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Steve Rogers was first to arrive, slamming a close-range shield strike onto the Cursed Warrior's raised guard.
Bang!
The Cursed Warrior's blocking stance buckled under the impact.
Before he could counter, a suit-wearing man crashed into his chest.
It was Tony Stark—without his armor.
No fancy moves, just a plain, head-on head-butt smashing into the Cursed Warrior's nose.
Thud!
A dull clang echoed.
The huge Cursed Warrior staggered back two steps from the blow.
Before he could steady himself, a silver lightning flash arrived.
Pietro's supersonic kick smashed into his knee joint.
Crack!
The Cursed Warrior dropped to one knee.
"Hulk—chop!!"
The Hulk leapt high, clasped fists together like a giant hammer, and slammed them onto the Cursed Warrior's spine.
Boom!
The Cursed Warrior was smashed flat, the ground cracking into a wide crater beneath him.
Next came the red-hot woman's scorching blaze, Speedball's kinetic barrage—and… "Thousand-Year Death!!"
Deadpool Wade howled, snatched up his broken blade, and jabbed it into the Cursed Warrior's most vulnerable spot.
"Aaaargh—!!!"
Even the pain-numbed Cursed Warrior shrieked in agony.
This was less a battle than a lynching.
Earthlings' warmest welcome for an alien invader… Back on the other side of the planet—Tokyo, Shibuya.
The fight here was less chaotic, but far deadlier.
Anthony's figure flickered as though reality were skipping frames.
Malekith's crimson Aether Particles churned wildly, trying to weave an all-round barrier.
Yet against Anthony's thousands-of-hits-per-second onslaught, the once-invincible "fluid armor" began to lag.
"Too slow!"
Anthony's cold laugh detonated beside Malekith's ear.
He pinpointed the 0.01-second gap while the Aether mended the left flank.
Thud!
Anthony's hand, blade-like, pierced Malekith's chest without resistance.
"Got you."
He sneered and clenched his fist.
Pop!
The pitch-black beating heart was crushed into pulp in his palm.
Malekith's body went rigid.
Yet only a second passed.
Whoom—
Countless red tendrils wove inside the gaping hole, instantly regrowing a new heart.
"Hah… hah…"
A savage sneer twisted Malekith's pale face.
"Futile… mortal…"
With a wave he drove Anthony back in an Aether storm.
"I am the master of darkness, eternal… you cannot kill me!"
Hovering in mid-air, Anthony flicked black blood from his hand, his gaze turning colder.
"Can't kill you?"
His eyes narrowed as he switched on X-ray vision.
He clearly saw that whenever the Aether repaired Malekith, it frantically siphoned life-force from deep within the Dark Elf's cells.
An equivalent exchange.
"So that's how it is."
Anthony recalled the records he'd read in Odin's archive.
The Aether Particle was a weapon the Dark Elves had engineered from the Reality Stone.
While granting its host immortality, it devoured the host's life at a frantic rate.
Every regeneration drew fuel from the mitochondria of every cell, draining vitality.
Dark Elves possessed robust bodies and long life-spans, able to endure the heavy consumption—
"Then it's simple." Anthony smiled cruelly.
"What did you say?" Malekith frowned.
"I said: you've got a thick health bar, old man."
Anthony lifted his gaze toward the distance.
In a distance an active volcano stood.
"Fists are too slow."
"I'll find you a sauna so you can sweat it out."
A wild yet efficient plan formed in Anthony's mind.
"What are you planning?!" Malekith sensed danger.
"Taking you for a bath."
Boom—!
Anthony moved.
He again shattered Malekith's Aether defense at lightning speed, locked the elf's arms and neck from behind in an iron hold.
A forced embrace.
"Let go of me!!"
Malekith panicked; Aether spikes stabbed at Anthony but failed to pierce his suit.
Boom—liftoff!!!
…At the Volcano.
"Into—you—go!!!"
With all his might Anthony hurled Malekith into the snow-laden crater.
Rumble-rumble-rumble——!!!
After unknown years of slumber, The volcano was forcibly awakened.
Anthony's blow had punched through the crust and opened the magma channel.
Immediately—
A column of fire, black smoke, and lava gushed sky-high!
Hovering high above, Anthony stared at the boiling caldera, not letting up.
He could feel Malekith still struggling inside.
"Not hot enough?"
Anthony's eyes suddenly widened.
"Then—let's turn it up!!"
Zzzzzzzzz——!!!
Two thick beams of high-energy Heat Vision lanced down into the churning magma… Inside the crater.
Malekith was in hell.
Molten rock—Earth's own blood—surrounded him with endless heat and pressure.
"Aaaaah—!"
The Aether ran frantically, trying to block the lava and repair his radiation-scorched flesh.
"Life… my life…"
He felt his vitality draining at a terrifying speed.
The Aether was devouring his very essence to fuel its frantic activity.
"No… I can't die here…"
Malekith tried to burst out of the magma.
But the exit was sealed by that savage figure hovering like a lid.
Whenever he surfaced, fiercer attacks slammed him back down.
One minute.
Two minutes… His struggles waned.
At last.
When the last shred of life was squeezed dry.
The Aether seemed to realize its host had perished; it stopped repairing the ruined body.
Pop.
Malekith's form dissolved to ash within the magma.
The dark-red fluid, hostless, floated unharmed amid the lava, still glowing with eerie light.
"Done."
High above, Anthony exhaled in relief.
"Now for the spoils."
He dived head-first into the billowing smoke.
Hovering above the magma, he stretched out his right hand.
"Come."
The crimson Aether Particle drifted toward him as though finding a new vessel.