"Five thousand years... the universe will finally return to darkness..."
Malekith had not even finished pronouncing his judgment.
A dazzling pillar of golden light had already torn through the air, heading straight for his face.
Villains died from talking too much. That was an eternal truth. Lucian had no patience to wait for this terminally delusional fellow to finish reciting his coronation speech. Since the Aether had been successfully extracted from Jane Foster, the leader of the Dark Elves had already served his greatest purpose. All that remained was to send him off through physical means.
The pillar of light tore through the air and arrived in an instant.
Terror spread across Malekith's pale face, his pupils abruptly shrinking to pinpoints. The heat and impact contained in that beam scorched the loose strands over his forehead before it even touched his flesh. He wanted to dodge, but a sorcerer's reflexes simply could not keep up with a surprise attack at this range.
At the critical moment, a massive black figure took half a step across his path, blocking Malekith from the front.
It was Kurse.
Boom!
The golden pillar slammed into Kurse's thick breastplate. Savage heat exploded outward, the heat wave overturning the bedchamber's remaining curtains. The floor tiles cracked and splintered under the intense heat.
The light faded.
Kurse's feet had plowed two trenches half a foot deep into the floor. Thick white smoke rose from the bony, keratinous layer covering his body, and a charred black mark had been blasted into his chest. Yet he merely shook his massive head, the vicious gleam in his scarlet eyes growing fiercer. He had suffered no fatal injury at all.
Lucian raised an eyebrow.
He certainly lived up to being the bull-headed warrior who could chase Thor around and beat him