Before the gates of Asgard, the thick glacial ice could not send the slightest chill through Loki's body.
But the occasional glances cast his way by the Asgardian warriors locked in battle with the Chitauri pierced him with a far more bitter cold.
"Of course. No one cares why I did what I did. They only hate that I did it. Perfectly reasonable."
Loki spoke to himself, smiling as he shook his head.
"When faced with an outcome terrible enough, who would bother with the process that led me to such an outcome?"
As he said this, his gaze shifted sideways, where a prismatic beam of rainbow light descended from the heavens.
When the light dissolved, Odin himself, accompanied by a personal guard of thirty-six Berserkers, had returned to the realm he had ruled for over five thousand years!
First, he cast an icy glance at his younger son. Then he turned and observed the Chitauri rampaging through the distant city.
He raised his right hand and pointed toward the city.
"Leave none alive."
"Yes!"
The Berserkers burst into a frenzied sprint, crashing into the Chitauri ranks in an instant.
The Berserker Corps of Asgard stood among the mightiest forces in ancient times, on par with the Valkyrie Corps and the Legions of the Honored Dead. And after Hela slaughtered the Valkyries and took the Einherjar with her, the Berserkers naturally became the supreme legion of Asgard.
Every Berserker was a commander with illustrious battle honors. Even the ancestors of Thor's friends like Fandral had started as Berserkers, earning their divine titles through military merit, which later granted their descendants the right to drink and jest with the sons of the All-Father. The current war chiefs of Asgard were all former Berserkers as well.
From this alone, one could imagine the sheer combat power of the Berserkers.
The ordinary Chitauri soldiers were nothing more than chickens and dogs before them, their formations shattered into chaos in the blink of an eye.
Odin paid no attention to those warriors. He rode his eight-legged steed straight up to Loki. Yet even when his mount was less than five meters away, Loki did not rise to his feet.
Seeing this, Odin pulled on the reins. The eight-legged horse obediently halted, and Odin looked down at Loki from above, speaking softly.
"You always disappoint me."
"Likewise."
Loki scoffed in reply, finally getting up from where he sat and standing before the All-Father's mount.
"There is no father who disappoints his son without that son having a father who disappointed him first. Isn't that right, Father?!"
Odin fell silent at Loki's words, staring at him for over a dozen seconds. As the silence began to fade, he let out a long sigh and dismounted.
"Is your mother all right?"
"Physically, she is healthy. But her heart is likely shattered. Just like mine."
Loki smiled as he answered, and that answer made Odin close his one remaining eye once more.
The two of them stood directly opposite each other, yet they felt separated by a sea of stars, unable to truly see one another.
After a long while, Odin himself finally broke the deadlock between them.
"Perhaps I was truly wrong!"
He said something unprecedented.
"Everything, all of it, is my fault for ever giving you hope, child. Because I never told you the truth. The runic power passed down since ancient times in Asgard can only be inherited by those who carry the true bloodline. I love you, child. I regard you as my own son. But the lack in your blood means you truly do not have the qualifications to bear the legacy of Asgard's power. You are a hundred times wiser than Thor. You are indeed far more suitable than him in many ways. But... impossible is impossible.
Without inheriting the Power of Asgard, you could never become a Skyfather in your lifetime, let alone surpass that level. From your era onward, Asgard would begin to decline. And while there may be a chance for you to break through on your own, I dared not gamble.
So the fault is all mine, child. I love you as much as I love Thor, but I cannot give you the same things!"
"Heh..."
Listening to Odin's words, the smile on Loki's face grew brighter and brighter.
"If you couldn't give it, then why didn't you say so earlier? Why didn't you say so earlier?!"
He suddenly pulled out the Cosmic Cube, pinching the crystalline cube between his fingers.
"I perfectly understand your decision. Every person faces fundamental inequality from the moment they are born. But giving that inequality an environment of false fairness was your mistake, Father!
For the first one thousand five hundred years of my life, I always believed I didn't have your approval because I hadn't done enough. Yet the very next minute, you tell me that your disapproval wasn't because I did too little, but because I was never worthy of doing those things at all!
You thought you loved me, so you gave me an environment similar to Thor's even though I never had the right to it. But do you know how deeply I came to love you because of that one single environment?
I killed my own biological father for you, for your realm, for Asgard! Even though I didn't know he was my father at the time, even though he never raised me, even though I never felt an ounce of affection for him, he was still my biological father!
And all of that was to earn your approval. The approval you are now telling me is completely impossible to possess! If it was impossible, why didn't you tell me from the start that it was just impossible?!
And so this fool here kept thinking he was only half a step away from your approval.
It is only now that I realize that the gap separating me from your approval was a goddamned miracle!!!"
Boom!!!
Formless spatial energy converged instantly, blossoming into a wormhole in the blink of an eye. And at the same moment, Loki, his face filled with cold laughter, spoke his final words to Odin.
"However, as your son, as the child you raised for thousands of years, even in my agony, I will give you the dignity you seek.
According to the traditions of Asgard, you should not die in a sickbed as the prophecies foretold. You should fall in a great war.
And I... I am giving you a great war right now!"
...
On Earth, Heisenberg's rest was ultimately interrupted by a flood of news arriving one after another.
When night fell, amateur astronomers among the public gradually noticed the battlefield near the moon, drawing closer and closer to Earth! Once videos were posted online, the nations of the world, well aware that aliens might indeed come to Earth, did not censor the footage as they had in the past.
The consequence of letting these videos circulate unchecked was that more and more people picked up telescopes and even phones with high enough resolution cameras, trying desperately to capture the detailed scenes in the sky above. This soon led to sufficiently clear footage of the cosmic battle being produced and shared by skilled enthusiasts. The endless slaughter in those videos instantly plunged humanity into mass panic!
To be honest, the people of this Earth should have long been accustomed to alien lifeforms. After all, there were far too many things in this world that defied the ordinary.
But this time was different. In the past, alien incidents were generally small-scale, or just a single superhuman claiming to be an alien. But now... alien fleets were slaughtering each other right in the Solar System, right next to Earth!
This upheaval on Earth also stirred restlessness within the Justice League. Just like Bullseye at this moment. With Matthew already installed as Mayor of New York City, Bullseye immediately came before Heisenberg and revealed even more of his ambitions.
"Boss, with you here, the citizens of New York haven't shown much worry about the alien fleet. But people in nearby Philadelphia, and even Washington D.C., are crying out your name! Can we start expanding the Nuke Gang now?"
Hearing Bullseye's words, Heisenberg frowned and thought for a moment.
Under Bullseye's expectant gaze, Heisenberg shook his head.
Just as Bullseye's disappointment was setting in, Heisenberg told him.
"The name 'Nuke Gang' isn't formal enough. How about this: once this alien business is over, we'll hold a meeting and change the name."
"Alright!"
Bullseye nodded immediately, then quickly pressed further.
"And the expansion..."
"It's not time yet, Bullseye!"
Heisenberg, lounging back in his recliner, gently patted Bullseye's arm.
"Right now is not the best time for expansion. There is a massive difference between me proactively offering my services and them actively inviting me. Tell our men to maintain law and order in New York. Whether the aliens invade Earth or not, no matter how chaotic other cities become, I want New York to remain as peaceful as it has been!
Also, have Matthew dispatch people to organize demonstrations. The theme should be 'Protect our own Superman, protect our own city!' Use the demonstrations to stir up the emotions of New York's citizens. Create a sentiment that 'if Superman goes to rescue other cities, New York will be left defenseless for the aliens to exploit.' Use my settlement in New York as the reason to shape the reality that New Yorkers don't want me to abandon them to save other cities.
Shift the future conflict away from whether I save people or not. Turn it into a dispute between New Yorkers and the citizens of other cities. I will use chaos to make New Yorkers feel they need me, and at the same time, make other cities, even the entire United States, feel they need me even more than New York!
Only then will it be time for me to end the war!
Do you understand, Bullseye?"
Heisenberg finished speaking and waved Bullseye off. Bullseye obediently left the courtyard. The yard fell silent, leaving Heisenberg alone.
At that moment, he looked up at the sky, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.
The real Superman, Clark Kent, had saved countless people throughout his life. He had even saved countless worlds! Yet he still faced endless negative press, endless haters and trolls who wanted to hurt him and kill him.
Why? Because his appearance lacked demand.
It is like that story we often hear. The story of the three physicians. The eldest brother possessed incredible medical skill. He could always find the root of a disease before symptoms even appeared and eliminate it directly. Because of this, few people thought his medical abilities were divine. After all, he never even treated a common cold.
The second brother was slightly less skilled. He could only detect diseases when they had developed into benign stages, and then eliminate them. As a result, he became a somewhat known village doctor, someone people thought could treat headaches and fevers.
As for the youngest brother, his skill was far inferior. He could only discover illnesses after they had advanced to critical stages. Then, he would exhaust every method and rack his brain to cure them. Yet precisely because of this, he became a famously renowned physician, because he could cure terminal diseases...
This principle was very clear when applied to Heisenberg and Superman. In Heisenberg's own words...
"Until you are suffering like ants on a hot pan, how will you ever know just how precious my mercy really is?"
Looking at the sunlight reflected off the moon, Heisenberg laughed with great delight. If nothing unexpected happened, his plans in this Marvel Earth-19999 world were about to unfold in full force!
But at that very instant!
Heisenberg suddenly sensed a blue energy pinpointing him with absolute precision, then seizing hold of him.
"The Space Stone?"
Heisenberg froze for a brief moment.
"Loki?"
/-\
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