Thor patted his cloak, extinguishing the flames on it, his eyes fixed on Ethan. The lightning bolts splashing around him were like phantoms, completely unable to harm Ethan. He didn't even open his eyes to look at them.
Those lightning bolts were certainly not phantoms. They were the powerful lightning strikes unleashed using Mjolnir. In past battles, he had defeated countless enemies with this lightning. Even residual bolts were terrifying attacks that ordinary opponents couldn't ignore.
Yet, none of them could harm Ethan...
"Is it the power of the Space Stone?"
Thor wasn't foolish. In battle, he could keenly sense any anomalies.
He quickly noticed the glowing Space Stone on Ethan's right hand. Ever since it started glowing, none of his attacks had been able to injure Ethan.
"So that's it."
Both Loki and Ethan had warned him not to underestimate his opponent. But standing in the arena, facing Ethan dressed in ordinary jeans, sneakers, and a casual jacket—he didn't look like someone prepared for a life-or-death battle. Even though Ethan was a mage and didn't need armor like himself, he should at least wear something more suitable for combat, right?
It was precisely because of this appearance that Thor instinctively treated it as a simple spar, letting Ethan test the power of the Space Stone.
Only now did he finally understand why Ethan had the confidence to fight him dressed like that.
Thor racked his brain, trying to figure out what to do next.
While he was deep in thought, Ethan didn't just stand by waiting for him to come up with a plan. With a gentle lift of his left hand and a flow of magic, the surrounding undissipated flames were drawn back to his side, eventually condensing into a massive fireball.
With a slight swing of his left hand, the fireball, compressed to the size of a watermelon, flew toward Thor. Although Thor hadn't yet come up with a countermeasure, he couldn't just stand there.
He leapt high into the air, narrowly avoiding the massive explosion caused by the fireball. It looked as if Thor had used the explosion to propel himself into the air before forcefully throwing Mjolnir.
"I've been waiting for you."
Ethan had been waiting for Thor to throw his hammer. Normally, Thor's favorite move was to throw Mjolnir at an opponent and then summon it back.
The back-and-forth motion could easily catch enemies off guard.
If the first strike killed the opponent, that was ideal. If not, they might still be hit by the suddenly returning hammer.
However, this tactic had a fatal flaw.
If Thor had truly mastered the power of Thor, using Mjolnir purely as a weapon would be fine. But the problem was that Thor relied heavily on Mjolnir to use various powers. Constantly throwing it away was a foolish move.
"When facing an unfamiliar enemy, never throw away such an important item."
Was this a lesson? Or a reminder? The Space Stone on Ethan's right hand suddenly burst with dazzling light, then rapidly shot toward Mjolnir, stopping less than a meter in front of Ethan's right hand.
Buzz~
Mjolnir trembled violently in mid-air, trying to break free from Ethan's restraint.
The power of the Space Stone was incredibly potent, especially in the Marvel Universe, where its energy was virtually limitless. Combined with a mage like Ethan, who excelled at manipulating energy, he could almost perfectly unleash the full potential of the Space Stone.
Clang, clang, clang!
As strange noises continued to ring out, the space around Mjolnir began to solidify layer by layer. Trapped within this solidified space, Mjolnir trembled less and less, until finally, it couldn't move at all.
In the eyes of the spectators, Mjolnir appeared to be wrapped in layers of transparent material. With Ethan's gestures, this transparent material encasing Mjolnir continued to shrink.
All of this happened in an instant. Thor was still in mid-air and hadn't landed yet. Without Mjolnir, he had no ability to fly, so he couldn't adjust his position in the air to "rescue" his beloved hammer.
He could only watch helplessly as Mjolnir was trapped by Ethan's solidified space.
Even then, he didn't anticipate what would happen next. He only felt that he had lost his weapon and that the upcoming battle might be more difficult.
At this moment, Ethan's right hand continued controlling the Space Stone, increasing its power output. The space around Mjolnir was being compressed layer by layer. The light emitted by the Space Stone on his hand grew increasingly intense.
Thor finally sensed something was wrong, especially when a crack appeared on Mjolnir. He panicked.
"No!"
His shout didn't make Ethan stop. Instead, it drew a lightning bolt that struck Thor just as he landed, blasting him back and slamming him against the wall at the edge of the training ground.
"Oof~"
Loki, who had been calmly watching from the sidelines since the beginning, finally let out a playful exclamation.
"That looks painful!"
Of course, it didn't actually hurt. This bit of magical lightning wasn't enough to cause Thor serious injury. Loki said it only because Thor, the God of Thunder, had just been blasted away by lightning. It was practically a slap in the face.
Aside from Loki, everyone's attention was focused on Mjolnir. Sif, with her sharp observation skills, was the first to notice the crack forming on it. Ethan showed no intention of stopping, seemingly determined to destroy Mjolnir.
"You can't destroy Mjolnir!"
She drew her weapon, ready to charge forward and stop Ethan. Thor's friends didn't know the full context of the battle. They only thought it was a spar between Thor and Ethan. They had no idea that Odin hoped Ethan would fight with the intention of killing Thor.
Just as they rushed forward, they didn't make it more than three meters before slamming into an invisible wall.
The power within the barrier bounced them back directly, sending them flying until they too crashed into the wall and came to a stop.
Odin, who had originally intended to stop Sif and the others, chuckled when he saw this and said nothing.
Loki, however, looked surprised. He hadn't noticed when Ethan had set up this wall-like barrier that 'protected' the entire combat arena.
Perhaps noticing Loki's confusion, Odin, in a rare moment of patience, explained it to his often disobedient younger son.
"As one of the Infinity Stones, the Space Stone contains powerful and stable energy. Its energy properties are particularly suitable for casting this type of spatial isolation spell."
So it wasn't strange at all that Ethan could do this.
Of course, people who could perfectly unleash the power of the Space Stone were rare. Most people, even if they obtained the Space Stone, couldn't use it to this extent.
Besides being a mage skilled in energy control, Ethan had also been studying the Tesseract's energy for years. He was already very familiar with the power of the Space Stone, which allowed him to demonstrate this level of control immediately after taking it out.
"If that's the case, the result might be even better than I expected."
Odin hadn't originally expected Ethan to destroy Mjolnir. In his plan, Ethan, with his mastery of various spells and the Space Stone, would definitely have a way to separate Thor from Mjolnir.
As a father, he was very familiar with his son's habit of throwing his hammer.
That fighting style worked well for defeating weaker enemies, but it was a hidden risk against stronger opponents. Against a mage like Ethan who specialized in spatial magic, it was practically inviting defeat.
All Ethan needed to do was teleport Mjolnir far enough away. Even with its speed, it would take time to return to Thor.
During that time, Ethan would have plenty of opportunities to "educate" Thor without his hammer. Then, with a bit of guidance from Odin, Thor might realize his shortcomings and understand what direction he needed to grow in. Even if he didn't fully unleash his true power as the God of Thunder, recognizing his flaws would still be progress.
But Odin hadn't expected Ethan to be so thorough. It seemed… Thor would completely lose Mjolnir.
Odin didn't feel any regret. After all, it was just an external object. Mjolnir's purpose was to help Thor master the power of Thor. Once he accomplished that, losing Mjolnir meant nothing.
As for a reliable weapon? Asgard had abundant resources. Was there any need to worry about not finding another weapon? Even if they couldn't find one, they could have the dwarves forge a new one for Thor.
So, he wouldn't stop Ethan and was even pleased with what was about to happen.
Crack!
Mjolnir's destruction didn't produce a deafening sound or dazzling light. It only made a sound like shattering glass. The Mjolnir restrained by the solidified space didn't actually exist in the current dimension. That glass-shattering sound was actually the collapse of the highly compressed layers of space in front of it.
As the spatial layers collapsed one by one, Mjolnir was destroyed with them, vanishing completely without leaving a trace.
Ethan lowered his right hand and let out a long breath. The Space Stone on the back of his hand no longer emitted that dazzling light. That last burst of power output hadn't been as effortless as it appeared.
However, the onlookers didn't know this. In their eyes, Ethan had simply raised his hand and then slowly clenched his fist—and Asgard's famed Mjolnir, the God of Thunder's hammer, was utterly destroyed without a trace. And Ethan hadn't even broken a sweat.
(To be continued.)