"You will not insult my father!"
Thor roared, wrenching a storm from the sky. Lightning cascaded outward, forcing the two Hammer-Bearers back just long enough for him to hurl Mjolnir straight at Kull.
The hammer never reached its target.
Twin beams of divine light flared from Kull's eyes and struck Thor head-on, blasting him across the battlefield like a broken spear.
"Your father is a usurper," Kull declared coldly. "I am the true All-Father. The rightful ruler of Asgard."
"Thor, you alive?"
A red-and-gold blur streaked in from the side. Tony Stark caught Thor midair and skidded to a halt, repulsors scorching the ground.
"I'm fine," Thor said, pushing himself upright. The wound in his chest was already knitting together. "That barely slowed me down."
Tony glanced at Kull and snorted. "So you're the drama king everyone's afraid of? No one ever tell you that you look extremely punchable?"
Thor hesitated. "Technically… he's my uncle."
Tony blinked. "Does your family tree grow exclusively bad decisions?"
"Loki is adopted," Thor muttered. "And this one was… an accident."
They barely had time to regroup before the Hammer-Bearers closed in again.
"One each," Tony said, nanotech flowing as uru claws unfolded from his arms and Asgardian cannons deployed over his shoulders.
Before he could engage, a furious shout echoed across the ruins.
"Tony Stark! I will repay the humiliation you gave me a hundredfold!"
A pillar of fire erupted nearby. Aldrich Killian abandoned his fight with the Asgardians, gripping his crimson hammer as flames engulfed his body, charging straight for Tony.
Tony stared. "Do I know you?"
With Tony pulled away, Thor was once again forced into a brutal two-on-one. The battlefield remained tilted against Asgard. Four Hammer-Bearers still roamed unchecked, and Hydra forces pressed harder by the second.
Then the sky split open.
A sleek, unfamiliar aircraft descended, and from it leapt a figure clad in a black panther suit, followed by bald, spear-wielding warriors. They landed with precision, immediately targeting the Hammer-Bearer wielding the black hammer.
"Father, please—wake up!" the panther-clad man shouted.
The bearer of that hammer was T'Chaka, former king of Wakanda. His son, T'Challa, had come not to conquer, but to reclaim him.
With Wakanda's intervention, another Hammer-Bearer was contained. The front stabilized, barely.
Kull watched with mild irritation.
"Pathetic," he said. He raised his staff, and waves of fear poured outward.
Hydra soldiers screamed as the power flooded into them. Their bodies twisted and expanded, scales erupting across their skin. In seconds, they became monstrous, serpentine brutes, strength multiplied by terror itself.
The balance shattered.
Asgardian ranks began to collapse.
"That's about enough," Rowan Mercer murmured, unseen above the clouds.
He prepared to move.
Then paused.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
A new rift tore open in the air, shimmering with frost and magic. From it stepped a familiar figure wearing a crown and an infuriatingly smug grin. At his side stood a seductive blonde woman, and behind them marched towering Frost Giants.
"Rejoice, mortals!" Loki announced grandly. "Your savior has arrived!"
"Loki?!" Thor shouted, distraction costing him dearly as the Hammer-Bearers pummeled him again.
"My dear brother," Loki continued cheerfully, "I escaped prison, conquered Jotunheim, and claimed an army. You're welcome."
He planted his hands on his hips and pointed at Kull. "My valiant warriors, go deal with that fossil."
The Frost Giants charged.
From his hidden vantage point, Rowan winced. "He really leaned into the hero pose."
Kull frowned as the Frost Giants surged toward him. "Jotunheim fighting alongside Asgard?"
Then he scoffed.
"No Laufey. No Casket of Ancient Winters. You are nothing."
His staff reshaped itself into a massive poleaxe. One swing cleaved through rows of Frost Giants, bodies splitting apart as if they were made of snow. A dozen more swings followed.
In seconds, nearly a third of the invading Frost Giant force lay destroyed.
Against Kull, they were little more than insects.