At Gravik's command, over 2,700 Super Skrull soldiers charged in unison.
The earth fractured beneath the trampling boots of the mutated horde. The Extremis Virus infused them with magma-hot energy, while the Super Soldier Serum amplified their already formidable strength and speed by multiples.
Yet those two traits were merely the baseline; far more troublesome was the third energy adaptation most of them carried.
Some were clad head-to-toe in rock-hard reptilian scales. Others expanded into massive behemoths, dark green bone spurs puncturing muscles knotted like Christmas trees.
Still others had inherited Hawkeye's marksmanship, launching the incandescent heat of Extremis like razor-sharp arrows.
In an instant, the battlefield devolved into total, chaotic violence.
The civilians watching the broadcast erupted into hopeless lamentations:
"We're dead, we're dead, we're dead! How are they supposed to fight a army like that?!"
"60 to 1, and every single one of them is a freaky monster! This isn't a situation humanly possible to handle!"
"Where are our nukes?! Chernobyl leaked radiation decades ago anyway, it's already a dead wasteland! Just drop a few nuclear warheads and level those monsters once and for all!"
"You idiot, our heroes are right there! Are you trying to kill them all?!"
"Those aliens deliberately chose Chernobyl because they knew nuclear radiation wouldn't affect them at all!"
Just as countless viewers closed their eyes in despair, unwilling to watch the impending one-sided slaughter—
"Now then... it's showtime~"
Peter snapped his fingers, delivering his long-absent transformation line.
The moment the words fell, Celestial energy flooded the battlefield, pushing Gwen and the others straight into Celestial Mode!
Gwen's original black-and-white suit was overlaid with shimmering golden star patterns. Taking the initiative, she struck first, thrusting her wrists forward as golden energy webs erupted into the sky.
The webbing wasn't aimed at the charging enemies, but shot straight up into the open air.
"What is Ghost-Spider trying to do?"
"There isn't even a single building or tree out on that battlefield, what could her webs possibly stick to?"
"Did the sheer pressure make her snap?!"
While viewers worldwide whispered in confusion, an impossible sight unfolded!
Infused with Celestial energy, the web matrix burst mid-air into hundreds of radiant golden threads. Under Gwen's absolute mental command, every single strand transformed into a blinding needle raining down from the heavens.
It looked as though a golden monsoon had swept across the sky.
The needles pierced precisely through the arm and leg joints of the lead Skrull vanguard. In a fraction of a second, over thirty Super Skrulls had their limbs pinned firmly to the scorched earth.
Gwen clenched her fist. The scattered golden threads re-anchored and constricted, dragging all thirty-plus Super Skrulls together into a tight, helpless bundle.
SWOOSH!
Sif, clad in a golden mantle of Celestial armor, swept her divine blade across the air. A massive, crescent-shaped arc of energy slashed through the battlefield, severing the bound Skrulls clean at the waist.
Watching this absurd display, the global audience fell dead silent.
"Wait, wait, wait... Since when was Ghost-Spider this absurdly powerful?!"
The citizens of New York were completely dumbfounded. Was this really the friendly neighborhood hero who usually spent her free time helping elderly ladies cross the street?
Gwen and Sif's combined strike was merely the opening act.
Not to be outdone, Felicia stepped up right behind them!
A high-pitched operatic melody burst from her lips, the acoustic vibrations manifesting as visible golden shockwaves surging forward.
Wherever the soundwaves passed, not only were her allies buffeted with golden-scaled barriers, but the savage, half-orc-like Skrulls began to suffer visible cellular disintegration upon hearing her song!
In the next moment, the blood within those Skrulls boiled out of their bodies uncontrollably, coalescing in mid-air into a roaring, blood-red dragon that smashed through their ranks, throwing the army into total disarray.
Indeed—amplified by Celestial energy, the Emerald Dragon Scales were no longer a simple support-and-control ability. Felicia's voice alone was enough to sing people into their graves!
While Extremis was potent, it possessed a fatal flaw: if the host lost emotional control, the volatile energy within would trigger an internal detonation.
Tormented by Felicia's melody while watching their blood forcibly siphoned away, how could these Skrulls maintain composure?
Their bodies swelled uncontrollably, teetering on the verge of exploding.
"Don't even think about it!"
Two icy cold snorts echoed simultaneously.
Natasha—having evolved from a white-furred beast form into a golden-furred entity—swept her hands outward. The ambient moisture in the atmosphere froze instantly, wrapping around the swelling Skrulls like dense icy tombs, flash-freezing them into solid statues before they could detonate.
Daisy didn't miss the opportunity. Slamming both palms directly onto the ground, a terrifying seismic frequency rattled across Chernobyl.
The frozen Skrulls were shattered into fine powder on the spot. Even those who managed to survive fared no better—paralyzed by the seismic resonance, the ground beneath them dissolved into quicksand.
They collapsed into the churning earth, their internal organs ruptured and bleeding from every orifice under the relentless vibrations.
"Hey, hold back a little, ladies! You're making me and Tony look like absolute chumps~"
Flying overhead on a hoverboard empowered by Celestial energy, Harry casually chimed in.
"Don't drag me into your embarrassing moments, kid!" Tony retorted, before addressing his AI:
"Jarvis, prepare full-power repulsor output."
"Sir, given our current energy amplification levels... I strongly advise against full-power output within the atmosphere. Otherwise, the beam may puncture directly into the subterranean magma layer, triggering catastrophic volcanic eruptions across Russia."
Tony: "..."
"Fine, then switch to shoulder-mounted multi-missile salvo, alright?"
"If you cap the energy output under 50%, that should be acceptable."
"Are you kidding me?"
"I am entirely serious, sir. Capping the multi-missile salvo at 50% capacity, estimated continuous fire duration is... 300 days."
"Then what are we waiting for?! Light 'em up!"
Tony let out an ecstatic shout as a barrage of cigar-sized micro-missiles rained down like a relentless storm.
Circling high above, his heavy carpet-bombing blasted the Super Skrull army into absolute agony, their regenerative factors completely unable to keep pace with his infinite firepower output.