As thoughts raced through his mind, Joker Eren cast another realistic illusion, once again enveloping the Destroyer.
The moment the illusion took shape, Joker Eren used "Flame Leap" to traverse the burning flames scattered throughout the street, quickly closing the distance toward the Destroyer.
But before Eren could reach the Destroyer...
The Destroyer's body emitted another crimson ring of light, shattering Eren's carefully woven illusion entirely.
Yet, during that brief moment.
Joker Eren had already crossed dozens of meters, appearing directly behind the Destroyer.
Just as Joker Eren got close to the Destroyer's back, five razor-sharp claws flashed like blades from the underworld, tearing through the air.
Even before the claws made contact, the wind blades generated by that slash instantly ripped Eren's body into six pieces.
Seeing Eren's "corpse" flutter like willow fluff in the wind, narrowly evading its claws, the Destroyer's head rotated 180 degrees.
From within the armor, a mechanical voice spoke.
"Illusion? Decoy..."
It quickly searched its own database, trying to find methods to counter such an illusion master based on Odin's previous battles with various magicians.
While the Destroyer was busy searching through its database, trying to find a countermeasure to Joker Eren's tricks...
A stone, imbued with a mystical aura, was suddenly jammed into the seams of its armor.
"Enhance!"
Just as the Destroyer sensed something foreign lodged near its lower body and prepared to eliminate the nuisance, a playful voice echoed in its ears.
Crack!
With a crisp sound of shattering, the stone wedged into its armor instantly broke apart, transforming into a bizarre energy that rapidly seeped throughout the Destroyer's entire body. It even penetrated into the deepest part of its core, which was protected by layers of runes.
The strange energy did not seem hostile; instead, it radiated an aura known as "Evolution."
Once that peculiar aura permeated throughout the Destroyer's body, the energy filled with the essence of evolution began to strengthen the Destroyer's frame, as if guiding it to ascend the ladder of evolution.
Under the influence of this power, the Destroyer's body underwent a round of enhancement, and even the intelligence it had painstakingly developed was rapidly evolving, climbing toward a higher level.
For the first time, the Destroyer felt as if it was so close to evolution.
But...
Just as the power of evolution was propelling it forward, about to break into a new realm...
The Destroyer's ears seemed to catch the voice of a female creature.
"Oh dear, it seems there was a little problem with the enhancement. Your equipment broke..."
The moment that voice spoke, the strange sensation the Destroyer felt abruptly came to a halt, vanishing without a trace.
Losing the driving force of that energy, which had been guiding its evolution to a higher level, the Destroyer was suddenly yanked back from its journey to transcendence.
No.
It wasn't merely pulled back.
During the attempt to ascend the evolutionary ladder, the latent potential and energy of the Destroyer's sacred armor had been unknowingly drained by the Enhancement Stone.
As a result, when the enhancement failed...
The Destroyer suffered an intense backlash.
"Crack... Crack..."
Fine cracks rapidly spread across the Destroyer's powerful metal exterior.
In no time at all, the delicate fissures appeared all over the Destroyer's steel body, covering every part of it.
What was once a towering, imposing figure now looked shattered and broken.
If those cracks throughout its body were merely signs of severe damage...
Then the crumbling rune core within, broken by the failed evolution, was truly the Destroyer's death sentence.
With the destruction of its core, the intelligence the Destroyer had painstakingly developed was directly shattered and collapsing.
Without the coordination of the core's runes, the Destroyer's mind rapidly dissipated before everyone's eyes.
What had once been a powerful and imposing creature now stood there, lifeless and dazed.
Within a single second.
The red glow surrounding the Destroyer's body dimmed and faded away completely.
"Take this!"
At that moment.
A grenade emitting a silver-white light was tossed by Joker Eren straight into the Destroyer's faceplate.
Boom!
Accompanied by a deafening explosion, the already cracked Destroyer shattered into countless fragments.
With the destruction of the armor, the intelligence it had cultivated also fell into eternal silence with the complete destruction of the rune core.
"As expected, the Enhancement Stone never lets me down."
Watching the once-mighty Destroyer obliterated by a single Enhancement Stone, Joker Eren couldn't help but recall the terror of being controlled by Kelly's cursed enhancements.
Although Eren had never placed much hope in the Enhancement Stone created by Kelly from the Celestial Realm, seeing the final result of this enhancement still left him somewhat relieved.
Fortunately, Eren had never pinned any expectations on the Enhancement Stone made by Kelly.
Otherwise, if Eren had tried using the stone to enhance something he valued, he would have ended up with everything destroyed.
·····························
At the exact moment the Destroyer was blown to pieces by Joker Eren...
In Asgard's palace, where the Golden Bed was nourishing his body and consolidating his immense divine power, the All-Father Odin suddenly opened his eyes.
In that moment, Odin's gaze seemed to pierce through space itself, descending directly upon Earth.
Seeing the Destroyer's armor destroyed by a mere human, Odin's weary brows furrowed slightly, his expression containing both displeasure and a hint of regret.
However, when his gaze shifted to Thor, whose power had increased several times over, his wise eyes filled with satisfaction.
Sending Thor to Earth had always been part of Odin's plan, a trial meant to shape and prepare him for the throne.
The purpose was to ensure that Thor grew as much as possible before Odin's death, so that he could protect Asgard—or at least himself—during the impending Ragnarok.
Originally.
Odin only intended for Thor's experiences on Earth to help him mature, to temper his reckless personality.
But unexpectedly, those experiences stimulated Thor to break through his limits and elevate his power to a whole new level.
Compared to the growth of his character, Thor's increase in strength was far more comforting to Odin.
After all, during the approaching Ragnarok...
Great strength would be far more important than any character development.
Aside from feeling a slight regret over the destruction of the powerful Destroyer armor, Odin didn't care at all about the deaths of the Warriors Three on Earth.
As the powerful King of the Gods who had led Asgard to conquer the Nine Realms and forced them into submission, Odin was long accustomed to death.
For Odin, sacrificing a few elite Asgardian warriors for Thor's growth was nothing.
Even if it required sacrificing the lives of the gods who possessed divine cores, Odin would do so without hesitation if it meant Thor's improvement.
Retracting his gaze from Earth.
Odin closed his eyes once more upon the Golden Bed.
But if one looked closely, they would notice that compared to before, Odin's eyebrows seemed a bit more relaxed.
··································
The moment Joker Eren defeated the Destroyer.
The sky above Poonce Town suddenly darkened.
But right after that, a blinding light lit up the entire sky.
Turning his head slightly.
Joker Eren saw a dazzling "sun" appear high in the sky.
In just an instant, that blinding "sun" seemed to explode, swelling a thousandfold, transforming into a massive fireball that covered the heavens and the earth.
Buzz!
At the moment the fiery sun burst, a terrifying shockwave swept across the land.
At an altitude of ten thousand meters.
Clouds were torn apart by the terrifying shockwave, ripped into countless pieces that were scattered across the sky for miles.
Compared to the vast sky...
The aftermath of the explosion.
The endless land suffered most from the brilliant fireball's devastation.
Even separated by thousands of meters, the heat released by the explosion scorched the ground beneath it into a charred wasteland.
Countless patches of grass and shrubs were instantly dried out by the intense heat.
Before the flames could even reach them, the shockwave that followed violently tore them up along with the surface soil, sending them flying through the air.
····························
Intercepted by Thor's Mjolnir before it could hit the town, the cruise missile detonated prematurely over the desert land of New Mexico, producing a towering mushroom cloud.
Although Poonce Town was still over a hundred miles away from the explosion site.
The shockwave from the blast still tore through the already ruined town like a destructive storm.
By the time the dust settled.
The already broken Poonce Town was left in even worse condition.
And those who remained in the town, like Jane and Joker Eren, all found themselves covered in dust and debris from the explosion.
But compared to those closer to the explosion site...
They were undoubtedly far luckier.
Because at the very least, they were still alive.
Those closer to the blast, even if they weren't incinerated by the intense heat, likely didn't survive the shockwave that followed.
And among those unfortunate ones...
Were some of the Poonce Town residents who had fled toward the direction where the cruise missile was approaching.
····································
While Jane and the Asgardian goddess Sif were still overwhelmed by the terrifying power of the cruise missile...
A figure clad in a crimson cape rapidly descended from the sky.
Seeing the countless fragments of the destroyed Destroyer scattered across the ground, Thor, who had successfully intercepted the cruise missile and was feeling rather pleased with himself, suddenly stiffened.
Even the way he looked at Joker Eren grew far more serious.
No matter where, the strong always earned respect.
And for Joker Eren to have defeated the Destroyer during the short time Thor spent intercepting the missile meant he was undeniably a formidable warrior worthy of respect.
Not only Thor.
The goddess Sif, who was being supported by Jane, also looked at Joker Eren with a gaze filled with fear and caution, having seen him use such bizarre methods to "easily" shatter the powerful Destroyer.
Compared to Sif, however, Thor quickly recovered from his shock and stepped forward with open arms, seemingly intending to give the bent-over Joker Eren, who was picking up fragments of the Destroyer's armor, a bear hug.
"Hey, thanks, Joker! I knew you could do it!"
Avoiding Thor's hug with a look of disdain, Joker Eren snapped, "Sorry, Thor, I only accept hugs from beautiful women."
Hearing Joker Eren's words, Thor didn't mind at all and instead let out a hearty laugh.
"Haha, beautiful women? No problem! As long as you come with me to Asgard, I guarantee that a powerful warrior like you will be showered with the admiration of many Asgardian beauties."
"Asgard?" Joker Eren glanced at Thor, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Are you inviting me to Asgard?"
"Of course, my friend."
Thor responded eagerly, but after thinking for a moment, he changed his mind.
He shook his head and said, "However, before that, I still have some family matters to deal with. Once I've settled those issues, I'll personally invite you to visit Asgard."
With that, Thor turned his head toward Sif and said, "Sif, gather the bodies of Hogan and the others. We're going back to Asgard to demand an explanation from Loki."
Upon hearing this, Sif's expression immediately turned passionate with excitement.
"Yes!"
Suppressing her emotions, Sif freed herself from Jane's support and walked over to where Hogan's severed head lay.
"Rip!"
Looking at the lifeless head of his friend, Thor tore off a piece of his thunder robe's cape and wrapped up Hogan's head along with the remnants left by Volstagg and Fandral.
"Hogan, Volstagg, Fandral... Let's go. I'll take you home."
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(End of Chapter)
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