Chapter 3: If You Want to Kill Someone, Why Not Come at Me?
Hum—!
Inside the hollow face of the Destroyer armor, the orange-red energy vortex contracted sharply.
The air was distorted by the high temperature, emitting a piercing screech.
"Damn it! Everyone, take cover!"
Coulson was a battle-hardened senior agent after all.
The scalp-numbing sense of imminent death allowed him to make an instant judgment.
He threw away the megaphone and dove violently behind a nearby rock.
BOOM!!!
Almost at the same time, an incredibly scorching beam of destruction erupted from the armor's face.
The bulletproof SUVs of S.H.I.E.L.D. were instantly detonated in the face of this beam.
They turned into fireballs soaring into the sky.
The high temperature swept across, and the gravel on the ground didn't even have time to fly up before it was directly melted into a crystal-clear, glass-like substance.
A heat wave hit them in the face, blowing Coulson's hairline back even further.
He poked his head out from behind the rock in a wretched state, his throat dry as he looked at the apocalyptic scene before him.
"This energy level... is simply not something Earth's technology can achieve!"
"Damn it, what on earth is this thing?"
On the other side.
Volstagg and the others were barely managing to stand up due to Nagi's earlier outburst of Ki.
Watching the rampaging Destroyer, Sif gritted her teeth and shouted at Thor:
"Thor! That's the Destroyer! It was sent by Loki!"
"What?" Thor looked blank.
"Loki? No, that's impossible! Why would he do this?"
"Because he betrayed you! He betrayed the Allfather!"
Hogun wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said in a deep voice:
"His Majesty Odin is not dead; he has only fallen into the Odinsleep! Loki took the opportunity to usurp the throne. Now he wants to kill you to eliminate future trouble forever!"
These words struck Thor's skull like a bolt from the blue.
"Father... isn't dead?"
"Loki... lied to me?"
The light in Thor's eyes turned from confusion to shock, and finally into deep pain and anger.
He had always thought he was an exiled sinner, drifting here to atone for his sins.
He never expected that all of this was a setup by the brother he trusted the most!
Suddenly, Thor remembered what Nagi had said earlier.
—"If you were really just exiled, why can't even your friends contact you?"
—"Someone will be coming to kill you soon, Son of Odin."
Thor turned his head abruptly.
He looked at the black-haired man who had kept his arms crossed, his expression unchanged even when facing the Destroyer.
"You knew all along?!"
"How could you know all of this?!"
Not just Thor.
Even Sif and the Warriors Three looked at Nagi with expressions as if they had seen a ghost after hearing Thor's question.
This Midgardian not only possessed terrifying power but was also crystal clear about the secrets within the Asgardian palace?
Who exactly was he? Could he be Heimdall's illegitimate son in the mortal world?
Facing everyone's questioning, Nagi merely curled his lips in disdain.
"Instead of caring about how I know, you should care about your own lives first."
Before his voice had even faded.
The Destroyer in the distance seemed to have sensed the aura of the Asgardians.
Its massive metal head turned with a click.
The hollow face lit up once again with the light of destruction.
Zzz—Boom!
Another beam of destruction swept across!
"Scatter!"
Sif shouted loudly.
Although the four were heavily injured, their warrior instincts remained, and they immediately rolled in different directions to dodge.
"For Asgard!"
Volstagg roared, attempting to draw fire.
But it was utterly useless. The Destroyer's power was a complete dimensional strike against the current them.
"Damn it! Let's risk it!"
Using a boulder as cover, Sif leapt up violently.
Her body traced an arc in the air, and the double-headed spear in her hand stabbed down ruthlessly!
Pfft!
The spear accurately pierced the Destroyer's neck, pinning it firmly to the ground.
The fire in the Destroyer's eyes flickered twice, seeming to go out.
"Well done! Sif!" Fandral was overjoyed.
However, Nagi shook his head from the side.
"Naive."
The next second.
Inside the Destroyer, whose fire had seemingly extinguished, the sound of gears turning suddenly came.
Its body made no movement.
But that metal head, along with its limbs, actually completed a 180-degree rotation on the spot!
The front became the back, and the back became the front!
The fire of destruction that had just gone out ignited once again in its face.
And it was less than half a meter away from Sif!
"What?!" Sif's pupils trembled.
Boom!
The close-range energy explosion blasted Sif away directly.
"Sif!"
The Warriors Three's eyes were splitting with rage, wanting to rescue her.
But they were beaten into scrambling away by the continuous beams that followed.
In just a few breaths.
Asgard's pride, the elite squad, was wiped out!
Looking at his comrades groaning on the ground, and looking at the scorched earth around him.
Thor's fists clenched tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms.
He glanced at Nagi, who was watching coldly from the side.
He glanced again at Coulson and the others in the distance, who were terrified but still trying to save people.
An unprecedented sense of responsibility and spirit of sacrifice awakened in the heart of this banished prince.
He couldn't let his friends die because of him.
Nor could he let this innocent planet be implicated.
Thor took a deep breath.
He strode toward the Destroyer, opening his arms, exposing himself defenselessly to it.
"Brother!"
Thor shouted at the cold metal armor, knowing Loki could hear him.
"Whatever I did to you, whatever made you like this, I am sorry."
"These people are innocent."
"Kill me, and end this."
Far away on the throne of the Asgardian temple, Loki watched this scene through the Destroyer's perspective, the hand holding the scepter trembling slightly.
But then, jealousy and resentment gained the upper hand again.
The fire in the Destroyer's eyes gradually extinguished, seeming ready to turn and leave.
A smile of relief appeared on Thor's face.
However.
The moment he lowered his guard.
The Destroyer's massive metal arm swung out violently!
Smack!!!
A muffled sound.
Thor was whipped away viciously, crashing heavily at Nagi's feet.
Blood gushed from his mouth and nose, his sternum caved in, and his breath instantly became faint.
"No!! Thor!" The Asgardian warriors cried out heart-wrenchingly in the distance.
Nagi looked down at the half-dead God of Thunder at his feet, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
"Tsk, the script is following quite the correct path."
"Next, that old geezer Odin will shed a crocodile tear, then lift the seal, the hammer will automatically fly over to recognize its master, and Thor will revive with full health to show off, right?"
Nagi looked up at the arrogant Destroyer armor not far away.
The fighting intent in his eyes gradually boiled over.
"Leaving such a highlight moment to a reckless fool who only knows how to play with a hammer would be too wasteful."
"Besides..."
Nagi glanced at a corner of the temporary S.H.I.E.L.D. base in the distance.
"I kind of want to play with that hammer myself."
Since that was the case, he would steal the show!
Nagi stepped over Thor's body and slowly walked toward the Destroyer.
"Hey, you scrap metal."
"Or rather, Loki."
"If you want to kill someone, why not come at me?"
Loki, on the divine throne, saw that damn mortal on the screen actually daring to provoke him.
Instead of getting angry, he let out a disdainful sneer.
"Stupid ant."
"Since you are in such a hurry to die, I will fulfill your wish!"
The Destroyer armor slowly turned around, the hollow face aiming at Nagi once again.
"Sir! Get away from there! That thing isn't something you can deal with!"
In the distance, Coulson shouted anxiously through the megaphone.
Although he was wary of Nagi, he didn't want to watch a civilian die in vain.
On the ground, the dying Thor struggled to open his swollen eyes.
He reached out, trying to grab Nagi's ankle.
"Run... run away..."
"You can't beat it... That's... the Destroyer..."
Sif also struggled to shout:
"Mortal! Don't do anything stupid! That is a weapon of the Gods!"
Everyone thought Nagi was crazy.
Even though he had displayed impressive strength just now.
In front of Odin's ultimate weapon, what did a mortal body count for?
However, Nagi turned a deaf ear.
He stopped ten meters in front of the Destroyer, looking up directly into the hollow of its face.
There was not a trace of fear on his face.
Instead, he revealed an extremely arrogant, even somewhat ferocious smile.
"Weapon of the Gods?"
"I heard that Odin, wearing this pile of scrap copper and rotten iron, once killed a Celestial?"
Nagi rolled his neck, making crisp cracking sounds.
"Then let me see..."
"Just how much weight you carry in front of a Super Saiyan 3!"
He squatted slightly, fists clenched at his waist.
The infinite stamina in his body surged crazily at this moment like a floodgate opening.
"Haaahhhhh——!!!"
A low, explosive roar exploded from deep within Nagi's throat.
BOOM!!!
The earth cracked!
With Nagi as the center, the ground within a hundred meters instantly collapsed.
Countless rocks slowly rose into the air, defying gravity, floating around.
Even Thor and the others floated up along with them!
"What the f*ck! What the hell is this!" Thor and the others shouted in terror.
At the same time, Nagi's originally black pupils instantly turned emerald green.
That head of short black hair began to grow crazily, extending toward his waist.
A touch of gold began to appear faintly on that long hair.