"Hey, Aaron!"
"Haha, come meet my companions!"
Just as Aaron stepped out of the hotel, he heard Thor's familiar booming voice.
Aaron looked over and saw Thor accompanied by three men and one woman, all dressed in armor reminiscent of ancient Viking attire.
Noticing that Thor had purposely brought them here, these four exchanged uncertain glances.
"He should be just a Midgardian, right?"
Fandral, the swordsman, asked skeptically.
After all, Thor was a true warrior. Even most Asgardians weren't qualified to meet him, let alone be addressed so warmly by him. So just who was this man, and what made him so special?
Sif's eyes shone. "But he's so handsome—really handsome!"
Fandral subconsciously touched his own face. "He's a bit inferior to me, though."
"Fandral, when did your skin get so thick? Maybe take a look at that mirror over there," Sif said, glaring at him and pointing to the reflective glass of a nearby restaurant.
Fandral rolled his eyes. "Those noble ladies and aristocratic women have keen eyes."
"Hmph!" Sif tossed her hair and stopped paying him attention.
Volstagg looked Aaron up and down, noting his solid build. "Well, at least for someone from Midgard, he definitely counts as a warrior!"
Hearing that, Thor burst into laughter. "Stop guessing. This man is Aaron, and he's no ordinary Midgardian. He's the God of Storms in Midgard, a god among humans, a member of the Celestials, and the ruler of the Crystal Palace pantheon!
"He's a mighty divine warrior!"
At that, Sif and the Warriors Three clicked their tongues in surprise. All those titles sounded intimidating. Even if there were some they hadn't heard before, "God of Storms" and "Celestials" were famous enough.
Thor himself was Asgard's God of Thunder, and the Celestials were essentially nobility among the gods.
"Aaron," Thor continued, "let me introduce Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. They're my close friends—true warriors who've fought alongside me throughout the Nine Realms, undefeated!"
Then Thor winked at Aaron. "Don't be fooled by the fact that Sif is a woman—she's the most valiant and battle-hardened fighter in the kingdom!"
"Hello, God of Midgard. You're very handsome," Sif said, extending her hand generously. "I hear this is a typical Midgard courtesy? I figure we can follow local customs."
Under normal circumstances, Sif wouldn't initiate a handshake. Asgard had no such practice, and she didn't care for small talk with ordinary people. But Aaron was different. He was also a god, possibly a king of Midgard, and he was strikingly good-looking. Sif didn't mind befriending another powerful divine figure. She didn't know Aaron's true strength, but seeing Thor's enthusiasm told her he wouldn't be weak. If Thor approved of him as a friend, that was enough.
Aaron shook her hand. "Lady Sif, you're also very beautiful. Forgive me for asking, but…are you married?"
Sif showed no embarrassment. Instead, she answered straightforwardly, "My home is the battlefield, unless I meet someone stronger than I am."
The Warriors Three all laughed.
Suddenly Thor said, "Then, Sif, think it over carefully. Aaron is quite powerful—far stronger than you."
Sif froze, giving Aaron a second look to see if he had other virtues besides good looks.
The Warriors Three fell silent. Glancing at Thor, they felt a bit awkward. They vaguely knew that Frigga hoped Sif might marry Thor and become the new queen. Was Thor kidding now?
Thor, of course, had no clue what they were thinking. He wasn't interested in Sif—he just saw her as a friend, a buddy. Otherwise, he wouldn't have met Jane Foster down on Earth and become close to her after barely a day or two. Right now, Thor was simply following up on his comment about introducing a strong Asgardian woman to Aaron. At least Sif was strong enough to handle the "blessing" of a mighty partner. Midgardian women? Forget it. Nice to look at, but if you truly got together, it wouldn't be much sturdier than a paper doll.
"You see," Thor went on, "Aaron helped me tremendously. If not for him, I wouldn't have so easily recovered my hammer and my rightful power."
As Thor spoke, he opened both hands, feigning an empty grip.
In a flash—and with a piercing whoosh—a golden hammer and a silver hammer obediently flew to Thor's grasp.
"Look, these were a gift from Aaron!"
"Oh my god—two Mjölnirs!"
Sif and the others were astounded, and they eyed Aaron with intense curiosity, even doubting their sense of reality. "How on earth did you do that?"
Before Aaron could respond, Thor quickly added, "Aaron is also a 'River God.' He blinked once and pulled three Mjölnirs straight out of the water. I could see at a glance that these two were the ones meant for me!"
Thor deftly swung the smaller hammers, their polished surfaces flashing brightly in the sunlight. The familiar crackle of lightning left no doubt these hammers contained the thunder's power.
"Thor, I warned you to choose carefully," Aaron reminded him again. "These were your picks—you valued these hammers."
Thor lifted them. "No worries. They're both fantastic! I can feel how strongly they resonate with me!"
Glancing at them in the sunlight, Thor half-squinted, sensing that something felt a little off. They seemed a touch smaller…maybe a bit flatter? No, it must be an illusion. They were perfect.
"Could you have used some duplication magic?" Sif mused. "Splitting the hammer into three distinct entities, all genuine? Even the All-Father can't do that."
In their eyes, Odin was invincible, the mightiest in the Nine Realms. Yet even Odin couldn't simply make more Thor's hammers appear. Any powerful artifact had to be planned out meticulously, then forged by the Dwarf King over a lengthy period, and finally enchanted by Odin himself. Only then could one create something equal to a royal weapon.
"You can think of it as…matter reassembly," Aaron said casually. "As long as you figure out the magic behind it, forging a Mjölnir isn't that hard."
He made it sound simple, but nobody believed it was truly easy. Just the notion of "matter reassembly" was already beyond what mortals—or even many gods—could imagine. They felt awed by this small display of Aaron's power and increasingly convinced he was worthy of Thor's praise.
"You must be a great sorcerer!" Hogun said solemnly.
Though Fandral hated to admit anyone might be handsomer than he was, he agreed with Hogun's assessment. "At least greater than Loki, who calls himself the Nine Realms' greatest mage! I still can't get over him acting as the temporary king. Thor, you have to go back right away!"
"The All-Father is still in his Odinsleep. Once you return, everyone will rally around you as the new king, instead of letting that bastard Loki show off." Fandral clearly held no love for Loki. They had tried to request Odin's pardon for Thor, but Loki—having just seized power—insisted he couldn't contradict his father's last order with his first royal decree, so he firmly rejected them.
"That jerk Loki's just afraid that Thor's return will threaten his throne!" Hogun fumed.
Thor, sounding puzzled, asked, "I thought Father was dead?"
"Dead? Absolutely not! He's just entered the Odinsleep and needs some time to rest…" Fandral hadn't finished speaking when a sudden ripple in the sky drew his attention.
Aaron looked up. He saw a beam of golden light spanning vast cosmic distances from some unknown location, piercing down here. "You've got another 'friend' dropping in."
"Another friend? Could it be Heimdall?" Thor wondered. Sif and the Warriors Three were indeed his best friends in Asgard. Loki used to be, too—but not now. Who else would dare come to find the banished prince, risking charges of treason?
"It's someone in full armor," Aaron said. "Their eyes glow with golden light, and they radiate a destructive aura."
"My goodness, you can see that clearly already?" Sif exclaimed, dumbfounded. "That's the Bifrost's beam you're looking through!"
"Are you the Heimdall of Midgard?" Volstagg joked. "Or maybe Midgard's Guardian God?"
Aaron frowned thoughtfully. "If you really want to label me, you could call me…a composite of everything."
"All-powerful?" Sif asked.
Aaron shook his head. "Perhaps one day, but not yet."
At best, he was "mildly omnipotent." On Earth he was invincible, beyond Earth he could trade hits one-for-one. In any case, it was too soon to delve into that. Aaron felt that in a real conflict, he could hold his own against anyone beneath the single-universe level, at least. He could unleash the power of a hundred trillion suns at once if needed. Even if the Marvel galaxy had a few hundred billion stars—or more—that still paled against a hundred trillion. If they all exploded simultaneously, it would be enough to threaten cosmic-scale stability. Perhaps only a few special Celestials could handle that (in a non-comic-canon sense).
Naturally, Sif and the Warriors Three didn't believe such claims, but they had no time to challenge them.
"Fully armored…exuding destruction?" Thor muttered blankly, recalling a possibility and starting to laugh. "Could it be the Destroyer Armor?"
"That's not possible," he went on. "It should be guarding Asgard's vault. It can't leave without a king's direct command…"
He stopped laughing abruptly. The current king…wasn't that Loki?
"Could the All-Father have awakened?" Sif asked. "No way it's Loki, right?"
Fandral silently drew his sword. "I sense something amiss."
Thor brandished his two hammers. "No worries. I have two hammers now! Whoever it is, I'm not afraid!"
One hammer was unstoppable. Two hammers? That was double the might—kill gods and Buddhas alike, double the thrill!
Boom—
Just then, the Bifrost's beam shot across countless light-years, stirring up the air currents. It shone like a second sun, even eclipsing the real sun. Sif and the Warriors Three stood on guard, and Thor narrowed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Aaron suddenly remembered that, theoretically, he could "smelt" the Bifrost as well. If he fused it, would that give him free travel anywhere in the universe? He could also fuse the Space Stone, but that was too high-level right now. Best to build up his overall power steadily first…or maybe pop over to Kamar-Taj, where there were plenty of sorcerers. Snatching a few at random would net him their portal spells. And the Kamar-Taj brand of magic—especially the Ancient One's—could even traverse parallel universes. She could roam the infinite dimensions in astral form. Then again, why hadn't she shown up to "chat" with him yet? Was she still secretly watching?
Aaron glanced around but saw no sign of the Ancient One. Considering how many demon gods she'd tricked in the past, maybe she was hidden in the Mirror Dimension. Aaron wasn't too surprised. His super vision still couldn't penetrate that realm—it was space magic, after all, letting you vanish into a mirrored domain beyond normal light and signals.
While he was musing, the Bifrost's golden radiance descended, and a tall figure stepped out of it. Aaron hadn't expected to see—
"Loki?"
His memory of the Destroyer armor was that it stood nearly three meters tall. Yet this one was a bit over two meters. Inside its hollow helmet, he caught the glint of cunning eyes. Who else but Loki?
Well, well—he'd actually come in person, apparently feeling unstoppable. Aaron was rather surprised; it didn't match Loki's usual persona of scheming behind the scenes.
"Oh, my foolish brother—you look surprised."
The Destroyer's heavy footfalls echoed along the quiet street as it approached Aaron and the others.
"Loki?!" Thor and his friends were shocked.
"Call me the King of the Gods now!" Loki declared. "Oh, and by the way, you're no longer a prince of Asgard. And the rest of you…"
"By my authority as King of Asgard, I declare you all traitors, stripped of Asgardian citizenship!"
Loki's proud gaze swept over Sif and the Warriors Three—but faltered when it landed on Aaron.
"Loki, where are my things?" Aaron asked, extending his hand with a smile.
"Huh?"
Thor and the others had no idea what was going on.
Seeing Aaron's all-too-familiar smile, Loki felt a jolt of fear. But then he sensed the invincible Destroyer armor around him and recalled all the preparations he'd made. He regained confidence. He possessed six artifacts—no one was his match!
"God of Midgard," Loki said, "I'll give you what I promised, but before that, I want your help taking them down. Once they're gone, I'll gladly hand over everything you want!"
Loki's crafty eyes darted as he spoke, and Sif and the others immediately grew tense. They stepped aside, forming a triangle of positions with Aaron and Loki, each side wary. Fandral even tugged Thor away.
"Hey, he won't betray us," Thor shouted. "I believe in him!"
Ignoring them, Aaron's face darkened. "So, for me to get what's mine, I first have to be your hired muscle—do your dirty work?"
Loki's heart skipped a beat, embarrassed by his own slip of the tongue. He lifted his head and spoke earnestly: "That's not what I mean. The truth is, fixing the mess my foolish brother left behind has taken a huge amount of time and effort. Multiple gods, including the Guardian God, lost their positions over this. You're incredibly strong, so I sincerely invite you to join the Aesir, to become our new Guardian God—wielding the Guardian Sword and stationed at the palace's most crucial treasure, the Bifrost!
"Think it over. That's a godly position, revered by the Nine Realms including Midgard. Aside from me, everyone would look up to you. I'm happy to share that glory with you!"
In Loki's mind, there was no way Aaron would turn him down—this was Asgard, after all. For thousands of years, Odin had subdued the Nine Realms internally and kept countless external foes at bay. From then on, Asgard had meant glory. Asgard had meant invincibility. Why would Aaron refuse?
But—
"Sorry, no." Aaron looked like he was holding back a laugh. "You want me to be your watchdog? Loki, you're a bit too naive."
"Right now, I'll count to three. Hand over what you owe me or else…"
"Three!"
Thunder and gales roared in unison! A clear sky was suddenly dark with clouds. Aaron's eyes blazed a vivid red, making him look like a terrifying demon in the gloom.
"Two!"
All around them, moisture condensed into a fine drizzle and even…snowflakes! Aaron rose slowly into the air, a cloak rippling in the wind. His hair, bathed in the golden glow streaming from his body, turned a brilliant gold. The Celestial power enshrouding him became a solid column of light piercing the heavens.
"One!"
When Aaron's voice fell, the entire world seemed to freeze. Snow, rain, thunder, and wind halted all at once—a delicate calm before the coming storm.
"Wait! I have what you want!" Loki cried out.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 20 Chapters Ahead of Others!