A few minutes earlier.
"I've had enough! Necrocraft, shatter their formation at once!"
Seeing that the Dark Aster still had not landed, Ronan issued the order.
A large number of Necrocraft bypassed the Nova Corps' defensive line and headed straight for the ground.
"Commander Saal, they've begun bombing! Should we disperse the formation?"
A pilot loudly asked his superior for a decision.
All Nova ships were being used to maintain the defensive formation. There was no spare force left to deal with enemy craft bombing the ground.
"No! Hold the formation!"
Commander Saal knew which priority mattered more and ordered them to stand firm.
They had to keep the Dark Aster in the air.
The ground began to come under attack.
Xandar's civilians and buildings began to suffer damage.
Necrocraft attacks rained down upon the ground.
Some even launched suicidal attacks, crashing recklessly into towering buildings.
A pink-skinned little girl watched an approaching ship from her mother's arms.
She still had no idea what tragedy would unfold the next second.
"Rat-a-tat-tat..."
Boom—
A sudden barrage of concentrated fire successfully intercepted the ship.
The pitiful mother and daughter were saved.
It was Rocket and his men.
"Keep Ronan in the sky, Saal! We'll protect the people below."
Rocket's slightly shrill voice came through the communicator into Commander Saal's ears.
Rolling his eyes, Saal was on the verge of collapse.
"I can't believe I have to take orders from a giant hamster..."
Yet his hands did not slow in the slightest as he decisively increased the output of the energy field.
Avengers Tower.
Thor looked at Su Ming with an awkward expression.
Forcing himself to speak, he said,
"Well... buddy, strictly speaking, this doesn't count as you lifting Mjolnir.
So you... you're not qualified either."
Thor felt that argument was rather