In the quiet canyon of the Gobi, the air vibrated with a dying hum. The pitch-black shards of the Destroyer didn't last three minutes under the unrelenting hunger of the Nirvana Golden Wings. As the last of the Uru-metal essence was siphoned out, the legendary armor—once the pride of Odin's vault—lost its luster, turning into a brittle, deathly gray slag before collapsing into a pile of fine white ash.
The ethereal quality of Leo's wings had vanished. In its place was a terrifyingly solid structure, the golden feathers now possessing a crystalline density that caught the desert sun.
Leo exhaled slowly, feeling the surge of power settle into his marrow. He opened his eyes, and a translucent interface flickered in his vision:
[Status Window]
Control Points: 115
Attributes: Strength 22 | Defense 22 | Speed 22 | Spirit 23
Skills: Metal Manipulation (C-rank), Body Enhancement (B-rank), Micro-Manipulation (C-rank)
Enhancements: Golden Eyes (100%), Copper Skin (100%), Steel Sinews (100%), Iron Bones (57%)
Derived Skills: * Eye of Delusion-Breaking Gold: (Immunity to debuffs, sees through illusions, enhances visual observation, metallizes objects)
Immovable Golden Body: (Absolute defense, infinite stamina, accelerated recovery, immovable by external force)
Nirvana Golden Wings: (Max speed Mach 10. Special Skill: [Locked])
He felt the change immediately. His bones felt like reinforced pillars, and his spiritual clarity was so sharp he could practically hear the tectonic plates shifting beneath him. But even with these gains, his Iron Bones were only at 57%. He was far from finished.
He glanced toward the horizon, spotting Jane and Erik standing by the van. With a subtle shift of his weight, he vanished into a golden streak.
Ten seconds later, Leo appeared silently beside them. The desert wind was picking up, but no one noticed his arrival; their eyes were glued to the sky, wide with terror.
"Doctor? What's going on?" Leo asked, his voice steady.
Erik didn't look down. "Thor went back. His friends too. But the sky... something is wrong, Leo. My mind is a mess, but I know physics shouldn't look like that."
Leo looked up. The teleportation array on the ground was dormant, but the clouds above were churning into a bruised, sickly purple. This wasn't a transport beam. This was a discharge.
High above in the atmosphere, the Bifrost was being forced open at full capacity. The Rainbow Bridge, if left unchecked, was a weapon that could crack a planet's crust. Leo licked his lips, feeling a cold knot of insignificance in his chest. 'I can dismantle a robot, but I can't stop a star-bridge,' he thought. 'I need to get to Wakanda. I need Vibranium. This isn't enough.'
Inside the Golden Hall of Asgard, the peace was shattered. Thor walked through the threshold, his cape snapping behind him. Frigga, her face pale with worry, rushed to her eldest son, pulling him into a frantic embrace.
"Thor! Thank the Norns, you're home!"
Thor hugged his mother briefly, but his eyes never left the figure standing by the throne. Loki stood there, clutching Gungnir, the golden spear trembling slightly in his hand. He looked like a man trapped in a corner, his eyes darting between his mother and the brother he thought was gone for good.
"You've always been a master of the silver tongue, brother," Thor said, his voice echoing with the weight of Mjolnir. He stepped toward the throne, the sparks of lightning dancing across his knuckles.
Loki's grip tightened on the spear. "It's... heartwarming to see you back, Thor." His voice turned sharp, brittle. "But you'll have to excuse the lack of a feast. I'm currently busy wiping Jotunheim off the map."
Loki didn't wait for a response. He leveled the spear and fired a pulse of pure, golden energy. The blast caught Thor off guard, hurling him backward out of the hall and sending him plummeting toward the lower terraces of the city.
In the royal bedchamber, the unconscious Odin's eyelids twitched. The Odin Sleep was deep, but even the Allfather's slumber was being disturbed by the discordant vibrations of his sons' war.
Loki ignored his mother's pleas and sprinted toward the Bifrost Observatory. He didn't just want to rule; he wanted to be the hero who did what his father was "too weak" to do. He plunged Gungnir into the activation slot and then did something unthinkable—he placed the Casket of Ancient Winters on the pedestal.
The cold of the Casket froze the gears in place, locking the Bridge open. The Bifrost roared, a continuous, unrelenting beam of destructive energy stabbing across the void directly into the heart of Jotunheim.
On the ice planet, the world was ending. The beam hit like a hammer of the gods, triggering massive tectonic shifts. Glaciers the size of cities were vaporized instantly. Frost Giants, once the terrors of the Nine Realms, were reduced to ants fleeing a magnifying glass. If the beam held for another few minutes, the planet would simply shatter.
Thor regained his footing and took flight, a bolt of blue lightning streaking toward the observatory. He arrived just as the building began to shake from the sheer volume of energy passing through it.
"Loki, stop this madness!" Thor roared, landing on the platform.
Loki looked at him with a wild, arrogant grin. "You're too late! The Bifrost will cleave that frozen hell in two before the Casket fails!"
Thor swung Mjolnir, slamming it into the ice-encrusted pedestal, but the Casket's magic held firm. Loki leveled Gungnir again, blasting Thor through the glass walls of the observatory and onto the bridge outside.
Thor stood up, his heart breaking. "Why? Why do this, Loki?"
"To prove I'm worthy!" Loki screamed, his voice cracking. "When Father wakes up, he won't see a monster. He'll see the son who saved his life and destroyed the greatest threat to Asgard! I will be the rightful heir!"
"You cannot commit genocide to earn a throne!" Thor shouted back, his voice thick with anger and grief.
"Why not?" Loki laughed, a sharp, exaggerated sound that had no joy in it. He walked toward Thor, his golden horned helmet gleaming. "I've changed, Thor. I've seen the truth of what we are."
"So have I," Thor said, but Loki didn't listen.
Loki swung the spear, slapping Thor across the face with the shaft. "Come on! Fight me! Give me the battle you've always wanted!" He fired another blast, knocking Thor to his knees. "I never wanted the crown! I just wanted to be your equal! I wanted the same look in Father's eyes when he looked at me!"
Thor looked at his brother, seeing the raw, bleeding pain behind the madness. "I will not fight you, brother."
"I am not your brother!" Loki shrieked, his face contorting. "I never was!"
"Loki, listen to yourself... you're insane."
Loki froze. His body began to tremble, a pained, bitter grimace twisting his lips. "Insane? Am I?"
The thousand years of being the "second prince" erupted in that moment. Loki remembered every feast where Thor was toasted, every battle where Thor was the hero, and every moment he had spent in the shadows, comforting himself that at least he had a mother's love. He had been the sensitive one, the smart one, the one who noticed the things the "sun god" Thor was too loud to see.
A single tear rolled down Loki's cheek, glinting in the rainbow light of the bridge. He looked at the brother who had been his only constant, and his voice dropped to a lethal, vibrating whisper.
"What did those humans do to you? What happened on that mud-ball to make you so soft? So weak?" Loki's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me it's that mortal woman."
Thor remained silent, his gaze steady and full of a pity that Loki couldn't stand.
"So it is her!" Loki's face twisted into a mask of pure malice. "Fine. Once I'm done with the giants, perhaps I'll pay her a visit myself. I wonder how she'll look when I show her what a real god can do."
Thor's grip on Mjolnir tightened. The sparks of lightning turned a dangerous, violent white. "Loki... don't."