The battle between Earth's heroes and the invading fleet of Dark Elves raged on.
Iron Man led the charge, soaring ahead with his Iron Legion as they engaged the Dark Elves' escort ships in intense aerial combat.
The Iron Legion formed tight squads, surrounding enemy vessels using their superior mobility and tactical coordination, effectively halting further destruction of New York City.
To the Dark Elves, however, these darting metal men were nothing more than annoying mosquitos.
Their heavily armored escort ships barreled through the Iron Legion's assault like black spears, crashing through the city with reckless abandon, gradually wearing down New York's defensive firepower.
But Kagura wasn't about to sit back and let them wreak havoc.
She had a swarm of new-model drones from Rhodes Island Industries ready to join the fray.
And she still had an ace up her sleeve—one of the Dark Elves' own stolen escort ships, now under her control.
Once she activated her core ability, "Deep Dive", Kagura's consciousness split and unified simultaneously, an indescribable sensation that allowed her to flawlessly pilot the captured enemy ship while maintaining full control of her own body.
"If I count the Thor incident," she mused, standing amidst the flames of battle, silver hair flowing as she gazed up at the sky, now stained crimson by warfare, "this makes my third alien invasion already."
She exhaled softly.
"Sure, it's all part of the dress rehearsal for Infinity War, so a few more invasions aren't the worst thing."
"But this time... we don't have any giant weapon capable of taking out their mothership in one shot."
"Still…"
A wry smile tugged at her lips.
"Blasting the enemy to bits with one big cannon every time would get boring real fast."
"Besides, these are Dark Elf ships we're talking about. That tech? I have to get my hands on it!"
To Kagura, the Dark Elf fleet wasn't just a formidable enemy—it was a treasure trove of advanced alien technology, a prize she was practically drooling over.
Hovering in the sky was a massive black cross-shaped ship, descending slowly from the heavens.
It stood nearly 400 to 500 meters tall—the last remaining warship from the once-mighty Dark Elf fleet.
This vessel held the ancient technology of an entire species, including the means to fully control Aether energy.
If she could claim it, her own technological capabilities would leap forward by decades, maybe centuries.
"Ugh… I want it so bad!" She was practically drooling.
After the Battle of New York, budget constraints and other priorities kept Rhodes Island Industries and Kagura from participating in the cleanup and salvage of Chitauri wreckage, Hydra ended up snatching most of it instead.
Looking back, she'd taken a massive L on that one.
She remembered watching from the Queen's Command Center on Aegean Island as Hydra unveiled their new battleships constructed from salvaged Chitauri parts.
Her envy had been palpable.
If she hadn't already been knee-deep in the "Superdimensional Fortress" project at the time, she might've built a time machine just to go back and smack her past self for being so lazy.
But now, another chance at alien tech had presented itself.
And this time, the opponent wasn't the Chitauri but the ancient and far more advanced Dark Elves.
That massive, obsidian cross floating in the sky surely contained tech far beyond what the Chitauri had.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime jackpot. A cosmic treasure chest!
Right now, Earth's resistance made up of Iron Man's Legion and the "defected" Dark Elf ship Kagura had hijacked was holding the skies under the cover fire of "Neo-New York City."
Just moments ago, Kagura had hacked into the enemy ship's database and uncovered a method to penetrate their dark-energy armor, allowing Tony Stark's Iron Legion and Rhodes Island's beam weapons to finally break through their defenses.
But even with the ability to fight back, the situation wasn't in their favor.
These smaller escort ships, split off from the main vessel, were incredibly agile, they are fast enough to go toe-to-toe with Iron Man in a high-speed dogfight.
As the battle dragged on, the Iron Legion began to suffer noticeable losses.
Overall, even though Kagura's captured ship had shot down a few careless enemies, more and more Dark Elf escorts took control of the skies, pushing the momentum toward the invaders.
Meanwhile, the massive mothership continued its descent, menacing and unstoppable.
Unlike the Chitauri or Hydra, Malekith had no intention of keeping his ship at a safe distance to harass Earth from afar.
No, he was coming straight into the atmosphere, personally leading the charge to annihilate Earth's defenders and seize the Dark Elves' ultimate prize: the Aether.
"Large hostile target detected."
"Focusing all firepower for interception," Cortana reported as she redirected Neo-New York City's entire defensive network toward the descending behemoth.
The black cross plunged through the sky, cloaked in waves of explosions and fire.
Its dark matter armor that had an even stronger containment field than the escort ships so much so that even specialized energy weapons couldn't tear it apart.
It was, in the most literal sense, indestructible.
Malekith, personally piloting the ship, began systematically dismantling the city's defenses, with the fury of a god determined to erase New York from the map.
Fortunately, before the battle began, Kagura and Tony Stark had severed the connection between Malekith and the Aether, preventing the Dark Elves from sensing or locating it.
That was, at least, one silver lining.
Because if Malekith had brought his entire army straight to Kagura's lab to retrieve the Aether… Well, just her and Tony? They might not have made it.
At least now, the fortress city could act as a shield, buying precious time.
As for reinforcements…
The silver-haired girl looked up at the sky.
"…They should be here any minute now."
Earth was one of the Nine Realms.
In the language of the Asgardians, it was known as Midgard the Realm of the Middle.
So if Earth was still under Asgard's protection, there was no way Odin would ignore such a massive invasion by the Dark Elves.
Especially not when his newly appointed little princess was down here, fighting with everything she had.
"Aha. Knew they'd show up."
The girl's lips curled into a relieved smile. "Now things get interesting."
'WHOOSH—!'
The light of the Bifröst split the heavens.
The Gods… had arrived.