Carol, in her Binary [1]form, transformed into a stream of light and charged towards the Kree warships above.
But at that moment, a massive mental force erupted, instantly engulfing most of the sky and slamming into Carol's mind. Simultaneously, the scattered warships fired blue-green containment beams, binding Carol's body in layers. These beams continuously absorbed Carol's energy, causing Carol to quickly break free from her Binary form, making it difficult for her to escape.
If the Kree could dispatch warships to attack Carol, how could they not have a way to deal with her? Otherwise, they would simply be throwing themselves at the enemy.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
The nine clones from Sebastian's Images of Ikonn instantly dwindled to six.
Of the remaining three, one continued to maintain the Shields of the Seraphim to defend against the Kree fleet's attacks, while the other two cast levitation spells, gradually lowering the New World Sky Fortress.
With six fewer clones, Sebastian's rapidly depleting magical power stabilized. He gazed at the Kree fleet overhead, raising his wand high and harnessing gravitational forces with all his might. He created a small, artificial black hole that appeared directly between the Kree fleet and Carol.
Buzz!
The appearance of the artificial black hole immediately triggered massive gravitational pull. The containment beams that had been binding Carol and absorbing her energy were rapidly twisted and drawn into the black hole, pulling the Kree warships and Carol toward it.
At this moment, the Kree fleet suddenly launched a coordinated attack on the artificial black hole, unleashing concentrated artillery fire.
After all, the artificial black hole wasn't a true black hole, and under the concentrated bombardment of the Kree fleet, it was eventually destroyed.
However, for Sebastian, this outcome was entirely acceptable—his goal had been achieved!
Under the interference of the artificial black hole, Carol finally broke free from the trapping beams, once again radiating orange and blue photon energy. Though temporarily unable to activate her Binary form, Carol was now on guard and more than powerful enough. It would be no easy task for the Kree to capture her as easily as before.
Boom!
Carol soared into the air, charging towards the Kree warship. In the blink of an eye, Carol had penetrated the hull of the Kree vessel and began tearing it apart from within.
Meanwhile, Black Bolt was equally active. He unleashed a devastating roar, and terrifying sonic waves transformed into a concentrated beam that instantly swept across a warship. The sonic interference caused the vessel to vibrate violently before exploding in a spectacular fireball. In terms of raw destructive power, Black Bolt's full assault was no less effective than Carol's Binary form!
Watching Carol and Black Bolt's devastating results, Sebastian couldn't help but shake his head. He felt as if, in the blink of an eye, the conflict on Earth had escalated from a battle between the Avengers and Ultron to something involving Carol and Black Bolt—utterly catastrophic in scale. Destroying an alien warship was as effortless for them as Captain America taking down a single Ultron drone.
Shaking his head, Sebastian moved without hesitation.
Black and red runic light swirled around his right arm again, remotely drawing upon the power of the Reality Stone. He raised his wand and pointed it at a Kree warship. A beam of black and red energy shot out, striking the vessel and instantly slicing the Kree warship into human-sized cubes. These fragments, like pieces of a massive Rubik's Cube, hovered suspended in mid-air.
Then, Sebastian raised his left hand, and the Space Stone on it radiated brilliant blue light. He instantly manipulated the warship debris he had dismantled with the Reality Stone, launching the fragments toward the surrounding vessels in a devastating barrage. Violent explosions and thunderous roars echoed across the sky as the detonations continued without pause.
The two most severely damaged warships exploded mid-air. Along with the warship Sebastian had transformed into countless cubes, a total of three vessels were completely destroyed by Sebastian's assault.
With a boom!
Carol, transformed once again into her Binary form, burst out of another warship and hovered in mid-air.
She had witnessed both Sebastian and Black Bolt's devastating attacks. While Black Bolt's sonic roar had taken out one warship, Carol was truly astonished by Sebastian's effortless, almost magical destruction of three vessels at once.
Carol also felt a strange familiarity with the ring on Sebastian's left hand—a strong resemblance to her own power source. However, given the current battle situation, there was no time to discuss this further.
Meanwhile, the New World Sky Fortress had landed safely, and Sebastian's three remaining clones dissipated.
After the fortress touched down, Tony and War Machine each took to the air in their respective battle suits. Tony flew to Sebastian and asked directly, "Sebastian, these alien invaders are unexpectedly weak. We've already dealt with five warships so quickly, and now there are only three left. We need to finish them all in one decisive strike."
"Tony, I can't shake the feeling that these guys are too easy to deal with. Moreover, although those warships were crewed, they didn't look like they belonged to an advanced cosmic civilization. They seemed no different from oversized Earth fortresses.
"If Kree fleets have this level of combat capability, even without our intervention, Earth's united military forces could hold their own against them. So I think there's definitely something wrong here, but I can't figure out what the problem is."
Sebastian didn't bother lowering his voice. Black Bolt and Carol, who were nearby, both heard his concerns.
At this moment, Carol and Black Bolt moved closer and looked at Sebastian. Carol spoke up, "Now that you mention it, when I infiltrated that battleship earlier, there were very few crew members aboard. And they didn't look like Kree at all. Instead, they looked more like..." Carol glanced at Black Bolt and continued, "More like Inhumans."
As Carol finished speaking, Black Bolt's expression darkened considerably.
His brother Maximus had collaborated with the Kree before. He had originally thought Maximus only wanted to eliminate him and the rest of the royal family, but now it seemed that if Carol was right, those destroyed warships might have been crewed by his own people!
[1] "Binary form" is a temporary, powerful state where her already vast energy-based abilities are amplified to cosmic levels, granting her enhanced strength, energy manipulation, and the ability to tap into stellar and cosmic energies with "virtually limitless power".