Sparks flew, lightning crackled.
Mjolnir streaked down from the clouds, drawn to its master.
Barely able to breathe, Thor forced his head up, a faint gleam of joy and hope flickering in his eyes. With trembling effort, he raised his hand, reaching for the hammer rushing toward him.
But before it could reach him, the colossal Destroyer Armor smashed it into the ground with a single crushing blow.
"I am Odin's son… I will never bow to anyone…"
Thor stretched his hand forward with all his strength. Mjolnir lay just ahead of him, buried deep into the ground where the Destroyer had struck.
The concrete shattered, fragments scattering everywhere as Thor desperately called to Mjolnir. The hammer stirred faintly, as if trying to answer.
"Don't even think about it!"
Loki, controlling the Destroyer, knew exactly what Mjolnir meant to Thor. He commanded the armor to stomp down hard, its massive iron foot pinning the weapon beneath it.
Even if the Destroyer Armor could never lift Mjolnir, crushing it underfoot was effortless.
Rumble—
The giant suit advanced, its monstrous frame blotting out the last of the light. Forged entirely from an unknown silver-white metal, towering dozens of meters high, it loomed like a mountain come alive.
Just standing there radiated suffocating pressure. From above, it looked down with contempt at Thor, broken and kneeling in defeat.
"Hahahahaha! At last, my brother."
Far away in Asgard's palace, Loki, dressed in his ornate robe, watched gleefully through the Destroyer's eyes. Seeing Thor so pitiful filled him with smug delight.
Once, his brother's strength had crushed him beneath its shadow, smothering all hope. But now, he was king of Asgard.
"You'll rot forever in that barren land!"
With venom in his voice, Loki prepared to have the Destroyer strike, to leave Thor broken before him. Truly, he was a "model younger brother," raising the armor's other foot without hesitation to stomp Thor into the earth.
But—
Just as he was about to bring it down—
Clang!
A deafening crash shook the feed. Loki felt the Destroyer's vision reel violently. The massive armor had been slammed to the ground by some unknown force. In that instant, the hammer slipped free from under its foot.
"Who?! Damn it, who?!"
Loki had no idea what struck the Destroyer, but he knew that force was far beyond Thor's fists. Thor's blows had been no more than an itch. This one had toppled the giant outright.
Even balancing on one leg, the Destroyer was nearly impossible to knock over.
"That hammer!"
The thought of Mjolnir returning to Thor's hand made Loki's heart lurch. Raised under its shadow since childhood, he knew too well what it meant.
He scrambled to pull the Destroyer back up, but under his control the massive armor was clumsy and slow.
By the time the Destroyer heaved itself upright, Mjolnir had already flown into Thor's outstretched hand.
Crackle—
Bolts of lightning erupted, flowing between hammer and master, painting the darkness in dazzling blue light.
Power surged violently from Mjolnir, coursing through Thor's broken body. His divine strength returned, flooding back into him.
The heavy wounds across his body began to vanish, knitting shut at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even the injuries inside him healed in an instant.
As the sealed power within Mjolnir poured back into Thor, the force that had suppressed his godhood crumbled, unable to hold any longer.
"Prepare to face the wrath of Odin's son!"
Thor, restored to full strength, erupted with divine might. In an instant, the heavens split open with thunder and lightning.
He swung Mjolnir and leapt skyward again, lightning raging around him as the hammer descended toward the Destroyer Armor's face.
The same spot as before—only this time, the force behind it was countless times greater.
Thor's strike, fueled by rage, lit up the entire city with flashes of lightning, a power that seemed capable of tearing everything apart.
Like a blazing meteor, Thor hurled himself at the Destroyer. Mjolnir crackled with blinding lightning, ripping the air apart with a deafening roar as it smashed down toward the armor's face.
"Damn hammer!"
In Asgard, Loki frantically commanded the Destroyer to raise its arm. The very next instant, Thor's hammer struck it.
Boom!
It wasn't just the sound of impact—it was the roar of an explosion. Cracks spiderwebbed across the Destroyer Armor's arm as it shattered under the blow.
"My precious!"
Loki nearly cried out in anguish. He swung the armor's other hand, swatting Thor away like a mosquito. The Thunder God, poised to press his advantage, was knocked back violently and barely managed to steady himself.
"Come out and face me yourself if you dare!"
Thor, convinced Herman was the one controlling the armor, roared into the stormy sky, summoning another bolt of lightning from the clouds.
"Enough!"
Loki's fury boiled over.
He thought Thor was mocking him.
At once, he activated the Destroyer's energy core.
Crimson light coursed across the silver-white armor. The cracked arm glowed like molten lava as it reformed, restored to flawless condition.
The energy core was the Destroyer's greatest weapon—like a magical reactor, an energy source far beyond anything Earth could dream of.
It granted the armor the power to suppress divine might, to amplify its strength, and to repair any damage.
In many ways, it resembled the future Sentinels that would hunt mutants.
But this was no mere machine. Forged by Odin himself, it far surpassed any sentinel robot, even if it couldn't truly match the Celestials.
It lacked the ability to mimic powers, yet it provided limitless energy, the capacity to alter its density, and the freedom to shift into any form.
At a molecular level, its structure could completely rearrange itself. As long as the core endured, the Destroyer could never truly be destroyed. Combined with Uru metal, it could wield power great enough to dominate entire star systems.
It was fair to call it a "low-tier Celestial."
Of course, Loki had only the most basic authority. He couldn't fully master the armor. At best, activating the core allowed him some crude control.
Even so, the moment the core flared to life, Thor's instincts screamed danger.
"So this is Father's armor!"
Thor felt the suffocating threat pressing down on him. Yet his gaze remained firm. With Mjolnir raised high, he roared as he flew toward the towering armor.
"A son must surpass his father! I am Odin's son! I am Thor the God of—"
He didn't finish. The Destroyer, suddenly moving with blinding speed, seized him in its grip and hurled him back into the ground.
"Odin's son? You call yourself Odin's son? What about me?!" Loki cursed, commanding the Destroyer to stomp mercilessly on Thor.
"Seems I need to teach you a real lesson, brother," Loki growled, grinding his teeth as the armor stomped Thor again and again, a dozen times over.
Then he drew upon the core's power.
The Destroyer's massive head, crisscrossed with steel-like ridges like a shutter, flared with searing light as its energy core gathered terrifying force.
"Forgive me, Thor. I didn't want this."
Under Loki's control, the Destroyer aimed the concentrated energy at Thor, ready to strip him of his godhood.
A crimson beam erupted like a blazing pillar of light.
And then—
Clang!
A heavy crash split the air once more.
Sizzle—
The Destroyer Armor was once again knocked flat by some unseen force. Even with both feet planted firmly on the ground, it couldn't withstand that overwhelming power.
Because of the sudden impact, the beam that had been aimed at Thor veered off course and shot skyward instead.
The blast tore through the storm clouds that had blanketed the city. People tens of miles away could see the blinding red light piercing the heavens. By the time Loki hastily shut down the core's attack, a distant planet had already been reduced to dust.
Clearly, Loki only meant to give Thor a harsh lesson, but the God of Mischief had no true understanding of the Destroyer Armor's power.
Had that beam actually struck Thor, only two possibilities existed: either Thor would die on the spot, or the Rune King's power would awaken.
This farce had gone on long enough. Herman decided Thor would probably die if it continued, so he finally made his move from above the clouds.
The Destroyer's earlier stumble, and now this crushing fall, had both been the result of his telekinetic strikes.
The invisible force left Loki completely clueless as to where it was coming from.
"Where is this rat hiding? Who dares provoke the new King of Asgard?! Show yourself!" Loki raged within the palace, stomping in fury.
He tried to force the Destroyer back to its feet, intent on finding the hidden attacker. But before it could rise, the vision through its eyes shook violently once again.
Rumble—
A black figure dropped from the sky, slamming down onto the Destroyer's head. The massive helmet was driven hard into the ground, pinned so tightly that no matter how Loki struggled with the controls, the suit couldn't get back up.
It felt as though an entire planet was crushing its head.
Without access to the Destroyer's full power, even when Loki pushed the energy core to its limits, its iron palms scraping against the ground couldn't lift the armor.
"What's happening?"
With its sight obscured, Loki had no idea. Had Father's weapon malfunctioned? Had it rotted away after sitting in storage too long?
To Loki, who had always treated the Destroyer as a "giant toy," the thought seemed plausible. For a moment, he even wondered if Odin's craftsmanship had failed.
But was it really broken?
Of course not.
The figure standing on the Destroyer's head was none other than Herman, clad in black battle robes.
With Herman pressing down, the armor couldn't move an inch. He was a true Sky Father–level being. His weight alone wasn't what mattered—it was the sheer magnitude of his existence. Compared to the Destroyer, his body looked tiny, yet just standing atop its head was enough to pin it firmly to the earth.
This was the crushing dominance of life on a higher plane.
The Destroyer struggled violently under Loki's control, but it was useless.
"What a pitiful performance, Thor. You've truly disappointed me."
Herman pressed down harder with his foot. The Destroyer's head sank further, its metal plating denting inward. The glow of its energy core dimmed sharply.
"Loki, I'm not your unlucky brother. Push me too far, and I'll come to Asgard myself."
Herman raised his head.
His golden eyes blazed so fiercely it was as though they pierced across worlds, staring straight into the halls of Asgard's palace—straight at Loki.
"Who… who the hell is this?!" Loki's face twisted in shock. He hadn't expected his name to be called, and now he felt his very existence had been locked onto.
"Pathetic mortal… you dare utter the name of a God-King!"
Despite his words, Loki's heart was pounding. He tried to mask his fear with anger, forcing himself to snarl as he frantically worked the controls.
The Destroyer's head flared once again, its energy core bursting with crimson light, as if beams of searing destruction were about to erupt from every direction at once.
"Seems you never learn."
Herman saw the Destroyer Armor react abnormally and knew Loki was pulling the strings. He raised his fist and smashed it down onto the armor's head.
Unlike Thor earlier, Herman needed only a few casual blows to shake the entire city with quakes. The Destroyer's head was beaten flat.
"What—what's happening!?"
Loki's vision through the armor went black. His stunned face showed disbelief—Uru metal was the hardest in Asgard!
Hadn't Father said this armor was indestructible?
Loki was left dumbfounded.
Meanwhile, on Earth—
"Hm? Is this a switch?"
On the Destroyer's head, Herman found something that looked like a keyhole. In his hand appeared Gungnir, its shape a perfect fit.
"So it matches."
He drove the spear into the slot. At once, the Destroyer's energy core went dark.
The once-terrifying armor instantly fell silent, like a corpse.
"This… this can't be real!?"
In the Asgardian Palace, Loki, seated on the throne, suddenly felt the connection to the armor vanish.
His expression twisted.
"Who… who is that!?"
Fear flickered across his face. How could a backwater world like Earth harbor someone who could overpower Father's creation?
"Damn Thor! He always has someone to save him!"
Jealousy once again clouded his reason. Loki shouted bitterly, pacing the palace in frustration. At last, he stormed toward the Bifröst, making a bold decision.
Of course, he wouldn't risk himself directly.
But the God of Mischief… always had his ways.
...
"Earth's dark god! To humiliate me like this!"
Only after Herman shut down the Destroyer did Thor stagger back to his feet, clutching his head.
"Earth's dark god? You mean me?"
A mocking voice spoke from behind him.
Thor whipped around.
There he was—the figure who had crushed him, the one haunting his dreams these past sleepless nights. That terrifying man, like a demon god.
"It really is you!"
Rage burned in Thor's eyes. Without a word, he lifted Mjolnir to strike.
But at that moment—
The sky above shifted.
The winds roared, clouds churned.
"Blue?"
Herman tilted his head upward, a flicker of puzzlement crossing his golden eyes.
...
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