Testing the Waters Before Battle

The azure canopy split open from the center of the vault, spiderweb cracks spreading wildly in every direction. Beyond the fissures lay bottomless blackness, and within that darkness, countless points of light flickered on.

They were starships.

Thousands upon thousands of menacing warships poured out from the massive breach in the timeline like a locust swarm, seizing control of Earth's entire orbit in an instant. The cold hull of every vessel bore the same emblem—a twisted infinity symbol.

The Council of Kangs' fleet had arrived.

Outside the Avengers Compound, Chu Hang looked up at the shattered sky, his expression calm.

Thor stood behind him, gripping Stormbreaker tightly. The six Infinity Stones embedded in the axe handle pulsed urgently. The mark of Strange's Third Eye flickered across his forehead, pale golden mystic patterns flowing slowly beneath his skin like lava. Scarlet chaos energy churned endlessly around Wanda, staining the ground beneath her feet with an ominous hue.

Inside the base's central control room, surveillance feeds from around the world streamed in live. In New York's Times Square, crowds scattered in panic amid screams. London's traffic had completely collapsed, vehicles jammed into motionless rivers of steel. On Tokyo's streets, countless people held up their phones in despair, recording the apocalyptic sight.

The United Nations emergency meeting came to an abrupt halt, and leaders of every nation looked ashen.

Yet the fleet did not fire.

It merely hovered silently above the orbit, like a pack of prehistoric beasts waiting for the perfect moment to hunt.

A blinding pillar of light suddenly descended from the central flagship.

It landed precisely three hundred meters in front of the base, kicking up a sky full of dust. When the dust settled, a figure emerged from within.

He wore a suit of purple high-tech armor, sleek in