Futile

With that, all the melee heroes who had charged into the Chitauri army like a suicide squad were completely wiped out. Only the ashes scattered in the wind bore witness to their unwavering sacrifice. After observing for a moment and confirming that Wolverine would not regenerate, the Chitauri forces swiftly turned their weapons towards Tony and the others.

However, in the midst of their fierce battle, none of them noticed that, at the moment of Wolverine's death, the shimmering glow on the barrier disappeared. In the sky above, Zane, who had been enjoying the spectacle, displayed an expectant expression. The next moment, the barrier began to contract towards the center, steadily compressing the arena's space. In about five minutes, it was expected to completely erode the arena's area.

Upon noticing the barrier's contraction, a trace of panic flickered in the Chitauri central brain's eyes. In an instant, it linked up with the consciousness of all the Chitauri soldiers. The Chitauri army, which had been focused on long-range attacks, suddenly let out a collective roar and charged towards the Earth's forces. Time was running out for them!

At that moment, after delivering one last lightning strike to Thor, Storm's eyes rolled back, and she fainted. Cyclops quickly caught her falling body, preventing her from crashing to the ground and potentially dying from the impact rather than by enemy hands.

Meanwhile, Thor slowly stood up, his body radiating with the power of lightning that surged through him. Bolts of electricity danced across his form, even his eyes emitting small arcs. Now, bathed in the power of thunder, he finally resembled the mythical god of thunder.

Inside Tony's suit, JARVIS, the AI system, began issuing warnings. "Energy at 6000%, reactor overload imminent. Please discharge energy immediately! Please discharge energy immediately!" The blaring alarms and the distorted electronic voice echoed through the suit.

Tony was not faring well either. Although the suit protected him from the lethal currents that could have killed him a thousand times over, the heat generated by the lightning was steadily heating the armor. The Mark suit had turned into an oven, and Tony inside felt like a shrimp being steamed to perfection, his skin turning a bright red.

"JARVIS, target that big head and fire at maximum power!" Tony shouted hoarsely. Instantly, the chest reactor of his suit, already emitting a blinding light, flared even brighter, comparable to a flashbang. A thick beam of energy shot out, piercing through numerous soldiers and heading straight for the central brain.

Simultaneously, Thor raised Mjölnir. The thunderous power within him surged out, forming a massive lightning bolt as thick as an arm, which shot forward. Along its path, countless Chitauri soldiers were reduced to charred corpses, their bodies emitting the scent of burnt flesh from the slight electrical arcs.

These two attacks carried the hopes of everyone. This was the only plan Tony had devised after countless strategies to secure victory. Yet, only Zane, seated high in the sky, noticed that the Chitauri central brain's eyes showed not a trace of panic—instead, they gleamed with a sinister grin.

The two attacks, carrying the hopes of all the remaining and fallen heroes on the battlefield, surged forward with unstoppable momentum, under the watchful eyes of the world's people. They vaporized all the Chitauri soldiers in their path, heading straight towards the key figure that would decide the outcome of this battle.

However, the Chitauri central brain remained utterly calm, showing no intention of dodging. As the pivotal entity, the Chitauri civilization, which had roamed the universe, had certainly prepared for the possibility of a decapitation strike. With a slight mental command, the central brain triggered a reaction.

In an instant, from the remaining 8,000 Chitauri soldiers, about 2,000 screamed as a special device at their waists drained them dry, leaving behind desiccated corpses. The special device then released numerous blue energy beams that converged on the central brain, forming a radiant blue energy shield around it just before Tony and Thor's attacks reached.

The central brain stood serenely within the energy shield, which had been generated at the cost of its soldiers' lives, and watched the fearsome attacks strike the shield without batting an eye. It even continued to link with the minds of other Chitauri soldiers, directing them to launch suicidal attacks against the remaining heroes.

Under the gaze of everyone, the two attacks met in mid-air, merging into a violent torrent of energy that crashed against the energy shield. To everyone's horror, the scene they had hoped for—a breakthrough—did not occur. The attacks only caused minor ripples on the shield's surface. Despite Tony and Thor giving it their all, they could not breach the barrier.

Seeing Thor straining with veins bulging in his neck, the central brain's eyes flickered with disdain. The shield it was using, seemingly ordinary, was actually the culmination of the Chitauri civilization's most advanced technology, essentially an absolute defense. It had been designed specifically to protect the central brain, crafted with the efforts of countless generations of Chitauri scientists.

In critical moments, the central brain could activate the special devices on the soldiers' waists, which would absorb all their energy, including heat, biological energy, the energy from their weapons, and even their souls.

This energy was then filtered and combined to create a unique shield around the central brain. The more soldiers sacrificed, the stronger the shield's defense became, with no upper limit. In other words, as long as the soldiers weren't all dead, the central brain was absolutely safe.

This was far beyond what Tony and Thor could break through in their current state. Perhaps an awakened Thor fully wielding his thunder god powers could have done it. The central brain, having calculated the energy reaction of their combined attack, had only needed to sacrifice 2,000 soldiers—an extra few hundred for safety.

In the original story, Tony had managed to defeat the invading Chitauri army with a single nuclear missile, purely by luck. The arrogant Chitauri hadn't considered that a civilization yet to leave its home planet could pose any threat.

Thus, the warship on the other side of the Tesseract-powered portal had no defenses, and the central brain had been killed by the aftermath of the nuclear explosion without even having a chance to react.

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