The battlefield had gone silent for the first time in hours. Smoke curled around the shattered remains of skyscrapers, glass and steel scattered like broken stars across the streets below. Above it all, the air shimmered with the aftertaste of ozone, thunder, and the quiet tension that always came before something catastrophic.
Ravenous hovered high in the air, silent and still with his massive blue frame glistening under the dark clouds. His weapon hummed faintly in his grip, feeding off the faint radiation leaking from the portal above. He gazed down upon the newcomer who had emerged from the storm.
Gojo Satoru.
The boy stood calmly, one hand in his pocket, as faint after effects of blue energy flickering lazily off his shoulders with electricity.
Natasha broke the silence first, squinting through the smoke. "Tony… is that—"
Tony moved and hovered nearby. "… yeah, that's Gojo."
Gojo tilted his head slightly, raising an eyebrow as he looked up at the towering blue figure above. "Sooo… which one of you invited our oversized Smurf friend? And what's he wrecking the whole city for?"
Natasha, catching her breath, holstered her gun with a slight frown. "Oh hey, it's been a while, Gojo."
Clint grunted, firing an arrow into a distant insectoid. "Yeah, great reunion and all, but can we focus? Big blue space bug up there still looks like he wants to make Earth his summer home."
Tony chuckled dryly at that.
Gojo finished the last bite of meat still in his hand and sighed contentedly. He flicked the chopsticks away and they dissolved into motes of light midair. Without a word, he raised his hand and with a lazy wave of telekinesis, swept the grime and dust from his fingers, the particles dissolving into nothing.
His expression then darkened. "You know," he said quietly, eyes narrowing, "part of this city was just rebuilt. And now…" He looked around at the burning skyline. "…we're right back at demolition day."
Tony floated beside him. "Hey, look on the bright side, it keeps the construction workers employed."
"Focus," Cap snapped, adjusting his shield as more tremors rocked the ground.
Ravenous' burning gaze shifted to Gojo. He studied the young man in silence and intrigued. 'Who is this boy? How did he reduce an entire wave to nothing?'
Gojo suddenly vanished. Without even a ripple or distorting the air where he'd been standing, and before anyone could blink, he reappeared, holding a bottle of water.
He cracked it open and drank deeply. "Ahhh… man, that hits the spot."
Clint lowered his bow slightly. "Okay, chief, it's all yours."
Cap sighed, muttering under his breath, "I can't tell if he's a miracle or a headache."
Tony smirked. "Hydration is important, Rogers. Especially for growing boys."
The plastic bottle in Gojo's hand began to crumple and fold inward, collapsing in on itself until it vanished in a faint pulse of blue light. He exhaled softly, eyes now locked on Ravenous.
He rose into the air, ascending until he was level with the alien warlord w few hundreds of feet above the ruins below.
"Alright, big guy," Gojo said, voice firm now, "why don't you tell me why you've decided to invade my world?"
Ravenous didn't answer. His gaze remained fixed, silent and heavy.
Gojo floated in a lazy arc, his hands in his pockets as his lips curled up. "Nothing? No evil speech? No 'tremble before me'? You're kinda breaking villain tradition here."
Still no reply. Ravenous' grip on his weapon tightened.
Gojo smirked. "Come on, don't be shy. You seem like the chatty destroyer type."
Finally, Ravenous' deep, distorted voice rumbled through the air. "I have no obligation to answer you, mortal. But know this, your world will burn for you defiance. The Annihilation Wave shall raze it to ash."
Gojo's amusement faded. "Is that so?"
Ravenous' eyes gleamed. "It shall kneel before your new lord and master, and your species will be added to the hive."
Gojo's tone dropped to ice. "And who's this 'lord' of yours?"
"The master of the Negative Zone," Ravenous said with reverence.
Gojo's eyes narrowed behind the blindfold. 'Annihilus…'
He reached out telepathically to the Avengers, his voice echoing in their heads.
Gojo: "Most of the insectoids are already dealt with. The outer perimeter's clean."
Cap: "Then what's the problem?"
Gojo: "…Something's wrong, I can't get into his mind."
Ravenous spoke again, his voice dripping with contempt. "Your struggle is commendable, but futile. You will not survive what is to come."
Gojo's expression hardened. "And who decided that? You… or your master?"
He glanced away from ravenous briefly, scanning the portal with his energy vision. There were flares of green lightning pulsed from within its core and it looked chaotic and unstable.
Gojo (telepathically): "Tony… has he moved since he came out of the portal?"
Tony hesitated, eyes flicking up. "Now that you mention it… no. He's been hovering there the whole time. Like he's… waiting."
Gojo frowned. "He's definitely up to something."
Turning back to Ravenous, his voice was sharp. "You said you'd conquer this world—with what army?"
Ravenous' grin widened. "The army you destroyed is nothing compared to the billions that serve under my lord. Their numbers will blot out your skies, and their power will grind this planet to dust."
As if summoned by his words, the portal pulsed again with massive arcs of green lightning tearing across its surface.
"Jarvis," Tony snapped.
"Analyzing, sir. The portal appears to be drawing energy from the opposite end. A feedback loop is expanding its radius exponentially to roughly 16.3% increase per pulse."
Natasha's eyes widened. "It's expanding… does that mean—"
Before she could finish, the portal twisted violently, its edges tearing apart and reforming. It now pointing downward toward the planet.
Tony's HUD flickered with red warnings. "Well, that's not good. Things officially went from bad to nuke-me-now bad."
Ravenous' voice echoed like thunder. "This world shall be consumed… as all the others have been!"
Gojo's gaze sharpened, his focus shifting between Ravenous and the now roaring vortex above.
"You asked what army…" Ravenous smirked. "…behold."
The portal flared and then they came.
Thousands upon thousands of insectoids poured from the vortex, blotting out the sky entirely. Their screeches merged into a single, horrific sound as they swarmed downward like a living tidal wave.
"My God…" Rogers whispered, his voice barely audible.
Tony's armor lit up as his sensors overloaded. "What is he doing?"
His HUD zoomed in on Gojo who now floated, calm and motionless, one hand pointed downward.
Ravenous sneered. "That's right. Accept your fate, mortal for there is no security you have that can save you from our might."
Then he froze as he felt the slight shift.
The air changed. The temperature dropped sharply and the picked up exponentially. Gojo's eyes flared faintly blue as he opened his eyes. The glow was fierce.
The next second the entire sky exploded.
A wave of pure azure fire erupted outward from Gojo's body, sweeping across the horizon in a colossal bloom. It was pure heat and annihilation wrapped in elegance, devouring the swarm in seconds. The flames rolled like an ocean through the air, vaporizing thousands of insectoids mid-screech. The light was blinding and it almost sounded like the flames itself was exhaling.
Even Ravenous staggered back a bit at the unexpected development with a slight widened eyes.
Down below, the Avengers stared in stunned silence.
Natasha's lips parted. "Those flames… they're not even touching the buildings."
Clint lowered his bow. "Yeah, It's burning the sky but not the city? How's that even possible? From the way it's burning those things the heat should be phenomenal—"
Tony, scanning the readings, interrupted. "He's generating a secondary barrier around the entire urban perimeter. It's… containing the heat. The flames are literally rewriting the laws of thermal transfer."
Up above, Gojo stood in the heart of the inferno, with an expression cold and unyielding.
"What security do we have?" he said softly, voice echoing through the flames. "I am that security."
The flames surged higher, splitting the clouds.
"There's no better security," he said, eyes glowing brighter, "than me."
Ravenous' expression twisted between awe and rage as Gojo's blue inferno continued to consume the endless swarm that kept on coming out of the portal. His very presence painting the sky in divine fire.
Tony watched the live feed through Jarvis' projection as Gojo standing suspended in the center of that impossible blaze, radiant and godlike.
"…The kid just keeps getting stronger," Tony muttered under his breath.
————————————————-
Epic Black Friday Announcement🔥 BLACK FRIDAY IS LIVE! 🔥
A massive Black Friday event is officially open today and for the first time ever, you can dive into all my stories on Patreon at a huge 40% discount.
Whether you're following Fragmented Domain which I have turned into and epic voice-over, or any of my ongoing series, this is the perfect moment to jump in, catch up, and enjoy the full experience.
The offer is live right now.
Go check it out.
Don't miss it.
Discount code: EFB1C