Malekith felt the hand on his shoulder.
It was light—almost weightless.
Yet in that instant, the blood in his body turned ice cold. A primal chill crawled up his spine and exploded in the back of his skull.
He spun around.
A calm face was right in front of him.
"You—"
That was all he managed to say.
Levi had no interest in listening.
His gaze slid past Malekith like a surgeon's scalpel, locking onto the dark-red stream of energy connecting Jane and Malekith in midair.
The laws of reality were being crudely transferred.
"Too slow," Levi said quietly.
He snapped his fingers.
Time stopped.
The world froze like someone had pressed pause.
The wind died. Black sand hung motionless in the air. In the distance, Loki's suspicious expression froze like a wax statue.
Thor—still held in Malekith's grip—remained suspended midair, pain and fury locked on his face, even the lightning in his eyes frozen.
The flames of vengeance that had burned in Malekith's eyes for five thousand years became two motionless sparks.
Only Levi was moving.
He walked through the frozen world like stepping into a three-dimensional painting.
He passed Malekith and stopped beside the crimson energy stream.
The Reality Stone—the Aether.
It wasn't energy. It wasn't matter.
It was a concept.
It was a rule itself.
Trying to grab it directly would be like grabbing water from a river—impossible, and likely to provoke backlash.
But Levi was different.
He raised one finger.
At the fingertip shimmered an almost invisible distortion—the blade of space law.
He gently sliced across the crimson stream.
There was no sound.
No flash.
But the stream trembled violently.
The connection between the Aether and Jane's life essence, and the connection between the Aether and Malekith's dark power, were both severed in that single cut.
The cluster of crimson energy froze in midair, suddenly homeless.
Levi opened his palm.
A swirling black vortex appeared, bottomless.
The entrance to his pocket dimension.
"Collect."
A powerful suction erupted.
The crimson energy—along with the frozen time and warped space around it—was sucked straight into the vortex.
Levi examined his hands afterward.
Good.
Still attached.
He snapped his fingers again.
Time resumed.
---
Malekith suddenly felt his hand empty.
Thor dropped to the ground like a sack, collapsing to his knees and gasping for air.
But that wasn't the real problem.
The connection between Malekith and the Aether—
Was gone.
The endless surge of power that made him feel invincible had vanished.
He spun around.
Levi stood there casually dusting off his hands.
"What did you do?" Malekith demanded, his voice shaking with rage and horror.
"Just took something that wasn't yours," Levi replied calmly.
He didn't even look at Malekith.
Instead, he glanced toward the distant black rock.
Without the Aether, Jane Foster collapsed.
The flame of life inside her flickered like a candle in the wind.
Levi flicked a finger toward her.
A small green light shot across the distance and entered her chest.
Pure life energy—derived from Logan's regeneration factor.
Just a trace was enough to stabilize her.
Thor noticed immediately and struggled to stand, but his exhausted body refused to cooperate.
---
"Now," Levi said finally, turning to Malekith.
"Your turn."
"You dare… you dare steal what belongs to me!"
Malekith completely lost control.
Five thousand years of waiting had been stolen at the final moment.
The humiliation shattered his sanity.
"I will tear you apart!"
He roared and unleashed every remaining ounce of dark energy.
Reality twisted around him.
The black ground turned into a churning swamp. The sky filled with countless black spikes raining down toward Levi.
"Too noisy."
Levi frowned.
He didn't move.
The spikes—powerful enough to pierce Asgardian warships—curved away the moment they came within one meter of him.
They shot harmlessly into empty space.
Passive spatial curvature barrier.
"You think you're the only one who can manipulate energy?"
Levi raised his hand and clenched lightly.
"Space Law: Confinement."
Malekith's charge stopped instantly.
The space around him became harder than a neutron star, locking him completely in place.
He couldn't even move a finger.
His madness turned into terror.
"Let me teach you what a law is."
Levi walked toward him slowly.
Each step echoed across the battlefield like a hammer striking a coffin.
He raised his right hand.
"Power Law: Gravitational Crush."
The ground beneath Malekith collapsed.
An invisible force crushed inward from every direction.
His ancient armor groaned and shattered into powder.
His bones cracked audibly.
He tried to scream—but the frozen space wouldn't allow even a sound.
Levi stopped in front of him and looked down at his twisted face, at the black blood leaking from his eyes and nose.
"This is the difference."
Levi raised his left hand and slowly formed a fist.
No lightning.
No glow.
Just a simple punch.
But it carried the Body Law he had forged himself.
He punched Malekith in the chest.
Thump.
A dull sound.
All of Malekith's dark energy—his pride as king of the Dark Elves, and the hatred that had burned for thousands of years—was shattered by that single blow.
He collapsed to the ground, barely breathing.
"K… kill me…" Malekith rasped weakly.
"Kill you?" Levi shook his head.
"That's too merciful."
"You like darkness, don't you?"
"I'll send you somewhere that's always dark."
He opened another small vortex in his palm.
This one connected to a dimension of absolute void.
A pulling force dragged Malekith toward it.
"Enjoy your eternal imprisonment."
"No light. No sound. No time."
"Just you."
Malekith vanished into the vortex.
The last thing visible was an expression of absolute terror.
The vortex closed.
Silence returned.
---
Thor slowly staggered to his feet.
He stared at the spot where Malekith had vanished, unable to speak.
The shock he'd experienced today exceeded everything from the last thousand years.
In the distance, Loki peeked from behind a rock.
His smug smile was gone.
For the first time, he realized that his tricks and magic were meaningless before absolute power.
"She'll be fine," Levi said, breaking the silence.
"Take her back to Asgard. Your mother can help her recover."
Thor rushed to Jane and checked her breathing. Only then did he finally relax.
He carried her carefully back to Levi.
"Thank you," he said sincerely.
"No need," Levi replied.
"It was a transaction."
He tapped his pocket.
"I've already taken my payment."
He glanced at Jane in Thor's arms, then toward the nervous Loki in the distance.
"I should go."
"Where?" Thor asked instinctively.
"Somewhere quiet," Levi said with a faint smile. "I want to study my new toy."
He tore open a black spatial rift in the air.
On the other side was his living room in Malibu.
Before stepping through, Levi glanced back at Thor.
"Prince of Asgard."
"The Nine Realms need you."
"Stop expecting someone else to clean up your mess."
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