"I finally understand why Mjolnir favors you more than me," Thor said, lightning flashing in his eyes. "You're more like a god of thunder than I am."
Above them, blue lightning continued to gather in the sky.
At a certain moment, the surroundings suddenly fell into absolute silence. The thunder and lightning that had filled the air just a second earlier seemed frozen in time—then vanished completely.
BOOM—!!
As Lucas swung his sword, heaven and earth changed color in an instant. Whether sky or ground, everything was drowned in a single, blinding shade of violet.
Countless bolts of lightning surged forth from the clouds like an unstoppable army. The moment the thunder touched the Chitauri soldiers, they didn't even have time to react—vanishing in an instant, leaving behind not even a trace of ash.
Above New York, only raging lightning remained. And at the very center of that storm stood Lucas, towering amid a sea of thunder like a god descending upon the mortal world.
At that moment—whether it was Natasha and the others rushing toward the battlefield, the troops standing ready on the ground, or the civilians fleeing through the streets—
Countless people stopped and looked up. The image of Lucas, standing like a thunder god amid the lightning, was burned deeply into their memories. This earth-shattering scene would be remembered by innumerable witnesses for the rest of their lives.
Even the heavily armored Leviathan beasts were incinerated the instant they touched the lightning, disappearing from existence.
The Chitauri soldiers pouring out of the rift didn't even have time to admire New York's skyscrapers before they were wiped away by the storm.
The lightning lasted for nearly a full minute. During that time, not a single Chitauri escaped. Countless invaders perished beneath the violet thunder—yet even more continued to surge forward relentlessly.
When the lightning finally faded, even Lucas was breathing slightly heavier. He looked at the endless Chitauri horde and shook his head inwardly.
He had known from his past life's memories that the Chitauri were countless—but only now did he truly grasp what numbers like a plague of locusts really meant.
At that moment, the Quinjet arrived. Steve was the first to leap out, followed closely by the rest of the team.
The instant Steve landed, he hurled his shield, striking a Chitauri soldier who was about to attack civilians. Without pausing, he charged straight into the enemy ranks.
At the same time, two figures—one red, one white—swung rapidly between buildings, webs firing nonstop as they rescued civilians one after another.
Peter even hoisted an entire car and threw it at the Chitauri. The moment the car smashed into them, an arrow shot through the air, piercing the fuel tank. The vehicle exploded like a bomb.
"Skye! Too many civilians here—clear the area now!" Steve shouted as he saw her arrive.
Behind him were crowds of evacuating civilians. Alone, he couldn't hold back the dozens of Chitauri advancing toward them.
"Got it!"
Skye rushed forward. Shockwaves erupted from her hands, and then she slammed them into the ground.
Boom—!!
Countless spikes burst from the earth. The Chitauri ahead were instantly skewered, turning into grotesque pin cushions. The shockwaves continued outward, collapsing a damaged building in the distance. Massive chunks of rubble fell, blocking the Chitauri's advance.
"Captain, now!" Skye shouted.
Steve instantly understood. He sprinted toward the rubble, leapt into the air, and released his shield.
At the same time, an arrow appeared out of nowhere, striking the shield and ricocheting off it—redirected straight into the remaining Chitauri ranks.
BOOM—!!
A violent explosion erupted, flames shooting skyward as the remaining Chitauri were blown away.
Steve turned and gave Barton a thumbs-up in the distance.
Barton always provided support at exactly the right moment. His arrows never missed, each one delivering a lethal blow.
Rumble—!!
Suddenly, a ten-story building collapsed. Beneath it were evacuating civilians and police officers helping them escape. The rubble was about to crush them.
A surge of scarlet energy appeared. The falling debris froze in midair, suspended by Wanda's power as she held her arms aloft.
"Get out of here, now!" Wanda shouted.
The civilians hurried away, and the Chitauri immediately swarmed in.
Wanda narrowed her eyes and hurled the massive stones at the incoming enemies, smashing them apart.
Army tanks began firing round after round, but their effectiveness was limited. With civilians nearby, they couldn't unleash full-scale bombardments—only controlled, localized strikes.
Natasha piloted Lucas's modified Quinjet through the air, unleashing nonstop fire on the Chitauri army. Thanks to Tony's upgraded weapons and targeting systems, she rarely missed. One major advantage of energy weapons was that, as long as power remained, ammunition was effectively unlimited.
With the arc reactor's immense output, Natasha fired freely, energy cannons raining destruction as if ammunition cost nothing.
"Director, I'm officially requesting we partner with Stark Industries to upgrade all our Quinjets," Natasha said excitedly. "This is way too satisfying."
She'd never fought such a resource-rich battle before—she practically wanted to weld the fire button in place.
"Thor, Loki is yours," Lucas said, glancing toward Stark Tower. "He's at the very top."
A green figure was clearly visible there.
Thor followed Lucas's gaze and immediately understood. Spinning his hammer, he shot off toward Loki.
"Loki!!"
Thor descended from the sky and slammed his hammer down without the slightest restraint.
Loki hastily raised the Mind Stone scepter to block.
Boom!
The ground beneath Loki shattered inch by inch. Forced to one knee, he struggled desperately against Thor's overwhelming strength.
"Look at what you've done, Loki!" Thor roared. "Shut down the Tesseract now, or I'll destroy it!"
Thor increased his power, driving Loki's feet into the ground.
"Hahaha, my foolish brother," Loki laughed wildly. "You can't destroy it. You can't stop me. Now there is only—war!"
Loki suddenly forced Thor back and thrust the scepter straight toward his chest.
Thor dodged and countered with a hammer strike, lightning crashing down alongside it. A translucent barrier flared around Loki, blocking the lightning completely.
With a thunderous blast, a beam fired from the scepter. Thor blocked it with Mjolnir, releasing lightning in response.
The shockwaves from their clash shattered Stark Tower's neon logo. The massive sign tore free and plummeted downward.
On the ground, Gwen kicked a Chitauri soldier away when she suddenly felt the light above her vanish. Looking up, she saw the massive sign falling toward her.
She didn't dodge.
A web shot out, sticking to the sign. Gwen swung hard.
"Die already!!"
The enormous sign changed direction midair under the pull of the web, smashing into the Chitauri below. The residual energy within the sign detonated, exploding like a fragmentation grenade and shredding Chitauri soldiers one after another.