Those time travelers that year

219. The Battle of New York (Part 5)

The smoke-filled streets of Manhattan, the constant explosions, the chaotic battlefield, the aircraft flying overhead… all this turned Manhattan into a replica of Stalingrad during World War II. Even with the Avengers' constant attempts to stir up more hatred, the Chiretta clearly had no intention of paying them any attention; cannon fodder seemed ineffective against them. So, the newly arrived Chiretta soldiers flew off in their aircraft to other areas. Soon, all of New York was engulfed in war.

Small, monstrous creatures flew about, superhumans emerged from the shadows, laser beams flew everywhere, and all sorts of superpowers filled the air. One moment, Chiretta soldiers unleashed a barrage of laser beams, blasting a field of ruins; the next, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, reinforced concrete blasted the Chiretta soldiers to their knees with a supersonic impact.

Storms, flames, lightning… a chaotic array of superpowers flashed across New York City. Superhumans and superheroes with anti-air or flight abilities decisively took to the skies, engaging the Chiretas in a thunderous aerial battle. On the ground, thanks to the help of some mutants, blocked roads were cleared, and armored vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft weapons and soldiers rushed to reinforce the battlefield. Unfortunately, even with these efforts, the Chiretas maintained a firm grip on air superiority over New York. Under overwhelming firepower, the arriving reinforcements were simply turned into fireworks because they were too large targets. Even superhumans were shot down from the sky like birds by a barrage of laser beams.

The center of the battlefield remained in Manhattan, New York throughout. Despite the Avengers' desperate efforts, they still managed to attract a significant number of Chirettas. In fact, that Hulk had already demolished a Chiretta mechanical monster landing ship for the fifth time. Captain America, along with some neighborhood police and the troops that had stormed in, began to wage guerrilla warfare against the Chirettas. Meanwhile, Black Widow and Hawkeye, having run out of bullets and arrows respectively, grabbed laser guns from Chiretta soldiers and fought back with difficulty under the cover of cover.

As for Tony... Mr. Iron Man is currently playing an aerial bullet hell game with a large group of Chitauri.

Meanwhile, in the sky, the battle between Loki and Thor had entered a heated phase. Unaffected by his overconfidence and without holding back, Loki, wielding his Mind Scepter and the Box of Ice—two divine artifacts—was relentlessly beating Thor.

Yes, you read that right. The one currently in control isn't the battle-hardened Thor, but rather Loki, the god of deception who isn't particularly skilled in combat. Leaving aside the Mind Control Scepter, while Loki can't influence Thor through mind control, he shouldn't be able to. Although Thor isn't particularly adept at magic, against the overpowered power of Mjolnir, simple mind control isn't enough to breach Thor's mental defenses.

However, the power of Loki's other artifact, the Casket of Ice, is not something Thor can ignore. This artifact, which should have belonged to the ice giants of Jotunheim, even created a mini ice age on Earth a thousand years ago. If Odin hadn't intervened quickly and defeated Laufey and his army first, Earth would probably have been completely plunged into an ice age by the power of the Casket of Ice.

Now, Loki has perfectly unleashed the power of this artifact, and with the amplification effect of the Mind Scepter, a massive blizzard is raging across the sky above Manhattan. Of course, if Thor hadn't also summoned a thundercloud in the sky to counter Loki's attack and wait for Loki to unleash the blizzard, Captain America and the others below would probably be doomed.

Thor's current situation is also not favorable.

Loki manipulated the blizzard in the sky, creating a vortex of ice. Within this vortex, countless shards of ice and the occasional hurled ice spears posed a threat to Thor. Ordinary ice was nothing to Thor; in fact, even the coldest places on Earth were only slightly colder to him. However, the frost created by the Casket of Ice was not something he could ignore. A moment of carelessness could leave him severely injured and frozen by Loki, just like the gatekeeper before him.

So now, Thor was surrounded by dazzling lightning, transforming into a humanoid ball of lightning, charging through the sky. While fending off Loki's attacks, he also knocked the Chitauri down. Flashes of lightning and roars of thunder echoed continuously over New York City, thick bolts of lightning tearing apart the unfortunate Chitauri caught in the blizzard created by Loki.

"Loki, stop what you're doing!" Thor shouted from the sky. "Don't make another mistake!"

Hearing Thor's shout, Loki, who was also flying in the air, curled his lip in disdain. What did he mean by "making the same mistake again and again"? It made it sound like he needed Thor's pity or to hold back. If it weren't for the act, he wouldn't bother staying here to play this boring alien invasion game with Thor. As for the Midgards who were affected, oh, sorry, what can you do when they're weak? In the universe, the weak have no rights.

However, this back-and-forth had been going on for over an hour. Although Loki was deliberately not taking the war seriously, merely playing around with the humans and Avengers below, the Chirettas' idiotic performance still drew Loki's silent mockery. While he didn't expect them to be as effective as the Kreegans, at least they shouldn't be so incompetent! After fighting for so long, they couldn't even break through the Midgard defenses wielding outdated weapons. Even if they were using cannon fodder, didn't they understand what a landing operation was? The Chiretta soldiers coming and going were only thinking about how to kill, kill, and kill some more… Well, these guys were brainless too. They turned a landing operation into a handover battle. What a bunch of useless trash! No wonder Thanos used them as cover. These trash were only good for bullying natives who hadn't even set foot on a planet. If it were the Xandarians or Kreegans, they would have already completed the landing operation by now.

'Fine, it's settled now anyway, let's just end it here!' Loki raised his Mind Scepter, clashing it with Thor's hammer as it flew towards him. He then used magic to create distance, pointing the Mind Scepter at the sky. The blue gem on the scepter blazed with a brilliant blue light, which spread upwards, instantly unleashing a fierce blizzard. The next moment, all the ice converged on Loki's location, forming a massive vortex of ice and snow.

"Loki, what do you think you're doing!" Seeing this, Thor, flying on the other side of the sky, changed his expression drastically. Feeling the terrifying icy power gathering above, even he felt a sense of dread. Thor roared at Loki, "Do you want to destroy this city?!"

“You like these mortals, don’t you, my brother!” Loki roared in response. “Or are you only protecting them because of your mortal girl?”

"Then let me see just how great the so-called 'God loves the world' really is!"

"If you don't want this city to become a frozen tomb, my brother, do your best to stop me!"

It's past four in the morning!!!

220. The Battle of New York (Part 6)

Above New York City, howling snowflakes converged to form a massive vortex-like whirlwind, and a huge ice storm raged across the city, relentlessly robbing away at the temperature. Darkness fell, the temperature plummeted, and countless snowflakes whistled down from the sky. The world changed dramatically in the blink of an eye, causing everyone closely watching the battlefield to change their expressions in unison.

Mythology, what is mythology? Moving mountains and filling seas, summoning wind and rain—these were myths in the eyes of ancient humans. Now, in the technological age, humans believe they can do the same things from those stories if they wanted to. However, when mythology actually appeared before modern eyes, everyone was speechless…

Divine grace is as vast as the sea, divine power as deep as a prison.

Above the sky, that magnificent vortex in the heavens loomed over all the residents of New York City, superheroes, soldiers, and others. No one doubted what would happen when that vortex, containing endless storms and frigid temperatures, struck the ground. The biological instinct to foresee danger, long forgotten in the path of intelligent evolution, was reawakened from within their genes. Everyone who was still alive felt the shadow of death looming over them at that moment.

That was the arrival of utter catastrophe.

High in the sky, Loki's figure was obscured by the howling snow, so much so that even Thor, not far away, could no longer see him. Thor, however, had no time to concern himself with such a trivial matter. When the vortex of snow and ice appeared in the sky, Thor stopped shouting and instead raised his hammer, Mjolnir, unleashing countless bolts of lightning that surged into the sky, attempting to use his power to interfere with and influence Loki's spells.

At this point, everyone involved in the battle knew what was happening above. Tony, who was playing a bullet hell game with the Chitauri, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, who were struggling to fight on the battlefield below, Hulk, who was unleashing his full power on the battlefield, and the superheroes, supervillains, and superpowered individuals in every corner of New York City could all feel the immense pressure coming from above.

Unfortunately, there are very few who have the ability to intervene in the battle above. As for the lowly Spider-Man, he's already considering whether to run away immediately—unless, of course, some bloodied, zombie-like, sewer-smelling pervert in a red bodysuit suddenly jumped out of some sewer and grabbed Spider-Man's leg…

"Don't abandon me! Have you forgotten the little rascal by the Daming Lake back then?"

"Let me go, I'm not gay..."

"What? You're not gay? Who are you kidding? Who would leave their girlfriend behind and go out in the middle of the night with a nylon rope to find strong men for physical intimacy?!"

……

Let's shift our focus away from these two JLs, both also in red bodysuits! On the other hand, it's not that there aren't superpowered individuals capable of interfering with the skies. In fact, after the Battle of New York began, a member of one of the X-Men who rushed to provide support possessed the ability to deal with the sky. A woman with white hair and cataracts had begun attempting to use her superpowers to influence the heavens. However, her weather-controlling powers, which normally allowed her to create tornadoes and summon lightning, were now ineffective, or rather, completely unable to affect the blizzards and thunder above. In other words, the powers of those two were simply beyond the reach of a Level 4 mutant like herself. Neither the icy power of the Frozen Box nor the lightning power of Thor's hammer were something she could contend with.

If this were the comic book version, it would be fine, but unfortunately, in this Marvel Cinematic Universe that has been weakened to an extreme, this woman, known as Storm, is not the kind of person who can influence a god-level battlefield, even if the opponents above are only pseudo-gods of planetary gods.

Of course, her inability to influence the situation didn't mean others wouldn't give up. Magneto, also a Level 4 mutant, stretched out his hands, intending to manipulate the magnetic field to resist, but to no avail, causing his expression to darken. This wasn't the comic book version either; Magneto's power had been significantly weakened. It seemed this world's Magneto didn't possess the ability to directly influence a planet's magnetic field. However, Magneto was ruthless; seeing the situation was hopeless, he simply told his men to make a hasty retreat.

The anomaly in the sky dealt a severe blow to all the humans still resisting and fighting. However, the Chiritars, who were meant to be cannon fodder, were quite excited and continued their relentless fire. After all, they were cannon fodder too; these guys were arguably the most self-aware of their role as cannon fodder. While Loki unleashed his ultimate attack, they relentlessly pursued the superheroes and the resistance forces, showing no concern whatsoever that they too would meet a similar fate under this powerful attack.

Hidden in the snowstorm, Loki hovered in the sky, looking down at the battlefield below without uttering a word. At this moment, two powerful spiritual forces, no less potent than his own, were interfering with his spellcasting. One of them, manipulating the power of spatial dimensions, was attempting to pull him and the power he was unleashing into another dimension. However, due to the influence of the Tesseract, and the need to both suppress the expansion of the portal and deal with the overlapping alternate dimensions, its efforts were largely ineffective.

Another spiritual force was simply trying to break through Loki's own mind, but unfortunately, it was completely ineffective against the power of the Mind Scepter.

That's why Loki was able to spare some of his attention to think about other things.

'What powerful magic! What country does that guy come from?' Loki thought gravely. The magic he had just unleashed, which affected the climate of an entire city from the outset, didn't actually come from him. He was more skilled at illusion magic; he wasn't originally capable of magic that directly affected combat like this.

On the contrary, this magic came from the wizard he had collaborated with, which made Loki begin to wonder just where in the universe this guy named Shire came from. After all, this spell called [Ice Crystal Blast] was given to him by him, and combined with the icy power of the Ice Box, even Loki had to admit that this was the magic that could unleash the power of the Ice Box. Its essential power was very close to the divine power of the Ice Box.

'Well, the stronger he is, the better for my plan. Besides, once I learn this magic, combined with the divine power of the Ice Box, I might be able to fight against a God-level being like the Heavenly Father.'

Setting aside his inner thoughts, Loki turned his attention back to the battlefield. Thor and the other Midgard superhumans were all trying to interfere with the formation of the spell called "Ice Crystal Blast." Unfortunately, the power of the Casket of Ice was beyond their control, and the spell was nearing completion.

Holding the Mind Scepter, the ice and snow that had been swirling and concealing Loki vanished, revealing a star shimmering with a cold, white light directly above him. It was a silent, chilling light, a power representing the deadly cold of death.

"My brother, the game is over!" Loki shouted to Thor, then swung his Mind Control Scepter downwards. The cold, white star in the sky trembled and plummeted towards New York City. "To perish with this city!"

"You won't get away with it, Loki!" Thor roared as he charged into the sky. At the same time, the patterns etched on Mjolnir lit up, and powerful lightning surged from the hammer and Thor himself. A deafening roar echoed across the sky, and countless bolts of lightning flashed and converged on the hammer in Thor's hand.

That was the power of Thor's hammer being unleashed.

Ruri Gokou!!! Give me votes if you have them, give me razor blades if you have them!!!

221. The Battle of New York (Part 7)

Mjolnir, Thor's hammer, is a powerful artifact. Throughout Asgard, aside from those acquired through countless battles, it is second only to Gungnir, the Spear of Destiny, which is said to be able to reverse cause and effect. This weapon was also the most powerful and effective artifact against the giants, the formidable enemy of the Aesir gods. Therefore, when Thor was stripped of his identity and power and cast off into Midgard, Loki attempted to bring Mjolnir back to Asgard, but unfortunately, the divine laws governing the hammer did not recognize Loki at that time.

However, while Loki knew that Mjolnir was a powerful artifact, he had no idea just how strong it was. His knowledge of Mjolnir was limited to Odin's accounts and various documents and records in Asgard. But since it was said to be second only to the Spear of Eternity, it must possess power comparable to the Spear of Eternity.

However, in Loki's past memories, Thor didn't possess the ability to unleash the full power of Mjolnir, so Loki never had a clear understanding of it. But now, Loki has finally witnessed the power of Mjolnir, or rather, the power Thor wielded with it.

A brilliant bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and converged upon Thor. At this moment, Thor was bathed in a vast ocean of lightning, standing tall above New York City like a king who wields thunder, majestic and awe-inspiring. Continuous bolts of lightning surged from all directions in the sky, and Mjolnir released powerful thunderous divine power that merged with the converging lightning.

At this moment, Thor was like a super-high-wattage light bulb, radiating incandescent light across the sky. The entire sky above the city had become a sea of ​​lightning, and the ruler of this sea of ​​lightning was Thor, the God of Thunder, located at its very center.

"Loki, your ambitions will be crushed by me!" Thor roared, his voice echoing through the skies above New York City with the sound of thunder. The God of Thunder gripped Mjolnir in both hands, raising it high with endless lightning, aiming it at the falling, cold, white star in the sky. "Witness the power of Mjolnir, witness the might of Thor!"

boom!!!!!

A massive bolt of lightning erupted from Thor's hammer, crashing into the falling, cold white star. The enormous bolt of lightning resembled a towering structure, welcoming the falling star.

On one side, the frigid stars of death; on the other, the blazing lightning shooting into the sky. The two collided high in the air, their immense energies creating terrifying air currents above the city. The two opposing forces clashed and struggled, attempting to crush each other. On the ground, an earthquake swept across the entire city, causing towering buildings to collapse. Those structures below Thor were crushed and shattered by an invisible force into countless fragments of rubble. These fragments, however, did not fall; instead, they defied gravity and hovered in mid-air.

Whether it's the falling meteor or the soaring lightning, the combined force of both would be enough to destroy this world-renowned city. For humanity, this would be a natural disaster, a display of divine power. If Thor wins, the city can be prevented from becoming a frozen tomb. If Thor loses, the frigid meteor will utterly annihilate everyone in the city. Faced with the deathly chill released by the Casket of Ice, few would likely survive.

The clash of forces continued, with neither the falling meteor nor the soaring lightning showing any sign of abating. However, as the crowd below looked up at this mythical scene, Loki, one of the instigators, frowned.

Thor's outburst was unexpected, and the power unleashed by Mjolnir exceeded Loki's expectations. Loki had never imagined that Mjolnir could one day unleash an attack with the force of a warship's main cannon. However, this was not in his script. Now, the two forces were clashing, and even the icy meteors created by [Ice Crystal Blast] were being pushed back by the direction of Thor's cannon fire. Although Loki didn't intend to actually destroy the city below, and this attack was merely a signal for someone to end the show, he hadn't expected that Thor would suddenly unleash his full power in the face of crisis.

"It's alright, in fact, this situation is even better. This way, neither your homeland nor those idiotic politicians on Earth will want you here." Just as Loki felt trapped, Ciel's voice came through the secret communication link. "You should still be able to increase your output, so let's keep going!"

"You said it yourself, wizard," Loki replied over the communication link. "I'm not responsible for anything that happens!" He disconnected the link and coldly raised his scepter again. The gems on the scepter once more emitted blue flames, which then transformed into a beam of light that shot towards the falling, cold white star.

Thor, wielding Mjolnir, suddenly descended a great distance, his hands gripping the hammer, muscles taut, veins bulging. The beam of light emanating from the Mind Scepter amplified the meteor's power, catching Thor completely off guard. In the sky, the battle between the meteor and the lightning began to shift; the meteor started to slowly descend, clearly indicating that Thor's lightning was no longer sufficient to counter the amplified meteor's power.

Facing the falling star, Thor desperately wielded Mjolnir, unleashing ever greater divine power in an attempt to reverse the sudden disadvantage. Thor's roar echoed with thunder. Even in the face of an unfavorable situation that threatened his own safety, the Asgardian Thor did not give up. Instead, he relentlessly pushed every ounce of his power to turn the tide.

——————————Divider Line——————————

"..." Watching the battle between Thor and the falling meteor in the sky, Tony stood frozen in mid-air, speechless as the struggle for the city's survival unfolded. He was a proud man, with unwavering confidence in his Iron Man armor, but now that confidence had vanished. The battle above could crush him and his armor like ants. Thinking about it, Loki's surrender in Germany was clearly a deliberate act. And in the instant Thor appeared, Tony's fight with him clearly showed that even the God of Thunder had let his guard down.

This was a significant blow to the proud Tony. Reality told him that his Iron Man armor wasn't actually that powerful, and against those extraordinary monsters, even his Mark VII suit was utterly ineffective.

"Jarvis, remember to remind me to speed up the development of new models!" However, as an inventor who specializes in developing cutting-edge technology, Tony did not lose confidence. Instead, he felt a strong sense of crisis and responsibility.

"Sir, Mr. Charles Gretel has sent you a message asking if you want to answer."

"What's going on? Didn't he say he wouldn't get involved?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "Let's continue and see if he still has the time for that!"

"This doesn't look good!" Charles's voice came through the comms.

"Of course, who told you to just stand by and watch..." Tony said in an unfriendly tone, "Now look what's happened, if that falls down there, we're all doomed!"

“So! Now it’s affected me too…” Ciel said, “And Loki did it himself, so it’s understandable that I retaliate.”

"A counterattack? You have a way to resolve this nuclear collision scenario?!"

How will you know if you don't try?!

222. The Battle of New York (Part 8)

Lightning and meteors clashed in the sky. After Loki used the power of the Mind Scepter to amplify the meteors, Thor's situation gradually sank into the abyss.

Holding aloft a dazzling bolt of lightning, Thor gritted his teeth and used all his strength to lift Mjolnir. Even though he had reached his limit, Thor refused to give up and continued to squeeze out as much of his divine power as possible to pour into Mjolnir, constantly stimulating it to try and unleash more thunderous power.

As one of the most powerful artifacts in Asgard, Mjolnir's power shouldn't be limited to this. However, even with his title as Thor, he couldn't fully unleash its power. This weapon, forged from the core of a star, possesses immense power, but the extent to which its power can be drawn depends entirely on the user. If it were Odin, a god of the heavens, he could naturally unleash Mjolnir's full power. Unfortunately, for Thor, still a planetary god, his divine power wasn't sufficient to fully unleash the full potential of Mjolnir.

Faced with this crisis, even Thor, with his resilient mind and unwavering fighting spirit, couldn't help but show signs of fatigue. His body had reached its limit during the battle, and using divine power to wield Mjolnir was also a burden on himself. The Mjolnir, which used to feel as light as a feather in his hands, now felt increasingly heavy.

"Loki! I won't let you destroy this city..." Thor shouted with all his might, "I will correct your mistakes with my own hands!" As he spoke, Thor squeezed out the last of his divine power, attempting a final desperate struggle.

"It's no use, Thor, my brother." Loki coldly watched Thor struggling. Mjolnir was no less powerful than the Casket of Ice, both being artifacts of the same level. However, Loki now possessed an artifact that surpassed both Mjolnir and the Casket of Ice—the Mind Scepter. The gems embedded in the scepter were undoubtedly cosmic treasures. Even if Loki could only exert a slight influence of the gems' power, it still brought him a tremendous boost.

This amplification, combined with the power of the Casket of Ice, greatly increased Loki's divine power, almost reaching the pinnacle of a planetary god. It could even be said that if Loki wanted to, with the amplification from the Mind Scepter and the divine power of the Casket of Ice, he could easily create a massive cold wave on Earth, just like Laufey's invasion of Midgard a thousand years ago, plunging the planet into an ice age.

This power has exceeded Thor's limits. No matter how hard he tries, no matter how much he tries to unleash the power of Mjolnir, he will be far from being able to reach it, unless he immediately becomes a Celestial and fully unleashes the power of Mjolnir.

"Farewell, Thor!" Loki said softly, then pointed the Mind Staff at Thor, who was still struggling to hold up his lightning bolt. Blue flames surged on the Mind Staff. Thor, who had used all his divine power to fight the meteor, had no strength left to defend himself. Now, a beam of light shot directly from the staff at the unsuspecting Thor.

A beam of azure light streaked across the sky, aimed directly at Thor's chest. Seeing the beam approaching, Thor's face paled. Without any defenses, he was entirely vulnerable to being pierced through the chest. Memories of the past flashed through his eyes, finally settling on a certain Earth girl. Thor slowly closed his eyes.

'Goodbye, Jane…'

"Tiid Klo UI [Time Delay]"

—The World [Time Stops]

Just as Thor seemed to give up and closed his eyes, a soft voice rang out. The next moment, gray replaced the original world, and the sky above Thor and Loki was instantly enveloped in gray. This gray area covered the entire sky, and both the lightning bolts Thor fired with Mjolnir and the meteors Loki created ceased at that instant.

Movements, expressions... everything in this area inexplicably froze in place.

Throughout the battlefield in New York City, everyone who could witness this scene stared in utter shock. Tony, who was closest, was completely dumbfounded. Although his faceplate obscured his face, it couldn't hide his astonishment. Then, reacting quickly, Tony immediately activated various detection devices to scan the gray space that resembled an old photograph…