The wasteland screamed with static and tension.
Dust coiled around their feet as the original Avengers stood in formation, cloaked in steel, storm, and resolve. Opposite them, Berserker Lancelot exhaled a deep, guttural sound behind his black steel helm, his corrupted aura flaring like oil igniting on water. Arondight pulsed with power. He wasn't here to intimidate—he was here to destroy.
Rin narrowed her eyes. "We need to get to Wanda. Now."
Tony's voice buzzed in her ear, tight with focus. "Not happening unless we get Lancelot out of the way. And I'm not sending anyone in unless they want to be cut in half."
Pietro had already circled halfway around, a blue blur zipping in and out of Berserker's blind spots—if the mad knight even had any. Hulk growled and pounded the earth. Cap gripped his shield tighter. Natasha and Clint flanked Rin, their weapons glowing faintly with enchantments Tony had embedded: Clint's arrows shimmered like starlight, Natasha's batons crackled with restrained magic.
"We need a distraction," Rin muttered. Her hands already glowed with faint red light, five pseudo-jewels orbiting her like tiny stars. "I'll buy us a window. But I won't be able to hold it long."
Berserker didn't wait.
He charged.
The earth cracked beneath his speed. Hulk roared and intercepted, fists slamming into Arondight as the blade screeched against unbreakable green skin. Sparks exploded. Hulk grunted and slid back.
"That's new," Clint muttered.
"He's stronger than expected," Thor shouted, summoning Mjolnir in a flash of lightning. "We strike together!"
Lightning danced. Magic swelled. Captain America lunged in with perfect timing, shield angled low to strike Lancelot's ankle while Pietro blurred past with a sonic boom, distracting the knight just enough for Natasha to leap in, batons striking like fangs.
Arondight blocked one, then two, then all three attacks with impossible precision. He wasn't flinching.
"Fall back!" Tony called out as he flew in, his new armor glinting with aetheric sigils. Arc reactors hummed in sync with glowing runes across the plating—this wasn't just tech. This was a hybrid of science and sorcery.
A beam of golden plasma shot from his repulsors, then split mid-air into a lattice that tried to bind Lancelot in place. The Berserker broke through it with a howl, armor sparking.
Rin chanted fast under her breath, her pseudo-jewels syncing. "Anfang. Cutting Seven Colors."
The air bent. Light refracted unnaturally between the orbiting gemstones, building into a blinding, focused rainbow. Then she unleashed it—beams of multicolored destruction tearing through the battlefield toward Lancelot.
He raised Arondight—and blocked it. The light scorched around him, searing the earth, but his stance held.
"He's adapting too fast," Clint muttered, knocking three enchanted arrows.
"He's not the problem," Rin snapped. "Wanda is. If we don't figure out what's happening inside her, this gets worse. I need someone to reach her."
"I'll go," Pietro said, stepping beside her. For once, not blurring. "You blast him again. I'll get to my sister."
Rin nodded, sweat on her brow. "I'll use Fünf Sterne im Umlauf. That'll be my last big spell for a while. Make it count."
Five jewels floated out from her satchel, arranging into a perfect pentagram. Each jewel pulsed with a different elemental resonance—wind, fire, water, earth, and void.
She whispered, "Multi-Layered Polarization Protocol. Verbinden Sie sich mit Ihren Träumen."
Time seemed to still. Pietro blurred, vanishing.
Rin activated the circle.
A beam of metaphysical precision lanced forward—targeting Berserker's spells and interference itself, refracting across his corrupted form. The pentagram flared, adjusting, analyzing, countering in real time.
And for one brief second—Lancelot staggered.
It was enough.
"Everyone, now!" Cap yelled, and the Avengers launched.
Thor hurled Mjolnir with a war cry, lightning spiraling behind it. Hulk leapt, crashing down with both fists. Natasha vaulted from Clint's shoulders, her batons crackling as she aimed for the gaps in Lancelot's armor. Clint loosed a volley of arrows midair—each one exploding with a different effect: smoke, binding, blinding.
Tony rocketed in low, flipping midair and slamming twin repulsors into Lancelot's chest. The Berserker flew back into a jagged cliffside, momentarily buried in rubble.
The dust hadn't even settled when the rubble exploded outward. Lancelot emerged, armor dented, but fury burning brighter.
"We need a real finisher!" Tony shouted.
Rin, barely standing, raised a trembling hand. "I can boost someone... but only one."
Thor stepped forward. "Then let it be me."
She chanted, her magic wrapping around Mjolnir like a second storm. Sigils flared along the hammer's edge.
Thor grinned. "Then let this tempest be worthy."
He rose into the air, surrounded by a typhoon of divine thunder, and hurled Mjolnir with all the force of Asgard behind it.
It struck Lancelot dead center.
The shockwave flattened everything. Even Hulk stumbled.
When the light faded, Berserker was down on one knee, Arondight buried in the ground to support him. He was hurt—but still not defeated.
Rin gasped, eyes wide. "He's—he's still standing."
Tony raised his gauntlets. "Then we hit him again."
The Avengers regrouped.
Round two had begun.
.....
At the eye of the storm Pietro had reached Wanda.
He called out to her, trying to get her attention, but Wanda's gaze remained vacant. She didn't respond to his voice, her expression eerily still. He tried to approach, but a shimmering forcefield pushed him back, humming with chaotic energy.
He pounded against it, shouting her name. "Wanda! It's me! Come on, snap out of it!"
But she didn't even blink.
........
Meanwhile, the battle raged on.
Thor hurled Mjolnir again, the hammer cutting through the air like a comet. Lancelot twisted his body at the last second, dodging with terrifying agility.
Then, to everyone's shock, he discarded Arondight.
The holy sword faded away in reddish particles.
In the same motion, Lancelot seized the handle of Mjolnir as it flew past.
By discarding his sword, Lancelot had unlocked his second Noble Phantasm: Knight of Owner – A Knight Does Not Die with Empty Hands.
It was the embodiment of the moment he fought unarmed against Phelot and triumphed using only an elm branch. This Noble Phantasm did not manifest as a physical weapon, but rather as a unique ability stored within his body.
As soon as Lancelot grabbed Mjolnir—his gauntlets recognizing it as a weapon—he imbued it with his madness, and it became his own Noble Phantasm.
A storm was about to break.
And this time, it would strike back.