In the next instant, Blaine's afterimage vanished from the chair, leaving Fury staring in disbelief.
'Afterimages?' Fury thought, stunned. 'What is this, a martial arts novel? First aliens invade Earth, then artificial intelligence tries to wipe us out—and now we've got a damn cultivator?'
While Fury was still processing that, Blaine had already closed his eyes. From above Sokovia, his mind expanded outward, psychic energy rippling across the city like a storm.
This time, his focus was sharper, faster. Within a single minute, every street, every building, and every living presence within Sokovia was mapped clearly in his mind.
"All right. Let's begin."
Blaine raised an eyebrow, his tone calm but ominous—because what happened next defied belief.
One by one, people throughout the city began to vanish.
Citizens running toward the evacuation ships suddenly disappeared mid-stride. Those crowded in the streets, panicking and shouting, were gone in an instant—as though the world had simply erased them.
It wasn't an illusion. Across all of Sokovia, the same thing was happening.
"Ten thousand…" Blaine murmured.
"Fifty thousand. One hundred thousand. Five hundred thousand. One million… ten million… fifty million…"
High above the city, Blaine kept his eyes closed, counting softly as though tallying souls. Finally, his eyes opened.
"Hah… hah…" He exhaled slowly. "Quite a lot of people—over two hundred million."
A pale, milky light radiated from the soul pendant around his neck, bathing his face. It automatically activated, restoring his drained spiritual energy. Even so, he could feel the toll. Transferring two hundred million people was vastly harder than annihilating Ultron's drones.
Destruction was simple. Protection was not.
"This pendant really is useful," Blaine muttered, fingers brushing the cool metal at his throat. "It's like an enhanced meditation core."
Indeed, the mass disappearance had everything to do with him. Blaine had spirited the citizens away—not out of mercy, but necessity. He needed the city clear to proceed with the next phase.
His mission wasn't about saving lives; it was about stabilizing chaos. And if making millions of people vanish was the fastest way to silence the panic, then so be it.
He had the perfect tool for it: Hunter Space 2.0, his upgraded dimensional vault. For the first time, Blaine used it to store living beings.
According to its specifications, Hunter Space 2.0 could hold the entire continental United States—Sokovia's population was nothing by comparison.
And once everyone disappeared, the city finally fell silent. No more screams, no more chaos—just an eerie stillness over the burning ruins. Sokovia had become a dead city, filled only with wind, smoke, and firelight flickering over broken steel.
The battlefield, moments ago alive with noise, was now suffocatingly quiet.
Listening to the cold wind, Blaine knew his work was only half done. The city was still falling—thirty thousand meters high and dropping fast.
"All Avengers, evacuate immediately!"
His voice thundered through the air, amplified by his god-tier physique. The shout rolled over Sokovia like a shockwave, drowning out the roaring wind.
Hearing it, Tony, Vision, and War Machine disengaged and flew out from beneath the city.
Without their support, Sokovia's descent accelerated.
"No one left…" Blaine muttered, his thoughts racing. He needed a solution—and fast.
'Could I pull the entire city into Hunter Space?'
No. There were still people inside, and while the space could separate different energies, it couldn't distinguish all material substances. If he tried, the resulting overlap would kill countless people instantly. That method was useless.
'Then destroy it?'
His mind spun through possibilities.
"Flame Meteorite?" he muttered. "No—the range isn't wide enough to cover Sokovia."
"Temporal Seal? No, still too small."
"Large-scale spells… all useless here."
"What the hell am I supposed to do, meow?"
He hovered in the air, cycling through every technique he knew—and rejecting them all.
"Mr. Hunter!" Tony's voice shouted through comms. "One minute forty seconds until impact!"
"One thirty!"
"One twenty-five!"
"One ten!"
Tony kept calling out the countdown as he calculated Sokovia's descent speed in real time.
"Damn it," Blaine hissed. "If magic won't cut it, then I'll rely on equipment!"
"The Cursed Blood Blade won't work—too short-range, too slow…" He clenched his jaw. The countdown only made him more irritated. He had never failed a mission before, and he wasn't about to start now.
"Fifty seconds!"
"Forty-nine!"
"Damn it! Fine, I'll gamble!"
He thrust out his hand, and a curved, shimmering bow materialized—the Bow of Elements.
He hadn't used it in ages. The bow could manifest hundreds of elemental arrows, accumulating twenty-five more each day. He had stockpiled a staggering number.
"Thirty seconds!"
"Whatever—no more holding back!" Blaine growled. "In ancient times, Great Warriors shot down the suns, and Genghis Khan shot the great eagles. Today, I, Blaine, will show you how to shoot down a city!"
He drew the bow to its limit, the air vibrating around him. Elemental arrows swirled into existence—hundreds of blazing streaks of light forming on the string as though they cost him nothing.
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