Tony's HUD flickered from energy feedback. "That blast should've vaporized him."
Thor tightened his grip on Mjolnir, stepping forward. "Then we do it again."
"No," Steve said, his voice steady. "Not yet."
Michael slowly turned his gaze downward.
He looked at the vast number of people now watching from below. Many had fled, but countless others remained—standing together, stunned, silent, eyes locked on the sky. Even news choppers hovered miles out, their searchlights circling the scene.
"I guess I had too much fun," Michael said as he set his arms behind his back. His aura slowly faded to normal, like he was just an ordinary man again. His suit reformed—sleek, blue, businesslike—as if he had never been in a battle at all.
"See you, heroes. Guess when I need to fight you all more, I will call you guys," Michael said as the space behind him shimmered and opened like a silver doorway. Without another word, he stepped into it. The dimensional rift folded shut behind him, leaving only fading energy and the sound of wind stirring the debris.
Silence hung heavy in the sky.
The silver rift sealed with a soft chime, leaving only the drifting echoes of power and the battered skyline in its wake. The clouds parted slightly, allowing the first rays of sunlight to break through, casting a pale glow over the battlefield.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Tony's voice cut through the stillness, ragged through the comms. "Okay… so he ends fights with polite exits now? Is that his thing?"
Steve lowered his shield slowly, staring at where Michael had vanished. "He could've finished us. He chose not to."
"Which is somehow more terrifying," Natasha said, landing lightly beside them. "He wasn't trying to win. Just… fight us."
Hulk grunted, his form shrinking as he began to revert back to Bruce, breath ragged and eyes dazed. "I felt it," Bruce said weakly, rubbing his temples. "He pulled his punches. Even the last one."
"He's like a battle maniac," Thor said, exhaling as he grounded himself, sparks still dancing along his armor. "We have many like him in Asgard... except they're not that powerful."
Tony groaned, sitting down on a broken piece of concrete, his armor sparking and dented. He rubbed his head and muttered, "That much we have already figured out"
He glanced at the damage readouts scrolling across his HUD. "I guess I need to start making some more durable and power-scaled upgrades," he added, half to himself, half to his AI.
"Fury contacted me," Natasha said, stepping forward. "He said Michael was spotted returning back to his home—wherever that silver doorway led. So, Fury's calling us in for a full debrief."
The others shared a look as they all sat in the ruined rubble.
"Figured it'd be worse," Clint muttered, sitting down beside a cracked girder. "For a minute, I thought he went full doomsday mode to cause chaos. Guess it was just him… heading home."
Thor looked toward the horizon, where the last remnants of the storm were fading. "We are treading unknown waters," he said solemnly. "I'm going back to Asgard to meditate. I will return when I am confident enough to defeat Michael—or when you need me most."
With a final nod, a burst of bifrost light surrounded him, and Thor vanished.
Tony glanced at the team, voice dry. "Did we even ask why they were fighting in the first place?"
Natasha folded her arms. "We didn't."
Tony sighed, standing up slowly. "Not that it matters. Michael'll probably come back the second someone calls him 'weak.'"
He brushed dust off his suit and added, "And knowing our luck… that'll be soon."
****
Michael, on the other hand, had returned home.
He stepped through the silver rift and into the vast marble halls of his house. Without even looking up, he addressed the maids calmly:
"I am full of dust and debris. Prepare a bath."
They nodded silently and left to carry out his order, while he walked toward his chambers, loosening the coat of his as he went.
Sinking into his seat, he muttered to himself, "Tier IV Aura... it's even enough to keep up with Thor—at least the one from that Ragnarok movie. But that's the MCU version, not the comic original. So... still not enough."
He stood after a moment, eyes shining silver as special mana flowed through them. His gaze shifted toward another wing of his home.
Walking through the doors, he entered a quiet office where his mother sat at her desk, reviewing data sheets and her laptop. But it wasn't the paperwork that caught Michael's attention—it was the aura radiating from her.
"She's now a Tier II Aura user," he murmured with a faint smile as he turned to leave. "Mother is progressing greatly, even while managing the company full-time."
With that, he made his way to the balcony, sitting down to relax while the bath was being prepared.
Michael leaned back on the balcony, the wind brushing against his skin as he watched the horizon. The sounds of the maids preparing his bath echoed from inside, but his mind was elsewhere—focused on his mother's progress.
"Just a week, and she's already a two-circle Aura user," Michael chuckled to himself, amazed at her progress. "She's more talented than I am."
"Speaking of Aura, how is Mia doing?" he thought, his eyes shining silver as he activated his Sniper Skill—a skill he got from the system that allowed him to see far and wide as a part of its sub-skill. His gaze drifted over the compound, scanning with precision until he finally found Mia in her private room. She was sitting cross-legged, deep in meditation, working on mastering her Aura.
"Ah, she's almost at two circles... Good," Michael murmured to himself, nodding in approval.
Michael waved his hand, and several Aura stones appeared in his grasp. These were the ones he had purchased from the system for his own practice. But now, he selected a few of them to help Mia. He had noticed that there wasn't enough Aura energy in her room to facilitate her advancement to the two-circle tier, which was normal. On Earth, Aura energy was scarce—only found in select locations, and even then, only in small amounts.
*******
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