The top floor of Stark Tower was in ruins.
Tony and Thor grappled like enruly bulls, repulsors and lightning flashing wildly, blasting apart what little remained of the penthouse.
Outside, Manhattan was already burning. Chitauri fire rained from the sky. Sirens, screams, and explosions merged into one continuous roar.
Loki stood aside, drink in hand, smiling at the chaos.
Then—
A thunderous crash drowned out even the battlefield.
A streak of golden light shattered the remaining glass and halted midair in the center of the hall.
The glow faded.
Levi hovered there, wrapped in flowing golden energy, eyes blazing.
He glanced at the inferno outside, then at the two Avengers still wrestling.
His expression darkened.
"Are you idiots done yet?"
His voice wasn't loud.
They both stopped instantly.
Tony and Thor looked up at him—felt the pressure radiating from him instinctively.
"There's a war outside," Levi said coldly. "And you're wrestling in the living room? Is this how Asgard trains its princes? Or is infighting just a Stark family tradition?"
Tony flushed, standing up and brushing dust off his armor.
Thor straightened, gripping Mjölnir, visibly embarrassed.
"He is my—"
"I don't care," Levi cut him off.
His gaze shifted to Loki.
The smile was gone.
Loki felt it—that presence. Not just power. Authority. Something disturbingly close to Odin.
"Midgardian, you—"
Levi raised his hand.
Gently clenched.
[Spatial Cage]
With his mastery deepened by the Greatest Mage of the Nine Realms talent, Levi's control over space had evolved far beyond crude manipulation.
The air around Loki warped like rippling water—
Then froze.
A transparent cube snapped into existence around him.
Loki's face changed instantly.
He slammed the scepter against the invisible wall.
CLANG.
The force rebounded violently.
He tried magic. Illusions. Energy bursts.
Nothing passed through.
It was absolute isolation—space itself severed.
"What is this?!" Loki shouted, panic creeping in.
"A cage," Levi replied calmly, descending to stand before him. "You call yourself a god. Right now, you look like a pet."
He tapped the outer wall lightly.
The cube shrank rapidly—compressing to palm size.
Inside, Loki was reduced to a tiny distorted figure, still struggling.
Levi flicked his fingers.
The miniature prison shot to the far wall and stuck there like a decoration.
"Fly dealt with."
Tony stared.
Thor looked torn between outrage and awe.
Before anyone could speak—
A Quinjet roared in and hovered outside.
Steve leapt down first, shield ready.
Natasha followed, pistols drawn.
Clint Barton landed last, clear-eyed and focused—free of Loki's control.
"How bad?" Steve asked.
"Portal's open. Army's pouring through," Tony answered. "We need a way to shut it down."
"Loki?" Natasha asked.
Levi pointed at the small cube stuck to the wall.
Everyone stared.
"…Right," Tony muttered.
"He's secure," Levi said. "Alive."
Thor exhaled slightly.
Levi turned sharply.
"Clint. High ground. You need sightlines."
"On it." Clint moved immediately.
"Natasha. Cap. Ground control—evacuate civilians, establish perimeter."
They nodded.
"Tony. Air superiority. Clear the chariots."
"Finally," Tony said, launching.
"Thor. Heavy response. Reinforce wherever pressure builds."
Thor spun his hammer and leapt off the tower.
Steve gave Levi a look.
"And you?"
Levi looked up at the sky.
A massive Chitauri Leviathan—metallic, serpentine—was weaving between skyscrapers.
"I'll handle the big ones," he said. "And that."
He pointed at the portal.
"Move out!"
---
Streets of Manhattan
Chaos.
Cars overturned. People screaming. Chitauri riders strafing crowds like hunters.
Steve vaulted onto a bus, hurled his shield, knocking three chariots from the sky.
"Hold this line! Evacuate civilians behind barricades!" he shouted to police.
Natasha slid behind cover, dual pistols cracking in precise rhythm, dropping targets before they could fire on fleeing families.
Thor landed in a burst of lightning, smashing a squad flat before charging toward another intersection.
Tony streaked overhead, missiles spiraling into enemy clusters.
The Avengers had formed a defense.
---
Above the City
Levi rose higher.
Golden aura blazing.
The Leviathan noticed him—opened its massive armored maw.
Cannons flared.
Dozens of energy beams lanced toward him.
He didn't slow.
Space bent subtly around his body. The beams curved past him, smashing into buildings instead.
He accelerated—straight toward the monster.
At the last instant—
He raised his hand.
And slashed downward.
[Spatial Severance]
A hairline black fracture streaked forward.
Silent.
Instant.
The Leviathan's roar stopped mid-scream.
For one suspended heartbeat, it hung intact.
Then—
A flawless seam appeared from nose to tail.
The colossal war-beast separated cleanly into two symmetrical halves.
No explosion.
Just surgical division.
The bisected carcass continued forward briefly before crashing down in twin catastrophic detonations.
On the street below, Steve froze for half a second.
In the air, Tony's HUD glitched.
"JARVIS… what was that?"
"Unknown, sir. Dimensional shearing or localized spatial partition. Beyond current physics."
Tony went quiet.
Above them all, Levi hovered.
His face was slightly pale.
That strike had consumed nearly one-twentieth of his Tesseract reserves.
Powerful.
Costly.
But manageable.
He could already sense improvement—the more he understood spatial law, the lower the drain would become.
He lifted his gaze to the still-expanding wormhole.
Chitauri forces continued pouring out.
He flexed his fingers, golden light intensifying.
"…Still," he murmured to himself,
"For battlefield cleanup—"
His aura flared brighter.
"Binary Form is more efficient."
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