In an instant, a dazzling halo emanated from Stark, and while it did not match the grandeur of Demon God's brilliance, it was equally mysterious and vibrant. The damaged mecha, through the repair of magical energy, was restored to its original perfection.
The golden red armor became even more vibrant, with the gold painted over with a mystical red. The halo unfurled behind him, a magical energy shield refracting a rainbow of lights, adding an eerie beauty to the inherent charm of the machinery.
Meanwhile, behind Shiller, the moonlight grew even stronger, with a full moon rising behind him and the phantom image of Khonsu vaguely discernible.
A golden figure and a silver figure, separated by the sun devoured by the eclipse, radiated resplendent light. When the two of them eventually collided, their intermingling radiance was likened to a second sun rising in the night sky.
With the magical shield equipped, Stark shifted to an aggressive attack, using close combat as his strength. Thanks to Jarvis analyzing Shiller's trajectory with much more data collected, Stark started to close in on Shiller, using the magical brilliance on his palm to fend off his attacks.
Shiller retaliated fiercely. Prior to this, he had not demonstrated much of his combat skills, as he needed to guard against Jarvis's analysis. But now, the gleaming light emanating from the knife in his hand formed a blooming flower, with all sorts of strange attack angles that locked Stark's trajectory. Even sharper knife light targeted vital points for deadly attacks.
The aerial battle became so intense that Steve could hardly find an opening to intervene. After a while, Spider-Man swung over from afar, with a puzzled face, he asked, "Captain, what's going on? Why are they fighting again?"
"Stark and Shiller's negotiations broke down." Steve summarized what had happened previously.
In this situation, he had no way to explain the details to Peter, but Peter seemed to understand it differently. His face became serious and he asked, "What should we do now? Who should we stop?"
"Who to stop? Of course it's…" As Steve uttered these words, he stopped for a moment, not understanding why Shiller suddenly started attacking Stark, and noticing that Stark seemed to be a bit guilty and hesitant to fight back.
Spider Man looked around and said, "We have to stop them quickly. This is becoming a big mess. As I swung up here, I heard people discussing, 'Can superheroes manipulate solar eclipses? Will they extinguish the sun?' This might cause panic!"
The mid-air skirmish was becoming more and more intense, to the point where even the clouds started separating. Stark confronted the insensate Shiller, and although half of Shiller's face was hidden behind the metallic mask of the Moonlight Knight Battle Suit, Stark could still see the previously unseen cold-heartedness and cruelty in his eyes.
This reminded him of what he had witnessed in the insane asylum within Shiller's Thought Palace. Suddenly, he realized who he was facing—it could be, the genius killer devil.
Upon this realization, Stark felt he had to finish this quickly. Such a personality was unpredictable, and if Shiller's target was no longer him, then there would be a serious problem.
"Steve! Steve! And Peter! Are you guys there? Come and help stop him!" Stark shouted.
Steve and Peter had wanted to join the battle for a while now. Stark managed to distract Shiller and descended to give them an opening, and the two moved in for the attack.
Steve certainly stood on Stark's side, but Peter seemed to confuse friend and foe. His objective was not to help Stark fight Shiller, but to mediate between the two, which made him look like a traitor.
"Hey! Peter! What are you doing? Stay away from my flight path!" Stark quickly ascended to avoid Peter, who was obstructing his flight path. But Peter answered, "No, Mr. Stark, you can't just charge like this, Doctor Shiller could get hurt."
With a "swish", a huge cross knife light came flying over. Stark dodged hastily but his arm was still brushed by the blade. The magical shield energy flickered, and the energy level dropped significantly. Stark shouted, "Then why didn't you stop him when he was attacking me?!!"
"I can't do magic! I can't stop it!!"
Steve could only rub his forehead helplessly.
Soon, apart from these few, the other Avengers members also started to arrive, with Venom being the first one to show up.
After a roar, Venom charged straight at Shiller.
Stark was surprised by his courage until a giant blade of light flew towards Venom, dispersing the slime covering his body. Venom cried out in pain, then immediately turned his weapon towards Stark and began to roar.
The rest of the Symbionts that arrived afterward did not get along with Venom even in normal times – when circumstances became extraordinary... their relationship did not improve either.
So, seeing Venom siding with Shiller, the other Symbionts naturally sided with Stark.
Shiller was not without allies either. At Moon God Khonsu's call, the Moonlight murderer, Jack, reappeared online. His bandage-wrapped figure and red glowing eyes appeared even more terrifying in the eclipse night.
Suddenly, a ray of light descended from the center of the battlefield, revealing Strange, whose voice was filled with dignity:
"Stop! The power of magic should not descend upon New York. Those who misuse magic will be expelled from Earth..."
As he said that, a dark red silk ribbon lunged at Stark. Stark dodged while shouting, "I'm not the only one using magic here! Isn't Shiller also using magic?!"
"What he uses is the magic of the Demon God."
Strange fought back, answering, causing Stark to choke with rage, "I also use the magic of the Demon God! I am the Demon God myself!"
"Demon Gods have no place on Earth, roll back to your dimension!"
"Damn it, you're just holding a grudge!"
At that moment, the brilliant light akin to a rainbow in the clouds vanished in a fleeting moment. A radiant young girl appeared at the center of the battlefield. Her voice echoed in the sky, impossible to ignore.
"I am here on behalf of Asgard, Asgard urges for disputes within Earth to be stopped. All issues can be talked about. We have no intentions of intervening in Earth's internal affairs, but peace is everyone's pursuit..."
"Meaningless wars will only lead to more casualties, rational dialogue is the only way out..."
With a "bang", a shield flew past Loki, barely scraping her hair. As Steve chased the shield, he called out, "Sorry, miss, excuse me!"
"Captain America, are you ..."
Before Loki could finish speaking, a bolt of lightning struck down. Thor appeared behind Loki, covered her mouth tightly, and said to everyone, "Sorry, sorry, she's become a bit mentally ill from being in solitary, I'll take her home right away..."
"Thor! What are you doing? I came to maintain peace!" Loki shouted, Thor, while pulling her backward, gritted his teeth and said, "Stop making a fuss, I admit, it's wrong for Sif to barge into your room and quarrel with you, come back with me, your confinement is not over yet..."
As the siblings were squabbling, a "swish" sound was heard and a huge blade light flew over, cutting off a tuft of Thor's hair. Thor widened his eyes at Shiller, surprised, "What are you doing?!"
His answer was another knife.
Now, the situation in the New York sky had become quite strange, mainly divided into Stark's side, Shiller's side, the peacemakers, and the ones with no real purpose just causing chaos.
These people flew in the sky, their bodies flashing with lights, as if several suns appeared overnight. Even though they were flying high up and did not cause any actual damage to New York, the panic among the crowds had already caused a massive traffic jam.
All the TV stations, in order to capture the hotspots, set up long-tube cameras at intersections, and some even daredevils directly made it to the top of the building near Captain America.
A Star Scout named Bob, with a big beard, pointed the camera at Steve's face. He asked, "Captain America, since the news of your resurrection became widely known last year, this should be your first public appearance, participating in a superhero battle..."
"How do you evaluate this superhero civil war? What is the spark that ignited this civil war? Where will the final outcome go?"
"This is not a civil war," Steve first set the tone for the war. "This is just a drill, and for this, we have invited various superheroes."
"So, even superheroes need drills?" Star Scout Bob asked in surprise.
"Of course, superheroes not only need to fight crime on the streets, but they must also be vigilant about possible alien invasions or cosmic wars. We are always ready for this, so today, we got permission from S.H.I.E.L.D. to conduct a drill among superheroes..."
Steve cleared his throat. He was very familiar with this set, after all, he used to work in publicity himself. He stretched out his hand and pointed to the sky, explaining,
"The golden side represents the superhero team led by Iron Man Stark. As you can see, they mainly use technology and biotechnology as the primary means of attack, supplemented by artificial intelligence strategies and tactics, and they currently have the upper hand."
"On this side, the silver side represents the superhero team led by... well, Moon Knight. They mainly possess mystical forces."
Steve frowned and put on a serious face, facing the camera, saying, "Before, everyone must have heard of the monster outbreaks at various seals. The government has not blocked the news and organized this exercise today to tell everyone that those monsters are not scary because superheroes are stronger."
"Everything is within our control, so don't panic when such things happen again, follow the arrangements..."
While Steve was trying his best to make up for the incident, the situation on the field changed subtly.
Because Shiller's movements began to slow down, Stark saw that his fierce offensive was gone. During the attack, Shiller would even stop to shake his head, looking not very clear-headed.
Looking from Stark's perspective, this was definitely Shiller experiencing hallucinations again, so he yelled: "Shiller! Wake up! Don't be controlled, it's all your hallucination..."
Instead, he heard Shiller in mid-air, gritting his teeth and shouting into the air,
"You're all so noisy!"