Ryan crossed his twin axes in front of him, smashing through the Leviathan's sharp teeth like a cannonball and plunging straight into its body!
Then... Boom——!!
Purple lightning erupted from within the Leviathan, blowing the entire creature into a spray of flesh and blood!
Loki, who had been standing on the Leviathan, was out of luck. Unable to fly, he was not only drenched in foul blood from the exploding Leviathan but was also sent flying several blocks away by the blast's Impact, finally crashing onto a road and plowing a long furrow in the pavement!
Loki lay on the ground clutching his scepter, feeling the soreness all over his body, and felt as if this scene was strangely familiar.
The last time he came to Earth, leading the Frost Giant army to conquer the planet, he seemed to have ended up lying on the ground questioning his life with the same full-body ache... and both times, it was because of the same person!
Moreover, looking at Ryan in the sky, holding twin axes and crackling with purple lightning, Loki felt a sense of bloodline suppression from him, much like what he felt from Thor!
Last time, the opponent was just simply strong, but now he gave Loki a pressure akin to that of a god!
The more he looked, the more Loki felt that the current Ryan was terrifyingly formidable.
Therefore, he couldn't care less about invading Earth or anything else; he planned to take advantage of his Chitauri army stalling the opponent to make a quick getaway!
I don't want this Earth anymore, damn it!
But just as Loki scrambled up from the ground, ready to run, he found that Ryan in the sky was completely ignoring the Chitauri army pouring out of the portal and spreading in all directions, and was instead flying straight toward him!
Wha... What the f—!
Loki's eyes widened, and he turned and began to sprint wildly.
He kept cursing in his heart: Aren't you Superheroes on Earth supposed to focus on the big picture?
Aren't you supposed to prioritize saving civilians?
Why is this guy only fixated on me?
Aren't you afraid more people will die because of this?
Ryan's attitude was: what does it matter to me how many people die? I just want to blow you up first!
Loki running on two legs naturally couldn't compete with Ryan's flying speed with his axes, so no matter how fast Loki ran, he was soon overtaken by Ryan.
Upon catching up, Ryan showed no mercy, swinging a World-Splitting Strike toward Loki!
Even before the axe landed, Loki already felt the terrifying sensation of his hair standing on end, so he unhesitatingly turned and blocked with the scepter in front of him!
Clang——————
Thud thud thud thud thud————————
Facing Ryan's heavy, powerful axe strike, even though Loki was royalty with physical stats incomparable to ordinary Frost Giants or Asgardians, he couldn't withstand it for even 0.1 seconds. He was sent flying backward like a Rocket, smashing through a whole street's worth of vehicles before crashing violently into a skyscraper!
Fortunately, when the portal opened in the sky, the civilians on the nearby streets—having learned from the precedent of the Frost Giant Clan's invasion three months ago—had immediately headed to nearby underground safety shelters.
Otherwise, with just this one move, Ryan would have been burdened with the infamy of 'look at what you've protected.'
Although Ryan didn't care about infamy... Om————————
However, seeing more and more Leviathan beasts and Chitauri individual flight units in the sky, Ryan frowned and turned to throw the two giant axes in his hands with force.
The two giant axes seemed to have their own intelligence, autonomously slaying one Chitauri soldier after another in the air.
Of course, they mainly targeted the Chitauri forces around the Parker Tower.
Ryan didn't want his building to be scrapped along with everything else after the Battle of New York ended.
After all, although he wasn't short on money now, repairing the building would still consume his precious time for making money.
And to deal with a grounded Loki, he didn't need the help of his twin axes at all.
With a sudden burst of speed, Ryan turned into a blurred shadow and rushed into the building Loki had crashed into.
At this moment, Loki was leaning against a cracked wall, his bleeding arms gripping the Mind Stone scepter, which now had a notch in its shaft!
Clearly, although Loki had relied on the Mind Stone to block Ryan's merciless axe strike, both he and the scepter were not in good shape.
Ryan, seeing this scene after entering, walked step by step to Loki, looking down at him with disdain: "This time, what method do you plan to use to deceive me? Faking your death again?"
As he spoke, without any warning, Ryan suddenly reached out and grabbed the air beside him, then lifted the air up.
Loki's true form appeared in his hand as green light flickered around him.
Feeling the familiar tightness around his neck, Loki was already on the verge of tears.
Why is it like this again!
Last time he prepared to run, he was caught by another bug for the same reason.
And this time he had learned his lesson; Loki swore that he just wanted to escape and hadn't shown a hint of malice toward this person, even leaving the Mind Stone behind because his arms were useless. Why was he still discovered?
Sensing a hint of confusion amidst the fear in Loki's emotions, Ryan grinned:
"An Illusionary Double plus a cloaked main body, and being able to control your malice toward me under these circumstances... if it were me from a day ago, you might have actually slipped away again..."
"But unfortunately... today is not like the past. As long as you still have emotions, you can't escape from me..."
"So today, you can't escape, little Loki..."
Under Loki's terrified gaze, Ryan's fingers began to exert force. No matter how hard Loki struggled, it was in vain; with his broken arms, he couldn't resist at all. His face turned from blue to purple, and his life was flashing before his eyes.
He thought of his unfulfilled grand ambitions, of his brother exiled to Earth, of his mother Frigga, the only one in Asgard who cared for him, and finally... of the father who had never given him validation!
I... just... wanted your validation once... why is it... so hard... The life flash-back seemed long, but it actually happened in less than a second. Just as Ryan was about to snap Loki's neck, a strong sense of danger suddenly came from above Ryan's head.
Ryan unhesitatingly held Loki up high, using him as a shield in the direction the danger was coming from!
In the next moment, a golden light from the sky pierced through the entire building they were in, falling straight toward Ryan!
But just as it neared the Loki held by Ryan, the golden light actually took a turn, bypassing Loki and slashing at Ryan's hands, forcing Ryan to release the Loki he was holding!
Loki also fell to the ground.
And the golden light didn't stop after missing, transforming into a rapidly spinning golden light-wheel that attacked Ryan again!
"Do you really think I'm a pushover!"
Ryan stopped dodging, his right hand transforming into a sharp blade, carrying purple lightning as he struck fiercely at the incoming golden light-wheel!
Boom——————
With this strike, Ryan felt a force capable of rivaling his own for the first time, and he slid back a distance in the collision!
But he also successfully knocked away the incoming golden light-wheel and saw its true face.
Standing trembling in front of Loki after being knocked away by his blade was none other than the all-fathers exclusive weapon Loki had brought last time, gungnir!
But compared to when Loki held it last time, when it looked like just a relatively ornate, ordinary weapon.
This time, in addition to its magnificence, the shaft of gungnir emitted a dazzling golden light, filled with a holy aura.
And just like Thor's hammer Mjolnir, it possessed its own sentience rather than being just a cold weapon.
And there was only one person in all of Asgard who could wield gungnir to this extent, and that was...