The storm of machinery shredded every energy being present. The spectral figures behind the deific proxies vanished in a blink, and Captain America raised his shield, herding the bewildered devotees towards the back of the vehicles. Only after escaping the control of the gods did they realize that something far beyond their comprehension had occurred.
Amongst such a storm, only Amit wasn't instantly killed. As he had physically descended here, he was somewhat capable of resisting. But soon, he saw, in the starry sky, a pair of brown eyes watching him.
Those eyes were like a death sentence, and what followed was a sky-covering flock of birds.
When mechanics and magic perfectly fused together, the endlessly produced mechanical birds from the mother nest, their wings shimmering with magical luster, surrounded Amit in flocks, forming a monstrous whirlwind.
Purple rays of light erupted from the dense swarm, causing Amit to scream in agony. Although the onlookers couldn't see the sight of Amit tearing apart, from his screams alone, they could tell his death was extremely agonizing.
The tornado-like flock of mechanical birds shredded him from the outside in. Even the overflowing magic energy was astonishingly abundant.
Before the scene that was like an apocalypse, a Grand Mage stepped forward, saying to Strange:"At least he is absorbing Amit's energy, which proves that he has yet to ascend to the pinnacle of the universe. He needs energy to maintain his activity."
"What would happen if he chose to ascend?" Strange asked.
"He must select a dimension to use as his residence and root of existence, completely change his life form, and become like the Demon Gods."
"Why can't he just stay on Earth like the Egyptian Pantheon?"
The Grand Mage shook his head: "No, these Egyptian Gods don't actually stay on Earth, they too have their own dimensions, but they live in groups."
"Why can't a Demon God stay on Earth?" Strange continued to probe.
"We don't have a conclusion for that question. The previous Supreme Magician, the Ancient One, once said that Earth is very special, Kamar-Taj is merely one layer of protection and there are deeper secrets which we don't know about."
"But it's undeniable that any Cosmic Sorcerer or Extra-Dimensional Demon God that wants to come to Earth either has to select a proxy and project their power onto them, or create their own energy bodies. But in any case, they cannot come directly, let alone reside here."
"What about Amit? Didn't he resurrect from within the Earth?"
"He was sealed." the Grand Mage explained: "There are still many demon gods sealed on Earth, and a large part of the Ancient One's previous duties was to clean up these demon gods that have awoken from their seals."
"Demon gods from the outside can't invade, those on the inside are sealed, and even a newly birthed demon god must leave…" Strange stroked his chin, seeming to have thought of something.
However, the situation currently was not optimistic. After absorbing all of Amit's energy, Iron Demon Stark had ascended to the pinnacle of the Individual Universe. Should he ascend further, he could once again become the only one. But if he doesn't want to do that, the destruction caused by the release of such a vast amount of energy would be astonishingly massive.
Suddenly, in the dark horizon opposing the sun composed of iron brilliance, a brilliant thunder ignited the flames of resurrection. The power of the King of Brightness descended here. Thor, holding the lightning, stepping on the flame, stood across from Stark. His voice came from the depths of the cosmos:
"Stark, calm down! You can't release your power here, otherwise, you'll destroy the Nine Major Kingdoms!"
A monotonous voice that was filled with mechanical overtones yet devoid of any emotion responded shallowly, "Are you also one of those gods? Descending with divine power, controlling believers, initiating judgement, so arrogant, so foolish…."
"Target lock for divine power... Pre-heating cluster weapon launch well... Aiming..."
"Wait, Stark, clear your mind! I'm not one of those Egyptian Gods, I'm Thor, the new God King of Asgard, don't you remember Asgard?"
"You're all the same." Stark's voice was hardly recognizable from its original tone, replaced by an electronic synthesized voice similar to Jarvis, he said:
"During mankind's primitive years, you enslaved humans with your powerful abilities, harvested their faith as your believers, manipulated the weather, triggered natural disasters, watching the weak humans shivering in prayer at your feet, and hence, you proclaimed yourselves as gods."
"We reclaimed our civilization from the wilderness, one step at a time, lit the fire, blew the whistle, and since then, we no longer need to observe the heavens, no longer fear natural disasters…"
"From then on, no one prayed to you and you retreated into the obscure crevices, peeking here, only daring to make small maneuvers."
"But when humans had thoroughly conquered this planet, smelted iron, built vehicles and ships, constructed weapons and cities, you descended again, saying that humans have sinned, and that judgement must occur…."
Upon hearing this, Thor heard an echoing sigh from the far depths of the cosmos. In it, he could hear Stark's voice, but perhaps, there were also countless pioneers that had accompanied human civilization along the way, sighing from their high-standing historical vantage point.