Belasco's POV
My son was dead.
The realization came with a weariness that began in my soul, radiating through me until it affected my physical vessel in ways I hadn't wholly anticipated. My eyes misted over, and a single tear flowed down my cheek.
Everyone in the throne room was just as surprised as I was, except the Kree dog Argossax sent to pester me about the disappearance of a half-breed prince.
"What is this? A Demon Lord shed tears? Has the new vessel you wear infected you so thoroughly? My Lord Argosax will hear about this. It is the least of your failings. Your traitor of a son still roams free! A prince is dead, and a vast swathe of your dimension has been burned by a pitiful half-breed. I demand that you turn over control —"
A thought was all it took, and Magik decapitated the Kree Envoy. His voice irritated me to no end, and while I would've preferred to kill him in an advantageous setting, my grief had made me slightly irrational. Or perhaps it was wearing a new skin that made me so…imbalanced.
Still, there was some part of me—some distant human part—that admitted that the loss of Corvus mattered. I had made him and the rest of his siblings out of necessity. Lambs to be sacrificed on the alter of progress and power. And they'd bled for my final goal. my final triumph.
Becoming Ascendant. It had already quintupled my power, and with every foe I permanently drained added to it. I had more breadth and versatility than I knew what to do with. And my domain was strong—strong enough to challenge even the likes of Mundus and Argossax.
It seemed like the next, natural step. Overcoming and subsuming them. Yet, the coming victory felt hollow. Bittersweet. Like I'd sacrificed some great prize in service of it.
No. I couldn't indulge such weakness.
Gasps and snarls escaped those assembled.
Their thoughts and opinions were clear as day. They disapproved of my body and even my rule even more than making an enemy out of a demon lord. Only my Ascendants were truly loyal. The rest of the nobility were thoroughly disenchanted. Some even dared to plot against me. They all deserved long, excruciating death. Yet I couldn't remove them. Not yet.
Not when he was still out there. The Kree Ambassador might've overstepped, but he was right about the Nephilim and my failings.
First, I put him in the ground, then Argossax and Mundus. But I had to be careful about how I went about it.
"Too long we've allowed ourselves to be subservient to overlords like Argossax the Chaos, who does nothing but take from us. Our resources, our slaves, our means of advancement. And now they point fingers and question our strength, your society. No more. We sever ties from their bloodline and devote ourselves fully to Mundus?" I said.
I looked at the rest of the Argossax's delegation in disgust. They were a gaggle of manicured and pampered Kree and demons, with one or two warriors among them. None at the peak of the condensation stage. Trash, in other words.
"Carry my words to your Lord," I said.
Odin's POV
I felt the change in the cosmos, my head tilting to the ocean of stars through the glassy roof of my golden palace.
It was a bit ostentatious, in my opinion—all that gold, but my daughter had insisted we put the Celestial gold we pillaged from our enemies to good use some seven thousand years ago. It had started with the palace and extended to the most important structures in the city. Even my elite guards wore it now.
I would have removed it ages ago if my wife hadn't fallen in love with it. It also reminded me a great deal of her. I could never deny her anything, even after banishment. Perhaps taking a firmer hand with her would've done her good. Shaking my head, I turned my mind from the painful memories to brighter things.
Shin was gone, and the universe was a little lighter for it.
It hadn't felt this settled in centuries. The arrival of the first of the Outer Gods had changed that. Thor and I had killed thousands of them in our early hunts.
Of course, they weren't so powerful then.
Now, one single agent had grown strong enough to butcher entire solar systems simultaneously. My barracks were nearly empty of its soldiers, yet the war had felt unwinnable until earlier today.
All around the cosmos, Heimdall watched them all vanish. Thousands upon thousands of agens and ships winking out of our reality, doubtlessly to help Lauren and her Outer God in their battle against Dante.
When the Nephilim had informed my boys of his plan to purge himself of the Outer God's influence, I considered lending my help, but knowing how he perceived me, I realized that would've made things worse.
Now, I see he didn't need my help at all.
He'd succeeded all on his own.
I'd felt the exact moment when the last of Shin's presence faded from this galaxy. Loki flagged, and his spirit that'd grown increasingly intractable became plain to Heimdall. There were still other splinter cells of agents out there, but with time, I was certain the Novans and my soldiers would remove them all.
The only threat to Midgard's safety was now Belasco and his new Ascendants. He'd grown a great deal stronger since he cheated his son out of his new body.
I doubted being an Ascendant would serve him anymore than it served his son
I was certain Yao's students had it well in—
Heimdall stumbled, and I was instantly beside him, crossing the distance from my throne room into the inner chambers of the Bifrost in a single step.
The walls didn't stop me. Not even space did. It bent, folding itself to make way for me. I caught one of my oldest friends before his knees touched the ground. He was paler than a frost giant.
"Heimdall! Heimdall. Talk to me?"
"H-he saw me," he muttered in cold sweat.
"Who did?"
And then I got my answer. Dante Sparda. I felt his reemergence in the Odin force. It placed a metaphysical weight on Midgard, his power far too vast to be contained by a piddling little planet. He could crush it under his heel if he so pleased. I knew he'd return stronger after his confrontation with the Outer God. I didn't anticipate he'd be this powerful.
He was a match for me. He might even be stronger.
The older forces in the galaxy will not like this.
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