Sunlight at Home and the Hammer God from the Sky

In the afternoon at Stark Villa in Malibu, California, sunlight like molten gold poured generously across the top-floor terrace. Xiao Han lounged comfortably in the enormous beanbag chair, beside an open mini-fridge stuffed with every flavor of ice cream Happy had just bought, along with boxes of donuts.

The sea breeze carried a salty, damp scent as it brushed over him, stirring the loose strands of hair on his forehead. Power flowed and grew silently beneath the warm sun, leaving him utterly content.

Inside the villa, Pepper was having an encrypted video call with Tony, who was far away aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier. On the screen, Tony wore the Mark IV armor with his faceplate open, the busy bridge behind him.

He gestured excitedly. "...Pepper, you should have seen it! That old popsicle's shield bounced back my repulsor blast! And that Loki kid, with all his smug posing—I really wanted to punch him in the face! But Fury's 'giant bathtub' actually has..."

Tony's voice was suddenly cut off by a burst of violent interference! The image warped, and the bridge lights instantly began flashing red!

"Tony?! What's happening?" Pepper's heart clenched.

"Sir! An extremely high-energy spatial disturbance has been detected directly above our flight path! Energy signature... impossible to analyze! But its intensity far exceeds..." JARVIS's urgent voice came from Tony's side, mixed with the shriek of alarms!

Boom—!!!

A deafening blast, as though the heavens themselves had been torn apart, exploded without warning above the villa! The entire Malibu coastline seemed to tremble with it!

On the terrace, Xiao Han's closed eyes snapped open. Frowning slightly, he looked toward the sky with clear annoyance at being disturbed.

Several thousand meters above the villa, the formerly azure sky twisted and spun violently like a lake struck by a boulder! An enormous rainbow vortex of raging energy appeared out of nowhere! From its center, a blazing rainbow beam too bright to look at descended like the spear of divine punishment!

The beam's target was unmistakably the S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet flying over the Pacific Ocean, transporting Loki!

Rumble—!!!

The rainbow beam struck the Quinjet with perfect accuracy! The sturdy aircraft was like a toy hit by a colossal hammer, instantly ripped apart and disintegrated by the violent energy!

Amid the blinding light and explosive fireball, a broad, blond figure clad in a scarlet cape and wielding a warhammer descended like a god. He smashed through the aircraft wreckage and hovered steadily in midair! In one hand, he held a figure dressed in green robes with a wicked smile on his face—Loki!

"Son of Odin! Thor!" Loki's voice carried a trace of deliberate panic and concealed delight.

"Loki! Come back to Asgard with me!" Thor's voice boomed like thunder across the sky, filled with unquestionable divine majesty! Mjolnir crackled in his hand with soul-stirring lightning!

"Oh, shit!" Tony's image aboard the Helicarrier immediately recovered. Seeing the shocking scene outside, his faceplate snapped shut. "JARVIS! Maximum thrust! Target: that blond show-stealer!"

The Quinjet wreckage trailed black smoke as it fell toward the sea, while Thor had already grabbed Loki and turned into a streak of light, flying away from the coastline. But Tony's Mark IV engines roared at full power as he pursued them with a piercing howl!

"Looks like... we've got uninvited guests." Xiao Han slowly sat up on the terrace, scooped up a spoonful of mint chocolate ice cream, and put it in his mouth. His gaze followed the two figures racing toward the coast, one chasing and one fleeing. "They even came with special effects and sound effects."

Thor clearly wanted to find somewhere secluded to "teach" his brother a lesson. He chose a jagged seaside cliff far from the villa district to land on. Tony's red-and-gold armor followed close behind, crashing down and kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Asgardian! Put Loki down! What he did on Earth must be judged by Earth's laws!" Tony's faceplate opened, and his voice came through the speakers with a metallic hum.

"Midgardian, you have no right to judge a prince of Asgard!" Thor shoved Loki behind him toward the rocks, then turned to face Tony, Mjolnir pointed directly at him as electricity danced around the hammerhead. "This is a matter of the divine realm!"

"A prince? He looks more like a terrorist in a costume to me!" Tony shot back, his repulsors lighting up. "You want to take him? Ask my repulsor cannons first!"

"Then let strength decide!" Thor roared, swinging Mjolnir fiercely! A thick bolt of lightning tore through the air and struck straight at Tony!

Tony instantly flew upward to evade it. The lightning hit where he had been standing, blasting a charred crater into the ground! Rocks sprayed everywhere!

"All you can do is dodge, tin man?" Thor mocked, sweeping his hammer with overwhelming force and whipping up a violent gale!

"Try this!" Tony rolled nimbly through the air as his shoulder-mounted micro-missile launchers opened, several missiles streaking toward Thor with blazing trails!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions flared around Thor! Yet from within the smoke, Thor burst through the flames unscathed, Mjolnir carrying terrifying momentum as it smashed toward Tony in midair!

Tony raised his arm to block!

Clang—!!!

A deafening metallic impact rang out! The red-and-gold armor was sent flying backward like a meteor by the immense force, slamming hard into the cliff wall dozens of meters away! Rock shattered! The armor emitted a piercing alarm!

"Sir! Left arm armor severely deformed! Power output reduced by 40%!" JARVIS warned urgently.

"Damn... he's strong!" Tony shook his slightly dizzy head, struggling out of the rubble and taking flight again, his fighting spirit burning even brighter.

Just as Tony was regrouping, Thor raised his hammer and summoned the forces of nature. Dark clouds gathered, lightning danced around the hammerhead, and he prepared to give Tony a devastating strike. Behind the rocks, Loki revealed a triumphant smile—

"I say..."

A calm voice, yet one that strangely overwhelmed the roar of thunder and the noise of armored engines, rang clearly in everyone's ears across the battlefield.

All three froze at once.

Following the voice, they saw Xiao Han standing on the top-floor terrace of Stark Villa, less than a hundred meters from the battlefield. No one knew when he had gotten up. He still held the tub of ice cream, the spoon in his mouth, frowning at them with eyes full of... impatience?

"If you want to fight, go fight somewhere else." Xiao Han's voice was not loud, yet it carried unquestionable force. "You're disturbing my ice cream."

The sudden rebuke, as though he were chasing away stray dogs, silenced the battlefield for a tenth of a second.

Thor's battle-filled blue eyes instantly locked onto the seemingly ordinary young man in a hoodie on the terrace. To be so openly slighted by a mortal was an insult to a god's dignity! Temporarily abandoning Tony, he pointed Mjolnir at Xiao Han, his voice rolling like thunder. "Ignorant mortal! How dare you disrespect a god! Feel the thunder of—"

"Shut up." Xiao Han cut him off directly, irritation in his voice. "What god? You're just a loud power bank."

"Arrogant!" Thor was completely enraged! Lightning surged in his eyes as Mjolnir, raised high, instantly drew upon the might of heaven and earth! A savage bolt of lightning several times thicker than before, carrying an aura of destruction, tore through the rolling clouds with deafening thunder and lashed down at Xiao Han on the terrace like a god's whip! He intended to reduce this mortal who had blasphemed the gods to ashes!

Blinding lightning instantly swallowed the entire terrace! The villa's bulletproof glass groaned under the violent energy shockwaves! Pepper cried out from inside the villa!

Yet within the lightning.

Xiao Han did not even raise an eyelid. He still stood there steadily, holding the ice cream tub in one hand and the spoon in the other. The terrifying lightning powerful enough to vaporize a main battle tank struck squarely atop his head!

There was no explosion! No fire! No smell of burning!

The violent lightning energy vanished without a trace as though a clay ox entering the sea! It was as if an invisible black hole had swallowed it whole! Only Xiao Han's hair fluttered faintly from the current, while the ice cream in his hand did not melt in the slightest!

The lightning faded. Xiao Han stood where he was completely unharmed, even leisurely scooping up another spoonful of ice cream and putting it into his mouth. Smacking his lips, he commented, "Mm... tastes all right. The charge is a little weak, though. Not enough kick."

The anger on Thor's face instantly froze, turning into incredulous horror! His full-force attack, the thunder of the Allfather, had actually... actually been treated as seasoning for dessert?! How was that possible?!

"You... what exactly are you?!" For the first time, Thor's voice held uncertainty and shock.

"A what?" Xiao Han's eyes turned cold. "Looks like Asgard's 'gods' aren't just slow in the head. Their eyesight is bad too."

He casually placed the ice cream tub on the small table beside him and stuck the spoon back inside. Then, under Thor's horrified gaze, Tony's stunned stare, and Loki's terror-stricken eyes, Xiao Han took a step forward.

One step into empty air!

His figure seemed to teleport, appearing directly before Thor from the terrace a hundred meters away! They were so close that he could almost see his own calm face reflected in Thor's eyes.

"Since you like throwing lightning around so much," Xiao Han said coldly, "then let me make you... quiet for a while."

Before his words had even faded, Xiao Han's right fist shot out without any flourish, carrying pure speed and power to the absolute limit as it punched straight toward Mjolnir in Thor's hand! There was no glow of energy and no charging motion—only the visible distortion of the air and rings of white sonic boom clouds created as his fist tore through the atmosphere!

Fast! So fast that it surpassed even Thor's divine limits of reaction! He could only instinctively raise Mjolnir across his chest!

Boom—!!!!

A terrifyingly dull impact shook the entire cliff!

Xiao Han's fist struck the supposedly indestructible face of Mjolnir squarely!

Time seemed to freeze at that instant.

Crack!

A faint yet incomparably clear sound of breaking rang out!

Centered on the point where Xiao Han's fist had landed, the hammer face that was said to have been forged from the core of a dying star and cast from Uru visibly dented inward! A clear fist mark appeared upon it!

Then, an indescribable and irresistible destructive force, like a bursting galaxy, surged through the hammer's handle and smashed violently into Thor's arms and body!

Pfft—!

Thor was struck as though an ancient god had rammed into him! His proud Asgardian divine body was utterly fragile before that absolute strength! His eyes bulged as he sprayed a mouthful of golden divine blood! Together with his beloved Mjolnir, his entire body became a blurred red-and-gold afterimage, flying backward like a launched shell at a terrifying speed beyond the sound barrier!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thor's body smashed through three enormous seaside rocks in succession! The hard stone burst and crumbled behind him like foam! Finally, with an earthshaking crash, he slammed deep into the steep cliff wall a hundred meters away! Dust billowed skyward like a mushroom cloud! Broken stones rained down in torrents!

A huge human-shaped crater had appeared in the cliff face! Thor was embedded deep in the rock like a specimen pinned to a wall, Mjolnir having fallen from his hand beside him. The clear fist mark on its hammer face looked especially glaring beneath the sunlight! His eyes had rolled back, and he had completely lost consciousness, golden blood flowing from the corners of his mouth and over his chest armor.

One punch!

Just one punch!

Thor, god of thunder of Asgard and son of Odin, father of the gods, had been blasted straight into the cliff! Whether he lived or died was unknown!

The entire battlefield fell deathly silent.

Only the howl of the sea wind and the rustle of falling rubble remained.

Tony's faceplate opened, his mouth wide enough to fit an egg inside. JARVIS's energy alarms were still screaming wildly in his helmet, but he could no longer hear them at all. He looked at the massive humanoid crater in the cliff, then at Xiao Han nearby, shaking his wrist as though he had merely swatted away an annoying fly. His mind was blank.

The wicked smile on Loki's face froze completely, becoming utter terror and disbelief! He stared fixedly at the crater in the cliff, then at the hooded figure. His body began trembling uncontrollably. What kind of monster was this?! Even Thor... even Thor had been... defeated with one punch?!

Xiao Han shook his wrist, his gaze sweeping over Thor, embedded in the cliff with his fate unknown. He then glanced at Mjolnir on the ground before finally settling his eyes on Loki.

Loki instantly felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, as though some primordial beast had fixed its gaze on him! He instinctively took a step back, terror nearly overflowing from his face.

"And you..." Xiao Han's voice was calm and flat, yet it nearly stopped Loki's heart.

"Get back to your cell." Xiao Han spoke as though dismissing an irritating bug. "If you dare come out again and disturb me..."

His gaze swept over Loki, then toward Thor on the cliff.

"...he'll be your example."

Loki shuddered all over. He did not even dare leave behind a harsh word. Without hesitation, he turned around as green light flashed from his hands, instantly creating several duplicates that fled in different directions! His real body became an inconspicuous green blur, escaping frantically away from the coastline! He moved so fast as though being one second slower would get him torn apart by that monster!

Xiao Han did not pursue him. It was as though he had merely done something insignificant. He turned toward the villa terrace and took one step forward.

His figure vanished instantly, and the next moment, he was back in the beanbag chair on the terrace. He picked up the tub of ice cream, scooped a large spoonful into his mouth, lay back comfortably, and closed his eyes again.

The sunlight remained warm, and the sea breeze remained gentle.

It was as though that earthshaking punch had merely been an insignificant interruption to an afternoon.

Inside the villa, Pepper covered her mouth as she stared at the cliff footage Tony had transmitted back, unable to recover for a long time. Happy stood behind her, swallowing with difficulty, his gaze toward the terrace filled with primal awe.

Meanwhile, Tony hovered in midair, staring at the massive crater in the cliff before looking again at the silent figure on the terrace. Only his heavy breathing and JARVIS's repeated warnings remained in the communications channel: "Sir... energy readings... impossible to analyze... threat level... recommendation: maintain a safe distance permanently..."