The titanic explosion ripped through the sky, its shockwave shuddering down to the ruins below. Dust rolled across the broken streets as every team on the ground stared upward, anticipation tightening their faces.
Reed's voice cut through the static of the comms, urgent and strained.
"We need to close that rift. Quickly. It's becoming a very big problem."
Tony standing beside him looked at Reed for stating the obvious.
"Yeah, well… the only way we could've closed it blew up with the Baxter Building about ten minutes ago."
Clint exhaled sharply, stringing another arrow.
"Okay, so now what? Because that gigantic hole is still up there vomiting literal insects and—oh, shit, is that—"
Natasha's eyes widened.
"Another ship."
Ben turned to Reed, "Stretch, he's right. There's gotta be another way to seal that thing. This can keep up and we can't keep it contained much longer."
Tony rotated midair as he started hovering, trying to analyze the portal edges.
"Right, uhhh—hold on—"
But a sharp, crystalline shatter echoed behind them.
Sue Storm was the first to whip around.
"What was that?"
A golden hue of runes surged skyward, racing to the very edge of the yawning cosmic maw, it slammed onto the outer edges and the rift began to stop expanding.
Everyone looked toward the source.
A group of gold-robed people sprinted straight toward the newest wave of insectoids pouring from the breach. Blades of hard, golden light formed at their hands as they cut into the horde.
One of them called out:
"Are you alright, Ancient One?"
The Ancient One breathed steadily, exhausted but composed.
"That barrier he used to lock us in took too much of my energy. Thankfully he noticed us… and helped break the spatial prison."
She lifted her gaze toward the portal, her expression sharpening.
"I should still be able to stop more of his armies from coming through."
Kaecilius stepped forward, bowing.
"Of course, Ancient One."
He turned to the other sorcerers.
"Eliminate the pests."
They moved instantly.
Mordo ignited his air-walking boots, sprinting into the sky as if climbing invisible stairs, striking down insectoids with ruthless efficiency.
Tony blinked.
"Oooookay—Not that I don't appreciate the reinforcements, but where the hell did they come from?"
No one answered him directly.
Johnny Storm looked at the new comers and said "Who cares? At this point we need every hand we can get."
Jarvis chimed in, multiple screens opening around Tony.
"Sir, satellite imaging confirms the portal's expansion rate has slowed. The number of incoming entities has been reduced by approximately thirty-eight percent."
Tony pointed upward.
"Well… that's something—"
Rogers cut in with a groan.
"You just had to open your big mouth, Tony."
Because then, two massive warships burst from the portal at once.
Natasha muttered under her breath.
"Oh… shit."
Before anyone could react, a razor-thin line of light appeared across both ships. Then another. And another. Hundreds so fast they looked like flickers of an illusion.
The ships hung in silence, then they fell apart diced into a thousand metal fragments.
BOOOOOOOOM
Twin fireballs bloomed in the sky.
High above, past the consuming fire, where Gojo had just vanished into the explosion, Annihilus scanned the empty space.
A voice drifted behind him, casually with a teasing undertone.
"Wheeeew. That was dangerously close, y'know?"
Annihilus snapped his head sideways.
Gojo floated there, pointing down at the obliterated ships, then glanced back over his shoulder with a playful smile.
"I would've been in real trouble if I didn't move in time."
But inside, his mind was racing.
'He was able to strip off my Infinity… even if just temporarily.'
His gaze dropped to the rod clenched in Annihilus's claw. His eyes narrowed.
'The Cosmic Control Rod.'
His thoughts sharpened instantly. 'Capable of creating portals big enough to move armies across stellar distances… and at full power it can tear open rifts between universes. That's bad news for Infinity.'
'Even after hitting the rift with my rejection, it's still forcing itself open. And the glow… it's in extreme use.'
Without looking back, Gojo scanned the portal again.
A thin, pulsing thread of energy connected it directly to the rod.
'I need to separate him from that thing as soon as possible. Hopefully Yao can keep it from expanding further…'
Behind Gojo, the sky writhed with violence as he released a constant domain of slashes that carved into the mouth of the portal. Thousands of Annihilus's soldiers were shredded the instant they emerged, their bodies torn apart before they ever reached out.
And more importantly, every warship that attempted to push through was diced into metallic confetti before collapsing back into the void.
Gojo glanced down briefly, sensing new familiar signatures.
'Yao brought her people as well huh. Which means I can focus now.'
Space around his body twisted and warped like reality was struggling to decide where he should be. His hair spiked upward, electricity gathering in violent arcs. With a thunderous CRACK, the bolt-like aura surged through him.
He had entered Lightning Mode.
Annihilus scoffed, voice dripping with disdain.
"How disappointing. Do you plan on using meaningless elemental powers against me, boy?"
He pointed the Cosmic Control Rod lazily toward Gojo.
"It is pointless. Find another way to entertain me. I am already growing bored."
Gojo smirked and then, Annihilus lost sight of him.
"What—?"
A massive pull wrenched Annihilus's body, no it was four pulls, all at once.
Four blue, glowing orbs appeared around him, with a fifth forming between his wings, each tugging in a different direction, as if trying to rip the conqueror apart. His armored form twisted violently then suddenly, he was gone.
Or rather, he was yanked upward so fast the air didn't have time to react.
'What is this…?!' he thought, forced upward like a ragdoll shot from a cannon.
He tried to activate the rod to teleport—
But the moment the rod pulsed, his body shimmered, stuttered and then snapped back to the exact position Gojo wanted.
Gojo had slammed pure rejection energy into the rod itself.
It took a monstrous amount of effort and nearly tearing Gojo's nerves apart due to the rod's cosmic strength but he had already forced the Conqueror into the perfect place.
And as they tore through the cloud layer, Annihilus looked up and saw something that made even he pause in his efforts.
Gojo hovered above a storm, his silhouette now framed by red lightning and burning atmosphere. Behind him loomed something terrifying to most entities who lacked power itself, something that would have traumatized most beings throughout the cosmos.
A fully-formed Kirin, but not of white lightning. But of deep crimson, forged from pure repulsion energy fused into the storm.
It roared, a sound like the tearing of space-time itself, arcs of red lightning whipping through its mane.
Gojo's white hair now shimmered with a faint red tint like a divine ember and his eyes glowing with charged malevolence red of his heat vision. In both hands, he held two broad, jagged swords made of pure red repulsion lightning.
He tilted his head.
"Y'know, here on Earth we've got this thing called an electric swatter."
He pointed a thumb at Annihilus.
"Perfect for taking out really annoying bugs."
And then he fired the Kirin.
KRACKA—KOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The sky detonated.
Everything turned red as the clouds, the air, even the reflection on the Earth below. The repulsion burst blasted the atmosphere apart, dispersing every cloud for miles as the shockwave shattered the sound barrier repeatedly.
The repulsion continued upward pushing, crushing, dragging Annihilus into the outer atmosphere while billions of volts tore through him.
But Gojo's smirk faded.
It wasn't enough, it hadn't achieved the effects he was hoping for.
The red storm was suddenly pushed away and shoved aside by a massive counterforce.
Annihilus floated there with his armor dented and glowing a furious molten red. His body smoked, but he stood tall, wings shaking with barely-contained rage.
Gojo clicked his tongue.
"Tch. What a failure."
Annihilus did not reply as he simply raised the rod. Gojo's eyes widened and immediately teleported—
And teleported again—
But every place he landed, Annihilus was there already, moving instantaneously.
Gojo activated Infinity in a hurry—
But the rod swelled, growing monstrously, and with a single swing, the Infinity shattered.
Gojo cursed as a shimmer of gold leaked from his skin and then—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A colossal golden-red explosion consumed the sky.
A pillar of cosmic light shot upward, brighter than the lightning earlier.
———————————-
Back on the Ground
Yao looked up, eyes narrow, cloak fluttering in the storm winds.
"Get him higher, boy…" she whispered.
"Far enough… to use it properly."
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