Those time travelers that year

"It would be more appropriate to summon that evil god Dormammu!"

209. Therefore, we cannot send bento boxes.

"So, this villain is even more stupid than in the movies!?" The battle erupted just as quickly as it began, ending just as abruptly. In truth, a guy still in his mortal stage—back in the Harry Potter world—might have actually outmaneuvered Ciel with his spatial manipulation skills. But now, unless that evil god himself came to Earth, these few useless individuals were no match for Ciel.

At first, the two henchmen with the super dark circles under their eyes charged forward aggressively, trying to teach the impolite guy a lesson with their glass-like transparent blades. Frankly, even Tony Stark, wearing his current Iron Man armor, would probably suffer a great loss if he wasn't careful.

After all, what looked like glass was actually a fragment of space. Yes, that's right, the kind of thing that's been hyped up in all sorts of fantasy novels, capable of instantly killing the weak like chickens. These two cannon fodder in Xia Er's eyes were wielding glass blades, roughly equivalent to the level nine spell Cataclysmic Black Blade in the D&D magic system—something only found in bizarre worlds like Marvel, where everyone has one.

Of course, that stuff is strong enough to tear Iron Man's armor like paper; only an equally unscientific metal like adamantium could withstand it. However, if magic or a weapon imbued with magic and blessed is used, then it's just a decoration.

So, those two who thought they could teach the insolent scoundrel a lesson by wielding blades created from spatial fragments... were instantly taken down by a supersonic slash from Sharl's Soul Greatsword. As for the remaining bewildered guy with super dark circles under his eyes, Sharl didn't want to waste any words with him and decisively smeared his face with magic.

At first, this guy wanted to compete with Sharl in magic, but he was quickly taught a lesson by fireballs. Speaking of which, Sharl has always been puzzled: why don't mages and wizards in the American comic book universe like to use fireballs—such a simple, quick, and useful spell? They'd rather be like some old white-bearded man, overwhelming you in close combat and leaving you completely bewildered—than throw a fireball RPG from afar!?

So, that guy with the super dark circles under his eyes got a good beating from Xia Er with fireballs. Then, this guy finally got it and directly manipulated space distortion to launch a massive attack on Xia Er. However, Xia Er could fly, and, clearly impatient, he violently shattered the entire mirror world. In the real world, these low-level versions of their counterparts were utterly weak; their space distortion could only be done in the mirror world. Once they arrived in reality, they didn't even manage to fart.

However, in the end, that super dark-circled guy still managed to escape right under Ciel's nose. Suddenly, he was pulled away by a distorted spatial fluctuation... Of course, in this time period on Earth, it's unlikely that anyone could save someone right under Ciel's nose. The only possibility is that the evil god Dormammu rescued this super dark-circled guy named Kaecilius.

After all, on Marvel's Earth right now, only this idiot is willing to submit to and help the evil god Dormammu, all for the sake of those melodramatic villain slogans like "eternal time" and "not being controlled by time." To put it bluntly, he's just afraid of death and wants immortality. Such an idiotic wizard is truly hard to find on Earth, which has already entered modern society. Let alone now, even hundreds or thousands of years ago, it would have been just as difficult to find.

In the Marvel universe, any wizard can achieve immortality, and possessing magic grants eternal life, the ability to traverse space and time, recombine matter, and even astral projection—it's all incredibly powerful. The magic in the Marvel universe puts the great arcanists of Netheril to shame; the immortality magic reserved for them is practically commonplace here. If Karthus had been able to travel to the Marvel universe before the first goddess of magic, he wouldn't have thought about her upon his return, lest he have become a stone statue, perpetually exposed to the desert winds and sun.

In short, Dormammu, the evil god who has no manpower on Earth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and whose previous forces were likely destroyed, is unwilling to give up this traitor who could act as a guide. However, this guy is at least at the Celestial level, no, he might even be a genuine cosmic level being, having mastered the Dark Dimension. Although this isn't the comic book version where there's no limit to how much nonsense we can say, Dormammu might not be as powerful as he is in the comics, but he could still surpass Thanos, who is at the sub-Celestial level without any special power-ups.

Of course, Thanos has now started to use cheat codes, so Dormammu might not necessarily benefit from going up against him.

Clearly, even if that person couldn't descend to Earth's side, essentially trapped in the dark dimension, even a tiny bit of power would have been enough to rescue them from Ciel's grasp. Not only that person with the super dark circles under their eyes, but Ciel also didn't have time to intercept the souls of the two cannon fodder characters he instantly killed.

"Damn, only Marvel has GM-level privileges like that." Sharl was incredibly disappointed at not being able to seize the souls of those two cannon fodder. He had originally hoped to find out the exact location of the Sorcerer Supreme's cult from them. Those bastards who open portals even when they go out are incredibly well-hidden. Sharl had been to New York, London, and Hong Kong during this time, but he just couldn't find any trace of the Sanctuary. Not finding it meant he couldn't find Kamar-Taj or access the Time Stone. "Luckily, the Tesseract is coming out soon, and the Aether also appeared in Britain after the Battle of New York, otherwise it would be really difficult."

Without the Infinity Stones, a monster of cosmic god-like power would only result in Shire being instantly killed. Only with the Infinity Stones in hand could he have any chance of fighting back. Fortunately, Dormammu cannot descend to Earth, nor can he escape from the dark dimension he controls. Without a guide, he cannot even get close to Earth.

To make contact with Earth, the three Sanctuaries would have to be destroyed. Given Kaecilius's current power, he'd be nothing more than a sitting duck against the old nun Guru. It would take him several more years to regain the ability to deal with her. And by then, Ciel would probably have already left the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Of course, after suffering several setbacks before, Ciel understood that in some worlds, there would always be special beings capable of detecting him. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beings at the Celestial level and below, lacking GM privileges, might not be able to detect Ciel's situation, but cosmic beings with GM privileges might be able to. However, Ciel also thought that if Dormammu tried to intercept him when he left, he would simply open the Twisting Nether. He was quite curious to see what would happen to beings like Toilet, Suntree… and even Saddam Hussein, who were at the level of Dormammu, when they came from the Azerothian universe to the more chaotic Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Surely Sargeras wouldn't just cleave a planet in the Azeroth universe and then destroy a galaxy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe...

210. The Women's Federation begins

Whether villains are stupid or not, Ciel doesn't know, but at least so far, none of the villains he's encountered, except for Loki, have any of the so-called "villainous boss aura," so their stupidity is perfectly normal. And Loki, who does have the "villainous boss aura," thankfully doesn't act like the brainless characters in the movies, which makes Ciel feel relieved. At least he doesn't have to engage in boring conversations with those idiots, which is great.

They managed to get rid of that idiot who thought he could act recklessly just because he had a god-like figure backing him up. That guy was incredibly stupid; even though that powerful figure had been trying for millennia to descend, he still willingly boarded that broken ship – it was ridiculous. In short, by the time Doctor Strange's storyline begins, the Shire will have long since left the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so the so-called revenge won't be directed at him.

Conversely, compared to this minor incident, through the small eye left on the American continent, Shirley accurately picked up some new information. Unsurprisingly, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research on the Tesseract had gone awry; Loki's true form, using the Tesseract's power, had opened a portal to Earth across the endless sea of ​​stars. Frankly, Shirley, who already knew where the Tesseract was, originally had the opportunity to directly contact or seize it. However, considering that if he intervened too early, the scepter inlaid with the Mind Stone wouldn't be able to be brought to Earth by Loki, Shirley abandoned that plan.

Although Ciel always felt puzzled by the need to come into contact with the Infinity Stones, his intuition told him that the more he came into contact with them, the more benefits he would receive. This feeling never changed.

Since that's the case, then Ciel will just have to bear with it! Anyway, by the time the Battle of New York is over, he can use Tony Stark's connections to get access to the Tesseract. Although S.H.I.E.L.D. might not be happy, given Tony Stark's proud nature, he probably won't break his promise. Besides, Ciel already intends to side with the Avengers in the plan. Whether it's an alliance or something else, it should allow Ciel to achieve his goal smoothly.

Since he doesn't intend to seize the Cosmic Cube anyway, it's not unreasonable for him to study it under the watchful eyes of a large group of people!

With that thought in mind, Xia Er used Apparition to vanish from his spot. Relying on his own to instantly teleport back to the Americas from the Middle East was far too troublesome, especially without the ability of mages using the power of the Vishnu Emperor to travel across continents and half the globe. Therefore, he decided to find a means of transportation first.

……

While Shire was on his return journey, Nick Fury, having nearly lost his life after being humiliated, immediately sounded the alarm for war, initiating a large-scale reorganization of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources and manpower. Of course, there were always some incompetent allies who tried to sabotage things, but after Nick Fury dumped the report of Loki's theft of the Tesseract on their heads, he ignored their commotion and, using his Level 10 agent privileges, began gathering manpower to deal with Loki, the enemy.

However, this was troublesome. Barton and several other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were under Loki's control. Barton, in particular, a highly qualified and experienced ace agent, easily led Loki away from all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sight and surveillance. No matter what method they used, they could no longer find the group.

Of course, even if they found one, Nick Fury wouldn't have many combat options to offer against a dangerous superhuman. While the large and powerful S.H.I.E.L.D. could easily find employees with superpowers, it's easy to imagine the situation if someone with limited superpowers were to face a mythical deity.

Therefore, the only way to deal with nuclear bombs is to use other types of nuclear bombs.

On Earth today, there are those who could handle Loki, such as that alien wizard, also from outer space—a walking natural disaster, a walking nuclear bomb. However, due to his distrust, Nick Fury doesn't expect the Shire to come back to help him. Similarly, he doesn't expect Thor, far away in Asgard, to travel all the way here… nuclear bombs are best kept to themselves.

This reduces the number of people who can choose.

Not long ago, Steve Rogers, Captain America, one of the world's earliest superheroes, awoke from hibernation; Tony Stark, the playboy and a true genius, Iron Man; Natasha, Black Widow, another super ace agent who, like Steve Rogers, underwent enhancement and reached the pinnacle of human potential... and the world's greatest uncontrollable element, a scientist whose outbursts are no less powerful than the Shire and Thor, Bruce Banner—the Hulk.

However, whether this last-minute cramming would actually work was, frankly, something even Blackie Wu didn't know. Steve Rogers was easy to talk to; once the current situation was explained, the captain would definitely do his best. Saving the world might just be a passionate slogan for others, but for him, it was a mission etched into his very being.

Tony Stark is a big problem, but as long as he still wants to be a superhero and live a life of luxury, he definitely won't let us down. But the process is anything but predictable…

Natasha, the Black Widow. As an agent, she is far more trustworthy to Nick Fury than to Tony Stark.

However, the most troublesome one is Bruce Banner... or rather, the Hulk.

It now seems that, aside from relying on the captain's charisma, temporarily uniting these dangerous individuals won't be an easy task. After all, no one has ever managed this plan before. Aside from Tony Stark having some understanding of Nick Fury's intentions… but Nick Fury has no intention of orchestrating it now. Rather than letting them argue and elect a leader themselves, it's better to let them utilize their individual talents…

So Natasha, the Black Widow, was assigned by Nick Fury to find Bruce Banner, Coulson sent her to New York to find Tony Stark, and he himself went to a secret base to find the soldier who had been asleep for decades and had awakened from hibernation.

211. Loki's Thoughts (Part 1)

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, while S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Blackie Wu, was bringing together key figures one by one, on another side of Earth, in an underground building in a certain country, a large team of researchers in white lab coats, numbering over a hundred, were conducting various tasks under a series of instruments. At the same time, many soldiers, dressed in different styles but all carrying firearms, were constantly moving and patrolling.

These individuals come from various research institutions across the globe, but they all share one characteristic: they are all scientists conducting research in areas such as space, mechanics, and energy. Any one of them could easily give a research presentation at a world-class university. However, right now, these people are merely prisoners—Loki's prisoners and puppets controlled by the Mind Scepter.

Under the leadership of Agent Patton, who is familiar with Earth, and with a traitorous agent, Loki launched a series of attacks on secret research institutions around the world in just a few days, using the power of the Mind Scepter to take control of the researchers and a portion of the professional forces.

Mind control wasn't a difficult spell for Loki to use. He knew it, but achieving this level of mastery was far from easy. Mind control comes in two forms: one is puppet-like control, where the caster completely controls the target's every move, speech, and action. In this case, it's essentially just giving the caster a different body.

Another method is psychological suggestion, which involves planting a false idea or memory in the target to distort their mental state and self-judgment.

Both methods are equally effective, and when used well, they are essentially the same. However, both types of mind control require the caster to expend a portion of their energy to maintain. It's important to understand that during the control process, the controlled individual can resist. To suppress this resistance, the caster must continuously expend energy to maintain control, thus indirectly depleting their own power. Moreover, if the controlled individual forcibly breaks free of the shackles through their own will or external factors, the caster will suffer a backlash. The stronger and more numerous the controlled targets, the greater the force of this backlash.

However, the scepter Loki now holds... or rather, the strange gem embedded in the scepter, is different. It allows the user to enter the minds of others, and to let all dreams and thoughts enter the user's brain. It can enhance mental power and increase psychic abilities. Most interestingly, this is costless, meaning that Loki doesn't need to expend any effort to maintain the targets it controls, and there is no limit to the number that can be controlled.

Loki could clearly sense that, with this scepter, he could spend some time gradually controlling the minds and wills of more and more humans. A thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million... even an entire planet, every life form with self-awareness... no, as long as his power was strong enough, he could even manipulate the will of those tiny creatures.

With this scepter, given enough time, Loki could even completely control the minds and consciousness of the entire human world. This is no joke; controlling the minds and consciousness of billions of people on a planet represents a completely different level of advancement. Loki has no doubt that when that time comes, he can use the power of this gem to connect the spirits and consciousness of billions of people, unifying them into a single force, and then invade the planet's consciousness. At that point, even a powerless fool could instantly become an existence no less than Odin, the Father. Let alone a god who is already extraordinary.

But the more this happened, the more disillusioned Loki became. That person had so casually handed him this artifact, which could be called a genuine divine weapon, and instructed him to deliberately bring it to this planet. This could only mean that person was extremely confident that even if Loki betrayed him and used the scepter to control the minds of all humanity on Earth, he still had enough power to crush Loki.

Loki, sitting cross-legged on the ground, stared blankly at the scepter in his hand, his face grim. No matter how many schemes and tricks one concocts, they are all utterly laughable in the face of absolute power. With his discerning eye, he could clearly see the striking similarities between the Tesseract and the gems on the scepter, and even that there might be a connection between the two.

The Dragon Jewel is Asgard's name for the Tesseract, a fact Loki knew long ago. A thousand years ago, after the battle that utterly crushed Jotunheim, Odin left the Dragon Jewel on Midgar. Loki simply couldn't believe that such a powerful artifact would be placed on Midgar, far from Asgard, without some ulterior motive.

Now Loki understands that items like the Dragon Gem aren't isolated; there are likely other identical items. These items are interconnected, and sensing the subtle connection between the gem on the scepter and the Tesseract, Loki seems to understand why Thanos orchestrated such a foolish invasion.

The invasion was just a pretext, a show for the rest of the universe. Thanos may be infamous, but in such a vast universe, there are powerful beings who don't respect him. Clearly, Thanos wanted to do something, and he needed to do it discreetly so that no one else knew about it.

It's probably commonplace for cosmic bandits like the Chiretas, who are allied with Thanos, to attempt to invade a technologically backward planet by opening a portal. No one will pity a civilization that can't even cross a single planet; whether the Chiretas succeed or fail is irrelevant… because their purpose is simply to cover the arrival of the scepter on Earth. They are cannon fodder used to draw Asgard's attention. After all, Asgard is currently unable to intervene due to the destruction of the Bifrost and rebellions in other worlds. Once Asgard is free, unless Thanos personally intervenes, a few Chiretas are no match for Asgard.

……

As Loki pondered, the gem on his scepter glowed blue. It was a signal, a signal of spiritual communication from another part of the cosmos.

Seeing this, a shadow crossed Loki's eyes, and he then gathered his consciousness, closed his eyes, and reconnected to the telepathic communication.

In an instant, Loki's mind traveled to a desolate planet, where a figure clad in armor and a black cloak appeared before him, speaking in a cold and desolate voice, "The Chitauri are becoming restless!"

“Then let them prepare…” Loki’s mental image manifested as a fully armed figure on the planet, and he said to the figure without hesitation, “I will bring them a war…”

"War? Those weak Earthlings?"

“Glory, but it won’t last long!” Loki replied coldly, “as long as your army is truly that powerful.”

"Are you questioning us, Asgardians?" the figure said coldly. "Questioning the one who entrusted this scepter to you?"

"Don't forget, it was he who bestowed upon you ancient knowledge and new ideals, and it was he who saved your life. Don't forget, you were defeated like a stray dog!"

"So what!? You are not him, just his dogs." Loki sneered. "Besides, you haven't even obtained the Tesseract yet."

"you!"

“I’m not threatening you!” Loki pointed his Mind Control Scepter at the figure. “Until I open that door, until your army fulfills your promises… all promises and blessings are empty words.”

"Then go and fight your war, Asgardians..."

"But if you fail... and the Cosmic Cube doesn't end up in our hands, then you'd better watch out! There will be no place for you to hide anymore. No matter where you hide, it will find you... It will make you wail, it will make you know... what it means to be in unbearable pain."

……

"Hmph!" After severing the telepathic communication, Loki opened his eyes with a grim expression. This mere ant dared to threaten him? Who did he think he was? Just a locust-like space pirate in the universe. If it weren't for Thanos protecting them, both the Xandarians and the Kreegans would have attacked them long ago.

This reminded Loki of a phrase from Midgard: "a fox borrowing the tiger's might."

212. Loki's Thoughts (Part 2)

No matter how much the Chiritars bullied him, Loki was powerless against them. So what if they took advantage of him? Loki could only grumble. The fact that Thanos could still contact him across the stars using the Mind Stone showed that even now, Thanos hadn't let his guard down. Only when the portal was fully open and the Chiritars launched a massive invasion of Earth would Thanos truly ignore him, whom he considered an ant.

It would be great if the Chiritars could directly obtain the Tesseract. If they failed, those who were previously able to detect Thanos's actions would only wonder what Thanos was up to. They would have no doubt that Thanos would transport a cosmic treasure all the way to Earth; they would simply assume it was a simple planetary invasion and plunder by the Chiritars.

Taking a deep breath, Loki suppressed the various thoughts swirling in his mind. At least until he was free, he had no right to think too much. In short, he was increasingly suspicious of the reasons for this invasion. If he wasn't mistaken, the real purpose was to transport the scepter in his hand, or rather, the jewel embedded in it, to Earth. As for the other purpose, Loki initially had no clue, but when he discovered the connection between the jewel on the scepter and the Dragon Jewel, he completed the final piece of the puzzle.

If the Dragon Jewel is connected to this gem, then it means that other things are also connected to it. In fact, it's a set of items or part of a set of items, connected in a way that Loki can't discern... And to speculate more boldly, perhaps these items were collected long ago, placed in some unknown corner, or only appeared after certain conditions were met.

such as……

Unleashing the power of the Cosmic Cube, a wormhole is opened on Earth...

The gems on the Cosmic Cube and the Mind Scepter are a set, meaning that the two can complement each other.

“The Tesseract is a door…” Loki muttered to himself, staring intently at the gem on the scepter, “a gateway to every corner of the universe, a shortcut across the Kinlungard, and a device capable of influencing the spatial structure of Midgard… And this gem is a transmitter…”

“Where there’s a transmitter, there’s a receiver. In other words, everything else connected to the Tesseract and this gem is the receiver.” Loki, seemingly understanding something, frowned as he recalled the knowledge he had learned in Asgard. A thousand years ago, Odin defeated Jotunheim and Laufey, his own 'father' whom he had killed, and withdrew the Asgardian army from Midgar. Then, at that time, he entrusted the Tesseract, this divine artifact, to a people called the Vikings on Midgar, who had previously had contact with Asgard, for safekeeping. Time passed, and that Viking people had long since vanished over the millennia.

However, one Viking who received Odin's command did not perish like his people. Instead, he survived generation after generation and assimilated into other peoples. His family was bound by a mission to keep this secret for generations until decades ago when it was accidentally discovered, leading to their annihilation.

Similarly, at this moment, Loki seemed to recall something recorded in a secret document. Besides Odin, the previous God-King seemed to have done the same, leaving something on an island in Midgard. Although the record was unclear, it mentioned that it was also a powerful artifact belonging to the previous ruler of the universe. However, that artifact was sealed away, deliberately forgotten like the Tesseract.

“Cosmic magic was deliberately placed on Midgard, and similarly, another artifact deliberately placed on Midgard is… the Dark Elves’ Aether.” Loki’s face showed understanding. “If there are more than just one or two similar items, it means that all these artifacts have been sealed or imprisoned. To open a locked chest, the best way is to find the key…”

"And now, the key... is in my hands!"

……

"Hmm!?" As if sensing something, Loki's thoughts were abruptly interrupted. With a puzzled look, he stood up and looked behind him. Then, his usually gloomy expression softened slightly. Then, without anyone knowing, he left and walked into the passageways.

“I thought you were going to meditate for a while and think about the philosophy of life, Loki!” A mocking voice rang out from the dark shadows.

“I never think about useless things… Charles Gretel…” Loki stopped and looked at the shadowy figure, saying, “But now, wizard, what should I call you… and congratulations on taking such a crucial step.” He bowed slightly as he spoke.

"Call me whatever you want..." Emerging from the shadows, Ciel's gaze fell directly on the scepter in Loki's hand. "So that's the little trick you were talking about!?"

"...But now, it's not time for my little tricks to be used." Sensing a hint of excitement in Ciel's tone, Loki paused for a moment, then said meaningfully, "But now, why did you decide to come and visit me?!"

Charles laughed and said, "Why would I worry about the safety of my 'allies'?"