Seeing Odin, Angel Queen's old and new grudges surged, and she gnashed her teeth.
Lucas ignored her curses, only looking at Laufey and Surtur, his tone weak, calm, and firm. "Regardless, this war must end as soon as possible. Otherwise, all Nine Realms will face annihilation."
Laufey and Surtur narrowed their eyes.
The same words, spoken by Odin versus spoken by Loki, carried vastly different weight.
Odin's tone contained no hint of threat, nor any supporting arguments.
Laufey and Surtur believed him a bit, their expressions involuntarily becoming solemn.
After all, this was the man who had once defeated them.
Suddenly, Surtur had a flash of inspiration and blurted out, "Ragnarok?"
Lucas nodded. "Ragnarok."
"Heh."
Laufey laughed, the solemnity on his face receding, replaced by mockery.
"Odin, you're truly senile. You actually believe such an unreliable prophecy, concocted by some bard to entertain the world."
"I saw it."
Facing Laufey's doubt, Lucas simply uttered three words.
This simple sentence failed to earn Lucas Laufey's trust.
Laufey only felt even more that Odin was old and senile.
"Odin, defeating you like this is truly uninteresting."
Lucas was silent.
Odin only asked him to help, not telling him how to explain in such a situation, and he wasn't good with words.
So...
"The Bifrost Bridge has been repaired. If you don't agree to a truce, I will activate the Bifrost Bridge and destroy Jotunheim, Muspelheim, Svartalfheim, and Heven."
Lucas said coldly, openly threatening Laufey, Surtur, Sindr, Angel Queen, and the nameless Dark Elf.
"Odin, even if you destroy our homes, we will not surrender. We will only retaliate with tooth for a tooth, blood for blood, and destroy Asgard."
Surtur drew the Twilight Sword and plunged it fiercely into the ground, the Eternal Flame on his head burning even more intensely. A terrifying aura erupted, and the special projection space formed by Asgardian technology shook, nearly shattering.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the palace solidified, with both sides on the verge of conflict.
Lucas chuckled inwardly.
"Let's change the condition. This war will be decided by a sacred battle between two elite squads of fifty warriors from each side. Their victory or defeat will determine the outcome of the war."
"Asgard won't use the Bifrost Bridge?" Laufey asked.
"Asgard won't use the Bifrost Bridge." Lucas promised.
"This..."
Laufey, Surtur, and Sindr exchanged glances, feeling that they had a great advantage.
Even if Malekith had unexpectedly died in battle, their side still had four top-tier fighters, while Asgard only had one and a half (Thor plus Loki). In a small-scale battle, they held an absolute advantage.
"Good, I agree."
Laufey, Surtur, and Sindr said in unison.
Angel Queen's eyes flickered, she was somewhat displeased but didn't object. In her opinion, it would naturally be best to launch a large-scale war and inflict as much damage as possible on the Asgardians.
However, after Malekith's death, she had no allies in the allied forces and sometimes had to compromise.
"Good, I agree too."
Seeing that Laufey, Surtur, Sindr, and Angel Queen all agreed, Odin nodded with satisfaction.
The few of them, by unspoken agreement, ignored the nameless Dark Elf.
"Since that's the case, let's agree to battle three days from now on the plains of Vigrid."
Laufey shook his head. "No, we cannot battle in Asgard. Since it's a battle, it should be fair. I suggest the battle location be in Midgard."
"What did you say? Are you implying that we Asgardians would play tricks?!"
The Asgardians were enraged.
Laufey's words were undoubtedly hinting that Asgard would tamper with the battlefield.
"Heh."
Laufey sneered, ignoring them, his gaze fixed on Lucas.
Although they had a clear advantage and saw no reason to lose, he would not be careless.
"Laufey." Surtur said in a low voice.
He felt that the battlefield location didn't matter.
Sindr and Angel Queen felt the same way. In fact, they thought it would be better if the battlefield was in Asgard.
If the battlefield was in Asgard, after winning the battle...
If Asgard didn't honor the agreement, they could then coordinate an attack, taking advantage of Asgard being leaderless to breach it.
Seeing the reactions of his teammates, Laufey could only explain in a low voice, "Asgard also has a powerful sorcerer from Midgard, named Lucas. He possesses terrifying area-of-effect spells. If we forgo a favorable terrain, this sorcerer might just turn the tables."
"If the battlefield is in Midgard, this sorcerer will be constrained, essentially crippling half of his abilities."
Hearing Laufey's explanation, Surtur and the other two's expressions shifted slightly. Although they thought Laufey was making a mountain out of a molehill, they didn't press further and instead supported Laufey.
"Good." Lucas nodded with a peculiar expression, readily agreeing.
"See you in Midgard."
Laufey left with a harsh statement, interrupting the projection, intending to go to Midgard first to set up the battlefield.
After all, they had only agreed to place the battlefield in Midgard, not a specific location. He planned to get a head start and set up the battlefield in a mortal city, further restricting the sorcerer named Lucas from Midgard.
Subsequently, the other four left one after another.
"Father, why did you agree to them placing the battlefield in Midgard? This will surely cause—"
Thor's words were cut off by Loki giving him a shove.
"Loki, you—"
Loki stifled a laugh, ignoring Thor, and simply waved for the Asgardians to leave first.
Once they were gone, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Hehe. Hahahaha."
Although he didn't know what Loki was laughing about, Thor joined in the laughter.
Seeing this, Loki laughed even louder, while also summoning Gungnir.
"Thor, look what this is."
"Gungnir."
"Then what's in his hand?" Loki pointed at Lucas.
"Gungnir? Why are there two Gungnirs?"
"So that's it, Loki, you disguised yourself as father to make Laufey, Surtur, and the others not dare to underestimate you."
Thor finally realized.
He recalled that earlier, when resisting the god of fear, Odin had already bestowed Gungnir upon Loki. This Odin before him was not the real one, but Loki disguised by magic.
Thinking of this, Thor embraced Loki, laughing. "That's clever of you, brother."
"It's me."
A flash of light, and Lucas revealed his true form.
Thor: "..."
"Hehe. Oh, it's you, Lucas."
"The All-Father sent me." Lucas explained.
Not long after Thor and Loki left, Odin reawakened. Upon learning of Lucas's request for an audience, he summoned Lucas.
After learning from the guards that Thor and Loki were negotiating with Laufey, Surtur, and others, Odin entrusted Lucas to attend in his stead, to try and end this war as quickly as possible.
The deeper reasons, Lucas didn't elaborate on to Thor and Loki.
The entire Ragnarok was a conspiracy orchestrated by the gods behind the World Tree.
It was a constantly repeating cycle.
These gods fed on Ragnarok, drawing energy from the great event of Ragnarok through the "threads of fate" to sustain their existence and grow stronger.
In this cycle, Odin, for various reasons, became stronger than normal, and only then did he sense that something was amiss.
To break this cycle, Odin consulted records and various parties, finally finding a way.
Cutting the "thread of fate" that connected Ragnarok and the gods would end the cycle of Ragnarok.
And the first step was to find the thread of fate.
Odin informed Lucas that the current state, just one step away, was most likely to lure the gods behind the World Tree to act and hasten the arrival of Ragnarok.
Only when they acted could Odin seize the opportunity to find the threads of fate they used to control the Norse gods. Then, with the power accumulated to its limit, he would unleash his life's final strike, severing this thread of fate.
This was Odin's plan.
Lucas also had his plan.
Find the thread of fate, use his own energy to substitute it, disguised as Ragnarok's energy for these gods to absorb, and seize the opportunity to infiltrate these gods.
Once these gods were infiltrated, he would then turn around and devour them.
Lucas's plan and Odin's plan were not in conflict.
If Lucas's plan succeeded, Odin would no longer need to bear such immense energy and deliver a final, life-costing strike to sever the thread of fate.
Perhaps by releasing some energy and recuperating, Odin could live for another thousand years or so.
Thus, the two quickly formed a cooperative relationship.
"So, the Sacred Battle is your and father's plan, Lucas? Will you also participate then?" Loki asked.
He sensed that Lucas was still hiding something but didn't press. Instead, he moved on, asking if Lucas would participate.
Lucas nodded.
Strictly speaking, he wasn't going to participate in the battle, but to control the situation.
Lucas added after some thought, "I have an agreement with the All-Father. While I will participate in this battle, I won't go all out. My and the All-Father's goal isn't to defeat the Four Realms' allied forces."
He was worried that Thor and Loki, upon hearing he would also fight, would become overconfident and send just a few people into battle. If that happened, the battle would become a one-sided affair, which didn't align with his and Odin's 'fishing' plan.
It needed to be an evenly matched fight, where it seemed a god or giant was about to fall, but always just barely avoided it.
Only then could they truly provoke the Gods behind the World Tree, making it easier to lure them into intervening.
"Alright, I understand."
Thor looked at Lucas thoughtfully, as if he had sensed something. But he said nothing, merely patted Lucas on the shoulder, and walked out.
"I'll go ahead to gather the army and select warriors. We'll assemble at the Bifrost Bridge at 8 AM tomorrow."
"Lucas, Loki, tell Steve and the others that we can give them a ride back to Earth tomorrow. The Four Realms are challenging Asgard to battle on Earth. At this time, Earth needs them."
"Okay, I'll explain the situation to Steve and the others."
Lucas and Loki left the chamber together and walked towards the Palace's side hall.