The Hammer Is Metal, So Magneto Controls It

The Hammer Is Metal, So Magneto Controls It "Loki really was protecting Thor in secret. He talked like he wanted nothing more than to kill his own brother, yet he would never allow anyone else to lay a finger on Thor."

In fact, Duva had noticed Loki's presence the moment he started pacing back and forth.

That was right. Duva had no magic or divine power, and his eyes could not see invisible Loki. But he possessed countless Xenomorphs, which meant he possessed countless "eyes."

If Loki walked, he had to step on the ground. The dust and sand on the ground, the particles floating in the air, the movement of the air itself—all of it fell within the sensory range of Xenomorphs, living weapons of war. Even if they could not see Loki, by focusing on these minute details, they could detect his presence and movements.

Duva simply had not exposed him. If Loki's invisibility spell were truly flawless and could ignore the most fundamental laws of physics in the universe, he would not need to argue with Thor at all. He could easily pin Thor down and beat him.

Honestly, when Loki discovered the Queen, Duva had already been assessing whether the Queen could kill Loki alone.

The answer was no.

The reason was simple. The Queen was terrifyingly powerful, but Loki in this universe was most likely not on the same level as the movie version—or rather, the Loki from Universe No. 199999.

Leaving aside normal Loki's formidable divine power and magic, he was the infamous Evil God of the Nine Realms. That reputation had not been earned through bragging.

Just one example: Loki's regenerative ability was even stronger than Wolverine's! Even if Loki stood still and let someone attack him however they pleased, he would still be hard to kill! On top of that, Loki was descended from Frost Giants, possessed powerful bloodlines, had received over a thousand years of meticulous instruction from Odin and his wife, and carried a full set of equipment. He was also treacherous to the bone and would not recklessly charge in like Thor, which meant he was even less likely to expose a weakness.

That was why Loki had enough confidence to call himself the second greatest magician in the Nine Realms in front of Kaecilius. Duva, who had been monitoring him from afar through the Xenomorphs, acknowledged that as well.

Though Kaecilius did not. As the Ancient One's chief disciple and Dormammu's carefully cultivated top enforcer, he did not believe he would lose to an Asgardian!

Even if that Asgardian was a god!

"You do have some skill, reaching such heights in both divine power and magic. I understand now—you are Loki, the Evil God? But you only accumulated this strength because of your long lifespan!"

Kaecilius flung out Cyttorak's Crimson Chains and lashed Loki viciously, but the attack passed straight through him. Kaecilius sneered. "If I had a thousand years to train, forget divine power—even if I only studied magic, I could kill you in one move!"

He had only trained for a few decades to reach his current level! Loki kept casting spells, creating numerous afterimages of himself. His brow furrowed slightly. He had to admit that this Midgardian mage was indeed powerful.

No wonder he had earned the favor and teachings of both the Ancient One and Dormammu.

But he was still inferior to Loki! "This world has never been fair, has it? Some people are born as descendants of gods, while others are born lowly; some people gain everyone's approval no matter what they do, while others remain beneath them no matter how hard they try!!"

Loki thought of Thor, who had once shone brilliantly in Asgard, and hatred surged within him. Jealousy and resentment nearly consumed his mind.

Kaecilius sneered. "Ridiculous. Birth is nothing but an excuse. Through years of hard work, I gained the power to kill an Evil God like you!"

"You have made a fatal mistake: you have severely underestimated the power of gods... mortal."

Loki created numerous duplicates, desperately avoiding the Crimson Chains. If that thing struck him even once, Loki felt that no matter how strong his regeneration was, it would not feel good. This was a whip formed from demonic power borrowed from Cyttorak!

These two Great Magicians were truly fighting in earnest, hurling all manner of powerful spells as though they cost nothing. Whether to establish themselves as the true second greatest magician or to kill the other as quickly as possible and clear away an obstacle, neither held back.

But one thing was certain: after this battle, both of them would need a long time to recover from their injuries—who knew how badly their bodies and minds would be damaged after paying the price to all those gods of Multiversal Position.

Considering their talent and backing, those multiversal big shots probably would not drain the two of them into dried corpses in one go.

"What a spectacular battle. If this is a clash of magic, just how powerful must the Ancient One be?"

Duva watched the two fight while pinning down and savagely beating an enhanced Deviant. His clothes were torn to shreds, exposing round, full arms. Every muscle was exceptionally strong, possessing just the right kind of beauty.

Different muscle groups erupted with tremendous force at once as Duva used them to brutally pummel the Deviant.

Though this enhanced Deviant's defense had greatly improved, it had not reached the point of being impervious to blades and bullets. Duva had already begun breaking through its defenses bit by bit with heavy punches. He intended to beat this Deviant half to death, then parasitize it on the spot.

"How much power did that Leader absorb from Juggernaut? No, the real question should be: how much of Cyttorak's power did Juggernaut in this universe inherit? So far, that beast's overall strength is nowhere near Sub-Skyfather Level."

Duva looked up. Another ordinary Deviant had gained Juggernaut's abilities from the Leader, becoming immensely large and powerful.

A clear change had appeared in the battle. The Deviants Leader finally had room to act and was no longer overwhelmed by a beating from more than ten Xenomorphs.

This meant the balance was slowly tilting.

Smack!

Seeing Duva still fighting, Thor barely managed to pull himself together. He looked around, then finally picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it viciously at a Deviant.

Good. Thunder God Your Excellency had done his best.

"Do I need to send out the Queen already?" Duva gripped the enhanced Deviant's throat tightly and pondered.

Loki and Kaecilius were both troublesome opponents. Sending out the Queen could at least tie one of them down for a while.

As for the possibility of the Queen dying... as long as there was still a Xenomorph hiding in some Safe Zone somewhere in the world, there was no need to worry about whether the Queen died.

Duva thought for a moment, then had an idea.

Inside the travel bag he had tossed aside, one Xenomorph Egg opened on its own. A Facehugger crawled out, swiftly pounced on the enhanced Deviant Duva was holding down, and completed the parasitism.

Thor gave it a confused glance, then immediately lost interest. He was numb all over now. If not for seeing Duva, who had saved his life, still fighting, and if not for the pride in his bones that kept him from wanting to owe someone a favor, he would have given up long ago.

"You enhance one of your kind, and I parasitize one. Let's see who can outlast whom," Duva said calmly.

If necessary, he could temporarily retreat and have the Queen lay eggs somewhere, then attack these few remaining Deviants again with new Xenomorph Eggs, killing one fewer with every strike.

Likewise, every enhanced Deviant eliminated meant the Deviants Leader permanently lost another portion of its strength, the kind it could never reclaim.

The number of Deviants was limited. Once one died, there was permanently one fewer. But Xenomorphs were different. If Duva had not lacked enough top-tier strength and feared being hunted by the entire world, he could have assembled a Xenomorph Army of hundreds or thousands in minutes. Given a little more time, he could even field tens of thousands! As long as he dragged things out, as long as Duva did not die, the Deviants were destined to lose this battle! Duva sensed that most of the Deviants that had appeared had already been dealt with by his Xenomorphs. Including the Leader, only ten remained.

"How do you intend to choose? While you still hold the upper hand, will you decisively flee with your remaining people? Or will you keep fighting? And how will you fight—by enhancing even more of your people? Then you will not have much strength left. Once I can break through your defenses..."

Duva looked down at the parasitized Deviant, which had fallen unconscious, then raised his head and met the Deviants Leader's gaze.

The Deviants Leader's answer was to keep fighting. It would not give up easily.

"Interesting. I'm curious why you appeared here. Even if Thor attracted you here, that means you were already nearby... if Thor had not been involved, what was the purpose of your tribe's migration?" Duva was deeply interested.

Just as Duva decided to lead his forces in fighting these Deviants to the bitter end—

Whoosh! A figure moving at astonishing speed raced across the land. The speed was so incredible that, viewed from the sky, the person would look like a streak of light cutting across the horizon. They had also brought along two companions.

"At that level of speed, only a few people can manage it. So the ones arriving are... the Eternals? The people I have been waiting for have finally come." Duva raised an eyebrow.

Odin, the leader of the Nine Realms, had been beaten by Arishem a thousand years ago. Now that the Son of Odin had lost his divine power and appeared on Earth, it was perfectly reasonable for these Eternals, who had been forced to reenter the world, to show up.

The question was whether Arishem had issued a new command behind all this.

"Don't worry. We came to deal with the Deviants."

An extremely imposing woman stood in front of the other two and spoke.

She was Ajak, the leader of the eleven Eternals. She possessed extraordinary regenerative abilities and could communicate directly with the Celestial Arishem.

One burly man charged straight at the Deviants Leader and immediately slapped it hard across the face.

Duva recognized him. This guy was Gilgamesh. He possessed immense strength and a powerful physique and was an expert at throwing slaps.

The woman with Super Speed, Makkari, stood silently beside Ajak as her guard. At the slightest sign of trouble, she would immediately take Ajak and flee.

"Why didn't Ikaris come? Is he dead?" Duva glanced around.

Of the eleven Eternals, only five could fight.

Besides Ikaris, there was another man named Kingo who specialized in energy attacks, but he had not come. There was also the female warrior Thena. Because she had awakened too many fragments of past memories, she had become mentally unstable. It would be fortunate enough if she did not kill her Eternal companions, let alone join the battle.

In other words, Ajak had brought the only two Eternals capable of fighting, and both had come.

"He hid the fact that a group of Deviants was hiding in Alaska from us, so he was expelled. He is no longer one of us." Ajak spoke to Duva in a cool voice. "We should join forces. Eliminating the Deviants is the most urgent matter."

"Your words lack all sincerity. Who knows what you are plotting? Perhaps once these Deviants are dead, you Eternals will turn around and attack me. After all, you have an example like Ikaris among you."

"That was a misunderstanding. Your Xenomorphs look too much like Deviants, so Ikaris—"

"I don't want to hear your explanation, ma'am. I only want to know where people like you intend to stand. Every notable person in the world is searching for your whereabouts. Do you have that lady who is good at running carry you around the world every time you take action?"

As Duva spoke, he looked down at the enhanced Deviant, which was about to awaken.

With Gilgamesh charging at the front and joining forces with the Abomination Xenomorph and the other Deviant Xenomorphs, they had suppressed the Deviants again, buying Duva time.

Ajak clearly knew Duva was stalling, but she was extremely wise. Though displeased, after a brief silence, she still said, "We bear a far more important mission. We can discuss the future later. For now, we must first eliminate the Deviants that prey on humanity."

"Kill all the Deviants and help humanity reproduce faster, so you can achieve your goal?" Duva saw the Deviant beneath his feet awaken and gripped its throat again.

Ajak looked deeply at Duva. "Ikaris was right. You really do know something... I also cannot allow the Deviants to harm humanity on a massive scale. Besides, even if we do not stop them, there is no longer enough time."

Because the Celestial within Earth's core would soon fully develop and awaken.

Earth was about to face its end.

"Unfortunately, you Eternals have not only made an enemy of me. The moment you appeared here, I notified a petty-minded fellow to come help... They have someone skilled in spatial movement, faster than your movement speed." Duva sensed something and immediately shook his head.

Things were getting lively now.

Far away in New York, Raven and Magneto had a conversation.

Through the Xenomorph in Raven's chest that had yet to Chestburst, Duva notified Raven in real time, and Raven immediately contacted Magneto.

Sure enough, a cloud of red smoke appeared, and Red Devil teleported Magneto over.

Duva suddenly thought of something, and his expression turned strange.

"Both the Eternals and the Deviants are here. Last time, you ghostly things caught us off guard and too many of you escaped. That will not happen this time."

The moment Magneto saw Ajak, a cold and stern expression appeared on his aged face, causing Ajak's expression to change sharply.

Just as Magneto was about to unleash his full power and create a powerful magnetic field to seal off the entire area, sensing and controlling every metallic element in the air and underground, he suddenly gave a soft sound of surprise and turned toward the... hammer on the ground.