Peter remained silent and reserved.
Thor felt a bit awkward.
He originally came down to stop Malekith, but after arriving, he discovered that Malekith and the one with Ether particles who saved his girlfriend, Hawk, weren't here.
It would have been fine if he were alone here.
The key was there was an unfamiliar person nearby, and this unfamiliar person didn't seem to like talking to him.
Thor wanted to leave this place.
But...
This is the nexus point of the Nine Realms. Although he didn't know where Malekith and Hawk had gone, if they left here, then there's a high probability they would appear here as well.
Thor thought silently, looking at the silent Peter beside him, appeared to have thought of something, and suddenly giggled: "By the way, do you know Tony Stark? I fought with him in New York."
Mr. Tony Stark?
Peter looked up at Thor: "He's a billionaire."
Thor frowned slightly.
"And then..."
"I'm poor. I know him, but he doesn't know me."
"Hiss!"
Thor listened to Peter's calm response, gasped, then his eyes lit up, and he said to Peter: "Hulk, you know Hulk, right?"
The Green Giant who was killed twice by Hawk?
Peter's expression under the Spider mask looked somewhat odd, nodded at Thor.
"I know him."
"Great."
Thor's face lit up with joy. Just as he was about to tell Peter that he was also good friends with Hulk, three black Chevrolet SUVs drove over from the London police side.
Natasha and Hawkeye got out of the black Chevrolet SUVs, looked at Thor standing by Stonehenge and Spider-Man, New York City's good neighbor, exchanged a glance, and then walked over.
"Thor!"
"Natasha."
Thor turned his head to see familiar faces coming, his eyes brightened, and after greeting them, he continued talking to the silent Peter: "By the way, I'm not just Hulk's friend, they are my friends too, and when your friend Hawk returns, we can all get together."
Hulk's friend?
Hang out with Hawk?
Peter's expression became extremely odd.
But he wore a mask, so not only would no one see if his expression was odd, even if he pulled a face, nobody would see.
Natasha listened to Thor's words, and her expression became somewhat odd as well. She quietly said to Thor, who was no longer so out of place due to familiar faces arriving: "Thor, Hulk is dead."
Thor's expression froze instantly.
He looked at Natasha: "What, dead? What happened."
Natasha glanced at Peter Parker standing silently on the side, known as New York City's good neighbor Spider-Man on the surface, but actually Hawk's good friend in the shadows, then said to Thor: "Back when Hulk battled Abomination, he accidentally killed Hawk's sister. At the end of the year after you left last year, Hawk found Hulk and killed him."
Thor gasped, looked instinctively at Peter.
Peter met Thor's gaze, thought for a moment, nodded.
"Hiss!"
"Bruce is dead?"
"Uh..."
Hawkeye thought for a moment and provided Thor with the latest timeline: "He wasn't dead initially, but later Betty Ross wanted revenge for her father, attempted to kidnap Hawk's girlfriend, was exposed and killed by Hawk, then Dr. Bruce Banner went to Africa for revenge and found Hawk, and also died."
At this point, Hawkeye paused, looked at Thor, who seemed a bit confused, and added: "Hulk and Bruce are both dead."
He and Natasha had just returned from Africa for rest, so they also learned about Hawk's astonishing battle with Hell Hulk on the African Prairie.
While resting in London, they received word from S.H.I.E.L.D. that Thor had appeared at Stonehenge, hence they hurried here.
Thor listened to Hawkeye's exposé, his eyes a bit bewildered.
He felt he had only been gone for a year, but listening to Hawkeye's recount, he felt like he had been gone much longer.
Hulk is dead?
That suddenly?
Thor came to his senses, shook his head, and asked Natasha: "So, this Hawk, what's his background? Some demigod's illegitimate son?"
He had dealt with Hulk so knew very well Hulk's strength.
Let's put it this way.
No Earthling could defeat Hulk.
Unless they were demigod, since he'd told his father a long time ago that the cosmos' divine spirits liked visiting Earth to have beautiful encounters with human women.
He was like that too, wasn't he?
Natasha opened her mouth, about to tell Thor that Hawk was just an ordinary person, and that they weren't sure yet where Hawk's power comes from.
Suddenly.
A surge of violent energy emanated from Stonehenge.
Next second.
Boom!
Hawk, covered in the lava of Muspelheim, the realm of Flame Giants, suddenly appeared from Stonehenge, then roared down like a meteor and left a roughly one-kilometer-long flame trail on the grassland.
The end of the flame was Hawk, his Holy Armor dim, cracked, and fragmented.
As for Malekith?
He didn't fare much better; when he appeared again, the right side of his face was also disfigured, having previously only the left side ruined.
But compared to Hawk with broken Holy Armor, he was clearly in the advantageous position.
"Little one."
"Hand over the Ether particles."
Completely disfigured, Malekith no longer retained any gentlemanly demeanor.
The energy fluctuations in the Nine Realms Nexus were intensifying rapidly. If he can't use the Ether particles to turn the entire Nine Realms into a world of darkness the moment the realms collide, he would have to wait another thousand years.
Hawk struggled to get up from the ground, blood dripping from his forehead, looking at Malekith walking towards him.
His answer remained the same.
"Unless you kill me."
"Fine, I'll grant you that!"
Malekith grit his teeth, a sinister smile flashing across his disfigured cheek, as he opened his right hand, with Ether Particles pulsating like a dark red heart between his fingers.
Thor snapped out of his shock beside him.
"Malekith!"
He gripped his Mjolnir tightly, roaring angrily at Malekith, who had appeared, then leaped and slashed towards Malekith in front of Hawk, aiming to perform a cranial surgery on him.
Hawk threw a punch with his right fist.
Not at Malekith, but at Thor leaping through the air.
Boom!
Malekith was stunned.
Peter was also stunned.
Natasha and Hawkeye watched this scene and were stunned too.
Not to mention Thor.
Thor landed, his armor still imprinted with several fist marks, and he shouted at Hawk, "What are you doing!"
Hawk, expressionless, looked at Malekith in front of him and replied to Thor's question.
"He's mine."
"You want him?"
"Get in line."
He had fought hard to reach this point.
Steal the spotlight?
That wouldn't be allowed.
As Hawk spoke, he glanced at Thor and then with a thud, stomped a deep pit into the ground, launching another attack on Malekith.
"Come fight!"
"Hehe, this is you asking for death."
The utterly disfigured Malekith laughed menacingly, looking at Hawk who was launching an attack against him as if he were looking at a dead man. He too clenched his right fist, Ether Particles covering it entirely, and at the moment of contact with Hawk, instantly made the surrounding air impenetrable.
At the moment Hawk's movements slowed, Malekith's Ether-covered fist directly punched Hawk's Holy Armor chest plate.
Crack!
The clear sound of armor breaking rang out.
Spurt!
Hawk's face flushed red, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Boom!
Hawk was sent flying again, the upper part of his Holy Armor completely shattering and disintegrating, falling like a dead firefly as he flew backward.
Malekith had used the Ether Particles to modify the sturdiness of Hawk's Holy Armor, changing it from 'impenetrable' to 'fragile like glass.'
If it were truly Golden Holy Armor, it wouldn't be like this.
After all, genuine Golden Holy Armor possesses the power of bathing under the sun's flames for hundreds or even thousands of years.
This is why Golden Holy Armor is golden.
The gold of Golden Holy Armor is the light of the sun. If Malekith wanted to modify genuine Golden Holy Armor, he probably couldn't do it even by exhausting himself.
But the armor that Hawk wore now?
It looked golden but hadn't changed in terms of quality.
So...
The Holy Armor crumbled!
Bang!
Hawk, who was sent flying again, didn't fall to the ground; he landed on his feet, maintaining a standing posture.
But...
The mournful cry of the shattered armor and the intense pain of his body being torn apart transmitted vividly into Hawk's mind.
His torso, exposed after the armor crumbled, had densely packed wounds, with blood spilling out that seemed to glimmer like gold and shimmer like stars.
Thump!
Thump!
Hawk could even feel his heartbeat slowing down at a perceptible rate.
This reminded him of the scene at the bottom of Calver Lake, where he was nearly punched into Nirvana by Hulk.
But that time he was almost there.
And this time, he really is about to reach Nirvana.
In the Little Cosmos.
The image of the Phoenix had already appeared, wings spread, burning with bright flames.
The Nirvana process had started.
But...
Where's the enlightenment of the Sixth Sense between life and death?
He was almost dead; where's the Sixth Sense?
Even though his life was ending, Hawk surprisingly didn't fear death; maybe because he knew he wouldn't die, so it wasn't truly between life and death.
Hawk's thoughts raced in his final moments, and he finally raised his blood-stained eyes to look at Malekith and sighed.
Peter, watching not far away, felt his heart skip a beat.
The next second.
Under Malekith's and everyone's gaze, Hawk closed his eyes.
The next second!
The moment he closed his eyes.
Mutation occurred!
...