The descent of destruction began with a light that tore through the firmament.
It was not natural lightning, nor was it an energy discharge that any human technology could produce.
It was a thick, blazing pillar of energy, swirling with molten gold and dark purple hues, shooting up from the peak of a rocky mountain deep in the desert, piercing straight into the thick, lead-gray clouds.
Wherever the pillar of light passed, the air was ionized, emitting a deafening, dull roar that sounded like thousands of giant drums beating at once.
The clouds were violently pierced and churned, forming a massive, slowly rotating vortex. At the heart of the vortex, dark purple energy writhed like a living creature, exuding a terrifying pressure that made the soul tremble.
The entire sky over southern New Mexico was stained with an ominous hue at this moment.
Even in Albuquerque, hundreds of kilometers away, people could clearly see the eerie pillar of light and the vortex in the sky. Countless people took to the streets, looking up in terror, while mobile signals were instantly overwhelmed by images and questions flooding social media.
The town of Puente Antiguo bore the brunt of it.
The source of the light pillar was less than twenty kilometers away from the town in a straight line.
The deafening roar was like an invisible giant hammer, slamming ruthlessly against everyone's eardrums and hearts.
Glass windows rattled, houses trembled slightly, and the power supply was instantly cut off, plunging the town into darkness and panic, punctuated only by the light of emergency lamps and flashlights.
Children were frightened into tears, adults turned pale, and everyone flocked to the streets or hid in corners they deemed safe, gazing helplessly at the pillar of destruction that connected heaven and earth in the direction of the desert.
"My God... what is that?!"
"A meteorite? An alien attack?!"
"Is it a secret Military weapon experiment?!"
"Look! In the light pillar... it seems like something is coming out!"
Inside the temporary S.H.I.E.L.D. Base, a piercing red alarm blared in every corner.
The needles of all monitoring instruments swung wildly, and the energy readings on the screens instantly broke through their limits, erupting in swaths of error codes.
"Report! An immeasurable high-energy reaction has been detected! The energy spectrum doesn't match anything in the database! The intensity... the intensity is still rising rapidly!" the technician in the monitoring center said, their voice trembling.
"Spatial curvature anomaly! Gravity readings are erratic! A super-high-density mass is being projected through an unstable wormhole!" another technician shouted.
Coulson rushed into the command vehicle, his expression more solemn than ever before.
Natasha followed closely behind, her hand already gripping her sidearm, even though she knew it might be meaningless against what they were about to face.
"Locate the energy source! Evacuate all non-essential personnel to the underground bunkers! Order the rapid response force to maximum alert! Contact headquarters and request... no, warn them! An extraordinary anomaly has occurred in New Mexico!"
Coulson issued orders at a rapid pace, his eyes locked onto the terrifying energy image on the main screen.
He recalled Artoria's warning—"incurring unfathomable consequences," "attention at the level of the Encrypted." Could this be it?
"Officer! Look there!" an operator pointed at the magnified satellite image, their voice filled with unbelievable horror.
At the Base of the pillar of light, the molten gold and dark purple energy began to twist and condense, gradually outlining a massive, hideous metal silhouette filled with inhuman aesthetics.
It was a humanoid armor over three meters tall, composed entirely of a dull, light-absorbing metal. Its joints were covered with thick, curved armor plates, and its lines were rigid and rugged, full of pure power and a desire for destruction.
It had no distinct head; its face was a smooth, slanted surface embedded with complex energy circuits, which were now, as energy was poured in, gradually lighting up with two deep red, lava-like points of light.
The Guardian of the Asgard Heavenly Palace vault, the devastating war weapon used by Odin when he conquered the Nine Realms—the Destroyer.
"Target identification... failed. Energy signature... cannot be parsed. Threat level... immeasurable!" the technician's voice was filled with despair.
Just then, Artoria's calm but clear voice came through the command vehicle's communicator, using the encrypted channel provided by S.H.I.E.L.D.: "Agent Coulson, it's me, Artoria. The target is the 'Destroyer,' a high-tier automated combat armor from Asgard, possessing extremely strong physical defense and energy attack capabilities. Its primary target is likely Thor, but its attack pattern is indiscriminate and wide-ranging. Please forcibly evacuate all residents of the town immediately, moving them as far away from the light pillar and the Base as possible. Your weapons are basically ineffective against it; do not attempt to intercept it head-on, that will only increase casualties."
Coulson and Natasha exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.
She really did know! And it sounded like her understanding of this thing far exceeded theirs.
"Ms. Artoria, where are you? We need..."
"Minerva and I are on the high ground east of the town. We will try our best to guide the residents' evacuation and, if necessary, attempt to... delay it, to buy time for the evacuation."
Artoria's voice remained steady, but the word "delay" made Coulson's heart sink.
Even she could only use the word "delay"?
"Understood! Thank you! Stay in touch!"
Coulson did not hesitate any longer and immediately ordered, "Execute the A-7 emergency evacuation plan! Abandon non-essential equipment at the Base! All personnel, escort Thor and evacuate at full speed to the southeast! Notify the local Police and the National Guard to assist in evacuating the town residents! Move!"
The entire Base instantly became as busy as a kicked hornet's nest.
A piercing air-raid siren echoed shrilly over the town, mixing with the heavier roar of the Destroyer's full descent from the direction of the desert, playing the prelude to doomsday.
In the town, panic reached its peak.
Police cars wove through the streets with sirens blaring, shouting evacuation orders hoarsely through loudspeakers.
But the crowd was in total chaos; cars blocked the narrow roads, and cries, curses, and the sounds of collisions were incessant.
Just then, a clear, ethereal voice that seemed capable of directly soothing the agitation of the soul rang out clearly in the hearts of every panicked town resident, drowning out all the clamor:
"Everyone in town, please stay calm. I am Artoria. Follow the instructions of the Police and the people in black suits. Do not drive, walk, take your children and the elderly, and evacuate immediately to the east of the town, following the road towards Taos. Do not look back, do not stop. Move!"
The strange, soothing power contained in the voice made many who were on the verge of collapse strangely calm down.
They subconsciously followed the guidance of that voice, began to help each other, abandoned their cars to walk, and formed streams of people that, guided by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents and local Police, surged towards the east of the town.
Martha, the proprietress, clutching a small box filled with important items, saw Artoria and Minerva standing on the high slope at the entrance of the town amidst the crowd.
Artoria nodded at her, her gaze calm.
Martha suddenly felt much more at ease and quickened her pace to keep up with the crowd.
In the direction of the desert, the pillar of light reaching to the sky slowly dissipated.
The Destroyer armor fully revealed its hideous figure.
It stood quietly on the peak of the rocky mountain, the two red lights on its face like the eyes of a demon, slowly scanning the earth.
Its "gaze" first locked onto the direction of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Base—more accurately, it locked onto Thor, who was being forcibly shoved into an armored vehicle by Agents, preparing to evacuate.
"ROAR——!!!"
A terrifying roar, neither metal nor iron, a mixture of metallic friction and energy howling, burst forth from the Destroyer armor, rolling waves of sound shaking the sandy ground until it rippled like the surface of water.
The next moment, it moved.
No run-up, no preparatory movement.
The rocky mountain beneath the Destroyer's feet exploded with a bang, and its massive body turned into a dark streak of light, rushing towards the S.H.I.E.L.D. Base at a terrifying speed nearing the speed of sound!
The sand dunes along the way were easily plowed open, and the air was torn apart, emitting a shrill sonic boom!
"Fire! Stop it!" A S.H.I.E.L.D. rapid response team responsible for rear-guard duty on the outskirts of the Base received the death order.
The heavy machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, and even man-portable anti-tank missiles on several armored vehicles spat out angry tongues of fire, weaving a storm of lethal metal that crashed head-on into the dark streak of light.
However, the firepower, sufficient to tear through the armor of a main battle tank, bombarded the Destroyer, only to burst into futile sparks and smoke.
Not even a single white mark was left on the Destroyer's armor.
It did not even change its charging trajectory, merely raising its left arm casually as the armor plates at the front of the arm slid open, revealing a rotating energy aggregation port—
"HUM——BOOM!!!"
A beam of light, as thick as a bucket and blindingly white-hot, blasted out, instantly engulfing the few armored vehicles and the soldiers inside.
There was no explosion, only instantaneous high-temperature vaporization.
Only a few molten craters with glass-like edges and a few wisps of curling smoke were left on the spot.
Destructive power, cold efficiency.
The war weapon of a god demonstrated to mortals what true crushing power was.
Inside the command vehicle, Coulson, who saw this scene through the footage transmitted back by a drone, turned pale.
Natasha pursed her lips tightly, her fingers turning white from the force.
This was simply not a confrontation on the same level.
The Destroyer destroyed the insignificant obstacles, its speed undiminished, its target clear—the armored vehicle that was accelerating to escape, carrying Thor.
Just as the Destroyer raised its arm again, the energy beam began to charge, and at the moment it was about to deliver a fatal blow to that armored vehicle—
A silver figure, like a meteor traveling in reverse, fiercely charged out from the high slope on the flank, precisely cutting in between the Destroyer and the armored vehicle!
It was Minerva.
She had already changed into that "Flower Contract" black special combat suit, her silver-white hair flying behind her, and she was wearing tactical goggles on her face.
The long blade in her hand, composed of black metal and deep blue energy veins, dragged a cold, desolate arc through the air, not slashing towards the Destroyer, but, by a hair's breadth, preemptively and fiercely hacking at the side of the energy aggregation port on the Destroyer's left arm just as it was about to fire its energy beam!
"CLANG——ZZZT!!"
The ear-piercing sound of metal collision and the blast of energy confrontation exploded!
This strike from Minerva, which condensed all her bionic strength and the peak output of her energy blade, although failing to break through the Destroyer's monstrous armor, precisely hit the key node of its energy conduction, and used the massive impact force to forcibly change the angle of the Destroyer's left arm.
"BOOM!"
The ready-to-fire white-hot energy beam grazed the top of the armored vehicle, shooting out diagonally and instantly vaporizing a sand dune in the distance, leaving behind a charred trench over a hundred meters long.
The armored vehicle narrowly escaped disaster; the driver slammed the steering wheel, and the vehicle bumped violently on the sandy ground, but it was finally not hit directly.
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