On the twenty-six arenas, two-on-two duels quickly decided winners and advanced.
There were elemental ability users showcasing their powers elegantly, as well as practical close-combat ability users engaging in hand-to-hand fighting, and various tech-oriented individuals utilizing high-tech weapons for battle.
Everyone displayed their unique skills, keeping the audience constantly thrilled.
However, most of it was just visually impressive; their actual strength was mediocre. Many ability users, when taken individually, might not even be as good as some ordinary Agents who had undergone systematic training.
This is normal. While the Marvel World indeed has various ability users, those who truly stand out and are well-known are few and far between.
Moreover, even if some have decent abilities, without training, development, or practical experience, they still pose little threat.
In this regard, Superheroes from the League of Heroes are much better.
Those with strong inherent abilities go without saying; even those with weaker abilities often manage to defeat opponents stronger than themselves.
There are exceptions, of course, such as the gifted individuals trained by S.H.I.E.L.D., whose combat abilities are also quite good.
Furthermore, before S.H.I.E.L.D.'s contestants entered the arena, they had usually already obtained their opponent's information, with someone helping analyze weaknesses and providing the most suitable combat strategies.
However, this merely allowed them to defeat opponents slightly stronger than themselves; when encountering true masters, they would still lose.
For example, a strength-based S.H.I.E.L.D. gifted individual, before facing Thor, had already put on a special tight suit designed to block lightning, but was still sent flying by Thor's hammer, unable to withstand even a single blow.
"This Loki is a bit strange!"
Adam sat there watching the matches in various arenas. Everyone else was as he expected, but Loki was somewhat different.
In his impression, although the Loki in the movies also knew a few magic tricks, he usually preferred to use daggers to stab people's kidneys in combat, and Thor was a frequent victim.
He could be considered a mage with the heart of an assassin.
He was once even toyed with by Doctor Strange with a mere spatial teleportation magic, falling for a full half hour.
However, the Loki of this Universe, in his arena battles, never once pulled out a dagger, always elegantly casting various magic spells, toying with his opponents before blasting them off the stage.
This made him think of the old Loki from the Loki TV series.
That was a Loki proficient in magic, who, upon encountering Thanos, survived by using his superb magic abilities, escaping with his life. In the end, Thor was killed by Thanos, and he lived on.
Perhaps the Loki of this World, in terms of his setting, is similar to that old Loki—a Loki who loves magic.
And he remembered that in the movie's 838 Universe, the battle with Thanos indeed did not feature Thunder God Thor, possibly because Thor died in battle, and Loki escaped using his magic abilities.
In his memory, the final battle of this Universe took place on Titan.
Mister Fantastic Reed, to prevent Earth from being damaged in the final battle, used his invented teleportation technology to directly transport the combined forces of the Earth's Illuminati to Titan.
After a great battle, Thanos, who possessed four Infinity Stones, died, impaled through the chest by his own great sword.
The main role was played by this World's Doctor Strange. To defeat Thanos, he not only read book of the vishanti but also the Darkhold. However, to avoid falling into darkness, he had Black Bolt kill him.
In the movie, two Infinity Stones were missing from Thanos's corpse: one was the Time Stone, and the other was the Mind Stone.
Doctor Strange had read book of the vishanti and the Darkhold, so it was normal that Thanos couldn't take his Time Stone.
The main Universe's Mind Stone was on Vision's forehead, while this Universe's Illuminati had many Ultron robots, possibly because Iron Man's Ultron did not fail, and thus Vision was not born.
Because there was no Vision, Wanda in this Universe got married and had two children normally.
As for why heroes like Iron Man, Black Panther, and Hulk did not appear in the Illuminati, he speculated that they either died in battle, retired, or were exiled.
Of course, these were his conjectures about the original story of Universe 838, and due to his appearance, the future would certainly be very different.
A mere Thanos, if he dared to invade Earth to seize the Infinity Stones a decade or so later, what awaited him would be himself, currently warming up.
Thus, the competition continued until 5 PM, with a two-hour intermission.
"The final victor of Arena Three has emerged! It is Thor, who claims to be from Asgard. Although I think he's joking with us, his strength is undeniable.
I believe even the legendary Thor from mythology would be no more than this. Let's cheer for him!"
Seeing Arena Three be the first to complete all its matches, Angel immediately flew over, holding a microphone.
And the audience enthusiastically shouted at Thor:
"Thor! Thor! Thor!"
It's no wonder everyone liked Thor so much, because none of the contestants who faced him in Arena Three had managed to withstand three of his hammer strikes, not even the one in the final match.
Seeing how much everyone liked him, Thor also raised his arm and burst into hearty laughter.
With his bold and uninhibited personality, he loved this kind of scene the most, even if it was in the mortal realm.
Now he felt that this time, secretly coming down to the mortal realm with Loki to participate in a mortal competition, was indeed a wonderful experience.
"Mister Thor, do you have anything you'd like to say now?"
Angel handed the microphone to Thor's mouth, and Thor roared loudly:
"I am Thor, the Thunder God! For the glory of the Northern Gods, the ultimate victor of this tournament will surely be me!"
"Thor! Thor! Thor!"
The audience cheered again.
"Is there any alcohol? I want to drink now."
Thor looked at Angel after speaking.
"Alcohol?"
Angel turned to look at Adam's wood clone, who was acting as the referee. He didn't know if he could give alcohol at this time.
Adam smiled and crooked his finger, and a large mug of beer immediately flew over, landing in Thor's hand.
Thor chugged the beer in one go, then smashed the mug fiercely on the ground, looking at Adam and laughing loudly:
"You're a good person. I'll show you some respect in the final battle. If you're free, I invite you to Asgard to drink our fine ale!"
"Alright, but on the premise that you can win in the finals."
Adam smiled and nodded.
After observing so many matches, even though Thor hadn't gone all out, he could discern a thing or two.
His strength was indeed much stronger than he had anticipated, but whether he could defeat Black Captain Marvel and face him in the final battle was hard to say.
The main Universe's Black Captain Marvel completely defeated the Thor who first appeared, but this Universe's Black Captain Marvel is Black Captain Marvel, whose strength is considerably less, while this Universe's Thor seems to be a bit stronger.
So, it's really hard to say who will ultimately stand before him.
"Release!"
The match in Arena Three concluded, and Adam's wood clone there released the Ninjutsu, transmitting its memories to the main body.