Chapter 126: Battlefield Broadcast

"This is New York Television! Hello, everyone, I'm your host, Sarina. The city of New York has fallen into war…"

Garus heard a female voice from the ruins of a building behind him. The glint of the camera lens told him that a fearless news anchor was broadcasting live from the battlefield.

"As you can see, fighting against that terrifying alien monster is a massive red brute. Everyone knows he's from the mutant academy. And standing nearby, not engaging—" Before she could finish her sentence, the explosion of a car sent a flying door hurtling toward her. Reflexively ducking, she narrowly avoided a fatal blow, cold sweat pouring down her and the cameraman's faces.

The two sat dumbfounded on the ground. Several minutes passed before they recovered, their voices trembling as they continued, "This is horrifying. The ground here is littered with corpses, and it won't be long before the entire city of New York is destroyed. Meanwhile, our government's military forces have done absolutely nothing. God help us. We can only hope that the Avengers and the mutants will repel these invaders."

Garus assumed the harrowing experience would drive them away. To his surprise, after a brief pause, they stood up and resumed their live broadcast as if nothing had happened.

"Incredible dedication," Garus muttered, both impressed and baffled by their behavior.

"The red brute, your strength is waning." It had been nearly an hour. The chaotic magic empowering Abomination was slowly wearing off.

The back-and-forth exchange of powerful blows between Abomination and Black Dwarf had now shifted in favor of the latter, leaving Abomination struggling to hold his ground.

"Pant… pant…" Abomination panted heavily. Activating the blood runes on his body, he channeled all his remaining strength into one final strike, meeting Black Dwarf's descending form head-on.

BOOM!

Black Dwarf, whose body was as dense as a tungsten steel rod from a space-based kinetic weapon, collided with the spot where Abomination stood, unleashing a massive shockwave. The force was so immense that the reporter and cameraman struggled to stay on their feet.

A massive crater appeared where the impact occurred. Abomination had reverted to his human form, Blonsky, his body broken and lying motionless at the bottom. Black Dwarf, however, seemed entirely unscathed.

"I must admit, your man put up a good fight to last this long against me," Black Dwarf said. The gravity device on his body, made of unknown materials, remained intact despite the intense battle.

However, Black Dwarf's hand trembled slightly—a rare sensation. The battle had brought him pain he hadn't felt in ages. No one had ever matched his raw strength in combat. Well, no one except Thanos, though he'd never tested that theory.

Black Dwarf had no mercy for defeated opponents. Raising his massive foot, he aimed to crush Blonsky's skull.

Garus wasn't about to let his subordinate die so easily. With Death Grip, he pulled Abomination's body to his side, following it with a Death Coil to heal him with necrotic energy.

"A spellcaster?" Black Dwarf muttered, his brow furrowing ever so slightly.

Garus pulled out Frostmourne from his spatial pack. "A death knight, technically. Maybe you could call me a spellcaster, but I see myself more as a warrior."

Black Dwarf loathed spellcasters. However, years of combat had taught him how to deal with them: strike without warning.

"Now it's your turn to fall," Black Dwarf declared, no longer underestimating this planet's humans after the earlier battle.

As soon as he spoke, the sound of a sonic boom echoed. His body, like an arrow, hurtled toward Garus at breakneck speed.

Though fast, his speed was only slightly above Mach 1. Garus, having sparred with Quicksilver many times, felt no real threat.

As Black Dwarf's fist was about to connect with his head, Garus sidestepped casually and, with a quick swing of his sword, landed a blow on him. The strike produced a metallic "clang," sparking off Black Dwarf's body but leaving no significant damage.

"Too slow," Garus taunted. "You'll have to do better than that to hit me."

Instead of engaging in melee like Abomination, Garus chose to fight from range.

Summon: Frost Lich!

A summoning circle glowed, and an undead mage, its skeletal form bound by magical chains, appeared before them.

"You may have an incredibly durable body," Garus said, "but let's see how well you withstand death magic."

Chains of Ice! Desecration!

The Frost Lich followed up with Frostbolt, coordinating its attacks to temporarily immobilize Black Dwarf.

Death and Decay!

Death magic spread across a hundred-meter radius, coating the ground with corrosive red energy. Concrete, steel, corpses, and trees disintegrated into gray ash.

Black Dwarf felt his skin softening, his muscles weakening. For the first time, he felt genuine fear—an unfamiliar threat of death looming over him.

"Aaaah!" Lowering the gravity around him, he shot skyward, the frost on his body melting away in the rushing air currents.

"Was that… the Buddha's Palm?" Garus muttered, feeling as though he had crossed into another universe. The powerful shockwave rooted him in place.

As Black Dwarf hurtled toward him, Garus raised Frostmourne.

Ultimately, Frostmourne proved stronger, though the earlier Death and Decay had undoubtedly contributed. For the first time, Black Dwarf's defense faltered. His shoulder was pierced, and half his body was drenched in blood. A fraction slower, and he might've been cleaved in two.

…

"Yeah! Garus won!" Sarina shouted excitedly into the camera. "That damned alien is done for!"

The cameraman gestured for her to calm down. After all, this was a battlefield littered with corpses—no place for celebratory shouts.

Regaining her composure, Sarina continued, "Let's keep watching and wait for our heroes to secure victory."

The live broadcast of this battle caused New York Television's ratings to skyrocket. Billions of viewers tuned in from computers and TVs to witness the alien war unfold. Nothing captured attention quite like a live broadcast of an alien invasion.

The Avengers and mutants' efforts to defend New York helped ease public fear and jealousy toward them. Perhaps, after this, they'd be regarded as urban heroes akin to Spider-Man and Iron Man.

As for the two daring reporters, their fame was guaranteed after this event. Risking their lives for live coverage was their ultimate goal, after all.

Meanwhile, Black Dwarf, who had been on the defensive, expanded the gravity device's range, reducing gravity across a kilometer-wide radius.

Just as Garus anticipated another attack, he saw Black Dwarf launch himself onto a Chitauri spacecraft, retreating toward the wormhole.

"What the…" Garus raised his middle finger skyward in frustration.

"Did… did the alien just run away?" Sarina asked, stunned.

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