Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
"Stark, don't do anything reckless!"
Nick Fury's voice immediately crackled through the earpiece.
Following right behind him, Captain America added urgently, "Halsey, stop Stark's attack. We should try talking to Thor first!"
Hearing this, Feny rolled his eyes and gave a perfunctory reply: "Coming, coming!"
Despite his words, Feny had no intention of interfering just yet. He wanted to see exactly how much Tony's strength had improved during his absence.
In Asgard, those who can maintain their cool in the heat of battle are few and far between. In most cases, they prefer to charge in headfirst—if they win, they dictate the terms; if they lose, then everyone sits down for a civil chat.
Thor was the quintessential Asgardian.
Even though he knew his primary mission was to find Loki, faced with Tony's aggression, he unhesitatingly chose to fight. Finding his brother could wait; a good brawl was far more entertaining.
Besides, the best kind of brawl usually involved thrashing said brother anyway.
Though he wasn't exactly a strategic mastermind, Thor's power was the real deal. Even without his true divine awakening, centuries of combat experience and Mjolnir in his hand made him more than a match for most foes.
Facing Tony's repulsor blasts, Thor chose to tank them head-on. His armor was a masterpiece forged by dwarves and imbued with Asgardian magic; a few blasts weren't enough to cause significant damage.
While Mjolnir allowed him to fly, its linear flight path wasn't ideal for complex aerial dogfights. Thor decided the best course of action was to bring Tony down to earth.
Gripping Mjolnir, he shot upward. As Tony fired again, Thor suddenly accelerated, performing a brutal aerial charge right through the energy beam and slamming into the billionaire.
Caught off guard by the sheer speed, Tony took the full impact. The two became a tangled mess of metal and muscle, plummeting from the sky and crashing into the mountainside.
Watching the scuffle, Feny shook his head in amusement. From what he could see, while Tony was stronger than before, the leap was limited. The Mark VII's enhanced firepower wasn't doing much to Thor. Conversely, a few direct hits from Mjolnir would likely leave the Iron Man armor in shambles.
In terms of raw strength and durability, Thor was easily on par with—if not superior to—the high-tech suit. This was why Asgardians were revered as gods; their physiology was naturally formidable.
Seeing Tony starting to look a bit disheveled, Feny decided he'd seen enough. It was time to step in.
As Thor wound up to hurl his hammer to prevent Tony from regaining altitude, Feny instantly opened a portal directly in the hammer's flight path. Mjolnir vanished into the golden ring, reappearing tens of thousands of meters up in the atmosphere.
Let the hammer fly for a while!
Doing this would have been difficult for Feny in the past. However, with the growth of his 'Ars Magna' and the insights he'd gained from the Space Stone's energy, his portal skills had advanced rapidly.
Where's the hammer!?
Thor froze, stunned by the disappearance of his beloved weapon. He quickly extended his hand to recall it, but when nothing returned after several seconds, his confusion turned to absolute fury.
"Where did you put my hammer!?"
"Maybe it got homesick!" Tony quipped. He had seen the portal. While Feny's intervention felt a bit like a blow to his ego, he was used to being shown up by the kid.
He was mostly just thankful he hadn't let Jarvis livestream the fight to the Helicarrier's main deck.
What he didn't know was that while he hadn't bothered, Nick Fury certainly hadn't forgotten. A swarm of small drone cameras had followed them out. His brief "beatdown" had already been witnessed by everyone on the ship; the crew was simply too stunned by Thor's power to comment yet.
Deprived of his hammer, Thor's temper flared, and sparks of electricity began to dance across his skin. Startled, Feny moved in and tried to explain: "Your hammer isn't lost. It's just... taking the long way back!"
Thor wasn't in a listening mood. "Give me back my hammer!" he roared, lunging at Feny.
"I've got this. You head back!" Feny told Tony. Without hesitation, he met Thor head-on, silently layering buffs on himself:
"Strength Boost!"
"Agility Boost!"
"Defense Boost!"
Their fists collided with a dull thud. Feny was forced back several steps. He'd lost the first round of raw physical power.
While Thor didn't have the Hulk's "the angrier I get, the stronger I get" trait, his emotions directly influenced his divine energy, making him significantly more dangerous than he was moments ago.
However, brute strength had never been Feny's primary asset. Unfazed, he immediately switched to his specialty: kiting.
"Weight!"
"Weakness!"
"Slowness!"
"Silence!"
Thor, in the middle of a roar, suddenly found himself mute. Combined with the sudden heavy, sluggish feeling in his limbs, his expression became one of extreme frustration.
Feny actually found himself missing Vormir for a second. If they were there, he could have manifested several oversized versions of Mjolnir to drop on Thor—that would have been a sight to see.
He forced his mind back to the task. Maintaining 'Ars Magna' during active combat was taxing; if his focus wavered, the effects would dissipate.
"Explosion!"
After six months of training, all of Feny's skills had improved drastically, and his 'Explosion Magic' was no exception. A rapid-fire succession of blasts rained down, making Thor start to doubt if he had actually landed on Earth or some high-gravity war zone.
Suddenly, a high-pitched whistle tore through the air. Sensing a familiar presence, Thor looked up, his eyes lighting up with joy.
"My hammer!"
Just as Thor reached out to catch the returning Mjolnir while braving the explosions, a ring of golden sparks appeared directly in front of his outstretched hand.
"NO!!!"
Recognizing the trick, Thor tried to pull his hand back, but he couldn't stop the momentum. With a whoosh, the supersonic hammer vanished into the portal once again.
Feny let out a small sigh of relief as the hammer was sent away for a second trip. There was a massive difference between Thor with his hammer and Thor without it. At this stage, he was still more of a "God of Hammers" than a true God of Thunder; the weapon's stat-boost was no joke.
"Who are you?"
With his hammer gone for a second time, Thor was forced to cool his head. Seeing Feny cease his attack, he quickly tried to explain: "I am not your enemy. I have come to Earth in search of Loki."
"Admit defeat first!" Feny shouted down from the air, keeping a close watch on him.
"I will not!" Thor shook his head stubbornly. "You cannot defeat me. I am Thor, Son of Odin! You must have heard of me—Jane told me I am quite famous among your people."
"Admit it, or next time I'll drop your hammer into deep space," Feny said, looking up at the sky as if waiting for the next pass.
"No! You cannot do that!" Thor yelled, outraged. "You are unworthy of being called a warrior!"
"You're right. I'm not," Feny nodded with deep conviction. "I'm a Mage."
(End of Chapter)