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674. Heart of a Hero
🕑 Added 2025-05-30 00:28:04 +0000 UTCTony reacted the fastest. The nanobots in his suit turned his wrist into shields. Of course, it was no ordinary shield. Tony had access to ores that defined the laws of physics, so he chose the hardest metal he could currently manufacture. He also activated the suit’s force field as an additional means of defense.
However, his attempt was futile. Thor’s axe suddenly released red lightning and smashed into his shield. The force sent Tony flying away, and Natasha condensed shadow tentacles to use as spears. Thor released a burst of lightning, dispersing the shadows.
Wong’s spell was ready. He conjured four clones that surrounded Thor, and each clone summoned magical chains to restrain the thunder God. However, Thor casualty destroyed the chains with one axe swing. His eyes then flashed a red lightning, and he looked at one of the clones — it was Wong’s original body.
Thor moved, leaving a red lightning trail behind him. He appeared before Wong and smashed his head with his ax. He was too fast for Wong to react. Luckily, Natasha reacted swiftly and switched the real Wong with a shadow clone.
As Wong’s shadow clone exploded, it turned into hundreds of shadow spears that targeted Thor. The surprise attack should have injured him in some ways, but it appeared he had a thin coat of lightning armor surrounding his skin for increased defense.
Thor raised his axe to summon an area effect spell. Red lightning descended from the sky as if it were raining. The team had to work together to survive such a terrible attack. Tony condensed his best shields, and the others followed. However, even with the three working together, they barely survived the attack.
Thor calmly looked at them before roaring. His voice echoed like thunder; it was as if the Gods were angry at mortals, and the Heavens felt it and released a thunderstorm. Additionally, Thor’s roar contained the power of fear, making it even more effective.
The three found themselves unable to move, and Thor took full advantage of this opportunity. He threw his ax at Natasha. Her shadow magic made her the fastest and most mobile of the team, so Thor decided to remove her in case she chose to run away.
Natasha desperately tried to remove the negative effect of Thor’s fear attack. She was trained for such a situation, but unfortunately, she was too late to escape. As fate would have it, someone else was better in such a situation than her — Wong. He has faced a few Demon Gods during his training and was used to their intimidating aura.
So, Wong was the first to gain some control of his body. He immediately moved his fingers to summon two portals. The axe passed through the one before Natasha and exited through the portal behind Thor. However, the axe stopped a few inches before touching Thor. The Asgardian did not even move as the magical item stopped of its own volition. Thor calmly took the axe before continuing his onslaught.
He summoned a second bout of lightning from the heavens, but this time, the lightning was black instead of red. It fell from the sky as if God were punishing mortals for their sins. However, when everything dissipated, Thor discovered the team was perfectly intact.
“Hmm?” he muttered before observing them closely. “Illusions? This is one of the few tricks my brother used during our final battle.” His father did not accept a Frost Giant planning for Asgard’s throne, so he ordered Thor to eliminate him. He still remembered the desperate plea of Loki before he smashed his head. The day was also when Mjolnir finally gave up on him and decided he was not worthy.
“How dare you steal my brother’s magic?” Thor roared, his body releasing an intense, dark aura. His eyes and hair slowly turned, followed by his body releasing an intense scent of blood.
“What’s going on?” Tony asked.
“The Sorcerer Supreme once commented on the Asgardian Prince,” Wong said. “He said the prince was not fit to rule because he had the heart of a hero — he was too compassionate. It seems that Odin in this timeline forced him to commit many atrocities, and it broke his psyche.”
“In other words, more bad news for us,” Tony complained.
“Now,” Natasha suddenly yelled. She used the time Thor was distracted and losing his mind to control his shadow, rendering him immobile. Tony did not hesitate as two cannons appeared from his shoulder. He did not hesitate to fire the Antimatter Cannons, trying to erase Thor from this world.
Thor barely managed to raise his hand to block the attack head-on. His arms were charred, but that was the extent of the damage. The force from the cannon was slowly pushing him backward, but that was nothing to him. However, Wong took this opportunity to open a dimensional portal behind him, exiling the Thunder God somewhere in the endless Dimension Sea.
The team sighed in relief as they saw him disappear. “Let’s not waste any more time,” Natasha said. However, she hadn’t finished her words when a rainbow descended from the sky, and a slightly injured Thor appeared before them.
“Damn it,” Natasha cursed. She realized they needed a different approach if they wanted to escape this place. Her shadow suddenly expanded, covering a wide area. Then, numerous creatures slowly ascended from her shadows.
“Shadow Legions: buy us time. Keep the enemy at bay no matter the sacrifice,” Natasha ordered. Her plan was sound, but she underestimated the power of a mad Thor. The Asgardian Prince stomped his feet to the ground, and the surroundings changed.
They were no longer in Asgard, but in this dark world. The sun was bright red, and what’s more creepy, everyone was standing in this pool of blood that seemed to have no end.
“What power is this?” Natasha asked.
“A domain?” Tony asked.
“Yes, and it seemed to be from his Authority of Killing,” Wong said as he remembered that Thor called himself the God of Killing.
“Can’t you do something?” Natasha asked.
“I haven’t completed my domain,” Wong said.
“I haven’t digested that knowledge yet,” Tony added. He planned to build suits for different situations, including one to battle Domains. However, he was far from that state.
While they were talking, numerous individuals suddenly rose from the pool of blood. As soon as they laid eyes on these people, Tony took a small step backward. He recognized some of these people despite never having met them.
“I knew this day would come,” he muttered. He was once a weapon manufacturer, meaning his weapons were used to kill countless people, including innocent children and women. Tony never truly reconciled with this fact. Now, this domain was bringing back all the people he had killed or was responsible for their deaths. Tony had never seen these people, but he knew he was responsible for their deaths.
Tony was not the only one having a hard time. Wong had mostly killed demons and interdimensional creatures. However, since Edward took over and created missions in other dimensions, he had a few regrettable encounters where he lost people he was supposed to save. So, when he saw those faces again, his heart was in turmoil.
Natasha was no better than them. Her time in the Red Room or as a spy for S.H.I.E.L.D. was not a piece of cake, resulting in the deaths of countless, some of which she deeply regretted.
“Now is not the time to be soft,” Natasha warned the others. “Remember what Edward said: we will have to lose our humanity if we want to save our timeline.”
“Your words are not helping as much as you think,” Tony said. He was lucky he was wearing armor, or the others would have seen his body trembling. His death toll was at least ten times that of the others. He realized now how much suffering the US government had created using his weapons.
He tried to tell himself that it was mostly Jebodiah’s fault, but he knew that was true. He never truly cared what his weapons were used for, as he convinced himself they were for defending national security. But for the government, national security also included countries that have oil or rare minerals but refused to give the United States access.
‘Damn it,’ Natasha thought. She could read people’s emotions and could tell Tony was having a mental breakdown. If she doesn’t do anything, he’ll become useless. It was already challenging fighting Thor with only the three of them. She could not fathom how long they would survive if only she and Wong remained.
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hector lyng
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