"This is unreal. We fought a monster like that, and even combined we could barely scratch it. But in Kurogai's hands, it couldn't even take a single blow. Are we even fighting the same kind of creature?"
Stark muttered under his breath, eyes wide with disbelief as he watched from a distance. The sheer difference in strength was staggering—almost humiliating. They had all joined forces earlier to bring down a massive alien beast, and it had taken everything they had. Yet the same kind of creature fell apart like paper in Kurogai's grasp.
The gap between them was almost unbearable.
"Why are you standing around?" Thor shouted, his voice booming over the chaos. "Keep fighting!"
The thunder god's words jolted them back to reality. Truth be told, Thor wasn't even surprised. He had seen Kurogai's power before and knew just how overwhelming it could be.
"Right," Stark snapped, shaking himself from his daze. "Let's finish off these aliens!"
The team jumped back into the fray, blasters and weapons roaring once more.
But Kurogai had already turned his attention elsewhere.
His crimson eyes locked onto the massive creature's remains before him.
He summoned his weapon—the Demon Scythe—and thrust it deep into the monster's broken flesh, probing for any trace of energy or reward that might remain.
"Nothing," he murmured quietly. "Figures. Just another mount."
There was no disappointment in his voice.
Instead, he turned toward the remaining Chitauri soldiers.
Although the space portal had closed, a number of them had survived the collapse and were now making one last, desperate stand.
They were his new targets.
The Chitauri knew what he had done—they'd seen him obliterate their beast in a single strike.
Fear spread among them like wildfire.
One soldier, realizing who was approaching, turned and sprinted away in terror.
The Chitauri had one advantage: they could shapeshift.
With luck, they could blend in with the human population once the battle ended.
But escaping Kurogai was another matter entirely.
"Trying to run?" Kurogai said softly, his tone almost amused. "Too slow."
In an instant, his body blurred.
He vanished from sight—and reappeared right in front of the fleeing soldier.
Before the alien could react, Kurogai drove the Demon Scythe straight through its chest.
Then, unexpectedly, he stopped.
A strange pulse rippled through his body.
"…Well now," he muttered, his lips curling into a sharp grin. "I didn't expect this kind of surprise."
The eighth Pupil Ring—one of his inner seals—trembled faintly.
That could only mean one thing: he had triggered its awakening condition.
"The blood of the Chitauri," he said, almost laughing. "Of all things… it's this that opens the next ring."
His excitement was palpable.
"I thought this trip would be a waste," Kurogai said with a glint in his eye. "Thanos might've tampered with the Mind Scepter, but in the end, he's done me a favor."
The thought of Thanos made his grin widen.
"The old titan really went out of his way this time. Maybe I should thank him—properly."
He turned toward the battlefield once again, eyes glowing with resolve.
"In that case," he declared, his voice low and dangerous, "the rest of the Chitauri are mine."
Kurogai unleashed an ability.
The Time Clock activated, and the world around him seemed to slow to a crawl.
His figure blurred into streaks of red and black as he vanished from view.
He moved faster than any of the Avengers could track—faster than bullets, faster than sound.
Steve Rogers was mid-strike, his spear poised to impale a Chitauri soldier.
But before the blow landed, the alien vanished, snatched away by a blur of motion.
The same thing happened across the battlefield.
Wherever a Chitauri stood, they were gone an instant later—claimed by Kurogai's relentless hunt.
Thor blinked, startled.
"Kurogai! What are you doing?"
"The Chitauri are mine," Kurogai called out calmly, his voice carrying over the din of battle. "You handle the big ones. Come on, heroes—show me what you've got."
He pointed toward the massive sky-beasts still wreaking havoc in the distance, his grin widening.
The Avengers exchanged looks, all equally exasperated.
"You've got to be kidding me," Stark muttered. "The guy leaves us the flying whales."
They couldn't understand his reasoning—but they didn't have time to argue.
The creatures still needed to be stopped, and only they could do it.
With resigned determination, the heroes regrouped and threw themselves back into battle.
And as they fought, Kurogai's work continued unseen.
One by one, the remaining Chitauri fell—each one drained, each death bringing him closer to the power sealed within the eighth ring.
By the time the sky began to clear, the ground beneath him was littered with alien corpses.
Not one Chitauri had escaped his grasp.