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Everyone noticed when Golza suddenly looked up.
The military, the fleeing civilians, the SHIELD agents monitoring from a distance—all followed the monster's gaze skyward.
What they saw defied explanation.
A man descended from the clouds, wreathed in golden light. Wings of radiant metal spread from his back. Armor that gleamed like captured sunlight covered his form—elaborate, ornate, something out of mythology rather than modern warfare.
Luke had shaped Envy into the form of the Sagittarius Gold Cloth from Saint Seiya. Pure aesthetics, no practical benefit—but if he was going to make an entrance, he was going to make it memorable.
Fury recognized the figure immediately.
"Director... that's the suspicious person?"
The field agent's voice had gone unsteady. This wasn't what anyone had expected when told to watch for "unusual activity."
Luke plummeted toward Golza.
Envy reconfigured mid-dive, wrapping around him in a spiraling drill formation. The technique was borrowed from Kamen Rider Kiva's Final Zanvat—a penetrating strike designed to bore through any defense.
CRASH!
The impact generated a spectacular explosion of sparks. Energy discharged in all directions. The visual was incredible.
The damage was nonexistent.
Golza's hide hadn't even been scratched.
"Damn it!"
Luke launched himself away, golden wings carrying him clear. The kaiju's massive head swung toward him, preparing another supersonic beam.
I'm supposed to be as strong as Dante at his first awakening. Why can't I hurt this thing?
Maybe Envy wasn't powerful enough yet. Maybe the Devil Arm needed more souls to reach its potential.
Or maybe Golza was just that durable.
Fury's hand moved toward his pocket—toward the pager he kept for absolute emergencies. Carol Danvers wasn't on Earth, but if this situation continued to escalate—
"SHRIEEEEK!"
Golza's roar cut through his thoughts. Not a battle cry. A scream of pain.
One of the creature's legs had been severed at the knee.
Standing amid the shower of alien blood was a woman in strange armor, wielding a sword nearly as tall as she was. Silver-blue hair. Cold, beautiful features. An aura of absolute lethality.
Skadi.
In Arknights, her gameplay statistics were underwhelming. But the lore told a different story—a being who could stir ocean tides with casual sword strokes, whose attacks caused mountains to crumble.
Among all of Luke's companions, Skadi was the strongest. Not Riven with her runic blade. Not Tifa with her martial arts mastery. Skadi, the Abyssal Hunter, the weapon designed to kill unkillable things.
The kaiju collapsed. Tens of thousands of tons slamming into downtown Los Angeles, crushing a building beneath its bulk, triggering minor earthquakes across the surrounding area.
Fury watched with his mouth hanging open.
Tank shells couldn't scratch this monster. Anti-ship missiles barely registered. And that woman had cut its leg off with a sword?
Then he noticed the others.
A white-haired woman with a broken blade—Riven—was carving wounds into Golza's flank. Not deep enough to be lethal, but wounds. Damage that military ordnance couldn't inflict.
A dark-haired woman wearing black gauntlets and greaves—Tifa, equipped with the Abomination Devil Arm—was punching the kaiju. Each strike left visible dents in armor that had shrugged off everything humanity could throw at it.
The times have changed, Fury thought numbly. No—the times haven't changed at all. This is still the age of swords and fists.
He'd accepted Carol Danvers punching through Kree warships. Somehow this felt different. These weren't cosmic-powered superheroes. These were people with equipment, using techniques that should have been obsolete centuries ago.
And they were winning.
Luke drew Yamato.
If Envy can't cut it, this will.
He dove a second time—no fancy shapes, no dramatic flourishes. Just pure speed and the demon blade that could sever reality itself.
Golza's head came off in a single stroke.
The massive skull rolled across the devastated landscape, crushing vehicles and debris beneath its weight. The body collapsed moments later, the death spasms causing one final round of destruction.
Silence fell.
Luke landed beside the corpse, Yamato already sheathed. The blade remained as impossibly sharp as ever—nothing could resist its edge. He still couldn't perform dimensional cuts like Vergil, but did it matter? Even Nero had never mastered those techniques, and he'd done fine.
"Soul Harvest."
Luke pressed his palm against Golza's remains.
The kaiju's essence was vast. Drawing it out took longer than any previous harvest—seconds stretching into a minute as the monster's soul reluctantly separated from its flesh.
What emerged wasn't a weapon.
It was a soul stone the size of a human being. Crimson crystal containing enough life force and magical energy to power a small army. Consuming it would restore and strengthen him dramatically.
Or he could feed it to one of his Devil Arms. Or share it with his companions.
Luke stored the crystal for later consideration.
His phone rang once before Fury picked up.
"The situation is resolved."
Luke hung up without waiting for a response. He had no interest in debriefing, explaining, or justifying himself to SHIELD.
On the other end, Fury stared at his dead phone with impotent fury.
The mysterious organization—whatever Luke Foster was part of—had just demonstrated the ability to casually defeat threats that would have required Captain Marvel to address. Four individuals had killed something that an entire military couldn't scratch.
I need a team, Fury realized. I need the Avengers Initiative operational NOW.
Luke reviewed his drops.
No new characters this time, which was disappointing. He'd been hoping for more companions—more power, more options.
But what he did receive was interesting.
[Golza Summon Card]
A one-time-use item. Activating it would summon the kaiju under his control. The creature would be obedient, follow commands, fight his enemies.
When it died, it was gone forever. No respawns, no regeneration.
Basically a single-use weapon, Luke mused. But what a weapon.
He could deploy it strategically—against a major threat, as a distraction, or simply to generate another harvest.
Wait. If I summon Golza and kill it again... would that produce another soul stone?
The economics were appealing. One summon card, potentially infinite value if he could farm the creature for resources.
He'd have to test that theory carefully. Somewhere isolated. Somewhere the collateral damage wouldn't matter.
The grind never stops, Luke thought, watching emergency services begin their futile attempts to process the devastation.
But at least it's getting more interesting.