In the sky above the ruins of New York.
The spatial rift sealed shut.
Imu hovered mid-air, the Five Elders arrayed behind her.
She had cast off the voluminous robes that concealed her identity in the Room of Authority, descending upon this alien battlefield in her true form.
As the sovereign who had ruled the World Government for eight hundred years, the common folk didn't even possess the right to know she existed.
Saturn and the rest of the Five Elders flanked her, their expressions grim.
Having just narrowly escaped the Dark Dimension, only to immediately crash into Hela—who now commanded the Power Stone—the difficulty of this dungeon was far exceeding their expectations.
Down in the ruins, Kaido stared up at Imu, murderous glints churning in his eyes.
What Kaido hated most wasn't bleeding, nor was it being tossed aside. It was being called a 'guard' to his face—especially with Imu's insufferable, condescending tone.
He hefted his spiked club, his blood not yet dry, the scales on his chest massively cracked, and forcibly took a step forward.
"Old hag, say that again?"
Saturn's eye twitched.
Ju Peter strongly desired to point out that this madman, Kaido, was no longer just an ordinary Emperor. A Super Saiyan Physique, a Demon Dragon Body, the Rayquaza template... if a real fight broke out, nobody was going to walk away clean.
But Imu didn't spare Kaido a single glance.
Her attention was entirely fixed on Hela.
Hela stood before the remains of her purple throne, the Power Stone embedded in her palm, her right arm's flesh and blood being torn apart by the purple light only to be forcibly knit back together by her Necro-Energy.
Hela looked down at Imu, the corners of her lips curling upward.
"You carry no scent of Asgard."
"Nor do you possess the blood of the Eternals."
"What gives you the right to stand before me and speak such words?"
Imu raised her hand.
Crimson ki flared from her body.
"Because I want it."
Hela chuckled.
"Then you can beg for it on your knees."
As her voice fell.
Behind Hela, thousands of necrotic black blades tore through the air and unfurled. Each and every blade was wreathed in the berserk purple glow of the Power Stone.
Tony Stark stood among the rubble, the warning lights on his armor's HUD flashing frantically.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., tell me this isn't another cosmic-level crazy woman."
J.A.R.V.I.S.'s electronic voice crackled with a brief burst of static.
"Sir, according to the energy readings, they both are."
Steve Rogers gripped his battered shield, glancing back at Natasha and Clint, who were still trying to evacuate civilians.
"Everyone, fall back."
"This isn't a fight we can interfere in."
Peter Quill clutched the empty Orb, his face drained of color. He felt that the absolute stupidest thing he had ever done in his life was bringing the Power Stone to this battlefield.
Rocket Raccoon cursed under his breath.
"I hate gods."
Groot looked up at the sky.
"I am Groot."
Gamora gripped her dagger tightly. She knew exactly how terrifying Thanos was, but the people in front of her... each one defied common sense more than the last.
Golden Lion Shiki stood atop a chunk of his floating fortress, his cape snapping violently in the gale.
He turned his head and spat out a wad of bloody saliva.
"Jihahaha, the King of the World personally steps down to rob someone."
"The rules on this sea are really going to the dogs."
Kaido shot him a sidelong glare.
"Save your sarcastic comments. You wanted to steal it just a minute ago."
Shiki laughed uproariously.
"When I steal, that's just a pirate doing his job."
"When she does it, it's just shameless."
Saturn's face stiffened. The old bastard's insult was far too accurate; he couldn't even formulate a rebuttal.
In mid-air.
Hela's hand swung down.
The necrotic black blades unleashed ear-piercing sonic booms as they rained down upon Imu and the Five Elders in a torrential downpour.
Where the black blades struck the city blocks, the purple light instantly pulverized the streets into dust. When they hit the steel structures, even the metal—save for Vibranium—couldn't offer a single second of resistance.
Thor gripped his lightning, preparing to charge forward, but Loki grabbed him hard.
"Don't."
Thor stared intently at Hela.
"She'll kill everyone."
Loki pointed up at the sky.
"Then let that woman fight her first."
"If you rush in now, you'll only give them an excuse to step on you too."
Thor fell silent. The words were grating, but perfectly aligned with Loki's survival logic.
Imu faced the sky full of black blades, not retreating a single inch.
She brought her hands together in front of her, compressing her crimson ki frantically into her palms.
The Five Elders consciously retreated behind her.
Nusjuro pressed his hand to the hilt of his sword.
"Require assistance?"
Imu didn't look back.
"Don't get in my way."
The Five Elders instantly halted. Hela's assault was too dense, and with the Power Stone's unreasonable enhancement, intervening recklessly wouldn't do them any favors.
The red light in Imu's palms expanded at a terrifying rate, the air compressing until it emitted a shrill, piercing whine.
Her ki was brutal and lethal, as if she had forcibly stuffed eight hundred years of time into a single artillery shell.
Hela sensed the anomaly, the smile fading from her face.
The next moment, Imu thrust both palms forward. "Begone."
A shockwave of crimson energy pierced the canopy of the sky.
The necrotic black blades slammed into the red light. There was no stalemate; they were obliterated in swaths. The purple light was forcefully pushed back by the crimson energy, the black blades shattering into a rain of energy residue.
The remnants of Hela's throne were completely annihilated by the aftershock.
For the first time, she was forced back.
One step.
Two steps.
It wasn't until her third step, when she channeled the Power Stone's energy into the ground, that she barely stabilized her footing.
The ruins of New York were bathed in a brilliant red glow. The Chitauri soldiers on the periphery didn't even have time to scream before the shockwave blew them away into nothingness.
Ronan stood in the distance, his expression dark. He had believed the Power Stone was the absolute pinnacle of violence in the universe, but this foreign woman had actually used her own power to repel a Power Stone-wielding Hela head-on.
Ebony Maw hovered in mid-air, his tattered robes fluttering in the wind. He stared at Imu, and for once in his life, he didn't offer a single mocking remark.
That power wasn't telekinesis, it wasn't magic, and it wasn't an Infinity Stone. It was brutal to the extreme—she was purely burning her own life force.
Shiki spat.
"Damn it."
"This woman hides her strength well."
But Kaido burst into wild laughter.
"Urorororo!"
"Fascinating!"
"So you know how to throw a punch too, Imu!"
Imu finally turned her head to look at him.
"Make one more sound, and I'll clear you out first."
Kaido's laughter hitched, and his fury blazed even hotter.
"Come and try it then!"
Saturn felt a massive headache coming on. The most troublesome issue right now wasn't Hela—it was that this bastard Kaido genuinely seemed prepared to smash the entire battlefield to pieces.
Hela looked down to inspect her right arm.
The purple light of the Power Stone was still continuously tearing her flesh apart. In order to block Imu's strike, she had overloaded the stone's power, and her physical regeneration was noticeably lagging.
Hela looked up.
"You are no god."
Imu's tone was flat. "I've grown tired of being called a god."
Hela gripped the Power Stone tightly in her palm.
"Then let me see just how long you can burn."
The purple light surged wildly once more.
This time, Hela gave up on materializing black blades. Instead, she drove the energy of the Power Stone directly into the earth beneath her feet.
The ruins of New York shuddered violently, purple fissures spreading outward like a spiderweb.
Rebar, rubble, wrecked cars, and debris from Chitauri warships were all stripped from the surface by the purple light. Sculpted by her Necro-Energy, a colossal, sky-obscuring black-and-purple spear materialized in mid-air.
The tip of the spear pointed dead center at Imu.
"If that thing falls, Manhattan is getting wiped off the map entirely," Tony said, watching the screaming red alarms on his HUD.
"Tony, get everyone out of here," Steve said grimly.
Tony didn't argue. He immediately changed direction, herding the civilians on the perimeter toward safety.
Right at that moment, Imu moved.
The air beneath her feet exploded.
She transformed into a streak of crimson light, launching herself head-on at the spear high above.
Thor only saw a blinding red line shoot up from the ground.
The colossal spear plummeted downwards.
Imu drew back her right fist and slammed it directly into the tip of the spear.
Purple and red light collided in the skies above New York.
Massive swathes of space cracked like a mirror, dense spiderweb fractures spreading across the sky.
Loki hugged the Tesseract tightly, the veins bulging on the back of his hands.
"Stop cracking."
"If it cracks any further, God knows where this place will open up to."
Kaido tilted his head back, staring intently at the sky.
The inherent bloodlust of his Saiyan bloodline surged wildly within him.
But he gripped his spiked club tightly and forced himself to stay put.
He hadn't unlocked a higher-tier dungeon yet.
He hadn't gone to beat that monkey named Son Goku to a pulp yet.
Kaido of the Beasts could never remain satisfied merely playing the role of a tavern security guard.
Shiki glanced over at Kaido.
"What's wrong? Not jumping in?"
"I'm waiting for an opening," Kaido snorted.
Shiki laughed.
"Nice excuse. You're just chickening out."
Kaido snapped his head around.
"You wanna fight right now?"
Shiki pointed up at the sky.
"Let's watch them finish first."
The two fell into a tacit silence.
The collision in the sky ended abruptly.
The red light forcefully obliterated the massive black-and-purple spear.
Large chunks of flesh exploded from Hela's right arm, exposing gleaming white bone.
Riding her downward momentum, she drew a purple blade with her left hand and slashed at Imu's neck.
Imu raised her forearm to block it head-on.
The blade struck the crimson ki, sending sparks flying.
Hela pressed in closer.
"This power of yours... it doesn't smell like it belongs to you."
Imu drove her knee into Hela's abdomen.
"Once it's in my hands, it's mine."
Hela arched her back and headbutted Imu straight on the bridge of her nose.
The two crashed down from mid-air into the ruins below, the ground caving in as the purple light and crimson ki ground the surrounding architectural debris into fine powder.
The Five Elders watched from the perimeter.
"Lady Imu is burning through her lifespan," Warcury muttered.
"She knows exactly what she's doing," Mars replied.
Ju Peter took a half step back.
"But every time she fights like this, I can't shake the feeling that we're going to have to clean up a massive mess sooner or later."
"Shut up," Saturn barked.
Nusjuro's eyes were locked on the battlefield.
"Her lifespan isn't the issue. The issue is that we haven't secured the Power Stone yet."
Deep within the ruins.
The purple blade had pierced through Imu's left shoulder.
Imu didn't even furrow her brow. Instead, she backhanded Hela, locking a death grip on her wrist.
A highly condensed surge of crimson ki was forcefully driven up Hela's arm.
Hela's expression twisted drastically.
The flow of her Necro-Energy was forcefully severed by this domineering ki.
Imu stared into the face mere inches from her own.
"You rely on Asgard."
"You rely on Infinity Stones."
"You rely on the authority of death."
"I rely only on myself."
Hela's lips curled into a mocking smirk.
"You sound like an exile who just got kicked off her throne."
Imu's gaze turned completely glacial.
The shop manager of that tavern in Foosha Village—the one who ignored all the rules—was a thorn in her heart that she couldn't pull out.
The center of the World Government existed in name only now.
She was going to seize everything back into her own hands!
Imu slammed her palm into Hela's chest.
"Tri-Beam."
Red light blasted from her palm.
Hela was sent rocketing backward, crashing through the remains of three destroyed buildings.
Under the intense impact, the Power Stone loosened slightly from her grip.
A brief lull fell over the battlefield.
"She just sent that self-proclaimed Goddess of Death flying," Tony announced over the comms channel.
Rocket Raccoon muttered a string of curses.
"I've got eyes, I don't need your live commentary."
Shiki chewed on his cigar.
This woman's strength is completely unreasonable.
Hela stood up from the rubble.
The charred flesh on her chest was forcibly mended by her Necro-Energy.
The purple light of the Power Stone once again crawled up her right arm.
"Excellent."
"I'm going to use your skull to prop up the throne of Asgard."
Imu touched down, the crimson ki flaring even higher around her.
"You can try."
Kaido dragged his spiked club, taking a massive step forward.
Shiki raised a hand, and a ruined island in the sky began to move silently.
Saturn shot them a glacial glare.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Kaido bared his teeth in a wide grin.
"Robbing the stone, obviously."
Shiki laughed heartily.
"Waiting until they're done fighting before making a move? That's not how a pirate operates."
Imu turned her head.
Hela shifted her gaze as well.
Both of their eyes locked onto the two interlopers simultaneously.
Kaido halted his steps.
Shiki's laughter caught in his throat.
Ju Peter shrank his neck down. "Well, this is going to be a huge problem."
───
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