Across from him, Malekith didn't sense anything unusual about the 'Aether Particles' he had absorbed.
After all, it had been thousands of years since he last came into contact with them, so feeling some discrepancies was normal.
Having absorbed the 'Aether Particles,' Malekith, looking satisfied, tossed Su Ye aside and turned to walk toward the spaceship without looking back.
Behind him, Argrim and the dark elves followed closely.
However, after landing, Su Ye didn't go up to stop them but instead used a remote-controlled clone to operate the Gundam, engaging in fierce combat with the spaceship in the sky.
The cannons on the Gundam's shoulders continuously bombarded the spaceship's shield, and at some point, a massive ship-slicing sword, tens of meters long, appeared in the Gundam's hands.
Then, the massive ship-cutting sword spun rapidly like a propeller, not only making the spaceship's shield screech as it was sliced, but also sparking everywhere.
Then, the enormous ship-slicing sword began spinning rapidly like a propeller, not only causing the spaceship's shield to emit screeching sounds and sparks but also slicing through the Rainbow Bridge below like a fragile cucumber, shattering it completely. The small house at the front had already exploded and fallen into the vortex beneath Asgard, disappearing without a trace.
In the end, it was unclear whether it would be torn to pieces by the vortex or thrown into space like debris, landing in a place like the Sakaar junkyard.
With the Rainbow Bridge severed, Malekith realized that their path to the spaceship was blocked.
The small Razor ships that had descended from the cruciform spaceship to welcome them were all shot down mid-air by the countless 'Dragoons' floating cannons launched from behind the Gundam.
"Damn it!"
Malekith grunted angrily, but when he turned around, he discovered that Su Ye had already slipped back over a hundred meters, and a large green figure was charging toward them.
"My king, let me kill that guy!" Algrim said in a muffled voice.
Malekith shook his head and raised his hand, releasing a red viscous substance that carried him and his subordinates swiftly toward the side of the Rainbow Bridge.
With the celestial convergence and the alignment of the nine stars, the spaces of the Nine Realms had begun to connect to some extent. Within Asgard, there were already some hidden paths to other worlds, usually unnoticed.
Only someone like Loki, who was restless and possessed powerful magical abilities, would discover them.
Now, with the celestial convergence underway, these passages had become much more apparent. After acquiring the Aether Particles, Malekith keenly discovered one of them.
"Let's go!"
Malekith no longer pursued entering the spaceship; with the Aether Particles, the spaceship was no longer important.
He led his followers into the spatial passage, and they soon found themselves in their homeland, Svartalfheim. From there, they used it as a stepping stone to transfer again.
When they reappeared, the entire team of dozens had already arrived in London, Earth.
This was the location where, during the convergence of the celestial bodies, Earth and the Nine Realms intersected.
Although Malekith now had only a few dozen people around him, as long as he created darkness to envelop all of Midgard, it would return to the darkness they desired.
And in the darkness, countless more dark elves would be reborn, following Malekith to conquer the entire Nine Realms and return the entire universe to darkness.
As long as no one could stop him from spreading the darkness.
In London, as Malekith began using the 'Aether Particles' to spread darkness, he was surprised to find that Midgard was indeed as he had imagined.
Even though it no longer appeared desolate as it did thousands of years ago, with many more buildings and people.
But no matter how much it had changed, these people were still weak and reassuring.
Even without the Aether Particles, he could easily crush several of them with a single finger.
Feeling assured, the black mist created by the 'Aether Particles' that could block light began to spread from Cambridge University across the city.
As the black smoke spread over half the city, Malekith was ready to enjoy the panicked screams of the ignorant and foolish Midgardians. However, he was surprised to find that the surrounding people were indifferent to the black mist.
Malekith looked up at the sky; the black mist had already completely obscured the sun, and visibility around was less than ten meters.
In his impression, the black mist should have completely blocked all light upon appearance, making the concept of visibility nonexistent.
But after thousands of years, and considering this was Midgard, an unfamiliar battlefield, such a simplified effect wasn't theoretically a problem.
The problem was, why were the people on the road acting as if nothing had happened?
Didn't they know what would happen if such black mist enveloped the entire world?
Without light, plants couldn't grow to produce food, and the surface temperature would rapidly dissipate. At that point, this place would become a pitch-black dead zone.
Could it be that the ignorant Midgardians couldn't sense death approaching unless a knife was directly at their throats?
"Since that's the case, let you all die in your ignorance and stupidity!"
Malekith snorted and no longer paid attention to the issue, directly urging the Aether Particles to continue expanding the black mist's range.
As the black mist's range expanded, soon, the entire city of London was almost completely covered.
However, Malekith noticed that after the black mist expanded, its density seemed to decrease, and the visibility around him increased to about twenty meters.
"Why is this happening?"
Malekith finally sensed something was wrong. Even though the "Aether" inside him still felt like the Aether, the effects it produced were… wrong.
Where exactly was the problem?
While Malekith was puzzled, all the meteorological observation stations and news media in London became urgently busy.
"The largest fog to date descends upon London!"
"A once-in-a-century fog is coming, with extremely low visibility, greatly affecting travel safety. Citizens are advised to be prepared!"
"Black fog appears in London city, resembling scenes from a century ago during destructive industrial production. Environmentalists urge the government to actively address environmental issues!"
"Due to the fog, dozens of flights have been canceled, but train stations in nearby cities are crowded with tourists wanting to see the fog in London. Let's follow the camera to see how magical this sudden fog is!"
"Dear viewers, I'm now in the suburbs of London. As you can see, behind me is London shrouded in thick black fog. The fog is still spreading, but the edges are already very light. We can see many people taking photos!"
Malekith never expected that after scheming for five thousand years, hiding and barely surviving, and finally obtaining the Aether Particles to take revenge on the world, this would be the result.
This fog not only failed to bring panic to London's citizens but even made many people excited.
Due to London's climate, fog was already common. Coupled with early barbaric production activities, decades ago, there were major incidents where many people died due to smoke problems.
Now, with the black fog reappearing but without obvious harm to people's respiratory systems, it gave people a sense of nostalgia and longing, as if stepping into that historical period and experiencing the industrial era.
The excitement among the public and tourists was only natural.
But in Malekith's view, this was absurd. With the Aether's power, he should have been able to cover not just London but the entire UK in fog in minutes.
The true black fog should've had zero visibility and flowed like liquid darkness.
But even at the densest point now, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't increase its thickness, and the fog barely extended beyond London itself.
"What the hell is going on? Has the Aether's power weakened after thousands of years? Or has my affinity with it decreased, limiting its output?"
Just then, an idea struck Malekith like lightning.
The Aether could make darkness—but it wasn't limited to that. Darkness was just what he chose to create with it.
Meaning, if he chose to do something else with it—it could be done.
Malekith had simply never considered this.
Now, with this realization, he felt like the past five thousand years had been a waste.
With a wave of his hand, a silhouette formed in the fog—a nearly two-meter-tall skeleton.
It wielded a bone sword over a meter long, forged from some unknown creature's bones.
At Malekith's command, it walked to a nearby car and swung its sword.
Boom!
The bone knife cut through the metal and steel frame of the car like a hot knife through butter, cleaving it in half.
The only thing limiting its power was the sword's length—otherwise, the car would've been cut clean in half.
This display of strength made Malekith's eyes light up.
If only he had thought of this thousands of years ago—why waste lives on cursed warriors when he could summon undead soldiers with the Aether?
He could've flooded Asgard with an undead army and shown them the true meaning of the Scourge.
All that Dark Elf sacrifice—all for nothing.
But better late than never.
Starting with Midgard, Malekith would let the Nine Realms feel what it meant to face the undead.
He raised both hands, like a king claiming the world.
From the fog, the ground, rooftops, walls, even cars—skeletons emerged.
In just moments, the square was packed with an undead army.
The estimated number was no less than ten thousand.
"This…"
Algrim was stunned.
For thousands of years, he had been Malekith's right-hand man, the one person he could always rely on.
He had believed he was Malekith's last hope.
So when Malekith needed a cursed warrior, he had stepped forward without hesitation.
When Malekith said his sacrifice wouldn't be in vain, Algrim had nearly embraced him.
The relationship between Malekith and Argrim wasn't entirely unreasonable.
In Eternals, wasn't that one chubby guy living with a man and raising a boy as their child?
It's part of modern culture—we're not judging.
If that guy could have a family, why couldn't Algrim and Malekith?
Besides, Algrim's a bro too—representation matters.
Now, Algrim felt like his youth had ended.
He had become a cursed warrior—his death was inevitable.
Malekith had gained new power and stronger allies.
It was time for him to retire.
"My king, I…"
Algrim began, "I might not be able to continue…"
But Malekith cut him off.
"No, Algrim—we're nowhere near done!"
Red light surged from Malekith again.
A giant skeletal goat with two horns emerged beneath him, lifting him up.
In his hand appeared a sharp, blue-glowing greatsword, radiating cold.
His white dreadlocks had come loose, flowing wildly behind him.
From afar, he looked absolutely dominant.
Then he waved the red glow at Algrim.
Suddenly, Algrim grew taller.
Goat-like horns sprouted from his head, and huge bat wings from his back.
He felt like he had become a literal demon.
The dozen or so dark elves who had come to London with Malekith also grew sharp horns and large canine fangs. Each sprouted a pair of wings from their backs, and their bodies turned into a stone-like color.
"From this moment on!"
"The era of the Dark Elves is over!"
"I, Death Knight Malekith, along with Dreadlord Algrim, and our gargoyles and undead army, shall bring darkness and disaster to this world. We are—the Undead Scourge!"
The Dark Elves didn't evolve into their distant cousins, the Night Elves—
They became something else entirely: the Undead.
All of this was part of Su Ye's plan, executed using the "Aether particle."
That's right—the "Aether particle" Malekith tore from Su Ye wasn't real.
It was a fake, created at the moment of extraction using the Reality Stone and Unlimited Blade Works.
This fake had no true Aether power—only the ability to manifest an undead Scourge.
Su Ye had also implanted a memory into Malekith's mind via telepathy the moment the fake Aether left his body.
And thus, Malekith arrived in London, using the fake 'Aether particles' to create a black fog resembling a war fog—visible, but with extremely low visibility.
And this caused the entire dark elf population to transform into undead.
However, since this was purely the ability of the Reality Stone, the skeletal warriors created earlier had no souls and couldn't act independently. They required Malekith's commands and control to make any moves.
Additionally, they couldn't level up—their abilities were fixed.
If damaged, they needed to be replenished using the fake Aether.
The transformations of Malekith and Algrim were purely cosmetic—they had no true powers of Death Knights or Dreadlords.
Still, it was enough for them to show off.
This was Su Ye's gift to London.
If they were going to play—might as well go big.
Is the Undead Scourge a big enough prank for you?
The World of Warcraft storyline was about to begin.
For now, it was just the London server—
But soon, every country would get their own server.
Especially the U.S.
Next up: San Francisco or Chicago?