Malekith rose from the ruins.
His body had already restored itself—whole, unscarred, as if nothing had happened.
"…It hurts," he muttered, rolling his shoulders.
"Damn it… it really hurts."
Hatred burned in his eyes as he fixed his gaze on the blond figure ahead.
"Midgardian… you've truly angered me."
Antony didn't waste time trading speeches.
"You look pretty durable," he said lightly. "Hope your insurance covers getting beaten half to death by Superman."
The moment the words left his mouth, Antony vanished.
BOOOOM—!!!
A sonic cloud detonated at the heart of Shibuya Crossing. Asphalt shattered like brittle glass.
Malekith didn't even have time to blink.
A hand—carrying annihilating force—clamped over his face.
The sheer momentum drove him backward.
Antony pressed Malekith's head down and turned him into a living cannonball, slamming straight through Shibuya 109.
Steel and reinforced concrete crumpled like wafer cookies. The glass façade exploded into a rain of glittering shards.
And that was only the beginning.
Without slowing down, Antony bulldozed Malekith across the street and into the next office building. Desks, computers, and documents erupted into the air.
"Third building!!"
"Fourth!!"
The continuous detonations sounded like a runaway bullet train tearing through a forest of steel.
Along a single straight line—
Ten skyscrapers were punched clean through.
"ENOUGH… you mortal!!"
Malekith's enraged roar erupted from the wreckage.
HUM—!!!
A terrifying energy pulse exploded outward from him.
Dark-red fluid surged, wrapping his nearly shattered body and restoring it at frightening speed.
Antony was blasted away by the unreasonable force, flipping twice midair before landing solidly—his boots carving two deep trenches into the asphalt.
He brushed dust from his chest and looked at the red mist–shrouded figure in the distance.
"…Interesting."
Malekith levitated out of the ruins and glanced skyward.
Space was twisting.
Celestial bodies were aligning.
The convergence had reached its peak—the moment when the barriers between realms were thinnest.
"The timing…" Malekith rasped.
Less than thirty minutes.
If he couldn't reclaim the complete Aether and reach the convergence point within that window, the gate would close.
The next opening would be five thousand years later.
He couldn't wait that long.
"Give it back…!"
"GIVE ME THE AETHER!!"
Malekith roared, spreading his arms wide.
This time—no restraint.
RUMBLE—
The ground trembled violently.
Countless dark-red tendrils erupted from his body—solidified Aether particles—thrashing wildly through the air like starving leviathans.
"Tentacle play?" Antony snorted.
His form blurred.
Super speed.
He threaded through the gaps between the tendrils, so fast that only a red-and-blue afterimage remained.
Where the tendrils struck, asphalt was annihilated—reduced to black ash.
"Too slow!"
Antony halted abruptly, slipping past a sweeping strike, then accelerated again—his fist rocketing straight toward Malekith's chest.
Just as the punch was about to land—
HUM!
The dark-red mist around Malekith reacted on its own, condensing instantly into a shield.
CLANG—!!!
The impact thundered.
Antony felt like he'd punched an invisible rubber wall—his force dispersed and absorbed in an instant.
"Auto-defense?"
He frowned, using the recoil to retreat.
"You cannot touch the darkness," Malekith said coldly, half his attention already drifting toward Jessica Jones in the distance.
He could feel it.
The other half of the Aether inside her was calling to return.
"Is that so?" Antony smirked. "Good. I like a challenge."
BOOM—!
His figure vanished completely.
The speed he displayed now surpassed human perception.
All around Malekith, dozens of Antonys appeared.
Afterimages.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM—!!!
The impacts fell like a torrential storm.
From front, back, left, right—above and below—Antony unleashed a hurricane of strikes.
Malekith stood at the eye of the tempest, Aether particles surging wildly, forming a living cocoon that automatically countered every angle of attack.
The crimson fluid morphed endlessly—shields, spikes, counter-lashing tendrils.
"Still not fast enough!" Antony roared mid-motion.
He could feel it.
With every exchange, the Aether was reacting faster.
It was adapting to his rhythm.
"Then I'll go faster!!"
Red light flared violently in Antony's eyes.
He pushed closer to the limit.
BOOOOM—!!!
Another acceleration.
The air over Shibuya ignited.
The supersonic shockwaves from Antony's movement shattered every window within a kilometer. Parked cars flipped like toys.
Malekith's defensive barrier began to tremble.
…
-----
Meanwhile — New York.
Ten thousand meters above ground, the Dark Elf cross-shaped mothership hovered within the clouds.
Inside the bridge, the Kurse (Algrim) stared at the holographic feed—frozen on the moment Malekith was blasted across the planet.
"Malekith is in danger!" Algrim growled.
He turned toward the control console.
"Take us there. I'm going to support him!"
"Hold it, big guy."
A hand stopped him.
Leaning casually against the console was Loki, idly twirling a dagger, a lazy smile on his face.
"What are you doing?" Algrim snapped.
"I'm trying to save your master," Loki replied lightly, "and your poor brain while I'm at it."
He gestured at the screen, pointing at the red-and-blue blur.
"Look at that thing. He punched Malekith from one side of the planet to the other. You really think this flying brick of yours can even touch his cape?"
Algrim fell silent.
He hated admitting it—but that Midgardian's speed defied comprehension.
"Then what's your brilliant idea, Trickster?"
"Simple."
Loki flicked his wrist. The hologram switched to ground-level New York.
Iron Man.
Captain America.
The costumed trainees scrambling through the ruins.
"Look at them," Loki said, satisfaction dripping from his voice.
"They're his friends."
He stepped closer, lowering his tone.
"If you fly over there now, you'll just get torn into scrap metal."
"But if you stay here…"
He pointed at Manhattan.
"…and take them."
"Crush the tin man's throat."
"Pin the shield-bearing old soldier to the ground."
"And then tell the caped god—one more move, and his friends become paste."
Loki smiled, foxlike and cruel.
"Trust me. This trick works every time… on so-called superheroes."
Algrim stared at the screen for a long moment.
"…You're right, Asgardian."
"Despicable," he said, turning toward the hangar bay,
"but effective."
"That's the spirit," Loki murmured, watching the Kurse depart—his smile widening ever so slightly.
--------------
T/N:
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