Chapter 34: The Sly and Deceitful Hulk

As the Space Stone continued to provide power, the interstellar portal above Stark Tower grew larger and larger. More Chitauri poured through like a rising tide, and several of those massive flying insectoids even emerged all at once.

However, after emerging from the portal, they instinctively began to turn away from the rooftop below. Perhaps having received warning signals from their kin, they were sensible enough not to join the battle between the two mages atop the tower. Currently, the two mages were trading powerful magic fireballs and blue arcane energy bolts. Any Chitauri daring to approach had to weigh their options; anyone with a functioning intellect would steer well clear of that area.

"Annie! Think of something, quick! The portal is getting bigger and bigger!!" Coulson pointed at the expanding portal in the sky. He could clearly see the Chitauri mothership and other warships in the other dimension beginning to stir; perhaps in a moment, they would attempt to pass through the portal.

In truth, Coulson had already tried countless methods: shooting with a pistol, detonating grenades, throwing bricks, pulling wires, pushing with all his might, and even trying to pry the base loose! However, all had been in vain. He was only a few steps away from urinating or spitting on it just to see if he could cause a short circuit!

Without even looking, Annie could feel the disturbances coming from the portal above. She felt they couldn't delay any longer; this endless cycle of attacking and defending without being able to land a decisive blow was becoming tedious.

After this period of back-and-forth combat with this villain named Loki, Annie had also seen the peculiarity of his wand. No matter how many powerful spells she cast or how many times she attacked, the wand's mana never diminished. It was as if it possessed infinite magical energy, constantly providing Loki with the mana needed to maintain his shield. To her, this was no longer fun.

After a moment's thought, Annie used a Flash to create distance between them! Since she couldn't continue like this, there was no need to waste more mana in a prolonged struggle.

Hmph! She had figured it out—this shield existed specifically to counter magic. Perhaps it was another form of the legendary magic immunity? In that case, Annie could only try a different method. If that failed, she would simply snatch the Space Stone and run; she doubted he would dare to chase her.

"What's the matter, little girl? Are you giving up?" Seeing Annie proactively flash far away, Loki assumed she had lost heart after seeing her attacks fail, and he began to gloat.

"You see it too, don't you? My army is infinite; humans stand no chance. How about this: surrender to me, and I shall share my power with you. Since we are the strong, we are born to stand above mortals and enjoy their worship and supreme authority! Submit to me, little girl!"

Loki had witnessed Annie's strength! He secretly felt fortunate to possess the staff forged from the Infinity Stone, which allowed him to suppress her so effectively; otherwise, this would have been truly dangerous.

"Hmph! Who said anything about surrendering? I've already found a way to deal with you, but first, I have one question!"

Annie's eyes gleamed with envy as she looked at his wand. He was only bullying her because of that miraculous tool—what was there to be so proud of! However, it was such a waste to leave such a good item in his hands; she had to find a way to snatch it!

"What is it?" Loki asked instinctively. He truly couldn't imagine what method a little girl could have to deal with him. A more powerful spell?

"Well, I want to ask: have you seen my little bear?" Annie asked with a mischievous, wicked grin.

"What little bear?" Loki froze. What kind of trick was this girl playing now?

"So you haven't seen it? Then let me show you! How about it? Hehehehe~!" As Annie launched a fireball, she simultaneously tossed Tiberius toward him.

"What on earth is this girl trying to do?" Loki was utterly bewildered.

He had certainly never seen her little bear, and he was left dazed by her inexplicable behavior of throwing a toy. However, following the principle of responding to change with stability, he immediately summoned his shield to block the fireball, preparing to counterattack during the gap in Annie's assault! Since the Chitauri mothership was arriving soon anyway, he was in no rush. He would just drag it out; if he could stall long enough, victory would surely be his!

"Now! Hurry! Tiberius, come out, quick! Bite him to death!"

With Annie's sharp cry, the toy bear thrown toward Loki emitted a violent magical fluctuation and rapidly expanded, instantly transforming into a massive flame bear that slammed down heavily toward Loki! The enormous, flaming bear claws directly crushed through Loki's magical shield. Before he could react, Tiberius's claw swiped his wand away, sending it spinning down from Stark Tower into some unknown corner.

"Aha! So much for magic immunity! So much for your gloating! You fell for it!"

Annie's eyes lit up as she watched the wand fly off. While pretending to be triumphant and watching Tiberius use Loki as a punching bag, she secretly cast an invisibility puppet spell, ordering the puppet to slip down Stark Tower at top speed. As for where it went? Ahem! Annie wasn't going to tell you!

"Oh! No!" With his shield crushed and his wand knocked away, Loki could only instinctively cover his head with both hands as the bear claws descended.

Unfortunately! He lacked the Hulk's strength and his physique! He was swiped by Tiberius's second claw into a wall, fell, and was then stepped on by Tiberius's paw against his chest. After two more strikes, he was knocked unconscious, his body scorched messily by Tiberius's flames. His long black hair was burnt into a charred, curly, sticky mess that smelled strongly of burnt protein.

*Pah! This guy is incredibly weak! Such poor constitution, passing out after just a few hits! If it weren't for that magic-immune shield, he would have been scorched to a crisp by Annie's master long ago,* Tiberius curled its lip in disdain.

*Whatever! It's not every day I get to come out! He is an Asgardian god, after all; I'll just stomp on him a few more times for fun.* It had never stomped on a demigod like this before. Thus, Tiberius stepped forward and stomped heavily on him twice more. It was quite satisfying, though he was a bit too weak and didn't hold up well under a beating.

"No! Annie, I beg you, stop! Don't kill him!"

Thor, the God of Thunder, who had survived his fall from the tower, finally managed to climb back to the rooftop. When he saw this scene, he rushed to intervene. Although his brother Loki had committed great wrongs, he was unwilling to let him be killed here; at the very least, he should be brought back to Asgard to be judged by his father, Odin.

Having finished his fun, Tiberius stood with one paw on Loki's chest and raised the other high, preparing to deliver a fatal blow! However, hearing Thor's plea, it turned its head to look at Annie with a questioning gaze. As long as his master Annie nodded, it would immediately strike down and tear the head off this demigod named Loki.

It only obeyed Annie's commands. As for the guy with the hammer? Tiberius didn't care who he was. It couldn't wait to kill the demigod beneath its feet. Even if the demigod was a bit weak and pathetic, he was still a demigod! Once it returned to the Shadow Realm, it would have something to brag about: *One day, Tiberius killed a demigod! See? It's quite a boast!*

"Eh? Let him go? Why?" Annie was quite reluctant to let the villain go! Looking at the city in ruins, she had seen many people die because of him along the way; Annie wanted Tiberius to eat him!

"Please, Annie!" Thor didn't dare use force and could only plead bitterly. After all, Loki was his brother!

"But..." Annie was still somewhat unwilling! She wasn't close to this Uncle Thor, so why should she listen to him? She refused!

"I say! Can you two stop discussing this for a moment? Look! Their mothership is coming!!"

Coulson was losing his mind! He quickly shouted to interrupt the two who were still debating. What time was it? They were still discussing this? Besides, Loki had already been beaten into that state by Tiberius; he wasn't going anywhere! Whether they killed or punished him later was up to them! The alien mothership was already arriving—as members of the Avengers, could they please be a little more professional?

"Whoa!" Annie looked up to see the massive head of the Chitauri mothership emerging from the portal. She sighed; it seemed things had gotten a bit out of hand this time. That mothership was huge...

"How do we shut it down?" Coulson quickly led Annie and Thor to stand before the spatial device. Neither Thor's hammer nor Annie's fireballs seemed to be able to damage it in the slightest. It was firmly protected by a shield! The power of the Space Stone was being continuously drawn from the device to maintain and expand the portal in the sky.

"According to the doctor who built this device, it seems only Loki's wand can shut it down!"

Coulson added urgently. He had previously tried shooting it with a pistol and detonating grenades nearby, but to no avail. And now they had to find Loki's wand? Heaven knows where Tiberius had knocked it! By the time they found it, the Chitauri army would likely have already arrived.

"Maybe it doesn't have to be that complicated, Tiberius! It's your turn!" Annie's eyes darted around as she secretly infused Tiberius with some special arcane energy—energy that was somewhat similar to Loki's wand.

"Roar~!" Tiberius had no choice but to abandon its prey and leap forward, smashing the spatial device and its shield into pieces with a single strike. In its view, Master Annie simply didn't want it to kill the demigod for the time being.

"The Space Stone!" Seeing the device destroyed, Thor finally felt relieved. However, seeing the shattered fragments and the glowing cube, he immediately remembered what it was.

"Come back! Aha~!" Annie quickly cast a Mage Hand, sucking the flying, glowing cube back into her hand. Now that the item was finally in her possession, she finally let out a triumphant laugh.

"Oh! No! Look up! We're doomed!" Coulson cried out, gesturing for everyone to look above.

As it turned out, once the spatial device was destroyed and the Space Stone's power was cut off, the spatial tunnel immediately began to collapse. The Chitauri mothership, which had only just poked its head through, was instantly severed by the collapsing portal. Explosions erupted from the break, and the entire head of the mothership began to plummet toward Stark Tower.

Simultaneously, because the spatial tunnel was closed and the mothership was destroyed by the spatial rift, the Chitauri soldiers and giant flying insects ravaging New York City suddenly lost power and control, falling to the ground in heaps.

In the end, Coulson did not perish; Annie's mass teleportation magic allowed them all to escape the catastrophe. Standing at a distance, looking at the massive ruins ahead, everyone felt a sense of relief. Though it was tragic, Earth had ultimately achieved victory! This was something worth celebrating—except for one person: Iron Man, Tony Stark!

"My God! That was my building!!!" Aside from removing his helmet, Tony stared blankly at the ruins of the original Stark Tower, which had been crushed by the nose of the Chitauri mothership.

The unfortunate Stark Tower and the surrounding buildings had been leveled by the falling debris of the alien mothership's head. Fortunately, it was only a small section of the head; if half a mothership had fallen, all of New York might have been doomed. Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.

"Excuse me! Um, did I miss something?" After the battle had ended, Bruce Banner, who arrived late on a battered motorcycle, looked at the devastated streets and the motionless aliens. He asked Captain America and the others with a somewhat awkward expression.