Lady Sif’s performance could only be described as... spectacular.
She launched into the air with flawless balance, twisted through an elegant series of flips, and then, in the blink of an eye, was blasted backward with enough force to rival an Olympic gymnastics routine.
Her landing, unfortunately, earned no medals.
She crashed into the ground unconscious.
Fandral and Hogun immediately rushed in, dragging her limp body away from the battlefield.
As far as they were concerned, the culprit wasn’t the Destroyer.
It was the enormous green meteor that had suddenly fallen from the sky.
Moments earlier, Sif had driven her longsword into a gap in the Destroyer’s armor, briefly immobilizing it.
The construct had responded by turning to incinerate the woman currently standing on its shoulders.
Before it could fire...
The sky fell.
A blazing green meteor appeared nearly a thousand feet overhead and slammed diagonally into the battlefield.
Fortunately, its true target had been the Destroyer.
Sif was caught only by the resulting shockwave, which sent her flying and knocked her unconscious.
The Destroyer wasn’t nearly so fortunate.
For the first time since arriving on Earth...
It was damaged.
A large section of armor beneath its right ribs had been crushed inward.
Raw physical force alone shouldn’t have been capable of inflicting that kind of damage.
But the emerald flames coating the meteor weren’t ordinary fire.
They were fel energy.
Even divine enchantments had fallen before the Burning Legion’s corruption.
The Destroyer had finally met something capable of challenging its blessings.
At first, everyone assumed the attack was over.
The meteor had landed.
The impact had ended.
Surely that was it.
They were wrong.
The crater trembled.
Then something began climbing out.
A colossal humanoid rose from the smoking impact site.
It stood a full head taller than the Destroyer.
Its body was formed from cracked volcanic stone, while brilliant green fel flames roared from every fissure in its rocky frame.
The meteor...
Had been alive.
Melinda stared at the towering giant.
"What... is that?"
Evenson smiled.
"A Hellfire."
"My strongest servant."
"A siege construct built for war."
He sounded almost proud.
"If not for that deal I made a few days ago, I wouldn’t have dared summon it."
The problem had never been casting the spell.
The problem had been hiding it.
A flaming meteor carrying immense supernatural energy wasn’t exactly subtle.
If something like that had descended from the sky over New York, the sorcerers guarding the New York Sanctum would have noticed immediately.
And if they somehow didn’t...
The Ancient One would probably have assigned them to shovel snow in the Himalayas until the end of time.
Fortunately, his bargain with Mephisto had provided a convenient solution.
Melinda rubbed her forehead.
"I’ve realized something."
"Ever since I met you..."
"My definition of ’impossible’ keeps expanding."
She counted them off on her fingers.
"A flaming skeleton."
"The Devil himself."
"The crown prince of Asgard."
"Alien warriors."
"And now..."
She looked back toward the battlefield.
"A meteor that turns into a giant made of burning rock."
She sighed.
"At this rate, if aliens show up over New York tomorrow in giant spaceships..."
"...I probably won’t even be surprised."
Evenson gave her a strange look.
"Congratulations."
"Your tolerance for insanity has officially leveled up."
The Hellfire threw back its head and roared.
Then it charged.
Each step shook the ground.
The Destroyer answered immediately.
Its faceplate opened.
A crimson beam of annihilation burst forward.
The blast struck the Hellfire squarely in the chest.
...And scattered harmlessly across its body.
Fel energy greatly weakened magical attacks.
Whether Hellfires had originally been corrupted elemental beings or mass-produced Legion constructs, one trait remained constant across every version.
Extraordinary resistance to magic.
The oldest Hellfires were legendary for being nearly immune to spells altogether.
Evenson couldn’t summon those ancient monsters.
Those were creatures fit to serve dreadlords and demon lords.
His strength wasn’t anywhere close to that level.
But even the Legion’s standardized version was no easy opponent.
Against the Destroyer’s energy beam, it could shrug off most of the damage with little difficulty.
Since ranged attacks weren’t working...
The Hellfire did the only thing it knew.
It punched.
Wildly.
No finesse.
No elegant technique.
Just two enormous fists swinging with enough force to flatten buildings.
The Destroyer, however, had no intention of trading crude blows.
Forged in Asgard and empowered by Odin himself, it moved with startling precision.
Its counters were efficient.
Elegant.
Every strike flowed seamlessly into the next.
The contrast was almost comical.
One combatant fought like a tavern brawler.
The other fought like a grandmaster.
Seconds later...
Neither style seemed to matter.
The two giants crashed into each other, grappling across the desert.
The Destroyer’s polished armor dented under crushing stone fists.
Chunks of burning rock were blasted from the Hellfire’s body by devastating counterattacks.
Stone fragments and sparks flew with every collision.
For the moment...
Neither side could gain a decisive advantage.
Watching the battle unfold, Coulson quietly asked,
"...How many of those things can you summon?"
The question wasn’t idle curiosity.
One Destroyer had nearly overwhelmed the United States military.
Now Evenson had produced something capable of matching it head-on.
If he could summon an army of these...
Evenson understood exactly where Coulson’s thoughts were heading.
"I know what you’re worried about."
He smiled reassuringly.
"The Hellfire isn’t as powerful as it looks."
"It’s only performing this well because it’s naturally resistant to the Destroyer’s magical attacks."
He pointed toward the battlefield.
"If this were purely a contest of physical durability..."
"It wouldn’t last nearly as long."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter