Marvel Magic Event Book

Chapter 1758 All That Can Be Done

Time travel allowed Salomon to access some hidden histories, especially the cooperation and conflict with the Eternals, which enabled him to gradually improve his research on the immortals and learn some information that even few people within the Eternals knew.

Circe, also known as Cersei, is a sorceress born from the fusion of the Eternals and the Olympian pantheon.

She told the emperor the secret of the Earth Machine.

When the Emperor first came into contact with the Eternals, only the Rebirth Chamber remained of the Earth Machine, a vital machine created by the Celestials; the other components had been taken by the Aesir as spoils of war. The Eternals used the Rebirth Chamber and the remaining components to build the Olympus System. The components taken by the Aesir later became part of the Aesir's High Throne, the Rainbow Bridge Modulator, and Valhalla.

Salomon now intends to take these components, along with the Aesir's research on the construction of Earth's machines, to restore some of their functions. He has already dismantled and studied the Eternals' rebirth chamber to help him collect the souls of genetically modified warriors from outer dimensions—the Aesir also researched rebirth chambers, and Odin's ancestors used these research findings and the rune system developed by the Vanir gods to create Valhalla and Nelfheim.

The Aesir attempted to find a way to isolate the material universe from outer dimensions, preventing the shadows of those dimensions from drawing power from Asgard, and using this to select the souls of powerful warriors in preparation for the final battle. However, Odin's ancestors were overly optimistic; they believed they could fully assimilate the Celestials' technology and rebuild a rebirth chamber entirely belonging to Asgard.

Due to a lack of relevant equipment and knowledge, the Aesir's experiment was undoubtedly a failure.

The small divine realm prepared by the Aesir could not accommodate so many souls. In addition, the Eternals guarded the secret of the rebirth chamber, so the number of souls ultimately protected by the Aesir was not that many. It was impossible to select the souls of warriors from other planets, which was far from the original goal of the project. Asgardians cannot live forever, and not every Asgardian soul can be protected. The final result of the project was called Valhalla, and the overflowing souls formed Nilfheim, the land of the dead.

Nevertheless, Valhalla remains a great experiment.

When the emperor discussed Bauer's initial choice, he raised a very interesting point of view.

"The Asgardians' declining fertility is actually related to Bauer's decision. When he decided to establish a belief system and make all Asgardians the chosen ones, granting them not just wisdom but also physical strength, he destined the Asgardian population to decrease," the Emperor said. "Long lifespans inevitably lead to a decline in fertility; it's predetermined, a biological instinct. At the time, neither humans nor gods knew this. By the time Odin realized it, Asgard was already on the path to destruction."

"So Asgard is destined for destruction?" Hela scoffed at the Emperor's conclusion. "Do you think that creatures as weak as ants can kill a god if there are enough of them?"

“If these ants possess intelligence, yes, that’s what I think,” the Emperor said calmly. “I have no hostility toward Asgard, nor toward you; you are merely standing in my way. If you could just move a little further, we could still be friends.”

The existence of Asgard is more beneficial than harmful to Earth, which is why the Sorcerer Supreme was willing to sign a pact with Odin. Without Asgard, Earth will face the shadow behind the veil—a shadow from which the prevailing neoliberalism of today is powerless to resist. In a place where money has replaced ethics as the sole moral standard of society, any thought meme will spread exponentially.

Given the current population size on Earth, it's easy for demon summoning events to occur.

The hunting games played by the wealthy in rural America are already insane enough; add some extradimensional magic, and Earth would instantly become a hot, fleshy apple pie. The number of demon summoning cases handled by Kamar-Taj in the last two hundred years has multiplied several times over. Some of those involved have no idea what they're doing, simply satisfying their cruel desires, while others have fallen into utter depravity and despair, attracting the maggots from behind the veil—nothing more.

The problem now is that the Dark Order is heading this way, and the Emperor must cherish his time.

The army he brought was not prepared for space warfare. There were no orbital defense platforms or space-based missile silos here, and the people he brought could not pilot Asgardian ships. Therefore, the only ones who could delay the Dark Order's advance were the Asgardians.

To be precise, only Hela and her loyal noble private army, if these people could pilot Asgardian ships and activate Asgard's orbital defenses, would certainly pose a minor obstacle to the Black Order. The Emperor had no concerns about Hela joining forces with Thanos. Hela would not obey Odin; she was an arrogant individual and would never submit to Thanos, the Dark Titan who dared to attack Asgard only with the Power Stone.

This is also why the emperor was willing to waste some time here to talk to Hela.

Outside the Golden Palace, gunboats continued their relentless bombardment of the undead surging towards the palace, while knights and soldiers continued to construct defensive lines. Freed from Hela's control, these undead acted purely on instinct, attempting to plunder all life, but the weapons from the Martian foundry proved too much for them. Even the bodies of Asgardians could not withstand lasers capable of melting steel and explosive projectiles that could destroy armor plates. Without the support of Valhalla soldiers and noble private armies, the undead were nothing more than mincemeat under the treads of a well-trained army.

“My target has never been you, Hela.” Salomon stood before the goddess of death. “I only want to resolve the crisis facing humanity.”

“You really surprise me, mortal—no, I shouldn’t consider you a mortal. You’re not the same species as those Midgard creatures. You just think you’re like them, addicted to role-playing games.” Hela crossed her arms dismissively, sitting in a soft chair with an air of indifference and nonchalance.

The burns from the holy sword still lingered on her side, suppressing her regenerative abilities. She appeared outwardly calm, but the searing pain from her very soul nearly killed her.

"Let me hear your demands. Don't go too far; we haven't decided a winner yet!"

“If you want it, this place still belongs to you. I don’t want Asgard, and I don’t care about Asgard,” the Emperor said, spreading his hands. “My trade with you means that I acknowledge you as the Queen of Asgard, and that you have the right to trade with me.”

"Well, continue."

"If you insist on waging war against me, then you will not have the strength to deal with the next crisis, and I do not want to waste the lives of my soldiers here, so we should resolve this peacefully," the Emperor said. "You can leave the spaceport, take your ships, find a planet to conquer, or stay here and build your tomb. I don't care what you want to do, you only need to promise one thing—stop the Dark Order, stop that creature who calls himself the Dark Titan—he is on his way to Asgard. I don't need you to risk your life for this; I only need you to buy me time."

“I’ve heard of this organization. They say the Dark Titans are descendants of the Eternals.” Hela smiled dismissively. “How dare they attack Asgard?”

“Because he now possesses the Power Stone,” the Emperor said. “He craves the other stones.” “So, this is what you want? Stones, a throne, and a bridge?”

"Yes, that's what I want. As long as you allow me to take these things away as efficiently as possible, I will leave behind some things that can help you. It's a deal, a fair deal. You need time to forge your army, and I need the treasures to study."

"It is indeed fair, but why should I agree to it?"

“My army here is prepared for close-quarters combat, which means I never intended to fight the Dark Order here in the first place. I will leave immediately after obtaining the equipment, leaving Asgard to you. I don’t care about the Asgardians—living or dead. You can take me to the vault now, or I can force open the vault doors, take everything, and leave you to the Dark Order. Do you have enough corpses to build an army now?”

When the emperor stepped out of the room, the Mars engineering team had already dismantled the library's doors so that armored transport vehicles could freely enter and exit, moving piles of materials and storage media from the Golden Palace Library. Several highly modified technicians were so excited that their coolant leaked out.

If Hela were here, witnessing this scene might have led her to turn against the Emperor. She knew she would, so she simply turned and left, considering it the price of the deal. Hela had gained the power of Asgard, and now the strength of her army depended on the number of undead she possessed.

Thanks to Thor and Heimdall's rescue, she hadn't summoned enough undead; a large portion of the Asgardians fled into the mountains, escaping their fate. The Emperor refused to let her kill those Asgardians, because the lives of these living people were the ropes binding Thor, and Hela absolutely could not allow them to be severed.

If Hela escapes Asgard and awakens the undead on other planets, then others will face an army of the dead scattered across the world. The Emperor doesn't care at all; if Hela can destroy other alien civilizations or even slightly hinder the Dark Titans' advance, those civilizations will have met a worthwhile end. He doesn't even care about Asgard, which originated from Earth, so why would he care about other alien civilizations?

He made a deal with Hela.

He would use a spell to conceal the Space Stone's presence, ensuring its location could not be detected by any means. Hela needed to buy time in Asgard; the ships outside the port were her means of escape, also part of the deal. The staff report stated that the omnipresent undead were retreating, and their troops, due to insufficient numbers, could only control a few key passages.

The knights and soldiers sent to rescue the people of Asgard were on their way back, encountering no enemies except for a group of undead along the way. The Emperor did not need to intervene in the evacuation work; the General Staff had already made the plans. Several Asgardian warships were still docked at the spaceport, and technicians from the Martian foundry had boarded the ships in advance to conduct inspections.

Once the living people of Asgard arrive at the port, they will board the ships and evacuate with the humans.

Without the High Throne and the Rainbow Bridge, the living in Asgard cannot travel faster than the speed of light on their own.

The human soldiers' job has now shifted from blocking the undead to setting up explosives and traps throughout Asgard. When the Dark Order arrives, these explosives and traps will relieve Hela's pressure—Hela is unwilling to leave with defeat, but the Emperor will still leave her a few warships—even if Hela wants to find a planet to conquer and become the Queen of the Dead, it doesn't matter, the Emperor doesn't care.

Salomon, accompanied by the homunculus members of the Royal Guard and the Sorority, headed towards the passage to the vault, seeking one of the objectives of this expedition. Hela had already given him the key to the vault, so they encountered no insurmountable obstacles along the way—no magically sealed steel gates or deadly traps, nothing at all.

Asgardians are very honest. Their powerful physical strength often allows them to solve many problems. The part of their culture that focuses on critical thinking is almost non-existent. Even Loki, who is skilled at lying, is called the god of mischief. You can imagine how much Asgardians value honesty.

Although Hela agreed to let humans enter the vault, she had absolutely no intention of acting as a proper guide. After agreeing with the Emperor on what could be taken and what should be left behind, she completely washed her hands of the matter. The Asgardian nobles were undoubtedly furious at the humans emptying the Golden Palace, and Hela needed to appease them, or more simply, kill them and resurrect them as undead, allowing them a modicum of intelligence.

Hela doesn't need allies, but obedient undead, an army that completely follows orders.

The vault contains many of Odin's spoils, from the soul fire of the fire giant Surtur to the ice casket of the frost giant, the prototype used to house all the Infinity Stones. However, it also contains many fakes, created to satisfy Odin's vanity, such as the Eye of Agamotto, used to demonstrate his power over Midgard.

The Emperor took away the Cosmic Cube, the eternal flame, and the skull of the fire giant Surtur.

The first item will be taken to the Rose Cross by the Guardians for safekeeping, serving as a tool and energy source for the Immortal City's research on the Rainbow Bridge and the High Throne. The latter two items will be delivered to Hela by Tita. After the human army withdraws, if the undead army is unable to defeat the Dark Order's ground forces, Hela will awaken the fire giant Surtur.

The Eternal Flame has been delivered to Hela, and Surtur's skull will be sent there after the human army withdraws.

He didn't expect Hela to completely destroy the Dark Order. Thanos, with the Power Stone, was too powerful for Hela to handle. All she needed to do was buy time and weaken the Dark Order's army. The Emperor would then leave Asgard and cease destroying Hela's undead army.

On Mars, technicians are carefully dismantling the High Throne. Countless golden cables stretch for kilometers beneath the throne, their weight exceeding the carrying capacity of ships like the Cross Rose. As a result, the General Staff has to plan to abandon some heavy weaponry in Asgard, because these superconducting cables are equally valuable.

These materials will be transported to Mars for research, and Regent Victor von Doom on Earth will share a small portion of the technological advancements with a limited number of trading partners. This has always been the Emperor's wish; he hopes to strengthen humanity as a whole through the effective use of scientific knowledge, rather than using technology to create moats and hoard wealth. That's why the Regent has repeatedly ordered the Martian foundry to release the blocked technologies and share them with trading partners.

This sharing resulted in cheap wheat, soybeans, meat, confectionery, steel, rare minerals, and so on. Trading partners also purchased many products manufactured in Yugoslavia. The Regency used these technologies to gain access to Yugoslavia's international trade markets, maintaining the standard of living for this group of Southern European countries despite sanctions on almost all international trade.

This is a good deal.

If these trade shares were lost, the suppressed ethnic hatred would be reignited, and now that those who committed crimes in the war had been tried, there were no more scapegoats. Unless the emperor relocated them to colonies on the moon or other planets, the powder keg of Yugoslavia would never be quelled.

He has done everything he can now, and can only wait.