GUARDIAN OF THE MARVEL REALM

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Although Shen He couldn't fly, she had Moon Marrow Spirit Liquid.

Using the floating lunar marrow essence as springboards, she could traverse short aerial distances in quick bursts of movement.

She quickly descended alongside Ryougi Shiki, and out of the corner of her eye caught sight of Dr. Erik Selvig on the rooftop of Stark Tower. He appeared to have regained consciousness and was glancing around in disarray.

Almost forgot about him.

Shen He rapidly approached the rooftop of the tower.

"Dr. Selvig, are you still under the Scepter's influence?"

"Miss Shen."

Dr. Selvig recognized her instantly. He pushed himself up unsteadily, opened his mouth to speak, then abruptly rolled his eyes and fainted again.

"Dr. Selvig?"

Shen He called out, while calmly slipping a compact injector — a watch embedded with a tranquilizer needle — back into her sleeve.

Ryougi Shiki clearly noticed the subtle movement but said nothing.

Shen He had hidden from Tony and the others the critical truth that Loki's Scepter could forcibly shut the spatial gate — but not from Ryougi Shiki.

She opened a temporary portal to Chaldea's dimensional vault and gently placed Dr. Selvig inside for recovery.

"Let's go. Jeanne needs help."

Shen He surveyed the battlefield below and leapt from the rooftop, pulling Ryougi Shiki along in one smooth motion.

The deployment of new enemy units meant the battle was escalating faster than expected.

In the original timeline, Tony Stark flew the nuke into the Chitauri mothership in orbit, which remotely shut down all drones on Earth. Even their tech deactivated on its own.

Essentially, the real war never truly began — the Chitauri were just conveniently exterminated by the narrative.

But now, Shen He had deliberately prolonged the battle to extract greater post-conflict leverage.

All of Manhattan had become a war zone.

When Lelouch was summoned to help formulate a civilian extraction strategy, Jeanne opposed the militarization, but Shen He persuaded her — while disguised in Chaldea's tactical nightwear. The agreement was clear: prioritize civilian safety. If they couldn't evacuate enough people, the gate would be forcibly shut early.

Still, with a Servant like Jeanne by their side, Shen He wasn't too worried about losing moral integrity.

"Tony, status report," Shen He said as she and Ryougi Shiki landed in the conflict zone.

"You're finally here. We're holding for now, but evacuation's a nightmare."

Tony Stark was swapping out the depleted arc reactor in his chest. His suit was torn open in multiple places, internal components exposed from earlier combat.

They stood in a large square, where a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft carrier's flight rescue pod had landed in hopes of extracting civilians. But the Chitauri had made the zone a primary battlefield. Tony's Iron Legion, alongside the displaced workers Jeanne had rallied, were barely fending them off.

Jeanne's Noble Phantasm had formed a protective dome around the rescue pod. Thousands of civilians were gathered inside.

"What about other evacuation points?" Shen He pressed.

"Most people took shelter in the subway system. With transit out, Steve's leading them on foot through the tunnel networks," Tony summarized quickly. "There are still around eighty to ninety thousand people on the surface. About fifteen thousand are gathered near Saiki's coordinates. Five thousand here. The rest are scattered in high-rises. Thankfully, the aliens aren't prioritizing civilian slaughter."

Manhattan's population was roughly 1.2 million.

Because Stark Tower was on the outer edge near the water, much of the surrounding area had already evacuated in the early stages. Only two to three hundred thousand remained exposed when the gate opened. Steve and the Guardian Corps had already relocated the bulk, and the remaining one hundred thousand were now the last in danger.

That was the working estimate.

Given aircraft carrier limits and lack of fighter escort, each evacuation sortie could carry only about 15,000 passengers — meaning they'd need at least six full runs.

"Jeanne's Phantasm can't hold much longer." Shen He exhaled and summoned her next asset. "Huby."

As she spoke, the small war automaton appeared beside her.

Originally designed as a hidden trump card, Huby had to be activated early due to the worsening combat conditions.

"Current combat output: 74% of optimal capacity. Physical materialization: 23%," Huby reported. Her oversized tunic couldn't hide the shimmering crystalline tech embedded in her frame — light flickering softly from the elven-core circuits within.

Since Loki's arrival, Shen He had been diverting her mana reserves to upgrade Huby. She had now reached Tier-3 compatibility at 74% of full synchronization.

On this battlefield, she might not yet surpass Saiki Kusuo — but she was close.

"Run a calculation. What's the probability of successfully extracting the civilians over there to the carrier?" Shen He gestured to the crowd protected by Jeanne.

"Escort mission? I have no prior combat directive for evacuation." Huby blinked, but her processing systems kicked in.

"Success probability: 84%."

"Then I'll entrust it to you." Shen He smiled, reassured.

"However, if deployed as a weapon, Huby can achieve a kill-efficiency rate 3.6 times greater than escort protocols," Huby clarified. "In strategic logic, neutralizing enemy forces has greater effect on operational victory than civilian protection."

In her databanks — forged through a millennium of interdimensional war — that was statistically accurate.

Her people, the Ji-Kai species, engaged in war as interconnected networks. Direct attack was taboo, but retaliation was compulsory once provoked.

Huby's memory echoed with the sights of countless human settlements razed during counterattacks.

In war, sparing civilians held no calculable advantage.

"Where'd you find this tiny war machine?" Tony muttered, his eyes narrowing.

He felt the same strange psychic pressure Huby emitted as when he first encountered Violet.

"Just follow the orders," Shen He said gently, rubbing the top of Huby's head.

Data flickered in her synthetic pupils.

That feeling again…

But she understood the meaning now.

"Execute protocol: Combat-Escort Type Gamma. Code—Unlocked."

With that declaration, Huby's outer shell cracked open. The mechanical limbs unfurled, tearing through her cloak. In a flash, she vanished from their sight — and reappeared beside Jeanne in the blink of an eye.

"—Dimensional Crosslock, Engage!"

Compressed elf-energy erupted from her body, forming a hemispherical defense barrier. A massive translucent sphere of blue energy surged out, surrounding the evacuation zone.

Jeanne finally dropped her Noble Phantasm, exhaling with relief. Her strength had reached its limits.

And within the shimmering defensive cover...

"Master," Jeanne turned toward Shen He, her eyes calm but ready.

"I know." Shen He issued the command to Jarvis. "Cease attack mode. Activate the evacuation capsule for launch. Divert all remaining armors inside the shield to assist as auxiliary propulsion to accelerate lift-off!"

At that moment, he, the Two Rituals, and others renewed their assault. The rescue capsule could only transport a portion of civilians each time, forcing a hard decision—some would have to remain behind in the plaza, under protection, until the next cycle.

In everyone's gaze, swarms of aircraft streaked toward the blue energy membrane. Their laser blasts, clustered in bright orbs, disintegrated on contact with the flickering corpse-shield generated by Shen He's sacrificial construct earlier. The Cherita soldiers who attempted to push forward suffered the same fate. The moment of contact resembled dried husks igniting under intense heat—instantly turned to ash and scattered to the wind.

It didn't resemble magic, chakra, or psychic energy—it felt like science, ultra-advanced and elegant.

Rose, who was closely watching from afar, felt his vision burn with an unfamiliar heat.

His thirst for strength had now reached an almost unbearable threshold.

Yet—this wasn't the time.

He gritted his teeth and redirected his attention to the new formation of mini warships entering the fray. These weren't sluggish cruisers or fragile shuttles. Their speed, firepower, and defensive configuration easily outclassed all known human fighters. But fortunately, the unified military had finally arrived.

And what followed was a sight described as aerial supremacy.

The nation with the most formidable military force on Earth, with an annual defense budget nearing $700 billion, had deployed its full might. The total number of airborne combat units—including fighters, bombers, drones, and support crafts—had exceeded 40,000.

Against an enemy not bound by planetary treaties or human cost, the military deployed waves—each alien ship countered by multiple human fighters.

The sky above became a field of brilliant eruptions. No one could tell what was exploding anymore—a missile, a Cherita scout ship, or one of their own pilots caught in the crossfire.

At this stage, not even the World Security Council entertained illusions. These weren't scouting vessels. They weren't mercenary pirates from some forgotten solar corner.

These were full-scale invasion forces, capable of toppling civilizations.

"If this continues escalating, we'll authorize strategic nuclear deployment," the World Council ordered Fury directly. "Establish a connection with Chaldea immediately."

Humanity's ultimate deterrent—nuclear weapons.

The final ace in Earth's arsenal when faced with species-level extinction.

For once, Fury didn't object. The United States' allies had already deployed their forces. Non-aligned states were urgently discussing unification into an Interstellar Defense Alliance. If war escalated further, Manhattan—and even all of New York—might have to be sacrificed.

This had become a survival war for humankind.

By the time Shen He received Fury's encrypted message, the wormhole above Manhattan had been open for more than two hours.

Reinforcements had arrived just thirty minutes earlier, slowing the Cherita's expansion across the surface. But the enemy's numbers had been too massive for even Chaldea's elite members to fully contain.

Through Hubby's coordinated efforts, more than 60,000 civilians had already been safely evacuated through the temporal corridor.

The military managed to secure another 20,000.

But 20,000 more still remained in the plaza—protected only by Qi Mu Nanxiong's psychic field and a crumbling perimeter.

"The last wave!" Shen He called, rushing alongside Jeanne d'Arc and the Two Rituals toward the final frontline.

The remaining Servants were already engaging mid-air, where the fighting had now become a thunderous symphony of divine weapons, bio-mechanical beasts, and psionic detonations.

The Cherita commander had evidently deduced the key variable—these Chaldean irregulars.

The invaders no longer wasted efforts on deploying ground mechanized dragons.

Instead, they concentrated all remaining low-altitude forces toward the last civilian cluster.

Jarvis immediately rerouted surveillance feeds.

Across the world, people watched in tense horror as thousands of Cherita soldiers swarmed from streets, rooftops, and airways—converging like a black tide on the cathedral that sheltered the 20,000 defenseless civilians.

Inside the cathedral? Not a single firearm. No powered suits. Just panicked people, clinging to hope.

From Washington to Seoul, from Paris to Lagos, even the most cynical spectators clenched their fists.

"The Fourth Combat Zone requests immediate reinforcements! I repeat—Zone Four needs backup!" came the desperate cry from the district officer.

But the numbers just didn't add up. Due to rapid deployment, only a few hundred soldiers and a dozen tanks and IFVs had made it to that point. Meanwhile, the alien forces were multiplying rapidly.

Cherita energy weapons vaporized concrete and scorched armored plating with ease. While human firearms inflicted damage, they were insufficient to balance the sheer disparity in volume.

Then—

CRACK.

A crystalline fracture echoed across the church plaza.

Streets ruptured outward, shards of pavement and stone suspended unnaturally mid-air.

All cameras zoomed in on the figure standing atop the cathedral's spire.

The unmistakable Chaldea cloak.

The telekinetic titan who had held the line for nearly an hour—guarding 20,000 souls with nothing but willpower.

"I'm being watched again..."

Qi Mu Nanxiong muttered under his breath, pulling his hoodie tighter, visibly annoyed.

With a flick of his wrist, the hovering rubble launched like artillery rounds. One wave—dozens of Cherita aircraft exploded mid-air.

Then came torrents of flame, streams of frost, cyclonic gusts, even arc lightning.

The entire cathedral plaza became a one-man performance.

Qi Mu stood unmoving, unfazed, in sharp contrast to the alien battalions rushing to their doom. The human soldiers behind the barrier could only gape in awe as the young Esper created a miracle before their eyes.

Multi-domain psychic output. A polymorph of destruction. One mind versus an army.

Across other warzones, the imagery was fragmented. But here—broadcast live globally—humanity began to comprehend a new reality:

A single, ultra-powered being could exceed the effectiveness of an entire battalion.

When Shen He and his team joined the fight—everything changed.

Though only three more joined, the balance tipped drastically. Their every strike shattered rows of enemies. Their precision, power, and coordination were overwhelming. In ten minutes, the Cherita ground forces were obliterated.

Broken armor, alien flesh, and burning wreckage covered the streets.

As Shen He impaled the final alien commander through a transport vehicle, he walked calmly to the frontline.

"Ground resistance is neutralized. Get these people out. Do not linger—evacuate immediately."

"I need authorization." The field officer began, then suddenly received a direct order. He snapped to attention. "Yes, sir! All units—commence full civilian extraction!"

Qi Mu Nanxiong reappeared beside Shen He in a blink.

"Finally—hands are free again."

Shen He exhaled, then turned to gaze at the sky. His eyes gleamed behind the mask.

"Qi Mu," he asked with a rare grin, "what level of Enhancement Card do you want?"

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