The entire solar system had devolved into chaos.
An uncountable swarm of symbiotes, each shifting into nightmarish forms, poured relentlessly toward Earth.
The scale was ten or even a hundred times larger than the previous symbiote invasion.
Every superhuman on Earth had unleashed their full power and joined the fight.
Tony Stark led the charge in the Celestial Battle Armor, bursting out of the atmosphere. He carefully skirted the magical arrays and took point at the very front.
"At a time like this, S.H.I.E.L.D. finally unlocks the Celestial armor controls. I can't decide if they're being cautious or just ridiculously stupid."
Tony grumbled, pushing his mind to its limits. Piloting the armor forged from a Celestial's remains, he processed an overwhelming flood of data every second. He analyzed and calculated it instantly, then issued commands directly through neural signals.
Energy blasts erupted from the armor in rapid succession. With every passing moment, vast swathes of symbiotes were vaporized, leaving holes in their ranks.
But against such overwhelming numbers, the losses were still acceptable.
Tony wasn't the only one who had taken the fight into space.
Reynolds blazed past him in a flash of gold, shining like a brilliant golden sun. He scattered his radiance generously, turning the black void into a sea of hopeful light.
Humans across Earth cheered Reynolds' name at the top of their lungs.
"Hear that? They all worship me."
Reynolds grinned, his excitement surging. He truly resembled a living star as he tore through the black tide of symbiotes. Every casual punch unleashed golden energy beams dozens of kilometers long. A simple heat vision blast could punch straight through a planet.
More xenomorph heroes joined the fray, using every ability at their disposal to build defensive lines.
At the same time, the xenomorph legions—nearly all equipped with symbiotes—had surged into outer space, clashing fiercely with their counterparts.
Everywhere you looked beyond Earth, the once-endless void was now filled with brutal slaughter.
At first glance, it looked like the symbiotes were tearing each other apart, with powerhouses like Tony and Reynolds carving through the middle.
"Tony, how's it looking over there? Need me to go Hulk and give you a hand?" Banner sent over comms.
"Don't be ridiculous, buddy. Even as the Hulk, how are you supposed to fight in zero-gravity space? You're better off on the surface. If we can't hold them back, you take care of any symbiotes that break through to Earth."
"Fine. You could at least lend me the anti-Hulk armor."
Dr. Banner hated the Hulk, but he had no problem piloting controllable technological armor in his human form.
When he calculated the sheer number of symbiotes outside Earth, he went numb.
Every person on the planet watched in horror as countless symbiotes stretched out, wrapping around the world and even covering the protective magical arrays.
Earth was completely sealed off. Sunlight was blocked, plunging the planet into endless darkness.
Panic erupted across the globe. No one had ever seen anything like this.
An entire planet wrapped in symbiotes, cut off from the sun? If it lasted, the surface would gradually freeze. They would have to rely on geothermal heat, which was laughably insufficient.
Everyone understood: the war had to end quickly. The longer it dragged on, the more human lives would be lost in geometric progression. If the symbiotes kept Earth locked down for months… it would become hell.
Thor raised the Stormbreaker high. Endless lightning erupted around him as he violently tore open countless gaps in the black symbiote barrier.
New symbiotes always rushed in to fill them.
"I won't let you succeed! As long as the King of Asgard still stands, you outsiders will never gain a foothold in the World Tree!"
Thor roared. The power of the Thunder God and Odin's strength began to merge within him, feeding him a constant stream of divine energy.
Honestly, Thor alone had already shattered the symbiotes' formations multiple times. He had grown terrifyingly powerful.
"It's been a while, Thor. The fact that you received Father's power means he fully acknowledged you before he died. Otherwise, that proud old man would have taken his strength with him rather than hand it to an heir he disapproved of—like me."
A voice echoed in Thor's mind. His eyes widened as he whipped his head toward the source.
Loki hovered there, protected by a swarm of massive symbiote dragons, watching Thor with a complicated expression.
"Loki!"
Thor's face lit up with joy. He shouted and prepared to smash through every obstacle to bring his brother back.
But the next second, a figure radiating blue energy forcefully blocked his path.
"You're that Captain America guy? I don't care if you actually betrayed Earth or if Knull is controlling you—get out of my way right now, or I can't promise I'll hold back in time."
Thor was frantic, but the fully controlled Captain America channeled the Cosmic Cube fragment in his body to the limit. He became a living Captain Marvel, unleashing endless streams of blue energy that collided with Thor's divine lightning.
"Loki, whatever scheme you're running, find a way to turn back now! Even I might not be able to protect you. You know what happens when you truly anger Adam!" Thor roared, swinging his axe and sending Captain America flying. "Adam isn't the same as before. He's claimed the power of the World Tree—he's become a god of the World Tree!"
Loki kept his expression neutral, but inside he felt nothing but helplessness.
"He's gotten a bit smarter, but not enough to change my opinion… I shouldn't have expected too much from his intellect. With that brain of his, he'll probably never realize that if Knull wins, I lose all hope. But if Adam wins, there's a chance he might generously spare my life…"
After all, not everyone could deliver Adam such an enormous reserve of troops in one go.
During the last symbiote invasion of Earth, Loki had contributed significantly. Many of the millions of xenomorphs now fighting in space with symbiote gear owed at least part of that equipment to him—though that was only possible because Adam's own strength had been sufficient to endure the previous war. Otherwise, he would have died.
Loki's cold voice rang out: "Thor, you're still far inferior to Father. You don't have the power to change the outcome of this battle. If I were you, I'd get as far away as possible and wait for this war to end."
"Don't make me laugh. The King of Asgard will never retreat, and he will never allow outsiders to claim anything within the World Tree."
"Oh? Big words, as always. You always say things that sound inspiring but have no real substance… You are the King of Asgard, not the King of the World Tree. The one Knull is currently fighting holds that title." Loki sneered.
Thor calmed slightly. "You won't win. Adam has many powerful subordinates. If I don't grab you now, they might kill you in the next second. Look—they're already here."
Loki turned and saw Sunspot streaking forward like a blazing sun, radiating intense light and heat.
As the vice-captain of the Superman Corps, the mutant Sunspot could store solar energy absorbed in daily life and unleash it when needed.
Behind him followed Hyperion xenomorph, Ikaris xenomorph, and several other xenomorphs with comparable Superman-level abilities.
Loki frowned. He scanned the battlefield further and saw wave after wave of powerful, symbiote-clad xenomorphs pouring out from Earth.
Both their quality and quantity were astonishing.
"I don't see any of the old chestburster xenomorphs emerging from ordinary animals anymore… That makes sense, though. The ones equipped with symbiotes are at least elite specimens. But this many… Maybe it's exactly as I suspected. Have the exceptionally powerful xenomorphs been mass-converted into queens? Are they focusing on centralized breeding now?"
That would explain everything.
The symbiotes that had survived Adam's defeat of the previous invasion were nowhere near this numerous. Clearly, Adam had captured them, rapidly bred more, expanded the population, and distributed symbiotes to the exploding numbers of super-powered xenomorphs.
Honestly, even Loki was stunned by the overall combat strength of the xenomorph army. Their average level was ridiculously high—any random one was at least a superhuman-class special xenomorph.
Some of the xenomorph heroes themselves probably hadn't realized their forces had grown to this extent.
Only Adam had a complete, crystal-clear understanding of his military's development.
On this vast battlefield, even though the xenomorph legions were outnumbered by the symbiotes, they refused to fall behind, carrying out a silent, relentless slaughter.
And this was only the current state. If Knull dragged things out and gave Adam more time to develop, the xenomorph numbers might catch up as well.
Loki felt a chill. Adam was like a snowball rolling downhill—every time you checked on him, he had grown exponentially larger, and no one could see where his limits actually were.
Becoming a god through unknown means by leveraging the World Tree was one thing. For his xenomorph legions to have quietly reached this terrifying scale was another.
The problem was that Knull, the god of symbiotes, was no mindless fool either.
"I don't know what Adam did to integrate the entire World Tree's power into himself. It completely shatters my understanding of the Tree. But within the World Tree's domain, Knull has his own allies."
Loki watched Thor charging toward him, looking murderous and ferocious. In truth, Thor was trying to defeat him quickly to prevent others from killing him.
"What are you talking about, brother? I refuse to believe any race would ally with a god like Knull."
"They have. Though I still don't understand their fanaticism… Knull didn't tell me much either."
Loki pointed in another direction.
Sure enough, a large fleet of starships emerged from a wormhole into the solar system.
"The design of those ships looks familiar. I think I saw it in the library… which chapter was that again?"
Thor quickly remembered, and shock filled his eyes.
"The Dark Elves? Those exiled gods?!"
...
Adam knew exactly what was happening on Earth's side. Every xenomorph served as an extension of his senses.
He showed no surprise at the sight of Earth completely sealed off by symbiotes.
When the main-universe Knull had attacked Earth, he had casually killed the Sentry, devoured the Sentry's dark half known as the Void, and sent symbiotes to wrap the planet in a similar cocoon.
While this universe's Knull was certainly not as overwhelmingly powerful as his main-universe counterpart, commanding enough symbiotes to envelop Earth was still well within his capabilities.
"Looks like acting immediately was the right choice. Against something as strange as you, I can't afford to give you too many opportunities."
The battle between Knull and Adam had reached a fever pitch. Both already bore visible wounds.
Even more shocking was that as their clash deepened into the level of fundamental rules, Knull realized with alarm that his injuries were worsening. The darkness he represented was being steadily eroded and torn apart by Adam, who was backed by the World Tree.
The World Tree's scale was simply too vast, and the concepts it represented were overwhelmingly grand. Now that all that power rested in Adam's hands, he could not only channel the Tree's divine energy but also wield a massive reserve of it—as if he had spent years stockpiling it and was now unleashing everything at once.
Knull could not accept this. Despite waging war across the cosmos for eons and challenging countless gods, suffering many defeats along the way, he had never encountered an opponent like Adam. Not long ago, this being had been an ant he could have crushed at will. Now, Adam was actually suppressing him.
Adam swung the Necrosword, channeling various pure forms of divine power and inscribing runes onto the blade. It pierced through the darkness before him.
This newly ascended Rune God turned his gaze toward the distance.
"So that's how it is. These are the reinforcements you brought—the Dark Elves? That race also pursues darkness, so their ideology doesn't clash much with yours. But one god-race alone isn't enough to turn the tide."
Like the giants, the elves were divided into many branches—Light Elves, Dark Elves, and others.
Malekith, leader of the Dark Elves, was at best an established Skyfather.