Phantom Confrontation in the Trial of Thunder

Lin Xiu pressed his knuckles against a broken wall. Rough concrete scraped his fingertips, and protruding rebar burrs pricked them with a faint pain, making every sensation exceptionally clear.

To the east, purple-black clouds churned like a surging tide, faster and faster. Their rolling roar resembled a stampede of ten thousand horses, as though an invisible hand were tearing at the membrane of space—that was the sign that the Loki Wormhole was about to open.

Lin Xiu looked up. The purple-black clouds resembled a massive vortex, endlessly swallowing the surrounding light.

The Nanocore pounded powerfully in his chest, each beat sending a slight tremor through him. The Oracle System's blue glow flickered across his retinas, leaving his eyes faintly sore. He stared at the new prompt that had appeared: [Asgardian energy source distance: 1.7 kilometers. Direction: 30° north by east.]

"Find Thor first," he murmured. His Adam's apple bobbed, the soft sound unusually distinct in the silence.

The mysterious voice that had spoken of "rewriting fate" when he crossed over three days ago had been too vague, but the Balder Armor's abnormal reaction to Asgardian energy offered a ready-made breakthrough. Back in the Quantum Laboratory, the armor could not even withstand an ordinary electromagnetic pulse. Yet after absorbing a small Tesseract Fragment last night, the Oracle System had suddenly gained an "Energy Resonance" module.

He needed to verify one thing: could this Nano Armor truly resonate with Thor's Power?

And if it did resonate, what kind of chain reaction would it trigger in a world where the Loki Wormhole was about to open?

The wind howled, whipping up the dark gray cloak over his shoulders. It was the camouflage layer in tactical mode, with nanoparticles simulating the feel of coarse linen as they brushed against his skin. Even S.H.I.E.L.D. satellites might not recognize the flowing metallic sheen beneath it, which flickered faintly in the dim light with a mysterious glimmer.

Lin Xiu slid down the rebar along the edge of the ruins. His boots scraped sparks from the brick wall with a piercing screech. He deliberately let a thread of energy seep from the Tesseract Fragment in the groove of his breastplate, like tossing a pebble into a pond.

The evacuees on Brooklyn Bridge were already in chaos.

White-collar workers in suits sprinted while clutching briefcases, their hurried footsteps clattering. A housewife pushing a stroller had her calf cut by shattered glass. Drops of blood fell onto the bridge, mixing with crushed Starbucks cups and spreading into a murky purple stain across the concrete. The scent of blood hung in the air, nauseatingly thick.

Terrified screams and cries rose from the crowd, their faces filled with fear and confusion.

Lin Xiu blended into the flow of people. The edge of his camouflage cloak lifted and fell in the wind, perfectly concealing the pale golden pattern emerging on the back of his left hand—it was the Nanocore actively tracking Thor's energy fluctuations.

When the first thunderclap exploded, the tremendous boom made Lin Xiu's eardrums ache, but the back of his neck reacted first.

It felt as if someone had brushed it with an electrified feather. Nanoparticles rustled and leaped beneath his skin, bringing a tingling sensation.

Lin Xiu looked up and saw the storm clouds split open. A blue-white bolt of lightning, wrapped around a human figure, plunged straight down. The lightning tore through the sky in a blinding flash that made his eyes sting, followed by deafening thunder.

Mjolnir's hum made the bridge deck tremble with a dull rumble. Thor landed on one knee, his red cape snapping behind him. Electric current had raised his golden hair strand by strand, making it especially conspicuous in the lightning's glow.

The knuckles gripping Mjolnir had turned white. A storm churned in his blue eyes. "Who dares impersonate Balder's aura?"

Balder?

Lin Xiu's pupils contracted slightly.

He had assumed Thor would detect the Tesseract's energy. He had not expected the trigger word to be the god of light from Asgardian mythology.

His tongue pressed against his back teeth, and his right hand curled slightly at his side—the gesture for activating the Energy Detection module.

Nanoparticles surged through his veins toward his fingertips. A faint hum began to fill the air, like the static of an old radio tuning between stations. It sounded especially eerie amid the tense atmosphere.

"Answer me!" Thor stepped forward and slammed the hammer's handle heavily into the ground.

Cracks spread across the bridge deck with sharp cracks. Shards of glass at Lin Xiu's feet suddenly floated up, drawn by Thor's Power and pointed at his throat.

He could see the rhythm of Thor's chest rising and falling—fifty-two times per minute, far slower than a human's. It was the standard combat breathing of an Asgardian warrior.

The opportunity had arrived.

Rather than retreat, Lin Xiu took half a step forward into the oppressive force.

The camouflage cloak shattered under the energy shockwave, revealing the silver-blue Nano Armor beneath. The Tesseract Fragment groove in his breastplate glimmered with an eerie light, radiating mystery in the darkness.

He could hear his own heartbeat drowning out the crowd's screams. It was not fear, but excitement—the same tremor he had felt when first witnessing nanorobots assemble themselves in the laboratory years ago.

Bang!

A bolt of lightning struck past his left shoulder and blasted a scorched crater into the bridge deck. The flash was blinding, and the air filled with the smell of burning.

The impact sent Lin Xiu stumbling. When his back hit the bridge railing, nanoparticles automatically formed a cushioning layer and absorbed most of the force.

But all his attention was on his chest. Fine tremors pulsed from the core region, like two tuning forks of similar frequency finally entering resonance. The vibration traveled through his senses to every nerve ending.

The Oracle System's prompts flickered madly: [Asgardian energy compatibility: 27%] [Recommendation: maintain contact.]

That 27% compatibility might become the key to changing the situation in this world where the Loki Wormhole was about to open.

"You are no mortal." Thor's voice lowered. His grip on the hammer loosened slightly as his gaze swept over the fragment groove in Lin Xiu's breastplate. "That energy... it closely resembles something in my father's treasury..."

"Roar—!"

A deafening howl cut him off.

Lin Xiu turned and saw three Chitauri armored vehicles smash through the eastern barricade. Blue smoke still rose from their laser cannons, while the vehicles' roaring engines made his eardrums ache. The smoke carried a sharp, irritating smell.

The foremost vehicle's turret swung toward the crowd. A green beam streaked past an elderly person carrying a child and melted a fist-sized hole through the bridge railing. The beam hissed through the air, and the crowd's screams rose an octave. Several civilians who tried to fight back charged forward with steel pipes, only to be flung away by energy shields and slammed into bridge pillars with dull thuds.

"Carl Weiss." Lin Xiu recognized the Chitauri commander leading them.

Three days ago, the Oracle System had analyzed wormhole energy and incidentally scanned information on some enemy troops. The markings on that giant's shoulder armor were the symbols of seven slaughtered planets.

His fingers rapidly tapped his armored wristguard. Nanoparticles gathered in his palm into a sphere no larger than a fingernail. "Disruption round, target the hammer handle."

Thor had already leaped into the air, Mjolnir tracing arcs of electricity above his head. The arcs flickered with crackling snaps.

Lin Xiu judged the angle of Thor's swing and flicked his wrist. The disruption round shot precisely toward the joint between the hammer's handle and head.

A blue-violet burst exploded in a dazzling flash that made his eyes sting. Thor's movement visibly faltered—that was the nanorobots interfering with the energy transmission of the Asgardian Runes.

The two forces collided in midair. A blinding white light flashed before Lin Xiu's eyes. When his vision returned, a translucent ripple was spreading through the air, like a boulder dropped into a still lake. Its expanding sound resembled a mysterious whisper.

Within Kamar-Taj's library, golden light suddenly seeped from The Ancient One's fingertips.

Previously, Lin Xiu had occasionally sensed mysterious fluctuations of power coming from Kamar-Taj, but he had not paid them any attention.

At that moment, The Ancient One was observing the balance of cosmic energy, and the energy fluctuations Lin Xiu caused on the bridge disrupted her observation.

Her closed eyes trembled twice. Her crossed legs slowly lowered to the ground, and her red robes dragged across the floor with a soft rustle.

"Quantum Sentinel..." she murmured to the air, pressing her fingertips to her brow. "He is awakening a power that does not belong to this era."

The chaos on the bridge continued.

Chitauri soldiers poured from the armored vehicles. The muzzle flashes of their laser rifles made Thor's golden hair flicker between light and shadow. Gunfire rang out one after another, woven together with the crowd's cries of alarm and agony.

Lin Xiu retreated to the edge of the bridge and examined his armor. During the energy collision, a pale blue line had appeared within the Tesseract Fragment groove of his breastplate, as though carved there by lightning. It radiated a faint blue glow, especially conspicuous in the dark.

He reached out to touch it. A slight sting ran through his fingertip, and the Oracle System promptly displayed a notice: [Unknown energy attachment detected. Recommendation: conduct in-depth analysis after withdrawal.]

In the distance, sirens wailed, growing clearer as they drew near. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Quinjet was cutting through the clouds, its roar making the air itself tremble.

Lin Xiu turned and leaped off the bridge. Nanoparticles formed membrane wings behind him, carrying him swiftly toward Brooklyn.

Wind rushed into his mask with a low howl. He could hear the Oracle System humming through his earpiece, along with the faint crackle of electricity within that pale blue line—almost exactly like the soft sound Mjolnir made when it was swung.