Looking at Fini, who had a calm face in front of him, Odin still had doubts in his heart. If Fini was just worried, why had he specifically waited in Svartalfheim before?
However, because of Fini's identity and strength, Odin did not continue to press the matter. As for Fini's suggestion of using himself as bait, he thought about it and said, "The Dark Elves' target is the Aether inside you. As long as you are still in Asgard, they will definitely return."
"I will have people maintain vigilance. Today's situation will absolutely not happen again."
Odin did not trust Fini, nor did he feel at ease with him. Therefore, while he did not reject the suggestion of using a bait, he insisted that the location be Asgard.
In his view, today's battle was just an accident. Asgard had not been invaded for many years. After all, with Heimdall around, very few armies in the universe could bypass this line of defense.
Fini looked at Odin and didn't refuse. Anyway, as long as it wasn't Earth, he didn't mind where he stayed. The most important thing was how to resolve the hidden threat of the Dark Elves.
However, today he was able to discover the Dark Elves because of his knowledge of the original plot, but if the Dark Elves came again, he wouldn't know what method they would use.
Fini did not object to Odin's decision, but Thor was somewhat in disagreement.
In Thor's view, they should actively attack now rather than defensively waiting like this. But after a few arguments, he ultimately couldn't win against his father and could only obey orders.
Because the Aether had entered Fini's body, and additionally, Asgard's losses weren't significant and Frigga hadn't died, Thor didn't aggressively go out looking for the Dark Elves like in the original plot.
But on the way, he still couldn't help but complain to Fini, "Father is becoming less and less like the man I used to know!"
"He is old!"
Fini turned his head to look at Thor, sighed, and said, "Even if you are gods, there are limits to your lifespan. His body is no longer as young and powerful as yours!"
In fact, the Dark Elves being able to escape from today's battle was also related to Odin never appearing on the battlefield.
Fini felt that if Odin had come, while he might not have wiped them out completely, wiping out at least another half would definitely not have been a problem.
Logically speaking, the soldiers had notified him very promptly, so Odin should have had plenty of time to come to the battlefield, but from beginning to end, Odin did not show up.
Regarding this, Fini could only guess that Odin didn't want to fight because every battle now was consuming his life force. Plus, the situation wasn't so severe that he absolutely had to take action, which is why he never appeared.
Hearing Fini's words, Thor paused in his tracks, the dissatisfaction on his face instantly vanishing, replaced by a look of worry and heaviness in his eyes.
"Alright, alright, don't look like that!"
Seeing Thor look as if Odin were about to die any minute, Fini was somewhat speechless. In the original plot, Frigga had died, and Odin still held on for a few years. Now that his wife hadn't died, Odin would certainly be even less willing to leave early.
"I'm going back to rest first. Let me know if anything happens!"
Fini yawned. Now that he had no original plot reference, there was no need for him to keep guarding the Bifrost. He might as well let nature take its course, rest up first, and try to do some ideological work on the Aether again.
...
Compared to Asgard, the Dark Elves' losses were far more severe.
In the original plot, though they hadn't successfully reclaimed the Aether either, they had at least destroyed more than half of Asgard and killed Frigga in the process.
But with Fini's involvement, they were discovered as soon as they reached the front gates. As a result, Heimdall turned on the shield in time, and they didn't even manage to enter the palace.
In the end, other than making their already depleted population even more desperate, they accomplished nothing. Their only achievement was probably finding out that the person hosting the Aether was Fini.
"The current host of the Aether is very powerful and definitely not an ordinary Asgardian!" Because Earthlings and Asgardians were hard to tell apart by appearance alone, Algrim mistook Fini for an Asgardian and said in a heavy voice, "And I feel like he seems to know me!"
"Knows you?"
Malekith froze for a moment, asking in confusion, "Could it be a soldier from back then?"
"I don't know!" Algrim shook his head and explained, "But right after I was brought into Asgard, he demanded that I take off my mask, and the way he looked at me seemed to carry a sense of familiarity."
Malekith frowned deeply; he didn't understand why Fini would recognize Algrim either.
But this defeat had a huge impact on them. Not only did it expose them, but most importantly, it put Fini and Asgard on alert. Of course, they didn't know that Fini had been on alert from the very beginning.
After explaining, Algrim asked again, "What should we do next? The Convergence is about to begin soon. We need to act immediately."
Malekith naturally knew this. The Convergence was their best chance to plunge the universe back into darkness. Once they missed this opportunity, they would have to wait another five thousand years.
"Investigate his identity first!"
Anxious as he was, Malekith didn't make a reckless decision. After all, their scarce clan members and unrecovered strength could no longer afford another failure.
"Yes!"
Algrim responded and immediately went to begin the investigation. He felt that the failure of this operation was entirely on him.
If he hadn't been discovered early, causing a change in the plan, the clan wouldn't have lost so many people. Most importantly, Fini had escaped right before his eyes. If he could have captured Fini back then and brought back the Aether, everything would be different.
If it were a year ago, it wouldn't have been easy for Algrim to investigate Fini. But coincidentally, because Fini had been too active grinding experience a while ago, his name was currently still circulating throughout the Nine Realms.
So it didn't take long for Algrim to bring Fini's files before Malekith.
"His name is Fini Halsey, and he calls himself an Explosion Mage. People call him the 'White Butcher'!"
Looking at the file, Algrim said, "It's said that wearing a set of silver-white armor, he smiled as he instantly killed tens of thousands of people in Vanaheim using a type of fire magic, just like a butcher!"
"That dragon seems to be called the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. No one knows where it came from, but there seem to be rumors that he can summon it to appear at any time!"
At this point, Algrim paused and added, "When I was in Asgard earlier, I indeed didn't see how that dragon appeared!"
Then he continued, "There is also information stating that before this, he once rode this dragon to single-handedly wipe out the entire Chitauri fleet."
"And there's one more thing!"
Algrim looked at the file in his hand, raised his head to Malekith, and said, "He doesn't seem to be an Asgardian, but from Midgard!"
"He's not an Asgardian?!"
Malekith couldn't help but freeze, clearly not expecting that Fini, with such a terrifying record, wasn't even an Asgardian.