In the depths of space.
With Veronica's arrival, Tony's equipment underwent a leap-forward upgrade almost instantly.
His damaged armor was enveloped by Veronica, and his entire body was plunged into darkness.
Immediately after, Veronica's systems lit up.
"Let's go, JARVIS."
In this moment, Veronica, stretching out six mechanical arms, looked like a steel demon god.
He shot forward, all six mechanical arms swinging out at once.
In the next second, those arms rocketed out like missiles with immense propulsion, hurtling toward the Chitauri Leviathans.
Boom!
Although these fists didn't explode like actual missiles, their propulsion allowed them to reach speeds of several Mach. Striking the Chitauri Leviathans at such velocity, they instantly pierced right through them.
Of course.
The arms were gone too.
But Tony couldn't care less about that right now.
Six arms meant he could take out six Chitauri Leviathans.
"Actually, make that eight, since I've still got two legs." Tony smirked. The next moment, Veronica instantly transformed into a giant metal sphere in the middle of space.
Armor worth hundreds of millions, even billions, used by him as a disposable item.
Yet this wasn't the end.
After completing this scorched-earth, armor-shedding style of combat, Tony immediately activated Veronica's protective barrier and propelled himself to escape toward the moon.
At the same time, through JARVIS's assistance, he remotely controlled the other suits.
Those suits had also been fighting for a long time.
By now, the only role they could still serve was to tangle with the Chitauri and, when they could no longer continue fighting, activate their self-destruct sequences. If they could take out a batch, then so be it.
"Blow them up!"
Tony gritted his teeth.
"Isn't this just burning money? I've got plenty of it!"
Boom!
Boom!
A thunderous explosion.
Inside a giant Chitauri Leviathan.
It had taken Steve considerable effort just to reach the door of the main control room. Before he could do anything, a violent burst of sound erupted.
In the next instant, the wall in front of him was smashed apart by some massive object. Thick smoke billowed from the torn gap, and within the smoke, a purple light flickered.
The thing that had crashed through only stopped after collapsing several walls.
It was the Son of the Black Panther.
"T'Challa."
Steve shouted.
The fallen T'Challa was not seriously injured. The majority of the impact had been absorbed by his vibranium suit.
He stood up and said in a low voice, "Careful, Captain..."
"The enemy is no ordinary opponent."
As he was speaking, heavy footsteps echoed from within the main control room.
The War Lord's figure strode through the dust. A massive battle axe cleaved through the wall, and he stood arrogantly before the eyes of Steve and T'Challa.
He was roughly three meters tall, with blue-gray skin covering his entire body. His steely face seemed to wear a bone-like mask, but that was, in truth, how it had always looked.
The War Lord swept a glance over the two Earthlings standing before him, his gaze revealing an expression of utter contempt.
"You two think you can stop the Chitauri advance?"
Steve immediately drew his shield.
He stood ready for battle.
"We don't stop anyone's advance. We're just defending our planet."
"Funny."
The War Lord sneered. Unlike the majority of Chitauri, who had low intelligence and simply needed to be ruled, his intellect was relatively normal.
He said, "We represent the will of the universe. We are the antibodies of the cosmos, purging viral life forms like you."
"Thanos will lead us to trample everything flat."
"This is destiny!"
He asked arrogantly, "What do you have to resist us with?"
"Will!"
Steve answered without a moment's hesitation.
In the next instant, the shield in his hand hurtled fiercely toward the War Lord's head.
The battle began.
Clang!
The War Lord backhanded the shield Captain America had hurled and smacked it flying away.
Immediately after, his right foot kicked out, and the long-handled battle axe at his side swung into motion. It arced through the air and then smashed down viciously toward Steve.
Thud!
The ground itself seemed to shudder.
Steve hurriedly rolled to the side, dodging the blow.
But he wasn't safe yet.
Because the moment that enormous battle axe struck down, a shockwave erupted from the ground, instantly blasting Steve backward.
T'Challa launched himself through the air and pinned Steve beneath him.
"Thanks."
Captain America exhaled and, through the magnetic device on his wrist, drew the shield back to him.
Facing an enemy like the War Lord, he decided it was best not to let his shield leave his hand so casually.
"Captain, let's attack together."
T'Challa spoke, then was the first to charge at the War Lord. He was like a powerful black panther, claws extended, lunging for the War Lord's right arm.
Steve quickly followed. Using a narrow corridor as a springboard, he dodged another attack from the War Lord, then swung the hand bearing the shield in a backhand strike, aiming for the opponent's head.
The War Lord took the hit solidly.
But to him, it was like a flea bite. The shield was certainly sturdy, but Steve's strength was far too lacking.
It was different with the Black Panther.
One swipe of his claws landed on the War Lord's shoulder armor. Initially, the War Lord hadn't even registered the attack as a threat, until his battle-hardened armor emitted a screech and was easily torn open by the Black Panther's claws.
The War Lord's skin was wounded along with it, oozing bluish-purple blood.
He looked at T'Challa with a flicker of surprise.
But it was only surprise.
Those claws, however sharp, were ultimately just a beast's weapon.
The War Lord simply whipped his shoulder, slamming T'Challa, who was clinging to him, into the wall.
This impact only made the War Lord feel even more puzzled.
He felt as if T'Challa was like a piece of rubber; no matter how much force he exerted, striking the opponent seemed to have no effect.
Instead, it was as if the power he put out was being absorbed by something.
The truth was, T'Challa's suit couldn't yet store and release the kinetic energy it absorbed. Otherwise, he would certainly have made the War Lord suffer a bit.
But as for now...
The War Lord grabbed T'Challa by the back of the neck, flung him aside like a little kitten, and then violently hurled his battle axe.
Whoosh!
The spinning axe tore through the air, aimed at the Black Panther.
However, having noticed something unusual about the Black Panther's suit, he didn't attack the Black Panther directly.
The axe embedded itself deep into the wall. The angle formed by the axe head and the handle instantly wedged the Black Panther tightly against the wall, leaving him completely immobilized.
"Ahh!"
T'Challa struggled, but even after being enhanced by the Heart-Shaped Herb, he couldn't break free from the War Lord's axe.
"T'Challa!"
Captain America tried to rush over to help, but the War Lord naturally wouldn't give him the chance.
He barreled toward Steve like a war chariot, throwing a punch.
Clang!
Captain America raised his shield to block once more.
This time, the War Lord finally understood just how sturdy that shield really was.
He hadn't expected that his punch landing on the shield would not only fail to shake Steve Rogers in the slightest, but instead make his own fist ache fiercely from the vibration.
It seemed these Earthlings did have a few tricks up their sleeves.
However...
"Is this what you're relying on?"
The War Lord asked rhetorically.
Then, before Steve could answer, the fist he had just swung out grabbed the edge of Captain America's shield. With a twisting motion like turning a steering wheel...
In the next moment, the shield was ripped from Captain America's grasp, snatched away by the War Lord.
No matter how indestructible the shield was, the strength of the person holding it had a limit.
With his shield stolen, Captain America was dumbfounded.
Honestly, after all his years of fighting, this was the first time he'd encountered an enemy who would actually steal his shield.
All his past opponents, even if they caught the shield when he threw it, would "kindly" throw it back at him.
But the War Lord was different.
He directly grabbed Captain America's shield in his own hand, then lifted his foot and viciously kicked out toward Captain America's chest!
"Captain!"
At the critical moment, just as the War Lord's attack was about to land on Steve, a red and blue figure burst forth.
Peter had seen this from a distance. He immediately raised his hand. The web-shooter on his wrist, adjusted by the artificial intelligence KAREN, switched to high-pressure mode. The webs shot out as fast as bullets.
Thwip!
Two strands of webbing instantly adhered to the War Lord's body.
With a mighty yank from mid-air, Peter actually pulled the War Lord, weighing over a ton, directly toward himself.
Then he threw a punch straight at the War Lord's head.
Clang!
This blow landed squarely on the War Lord's helmet.
"My fingers are gonna break!"
Peter shouted.
"What you should be worried about is your neck, bug!"
The War Lord twisted his body in the air, then slapped a palm out at Peter. A hand larger than Peter's entire head pressed directly onto Peter's face, the tremendous force smashing him into the wall.
Thud!
An entire wall was shattered.
Peter took the violent blow and instantly felt like every bone in his body was about to come apart.
After being slammed into the main control room, Peter swiftly spun webs to cushion himself.
The next moment, using the elasticity of the webs, he shot back toward the War Lord at an even faster speed.
The War Lord was about to swing a fist at the Spider-Man hurtling toward him.
But Peter had no intention of meeting force with force.
His body twisted through the air with stunning agility. Incredible flexibility allowed him to perform maneuvers that would be impossible in any gymnastic routine.
After dodging the War Lord's punch, Peter instantly clung to the opponent's body like a spider.
"Wanna know how a spider treats its prey once it's been caught?"
As he crawled all over the War Lord's body, he sprayed massive amounts of webbing onto him.
The War Lord tried to shake him off, but Peter was at one moment on top of his head, at the next darting between his legs.
This made it impossible for the War Lord to locate the bug, while he himself ended up trussed up all over, twisted and tangled.
In the span of just a few breaths, the opponent's body was covered in webs as white as frost.
Peter grabbed Captain America's shield, then hopped lightly to the ground.
"Just like this," he said.
/-\
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