"I understand, teacher."
Stephen promised decisively,
"Rest assured, I will do everything in my power! Not just for you, but for me as well!"
Notification! Gained special popularity value +5000! (From Stephen Strange)
Yo ho, I made him work unpaid overtime to fish people out of endless dimensions, and instead of complaining, he's actually grateful to me?
Sigh, I really am a genius boss! Homelander gave himself a frantic mental thumbs-up.
"With those words, I can rest easy. You stay here and study hard, I'll wait for your good news."
After giving instructions, Homelander turned and left, hiding his merit and fame.
...
One of the distant Nine Realms, Muspelheim.
This was a doomsday realm composed of fire, magma, and ash.
A dozen thick bolts of thunder descended from the sky, smashing into the ground.
Hundreds of flaming fire demons were torn apart by the thunderstrike.
In this realm of fire, Thor, who had been fighting for many days, was finally surrounded.
He was exhausted, his back slightly hunched, his chest heaving violently.
He had originally thought that having awakened the power of Thor within him, coming here would make him invincible, sweeping away all obstacles and easily taking Surtur's crown.
But reality dealt him a harsh blow.
Although the iron bear battle-axe in his hand was extremely sharp, it was a purely melee weapon, unlike Mjolnir which could easily sweep away mobs over a large area.
At the same time, it could not grant Thor the ability to fly or dash quickly.
He could only rely on his legs to run and jump in this rugged, harsh terrain filled with magma pools everywhere.
To clear the dense swarms of fire demons surging up around him, Thor could only continuously squeeze the divine power of thunder from his body, turning it into a lightning storm that spread outwards.
"Zzzzzzt—!"
Dozens more fire demons were shattered.
Thor gasped heavily; although the power of the thunder divine power was immense, such unrestrained release was extremely draining on his physical stamina.
And the ruler of Muspelheim, the fire giant Surtur, was on a nearby hillside, watching Thor, who was struggling in battle below, with calm composure.
Surtur saw through Thor's predicament at a glance.
He had absolutely no intention of going down to face Thor head-on, merely ordering the endless fire demons to surge toward Thor from all directions.
At the same time, he let out deafening mocking laughter.
"Haha, son of Odin, is this all the capability you have?"
Thor smashed a demon in front of him with his axe and roared at the sky.
"If you have the guts, come down and face me head-on! What kind of skill is it to hide up there?!"
Surtur snorted disdainfully.
"Are you very good at fighting? Being good at fighting is useless!"
"This is war, and war relies on armies! Where is your Asgardian army? Why are you the only one here? They didn't all die, did they? Hahahaha!"
Thor was burning with rage, wishing he could fly up and forcibly pry that crown off his head.
But looking at the dense, endless army of fire demons surrounding him, he knew it was impossible.
If he kept fighting, let alone seizing the crown, even escaping would be a problem.
"Damn it!"
Thor decided to retreat first, go back to regroup, and think of other ways to seize the crown.
He looked up and roared at the sky.
"Heimdall! Open the Bifrost Bridge!"
The sky had no reaction, only rolling volcanic ash.
While swinging his battle-axe to block attacks, Thor roared again.
"Heimdall! Bring me back!"
Still no response.
Thor was anxious; he charged left and right through the pile of demons, fighting for over half an hour.
Until he was gasping for breath, almost collapsing to the ground from exhaustion.
"Boom—!"
A beam of seven-colored energy finally pierced through the gloomy sky of Muspelheim, enveloping Thor's body.
The violent spatial energy instantly sliced the fire demons on the edge in two.
The light receded, and Thor disappeared from the spot.
...
Asgard, Bifrost Bridge hub.
Thor rolled out of the passage, taking a while to catch his breath.
"Heimdall, are you blind! Why did it take so long to..."
Thor lifted his head angrily, but swallowed the second half of his sentence.
The one standing at the control console operating the Bifrost Bridge sword was not Heimdall with his pair of golden eyes at all.
Instead, it was a man with a shaved head and two Midgard automatic rifles tucked into his waist, Skurge.
In Asgard, he was originally just an ordinary gatekeeper responsible for guarding the armory.
"Who are you?" Thor frowned, standing up straight. "Where is Heimdall?"
"I am Skurge, have you forgotten? We once fought side by side in Vanaheim."
Skurge appeared somewhat awkward, letting go of the large sword in his hands.
"Ah... oh." Thor clearly still didn't remember.
"What about Heimdall?" Thor asked again.
Skurge answered helplessly.
"Heimdall... he was accused of dereliction of duty and has become a fugitive of the royal family. I am now responsible for guarding the Bifrost Bridge."
"A fugitive? Who gave the order?" Thor asked, frowning.
"It... it is the order of the All-Father." Skurge answered truthfully.
"Then what were you doing just now? Why did you open the Bifrost Bridge so late?" Thor pressed step by step.
"Haha... I was just showing two beautiful girls from Vanaheim the two little darlings I brought back from Midgard."
Skurge laughed dryly, took off the M16 assault rifles from his waist, and shook them in his hands.
"I named them; the one on the left is called Heaven-Destroyer, and the one on the right is called Earth-Destroyer. Because together they can deso..."
Thor laughed in extreme anger.
"Get out of the way!"
He pushed Skurge aside and strode rapidly toward the Royal Palace.
Suddenly, Thor's steps halted in front of the Royal Palace gate.
He discovered that a huge statue, a hundred meters tall, had been abruptly erected in the square in front of the Royal Palace.
The figure of the statue wore the iconic curved-horn helmet, hands spread wide, with an ostentatious, arrogant smile on its face.
Who else could it be but Loki.
"What the hell is this?" Thor's cheek twitched involuntarily.
He quickened his pace and continued forward.
At this moment, bursts of rhythmic applause and cheers came from the open-air theater on the side of the square.
Thor changed direction and walked toward the source of the sound.
The open-air theater was packed with Asgardian citizens, who were intently watching the performance on stage.
At the very front of the stage, "Odin" was reclining on a comfortable golden lounge chair, enjoying grapes fed to him by a maid while watching the performance with great interest.
Thor walked silently to the back row and cast his gaze toward the stage.
He saw that an absurd play was being performed on the theater stage.
A slightly chubby male actor wearing a golden wig was playing Thor.
And he was kneeling on one knee toward a seductively dressed actress, crying out in a coy, affected voice:
"Oh! Lorelei!"
"For you, I have abandoned mjolnir! For you, I have descended into madness!"
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