Tony hung in mid-air, his thrusters spewing exhaust, his entire body stunned.
He watched wide-eyed as Tael-Ror, like a diver, plunged straight down into the clouds.
"He…he ran away?"
"Why is he jumping down?!"
"Did he lose his mind?!"
Countless absurd thoughts flashed through Tony's mind.
Did this guy think he couldn't win, decided to go offline early, and grab a good spot to watch the fireworks from below?
"He's not running away."
Kara flew next to Tony, her expression a little complex.
She stared at the cloud layer where Tael-Ror had disappeared, her tone carrying a hint of uncertainty, and a touch of "I knew this would happen" helplessness.
"Every time he pulls off one of these incomprehensible moves, it's never good news…"
Thor, hammer in hand, lumbered over with a simple, honest look.
"So, he's gone to get reinforcements?"
Vision silently floated beside them, the Mind Stone on his forehead blinking, offering the most rational analysis.
"His descent trajectory was precisely calculated, targeting the exact center point directly beneath the floating island. This is not an act of panic or escape."
Tony was even more bewildered after hearing this.
"What does that mean? Is he going to 'thousand years of death' this continent?"
"Sir, we don't have time to discuss this."
Vision's voice was calmly unruffled.
"According to calculations, we have three minutes to clear the remaining enemies, otherwise, after the floating island lands, it will cause a secondary disaster."
Tony snapped out of his daze.
"Right! Get to work!"
He spun around abruptly, raising his arm towards the hundred or so robots still rampaging on the island.
"Forget about that psycho! Guys, cleanup time!"
"Tear all this scrap metal apart! Don't let a single piece fall down!"
No sooner had he spoken than four figures, transforming into four streams of different colored light, rushed towards the last of Ultron's army.
"For Asgard!"
Thor roared, swinging his hammer in a wide arc, conjuring thick chains of lightning. Wherever he passed, Ultron robots fell in swathes as if mown down.
Kara said nothing, her golden hair tracing elegant arcs in the air.
She became a red and blue blur, crashing through the robot hordes.
No fancy techniques, just the simplest, most direct fists.
One punch, one robot, every punch connecting.
Every robot she struck was like being hit head-on by a battering ram, its entire body folding inward before exploding into a pile of scrap metal.
Vision's fighting style was both elegant and lethal.
He passed directly through a robot's body, and before the robot could react, he fired a Mind Stone beam with a backhand, melting its core.
He was like a ghost, flickering across the battlefield, each appearance accompanied by the fall of a robot.
Tony, meanwhile, was the aerial firepower.
He flew at the highest point, his shoulder-mounted missile launchers open, miniature missiles raining down like drops, exploding into dazzling fireworks among the robot crowd.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
With no worries about collateral damage or harming civilians.
The four of them unleashed their full firepower, turning it into a one-sided slaughter.
In less than two minutes, the last Ultron robot was flattened into a metal disc by a piece of wall thrown from a distance by the Hulk.
The entire floating island was deathly silent.
Only the whistling wind remained, and the ear-splitting roar of the city as it fell.
At the same time.
Directly below the floating island, ten thousand meters in the sky.
Tael-Ror stopped his descent, simply hovering silently in mid-air.
The fierce wind ruffled his clothes and black hair.
He closed his eyes, slowly bringing his hands together at his waist, striking a familiar and classic pose.
A white-yellow aura ignited around him, growing increasingly intense.
The surrounding air began to distort, and the clouds were pushed aside by an invisible force, forming a giant, perfect circular void.
Looking up from the ground, it was as if a new sun had suddenly appeared in the sky.
Between Tael-Ror's palms, a small point of light appeared.
Immediately after, this point of light began to expand at an astonishing speed.
The size of a ping-pong ball… the size of a washbasin… Inside the light sphere, violent energy was being frantically compressed, emitting a low hum.
He slowly opened his eyes, looking up at the massive shadow that was accelerating its descent and was now almost upon them.
"Hoo…"
He let out a long breath.
"Ha… Me… Ha… Me… Ha… Me… Ha!!!!"
On the Sokovia floating island.
After the Hulk smashed the last Ultron… "Done!"
Tony snapped his fingers, looking at the robot wreckage scattered everywhere, a smug expression on his face.
"What did I tell you? As long as we brothers team up, there's nothing we can't handle…"
"Boom—"
Before he could finish speaking, a tremor more violent than any before struck.
A massive crack appeared in the ground beneath their feet.
At the edge of the floating island, a large chunk of rock, hundreds of meters in diameter, along with half a street on it, directly broke off, detached from the main island, and plunged downwards.
"Holy crap!"
Tony was so startled he almost fell from the sky.
"Friday… no, Vision! What's going on?!"
The gem on Vision's forehead glowed, and he quickly reported.
"Sir, the floating island's structure is collapsing."
"Under the combined effects of gravity and high-speed descent, it is disintegrating from the edges."
"It is estimated that within ninety seconds, it will split into hundreds of fragments of varying sizes."
Everyone's faces changed.
If it were one whole piece, they might still be able to think of a solution.
But if it shattered into hundreds of pieces and fell, it would be nothing short of a meteor shower covering an incredibly wide area.
A natural disaster, a true natural disaster!
"It's over, it's over…"
Tony spun in circles in the air, "This is completely Barbie Q'd now!"
Just as everyone was falling into despair.
Kara suddenly looked up, staring down at their feet.
"What… what is that?"
Everyone followed her gaze downwards.
They saw a point of light in the clouds below.
The light grew brighter and brighter, more and more dazzling, as if something was about to burst out of the clouds.
"New enemies?" Thor gripped his hammer tighter.
"No…"
Kara's super vision pierced through the clouds, and she saw the source of the light.
Her face was filled with shock and disbelief.
"It's Tael!"
"He… he's down there… charging a super massive energy ball!"
Tony nearly choked.
"Charging? Charging an energy ball?!"
"What does he want to do? Does he actually want to… push this thing back up from below?!"
"Is he crazy?! Does he not have any idea how heavy this thing is?!"
"No!"
Kara's voice trembled slightly.
"He's not trying to push it back up!"
"He's going to…"
"Blast the entire island into dust!!!"
No sooner had she spoken.
A ridiculously thick, pale blue energy beam roared upwards from beneath the clouds!
The beam's diameter almost covered the entire bottom of the floating island!
"Boom—!!!!"
The world-destroying beam slammed squarely into the center of the floating island!
There was no violent impact as imagined.
The lower part of the floating island—the rocks, soil, reinforced concrete—was instantly vaporized upon contact with the beam.
Yes, not even dust remained, it just vanished into thin air!
The entire floating island was like a block of ice being ground on a grinding wheel, visibly being rapidly erased from bottom to top!
Tony, Thor (with Hulk clinging to his back), Kara, and Vision, five individuals, floated dumbfounded in mid-air.
They watched the ground beneath their feet being swallowed by the beam, getting closer and closer to them.
The scorching energy was already making Tony's armor blare with alarms.
"Temperature too high! Outer armor melting!"
Tony suddenly snapped back to reality, letting out a pig-like shriek.
"Crap! He's going to blast us all into oblivion!!!"
"Run! Run, run, run, run, run!!!!"