Chapter 99 In My Presence, You Are Not Even as Small as an Ant
From beginning to end—
The Leviathan's body stretched across hundreds of meters.
And yet—
The destruction required only one punch.
Like a bomb detonating inside a hollow steel tunnel—
The gigantic biomechanical war-beast exploded from head to tail consecutively.
Boom—Boom—Boom—!!!
Sections of the enormous spine ruptured apart violently.
Green biological fluid.
Metal fragments.
Internal organs.
Shattered armor plating.
Everything rained down across Manhattan like a disgusting storm of blood and iron.
The streets shook continuously beneath the falling wreckage.
Then—
From the shattered remains of the Leviathan's tail—
A black figure emerged slowly.
Hovering motionlessly in midair.
The blank white mask now dripped with green biological slime beneath the firelit sky.
His black combat robes fluttered calmly amidst the falling debris.
Below him—
Hundreds of meters of Leviathan wreckage carpeted nearly the entire length of Fifth Avenue.
The battlefield fell completely silent.
Even the advancing Chitauri infantry stopped firing.
Their primitive collective nervous systems simply could not process the scene they had witnessed.
A creature less than two meters tall—
Had physically torn apart an interstellar bio-weapon with bare hands.
Then—
Something even more unbelievable happened.
The remaining four Leviathans stopped moving entirely.
Gigantic war-beasts hundreds of meters long hovered motionlessly above Manhattan.
Like enormous predators suddenly sensing a superior lifeform.
The red lights along their main cannons flickered repeatedly.
Then shut down completely.
The weapons intended to vaporize entire civilian shelters powered off simultaneously.
"They're retreating…?"
The Flash's stunned voice echoed through the communication channel.
Barry Allen wasn't mistaken.
The remaining Leviathans had begun turning around slowly.
Retreating toward the wormhole.
No—
Not retreat.
Instinctive escape.
The primal survival response hardcoded into all living organisms.
Like prey animals sensing an apex predator nearby.
High above—
JARVIS transmitted battlefield-analysis data directly to Iron Man.
"Sir."
"The Leviathans are releasing extreme biological fear-signals."
"The pheromone patterns match survival panic responses observed in known lifeforms."
Tony stared silently at the masked figure hovering over Manhattan.
"…They're afraid of him."
Meanwhile—
Atop Stark Tower—
Another face looked far paler than the fleeing Leviathans.
Loki.
The Asgardian God of Lies gripped the glowing blue scepter tightly while standing beside the activated Tesseract energy apparatus.
Behind him—
The massive azure wormhole continued connecting Earth to deep space.
Cold wind surged continuously through the dimensional tear, whipping Loki's black hair violently.
"Impossible…"
His lips trembled faintly.
"How could such a lifeform exist on this primitive planet…"
"Even Father would require effort to tear apart a Leviathan physically…"
His thoughts accelerated frantically.
The Chitauri vanguard had collapsed.
One Leviathan annihilated.
Four more fleeing in terror.
Meanwhile—
The remaining ground forces were now being exterminated jointly by the Avengers and the Justice League.
The invasion had failed.
Only one advantage remained:
The Tesseract portal behind him still functioned.
As long as the wormhole remained open—
Reinforcements could continue arriving.
He only needed more time.
Then—
BOOM—!!!
An explosion shattered his thoughts instantly.
The reinforced rooftop glass surrounding Stark Tower detonated inward violently.
A shockwave blasted shattered crystal across the platform like a hurricane.
Loki instinctively raised the Mind Scepter and generated a green magical barrier around himself.
Fragments slammed harmlessly against the shield.
Then—
The dust settled.
And Loki finally saw him clearly.
Black combat robes.
White featureless mask.
The monster who had emerged alive from inside a Leviathan now stood less than ten meters away.
A half-meter-deep crater spread beneath his landing point.
Cracks radiated outward across Stark Tower's alloy flooring.
The blank white mask possessed no eyes.
No mouth.
No expression whatsoever.
Yet Loki still felt watched.
No—
Dissected.
That sensation differed completely from the fear induced by Thanos.
Thanos radiated straightforward violence.
Death.
Domination.
But this being felt different.
Like every hidden thought—
Every weakness—
Every fear buried deep within Loki's soul—
Had already been seen through completely.
Forcing himself to remain composed—
Loki straightened slowly.
He was a prince of Asgard.
A descendant of gods.
He could not lose dignity before some unknown barbarian from Earth.
"Enough!"
Loki raised the Mind Scepter sharply toward the masked figure.
"You think destroying one Leviathan changes anything?!"
"The portal behind me connects to the endless darkness of the universe!"
"The Chitauri are merely the beginning!"
"I am a god!"
"I am Asgard's—"
The masked figure moved.
No warning.
No visible muscle tension.
No preparatory motion whatsoever.
One moment—
He stood ten meters away.
The next—
The blank white mask filled Loki's entire vision.
Then—
A black-gloved hand seized Loki's throat instantly.
His feet left the ground.
The God of Lies was lifted effortlessly into the air like a child.
"God?"
The voice beneath the mask sounded cold and mechanical.
"I destroyed your interstellar war-beast with one punch."
"Guess how many fingers it would take…"
"…to crush your neck?"
Loki's face turned dark purple immediately.
Both hands grabbed desperately at the iron-like arm restraining him.
Pointless.
Even possessing Asgardian strength—
He could not move that hand even one millimeter.
"Ugh—!"
Desperation flashed across Loki's eyes instantly.
Then—
He thrust the Mind Scepter forward viciously.
The glowing blue spearhead pierced directly into the masked figure's chest.
An eruption of cold Asgardian energy detonated outward.
The weapon possessed enough penetrative power to pierce vibranium alloys.
Then—
Clang.
A crisp metallic sound echoed across Stark Tower's rooftop.
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