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Wakanda!
Coulson's treatment was still ongoing. Because the glass had turned pitch-black, it was impossible to see any specific progress.
Of course, even if you could see it, you'd probably still have no idea what was going on.
T'Challa was making idle chit-chat with Tony, halfheartedly. What puzzled him the most was that no one knew where Arthur had disappeared to.
Earlier, they were worried he might have wandered into places he shouldn't be.
But after conducting all kinds of covert searches, they discovered that the guy didn't even seem to be in Wakanda anymore.
They asked Tony, but he didn't know either. He only knew that Arthur always appeared and vanished like a ghost, disappearing without a word, and no one had a clue what shady business he was off doing.
While they were still puzzling over it, the space in front of them suddenly distorted for no apparent reason. In the blink of an eye, a man suddenly appeared in what had just been an empty hallway.
Tony immediately laughed, "See? I told you, he always shows up out of nowhere."
T'Challa looked at Arthur's battered body and muttered, "Did you go rob a bank or something?"
"Not to brag or anything…" Arthur glared at the two of them and casually sketched out an Eye of Horus, golden light radiating in layers around him. "Even if I did rob a bank, I wouldn't end up this beat up!"
"So where did you go?" Tony asked, puzzled, standing up to let Arthur sit. "Did you went to find a woman? Then got your ass kicked by her?"
Totally asking for it!
But Arthur's eyes went wide: "How did you know?"
"For real?" Tony was stunned.
T'Challa was stunned too. "I thought the guy in there was a very important friend of yours. And during his crucial moment of treatment, you went to… find a woman? And how did you even get there?"
"You'll find out later," Arthur said, taking a deep breath. "That violent woman…"
"What kind of woman could beat you up like this?" Tony asked, not without a hint of gloating.
"Odin's daughter," Arthur said with a completely blank face.
"..."
Tony and T'Challa glanced at each other, both of them looked utterly dazed.
After a long pause, Tony finally said, "Odin… has a daughter?"
"…Hela. Goddess of Death." Arthur rubbed his chest, which was feeling a bit better. "Odin trapped her in Hel. I just paid her a visit. As for why… well, it's a long story, won't make sense without writing at least a hundred thousand words on it. But to sum it up: if I didn't go now, Asgard might be reduced to cosmic dust in the future."
He didn't hide it from T'Challa. After a simple explanation, he added, "I've been there more than once before, but she never took it seriously. This time we really fought. Made a lot of progress, but I can't go again unless I'm more fully prepared."
Even with that bit of explanation, both men still looked stunned.
T'Challa felt like his brain was barely keeping up. "You're saying… you just went to Hel?"
"Is there anything tasty there?" Tony asked.
"…It rains blood. There's a kind of screaming tree, but I don't know if it's edible." Arthur waved him off. "Stop asking. I need rest."
The two of them fell silent. In that quiet moment, the door to the medical room finally opened.
A group of people walked out, and the color of the glass returned to normal.
The three of them immediately stood up. T'Challa shot a look at his sister.
The young woman glanced at Arthur, slightly surprised. How'd his face get all bruised and colorful in just a short while?
Still, she said, "He's fine now, but he'll need a few days of complete rest."
Arthur asked, "Has he woken up?"
"Not yet," said Princess Shuri, frowning. "And before he wakes up, it's best not to move him."
"That might not be possible," Arthur shook his head. "This guy… how do I put it. He's a very capable agent, and I need to be cautious, just in case some information ends up in the wrong hands."
Tony glanced at Arthur and instantly understood what he meant.
People who shouldn't know, obviously referred to S.H.I.E.L.D.!
When it came to combat skills, Coulson clearly didn't measure up to the Avengers, let alone Arthur.
But in terms of espionage skills, he was definitely top-tier.
Even within Wakanda, it wasn't guaranteed he couldn't get a message out.
Princess Shuri still had the intention to object. From a humanitarian standpoint, she really couldn't understand what Arthur and his group were doing.
But with T'Challa's help, the young princess eventually agreed to Arthur's request.
And so, Coulson, who had just been pulled back from the brink of death, was once again stored inside Arthur's Disassemble Space.
Watching this move, the young princess was dazed. "What kind of ability is that, exactly?"
Arthur, of course, didn't explain. Nor could he.
In truth, when it came to the Disassemble Space, he was always in a state of "knowing what it does, but not how it works."
He could use it, but didn't understand the underlying mechanism.
The entire Disassembler system was essentially something beyond the rules, existing in a vague realm between real and unreal.
It seemed to be part of Arthur's soul, a kind of extension of himself. Yet many aspects, like how upgrades worked, were still completely out of his control.
The Disassemble Space was the same.
It seemed to belong to the Disassembler, yet even when the system upgraded, the space remained usable.
So maybe it truly belonged to Arthur's soul… but it still had intricate ties to the Disassembler system.
One of the most interesting parts was this: in moments of danger, the space could forcibly absorb whatever Arthur deemed necessary to protect.
Was this the function of the Disassembler? Or of the space itself? Why did the Disassemble Space expand when Arthur's internal space energy fused?
If you were to seriously think about it, there was actually a lot worth exploring here.
But Arthur always felt, it didn't really matter.
As long as you can eat the egg, who cares how the chicken laid it?
After storing Coulson into the Disassemble Space and bidding farewell to Princess Shuri, Arthur and Tony continued wandering around Wakanda under T'Challa's lead.
Though honestly, they didn't really visit many places.
Wakandans were still somewhat wary of them.
After all, when your country held priceless treasures, you couldn't afford to be careless.
And so the last day passed in quiet idleness, and soon the dawn of the next day arrived.
Early that morning, T'Challa came to find Arthur and Tony: "Our results are in. The king wants to meet with you."