Slowly, Li Yue's condition caught everyone's attention. Tony even reeled back in fear.
"Damn it, come here already!"
Li Yue's aura slowly rose. He wasn't quite at the same level as Thor, but he still gathered dark clouds, caused thunder, and blasted a small whirlwind.
A few seconds later, an object streaked across the sky and rushed towards Tony: his armor had arrived. He quickly equipped his armor and looked at the sensor readings of Li Yue and Thor's power output. He clicked his tongue in awe.
"Don't just look around; the Captain is barely holding on. Go help him!" The Black Widow Natasha urged Tony, who stood around motionlessly even after equipping his armor. She couldn't participate in this battle herself, after all.
Natasha was unfortunately right: the Captain couldn't hold on for much longer. The Destroyer was made out of Uru, an extremely strong dark metal. Its physical attacks were heavy, and its energy beams were devastating.
Fortunately, the Captain's special shield could withstand the Destroyer's attack. The Three Warriors and Sif were also chipping against the Destroyer, so they could stand against it for quite a while. But they were delaying the inevitable since they couldn't scratch the Destroyer plating.
The situation was precarious. A single misstep would result in casualties.
Tony snapped to his senses and ignored Li Yue and Thor. His feet sprayed intense flames and he rushed towards the Destroyer.
Tony clenched his fist and punched at the Destroyer, but the Destroyer caught it firmly with one hand and stopped him in his tracks.
Far away in Asgard, Loki controlled the Destroyer from the throne and watched the events unfold. He smiled mockingly at Tony's futile attack.
"Overconfident fool!"
He increased the Destroyer's energy output. The Destroyer gathered energy in its head and shot a thick beam of orange light at Tony, sending the Iron Man flying dozens of meters away. The attack cut visible gashes on the armor.
Fortunately, Tony's armor was made from top-grade, albeit mundane, metal alloys. He was saved from the worst of the attack.
"Stark, don't fight it head-on. Use long-range attacks!" Captain America shouted as Tony maneuvered in the air, avoiding the beam attacks.
Tony already thought of doing that. He didn't expect that the Destroyer would excel in both long-range and short-range combat. He was caught off-guard.
Tony raised the row of miniature rocket launchers from his shoulder. Dozens of tiny missiles raced toward the Destroyer.
Boom!!!
A series of violent explosions drowned the Destroyer in the sea of fire, the invisible shockwave swept everything within dozens of meters radius.
"Is it over?" Everyone had this question in their hearts. Such a violent explosion could destroy anything.
However, such a cliche question never had "yes" as the answer. The Destroyer walked out of the flames, completely unharmed. There wasn't even any burn mark on it.
Tony was pretty surprised. The miniaturized missiles were Tony's latest weapons, each capable of blowing up several tons of armored vehicles. However, his entire volley couldn't even scratch the Destroyer. He was rather depressed.
Loki took direct control of the Destroyer Battle Armor and walked forward from the throne. He didn't even spare a glance toward Captain America and the Asgardian warriors, instead aiming his face at the flying Tony. The flame-like energy gathered in the Destroyer's chest.
Loki set this shot to be at maximum power, turning the yellow energy red. It fired straight at Tony.
Tony stubbornly didn't dodge. He raised his hands and gathered his own energy in the repulsors on his palms. The repulsor glowed brilliantly, before emitting two bright white lances of energy to meet the Destroyer's attack.
...
Boom!!!
The three beams of energy collided, causing a deafening explosion. The invisible shock wave forced the three warriors and Captain America to take several steps back, despite being dozens of meters from the center of the collision.
"Sir, the enemy's power output far exceeds our own. Our energy reserve drops far too quickly. I suggest evasive maneuvers!:
"Increase the energy output!"
Tony refused to back down and ordered to increase the energy output, ignoring the warning about energy reserves.
A strange phenomenon occurred at the collision point, creating a sphere of energy akin to the central knot of the tug-of-war, shifting left and right.
"Sir, energy reserve at 58%, 56%..."
"Continue to increase the output!" Tony insisted in a deep voice.
The suit had reached its output limit, but the sphere of energy was still moving towards Tony. The energy beam should reach and utterly destroy him in just a few seconds.
There was an old saying that the right side would always win, but it unfortunately didn't apply to Tony. He was standing on the right side and his enemy on the left, yet he was the one losing. He missed the chance to dodge, so he could only resist to the end.
(This kind of energy wave-battle should not happen in normal conditions. But this is a novel, so it's OK, right?)
Seeing the unfavorable situation, Captain America made a quick tactical decision and shouted at Tony, "Stark! Get ready to withdraw!"
Captain America did not care whether Tony heard him or not. He simply trusted in his shield and threw it through the air.
"Three, two, one, now!"
Tony was on the verge of exhausting his energy, so he obediently followed Captain America's order. He turned off his repulsor beam and dodged to the side.
Captain America's shield blocked the yellow energy beam, giving Tony a narrow chance to dodge the attack. Among other things, Captain America's calculation ability was top-notch.
Captain America's shield was sent flying high into the sky before falling down.
...
"Sir, another attack is incoming. Please dodge," Jarvis warned. The Destroyer didn't give Tony any chance to rest.
Tony had no time to think. He immediately made an evasive maneuver, avoiding the energy beam by a hair's breadth. However, that wasn't the end. A barrage of countless light beams fired one after another at Tony, forcing him to continuously dodge the attacks.
Loki had a cold expression on his face as Tony avoided all attacks from the Destroyer that he controlled. He stopped attacking Tony and instead turned to Captain America on the ground.
Captain America silently screamed in his heart when he saw the Destroyer turn at him. He no longer had his shield, so he could only trust his muscles to avoid the attack.
However, despite breaking the limitations of normal humans, his speed was still not enough to avoid a light beam.
Cruel sadism burned in Loki's eyes. He could already imagine the Captain's body being torn apart by the light beam. He ordered the Destroyer to fire.
Loki had shown mercy to the Asgardian warriors, stopping short of killing them, but he reserved none for the humans of Earth.
But before the Destroyer could fire, its head was hit by an object flying at high velocity. The Destroyer was sent flying.
This was the first time the Destroyer armor had failed to block an attack.
Loki forced the Destroyer to get back up and look at the source of the attack. A familiar figure was standing in that direction, a divine presence covered in a silver thunderstorm, looking right at the Destroyer.