On Earth, Thor lay sprawled in the mud, spitting blood, stripped of all former majesty. As he raised his head toward the sky, a wild laugh escaped his lips. The whiplash of hope and despair had left his willpower in tatters.
"You mortals have enraged the All-Father! You'll regret this! All of Midgard will suffer for your foolishness!"
Thor's voice cracked as he roared, hair disheveled and eyes bloodshot.
"Shut up, you useless wreck."
Megatron sneered, baring his jagged metallic teeth. His fist came crashing down again, slamming into Thor's skull with brutal force.
This time, the God of Thunder lost consciousness instantly. The blow was merciless, meant to humiliate.
Martin gave his orders coldly. "We'll deal with him after I've banished Odin. Torture's fine, but don't kill him. That'd touch Odin's reverse scale. You take away the dying old man's son, he'll snap, and maybe even try to rewrite the timeline. That's a headache I don't want."
And it wasn't an exaggeration. Odin had, in some comics, altered the timeline of the entire Milky Way galaxy.
"Extract as much of Thor's blood as possible. Store it in our bio-lab. Once we got Shockwave and Ratchet, give it to them for analysis."
Martin stood, his body pulsing with an overwhelming aura. His gaze pierced the atmosphere, stretching all the way to the fringes of the solar system, where Odin, the All-Father, loomed like a storm waiting to break.
Older, yes, but far more dangerous.
BOOM.
Martin shot into the sky like a comet, wreathed in flames. The ground cracked beneath him. Within seconds, he broke through Earth's atmosphere and entered the vacuum of space.
Now two godlike beings stood in opposition, one forged in divinity, the other in rebellion. The entire planet held its breath.
"We're supposed to have strong defenders of our own. Are we really relying on that executioner to protect us?"
Nick Fury's normally dark face looked downright volcanic. He clutched his phone tightly, suspicion and unease etched across his features.
Beside him, a calm-faced man of Eastern descent, Xian Zheng, Director of the S.P.E.A.R., smiled faintly.
"Isn't it better this way? At least someone like him still sees himself as part human. As something… Earth-born."
"Xian Zheng, I can feel the ambition burning in him. He killed tens of thousands of soldiers just to send us a message. Tomorrow, he could bring global catastrophe, and I won't trust him!"
Fury's voice dropped an octave, thick with dread.
Xian Zheng stroked his chin but said nothing more. There wasn't much use reasoning with someone as controlling as Fury.
All over the globe, people turned their eyes to the heavens. They saw a single human ascend into space, one who dared to confront Odin himself.
The All-Father gripped Gungnir, the Spear of Heaven, his gaze icy. There was a flicker of surprise in his ancient eyes, but his voice was deathly cold.
"Mortal, your arrogance is staggering. I could forgive your many trespasses, but you destroyed Mjolnir. That hammer was the symbol of Asgard's divine authority!"
Martin's face was hidden behind his war helm, but his cold smile bled through.
"Your Majesty, the God-King, weren't you the one who enchanted the hammer? 'Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.' Those were your exact words. And now that I lifted it, suddenly the rules don't count? So why can't I break them too? Fair is fair."
"Fair?"
Odin let out a low chuckle.
It had been eons since anyone dared speak to him about "fairness." The last few who had were now nothing more than stardust drifting beyond the edge of the galaxy.
"Mortal… I'll show you what fairness truly means."
As his words rang out, divine energy surged like a tsunami. The pressure shook entire planets across the solar system. And yet, at the center of the storm, Martin didn't so much as flinch.
The Apex Armor was unmatched in defense. To it, Odin's scattered energy was little more than cosmic breeze.
But others affected weren't so tolerant.
A deafening sonic boom erupted from the Moon, slamming into the space between them.
"If you want to fight, take it outside the solar system. The vacuum beyond is your battlefield!"
Black Bolt stood at the edge of the lunar surface, face grim. His single utterance had sent shockwaves that cracked the Moon's crust, his signature ability. He never spoke lightly; the mere act of speaking could level entire cities. But now, he'd been pushed too far. His people were suffering.
"A Skyfather-level being… here?" Odin's expression shifted slightly. His eyes narrowed at Black Bolt. Though this man had only barely stepped into the Skyfather tier, that alone granted him the right to speak as an equal.
Odin turned back to Martin.
"Mortal. Let us take this battle beyond Midgard. I am the protector of the Nine Realms. I will not destroy an entire world simply to kill you."
Divine force surged from Odin, attempting to drag Martin away by sheer power.
But Martin shook once, and shattered the binding energy like brittle glass. He laughed quietly, and in a blink, launched himself far beyond the solar system. He faced Odin in the starless dark.
"Well then, let's begin, Your Majesty the God-King. One word of caution, though, if I accidentally kill you… I'll head straight to Asgard and wipe out every last one of them. No survivors. So… don't die."
-------
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]