Shortly after Thor arrived, dozens of automated armors surrounded him.
Moments later, Tony Stark burst out of the nearby house wearing a massive vibranium combat suit.
He landed directly in front of Thor.
After recognizing him, Tony waved his hand and deactivated the surrounding armors.
The suits immediately returned to their storage systems.
Tony then stepped out of his armor and walked toward Thor with a grin.
"Hey, buddy."
"What brings you here today?"
Tony chuckled.
"Oh… wait. It's been a while since we last met."
He looked Thor up and down.
"Well, well… look at that."
"Our Prince Thor is wearing a crown now."
Tony patted Thor's shoulder with a smile, his tone filled with emotion.
Thor laughed loudly.
"Hahaha! I've only been wearing it for a short time."
"I've been buried in Asgardian politics and royal affairs lately."
"But now I finally have some free time."
"So today we're going to drink!"
Thor proudly lifted a pouch at his waist.
"I even brought fine Asgardian mead!"
The two of them walked toward Tony's villa together.
Nearby, Howard Stark and the others finally relaxed when they realized the visitor was a friend.
Howard also deactivated the armor he had been wearing.
"Hahaha! Sounds like a great day."
Tony laughed.
"Then let's drink until we collapse!"
The two sat down at a table outside the villa.
Thor reached into his dimensional pouch and pulled out a large barrel of Asgardian liquor.
Tony, seeing this, went inside the house and returned with several bottles of his own collection.
He also asked Pepper to prepare some Eastern-style snacks to go with the drinks.
Soon, the two of them began drinking together at the table.
"Time really flies…"
Tony said quietly while holding a glass.
"Several years have passed in the blink of an eye."
"Back when your father banished you to Earth, I was still…"
Tony paused.
The name he almost spoke was Karl.
He sighed deeply.
Thor understood immediately.
He knew what Tony was thinking.
Thor was fully aware of everything Karl had done on Earth.
However, from Thor's perspective, Karl had not necessarily been wrong.
Thor himself had lived for more than 1,500 years.
During that time he had killed countless enemies across the Nine Realms.
The number far exceeded the deaths Karl had caused.
But Thor also knew that his perspective was very different from Tony's.
So he chose to remain silent.
"I don't know where Karl is now," Thor said slowly.
"After his warship entered space and activated its stealth system…"
"Even Heimdall could no longer see him."
Thor took another drink.
"But with his strength now reaching the Single-Universe Level…"
"I'm sure he's doing just fine somewhere in the cosmos."
Suddenly Thor noticed something.
He looked toward Pepper, who was approaching with several dishes.
Her belly was noticeably large.
"Wait…"
Thor blinked.
"Pepper is pregnant?"
"You're going to be a father?!"
Tony burst out laughing.
"Yeah!"
"Pepper's pregnant."
"And I'm going to be a dad soon."
He leaned closer to Thor with a smug expression.
"What do you think?"
"Jealous?"
Tony then asked curiously:
"By the way… didn't you have a girlfriend on Earth?"
"How are things between you two now?"
Thor's expression became slightly awkward.
"Congratulations first," he said sincerely.
Then he sighed.
"Jane and I broke up a few years ago."
"It was right before Karl left Earth."
Thor shook his head slightly.
"I never expected you to settle down so quickly."
"You used to be the biggest playboy I knew."
Tony chuckled awkwardly.
"Well… maybe that incident changed me."
"I just want a quieter life now."
He raised his glass again.
"Come on."
"Let's drink."
Inside the house, Pepper and the others watched them from the window.
They couldn't help sighing.
Ever since Karl left Earth, Tony had changed.
It wasn't that he couldn't laugh anymore.
But the happiness in his eyes was never quite the same.
It was as if something heavy always weighed on his heart.
After leaving Stark Industries, Tony had devoted himself entirely to designing new generations of armor.
The entire valley surrounding his home had been hollowed out into a massive underground facility.
It was filled with hundreds of suits of armor.
Including the armors stored in orbiting satellites—
Tony now possessed over a thousand combat suits.
Most of them were constructed from adamantium alloy.
Tony ignored almost everything else.
Even when mutants began causing chaos across parts of America, he barely paid attention.
Pepper and the others were deeply worried about him.
Fortunately, Thor had finally come down from Asgard.
Seeing Tony drinking and laughing with Thor again reassured them slightly.
The two of them drank from noon until night.
Fortunately, Tony had previously injected himself with a super-gene serum.
Otherwise, he would never have been able to keep up with Thor's drinking.
Even so, Thor ended up drinking far more than Tony.
Eventually, Tony collapsed face-down on the table.
Thor laughed.
Then he raised Stormbreaker and summoned the Bifröst.
The rainbow bridge appeared and carried him back to Asgard.
Howard and Maria carried Tony back to his room.
Meanwhile—
Across the world, another battle was taking place.
Stephen Strange was struggling desperately to defend Earth from attacks by multiple Dimensional Lords.
Among them, the most troublesome was still Dormammu.
Over the past few years, Strange had nearly used up all the artifacts Karl had given him.
Not long after Karl left Earth, Dormammu had begun attacking Earth's magical barrier network together with other dimensional rulers.
Stephen Strange could only lead the mages of Kamar-Taj and the Sanctums in constant defense.
The endless battles left him with almost no time to train his magic.
As a result, his power had still not reached Sub-Skyfather Level.
This was largely due to Dormammu's interference.
Dormammu deliberately attacked repeatedly to prevent Strange from growing stronger.
Even though Strange and the other mages defended Earth day and night—
Something still slipped through.
A fragment of dark energy entered the real world.
It quietly descended to Earth.
And neither Strange nor the other mages noticed it.
Hidden inside that dark energy was a fragment of Dormammu's consciousness.
That was the true reason behind the constant assaults.
Dormammu had been trying to secretly plant his will inside Earth.
His plan was simple.
Once the fragment matured, it could control humans from within and eventually allow Dormammu to descend again.
Eventually, the dimensional lords suddenly withdrew.
Stephen Strange was puzzled.
He had no idea what had happened.
Meanwhile, the fragment of Dormammu's consciousness had already chosen its target.
Tony Stark's unborn child.
Not long ago, Tony had taken Pepper to attend an event in the Eastern nations.
During the event, many reporters photographed Pepper's pregnancy.
Dormammu had seen those images.
If he wanted to conquer Earth—
He would start by targeting Earth's greatest heroes.
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