The decisive battle of Asgard was over, but the scent of blood and decay in the air refused to dissipate.
The dilapidated Golden Palace lay beneath the Cosmos. The walls were covered in scorch marks and cracks, with broken pillars and shattered statues scattered everywhere. The surviving Einherjar warriors dragged their exhausted bodies through the ruins in silence. Expressionless and hollow-eyed, they mechanically gathered the corpses of their comrades, neatly setting aside the weapons of the fallen.
All of Asgard was exceptionally quiet—a silence so heavy it was suffocating.
After Edward's figure vanished, the World that had been suppressed by his power finally began to flow once more.
Queen of the Gods Frigga was the first to rouse herself from her grief. Holding back tears, her voice was raspy from the effort, yet it still carried an irrefutable majesty as she directed the remaining Einherjar warriors to clear the battlefield of any Dark Elves that were not yet dead.
Lin Huai did not go over to help.
His previous Marionette had been destroyed, and after forcibly summoning another, his spirituality was severely depleted. He was currently leaning against a broken stone pillar, barely able to stand. His face was deathly pale, and every breath he took sent a stinging pain through his soul; he felt as if his body had been hollowed out, leaving behind nothing but a shell.
Just then, the Holy Emblem hanging from his chest, given to him by the Evernight Goddess, suddenly emitted a soft glow.
The light was not dazzling but carried a sacred and ancient power capable of isolating everything. The Holy Emblem floated up from Lin Huai's chest and transformed into countless specks of light before him, like a silent, magnificent meteor shower, quietly merging into Asgard's scarred sky.
The specks of light quickly dispersed, forming a vast curtain invisible to the naked eye that covered the entire Solar System. It concealed all auras, causalities, and traces from the cold laws of the Universe.
Within Lin Huai's perception, he could clearly "see" a terrifying image.
Far off at the edge of the Solar System, a yellowish-brown orb of light, reeking of rot and decay, was frantically circling and crashing about. The orb seemed to have detected Edward's presence and followed the trail, yet it failed to discover what was hidden behind the barrier.
It lingered around the barrier time and again, circling outside for a long while before the yellowish-brown light finally erupted with a thought of resentment and fury that spanned the sea of stars, only then slowly retreating back into the darker depths of the Universe.
The Monarch of Decay... He noticed after all.
Lin Huai's heart sank, and fine beads of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. But he quickly calmed down. At the very least, with the Evernight Goddess's protection, Earth and the Nine Realms were safe for now. However, this brief peace had been bought with Odin's life.
Dragging his battered body, he walked step by step toward the center of the battlefield, where Lisdar Nors had been completely obliterated by Edward using the power of decay.
He was here to collect the spoils of war.
The red Reality Stone had lost its original luster, looking like an ordinary red pebble tossed into a trash heap. But when Lin Huai's fingers touched it, he could still feel the terrifying power within that could distort reality and invert causality—an unsettling, nearly infinite range of possibilities.
Not far from the Reality Stone, a blood-colored crystal shaped like a bizarre, half-bloomed flower emitted a light that tempted one toward corruption. It was the Sequence 4 Demon Beyonder characteristic, the last remnant of the Abyss Devil Lisdar Nors left in this World. It seemed to whisper, luring people in with promises of infinite power and the fulfillment of every desire.
Finally, from a pile of charred, unidentifiable flesh, Lin Huai found two clumps of dark red flames that were still burning. The flames hopped around in the air like living things; they were the eyes of a Hound of Fulgrim.
This was one of the main ingredients for his advancement to Sequence 3 Scholar of Yore.
After wrapping all the spoils in spirituality and carefully putting them away, Lin Huai turned around only to meet a pair of eyes burning with fury.
Thor rushed toward Lin Huai like a madman. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was raspy and low as he suppressed his rage.
"Why?!"
Thor grabbed Lin Huai by the collar, his immense strength causing Lin Huai's already weakened body to sway.
"Tell me, why didn't you have him come sooner?!"
The "him" he referred to was, of course, Edward, who had appeared at the end and taken out Lisdar with a single move. Even a fool could see that the high and mighty gods had witnessed all the preceding tragedies, including Odin's death.
"My father... he didn't have to die!!" Thor's roar was filled with endless grief and regret, making the surrounding air vibrate.
Loki stood quietly to the side without speaking, but his green eyes swirled with coldness. He stared intently at Lin Huai, ready to strike at any moment.
Steve and Tony immediately stepped forward, trying to pull the furious Thor away.
"Hey, big guy, calm down! There must be a reason for this!" Tony urged while pulling hard on Thor's arm.
"Thor, let him go! Lin Huai did his best too!" Steve's tone was serious, carrying the authority of the Captain.
In Lin Huai's mind, the cold and emotionless words left by the Evernight Goddess at the end of the battle echoed in his ears.
"Odin's death was necessary. Only through his death could his seal on Hela be broken. And only with Hela's return can the play of Ragnarok officially begin. The heart of the Mist Demon Wolf has already been placed into Fenrir's body; only then can you advance and add a bit more possibility to the final victory. Time is running out."
All of this was a cold, calculated plan that had been decided long ago.
Odin was a pawn, he was a pawn, and so were Thor and Loki. All of them were risking their lives for a goal so vast it was despair-inducing.
But he couldn't say it.
He couldn't exactly tell a son who just lost his father that his father's death was planned.
Looking at these two disciples who treated him as a teacher but had just lost their father, Lin Huai felt his throat go dry for the first time; every word felt as heavy as iron.
He slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were filled with exhaustion and helplessness. He gently pushed Thor's hand away.
"The price of summoning Mr. Edward is much greater than you think." His voice was a bit weak and raspy.
"He... is the avatar of the Monarch of Decay in this World. Every summoning risks drawing that unspeakable existence—the monarch who causes the entire Universe to rot—toward us. Once the true body of the Monarch of Decay discovers the location of the Nine Realms, everything here, whether the divine realm or Earth, will rot and decay under his power, eventually turning into cosmic dust."
Lin Huai paused and pointed toward the sky, which seemed unchanged, a hint of lingering fear in his voice.
"The Holy Emblem you saw just now was me calling for help from the great Evernight Goddess. I used up a life-saving opportunity She had given me to temporarily hide the entire Nine Realms along with the Solar System. Otherwise, the resentment of that Lord as He departed would have become the doomsday for us all."
These half-truths silenced everyone present. Tony and Steve's faces showed expressions of realization and lingering fear; having witnessed the horrors of deep space, they believed Lin Huai's words implicitly. Compared to something like the Monarch of Decay, the Chitauri invasion was practically child's play.
The fire in Thor's heart seemed to be doused by a bucket of ice water, vanishing instantly and leaving only endless sorrow and powerlessness. He opened his mouth but could say nothing, only punching a nearby broken pillar with all his might to vent his frustration.
Loki stared intensely into Lin Huai's eyes, as if trying to find any trace of deception. But Lin Huai's gaze was too candid and too weary for him to find any fault. Ultimately, Loki chose to lower his head in silence, concealing the complex emotions in his eyes.
Just then, Queen of the Gods Frigga, who had been holding Odin's body in silence, slowly stood up with the support of her handmaidens and walked step by step toward Lin Huai.
Her gaze was exceptionally calm, yet profoundly deep.
Ignoring the complex gazes of the crowd, she gave Lin Huai a deep, profound bow—it was the weightiest and most sincere plea of a Mother.
"Odin knew the outcome of Ragnarok long ago," she said, her voice soft yet firm. "As the King of Asgard, he accepted his fate."
"But I am a Mother. I hope... that all my children can live well, Hela included. Can you promise me that?"