The Final Battle – Part 3
A portion of the Moon was descending toward Earth.
The sky itself seemed to be on fire.
Gigantic chunks of rock tore through the atmosphere wrapped in flames, leaving enormous orange trails stretching from one end of the horizon to the other.
For one brief moment...
Even the battlefield fell silent.
Some tried to stay calm, but the fear in their eyes was unmistakable.
Several Outriders took advantage of that distraction and nearly reached them.
Fortunately, Wanda was there and reacted immediately, protecting the heroes who had let their guard down.
Nicolás, who was still in the air on his flying motorcycle, glanced up at the sky for a moment.
But his focused expression didn't change.
He looked back through his rifle's scope and kept firing at the invaders, as though the burning sky above him didn't concern him in the slightest.
Peter, with his Spider-Man suit in tatters, looked up with his mouth hanging open, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Just as an Outrider was about to sink its vicious teeth into his shoulder, Pietro appeared at incredible speed and shoved him aside.
Then, in the same instant, he swung a metal staff, smashing the monster and sending it flying into another group of Outriders.
"Hey, rookie. Don't get distracted. You've still got to earn those points if you want to raise your hero rank," he said with an amused smile, not looking frightened in the slightest.
"Uh... ah... but..." Peter stammered, unable to stop looking at the sky, making it obvious he was terrified humanity might actually go extinct.
"Idiot. Take a good look around you," Pietro said with a sigh as he pointed toward several parts of the battlefield.
In the sky, a red-haired woman calmly waved one hand while her telekinetic power effortlessly sent several aliens flying.
Jean Grey.
Not far from her, a man wearing red-tinted glasses was firing a powerful optic beam from his eyes while seemingly trying to get closer to Jean, only to have her keep moving away with an annoyed expression.
Cyclops.
Then there was a man who looked as though he were posing for a magazine photoshoot even while fighting, wielding that violet energy Peter recognized as ionic energy. His face looked strangely familiar, like that of a famous actor, and a giant W covered his chest.
Wonder Man.
And then there was a woman dressed in black and white who seemed to command the light around her with ease.
Monica Rambeau.
Those Class S heroes continued fighting with complete composure, controlling the battlefield and making sure the weaker heroes didn't get hurt. They seemed more focused on protecting them than on the threat hanging in the sky, which they barely spared a glance.
"And it's not just them. The others are all standing by at their assigned positions in case something goes wrong. The only reason they didn't join Owen and the others against that purple guy is because if all of them fought him together, Earth would be destroyed just from the combined force of their powers. Besides, you have no idea what that guy might do if he gets desperate," Pietro said casually.
"Then if they're that strong... why don't they stop that?" Peter asked, pointing toward the sky.
"Owen didn't ask for help, did he?" Pietro replied with a smile, as though the answer should have been obvious.
Peter seemed to freeze upon hearing that simple reply.
Then his eyes shifted toward Owen, who was still standing in front of Thanos, watching him carefully.
He didn't even seem to have noticed that the sky itself was falling on top of them.
Or maybe...
He had.
...
"I told you. Not even all of you will be enough," Thanos said mockingly as he looked at Owen and the others. None of them seemed willing to confront the catastrophe descending upon them.
But no one answered.
The first to move was Strange.
Dozens of golden circles appeared around him as his hands moved rapidly.
Crimson beams burst from the ground, trying to ensnare Thanos as though hell itself wanted to drag him away.
Thanos wore a mocking expression and threw a punch into the air.
The Power Stone blazed brilliantly within the Gauntlet as a sonic shockwave shattered the ground around him...
And with it, dispersed the Sorcerer Supreme's magic.
"Hercules, take care of it," Owen said calmly as he charged at Thanos once more.
The two crimson daggers traced brilliant arcs toward the Titan.
Thanos blocked both blades with the Gauntlet while throwing a punch with his free hand.
Owen vanished in a crimson flash just before the blow connected.
The shockwave ripped entire buildings from their foundations several streets away.
"Just don't finish the fight without me!" Hercules shouted with a broad grin, giving Thanos one last look before turning his eyes toward the sky and lowering himself into a crouch.
He gathered all his strength into his legs and vanished from sight as though he had teleported.
But he hadn't.
A second later, a sonic explosion shook the city and the ground beneath his feet collapsed, leaving behind a massive crater with the demigod's footprints marked at its center.
Then the largest lunar fragment exploded into thousands of smaller pieces.
"HAHAHAHA!" Hercules's laughter echoed from the sky before he vanished again among multiple sonic booms. He propelled himself from the rocks falling toward Earth, destroying them with the force of every jump.
Thanos looked away for an instant.
A single one of those heroes was destroying the lunar fragments he had thrown, moving through them as if the catastrophe were nothing more than another challenge.
For a moment, his expression lost that absolute confidence.
"Doctor, don't let him use the Stones again!" Owen shouted as he reappeared behind Thanos, taking advantage of the Titan's distraction.
"I'm working on it," Strange replied as new golden chains emerged from the ground, trying to restrain the Titan once again.
Thanos made a motion to close his fist, but before he could, Blue Marvel appeared in front of him and Owen reappeared behind him.
Both attacked at the same time: Blue Marvel with a fist charged with antimatter and Owen with all the repulsion energy accumulated in his own.
Thanos raised his palm to stop the more dangerous energy: Blue Marvel's antimatter.
But by doing so, he left his back exposed.
Owen's fist struck him squarely in the back.
And just as it was about to send him flying, Strange's chains wrapped around Thanos's arms.
Tony flew overhead with another charge of energy gathered in his cannons.
But Thanos, even while restrained by the chains, managed to close his fist.
The Reality Stone lit up.
His body dissolved into black mist and reappeared exactly where he had been before the attack, as if everything that had happened during the last few seconds had been erased.
And he already had his fist prepared to launch an attack.
Blue Marvel was the first to receive the counterattack. Thanos appeared directly behind him before he could react.
Blue Marvel barely managed to cover himself with his energy before being sent flying, smashing through several buildings.
"You've got to be kidding me," Tony said when he confirmed that the Titan had kept none of his injuries. Even Thanos's armor had returned to its original condition.
Blue Marvel barely managed to shield himself with his energy before being sent flying through several city blocks, disappearing among the buildings.
And he had accomplished all of that using only two Stones.
Owen didn't even seem surprised that the monster still wasn't taking the battle seriously.
But even that didn't seem to worry him too much.
Right at that moment...
A web of lightning tore across the sky.
"BOOOOOOOM!!"
The lunar fragments destroyed by Hercules were still falling like a rain of debris. They were no longer as dangerous as the original meteors, but they could still devastate the city.
The lightning spread between them like serpents, seeking out every fragment and reducing it to dust before it could touch the ground.
"About time," Owen said with a somewhat annoyed expression.
From the cloud of debris wrapped in lightning descended a figure holding an enormous battle axe surrounded by electricity.
Like a god descending from the heavens.
No.
It was a god descending from the heavens.
Thor descended with his armor gleaming among the lightning while storm clouds gathered around him, forming a massive vortex crossed by bolts of electricity.
"Looks like I arrived just in time!" Thor said with a dangerous smile directed at Thanos.
Without slowing down, he threw the axe.
Another meteor was reduced to dust.
Hercules burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! That's how it's done!"
Hercules made a colossal leap.
His mace came crashing down with all his strength.
"BOOOOOOOM!!"
Another one of the enormous fragments shattered in midair.
It was the last one that still posed a threat.
Now the Moon seemed to be missing an entire layer, but not a single one of its fragments had reached Earth.
Although...
The planet was possibly suffering much more from the battle between all those heroes.
Thor extended one hand, and his axe returned to it amid bolts of lightning.
Then he lowered his gaze toward Thanos.
"Now..." he said as his smile disappeared. "I believe it's my turn."