How strong was a Skyfather-tier powerhouse?
The simplest answer was this: strong enough to crack a planet apart.
Of course, not every planet-breaker could be called Skyfather-tier.
A Skyfather could destroy a world, but not every being capable of destroying a world was a Skyfather.
And as for the Destroyer, with only part of its authority unlocked, it definitely had not reached that level yet.
The mont Drex Valen stepped forward, soone appeared in front of him.
An old man in golden divine armor stood there, a single eye gleaming behind his faceplate. Two ravens perched on his shoulders, exhaling tongues of crimson fla. Gungnir hovered across the void beside him.
His presence was overwhelming. Divine light surged around him, vast and ancient, stirring the air itself into trembling ripples.
"Hello, Emperor of Krypton," the old man said.
Drex's eyes narrowed. "...Odin, the King of Asgard?"
So that was the angle. Trying to keep him off the Destroyer?
Then he noticed sothing else.
Odin seed to be wearing the Destroyer armor.
Wait.
That ant this one was fake?
Drex's thoughts moved a mile a minute, and Odin gave no sign of whether he understood that or not.
Luckily, the Ancient One arrived at that exact mont.
"Master Gu Yi."
"Supre Sorcerer."
"Your Majesty, Emperor. If you insist on fighting, I'd prefer it not happen on Earth."
Her tone was calm, but the warning in it was sharp enough to cut steel.
"It will not," Drex said. "There is no value in fighting here."
He cut the connection on his own. Now that he had awakened the power of the Magic Superman, suppressing a magical projection like this was easy.
At first, Drex had even considered stealing the Destroyer armor for research.
But if Odin had gone to the trouble of bringing out a fake, then there was no reason to waste ti fighting over it.
With his arms folded, Drex watched S.W.O.R.D. agents and the Asgardian warriors battle the Destroyer. He yawned once, completely unimpressed.
Then Thor finally lifted Mjolnir.
Odin had clearly decided it was better not to drag this out.
The sky darkened all at once. Thick thunderclouds rolled in overhead, and bolts of lightning ca crashing down to the earth. From the center of that storm, a red-and-silver figure shot upward like a cannon shell.
Thor was no longer the arrogant prince who had swaggered through life expecting everything to bend around him.
He had lost his power.
He had been cast out.
He had believed his father was dead.
Even though all of it had been a lie, Thor had believed it. And in the span of a single night, that childish part of him had been shattered and reforged.
He was still not what anyone would call fully mature.
But he had changed.
A few days ago, he had led several of his brothers-in-arms into Jotunheim with reckless confidence, charging ahead with all the subtlety of a battering ram. Looking back now, he wanted to bury that version of himself so deep it would never crawl back out.
To be honest, the old Thor had basically been a man with an invincible ho button, dragging a pack of loyal followers into danger and treating life like it ca with a permanent teleport reset. He had been absurdly stupid.
Lucky for him, his warriors had survived it.
Still, Thor knew what he had to do now.
He needed to regain his strength as fast as possible, return to Asgard, and deal with Loki.
He did not know exactly what his brother was planning, but he knew Loki.
His brilliant little brother was never harmless.
And with the Destroyer deployed, there was no ti to waste.
Thor's growing urgency made him urge Coulson to drive faster and faster. He barely even noticed Jane Foster sitting beside him. All he could think about was getting to the hamr.
At last, they reached the site.
Even from this distance, Thor could still hear the thunderous detonations echoing across the battlefield.
A warrior who had seen countless battles did not need to see the fighting to imagine how brutal it had beco.
And Thor knew this disaster was his fault.
That knowledge sat on his chest like a block of iron.
He jumped out of the car, shoved through the plastic barrier, and strode straight to Mjolnir. The old reckless prince was gone now. In his place was a man on his knees.
The strain in his heart broke his voice.
"Father... can you hear ?"
"I was wrong. I really was wrong."
His hand closed around the hamr, and this ti there was no lie in his words. His voice shook.
"I understand now. My arrogance. My stupidity. My recklessness. I acted without thinking. I only knew how to rush in and smash my way through everything. I failed to live up to your expectations."
He swallowed hard.
"But innocent humans are paying for my mistake. They're suffering because of the enemy I brought here. I can't leave them behind. I can't let them bear the cost of my failure. Father... I am a warrior. A warrior you taught. I can't let them fight that enemy in my place."
"Please forgive for my mistakes. Please grant my strength again. Please let protect these innocent people. I will rember your teachings, and I will use this power more carefully from now on."
There was nothing dramatic in the speech. No grand flourish. No polished heroism.
Just sincerity.
Deep, raw sincerity.
And when Thor finished speaking, Mjolnir still gave him nothing.
His mouth opened slightly, stunned. His eyes were already wet. He bit down hard on his lip, then drew in a shaking breath.
"Father... goodbye."
His past foolishness had not been forgiven.
The weight in Thor's chest felt like so unknown thing had been jamd into it, making it hard to breathe.
At this point, there was nothing left to say.
If it were possible, he would have gladly traded his life just to make Loki spare the human warriors here.
But then Thor stood.
And the hamr, which had refused to move no matter how hard he pulled, suddenly snapped into his hand as if it had never belonged anywhere else.
His expression shifted from grief to shock.
The heavens split open.
Lightning connected sky and earth, surging through him like a divine current. Silver armor and a red cape manifested in an instant.
Thor did not even have ti to process the shocked stares around him. He spun Mjolnir once and launched himself into the air toward the battlefield.
The invincible Destroyer armor, which had been bulldozing everything in sight, was smashed to pieces by a hamr that fell out of the sky.
That was far too much.
Whoever built that thing deserved to be fired on the spot.
S.W.O.R.D. agents and Coulson were stunned into silence. After all, the Destroyer had already shown its power by beating everyone down from a distance, and now Thor had just shattered it in a single blow.
Thor did not seem to think there was anything strange about this at all.
"I need to get back to Asgard and have a talk with my dear brother," he said, turning to the others. "There were Frost Giants here earlier. For all we know, Asgard is being invaded by the Frost Giants right now. The battle over there will be even worse, so there's no ti to waste."
With that, Thor swung Mjolnir and took off with his four still mostly useless warriors in tow, soaring back toward Asgard to confront his little brother.
A fight was guaranteed.
As for whether Loki would still be a disaster by the end of it, that was another matter entirely.
In the end, this had all just been Odin's script.
A test.
A stage play written to force his son to grow into the maturity and bearing required of a prince of Asgard.
Sure, a few unexpected twists had been added along the way.
But Midgard was never truly Odin's territory to begin with.
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