Fighting Thor

Apocalypse offered no further explanation and drifted away.

Soon afterward, Coulson had the area cordoned off and dispersed the onlookers.

By the time Apocalypse returned to town, night had fallen.

Apocalypse went to check on Thor and found that he had sobered up. He was grilling outside the RV and chatting with Jane.

In Jane's eyes, Thor had clearly knocked something loose in his head. He kept insisting that he was the Thor of myth, babbling about the World Tree and the Nine Realms traveling through the World Tree's chakras.

But Thor was simply too handsome. Even a handsome fool was still handsome. As she listened to Thor earnestly spout his "nonsense," she gazed dreamily at his striking face.

Apocalypse did not reveal himself. Thor was currently just a mortal and could not detect him.

Every word Thor said reached Apocalypse's ears.

When others heard him talk about the World Tree, they assumed he was merely telling a mythological tale. But to Apocalypse, it was something worth pondering.

Thor, who traveled across the cosmos, could not possibly be unaware that common celestial bodies such as Earth orbited stars in the void.

If the World Tree truly existed, what form would such a tree take?

In the original plot, Apocalypse had seen something similar.

Star-Lord's biological father—the Celestial Ego—had planted his roots across life-bearing planets throughout the universe, intending to assimilate every planet into his own living body.

If he succeeded, each planet would be nothing more than a fruit on his territory, and the entire universe would be absorbed into his network of life.

From that perspective, wasn't that another kind of World Tree?

Then could the World Tree Thor spoke of be something similar? Or perhaps an even more advanced form?

Had it existed in the past, or had it been there all along?!

Apocalypse could not figure it out. He would ask Thor when he had the chance.

Over on Thor's side, there was a beauty, a handsome man, a bonfire, and delicious food. The atmosphere grew increasingly intimate, and their gazes met more and more often, slowly turning hazy...

Apocalypse decided to leave so he would not hear anything inappropriate for children.

The RV rocked all night, and Jane and Thor remained awake all night.

The next morning, Thor awoke refreshed and left Jane, who was still asleep.

He made his way to the bar as if he knew the place well and found Apocalypse already waiting for him.

"Looks like someone had a great night," Apocalypse teased.

"Heh heh, not bad," Thor said. "I made a friend like you on this trip to Earth, and I met a woman I like too. It was well worth the journey."

"I ordered you breakfast. Do you want milk or hard liquor?"

Thor said, "What kind of man drinks milk? Of course it has to be hard liquor."

"Fine."

The two ate breakfast and downed several large glasses of hard liquor, drawing sidelong glances from the other patrons. Drinking hard liquor first thing in the morning—what kind of people were they?

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Apocalypse said directly, "Thor, fight me."

Thor froze, then burst out laughing. "Hahahaha, Tang, you really suit my taste! Come on, come on. I've been wanting to stretch my limbs these past few days."

Thor had suffered a string of upheavals recently and had long been bottling up his frustration. For a muscle-bound brute like him, what could vent it better than a fight?

But Thor was not Loki. He was kind by nature and would not casually take out his frustrations on passersby. Since Apocalypse had proposed it himself, it naturally suited Thor perfectly.

The two walked out into the street and moved far apart.

Thor said bluntly, "Tang, although I've lost my divine power, I'm still not someone an ordinary Earthling can withstand. You'd better be careful."

Apocalypse was speechless. This guy truly had no idea how to hide it. He went around all day claiming to be Thor and talking about losing his divine power. No wonder Jane thought he was crazy.

"Then you should be careful too. Whoever loses drinks three glasses as punishment."

The two exchanged a look and rapidly closed the distance.

Apocalypse began with some wild, sloppy punches, casually exchanging several direct blows with Thor.

After confirming that Thor's strength was merely at the peak of what an ordinary human could achieve, roughly on Black Widow or Hawkeye's level,

he controlled his strength and began testing various moves, trading blows with Thor back and forth.

Apocalypse forcibly pulled off moves that existed only in wuxia novels and films, relying on his boundless strength.

There was no need to mention qinggong. Apocalypse could leap hundreds of kilometers in a single jump, and hovering briefly at close range was child's play.

As for aerial maneuvers and moves that defied Earth's gravity, Apocalypse simply blasted the air apart with brute force and used the recoil from the air explosions to change direction abruptly.

For a time, a continuous string of "bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang" rang through the street.

Apocalypse fluttered up and down like a butterfly, circling around as he attacked Thor.

Drawing the attention of people heading to work nearby.

"Holy shit, that's that Eastern guy who was drinking yesterday. Kung fu actually exists."

"Dad, come out and look at Jackie Chan."

An experienced kung fu enthusiast immediately refuted him. "Jackie Chan isn't this powerful. Those moves look more like Bruce Lee's."

"Do you people even understand kung fu? Could Bruce Lee fly? This has to be the legendary qinggong."

"So those slapping sounds when people throw punches are real. Kung fu really can make those sounds. I always thought they were added in post-production for movies."

Many people immediately agreed. "Yeah, yeah, we've really been fooled for years."

"Western boxing isn't bad either. That Eastern guy can't knock down the handsome blond guy."

"I think the handsome blond guy has just been getting beaten the whole time..."

This spectacular kung fu battle quickly drew over half the town, and a dense crowd formed a huge circle around them.

Although Apocalypse had restrained his strength, he did not hold back in technique, yet he still could not defeat Thor.

Thor's thousand-plus years of combat experience were no joke. During his tours of rule across the Nine Realms, he had encountered countless strange fighting styles from alien worlds.

Eastern kung fu was unusual, but it was still within the realm of comprehension.

Without his divine power or Thor's Hammer, he could not perform aerial movements as exaggerated as Apocalypse's. So he simply rooted himself firmly to the ground, planted his legs steadily, discarded complexity for simplicity, and countered every move as it came.

Thor could see through the key points of many of Apocalypse's complex and flashy moves at a glance. A simple punch or block was often enough to neutralize them.

Of course, Apocalypse did not truly understand wuxia kung fu. He was merely imitating it by brute force.

It looked impressive, but against an expert like Thor, it was not very effective.

Apocalypse had not challenged Thor to bully him. He wanted to see whether Asgard had any cultivation methods.

His own power came from Hulk's blood. It had been forcibly enhanced, and its potential had already run dry.

Without Hulk's innate talent, he could not improve endlessly.

He could only seek another path.

Among the current plotlines, Thor and Asgard were the closest to him.

A mythical realm of gods surely had some cultivation manuals or something, didn't it?

After fighting for a while, Apocalypse discovered that Thor relied entirely on his abundant combat experience to defend against his attacks. There were no obvious traces of any cultivation.

He could not help saying, "Thor, is this all you've got? Did you use up all your energy in the RV last night?"

Thor had been surrounded and attacked the whole time, fighting in frustration. His pride flared up as well. "Damn it, if I hadn't lost my divine power, I would've smashed you flat with one hammer long ago."

"Hmph, all you know how to do is brag. Don't you have any signature techniques?"

Thor blocked one of Apocalypse's attacks with both hands, exerted force to knock him back, and used the opening to say, "What signature techniques? I rely on my bloodline talent. I don't learn that flashy stuff."

Apocalypse said, "Is it because you can't learn it? Loki can use illusions. How come you can't do anything?"

"As long as my bloodline fully awakens, I'll be invincible across the Nine Realms. I don't think much of illusions and that sort of thing."

What Thor said was true. In the original plot, when Hela had just emerged from her seal, Thor was no match for her at all.

Later, after ending up on Sakaar and awakening several times, he returned to Asgard and was actually able to trade blows with Hela.

Though he still lost in the end, his strength had improved by a huge margin.

"Hahahaha, then let's see what you think of my illusions."

With a bang, Apocalypse accelerated, leaving behind one afterimage after another. In an instant, he created a whole field of afterimages, as though more than a dozen people were attacking Thor at the same time.

The bystanders erupted in shocked cries. The previous wuxia moves had already been exaggerated enough, but now even these nearly fantastical afterimages had appeared.

A young man immediately said, "Dad, I want to go to the East tomorrow to learn kung fu."

"Are you stupid, kid? Do you think you'll find a real master just because you go there? Even if you find one, do you think they'll teach you? There's an Eastern man right in front of you, yet instead of begging him, you want to run all the way to the East, thousands of miles away?"

As soon as he said that, the people around them came to a realization.

There was a kung fu master right in front of them. Why go far when there was one so close? Their gazes immediately turned burning hot as they stared at Apocalypse without looking away.

The people of the West had a bold and tough temperament, and they naturally admired fighting arts.

On top of that, kung fu stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li had a huge influence in Hollywood, and many people yearned for the mysterious martial arts of the East.

Even the major martial arts sects in China had, more or less, accepted some Western disciples.

Now that they had seen a legendary kung fu master, they could hardly wait to rush up, kneel like in the movies, and call out, "Master."

Strictly speaking, Apocalypse had already used strength far beyond Thor's to create those dozen afterimages.

At last, even the most careful person could slip up.

"Ah..." Thor cried out as he took a punch to the eye.

"Tang, you dared to hit me in the face?!"

"Ah..." His other eye took another punch.

Thor's handsome, charming eyes immediately turned into panda eyes.

Thor was furious. "What kind of skill is using these tricks? If you've got the guts, stand still. One punch each—let's see who falls first."

"Fine!"

The afterimages vanished, and Apocalypse suddenly appeared in front of Thor.

Without even thinking, Thor swung a punch at Apocalypse's face. With a smack, Apocalypse took a punch to the eye as well.

Apocalypse controlled his strength and returned the favor with a punch of his own.

And so, they began trading wild punches, one after another, while both sides cried out continuously.

Of course, Thor's cries were genuine.

As for Apocalypse, he had to give Thor some face and played along with a few cries. If he did not make a sound at all, wouldn't Thor think he felt nothing?

Huh? There seemed to be something wrong with that thought.

Suddenly, a clear voice rang out. "What are you doing? Stop it!"