Chapter 219: Puny God (Patreon)

Even if this world faced other unknown threats in the future, at least the known catastrophe—the Snap—wouldn't happen again.

This was one of Kenji's secondary objectives for this trip: Round 2 with Thanos. Specifically, the prime, fully-armored, healthy 2014 version of Thanos.

Crack!

On the battlefield, the 2012 Thor spun Mjolnir, unleashing a massive volley of lightning. Hundreds of Chitauri soldiers were instantly reduced to twitching, scorched husks, dropping from the sky like dumplings falling into a pot.

"Hmph. Weak and pathetic."

Thor grinned, his face full of smug satisfaction. He laughed like the arrogant son of an Asgardian king he was.

Suddenly, he vaguely sensed another energy flowing through the air alongside his lightning. He turned his head and instantly realized the sky behind him had completely cleared.

'Huh? What just happened?' Thor was utterly baffled.

As Thor stared in confusion, the azure light in Kenji's eyes faded. He had just used a map-wide telepathic shockwave to wipe out the vast majority of the Chitauri grunts.

These mass-produced, cyborg cannon fodder soldiers were like the drone bees of a hive. They lacked complete souls. They relied entirely on a continuous Wi-Fi signal broadcast from the mothership's central intelligence to maintain their life functions. Against creatures with such inherent spiritual defects, a telepathic area-of-effect attack was undoubtedly the most efficient method of extermination.

F-Boy, who had eagerly rushed out to harvest souls, quickly returned to Kenji's body, grumbling.

'My F-Boy, what's wrong?' Kenji asked.

[Trash mobs. They're worse than the Outriders. I killed them all and they dropped absolutely nothing!]

'Calm down. We're rich now. We don't care about pocket change!'

"Hey guys, is it just me, or did the enemy density just drop massively?"

The 2012 Iron Man, having just emptied his remaining missiles into a Leviathan, looked up at the clearing sky and couldn't help but ask over the comms channel.

"Fewer enemies means we're closer to winning. Keep pushing!" The voice of the 2012 Captain America echoed in the earpieces of the original Avengers.

The 2012 Black Widow nimbly twisted a Chitauri soldier's neck in mid-air before replying into her earpiece, "Copy that, Cap."

A continuous string of explosions echoed through the channel, followed by the 2012 Hawkeye's response, barely audible over the rushing wind. "Copy. Things are clearing up on my end too."

"Roar!"

Finally, the 2012 Hulk bounded past. He wasn't wearing an earpiece, so he just roared.

Because Kenji had deliberately masked his presence, neither the Avengers nor the Chitauri in this timeline had noticed the interdimensional intruder. Thanks to his subtle intervention, the tide of the war between the human forces and the Chitauri army reversed in an instant.

The pressure on the city's defenders—the NYPD and the National Guard—plummeted. God only knew how they had been expected to fight desperately against energy weapons several generations more advanced than Earth's with mere handguns.

If it weren't for the portal in the sky still continuously spewing out reinforcements, the human forces would have already eagerly launched a full-scale counterattack under the Avengers' leadership!

"What is going on?"

Loki, who had been enjoying his war of conquest from the top of Stark Tower, was suddenly panicking. How could his grand army in the sky be reduced by more than half in the blink of an eye?

Even mass deletion on a computer wasn't this fast!

Faced with this unexpected turn of events, Loki involuntarily gripped the scepter tighter. Aside from the Chitauri army, this divine artifact was the only trump card he had left.

High above the city.

After executing his screen-clearing move, Kenji dropped his altitude, landing directly on top of a Leviathan tearing through the streets.

His heat vision flared. A continuous, straight beam instantly sliced the colossal beast into two perfectly equal halves, the massive chunks of wreckage crashing down and crushing the street below.

The margin of error was definitely less than a single kilogram.

Following that, Kenji's figure flickered repeatedly. Dark lightning sparked continuously across every corner of the city. Wherever his sandbag-sized fists landed, the Leviathans—which the Avengers were struggling to bring down—wailed in agony and collapsed limply, their armored skulls completely caved in.

Seeing the battle was firmly under control, Kenji looked up at the portal hanging over the city. Just as he prepared to launch a counterattack on the Chitauri mothership in space, he suddenly detected a very peculiar bio-magnetic reaction within his telepathic network.

On the roof of Stark Tower.

Loki paced back and forth, anxiety eating at him. He seemed to reach a decision. He muttered to himself, "No, I must expand the portal to its maximum width. Otherwise, at this rate, we will be wiped out by these mortals!"

He looked down at the portal generator set up nearby. Powered by the Tesseract at its core, it was continuously blasting a beam of energy into the sky. He prepared to leap down and manually crank the machine's output to maximum.

Thud.

Loki, finding himself right back where he started, was utterly confused. '?'

Feeling a massive hand clamped firmly over his shoulder blade, the God of Mischief's face instantly paled. He turned his head and saw a blond figure, several times more imposing than his foolish brother.

The man before him wore an intensely oppressive dark combat suit. The radial lightning patterns accentuated his chiseled musculature, making him look absolutely terrifying.

Loki's eyelid twitched. The God of Mischief's intuition was screaming that something terrible was about to happen.

He instinctively lowered his voice, adopting the majestic, condescending posture of a high god. "Mortal, if you do not wish to suffer, unhand me!"

"Oh? I'd love to see exactly how you plan to make me suffer." Kenji looked genuinely intrigued. He released Loki and made an inviting gesture.

"Hmph!"

Thor's rebellious younger brother felt deeply insulted. He scoffed, raised the scepter, and thrust the glowing tip directly at Kenji's unprotected chest.

Ever since arriving on Earth, Loki had used this exact move to enslave numerous humans to serve him. It hadn't failed once.

Clink.

Not a single human could resist it! Loki's flawless winning streak had made him incredibly arrogant.

However, the dull clink made Loki's heart sink. It felt as if something had cracked.

The tip of the scepter felt like it had struck solid steel. It couldn't advance even a single millimeter into Kenji's chest.

'(°_°)'

A multicolored, polygonal forcefield flickered, effortlessly resisting and neutralizing the energy radiating from the Mind Stone.

Kenji understood. The Mind Stone was a cosmic artifact on par with the other Infinity Stones, but the scepter built around it only utilized a fraction of the gem's true power. Furthermore, given Loki's strength, controlling a few humans made him feel invincible, but in reality, he was completely incapable of unleashing the stone's true potential.

The sinister smirk that had just formed on Loki's face froze. He prodded Kenji in disbelief, producing a rapid series of clinks.

Nothing happened.

"Uh... how is this possible?"

"Is that all you've got?"

'(._.)'

Hearing Kenji's mocking question, the arrogant God of Mischief's face turned a violent shade of red, then pale white. He clenched his fists and roared, "Enough! You lowly mortal, how dare you insult a true god! I will tell you... Huh?"

A dark blur flashed. Loki suddenly felt as if he were soaring through the clouds. Kenji grabbed his left foot, and the concrete roof rapidly expanded in his vision!

The signature punishment for a foolish younger brother, the special attack reserved for Norse gods: the Hulk Smash!

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The entirety of Stark Tower shuddered rhythmically. Loki's highly durable skull smashed heavily into the solid concrete floor, violently whipping left and right, carving out two perfectly symmetrical, human-shaped craters.

When Kenji finally let go, a thoroughly concussed Loki lay peacefully in one of the deep craters, his eyes wide open and his hands resting limply on his chest.

Wheeze... Wheeze...

The only reason Loki was tougher than an average god was his Frost Giant lineage. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be breathing right now.

"Phew." Kenji let out a satisfied breath. He had finally experienced the joy of being the Hulk.

However, he still felt like something was missing.

"Oh, right. Ptooey."

"Puny god."

After effortlessly dealing with Loki, Kenji didn't immediately grab the scepter. Instead, he leaped into the air, transforming into a streak of dark lightning and shooting straight toward the portal connecting them to deep space.

Mid-flight, F-Boy suddenly issued a drop notification. The card's information instantly appeared on Kenji's retina.

[Fantasy Card: Frost Physique]

[Card Type: Ability Card]

[Rarity: SSR]

[Description: Marvel Universe. The innate divine physique belonging to the royal family of the Frost Giants residing in Jotunheim.]

[Effect 1: Extreme Cold Resistance]

[Frost Giants are perfectly adapted to extreme cold climates and can withstand the absolute zero temperatures of the cosmic artifact, the Casket of Ancient Winters. However, they are extremely vulnerable and sensitive to high temperatures.]

[Effect 2: Frost Aura]

[Frost Giants can manipulate frost energy for attacks. Their very presence passively releases an aura of cold capable of freezing their surroundings. Members of the royal family can perfectly suppress this ability.]

'Oh?'

Kenji reviewed the skill description for the Frost Physique and suddenly realized something incredibly important.

While the "Extreme Cold Resistance" in Effect 1 came with a nasty debuff against heat, F-Boy confirmed it would be completely overwritten by the much higher-purity "Titan Physique." So, that drawback was neutralized.

Effect 2, on the other hand, was incredibly potent. Being able to manipulate frost energy... didn't that mean he finally had access to Freeze Breath?

Kenji immediately applied the SSR card to his body. An intensely cold power, originating from the Frost Giant royal bloodline, surged through him, as if trying to crystallize his flesh into ice-blue ice. However, this power was instantly suppressed by Kenji's Stellar Core and seamlessly integrated into his rapidly expanding energy system within moments.

Normal series.

"Normal Breath (Minimum Power)."

Whoosh!

Dozens of Chitauri soldiers riding their flying chariots had just crossed through the portal and caught sight of the city below. Caught in a highly visible blast of freezing air, they instantly turned into purple-blue ice sculptures. Losing all propulsion, the riders and their chariots plummeted from the sky!

"Whoa." Kenji raised an eyebrow, unable to contain his excitement. "It really is Freeze Breath!"

The God of Mischief was truly the GOAT!

Finally, the bootleg version of the DC Ancestor (Super Saiyan) from the One Punch Man universe had reached its ultimate, complete form in the Marvel Universe.

'Good lord,' Kenji thought, actually rubbing his nose. 'The composition of this picture is getting a little complicated!'

While Kenji was lost in thought, he passed through the portal, suddenly finding himself in the deep, dark expanse of space.

Looking down, the edge of the portal resembled a rolling, deep blue cloud, cleanly dividing the city and deep space into two entirely different worlds. This surreal sight, like a dream bleeding into reality, was a testament to the terrifying power of the Space Stone.

Looking back, the Chitauri armada, already advancing toward Earth, spotted Kenji. Countless high-energy laser beams locked onto him, rippling harmlessly against his bio-magnetic forcefield.

Seeing the sheer scale of the army, Kenji brought his hands together, activating the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Several F-Boys materialized in bursts of white chakra smoke. Following the massive stat boosts from absorbing Thanos and Loki's cards, the base attributes and abilities of the F-Boy Shadow Clones had also skyrocketed.

Facing a Chitauri army as dense as a plague of locusts, the F-Boy Shadow Clones showed absolutely zero mercy. By tacit agreement, they each chose a different direction. In an instant, they accelerated via magnetic fields, transforming into devastating 'Water Drop' projectiles as they launched their attack.

[Trisolarians: ???]

The massive biological warships exploded one after another, the brilliant fireworks briefly illuminating the endless void of space.