Ethan stood in the center of the training ground, every movement watched closely by those around him. Everyone saw the Tesseract shattered in his hand. Tony, who knew how precious the Tesseract was, felt his cheek twitch. He was frustrated by Ethan's seemingly wasteful act. He had desperately wanted to study the Tesseract in detail and prove he had surpassed his father, Howard.
Originally, with the Tesseract in Ethan's possession, Tony thought he would have plenty of chances to borrow it for research. He never expected to witness its destruction today with his own eyes.
Of course, he also knew the Tesseract was just a container, and the true core was the Infinity Stone hidden within. Ethan destroying the Tesseract now was clearly to extract the Infinity Stone.
And the reason for doing so was, obviously, the upcoming battle.
Ethan held the shattered fragments of the Tesseract in his right hand, his thumb gently feeling over them, revealing the true form of the Space Stone within.
It was an overall oval-shaped but jagged blue stone, radiating a glowing blue light.
Such an inconspicuous gem contained an astonishing amount of energy. After pressing his thumb on the stone, Ethan gave a light shake of his hand, letting the fragments of the Tesseract fall away, leaving only the gem in his palm.
"Indeed... using the Infinity Stone directly and using the power channeled through the Tesseract are completely different levels."
Just as Ethan was sensing the vast energy within the stone, Thor, led by Loki, arrived. Naturally, Thor's current girlfriend, Jane Foster, was with him as well.
Thor didn't know what was going on. Seeing his good friend and his parents all gathered here, he greeted everyone with a smile.
"What's this? A party?"
Casually picking up a piece of fruit from a table and taking a bite, Thor noticed everyone staring at him. He looked down at what he was wearing.
"Oh, this outfit isn't really fit for a party. Wait a second, I'll go change."
He had just returned from hunting down Dark Elves and was still wearing armor and carrying Mjolnir—definitely not dressed for celebration.
However, they weren't hosting a party today. Loki directly stopped him.
"Your current outfit is perfect for what's about to happen. No need to change."
Still a bit confused, Thor walked toward Odin. Finally, after Odin's explanation, he understood why he was here and what was about to take place.
"Fight Ethan?" Thor looked back at Ethan, who stood in the center of the training ground. "All-out?"
He wasn't completely clear. Although he enjoyed a good fight, why Ethan?
"You'll understand everything after the battle."
Some things couldn't be explained in advance. Forcing Thor to awaken his potential couldn't be told outright, only triggered through action.
Thor glanced around and saw everyone staring at him. He knew there was no way to avoid this.
Besides, as the God of Thunder of Asgard, he had never been one to fear a fight. His only concern was whether Ethan could withstand his attacks.
"Don't underestimate Ethan. His strength is very formidable."
Loki understood his brother well. Seeing Thor's hesitant expression, he knew what was going through his mind.
Fighting was one thing, but accidentally hurting a friend was something Thor didn't want to see happen.
To prevent Thor from holding back, Loki specifically reminded him, "It's best to discard any thoughts of going easy. Otherwise, you'll be the one getting beaten."
Being a sorcerer himself, Loki had a clearer understanding of Ethan's strength than most.
Even without the Tesseract's power, Ethan's strength was terrifying. Now that he had extracted the Infinity Stone, Loki had no idea how powerful Ethan truly was.
"I understand."
Thor, hammer in hand, stepped into the center of the training ground. Looking at Ethan, who was smiling at him across the field, he waved and said, "Didn't expect to have a chance to spar with you."
Ethan maintained his smile and nodded. "Don't treat this like a spar, or you'll end up at a disadvantage."
As he spoke, Ethan took out a glove.
It was a simple, fingerless glove with no enchantments. The only unusual feature was a metal plate on the back of the hand, meant to block weapons during combat.
Ethan chose it because if he wanted to use the Space Stone in battle, he needed a medium. He couldn't just hold it the whole time—it would interfere with movement and combat.
After some consideration, he selected this ordinary glove.
He put it on his right hand, then held the Space Stone in his left, aligning it with the metal plate on the back of the glove. His right hand, clenched into a fist, began channeling magic, which pulled the energy of the Space Stone toward it.
With a "ding," the Space Stone struck the metal surface and fused with it, as if it had always been a part of the glove.
Ethan didn't know if this was a trait of the Infinity Stone itself, but he didn't need to use magic to modify the glove. Yet he could already feel that he could freely draw on the Space Stone's power, unaffected by the glove's ordinary material.
He guessed it was likely because the Space Stone's energy was extremely stable, and thus it didn't require a special medium.
Ethan casually moved his right hand a few times to confirm that the Stone wouldn't fly off mid-battle. Then he turned to look at Thor across from him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Thor nodded. He had been observing Ethan the entire time and hadn't launched a surprise attack. In his eyes, this was a fair duel, and he wouldn't fight dishonorably.
He also noticed that the blue gem Ethan used was the Space Stone hidden within the Tesseract.
"So this spar is to test the power of the Space Stone?"
Thor thought he had figured it out. If that was the case, then he did need to give it his all—he knew the reputation of the Infinity Stones.
"Let's go with that," Ethan replied, glancing at Odin seated at the side of the training field. "Looks like everyone's growing impatient. We should begin."
Thor said no more. He took his stance, warned Ethan to "Be careful," and then raised his hammer, charging straight at him.
As the God of Thunder of Asgard, Thor's combat strength was immense. Even without using the terrifying lightning he could channel through Mjolnir, his physical strength alone far surpassed any normal person.
Could an ordinary person take a punch from the Hulk and still get up to continue fighting? Thor could. He could even wrestle the Hulk to a standstill. That alone proved how terrifying Thor's physical strength was. If it were the old Ethan, he wouldn't even need to take a direct hit—just a glancing blow would be enough to cause serious injury. Dodging would be the only option.
Now...
Ethan watched Thor charge with complete calm. He gently clenched his right fist. The Space Stone embedded on the back of his hand flashed brilliantly, and then Thor, hammer raised, passed straight through Ethan.
"An illusion?"
Thor's first thought was the same as Malekith's—this version of Ethan was just an illusion. As a mage, Ethan knew illusion magic, and Thor had seen this kind of trick countless times from Loki.
Just as he dismissed the "illusion" behind him, Ethan casually turned, reached out, grabbed Thor's red cape, and with all his strength, swung him around and slammed him hard into the ground.
Boom!
As Odin's former training ground, this place was clearly reinforced. Ethan's slam had used full force. His strength now was far beyond that of an ordinary human. Even so, while Thor was slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash and kicked up a cloud of dust, the ground itself remained undamaged.
The ground was fine, but Thor was a bit stunned. Lying on the floor, he looked at Ethan, still not sure what had just happened.
If this had been a normal spar, Ethan might have reached out to help Thor up, then reset their stances and continued the fight.
But this time was different. Odin had specifically instructed him to fight with the intent to kill Thor. This battle was meant to make Thor face a dire situation and awaken the potential within him.
So, while Thor was still dazed, Ethan immediately attacked.
A sudden burst of blazing fire snapped Thor back to his senses. A pair of enormous flaming wings spread from Ethan's back and surged toward him.
The terrifying heat caused the surrounding air to rise in temperature. Thor even found it hard to breathe.
"Interesting!"
Thor didn't mind Ethan's sudden attack. A fight like this, where both sides went all out, was exactly what he enjoyed. Ethan's aggressive move had ignited his fighting spirit. He swung Mjolnir with his right hand and used the hammer's forward momentum to leap into the air.
He didn't retreat. Instead, he gathered lightning on his hammer and charged head-on into the flaming wings.
Rumble!
Two completely different yet equally powerful forces collided, erupting in a violent explosion.
Flames and lightning scattered in every direction. Thor was thrown out from the blast, clearly overwhelmed by the shockwave.
Compared to Thor, whose cape was scorched and now looked a little disheveled, Ethan stood calmly amid the swirling fire and lightning, completely unaffected—not even a speck of dust on him.
(To be continued.)
***
For every 200 PS = 1 extra chapter. Support me on P/treon to read 30+ advanced chapters: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves
(Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)