Chapter 8: The Arrival of Thor Odinson
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Inside a massive warehouse, now completely collapsed, something could be seen stirring beneath a mountain of rubble.
A low, irritated groan echoed out as the debris shifted slightly.
Naruto's eyes slowly began to open, blinking several times before adjusting to the darkness surrounding him.
"Where the hell am I...?" he muttered, trying to bring a hand to his head, still dazed.
He couldn't move it.
He tried a couple more times, without success. Then, he tensed every muscle in his body and gathered every bit of strength he had left.
The heavy rubble was blasted away, thrown aside by Naruto's superhuman strength. Finally free, he brought a hand to his head and looked around.
He found himself inside a massive hall lined with shelves, similar to the store he had been in before, only much larger... and considerably more destroyed.
He slowly pushed himself to his feet, feeling the weight of the armor covering his body. It was still powered down.
"Aetheria...?"
That simple call activated something within the system. Little by little, energy began flowing through the suit, concentrating especially around the helmet as its programs started rebooting.
[System Rebooting...]
[Loading...]
Messages appeared across the helmet's HUD as new windows unfolded one after another.
[Overall Status: Recovering]
[Damage: Present, But Under Control]
[Status: Operational]
With the final line, the suit finished stabilizing. Naruto finally removed the helmet as the Infinity Stones were covered once more by the nanobots.
The moment he did, he took a deep breath... and immediately broke into a violent coughing fit as something strange and dangerous invaded his body.
"Wh... cough... what was that...? cough..."
He tried to speak between coughing fits. Several seconds passed before he managed to endure the harsh, acrid smell that burned his lungs.
[What you just perceived is the radiation present across Manhattan Island. However, due to the distance from our current location, its concentration here is considerably lower. Even so, thanks to your enhanced senses, you are still capable of detecting it.]
Naruto gave a slight nod, still recovering, as he looked around once more, rising to his feet and inspecting what little remained standing.
He found nothing of interest, as everything had been destroyed by the shockwave that had sent him to this very place.
Even after continuing to search, finding nothing else that particularly caught his attention, his mind returned to what truly mattered: the explosion he had felt earlier.
He asked Aetheria for the helmet. A second later, it covered his whiskered face, and without wasting any time, he activated the thrusters. His body shot upward, bursting through a wide crack in the ceiling.
The moment he emerged, the scene struck him immediately.
Several kilometers away, in Manhattan, much of the island had been reduced to a dark, lifeless wasteland. Thick columns of smoke rose endlessly into the sky, like open scars carved into the air.
Even from where he was, he could see how the shockwave had swept away everything in its path. Entire sections of New York lay in ruins, as though they had been erased by an unstoppable force.
Naruto narrowed his eyes, taking in the sheer scale of the destruction.
Had the same thing happened in other parts of the world?
Without taking his eyes off the devastated horizon, he decided to ask.
"Aetheria..."
It didn't take long for the helmet's visor to respond. A recording began playing before his eyes, showing different cities across the United States... all marked by the same fate: destruction, smoke, and silence.
Following the nuclear bombardment, cities across every continent—America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania—had been devastated. Many were almost completely destroyed by the explosions themselves, while others were consumed by massive fires.
The immediate impact claimed the lives of millions of survivors and infected alike, but the worst was yet to come.
In the weeks and months that followed, radioactive fallout would begin spreading, contaminating vast regions.
The air, the water, and the soil across countless areas would become dangerously polluted, forcing the survivors to flee or face severe illnesses, made even worse by the zombie plague that continued to spread throughout the world.
However, not every part of the planet was contaminated equally. Some regions, particularly remote or less strategic ones, suffered far fewer impacts.
As smoke from the fires accumulated in the atmosphere, sunlight would gradually begin to fade, just as it had where Naruto was. Global temperatures would drop to critical levels, triggering a phenomenon similar to a nuclear winter. The seasons would become unpredictable, crops would fail, and entire ecosystems would begin collapsing.
Naruto stared at the devastated landscape stretching before his eyes. He felt neither horror nor sadness... only a strange, unexplainable sense of calm.
He frowned slightly.
He didn't understand why he was reacting that way, but decided to set the thought aside for now. There was something more important.
Where would he go this time?
It didn't take long for Aetheria to offer what she considered an excellent destination for Naruto:
Wakanda.
According to her calculations, survivors might still be found there... or, in the worst-case scenario, something even more "interesting."
Naruto nodded at the suggestion. A three-dimensional map appeared on the helmet's visor, highlighting the destination.
Without hesitation, he activated the thrusters.
His speed quickly surpassed that of a conventional jet, soaring through the sky with an ease that felt almost trivial to him. The air didn't bother him, the pressure had no effect on him; it was as if his body simply ignored such limitations.
During the journey, the world unfolded beneath his eyes.
He crossed the vast ocean, an endless blue expanse that contrasted sharply with the devastation he had left behind.
Despite the disaster, he could still make out marine life moving as if nothing had happened, completely oblivious to humanity's chaos.
For a brief moment, the scenery was almost beautiful.
But that illusion vanished as he once again approached land.
Destroyed cities, smoke rising from countless locations, unmistakable signs that this had not been an isolated event.
When the African savanna finally appeared on the horizon, it stretched beneath him like a sea of gold.
Minutes later, he spotted a small village, with a towering mountain rising behind it.
[That is your destination.]
Naruto didn't slow down. Instead of flying around it, he passed straight through the mountain, piercing the camouflage that concealed the kingdom hidden within.
Wakanda.
Or what remained of it.
The contrast was brutal.
What had once been a prosperous and technologically advanced kingdom was now an endless wasteland... overflowing with infected.
They weren't only Wakandans. Among them were dark-skinned, four-armed humanoid creatures: members of Thanos' army.
Aetheria confirmed the obvious.
[Wakandan forces and Thanos' troops. All infected.]
But that wasn't the worst part.
Standing at the front of that horde was a figure impossible to ignore.
Tall. Imposing. Purple-skinned. Bald. With a deeply ridged chin and a presence that commanded fear even in his current state.
On his hand rested a golden gauntlet, its six gems glowing faintly.
Thanos. The Mad Titan.
Bearer of the Infinity Stones.
Naruto descended slightly, silently observing the scene.
In front of the Titan, several corpses lay half-devoured. And in his hands... one in particular.
A sleek black suit, elegant, bearing similarities to that of a panther.
T'Challa.
The King of Wakanda.
Or what remained of him.
Thanos devoured the body without haste, tearing effortlessly through both flesh and vibranium suit as though neither held any meaning anymore.
Each bite echoed wetly, grotesquely, through the silence, broken only by the groans of the infected.
Around him, the bodies of fallen heroes were scattered across the ground. Some still twitched weakly, infected but unable to stand.
A field of death.
One of the most striking was that of a brown-haired woman wearing a red suit, half-eaten, with nothing remaining below her waist, her entrails scattered across the ground.
Beside her lay a gray-skinned man dressed in matching gray attire, his forehead completely shattered, as though something had been ripped out of it.
Besides them, and King T'Challa, the remaining corpses were impossible to identify. He even spotted a shield similar to his own, except it was blue and white, with a five-pointed star in the center, stained with blood.
And beside the shield lay a grayish arm with golden accents, twisted at an unnatural angle.
But at that moment, the suit issued a notification that something was approaching the area at incredible speed. He looked up, where he saw something racing across the sky.
Several seconds later, a pillar of rainbow-colored light tore through the heavens like a divine spear, descending straight into the heart of the infected horde.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
He didn't recognize the phenomenon, but he had already learned that in this world, the unknown was usually either dangerous... or useful.
So he simply waited.
The impact came an instant later.
The light exploded against the ground with a deafening crash, scattering dust, blood, and bodies in every direction.
As the radiance faded, three figures emerged from among the remains.
The first was unmistakable.
Short blond hair, a thick beard, battle-worn Asgardian armor of a dark steel color, and a red cape lined with black billowing powerfully behind him. In his hand rested an imposing weapon, part war axe and part hammer... crackling with living lightning.
Thor Odinson.
God of Thunder. Son of Odin. Wielder of the newly forged Stormbreaker.
The very man Naruto had seen die... or rather, the one whose death he had accidentally caused in the previous world.
But this Thor was different.
He was clearly older, with a gaze completely unlike the one Naruto had seen that night in the other universe. Even the aura he sensed from him was different from the Thor he had known.
Far more powerful.
To his left stood a bipedal raccoon, casually carrying a massive firearm with the confidence of a seasoned veteran. To his right stood a slender wooden being, slightly taller than the raccoon, silently watching.
Rocket and Groot.
The scene did not go unnoticed in the distance. Thanos, covered in blood, slowly lifted his gaze from the corpse he was devouring... but showed no interest.
To the Mad Titan, they were nothing more than another insignificant distraction.
But to Thor... they were anything but.
This was vengeance for his fallen kingdom... and for his dead brother.
The moment he saw the devastation, the infected, and Thanos standing before him, his expression hardened. His already serious eyes filled with a dense, almost tangible fury.
"THANOS!" he roared, and the heavens answered.
Lightning began wrapping around his body, descending like serpents of pure energy that coiled around him. Stormbreaker vibrated in his hand, charging with a power that made the very air tremble.
His roar drew the horde's attention.
Hundreds of infected twisted their heads unnaturally, locking their empty gazes onto the newly arrived trio. Without hesitation, they charged toward them, driven by endless hunger.
Thor did not retreat.
On the contrary.
He advanced.
With explosive force, he hurled himself forward, followed closely by Rocket, who was already opening fire without hesitation, and Groot, whose limbs extended into living spears.
Thor leaped.
In midair, his eyes blazed with dazzling blue light. The sky roared in unison as bolts of lightning descended, converging upon his weapon.
Then he fell.
Stormbreaker slammed into the ground with devastating force.
A massive shockwave of pure electricity erupted in every direction, annihilating the nearby infected. Some bodies were instantly reduced to charred remains, others were hurled through the air, and the ground itself was scarred with smoking cracks.
For one brief moment... there was silence.
But that attack did not go unnoticed.
Far in the distance... something answered.
"RAAAARRRGGHHH!!"
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