Finally, Shiller appeared, tightly holding onto Constantine, then gave Thor a verbal dissuasion, barely managing to rescue the already charred Constantine.
After Thor left, Shiller threw Constantine, whom he was carrying, to the ground, and sighed to him, "So? Still think he's a magazine model?"
"No, wait," Constantine puffed out a mouthful of black smoke and said, "How could Thunder God Thor have such divine power? I've fought with him before; he's just a big dumb guy who swings a hammer. It would take him a year just to touch me. Why is this one so strong?"
"Didn't you see the clothes he was wearing?"
"It's not like he wasn't wearing any clothes."
Shiller covered his forehead and said, "Can you think of anything other than that yellow junk in your head?! He's wearing a robe; those are the garbs of the Emperor of Asgard. He's long been crowned, and you're still thinking of him as a prince?"
"Oh, right," Constantine patted his forehead and said, "Sorry, but his face is too striking. I really didn't have the time to look at his clothes. The gods of Asgard get stronger with age, right?"
"Speaking of which, Odin really has an eye for beauty; both his biological and adopted sons are strikingly handsome. If I could find a way to help them deal with Ragnarök, do you think I could get both of them to invite me to dinner? Of course, in this cosmos, they can get married, but I'm not there to break them up; I could join them. I have plenty of experience..."
Shiller was speechless. He really didn't want to exchange another word with this person, but after some thought, he asked, "What plan did you and Loki cook up? Can it bring in some energy?"
"Don't worry, no problem. But we might need to communicate with the mutants. Have Magneto and the others returned to Earth?"
Shiller didn't know either, so he opened the communication system and sent a message to Professor X. The reply came quickly, with Charles saying he was currently taking Magneto on a tour of the Andromeda Galaxy.
Finally doing something productive, Shiller couldn't help but think. Although this was no different than sightseeing, it was still better than idly wandering around the Intergalactic Market. So he and Constantine shuffled through the teleportation portal to the Andromeda Galaxy where the mutants resided.
As soon as they arrived at the capital Sky Island, they witnessed an unprecedented drama: a young Charles introducing the facilities on Sky Island to an elderly Magneto, only to run into the younger Erik of this universe—who was holding his young daughter Anya in his arms.
Although it wasn't raining, the atmosphere was indeed a bit awkward. Don't get it wrong, it wasn't Charles who was feeling awkward. If anything, the most awkward was Shiller watching from the sidelines, followed closely by Mystique.
The three parties involved didn't feel there was anything wrong, as if they could easily form a family. This made Shiller realize that young Charles and Erik had actually aged backward; although appearing youthful, their souls, after so many years, had long understood the essence of life, making the addition or subtraction of a person not a big deal.
Of course, from the expressions, actions, and body language of young Erik, it was clear that even though he appeared indifferent, he was actually quite smug.
True nostalgia was never just one wearing a helmet and the other sitting in a wheelchair, discussing whether they might have boarded the same ship had it not been for that bullet back then, but rather standing shoulder to shoulder on the land of a new home they built together. He still saw him as that rebellious, vibrant rich young master, and he saw him as the profound and compassionate anti-fascist fighter.
Then there's Anya, visible to all three of them. The elderly Magneto immediately shifted his attention to this little girl. The hardships of this old man were like the sea, now flooding the top of the castle, those tragedies at the bottom of the castle from early years long eroded, leaving blurred memories. Now he only felt her face was familiar, but didn't recall she was his daughter.
Charles lowered his eyes, seemingly feeling a twinge of compassion. Erik almost immediately took half a step forward, blocking his view. The elderly Magneto reached out to caress Anya's face. He might have recalled, or perhaps not, but this sudden, imprudent action proved he had always been the less restrained of the two, much like most Lokis.
The atmosphere was supposed to be awkward again, but there's a solution to every problem—Constantine just stepped out directly, greeting them with a smile, "Hello, I'm the new employee from the Earth Sanctuary. Sorry, I was trailing you earlier while exploring the market, but I do have some matters to discuss with you."
When all three turned to look at him, even Mystique felt a twinge of unease for him. But Constantine, unfazed, said, "What we're about to discuss might not align with societal moral standards, so perhaps let the child play somewhere else first."
Anya didn't have a physical form, typically invisible to ordinary people. Nevertheless, Constantine, daring to come here alone, was certainly no ordinary individual. With Erik merely lifting an eyebrow, Anya retreated to the Psychic_Battlefield.
"I'm guessing you've already heard about the recent interstellar telecommunications fraud incidents; many demon gods have suffered, severely affecting the reputation of the Holy Sanctuary. This matter needs resolving, but mere compensation would leave Earth at a loss. How about finding a way to achieve a win-win situation—I meant, a victory each for the magicians and the mutants."
"What do you propose?" Charles asked gently.
"The demon gods have the time to trouble the Holy Sanctuary because they're not preoccupied with greater issues. As long as you pursue them, they won't have time to file grievances on Earth."
"But what good does it do us?"
"You helped the Holy Sanctuary resolve its reputation issues, so the compensation originally meant for the Demon God naturally can be given to you. Although you might not need the energy, those wolves on Wall Street, who have influence on Earth, will certainly find a way to get you what you want. This way, the Holy Sanctuary is free of complaints, and you receive compensation, isn't it a win-win situation?"
"And what do you want?" Erik asked, "You better not try to deceive us, you're not an employee of the Holy Sanctuary, but the swindler who caused all the trouble."
"It's really simple, I've already agreed with Lord Loki, the energy from the victims you resolve, we split fifty-fifty. The more you resolve, the more I get. Of course, some might not involve reputation issues, but perhaps there will be similar issues in the future, and if you help them resolve the issues in advance, naturally, you can get compensation in advance. Simply put, the more you kill, the more you earn. How about it?"
Charles and Erik exchanged a glance and saw affirmation in each other's eyes.
In fact, mutants had no reason to target the Demon God in the past, even if they could fight, there was no need to, because they didn't need energy. Mutants seemed to completely disregard the laws of physics, no one knew where the cosmic mass they conjured from thin air came from; it certainly wasn't energy-generated.
It's like they themselves are engines capable of starting without power, like a perpetual motion machine, so there's no need to borrow electricity from others, they had no conflict with the Demon God.
Of course, if helping magicians resolve the Demon God's issues could bring benefits, they wouldn't refuse. But the Holy Sanctuary has always run stably; suddenly killing their members without reason is offending them, right?
In other words, the mages didn't need mutants to help them against the Demon God; the existing structure was already stable, leaving mutants with no room to play.
But this time was different. Due to Constantine's arrival, there were many victims among the Demon Gods, and to maintain the stability of the system, a way to resolve this was necessary.
The resolution is simple: either compensate to pacify the Demon God, or eliminate the victims physically; without victims, the reputation issue naturally disappears.
But this couldn't be done by the mages, as they were the system's maintainers; resolving problems so crudely might result in a loss of trust.
Mutants, on the other hand, were different; they were already cosmic terrorists, with no room for reputational decline, and they had shone brightly against the Three Great Empires before. Daring to tackle the Three Great Empires, why would tackling a few minor Demon Gods be an issue?
As for why the Demon Gods eliminated happened to be the victims who complained earlier, it could only be said justice lies in people's hearts, who is right and wrong, other Demon Gods and interstellar civilizations will decide.
"No problem," Charles agreed, "Give us the list and two days; the energy will be sent in full to the Holy Sanctuary. What we want is simple: the Cosmic Construction Science taught by Lucifer Professor at Ilvermorny Magic School, which was halted following the departure of the lead professor; we hope to resume this course, with Erik Lehnsherr as the new professor."
Seeing them communicate smoothly, Shiller breathed a sigh of relief. But clearly, this sigh was premature—on the same day, they stayed at the capital Sky Island, and during the night, he heard Constantine's screams.
Shiller hurriedly dressed and rushed to the floor from which the screams were coming, only to find, at the end of the corridor, two Magnetos, one reaching out with one hand, pulling Constantine out of thin air.
Both exerted force almost simultaneously, and with a crack, Constantine was torn apart. Unfortunately, what fell to the ground was a torn piece of paper. Then both turned their gaze towards Charles' room.
"Wait!" Shiller shouted as he rushed forward, "You two, don't go in yet, let me go in first, I'll call you in when it's safe."
Although Shiller thought Charles was unlikely to let Constantine succeed, there's always a chance something unexpected might occur. If either saw a shocking scene, they'd surely get implicated.
Shiller knocked on the door and then pushed it open. Fortunately, Charles was sitting comfortably on the sofa. He glanced around, then said, "Um, where's John?"
Before he finished speaking, Constantine walked out holding Anya's hand and said to Charles: "No problem, I can create a temporary body for her similar to my avatar, but if not used as a consumable, maintaining it might be resource-intensive. I can write a maintenance manual for you, but I can't guarantee its longevity."
"A permanent body would be even better," Charles sighed with furrowed brows, looking sympathetically at Anya, "She's already experienced one death, you know how bad that feels. Even though we preemptively protected her brainwaves, she still lay in the hospital bed crying about her heartache, saying her breath was difficult, her body felt choked. Neither of us could stop the tragedy; we could only try to dilute her memory."
Then he honestly looked at Constantine with those blue eyes and said: "Frequent switching of bodies might trigger bad memories for her, which is really too cruel for a little girl. As Erik's friend and Anya's teacher, I can't stand by and let this happen. So if you can create a permanent body, I promise you, mutants will forever be your friends, and I will too."
Upon hearing this, Constantine's eyes lit up instantly. Shiller covered his eyes too; now it seemed Charles wasn't in danger—he was thriving.