Whoosh!
The moment Blaine released his hand, three cloud-piercing arrows shot forth, streaking across the sky and slamming into three separate points within the city, embedding deep into the ground.
Each arrow unleashed a surge of elemental power, detonating upon impact and tearing massive holes into the earth. Sokovia trembled violently—twice—but showed no sign of breaking apart.
"Thirty-five seconds! Hurry, Mr. Hunter!"
As the descent accelerated, panic grew. Tony's voice was tight with urgency. Around him, Fury, Natasha, Hawkeye, Wanda, Vision, and the others could barely breathe, their eyes locked on Blaine and the falling city.
"Again," Blaine muttered, eyes blazing.
He drew the bow once more—this time firing five arrows in rapid succession.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The arrows struck with catastrophic force. One demolished a thirty-meter-tall building in a single blast, another pierced clean through a steel tower. The sheer power of those shots was beyond imagination.
Even Thor would have felt humbled witnessing it, calling Blaine "master" without hesitation. For the rest—Tony, Natasha, and the others—this was divinity in action, something far beyond human capability.
The five arrows struck different locations, kicking up clouds of dust. For a brief second, one corner of Sokovia began to collapse, but it wasn't enough. Only two buildings crumbled completely.
"Mr. Hunter—fifteen seconds left!" Tony shouted.
"Again…"
Even as those five arrows detonated, Blaine already had five more on the string. He loosed them instantly, each arrow whistling toward a new point across the city.
The explosions came in waves, but Sokovia still refused to break.
"It's over… is he going to fail?" someone whispered.
"Oh no… I haven't even lived my life yet…"
Despair washed over them. Everyone watching, hearts pounding, was already preparing to die.
But while all eyes were fixed on the falling city, no one noticed Blaine's faint smile. Slowly, he lowered the Bow of Elements—putting it away entirely.
Was he giving up?
No.
"Burst!"
Blaine's quiet command shattered the silence.
In an instant, a blinding explosion tore through the sky, dragging everyone back from the brink of death.
"Look!" Hawkeye shouted, sharp-eyed as ever. "Does that look like a symbol?"
Following his gaze, the others finally saw it—an enormous five-pointed star blazing across the center of Sokovia. The arrows' impact points had connected, forming a massive magic circle. Each of its five corners glowed with a different elemental energy: fire, water, wood, metal, and earth.
And at its center—an arrow crackling with pure lightning.
That single arrow broke the delicate balance, setting the pentagram spinning rapidly.
Then—an earth-shattering detonation.
The explosion that followed was like a miniature supernova, its power rivaling a nuclear strike at Sokovia's heart. Elemental energy surged outward in violent waves, consuming everything.
Buildings, rivers—entire districts—were obliterated in an instant. The ground itself couldn't withstand the force. Within seconds, Sokovia's surface cracked open, splintering like shattered glass.
Two seconds later, it gave way completely—like a brittle biscuit crushed in a giant's palm.
Within five breaths, Sokovia was reduced to floating fragments, disintegrating into dust that drifted down through the air.
The crisis was over.
All of it—every explosion, every flash of light—had taken place within ten seconds. By the time the final five seconds passed, the city was nothing but dust.
Some might wonder—if a falling city could devastate the planet, how could turning it into dust stop that destruction?
Imagine this: one person stands on top of a twenty-meter building, holding a massive boulder, while another stands below. If the boulder drops, it will crush the person—and probably dent the ground beneath them.
Now, replace the boulder with dust of equal mass. Dropped from the same height, it won't kill the person below—just cover them in debris.
So when Sokovia fell, now reduced to gravel and dust, it only created a blinding sandstorm rather than a cataclysm. For days, nearby cities would choke on fine ash, and air pollution levels would spike beyond measure—but the world was saved.
All of it—every detail—had been calculated by Blaine.
When he first loosed the arrows, even he had been uncertain. The first shots showed no effect, and Tony's countdown only worsened the pressure.
But then, as he sensed the elemental resonance spreading through the ground, clarity struck. An idea—absurd but brilliant—took root.
If single elemental arrows weren't enough, what about a network of them?
He remembered the battle against Loki, when four lightning arrows had once woven a grid to block the Chitauri wormhole. If four could hold off an alien army, what could dozens do together?
Inspired by the fiery meteorite technique he'd used before, Blaine improvised—a Five Elements Formation, powered by elemental arrows and detonated through lightning.
Whether by genius or luck, it worked flawlessly.
And yet, just as the dust settled, the faint white halo above Blaine's head flickered once…
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