POV: Third Person.
Launch Deck of S.W.O.R.D's Helicarrier, Los Angeles City, California.
During the Battle Between Baldur and Galactus.
Destruction. A level of destruction that Steve hadn't witnessed since World War II, or the battle against Loki. Yet, even those two events pale in comparison to Baldur's fight against Galactus.
The battle began an hour ago. In fact, its onset was vastly different from what was expected. After the encounter, the two stood facing each other, merely observing. Steve couldn't grasp what was happening, but he sensed something amiss. Seeing his enemy unmoving for twenty minutes, Hill proposed a missile attack.
It took some persuasion, but Steve managed to convince her it was a misstep. Even if they utilized humanity's most powerful weapon, he couldn't envision defeating that monster; at most, it would only enrage him further.
So, Steve continued maneuvering his troops, paying close attention to the entire battlefield. Things weren't going well for them. Despite the Avengers' and the Fantastic Four's firepower, the numbers were slowly wearing them down. The situation improved slightly with the arrival of the Hulk, but he was just one man, regardless of his physical strength.
An hour passed, and the two beings in the city center finally moved. Their initial attack was like an explosion of flames and energy felt and seen throughout the city. The heat of the flames raised the ambient temperature by several degrees.
Fortunately for the entire city, these attacks were contained within its center, which turned into a lifeless desert. Then came the earthquake. The entire city trembled, but it was unlike any earthquake; the tremor happened all at once and didn't linger, yet the damage was evident. Several buildings collapsed, gas pipes exploded, igniting another part of the city, numerous streetlights fell, bridges collapsed, and roads were destroyed.
Those truly feeling the brunt of this damage were the civilians, desperately trying to flee their own city. Many were in the streets or using public transport to escape. Many were killed or injured. The city authorities were doing their best to help, but they were few to handle such chaos.
"This city is finished," Steve remarked, gazing at the sword.
The golden sword, straight as a skyscraper, appeared in the center of the battle, causing everyone to cease fighting or fleeing to watch. Then the sword descended. Steve recalled Tony's red laser in his armor; the sword's effect surpassed it in scale, cutting through everything in its path effortlessly.
After that, Steve couldn't bear it and used his communicator to speak to Baldur. The battle was no longer contained, and he felt he should remind him of that. However, his communicator seemed to have been destroyed, so he relayed the message to Amora instead. Her response was a laugh, followed by a statement that sent shivers down his spine.
"If this is them holding back, Steve fears that, in the end, the planet will suffer the same fate as this city."
"Director Hill, we're ready!" came the voice of salvation behind them. The man who spoke was one of those responsible for recalibrating the weapons to execute the plan.
"Excellent, we're ahead of schedule," Hill said, relieved.
It should have taken two hours for the weapon modifications to be completed, but they received assistance from Reed and his wife, who left the battlefield in the city.
"Tony, your weapons are ready," Steve said into the communicator.
"For the plan to work, we have to strike when the jets fire!" Stark shouted, explosions audible in the background.
"Reed has already informed us of that; the jets are taking off now. Leave the other two tubes on the other side of the city to Magneto and his daughter; you'll have to take care of the other two."
"Understood."
Four quinjets took off from the runway behind Steve and Hill, speeding towards the city. When they reached it, they split off in four different directions, each heading for their targets.
Magneto, fighting alongside his daughter against an army of robots, was monitoring all the Avengers' communication and agreed to their plan.
"Attack the one on the left; I'll take the one on the right," he told his daughter.
Wanda nodded and unleashed a blast of red energy, cutting through her enemies' defenses towards one of the tubes.
Magneto, on the other hand, remained still, simply extending his hand to the side while maintaining his energy shield.
"RUMBLE!"
A fifty-story building beside him began to shake. It was a skyscraper with a round design reminiscent of a medieval tower. It began levitating a few meters off the ground. Magneto moved his hand to the side, and the tower tilted in the air.
Two quinjets flew over him and then separated. The robots, possessing a certain level of intelligence, perceived their danger and flew towards them, attempting to bring them down. But they were much faster; the two quinjets split, heading towards each of their targets. When they reached the necessary distance, they fired two missiles.
The one that hit its target first was the tube where Wanda was. The impact didn't create an explosion but rather a wave of blue energy that caused the thick metal of the tube to crack like a building. Wanda then fired a crescent-shaped blade of red energy vertically at the same height as the tube, hitting the same spot where the missile had struck.
The energy encountered no resistance and sliced the tube in two. One part fell to the ground, and the other remained suspended by the ship above.
On the other side, at the second tube, the second missile also hit it head-on, weakening its defenses. Magneto, anticipating this, attacked using a fifty-story building as a spear. The building shot forward at high speed, precisely hitting the tube.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"
Wanda's attack was quite subtle compared to Magneto's, which destroyed several city blocks, but the mission was accomplished.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Torch was carrying Thing, holding him by the shoulders, his hands the only part of his body not engulfed in flames. They were heading towards the tube drilling into the ocean. Trailing behind them was a small group of robots.
As they approached the tube, a Quinjet flew over them and fired at it.
"Nice shot, kid!" Thing said to Torch.
"Leave it to me."
Directly above the tube, Torch released Thing, who fell like a bomb perfectly onto the spot where the missile hit the tube.
"BOOM!"
The impact wasn't enough to destroy the tube, but it caused significant damage. Thing immediately began punching the tube, each blow denting the metal, getting closer to its destruction.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Unaware, Thing didn't see several robots explode after being hit by Torch's flame, who was covering his friend.
"BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM"
After a few more punches, the third tube fell, taking Thing with it, but before he fell into the ocean, he was once again caught by Torch, who carried him away.
Three of the targets were relatively easy to destroy. Now, the fourth and final one posed a challenge because the group fighting near the city center had lost two of its heavy hitters. They were under more pressure, unable to move. Stark, the only one able to fly, was hit in the leg, damaging his thruster. Then the fourth missile hit the tube, but there was no one to destroy it.
"TRUMM!"
Then the thunder illuminated the sky. Above a building, Thor emerged, healed, with his sister by his side, also healed.
"It's time we join the final battle, alongside our brother," he said, spinning his hammer and hurling it toward the tube. The hammer crossed the sky, destroying any enemies in its path and hitting the fourth tube in an explosion of electricity.
"BOOOM!"
Then the fourth tube fell.
POV: Baldur.
Downtown Los Angeles, California.
At the Same Moment.
2015.
The good news was that finally, the other teams had managed to destroy the tubes that were slowly destroying the Earth. The bad news was that I was about to be defeated, and the world destroyed.
I made a wrong move, injuring him at this level. For a moment, reveling in my power, I forgot that the goal of the fight was to prolong it as much as possible. The damage was done now. As my light sword was destroyed, Galan conjured several arms of purple energy that sprouted from his body and attacked me.
The speed of these arms was greater than that of the energy serpents. I was barely escaping them by a hair's breadth, while performing acrobatics in the air. Galan focused his attention on his severed arm. The blow from my sword had a bit of All-Black energy mixed in. It's still the best way to hurt divine beings.
But to my shock, the black energy left his shoulder wound and fell to the ground. After that, the severed arm on the ground turned into purple particles that rejoined his body, leaving him as good as new.
The All-Black energy residing in me is only a copy of the original. I can replicate it by feeding it with my powers, but it still pales in comparison to the devouring power of the original. The Celestial I fought against lacked good reasoning, so he couldn't rid himself of the energy as Galactus did.
Then, fully healed, Galan's attacks became even more powerful, faster, and more precise. If before I was narrowly dodging, now each of his attacks scratched my armor, which was starting to crack.
"Baldur, it's time," Amora's voice echoed in my mind.
"I can still hold on," I replied to her, understanding what she meant.
"Are you willing to risk the entire world to spare the people still in the city?" she asked.
The evacuation will only work until Galan is occupied; now that the tubes have been destroyed, he has to personally destroy the planet. But I'm reaching my limit; if I continue like this, I'll end up dying and taking the planet's hope with me.
"Send Thor and Angela to my position," I say, still trying to avoid the fate of this city.
"Even if they get there, they'll only last a few seconds," comes the response.
(Unfortunately, she's not wrong.)
It would be different if my ace in the hole had arrived, but luck isn't on my side. Amora is right; it's time.
"Amora, order everyone to retreat. In minutes, this city will be isolated!"
She doesn't respond; I know she's hurrying to relay my orders, and Steve surely won't agree, but we're out of options.
As our forces were leaving the city, I'm finally hit by one of the energy tentacles. The purple tentacle hits me square on the shoulder, tearing it off and destroying my armor. I fall to the ground missing a part of my body, disintegrated by the impact.
"The allied forces have been withdrawn. Commencing isolation now!" Amora announces.
I feel a surge of magical power around the entire city. Then, in the four directions outside the city, space breaks and distorts before disappearing. Now, all the city limits have been isolated in the mirror dimension. The city hasn't been sent to the mirrored world; it's as if four gigantic walls have been erected around the city, preventing any attack from getting through.
It's only possible using the power of all the Earth's mages, combined with the mages of Genosha. But in reality, it's Amora and the Ancient One doing all the heavy lifting.
"More futile effort. I can destroy this prison with a wave of my hand," Galan remarks.
"This isn't a prison, Galactus, it's a ring. This way, we won't destroy Earth during our fight."
"A fight? You can't even stand."
"Give me a few minutes, and we'll see," I say, smiling.
Galan doesn't respond; he just fires at me. I try to escape, but the pain in my wound catches me off guard, making me fall to my knees, unable to dodge. I prepare to defend myself.
"Baldur, she's here," Amora tells me, but her voice is somewhat cold, a tone she often uses when she's angry.
I don't have time to think about why; the attack is already in front of me. I raise my arm to create a shield, but then a red light appears in front of me, protecting me from Galan's blow. To my surprise, the energy attack from Galan doesn't harm my savior; instead, it's absorbed.
When the attack stops, so does the energy light, and I can see who helped me. Carol Danvers turns to me and gives me that confident smile of hers, the same one that makes me lose my patience.
"Hey, miss me?" she asks.
And I just reply, "You're late!"
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