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The only real advantage the Chitauri possessed was their technology.
In the Marvel world, the most powerful black-tech advancements were concentrated on Earth. So even if the Chitauri came up with something unexpected, Shen He remained confident he could handle it.
"Let's move. Head to the combat center first."
As everyone arrived, Shen He stood up and led the large group toward the command headquarters.
Semiramis followed behind him.
Despite being among a group of extraordinary followers, the regal Empress, draped in her luxurious attire, still managed to draw attention. Her presence turned heads, as her mature charm and imperial bearing stood apart from the youthful beauty of Jeanne d'Arc and the others.
"Heh, aren't you going to introduce this stunning woman to us?" Tony Stark, predictably, couldn't help but comment with a smirk.
"If you're itching to drink poisoned wine, be my guest," Shen He replied with a shrug.
"Ah, just a joke," Tony said, quickly swallowing his words and averting his gaze with unusual honesty.
He wasn't about to test his luck again. After being nearly killed by Violet once, Tony had learned to keep his distance from the kind of dangerously unpredictable people Shen He tended to bring around.
Shen He didn't bother with introductions. Instead, his attention turned to the large screen, which displayed a 3D projection of the space surrounding the wormhole.
Six massive, monolithic devices floated in a circular formation around the wormhole. Beyond them, in the alien dimension, an endless swarm of Chitauri warships and scout vessels filled the space. Further out, larger medium-class capital ships floated ominously, their dense arrays of turrets making their destructive potential obvious at a glance.
Semiramis's eyes widened as she stared at the screen, her ruby lips parting slightly in shock. She appeared to mouth the equivalent of "what the hell is that?"
Despite being gifted with modern knowledge, the scale and technology displayed on the screen pushed the limits of her comprehension. For someone from a distant past, this alien invasion fleet was pure madness.
"No wonder you said there were six points," Shen He said, turning toward Tony. "Just destroy those six pillars, right?"
"Yes," Tony replied, tapping rapidly at the console, causing the screen to zoom in and filter out the Chitauri ships, highlighting only the six core devices.
"But it's not that simple. To compress a high-powered bomb into something a single person can carry, you have to sacrifice destructive power. You can only mount the bombs on very specific structural weak points. That limits where we can place them."
As he spoke, red markers appeared on the screen, indicating the blast points.
In comparison to the size of the pillars, the target points were minuscule.
"You're deliberately making this more difficult for us," Shen He grumbled, half-jokingly. "How are we supposed to find these exact points in real-time?"
"That's why I designed a set of watches for each of you," Tony said, gesturing to his assistant, who rolled in a box. "They'll guide you to the exact installation locations. If the system is damaged mid-combat, the command center can provide backup direction."
"Not bad," Shen He said, glancing into the opened case. Inside were neatly organized sets of combat equipment: respirators, communicators, directional beacons, and the miniature bombs.
This mission wasn't particularly difficult. In fact, within this range and threat level, Shen He felt Qimu could have handled it solo. But this was an important opportunity to experience combat in space—something vital to Chaldea's long-term development beyond Earth.
Shen He also wanted to observe what changes, if any, would occur in the followers when exposed to the vacuum and pressure of outer space.
As all parties prepared, the battle clock ticked down to zero.
"The fleet is in position," came a report from the military liaison.
"Then let's begin."
With a flick of his hand, Shen He summoned Emperor Gu, who manifested in a whirlwind of malevolent spirit energy. In the next instant, Qi Mu Nanxiong activated his teleportation ability.
A jolt of weightlessness struck.
Suddenly, they were no longer on Earth, but standing atop a Chitauri battleship outside the wormhole.
"This ability is seriously convenient!" Thor exclaimed, electricity dancing around him. Even as he stayed close to Shen He and Qimu Nanxiong for safety, his hammer was already in motion.
Boom—!
A massive explosion rocked space as Thor's Mjölnir crashed into the nearest Chitauri cruiser.
The sudden shockwave of combat woke the slumbering Chitauri forces.
In moments, the space before them was ablaze with laser fire.
"Split up!" Shen He ordered, eyes sharp as he launched off the ship beneath him. The other followers did the same. The medium-sized battleship they had landed on was consumed by explosions and turned into drifting wreckage in seconds.
The first thing Shen He noticed was the overwhelming disorientation. With no gravity, no atmosphere, and no point of reference, he couldn't distinguish up from down or left from right. Enemies appeared to be everywhere. With no surface to stand on or terrain to use, even stopping made him a vulnerable target in the open void.
"Master." Qimu gently tugged Thor and floated backwards, using his telekinesis to reorient Shen He. "Just find a visual reference. The Chitauri all align with a unified directional axis."
"Really?" Shen He blinked, then focused. He soon noticed Qimu was right—the Chitauri fleets all moved in precise formations with directional stability, allowing him to anchor his perception of "up" and "down."
"This is a wild experience." Now better oriented, Shen He scanned the battlefield.
It was nothing like what TV and films portrayed. There was no atmosphere here. Only direct light could reach the eye, making most light sources look unnaturally harsh. It was impossible to gauge distances by sight alone. The communicator crackled constantly, and Shen He was hyper-aware of the sounds from his own suit—his breath, his heartbeat, the clicking of systems—because there were no external sounds in the vacuum.
Laser fire sliced silently through the dark. Metal sparked on impact. Battleships erupted in fire and molten steel.
This was a silent battlefield—but one of extraordinary violence.
"Shen He, what's our target?" Thor's voice buzzed in his earpiece, lightning still surging around him.
"In a vacuum, electric currents shouldn't exist… and yet…"
"Follow me."
Summoning a concentrated orb of Moon Marrow Spirit Liquid as a beacon, Shen He darted toward the location indicated on his watch.
The Chitauri fleet was dense, but the army's sheer size also worked against them. Shen He and the others had appeared in the heart of their formation, throwing the enemy into chaos. Crossfire from their own side became a greater threat to the Chitauri than the invaders themselves.
"How's everyone holding up?" Shen He asked through the psychic communication link he maintained with the team.
"No issues," Jeanne d'Arc replied. "I'm using Spirit Form. They can't detect me. I'm already close to the target."
Spirit Form was a cheat in this kind of war. A fully technological civilization had no way to detect incorporeal spirits unless they had energy-based sensory fields.
"Same here."
Yifang Tongxing, standing atop a stolen Chitauri scout vessel, slammed it into a cruiser and emerged from the explosion unscathed.
Even without full access to his original Level 5 power, this battlefield posed no threat to him.
"What about Violet and Hubby?" Shen He asked, glancing toward the chaotic right flank.
If Yifang and Jeanne were fighting with cheat codes, then Violet and Hubby were the frontliners.
Even from this distance, Shen He could see brilliant beams of energy carving through battleships. One beam exploded with dragon-like fury, bathing the enemy in fire—Hubby's copied Dragon Essence Skill: Flame Dragon Cannon.
"We're fine."
Two brief replies echoed in Shen He's mind.
"…If either of you gets into trouble, respond immediately and come to me," Shen He ordered. "That's an order."
Those two had no concept of personal safety. Only a direct command would make them listen.
"Understood, Master."
Relieved by their response, Shen He refocused.
The Chitauri had no elite warriors, at least not in this version of the Marvel universe. In fact, even their ordinary soldiers were frailer than most humans. A single strike on their power suits or neural links could kill them instantly.
Their armor was ridiculously brittle.
Shen He had suspected this during the Battle of New York, but now he felt it firsthand. With his current strength, even a standard spear could pierce through their ships. Compared to something like the Macross VF series of fighters, the Chitauri technology was pitiful.
This was perhaps why individual strength dominated the Marvel world—most civilizations poured their resources into fragile black-tech.
"Shen He, something's not right up ahead." Thor's voice broke into his thoughts.
Looking forward, Shen He saw it too.
Just ahead, surrounding one of the six giant pillars, was a formation of ultra-small Chitauri drones. They were compact but perfectly aligned in a spherical grid, enclosing the pillar.
In the next instant, their bodies lit up with synchronized blue-white energy, weaving together into a giant shimmering energy barrier.
"Shen He," Tony's voice cut through the static. "We just detected a massive energy field—right on top of the target device!"
"Yeah, looks like they've activated their hole card," Shen He said coolly.
Suddenly, the audio in his earpiece distorted.
Behind them, another massive net of drones had formed—and the moment the energy barrier locked in, communications began failing.
Clearly, this defensive system wasn't just for show—it also had jamming capabilities.
Presumably, the situation across other locations was developing similarly.
"Shi." Shen He opened a spiritual summoning channel to contact the Two Rituals. "I can only trouble you to pass on the message—let them know there's no need to worry."
"Allow me to assist."
The Two Rituals' palms rested lightly on the hilt of the blade sheathed at her side, fingers already tightening.
"No, don't use it just yet." Shen He swiftly interjected, his voice unusually sharp. "If I need your help, I'll ask without hesitation."
His caution was not unfounded. He knew her innate combat nature—murderous and unyielding—was ill-suited to an open-space battlefield like this one, where spiritual interference and dimensional boundaries could distort her reality-based abilities.
"…Very well."
The Two Rituals said no more, but her hands remained firmly on her weapon, refusing to let down her guard.
Her crimson eyes swept over the panicked crowd before her—civilians who had only moments ago been scrambling to understand what was happening above Earth.
"Shen... Master said everything's under control."
It was the first time she referred to Shen He as 'Master,' an unexpected yet oddly reverent gesture.
"Is that so? Miss Two Rituals." Coulson, who had worked briefly with her during the Chaldea–Attilan crisis, stepped forward with familiar respect.
"This is nothing worth fearing," she replied, shifting her gaze to the massive display screen showcasing the battlefield, where the Cherita energy net was tightening. "Nothing we haven't seen before."
"Oh?"
Semiramis's eyes flicked toward the poised hands of the Two Rituals and lingered on her untouched blade. A vulpine smile crept across her face—seductive, cunning, and deeply amused.
The Queen of Assyria sensed something curious was about to unfold, and in her mind, the game was just beginning.
Meanwhile, Shen He had finished briefing the Two Rituals and turned his attention back to the vast "net" steadily contracting in front of him—a luminous, multidimensional lattice constructed from Cherita energy nodes.
These generated force fields linked by miniature gravitonic stabilizers, creating an interlocked network resembling a massive web. It wasn't just for containment—it was a mobile siege engine.
This web formation meant the Cherita army was deploying one of their high-tier battlefield suppression protocols—likely a trump card granted to them by their elusive benefactor.
"But…" Shen He murmured under his breath, "if this is their hidden card, then it's almost relieving. At least the mystery's off the table."
He'd been wary of this scenario since last night—Semiramis's warning had made it clear: the enemy wasn't going to rely on brute force alone. The Cheritas had learned from their first encounters with Earth's defenders—especially individuals like Accelerator, Jeanne d'Arc, and Violet. They were adapting.
"Master, we may have a situation on the far end of the perimeter," Qi Mu Nanxiong's calm, psychic voice echoed through Shen He's mind. "Violet's armament output may be insufficient to breach that type of energy barrier."
"You're right." Shen He's expression sharpened as he locked eyes with a towering Cherita pillar anchoring the energy net. "We move—now."
The instant he gave the command, the trio—Shen He, Qi Mu Nanxiong, and Violet—blinked out of visual range, tearing across the battlefield with instantaneous motion.
They shattered through the net's perimeter defense and reappeared beside the targeted anchor node.
"This is the one."
Shen He reached into his backpack and pulled out a volatile explosive device developed in collaboration with Tony Stark and Dr. Simmons—purely designed for dimensional destabilization. From his position, he slipped it precisely into a ventilation slit in the core structure.
As Qi Mu's cooldown for teleportation refreshed, Shen He used the interval to flash-step toward Violet's coordinates, preparing for coordinated withdrawal.
The next moment, a tidal wave of incandescent energy erupted across the battlefield.
Even in the silence of space, the explosion radiated so fiercely it cracked open the Cherita pillar from within. Jagged, red fissures spread rapidly across the structure, splitting it apart like glass under stress. Shen He, watching from afar, could clearly see the destruction in motion—every vein of energy unraveling like threads cut loose.
This was the kind of bombing Tony referred to—"nothing left to salvage."
"This ability is… absolutely unfair."
Even Thor, who had fought frost giants, dark elves, and eldritch beasts, had rarely seen warfare executed with such surgical, multidimensional precision.
Even Asgard's Einherjar elite would have difficulty apprehending a force like this—teams capable of breaching battle lines at will, delivering pinpoint devastation, and vanishing before the enemy could retaliate.
But Shen He wasn't basking in admiration or praise. His gaze searched the smoldering battlefield for Violet's silhouette.
She wasn't hard to find.
From amidst the flames and scattered Cherita mechs, her form stood out—a red blur, weaving between laser fire with serpentine grace.
As she moved, the energy beams targeting her seemed to bend away at the last second, her teleportation blinks keeping her in constant, elegant motion.
She was unscathed, undeterred—lethal beauty in motion.
It was a reminder to Shen He and everyone watching: in this war of gods and monsters, Earth had forged its own myth.
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