Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1397 Showing Hostility (Part 2)

The Custodians didn't recognize Manny and Mordy; to them, they were just two Asgardian drunkards. However, they sensed something amiss and informed the Emperor. Gene alchemy granted the Custodians the physical strength achievable through natural human evolution. Combined with the mechanical servos within their power armor and the neural synaptic connections linking them to the armor, the Custodians could easily shatter the armor plates of infantry fighting vehicles with their bare hands.

However, the two obese, burly men lying on the ground, fast asleep, each received a punch from Hammurabi, but aside from comminuted fractures of their cheekbones and jawbones, they seemed to have suffered no major injuries. The other unfortunate souls who suffered the same fate either had their cheeks reduced to a heap of flesh and bone fragments, then went into shock from the pain and blood loss, or gradually succumbed to the horrific blows and headed towards the underworld. Hammurabi was certain that the two least injured men had not undergone genetic modification; otherwise, they could never have had such unhealthy physiques. The fat on their bellies was almost comparable to that of an Arctic seal, and the animal skins they wore indicated that their civilization did not require fat to protect them from the cold.

Lorelei seemed amused by Hammurabi's rigid statement.

"Using fat to ward off the cold sounds like something out of a beast's mouth." She chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand as if she were a lady attending a high-society event. Even amidst the stench of feet, sweat, and blood, and surrounded by dust and mud, Lorelei maintained her air of a sophisticated lady in a gown and high heels, her eyes gleaming with alluring charm. "But that description fits their and their fathers' intellectual level perfectly." She tilted her head, looking at the emperor's eyes, hidden in shadow beneath his hood, as if boasting about how perfect her choice of meeting place was, how much time it would save him. "These two fools are born to be manipulated, but they are still Aesir, after all. If you kill them here, it might save you a lot of trouble in the future; after all, the fewer Odin's pawns we have, the higher our chances of victory."

The emperor surveyed the chaotic tavern. Mead vats, practically usable as fuel, were shattered by explosives, black and gold liquids flowing sharply across the floor. The pungent odor of alcohol almost overpowered the stench of blood and urine. "Let them live, then burn this place down. Leave their lives to fate; the useful ones will survive," he said. "Now it's time to leave Asgard."

Amon immediately pulled a heavy plasma grenade from his magnetic belt, rotating the adjuster on the fuse with his thumb. The small display screen could adjust the trigger time to three decimal places. If the user didn't possess the information processing capabilities and speed granted by genetic modification, the end result of using this plasma grenade would be spending over ten minutes setting it up, only to have it hit their own foot when thrown. Even if they could throw it, they would have to consider whether they would have time to escape the blast radius.

"My lord, which path should we take?"

"The Kamar-Taj Embassy." The Emperor stepped out of the tavern, his steel boots untouched by the filth on the ground. He indulged Lorelei's whims; the alluring Rhine was currently cradled in his arms, reclining against him as she peered at the world through her grey cloak. "We no longer need to conceal Kamar-Taj's stance. The second winter of Fimbulwinter is approaching, and Asgard will face extremely troublesome internal conflicts. When the third winter arrives, external forces coveting Asgard will seize the opportunity."

The emperor, as always, demonstrated his keen sense of smell.

By manipulating pieces and orchestrating events, he carved out an opportunity in a future where humanity was enslaved and destroyed. Many of these plans were conceived from his early days, such as the Immortal City, genetically modified warriors, and Ragnarok. These plans achieved their strategic objectives as he envisioned, yet he still felt he had too little time, far from enough to achieve his ultimate strategic goal—to take over the rule of Kamar-Taj. However, before gaining this power, he was using the terrifying prestige he had established through the Quetzalcoatl incident to accomplish the work the Sorcerer Supreme had failed to do: unify all schools of magic on Earth and preserve and manage all forbidden knowledge from ancient times. Although Asgard protected Earth in the Void, it was the protection of slave owners for slaves, the greed of misers for unattainable wealth. Asgard would never allow Earth to possess an independent Void fleet.

For some reason, the emperor seemed somewhat dejected.

"No Asgardian has the capacity to care about Kamar-Taj's attitude. Other alien races are still intimidated by Asgard's military power, which presents us with our best opportunity to develop. We only have this time to create assets capable of withstanding attacks from the Void Fleet and to seize everything we can control."

The old man brushed the snow off the rocks, then, surrounded by two wolves, he stepped over the loose stones, bracing himself on the charcoal-black handle of his gradually cooling and warping battle axe, and wobbled as he sat down. The cold rock sent a shiver down his spine; he saw his heavy breaths condense into white mist in the air, and he heard the sizzling sound of snowflakes falling on steel. Magic had heated the axe to a scorching temperature, and only then did he realize that unseen flames in the blizzard were burning his palms. The pain made him instinctively loosen his grip, and he had to open his palms to examine them closely.

"I'm very old," he said to the raven beside him. A charred, gaping scar ran across his hand, making him gasp. The aerial vehicle, like a giant dragon, hovered on the snow, its engines slowly churning to maintain heat. Large swaths of snow melted, revealing the black earth and rocks below. "I'm too old to use magic anymore. Can you go and see what he's doing?"

Neither the wolf nor the crow responded.

The ever-accumulating blizzard excited the giant wolves, who tirelessly dug through the snowdrifts, trying to find buried stones or mice. The frigid weather kept the ravens inactive; they huddled together, crouching nearby, eyes closed, fast asleep until the snow piled up unbearably, at which point they would open their eyes and shake themselves. Odin wasn't surprised by these animals' biomimetic behavior. Asgardian scholars believed this was because extradimensional beings needed a fixed form to enter the real universe. This fixed form depended on events and emotions occurring in the material universe, and the essence of the extradimensional world was a mirror of the material universe, faithfully reflecting the spellcaster's thoughts.

Therefore, the raven and giant wolf's biomimetic behavior stems from two factors: firstly, the summoner's own perception of animals, and secondly, the fact that the materiality of animals in the physical universe influences consciousness and the soul to some extent. However, even Odin himself dared not judge the specific truth, for the vast sea of ​​souls is counterintuitive, contrary to common sense, and defies causality; even losing one's reason would prevent a complete comprehension of its mysteries.

The massive machine, stopped in the middle of the canyon, suddenly roared, exhaling scorching heat like a dragon in the shadows. The Father of the Gods stared intently at the snowmelt evaporated by the engine heat rising like nuclear smoke. He muttered a curse, and then watched as the heavy steel slowly rose into the sky under the force of the thrust. The gravel beneath the snow was blown away by the gale, and the snow on the mountaintop collapsed and piled up due to the deafening noise.

Odin's face darkened.

He didn't see the Emperor and the Imperial Guard board the super-heavy assault transport ship, but he did see hovering aircraft continuously dropping machinery downwards. The heavy machinery, equipped with parachutes, would explode at the connection point just before landing, gently placing the machinery on the ground—it was a turret supported by four metal supports. The four supports automatically drilled downwards, firmly gripping the rock strata. Silicon-based thought circuits controlled the battery packs, laser generators, and radar on the turrets, searching for and attacking enemies. These turrets were all positioned near the cave where the trolls (mountain monsters) had appeared, interconnected and sharing information, ensuring that any threatening targets were locked onto and fired upon immediately.

Meanwhile, figures leaped from the ramp of the hovering aircraft. These figures didn't use parachutes, but instead crashed straight into the snow-covered hillside, kicking up a large cloud of snow. When Odin jumped off the boulder and approached the staggering figures, he realized they were heavily modified human bodies, devoid of self-awareness. Their brains, eyes, and throats had been altered—these were criminals, and Odin recognized their previous identities at a glance. These modified servants, designed for specific missions, were equipped with numerous detection devices and wielded heavy plasma weapons. Their modified and replaced bodies completely ignored the increasingly terrifying cold. Scattered along the second line of defense on the high ground, beyond the automated turrets, they were merely camouflaged by long, snow-white robes.

Upon noticing Odin approaching, the servants turned around, muttering something, and aimed their heavy plasma weapons at him.

"Identity verification." The lobotomized human used electronic components to replace thought; the single-task logic processor, through electronic eyes and a facial recognition system, located Odin's identity in the database. "Dangerous target," the servant's fragile consciousness thought, but it lowered its weapon. "No attack command issued."

The Allfather glanced coldly at the servants, then transformed into an eagle and soared into the sky, shooting towards the super-heavy assault transport like an arrow. He slipped into the gap in the closing ramp and transformed back into human form. What came into view, besides the dimly lit cargo hold, were several servants performing single-logic tasks. The Emperor and his warriors were not present; the automated turrets were deployed by the servants. The Allfather still didn't know whether this was a pre-programmed task or the result of remote control—a subtle clue revealing different attitudes towards Kamar-Taj. Odin couldn't allow himself to be unable to understand his temporary ally's thoughts. To find out, the Allfather walked through the massive super-heavy assault transport. He proceeded from the cargo hold and crew quarters to the cockpit, only to discover that the pilot of the super-heavy assault transport was buried in a black metal coffin, tightly connected to the vessel by several cables.

The Father of the Gods guessed what was buried in the metal coffin.

The runes engraved on the black metal coffin were all spells used to repel invasions from other dimensions. The cables were all terrestrial products of neural synaptic connectors and neural fibers used by multiple advanced civilizations in the universe. They were capable of transmitting neural electrical signals that biological nerves could withstand, and were used by the brain to command and process digital information and code.

This technology is generally used to manufacture biological armor.

Compared to the intrusion at the information level, the owner of this super-heavy assault transport ship is more worried about the corruption of the real universe by the outer dimensions. Odin knows of many silicon-based intelligent beings in the universe rebelling against their creator. Whenever a civilization develops to the point where it needs to use silicon-based intelligence to improve productivity, and this civilization possesses psionic talents, this situation will occur sporadically, like a mechanical disease spreading throughout the galaxy.

The Ultron incident on Earth was relatively mild, causing only the loss of a small city and tens of thousands of lives—a negligible price in the eyes of the Allfather. From the perspective of the ruler of Earth, such a sacrifice to quell the rebellion of silicon-based intelligences was quite worthwhile. Even so, the Emperor remained wary of silicon-based intelligences. After all, the birth of Ultron revealed the reason for the silicon-based intelligences' rebellion, so the Emperor avoided using it on his own spacecraft as much as possible and also used a quantum information storage device (called a soul purification runestone in Asgard) created by Asgardian scholars using the principle of quantum error correction codes to eliminate potential extradimensional pollution and information intrusion.

This technology is generally used for maneuvering unmanned void ships, utilizing field theory to correct erroneous codes during quantum information transmission. It is typically only achievable by advanced races that have achieved a unified understanding of physics. Some alien civilizations practicing a genetic caste system, such as the Sovereigns who completely abandon natural reproduction, specifically utilize unmanned void ship technology for void warfare to avoid wasting the genomes of higher castes in the void battlefield.

The Allfather toured the super-heavy assault transport ship, examining everything from the fortress-like automated combat robots, heavy-duty bomb cannons, and siege plasma cannons in the cargo hold, to the artificial gravity-resistant rigging and spare powered armor, from the tactical holograms to the information processing personnel. After a thorough inspection, Odin gained a preliminary understanding of the Emperor's growing power. He greatly admired the Emperor's orbital drop tactics and void boarding tactics; in Odin's eyes, such actions were those of true warriors, and cowardly races were utterly unworthy of becoming cosmic overlords.

However, he also figured out why the aircraft took off.

Because someone is remotely controlling this aircraft.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)