Above the city of London.
The reflections of the eight overlapping worlds began to fade one by one. Dark clouds rolled and churned overhead as the celestial convergence phenomenon finally came to a complete end.
With a terrifying burst of lightning and thunder, great raindrops began to fall, washing away the scars of battle and the smoke from the city of London.
Thor stood in the pouring rain, clutching his blood-stained Mjolnir. He looked down at Malekith's body, his chest heaving with ragged breaths as he whispered. "Mother, I have avenged you..."
But what difference does it make to kill an enemy? The dead can never return.
Thor's face was filled with grief. He raised his head to the sky with rain pouring down from head to toe, making it impossible to tell if it was water or tears on his face.
After standing dazed for a long time, Thor suddenly heard familiar voices behind him. "Thor, Thor!"
He turned to see his girlfriend, Jane, running toward him in the rain. She jumped into his strong, solid chest.
Thor hugged her, and in the heat of the moment, they kissed passionately. Afterward, Thor looked down at Jane and asked curiously, "Jane? What are you doing here?"
"Well..."
Jane briefly explained that she had been abducted by his brother Loki, spent an hour on another planet, and then was transported back to Earth in London by Loki.
"Loki." Thor frowned, remembering the ether particle, and asked, "Did he do anything to you?"
"No."
Jane shook her head gently, recalling the excitement and joy on Loki's face when he returned her. She speculated, "I'm not an important person to him. He seemed to have achieved some sort of goal, so he didn't force me to stay and sent me back here."
"Achieved some goal? That bastard is scheming again!"
Despite his words, Thor could never really hate Loki, maintaining the attitude of a disappointed yet caring brother.
Thor thought for a moment and said to Jane, "Jane, you should stay on Earth. With Kyle here, you'll be safe. I must return to Asgard and report this matter to Father."
Jane nodded in agreement and silently sighed while thinking that they must have the longest-distance relationship ever.
As a beam of Bifrost descended from the sky, Thor disappeared from the center of London, along with Malekith's body.
In the meantime.
In the mirror dimension.
"Go and train. You're still not at their level."
The Ancient One drew a circle with her right hand, creating a sigil to open a portal to the outside world, and stepped through, leaving the mirror dimension.
Strange nodded in deep understanding. He took one last look at the alien warship that had crashed into the city and the devastated, mirrored London.
If this wasn't the mirror dimension, the damage from the battle would be no better than what happened in New York last time.
"Can I really catch up with them?" Strange muttered to himself, but didn't dwell on it, quickly following the Ancient One through the portal.
In the mirrored city of London.
Tony lay on the scorched ground, gasping for breath. Amid the "murmur" of the rain, a tall and imposing figure approached and extended a hand to him.
"Godfather."
Tony forced his eyes open, smiled when he saw who it was, and reached out to take Kyle's hand.
Kyle pulled Tony up from the floor, patted him on the shoulder, and smiled lightly. "You did well this time."
"I almost got killed."
Tony gave a wry smile and looked at the spear embedded in the ground with lingering fear. "Are all of Thanos' minions this strong?"
"Thanos is even stronger."
Kyle's expression was calm as he said meaningfully, "Don't let your guard down. Work on arming yourself. This long war has only just begun."
Though Kyle and Thanos had not yet met, both possessed Infinity Stones or information about them, and one of their ultimate goals was to collect all six Infinity Stones.
The previous battles on Earth's New York and the galaxy's Kree star were mere sparks caused by their friction.
Last time, two members of Kyle's side were captured by Thanos' minions. This time, Kyle and Tony managed to kill two of Thanos' generals.
It was a temporary stalemate.
The competition between Kyle and Thanos for the stones would only intensify, eventually leading to a full-scale war in which neither side would stop until the other was defeated.
"Ah, I can already imagine the chaos, and I've made some preparations..."
Tony nodded and was about to say something when a pleasant ringing sounded from his pocket.
He instinctively pulled out his cell phone, and when he saw Pepper's name on the screen, he looked at Kyle in surprise. "Isn't the Mirror Dimension supposed to be a closed world? How did a call get through?"
Kyle smiled faintly and said, "Someone opened a portal to the outside world, temporarily connecting the two realms."
Tony didn't have time to ask who it was. When the phone rang insistently, he answered it.
Pepper's worried voice immediately came through the phone. "Tony, where have you been? Why couldn't I reach you? Are you okay?"
"Of course I'm okay. Everything is taken care of. Godfather's here with me; what could go wrong?"
Tony hid his pain and tried to sound relaxed.
Pepper continued, "That's good. I wanted to tell you..."
Tony listened and agreed as he hung up. Taking a deep breath, he turned to Kyle and said, "Godfather, Pepper wants us to come back for dinner tonight."
Before Kyle could respond, Tony quickly added, "It's an invitation from my father. He said there's something he wants to talk to you about."
"Oh? Howard?"
Kyle raised an eyebrow in surprise. He hadn't seen Howard since his return from the Galaxy.
He readily agreed, "Well, things have settled down here. I don't want to get too involved in Thor's family affairs. Let the Carl family and S.H.I.E.L.D. deal with the aftermath in London. We can treat it as a victory celebration and have a drink."
Tony quickly replied, "No problem."
The rest was easy.
Kyle contacted Heimdall to search for the missing Vision in the Dark World, while he contacted Raina to send members of the Carl family to the mirror dimension to clean up the battlefield.
As for the real London, Tony contacted Fury to have S.H.I.E.L.D. agents deal with the aftermath.
By mid-afternoon, news channels were still broadcasting the sensational news of the fierce battle in London between the Symbol of Peace Kyle, Iron Man Tony, and Thor against alien invaders.
The world was abuzz, sparking widespread discussion and becoming a hot topic.
That evening, Kyle and Tony, accompanied by Lucy and Pepper, changed into tuxedos and accepted Howard's invitation to dine at the lakeside mansion in the suburbs of New York.
(End of Chapter)
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