Another fierce battle: facing a formidable enemy head-on

The pulsation of the rock face has changed.

It was no longer the slow, rhythmic undulation, but rather as if something was tearing it apart from the inside, causing it to twist and bulge, like insects crawling under the skin. Ye Mo's steps came to an abrupt halt as he took his third step, the sole of his shoe crunching over the charred remains with a crisp "crack." He clenched his right fist, the flame in his palm instantly compressing into a ball, the firelight casting flickering light on half of his face.

"Don't move," he whispered, his voice not loud, but loud enough to penetrate the newly restored deathly silence in the passageway.

Behind her, Emma Frost, who had been leaning against the wall panting, paused. Her eyelids snapped open, her pupils momentarily unfocused before quickly refocusing. She didn't speak, but her fingertips trembled slightly, and her mental Force Field silently spread out, like an invisible film extending forward along the ground. Thor stood beside her, Mjolnir slowly rising, arcs of electricity crackling around its body, illuminating his taut jawline.

The three stood back to back in a triangular formation, their eyes fixed on the impenetrable darkness fifty meters ahead.

The air began to feel heavy.

It wasn't a change in temperature or a shift in smell, but a more primal sense of oppression—as if the entire space was collapsing, and the light was being drawn away bit by bit. The veins on the ceiling of the passage, which had previously shimmered with faint reddish veins, had now turned into pitch-black ravines, like asphalt suddenly being poured into a dried-up riverbed.

Then, the shadow emerged from the rock wall.

He didn't break down a door, nor did he leap down; he simply walked out of the stone in a calm and unassuming manner, as if the wall had never been a solid object. His black robe trailed on the ground, its edges drifting and coalescing like smoke. In the shadows beneath his helmet, two scarlet points shone brightly, like the eyes of a nocturnal Beast.

Malekith.

Ye Mo let out a laugh, "Oh, so you've finally decided to get involved yourself? I thought you were planning to send a bunch of barbecue skewers to deliver the year-end bonuses."

There was no response.

He simply raised one hand, fingers spread, palm facing up. In an instant, the darkness of the entire passage seemed to come alive, surging wildly into his hand and condensing into a constantly spinning ball of pitch-black energy. There was no sound, but Ye Mo could feel his eardrums vibrating, and even his damaged left arm, with its Steel Bone, was throbbing with dull, twitching pain.

"He's going to clear the area." Emma Frost gritted her teeth, her voice extremely low. "The mental suppression is already underway; I can't hold out much longer."

"Then don't force it." Ye Mo clasped his hands together and then opened them again, flames exploding between his palms into two leaping balls of crimson fire. "We're not here for tea either."

Before he finished speaking, he had already rushed out.

With both feet pushing off the ground, he lunged forward, stepping on scorched earth and debris, and launched compressed fireballs from his palms, aiming straight for Malekith's face. The moment the fireballs collided with the dark energy wave, they burst into blinding light, and the heat wave, along with the shockwave, swept around. The black grooves on the rock walls sizzled and curled up like scorched flesh.

Malekith snorted and swung his hand, unleashing a black blade that cleaved the fireball in two. But in that split second, Thor leaped into the air, Mjolnir crashing down with immense force, golden lightning bolts exploding through the air and striking the ground at his feet.

Boom!

The entire passage trembled violently, rubble fell in a shower, and several hanging metal pipes snapped and crashed down. Malekith was forced to take a half step back, his black robes billowing, and his eyes blazing with murderous intent.

"You ants... do you really think you can shake the night?" he whispered, his voice hoarse like sandpaper grinding iron. "I will make you watch this world sink into Eternity abyss, and then I will pluck your souls one by one, burn them, and use them as candles for illumination."

"Hey, who wrote these lines for you?" Ye Mo grinned as he rekindled his flames. "They're so cringeworthy! I suggest adding some background music next time, otherwise it just doesn't have any impact."

As soon as he finished speaking, Malekith pressed down with both hands.

The Dark Realm has expanded rapidly!

Centered on him, a ring of pitch-black ripples rapidly spread outwards, swallowing up all light in its path, and even suppressing flames to a mere faint red dot. Emma Frost groaned, cracks appeared in her mental Force Field, and a thin line of blood seeped from her forehead.

"Our vision is locked!" she shouted urgently. "He's cutting off our senses!"

"Then smash his lamp!" Ye Mo roared, unleashing another wave of fan-shaped flames from his palms, forcibly tearing a gap in the darkness. The instant the firelight illuminated the scene, Thor had already used the momentum to leap up, raising his hammer high and drawing upon the remaining energy flow above. A thick bolt of lightning crashed down, striking Malekith squarely on the head!

But the opponent was prepared. With a flick of his black robe, he transformed it into a hemispherical shield that withstood the lightning strike. Mars flew everywhere, but the shield remained unbroken.

"Again!" Ye Mo shouted, stomping his feet and using the recoil to slide to the side. At the same time, he quickly formed hand seals—this was a makeshift method he had figured out last night, forcibly combining the two fragments of the abilities "Heat Projection" and "Flame Shaping." Although the system didn't recognize it, he knew how to use it.

The flames compressed and spun in his palm, eventually forming a long, thin fire whip.

Try this!

With a flick of his arm, the fire whip shot out like a venomous snake, aiming straight for Malekith's neck. The latter turned his head to dodge, the fire whip grazing his black robe and igniting the edge of the fabric. Black smoke rose, Malekith's eyes turned cold, and he raised his hand to throw a shadow spear.

Ye Mo rolled and dodged, the spear tip grazing past him, blasting a bowl-sized crater in the wall behind him, sending shards of rock flying.

"You're quite good at hiding," Malekith finally spoke, his tone chilling. "Unfortunately, you can hide for a while, but not forever."

He crossed his arms over his chest and chanted an ancient incantation. The ground began to tremble, and seven broken stone pillars slowly rose, swirling around him, their surfaces covered in eerie runes. A flickering black flame condensed at the top of each pillar, as if some kind of ritual was being restarted.

"Oh no!" Emma Frost's expression changed drastically. "He's activating the Primal Array! Once it's complete, the entire passage will become his mental prison!"

"Then interrupt him!" Thor roared, swinging his hammer in a wide arc, his entire body shooting out like a cannonball, crackling with electricity, heading straight for the center.

But just as he approached, the three pillars of black flame suddenly turned, simultaneously unleashing high-pressure dark jets. Thor parried with his hammer, but the impact sent him flying backward, crashing heavily into the rock wall behind him, shaking the entire wall.

Upon seeing this, Ye Mo immediately changed his target, clasped his hands together, and compressed all the flames to their limit, forming a fist-sized crimson gold Fire Core.

"System, if we can't kill him this time, we'll write our wills together," he muttered, then pushed it out forcefully.

The Fire Core explodes the moment it leaves your hand!

Instead of flying in a straight line, it split into dozens of fire lines in the air, forming a net that covered the entire area, each precisely locking onto a pillar of black flame. A series of booming sounds rang out, and three pillars exploded on the spot, the black flames extinguished, and the ritual's rhythm was disrupted.

Malekith groaned, a trickle of black blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes grew even more ferocious.

"You think... that's all?" He slowly raised his hand, his five fingers spread open, and a black hole appeared in his palm. A terrifying suction force instantly swept across the entire area.

A dark vortex is forming!

The ground beneath their feet began to crack, and rubble, debris, and even burning flames were sucked into the air and pulled toward the ever-expanding black hole. Ye Mo hurriedly compressed the flames into a ring-shaped shield, which spun and burned around the three of them. The high temperature formed an isolation zone, barely offsetting some of the suction force.

"Hold on!" he gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. "Emma Frost, disrupt his spellcasting! Thor, find an opportunity to break the formation!"

Emma Frost closed her eyes, her mental energy piercing the other's mind like a needle. She didn't read minds or manipulate, but directly projected a scene—a scene of Malekith being imprisoned in an underground chamber as a child, cold, lonely, and ignored.

Malekith's movements faltered.

In that instant of hesitation, Thor seized the opportunity, roared, and slammed his hammer into the ground, unleashing a thunderous shockwave that forcefully shattered a crack in the core of the vortex.

"Now!" Ye Mo roared, and the flame shield suddenly expanded outward. The high temperature forced back the suction force, and the three of them took the opportunity to press forward and regain their footing.

Malekith slowly wiped the black blood from the corner of his mouth, straightened up, his black robes fluttering, and his eyes burning with murderous intent.

"Very good," he said softly. "I'm looking forward to... the sound of your hearts being crushed."

Ye Mo stretched his shoulders, and the Steel Bone in his left arm made a soft "creaking" sound, while the flames in his palm reignited.

"I'm looking forward to it too." He grinned, revealing a set of white teeth. "Let's hear if your screams sound just as awful."

Thor stood in front, his hammer hovering above his head, surrounded by lightning; Emma Frost stood to his right rear, her hands trembling slightly but still maintaining her alertness; Ye Mo stood to the left, flames dancing in his palms like an inextinguishable sun.

Opposite him, Malekith's palms gathered darkness, his figure standing between the broken stone pillars, like the abyss itself.

No one retreated.

No one blinked.

The next second, Ye Mo raised his hand, and flames pierced the darkness, rushing straight towards it.