"With my power, this is all I can catalyze."
Looking at the world tree seed that had become a small sapling, Odin felt a deep sense of powerlessness. His strength had declined too much, and the power sealing his eldest daughter was slowly fading. The moment he died would be the moment Hela saw the light of day again. At this moment, Odin felt so powerless. He sat quietly in the void, staring at the seed that had grown into a world tree sapling, lost in reflection and contemplation. Although age was not an enemy of the Asgardian, because the older an Asgardian, the stronger they were, he did feel overwhelmed at times. This was a sign of spiritual decay, indicating that he was tired. The exhaustion of the soul caused a weakening of the spirit. He was no longer the King of Gods, Odin, who had once dominated the Nine Realms and struck fear into the hearts of his enemies.
"The children are not worry-free; I haven't raised them well."
Standing up from the void, Odin's one eye looked at the small space growing on the world tree sapling, revealing a hint of a loving smile. He had finally seen a glimmer of hope that could end Ragnarök. But thinking of Thor's recent actions, and Loki who had been locked in prison, Odin couldn't help but have a headache. However, what surprised him most was the Death of the Sorcerer Ancient One. Through his two ravens, Odin had learned this news, but he couldn't even take care of his own affairs, let alone manage matters in Midgard. Thinking of the two kids he had raised poorly, the corners of Odin's eyes twitched. If Ragnarök hadn't been so urgent, he would have already had another one with his wife.
"Now I need to gather the power of the gods to expand the space, but if I move all the gods away, Asgard's defense will become too weak, and it's easy for trouble to arise. I've had a bad premonition lately."
Taking one last deep look at the world tree sapling, Odin turned and left the space. He had stayed here for too long; it was time to go back. The people of Asgard were already feeling a bit unsettled. Although it wasn't obvious, he had sensed it through his ravens. If he didn't appear again, his people would likely think their King had unfortunately perished. If they pushed his brainless son Thor, whose head was full of muscles, to be King, that would truly be an act that would destroy the kingdom.
Today, the people of Asgard were undoubtedly very happy because their incomparably powerful King and Father, Odin, had appeared before them after a long absence. While the people cheered and jumped for joy, they did not notice that their King had no joy at all; instead, his brows were furrowed, and he looked troubled. Ignorant people are happy, and Odin did not intend to spoil everyone's mood. Only Frigga behind him noticed Odin's mood, but she did not directly question him. This was the reason Odin liked her—she knew when to ask about things and when to remain silent. Even if it was a difficult matter, one needed to wait until there was no one else around to chat. Thor was hugging his brothers and drinking again; he completely failed to see his Father's increasingly dark face. At this moment, he just wanted to have a few more drinks with his friends.
"What kind of creature have I raised?"
If Odin, sitting on the throne, hadn't been concerned about his image, he would have already covered his forehead and squatted to the side. He asked himself, his IQ and EQ were both online, so how did he give birth to such a thing? He only knew how to eat and drink all day; sooner or later, he would get as fat as a pig. It was truly worrying for what was to come—whether this jerk could actually be of any use.
"Go back to hell! Demon."
On Earth, Steve had spent a great deal of effort to finally throw this high-level demon back into the opened hell portal. Wong had finally arrived with the sorcerers and started searching for the hidden demons. With Wong's cooperation, Steve sealed the portal. It was just a matter of eliminating the remaining demons. After Steve finished all this, he suddenly froze, feeling goosebumps rise. The alertness trained into him by the Ancient One made him instinctively form a spell, quickly turning around to face the direction where he had just felt the crisis. An old man with a gloomy appearance stood quietly on the chimney. After giving Steve an eerie smile, he instantly turned into a gust of wind and disappeared.
"What was that?"
Wong had also seen the scene just now. Such a display was clearly not human, and everyone around was dead, leaving only demons. If this person wasn't a demon, he was definitely related to the demons. Perhaps this human tragedy was created by this person. Wong really couldn't see through this person's background. He asked Steve, clearly wanting Steve to explain to him what exactly that thing was.
"If you ask me, I don't know either. How long have I been the Sorcerer Supreme? But although the person in front of me had something hidden, the moment he showed killing intent toward me, the aura of a demon was revealed. This person is either a demon in human skin or a demon lord in human form. I hope it's the former; the latter is just too troublesome."
Facing Wong's inquiring gaze, Steve naturally knew what he meant, so he shared his feelings from just now. After all, there were too few clues, and it was already quite good that he could deduce this much from the small details just now. Although he hoped for the former of the two deductions, the latter was more reliable. After all, a demon that skins humans wouldn't have power that made him unable to see through it like this one. Now, Steve could only pray that the other party wasn't here to cause trouble; otherwise, with his current strength, he really couldn't beat the opponent. Even with the Time Stone, it was uncertain. Steve also knew how unreliable his prayer was. A lord of hell coming to Earth—wasn't it for the human world and human souls? At this moment, Steve felt how naive his thoughts were.
"Why are these two acting so sneakily?"
Unlike the difficulties Steve was facing, Artoria was currently enjoying family time while investigating Morgan and Galacta. The phenomenon of them suddenly disappearing from time to time over the past two days was just too strange. Galacta went without saying, but Morgan, who often followed Artoria and would stick to her all day, also showing such behavior was truly abnormal. However, Artoria, who respected others' privacy, still suppressed the thought of secretly following them, preparing to find clues to guess what the two were doing behind her back.
"Don't worry about them, Artoria, quickly look at how this piece of clothing is?"
Gaea, who was picking out baby clothes for Mordred, looked at Artoria's dazed state and somewhat unhappily interrupted Artoria's thoughts. She picked up a small pink dress and held it against Mordred, asking Artoria. Although her train of thought was interrupted, Artoria was not angry. She looked at the small pink dress, and Artoria took out a black card. "Excuse me, Father is going to buy out the store."
"What is this?"
After paying the bill and intending to go back, Artoria saw four people carrying a glass cabinet. Of course, this was not enough to make Artoria pay attention. What she cared about most was something inside that looked like an ancient cane. Artoria couldn't tell the material of this thing, but the pattern on it made Artoria very concerned. It was a long snake, opening its huge snake mouth to bite toward what looked like a huge rock. This rock seemed to be very blurry due to its age, but Artoria could still see tiny human-shaped figures on it, not knowing what they were doing. It was clearly just a very ordinary thing, but it made Artoria feel that it was not simple. Holding curiosity, Artoria stopped the person in charge to ask about the origin of this item. The other party seemed to recognize Artoria and did not hide anything, speaking directly. However, Artoria did not get the answer she wanted from him.
"Bought it from an old man, it's just because it's from a long time ago!"
This answer obviously did not satisfy Artoria, but her intuition told her that this person did not seem to be lying. Artoria did not pursue the question and just said thank you before leaving. This item only made Artoria feel curious, but she didn't pay much attention to it. Maybe it had some kind of curse on it! Artoria was no expert in such things.
"Sure enough, that thing has a curse."
Returning home and turning on the TV to watch for a while, a news report suddenly interrupted. The place where Artoria and Gaea had been shopping was ransacked. This made Artoria have to sigh; this thing might indeed have a curse that brings bad luck! Just as Artoria was sighing, the screen showed Artoria that the glass cabinet had been shattered and the item inside was missing. Artoria boredly turned off the TV, prepared to take a shower, and then go eat something.
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