced to dodge the ship's constant barrage of firepower.
The tide had turned!
A thought flashed through Thanos' mind. His ship's advanced targeting system ensured that none of the attacks would hit him, even if he was in the midst of the battle.
Now was the perfect time for Thanos to strike. Earlier, the thunder and lightning had been Thor's allies; now, the ship's firepower became Thanos'.
Thanos might not be able to freely navigate through the energy blasts, but using the ship's attacks to suppress Thor was no problem at all!
Thor, too, felt the pressure that Thanos had experienced earlier. Battling Thanos wasn't particularly difficult for Thor, especially since Thanos had already been injured, which affected his combat performance. The real problem was that Thor now had to use his lightning powers to counter the ship's energy attacks from above.
Splitting his attention between two opponents in battle was a dangerous thing to do, especially when facing a powerful enemy like Thanos.
Initially, Thor had the advantage, thanks to the partial rune powers he had gained, which provided him with a wider range of abilities than Thanos. But now, that advantage was slipping away.
As the fight dragged on, Thor sustained more and more injuries. Thor could, theoretically, follow Thanos' example and redirect his hammer to destroy the ship in the sky.
However, the problem was that without Mjolnir, Thor wasn't confident that his body could withstand the damage from Thanos' double-edged sword. The sharp edge of that blade, carrying a deadly aura, was capable of cutting even through the flesh of Asgardian gods.
As a result, Thor found himself in a bind, and as time passed, his injuries worsened, and his combat strength began to wane. Even Mjolnir struggled to withstand the relentless strikes from Thanos' sword.
"We can't let this go on! We need to help Thor!" Watching the battle from a distance, Thor's companions, the Asgardian quartet, became anxious. Earlier, when Thor had the upper hand, they hadn't considered intervening. But now that Thor was in danger, they knew they had to assist him, and their immediate priority was to deal with the ship bombarding the battlefield.
The problem was, while the quartet could barely qualify as Asgardian gods, none of them had the ability to fly. Without their winged horses from Asgard, they had no way to damage the ship in the sky.
"Eitri! Do you have any way to help?" Sif suddenly turned to the Dwarf King, her voice urgent. "Thor is defending Nidavellir against this invader. Can't your people provide any assistance?"
"Actually, we do have something… we have some bows and ballistae with long range and great power. If combined with your Asgardian divine strength, they should be quite effective!" Eitri thought for a moment, then pointed to a nearby armory. "In fact, these are leftover weapons that Asgard didn't use…"
"Stop talking! Hurry and take us there! Thor is getting more seriously injured!" Hogun impatiently interrupted Eitri before he could finish, prompting the Dwarf King to quickly lead them to retrieve the weapons.
Eitri understood well that, while the Asgardians weren't treating him kindly, Nidavellir could not survive without Asgard's protection. If Thor were to die here, the Dwarves would be doomed. Even if Thanos were heavily wounded, Nidavellir's Dwarves were master weapon-makers but were woefully limited when it came to actual combat.
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
Before long, the quartet launched powerful arrows from the weapons. These were no ordinary arrows; infused with divine strength and powerful enchantments, they far surpassed typical energy weapons and were even more potent than the weapons used by the Chitauri.
"Buzz!" However, the arrows failed to bring down the ship. A vessel capable of interstellar travel would naturally have defenses. As soon as its energy shields activated, the divine-powered arrows were blocked.
"Dammit!"
"Shit!"
"Don't give up! This ship isn't that large, and even with top-tier technology, it can't maintain its shields indefinitely. At the very least, we can drain its energy, reducing its ability to attack Thor!" Sif reminded her companions, who had paused to curse in frustration, before resuming her own barrage of arrows.
Sif was right. Even the most advanced ship couldn't have unlimited energy. After all the attacks on Thor and now maintaining the shields, the ship's energy reserves would eventually deplete. As long as they kept up the pressure, they could help Thor break free of his current predicament.
"Hmm?" Thanos noticed the attacks on his ship. His eyes flashed with a hint of hesitation. As the ship's commander, Thanos knew exactly how much energy it had left. If the energy continued to drain, and Thor wasn't defeated soon, the ship might actually be destroyed by those energy arrows.
Without hesitation, Thanos remotely commanded the ship to fly higher, out of range of the quartet's arrows, and stop bombarding Thor.
"Rumble!" The moment the ship stopped its attacks, Thor unleashed a terrifying surge of lightning, forcing Thanos back. Thor stood in place, gasping for breath.
Thor had lived for over a thousand years, experiencing countless battles. But this fight was one of the few where he found himself evenly matched and struggling, especially after his recent power boost.
Of course, the battle against Clark and Robert back on Earth didn't count—being overpowered like that could hardly be called a battle.
However, Thanos wasn't about to give Thor a chance to rest. He knew Thor was a formidable opponent, and if he didn't take this opportunity to kill him while he was injured and exhausted, doing so later would only become more difficult.
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
Just as Thanos was about to strike, more energy arrows flew toward him.
"Attack with everything! Give Thor time to recover!" The energy arrows couldn't do much harm to Thanos—certainly not to the extent the ship's bombardment had suppressed Thor—but they were enough to distract him, forcing him to defend and allowing Thor some breathing room.
"You're courting death!" Thanos roared, swinging his double-edged sword to shatter the energy arrows. In the next moment, he unleashed a powerful blast of energy toward the Asgardian quartet.
"Not good!" Sif and her companions paled. They knew their strength was nowhere near Thanos', and they had no way of countering such a powerful attack. They barely had time to react, let alone dodge.
"Get out of the way!" Thor shouted, his expression changing as he saw the attack heading toward his companions. But before his warning could reach them, the energy blast struck their location.
"Boom!" The terrifying explosion engulfed the area, and Thor's eyes instantly reddened with rage.
"You will die!!!" Roaring with fury, Thor's body erupted with divine power. His single eye glowed with a terrifying energy, and for a brief moment, Thanos' pupils contracted in alarm.
"Whoosh!" In an instant, Thor vanished from his spot, moving so quickly that Thanos couldn't even track his movements. But Thanos' battle instincts kicked in, and he swung his sword.
"Clang!" The sword clashed with Mjolnir again, but this time, Thor's rage-fueled strike sent Thanos flying. Before Thanos could even land, Thor, crackling with lightning, leaped and attacked once more.
"Boom!" Another massive explosion rocked Nidavellir, shattering the ground beneath them. Thanos, caught in the heart of the blast, suffered greatly. His chest was caved in, and his once-impenetrable
armor had been completely destroyed, leaving him lying on the ground, battered and disoriented.
Thanos could hardly believe it. The kind of situation where the protagonist suddenly powers up—how could this be happening to him? Or rather, to his opponent? He had been so confident of his victory after the ship's bombardment. He now realized he had underestimated Thor.
"Is this the curse of possessing the Infinity Stones?" Thanos muttered, struggling to lift his left hand and stare at the gauntlet, still empty of any Stones. But soon, his determination returned. "No! I haven't lost yet!"
"No! You have lost!" Thor stepped through the dust and debris, his body still glowing with lightning, raising Mjolnir as he approached Thanos. "Your grand ambitions end here, Titan!"
"No! Not yet!" Despite his injuries, Thanos shook his head with a confident smile.
"Let's see how many strikes you can withstand!" Thor sneered, raising Mjolnir to strike. But just as he was about to bring the hammer down, he sensed danger and instinctively dodged.
"Clang!" A scepter stabbed into the ground where Thor had been standing. Thor frowned, puzzled as he stared at the seemingly ordinary scepter, unsure why it had triggered his sense of danger.
"Looks like I've got a new weapon!" Thanos struggled to his feet, leaving his double-edged sword behind and instead grabbing the scepter with a grin.
"The Mind Stone!" As the head of the scepter was pulled from the ground, Thor immediately understood the source of the danger. The gem embedded in the scepter was none other than the Mind Stone!
Thanos had brought the scepter, containing the Mind Stone, aboard his ship, intending to place it into the Infinity Gauntlet once he obtained it. But now, he was forced to wield its power directly against Thor.
"Just having that Stone won't be enough! The power of the Infinity Stones isn't that easy to harness!" Thor said cautiously, though his words carried a hint of defiance as he stared at Thanos.
"Don't worry. I've studied the Infinity Stones thoroughly. You'll see soon enough!" Thanos smiled confidently, raising the scepter and pointing it at Thor. A blast of energy shot from the Mind Stone, hurtling toward Thor.
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