When Lin Xiao returned, he saw the Destroyer standing in the center of the wasteland, its crimson patterns on its shell shining brightly, and with every movement, a burst of scorching Mars shot out from its joints.
Volstagg was struggling to pull his leg out of the sand. The Destroyer had punched him into the sand, and now half his leg was stuck, his axe flying far away. He cursed as he pulled, catching his breath after each curse. Fandral knelt a few steps away, his sword broken in two, one piece stuck in the sand, the other held in his hand. That half of the sword barely kept him from falling, blood dripping down his chin. Hogun was also covered in wounds, half his face smeared with blood, only a short knife left in his hand, the other missing. But he still charged forward, aiming for the Destroyer's joints.
The Destroyer didn't even glance at him, and slapped his hand horizontally.
Hogun coughed up a mouthful of blood and flew backward.
Seeing her companion's gruesome state, Sif gritted her teeth and plunged the spear embedded in the Destroyer 'Destroyer nape even deeper. She was now clinging to its back, using her feet to brace herself against its spine. The spear was already more than halfway in, but the Destroyer seemed oblivious, its hand lashing out at her several times, each time nearly grabbing her. Sif gritted her teeth and refused to let go, no matter how the Destroyer shook her off.
Lin Xiao arrived at that moment. He first increased his flight speed to the limit and saw Hogun flying backwards from another direction. Without thinking much, he accelerated and rushed over, catching Hogun steadily with one hand.
Hogun bumped into his arm, grunted, looked up, and saw it was Lin Xiao. His first reaction was relief. He moved his lips, and the "thank you" was just on the tip of his tongue when he realized that Lin Xiao's gaze wasn't on him at all.
At this moment, the Destroyer finally grabbed Sif from its back and swung her away.
Lin Xiao loosened his grip.
Hogun crashed hard onto the sand, the back of his head hitting the ground with a dull thud. He was stunned for a couple of seconds before he sat up, only to see that Lin Xiao had already flown out and caught Sif, who had been thrown into the air, in his arms.
Hogun's lips twitched, and he swallowed back the words he hadn't yet uttered.
"... My injury is much more serious, okay?"
The moment Sif landed in Lin Xiao's arms, she was still in a daze. She thought she was definitely going to be seriously injured, but before she even hit the ground, she was caught steadily by two arms. She looked up and saw that the person who caught her was Lin Xiao. Her furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and for just a second, her eyes lit up.
Lin Xiao didn't look at her at that moment. He stared intently at the Destroyer and roared, "Scatter! Watch me!"
Upon hearing the roar, the Asgard's Warriors Three reacted swiftly, scrambling to either side. Lin Xiao, with his left arm around Sif, unleashed a purple spark from his right fingertip, the arc crackling and popping, even giving the air a burnt smell.
Lin Xiao chopped his finger downwards. A bolt of purple lightning descended from the sky, striking the Destroyer squarely on the head. The lightning was as thick as a human leg, and the moment it exploded in purple light, the entire wasteland seemed to be torn open, making everyone's ears ring.
The Destroyer let out an extremely low, mournful cry, its massive body taking a step back, the red light on its chest dimming for a moment. The slashed areas on its shell were charred black, but the next second, the crimson patterns lit up again, spreading across the armor like veins. The Destroyer raised its head, the horizontal crack on its face reopening, and red light burst forth.
"Damn, she's pretty tough." Lin Xiao frowned and subconsciously hugged Sif tighter.
" The Destroyer is the ultimate weapon in Odin's Vault; ordinary attacks can't harm it!" Hogun shouted as he got up from the ground.
Lin Xiao didn't speak. He took a deep breath, and five different colored bolts of lightning burst out from his body, converging into a churning thundercloud above his head. The cloud grew larger and larger, and electric snakes emerged from the cloud layer, red, yellow, blue, white, and purple, the five colors intertwined, illuminating half the sky.
Sif leaned against him, looked up at the thundercloud, then at Lin Xiao, her face blank. "You can do this too?"
"I know a lot more than that; I won't be showing it to you privately anymore."
Sif opened her mouth as if to scold him for being frivolous, but the overwhelming power of the thundercloud was too strong, so she simply turned her face away and stopped looking at Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao didn't mind at all, as he was currently focused on channeling lightning energy.
The Asgard's Warriors Three were trying to surround the Destroyer from three directions again to block its next move, but when they saw this formation, they all paused in their tracks.
Lin Xiao looked down and saw the group of people who were stunned, and his temples throbbed.
"You fucking watching this? Get the hell out of here!"
The moment Lin Xiao uttered those words, the Five Thunder Spell had already descended.
Five bolts of lightning, each as thick as a water bucket, struck the Destroyer simultaneously, the massive shockwave sending sand and gravel within a radius of tens of meters flying into the air. The Destroyer's body was engulfed in lightning, its metal shell torn open, pried up, and shattered, Mars and metal fragments flying in all directions like shrapnel.
The Asgard's Warriors Three had no chance to run far. The lightning struck too quickly, hitting the Destroyer in an instant. Several streaks of purple lightning even grazed the ground and exploded around the three. Volstagg had just picked up his axe and hadn't even had time to block it when he was thrown back by the shockwave, rolling seven or eight times on the ground. Fandral and Hogun fared even worse; the aftershocks propelled them half a meter off the ground, and when they finally crashed down, their mouths were full of sand.
All three men's hair stood on end, their faces were as black as the bottom of a pot, their bodies felt numb as if they had been electrocuted, and the smoke they exhaled smelled burnt.
Lin Xiao glanced at the three of them and almost burst out laughing, but quickly turned his head away to suppress it.
"I told you to run, but you didn't. Next time, remember to keep a safe distance when I unleash my ultimate move."
Volstagg wanted to curse, and white smoke billowed from between his teeth as he opened his mouth. Fandral used the remaining half of his sword to support himself as he stood up, his hair a frizzy mess, the only white part of his face being the whites of his eyes. Hogun was the quietest, because he was trembling uncontrollably.
Sif struggled in Lin Xiao's arms, trying to check on the three's injuries, but Lin Xiao's large hand was gripping her tightly, and she couldn't move at all. Just as she was about to tell him to let go, another noise came from the Destroyer's side.
After the lightning dissipated, the Destroyer knelt on one knee, its left leg half blown off, with sparks crackling at the break. A large hole was torn in its chest, revealing a fist-sized core that was emitting an extremely unstable red light.
Lin Xiao turned his gaze away from the three people and stared at the hole in the Destroyer's chest.
"Attack its core! Quickly!"
The Asgard's Warriors Three, ignoring their pain, charged forward. Volstagg swung his axe, Fandral used his broken sword to stab the Destroyer's intact leg, Hogun circled around to try and ambush him in the waist joint.
Unable to support its massive body with its severed leg, the Destroyer simply knelt on the ground, its upper body becoming more stable. It completely ignored the three people rushing towards it, and the crack on its face suddenly widened, shooting out a dark red laser beam with scorching heat, straight towards Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao had no time to dodge; the laser was simply too fast. He was still holding Sif in his arms, and without thinking, he pushed Sif away and tried to block the laser with his bare hands.
The laser beam struck his two arms, which were crossed in front of him, squarely.
Lin Xiao was thrown back seven or eight meters by the impact, his shoes carving two deep furrows in the sand. When the laser beam dissipated, his jacket sleeve was gone, his arm was charred black, the flesh torn and peeling, and in some places the white bone was visible. Blood flowed down his arm, dripping onto the sand and quickly forming a small dark red puddle.
" Lin Xiao! How are you?" Sif got up from the ground, her voice trembling.
Lin Xiao didn't reply. A sharp pain spread from his arms throughout his body. He gritted his teeth, his forehead covered in cold sweat. His arms were trembling, spasming uncontrollably from his fingers to his shoulders; his fingers were almost numb.
"Why the hell did you have to hit my hand?"
As he gritted his teeth and said this, the Asgard's Warriors Three were attacking the Destroyer from three directions simultaneously. Volstagg's axe struck its back, Fandral's broken sword pierced its intact knee, and Hogun leaped from behind, his dagger digging deep into the armor seam at its lower back. The three men, like three wolves with no regard for their lives, tore at the iron behemoth in a frenzy.
But the Destroyer ignored them completely. The cracks on its surface lit up again, this time even brighter than before. Before the laser could even fire, the surrounding air was already distorted by the heat.
" Lin Xiao! Get out of the way!" Sif screamed.
Lin Xiao gritted his teeth and dodged the ray with a scramble, but two large holes were burned into his shoulders, wisps of white smoke rising from them. Lin Xiao couldn't care less about anything else at this moment; he used his mind and body to invade the system and retrieve that pair of sunglasses! Super Sunglasses!
Sunglasses automatically appeared on Lin Xiao's face, and at that moment, Lin Xiao's entire aura changed instantly. The eyes behind the sunglasses turned into two balls of scorching red light, exactly the same color as the crack on the Destroyer's face.
"Damn it, you want to play ranged DPS with me?"
His voice was hoarse, carrying a fierce intensity born from being pushed to the limit.
"I have my trump card too. If you dare shoot me with a laser, I'll retaliate."
Immediately afterwards, two lasers, redder and hotter than the Destroyer's, shot out from Lin Xiao's eyes, slicing through the air and striking the Destroyer's core with pinpoint accuracy. The two beams of light collided in mid-air, and the deafening explosion shook the entire sky.
The Destroyer let out a shrill scream, its core burning ever brighter and whiter. Lin Xiao didn't retreat; he gritted his teeth, his feet rooted to the ground, the red light in his eyes growing increasingly fierce. Blood continued to drip, his arms trembled more and more violently, and his consciousness began to fade in waves.
The two remained locked in a stalemate, the Destroyer's laser and Lin Xiao's laser colliding in mid-air, neither able to gain the upper hand.
Sif stood behind him, her outstretched hand hovering in mid-air, wanting to help but not daring to. The Asgard's Warriors Three were pinned to the spot by the shockwave, unable to even stand, and could only watch helplessly as everything unfolded before their eyes.
Lin Xiao's vision was beginning to blur.
On the other side, at the S.H.I.E.L.D.. temporary camp.
Thor knelt before the hammer, his hands gripping the handle, his whole body trembling. In the distance, the sky lit up one after another—purple lightning, red light, white explosions—stretching his shadow in alternating light and shadow.
Coulson stood at a distance, watching the blond man kneeling on the ground, his expression complex. Hawkeye walked over, put down his bow, and whispered, "He seems to be failing."
"Let him try again," Coulson said.
Thor couldn't hear what they were saying. He couldn't hear anything at all; all he could hear in his mind was the distant explosion and Sif and the others calling his name. The sounds seemed to drift from a very, very far place, yet also seemed to rise from the depths of his own heart.
"Get up... get up."
His voice was dry and hoarse, his hands went limp, and he fell forward. His knees hit the sand, but his hands didn't loosen; he still gripped the hammer handle tightly, as if clinging to the last piece of driftwood.
"I was wrong, I admit my mistake! I shouldn't have gone to Jotunheim, I shouldn't have been so arrogant, I don't deserve to be your master, but listen to me—"
He looked up, staring at the silver-gray hammer, tears mingling with the sand and dust covering his face.
"They're still out there— Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, Hogun, and Lin Xiao ... They're all risking their lives for me! It's one thing if I die here alone, but if they die because of me... I can't just stand by and do nothing!"
He roared so loudly that his throat cracked, and the last few words were practically ripped out from the depths of his throat.
"Please, let me go back and save them..."
Then he remembered what Lin Xiao had told him.
"You are no longer alone, no longer a willful prince."
Thor abruptly raised his head, tears still streaming down his face, but the despair in his eyes had transformed into something else.
"I don't want to be king!" he roared at the hammer, his voice cracking and hoarse, almost inaudible. "I don't care about being king! I don't want power! I don't want glory! I just want you to help me just once, just once, let me go back and save them! Do you hear me!"
He gripped the hammer handle tightly again, his knuckles turning white, blood seeping from the cracks in his palm and flowing down the handle.
"What use is all this to me if they're dead!"
Mjolnir trembled slightly.
Suddenly, a faint blue light shone from the lines on the hammerhead.
Thor didn't see it; he closed his eyes and poured the last of his strength into that hand. He no longer thought about whether he was worthy, whether his father would be disappointed, or why Loki had done this. He just wanted to go back. To go back to them.
The hammer moved.
Coulson and Hawkeye both took a step back.
A bolt of lightning struck Thor silently from the sky. His eyes were instantly illuminated by the blue lightning, as if something had reignited in his veins. His arm stopped trembling, and the hammer was raised, its silver-gray surface shimmering with lightning as if it had come alive.