The golden spear, like a pillar holding up the heavens, soon reached the skies above New York City.
"Kree..."
Suddenly, a clear, piercing phoenix cry rang out across all of New York City.
A mass of dark red energy took the shape of a phoenix and soared into the sky!
Ten thousand meters above the ground, it met the golden spear.
Boom...
The two immense forces exploded across the heavens.
The flames brought by the golden spear were blocked, spreading outward in a sweeping sea of fire.
In an instant, the sky over the entire city glowed fiery red.
Night turned into day-an eerie, crimson day.
Beneath the sea of fire, an energy phoenix held the golden spear firmly at bay with the tip of its beak, preventing it from advancing another inch.
At the same time, the phoenix released red energy that formed a great crimson wall, blocking the sea of fire and preventing it from descending.
Otherwise, merely stopping the golden spear while allowing the flames to fall would have reduced the city's millions of inhabitants to ash in an instant.
New York City's civilians finally reacted, and some began screaming in panic.
But far more remained remarkably calm.
Those with religious beliefs had already begun praying to their God, Allah, or other deities.
They prayed to survive the disaster unharmed, and for the superheroes protecting Earth to defeat the enemy and return safely.
Apocalypse had burst onto the scene during the battle in the skies over New York.
New York City could arguably be called the city that had endured the most world-ending disasters.
That was not even counting all the supervillains, great and small.
Yet someone had stepped forward to save them every time.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s superheroes handled the lesser villains, while the legendary Apocalypse King dealt