"What... what is this power?"
"How could this be happening?"
Proxima Midnight and Black Dwarf were utterly terrified in the darkness!
This power was even more terrifying than their master's might without the Infinity Stones!
What kind of hellish school was this?
Why... why were the people here so much stronger than any others?! Was everyone more monstrous than the next?
Was this the native planet's true strength?
Jean gazed at the two embarrassed intruders, her tone emotionless.
"Hey."
"Who are you?"
"Why attack our school?"
"What do you have against Lucci?"
Proxima Midnight felt the terrifying power pouring from Jean—enough to crush her soul—and a despair she'd never known surged in her heart.
She knew she'd never escape relying on her own strength.
In the face of such an existence, any struggle was meaningless.
She could only rely on her master's reputation now!
So she fought to suppress her fear and put on a harsh, introverted expression, speaking arrogantly:
"Hmph! If you're not afraid, I'll tell you!"
"We are under the command of Lord Thanos, ruler of the universe!"
"If you're smart, release us now! When my master comes to Earth, he might show great mercy and spare half your planet's population!"
"Otherwise—" Her voice suddenly rose, menacing, "the entire Earth, all life, will be buried with us!"
"Thanos?"
Diana's face changed slightly at that name!
She'd seen it in the records of Themyscira.
It was a taboo name!
One of the most terrifying beings in the universe, closely associated with words like "darkness," "destruction," and "madness"!
Seeing Diana's reaction, Proxima Midnight and Black Dwarf thought their threat had worked and couldn't help but look proud and arrogant.
"That's right!"
Black Dwarf echoed angrily, "We are the vanguard of Lord Thanos!"
But to their shock, Jean, Professor X, and Magneto only seemed mildly wary at the name—mostly doubtful.
"Thanos?"
Jean frowned slightly. "Who is that?"
Magneto sneered coldly, "Never heard of him."
Seeing this, Diana explained in an unprecedentedly solemn tone:
"Thanos, also known as the Mad Titan! He is from Titan, one of the most powerful rulers in the universe!"
"Legend says he is obsessed with death, and believes the universe's resources are limited, but life is infinitely increasing—a terrifying, insane idea. To maintain balance, he seeks to wipe out half the life in the universe at random!"
"He... has destroyed countless civilizations and planets!"
Diana's explanation was like a bomb dropped into a tranquil lake!
Immediately, the mutants below erupted in chaos!
"What? Wipe out half of all life?"
"How could such a madman exist in this world?"
"Is this... is this true? Horrible!"
"Will our Earth... be next?"
Panic and anxious discussion spread rapidly through the crowd.
Even Jean, Professor X, and Magneto frowned at Diana's description.
They had all experienced storms and waves, but this was the first time they'd heard of a madman aiming to destroy "half the life in the universe."
Meanwhile, Proxima Midnight and Black Dwarf, seeing the panic on the faces of the locals below, felt another surge of sinister superiority.
"Ignorant humans, what do you know?" Proxima Midnight said coldly.
"If not for our master's care for the universe, ruthlessly culling this bloated cosmos, the entire universe would have headed for ultimate destruction from resource exhaustion!"
"What our master does is keep the universe healthy! This is the highest glory and mercy!"
Black Dwarf roared,
"You'd best let us go now! Otherwise, Earth will end soon! Our master's power is beyond anything you natives can imagine!"
Listening to their series of twisted claims, a flash of extreme disgust passed through Jean's cold eyes.
"Whether the Earth survives, I don't know."
She looked at them and said flatly,
"But as for you two... it's over."
"What?!"
Proxima Midnight and Black Dwarf trembled in terror!
"You... you're going to kill us? Aren't you afraid of our master's revenge?"
"Why should I be?" Jean asked lightly.
With that, she had no intention of wasting another word.
Her slender right hand stiffened slightly.
"No—!"
With their screams, the vast, endless pink Phoenix Force that trapped their bodies suddenly contracted!
Pop!
Pop!
Two muffled sounds, accompanied by an explosion of red mist.
In the air, the two invincible invaders from the abyss of space—and all their armor and weapons—were instantly disintegrated at the particle level, annihilated!
Reduced to the most primitive dust of the universe, not a trace remaining!
Witnessing this clear, decisive scene, the mutants below erupted in cheers!
But after the cheers, a deep unease reappeared in their hearts.
"So... will Earth face alien invasion again?"
"And this time, the enemy is even more terrifying than the Chitauri!"
Worry and panic, like clouds, weighed on everyone's hearts.
At this moment, Professor X's voice clearly entered everyone's minds through telepathy:
"Don't worry."
He looked at the crowd, his voice gentle but persuasive.
"Don't forget, we have Prince Lucci with us!"
"Even if the ruler of the universe, Thanos, returns with a great army—so what?"
The instant the name "Lucci" was spoken, it was as if a powerful tranquilizer was injected into every mutant's heart!
A god-like, unparalleled figure appeared in their minds!
Ah, yes! We have Prince Lucci!
The man who once defended Earth alone!
The man who could create miracles with a flick of his finger!
The moment they recalled Lucci's unreasonable strength, all panic and unease vanished!
Instead, an unprecedented firmness filled their hearts!
"That's right! Prince Lucci is here!"
"No matter who they are—even Thanos! As long as His Highness is here, no matter how many aliens come, no matter who they are, they can never destroy our homeland!"
"The land is protected by Prince Lucci! We are fearless!"
…
Asgard, Lucci's Palace
The thick roots of the World Tree pierced the palace's foundations like a coiled dragon, radiating rich life energy and sacred spatial power as they stretched out into the open air.
Lucci sat cross-legged by the roots, eyes closed, his whole being perfectly merged with his surroundings.
In the depths of his conscious sea, an unprecedented, earth-shaking evolution was underway!
His understanding defied the heavens, pushed to the limit!
Countless mysteries, insights, and fragments of the laws of power were constantly being born, extinguished, colliding, merging, and recurring in his sea of consciousness—like billions of stars!
From the muscular power of a human fist, to planetary gravity, from the strong force inside atoms, to the singularity tearing space-time in a black hole...
Every phenomenon in the universe, and its deepest logic, are inseparable from one word: "force"!
One of the four fundamental forces that make up the universe!
It is the foundation of all existence!
At this moment, what Lucci had to do was to find, among the endless manifestations of force, the one and only, supreme, all-governing...
Origin!
Time lost its meaning.
Who knows how long it took—a moment, or ten thousand years.
When Lucci finally fused all perceptions of force into a single crucible—
Boom!
An extremely brilliant, pure, golden light exploded at the center of his conscious universe!
The last chain blocking him from the door of the laws of power shattered in an instant!
Success!
Centered on Lucci's body, the indescribable fluctuation of pure law of force spread in all directions like a Big Bang shockwave!
This power contained no energy attributes; it was the most primitive, dominant, unreasonable...
Force!
Rumble—
Within the palace, the roots of the World Tree that penetrated all of Asgard and supported the nine realms trembled intensely the moment they sensed this power!
It was as if they were facing not a god, but a concrete embodiment of the origin of the universe—an existence on par, or superior!
This tremor was not limited to the palace.
It instantly rippled through the World Tree's veins at an incredible speed!
…
Deep within the Palace of the Gods, Medical Chamber
Odin lay in a futuristic silver-white treatment pod.
"I told you, there's nothing wrong with my body! Lucci's treatment is even more effective than the World Tree! I feel like I could fight Surtur for another thousand years!"
Odin muttered, grumbling to Frigga at his side.
Frigga ignored his protests, barely glancing at him.
"Be quiet. Let it finish. Lie down honestly."
Her tone brooked no argument.
Odin suddenly exploded in anger.
He might be the King of Gods in Asgard, but in private, Frigga was the real queen of the household.
At last, the examination ended.
When the treatment pod displayed "all physiological indicators at peak," the tension in Frigga's beautiful face finally relaxed, and she let out a long breath of relief.
"All right, you can get up."
Odin leapt up as if pardoned, but as soon as he tried to move his muscles and bones, his expression changed!
"Huh?"
A profound, inductive connection to the World Tree told him clearly—the entire World Tree was... trembling!
Moreover, this tremor wasn't from an outside attack, but from within—a resonance, an ultimate force!
"What's wrong?"
Odin rushed from the treatment room, shock and disbelief on his face!
Seeing this, Frigga hurried over to support him, asking worriedly,
"What's wrong?"
"The World Tree... the World Tree is trembling!"
Fear tinged Odin's voice.
"What?"
Frigga was astonished, "Is it real? How could this be?"
The World Tree is the foundation of the Nine Realms! The origin of Asgard! How could it suddenly tremble?
Without even thinking, Odin immediately took Frigga into the air. Guided by his connection to Asgard's origin, he instantly located the source of the tremor—it was coming from Lucci's palace!
Odin was momentarily stunned, then the shock and fear on his face transformed into a deep, complex, and wry smile.
"So that's it... that's it..."
He shook his head, speaking with self-mockery,
"I thought it was some evil being, back again. But after all this, it's just Lucci, practicing some method against the heavens..."
"Sadly..."
Odin sighed long, a mix of emotion and loneliness in his eyes.
"As soon as this child returned, he made such a big move. Compared to him, I'm really... just an old man!"
Once, he'd been the god-king who stirred the Nine Realms, who warped the universe.
But now, he could only stand here like an ordinary old man, looking up at the miracle created by his son—a miracle he himself couldn't even understand.
Frigga heard her husband's feelings of heroic twilight, but just stepped forward and gently took his arm, her gaze stern.
"Now you understand?"
"You think I don't know what you're thinking?"
Frigga's voice held anger, but also pain.
"This time, you wanted to use your last bit of strength to go to that wild land and fight Thanos head-on, to help Lucci solve this huge problem, right?"
Odin, chastened by his wife's words, blushed slightly and coughed twice, a bit embarrassed.
But Frigga wasn't done.
"But I can't blame you for that. With Lucci's strength now, do we even need to worry about these things for him?"
"Look at what he's done!"
Frigga pointed toward the distant palace, still radiating that terrifying fluctuation of law, and said proudly,
"No matter how many Infinity Stones Thanos gets, he may not be Lucci's match!"
"So..."
She turned and gazed gently and seriously into Odin's eyes,
"Your job now is to take care of your own body and look after Asgard's house for him."
"As for external threats... believe me, he can handle them better than you ever could!"
Hearing his wife's "merciless" words, Odin felt no discomfort at all. Instead, he smiled helplessly.
Yes... Frigga was right.
Times had changed.
It was time to learn to let go.
"All right, all right, I hear you."
Odin raised his hands in surrender.
"From now on, I'll retire peacefully in Asgard and look after the house, okay?"
"That's more like it!"
Frigga nodded with satisfaction, a gentle smile on her face.
The two embraced, standing on the terrace gazing at the starry sky, looking at the distant palace bathed in golden light of law, their eyes filled with relief and pride.
The future of Asgard, the Nine Realms, and perhaps even the entire universe...
Maybe, thanks to Lucci, everything would be completely different.