God Descends! (Part 2)

Loki considers himself a god, but he is actually very arrogant and rarely shows humility to anyone other than Odin. He especially looks down on ordinary humans and is unwilling to say a word to them, for which he has been reprimanded by Odin many times.

But now, Strange has become Loki's client, and Loki has no choice but to explain the plan to him in detail.

"Asgard rules over the entire Nine Realms, and no disturbance here can escape the notice of the All-Father. Not long ago, a Symbiote carrying the Seed of Power of the Knull attempted to sneak into the Nine Realms."

Loki spoke while watching Odin's expression to determine whether his prediction was correct.

"At that time, the All-Father had already discovered him, but in order to find out Knull's whereabouts, the All-Father planned to wait until the Seed of Power erupted on its own before taking action."

"Afterwards, the Symbiote's Agents of the Cosmos visited Asgard, claiming they were hunting down a traitor to their race. The All-Father mercifully granted their request and released an Agents of the Cosmos Symbiote into Earth, one of the Nine Realms."

"During this period, we did some small business with certain Lord of Dimensions."

Loki turned his head and glanced at Odin's expression. Seeing that Odin showed no displeasure, he continued, "The Lord of Dimensions have submitted a deposit to us, and we have initially finalized the rate of return with most of the Demon God."

At this point, Strange said, "I do know about this part. Actually, only a few people are left to sign the contracts."

"But human deception... I mean intelligence, is not enough to entice these cunning Lord of Dimensions to invest heavily; most of them are only testing the waters..."

Loki raised his voice slightly. "These Demon God with endless lifespans are actually more cunning and cautious than you might imagine. No matter how eloquently they talk, they won't take the bait until they see real rewards."

"Therefore, the All-Father and the Sorcerer Supreme believed that we must let them have a taste of the sweetness first."

"Only when these Demon God receive tangible returns will they truly participate in this plan, rather than using the guise of investment to extract continuous advisory services from humans."

"Indeed, I can sense that most of the Demon God are calling the Sanctum Sanctorum now simply to have an advisory team. The deposits they pay are nothing to them, but they can have a staff that can provide them with advice anytime, anywhere..."

Loki nodded, indicating that Strange was right.

"This relationship of interest is neither enough for humanity to benefit from the transaction, nor enough for Asgard to gain sufficient profit. If we cannot further deepen the transaction, we will all be working in vain."

"Therefore, I have been ordered by the All-Father to search the universe for a source of power that can serve as a breakthrough."

"But at that moment, the Symbiote carrying the seed of Knull's power erupted. Knull, the ancient Demon God who had been imprisoned on Klyntar planet for a long time, wanted to project his power onto Earth."

"According to the information I just learned in the Andromeda Nebula, it seems that Knull is looking for a special Symbiote, but in any case, he intends to open a power channel between Klyntar planet and Earth."

At this moment, the slightly anxious look on Strange's face disappeared, and he raised an eyebrow and said, "Just what we wanted, wasn't it?"

Loki nodded and said, "That is true. However, the All-Father believes that simply projecting power through a narrow channel is not enough to meet the needs of so many people, including the Dimensional Lords, Earth, and Asgard."

"So..."

"So just now, I was ordered by the All-Father to go to the Andromeda Nebula to conduct some minor reconnaissance work."

"I have a question..." Strange asked with some doubt, "Is that Klyntar planet Knull strong? If he really breaks free from his cage and comes to Earth, are we really confident we can take him down?"

"Knull is indeed very strong." At this moment, Odin spoke, his voice deep and resonant, carrying an undeniable authority. "He may be the oldest being in this universe, and the power he possesses is the Chaos Force of the universe's origin."

"He was born in the initial darkness of the universe. When he was awakened by the voice of the Celestials creating life, he denied this creation, believing that everything should return to chaos. So, he used a completely Black Death Sword drawn from the chaos of the universe to kill a member of the Celestials."

Following Odin's words, the Ancient One explained to Strange, "The Celestials are extremely powerful cosmic deities who interfere with the development of various civilizations in the universe and conduct experiments on them."

"Many years ago, the Celestials visited Earth several times." Odin's voice drifted into reminiscence. "All the gods on Earth combined were no match for them."

"But even though the Celestials were so powerful, Knull still killed one of them. The Celestials who went to take revenge could not completely kill Knull. They could only defeat Knull and then throw him back into the Chaos."

"As long as darkness and chaos exist in this universe, then Knull is immortal."

Strange was very interested in these cosmic oddities, but he also knew that now was not the time to delve into the details. He asked, "Since Knull is so powerful, why did we go and provoke him?"

At this moment, Odin and the Ancient One both showed a somewhat strange expression. They looked at each other, and Odin spoke first, "Knull's power is indeed very strong, and it can even be said to be the most primal power in the universe. The power of other Demon God is all below him."

"But the One problem is that ancient creatures born from chaos and darkness are not very good at using their brains."

The Ancient One added, "Chaos represents nothingness and madness. A being with this attribute, no matter how powerful, will act insanely and illogically."

"He has no purpose, no logic. The One way for a chaotic being to exist is to return the universe to chaos and darkness."

"It is precisely because of their chaos and madness that they do many things without thinking too much."

Strange understood the Ancient One's subtle implication: in short, Knull wasn't very bright.

But Strange thought this made a lot of sense, because thought and intelligence are inherently ordered. Behind the crazy behavior of any intelligent being lies its own logic. If there really is a creature whose existence and purpose are to defy order, then it is destined that it cannot have high intelligence.

Or perhaps his wisdom was too advanced, premature for the entire universe.

Strange touched his forehead and suddenly realized that, in this respect, Knull was an ideal target.

Ancient, powerful, chaotic, and insane, with a not-so-good mind, and because it has been locked up for too long, it can't keep up with the version's pace. If it doesn't mess with them, who will?

"Wait, Mordo just told me that Earth's defense system has been breached?" Strange looked at the Ancient One.

"Mordo's wording was a bit conservative, but he's always been like that," the Ancient One said calmly from her seat. "Ever since the Power Seed began to erupt, Earth's magical defenses have never been activated."

"But if Knull really does arrive, Earth will probably..."

Loki shook his head and said to Strange, "You can rest assured about that. I just came back from Andromeda. The cage imprisoning Knull is very sturdy. It's unlikely that his physical body can escape. The only thing that can come is his power."

"And the projection of power is like a pipe." Loki gestured with his hand and said, "At the Klyntar planet where Knull is, I have just enlarged the entrance to the pipe, Knull can output power outward more quickly and efficiently."

"The opening of the pipe on Earth was enlarged by the Sorcerer Supreme. She removed Earth's magical defense system and even actively guided Knull's power to be projected precisely."

"Born of Chaos, Knull, after projecting his power, would naturally want to use it to defeat all enemies in front of him and to erode this universe with darkness and chaos, just as he once did."

"And if he can't do that, then he will increase his investment of power. Born in chaos and darkness, Knull will not understand what tactical maneuvering and strategic retreat are. He will only want to use his powerful strength to erode the universe."

"So as long as we can hold him off, we can keep him channeling power here?" Strange continued.

"But isn't it a bit too risky to choose Earth as the location? Earth is full of fragile ordinary people. Not to mention Knull's Dark Force, they have no resistance to magic at all."

Loki shook his head, then explained to Strange, "Just because the pipeline's exit is on Earth doesn't mean that Knull's power will necessarily be able to descend directly to Earth."

"It's still the same principle as this pipeline. Although the pipeline's exit is on Earth, the Dimensional Lords involved in this project will drill hole after hole along the pipeline's path, and then divide up the power that belongs to Knull from the holes they drilled."

Strange suddenly realized, and Loki continued, "In that case, very little power will actually reach Earth."

"You're being a bit conservative," the Ancient One's voice came. "Given the appetites of those participants, there simply isn't any power capable of being transported to Earth."

"But..." Strange wanted to ask what benefits humanity would gain. The Ancient One seemed to see what he wanted to ask and said directly, "The initiative is now in our hands, therefore, we also have a very special right."

What is it?

"We can decide where they make the holes in the pipes."

Strange's eyes widened; he immediately understood what the Ancient One was planning.

Simply put, this pipeline connects Klyntar planet to Earth, with Knull as the output end and Earth as the receiving end.

Although this process cannot be explained by simple three-dimensional space, one rule remains unchanged: force will be lost during the process from the output end to the receiving end.

This means that the closer the intercepted power is to the output end, the purer the power that can be intercepted; and the closer the location is to Earth, the more you can only get what others have left over.

Asgard and Earth conspired to create a scheme: Asgard sent people to expand the output end, while Earth's Sorcerer Supreme was responsible for opening the receiving end. After controlling the exit and entrance respectively, these two parties had the power to decide the seating arrangement.

The closer the seat is to the front, the greater the return will be; however, to get a good seat, you must increase your investment.

And most importantly, the rules of this investment game have changed from equal distribution to auction.

You don't have to sit at the very front; you just need to be closer to the front than others. You also don't have to be closer to the front than everyone else; you just need to be closer to the front than your opponents.

The Ancient One smiled and said to Strange, "The next thing is to make an offer; they'll be here shortly."

Strange shrugged and said, "Well, looks like the Sanctum Sanctorum staff are going to have to work overtime again."

Then, he took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Looks like the S.H.I.E.L.D.. staff are going to be working overtime again." In the S.H.I.E.L.D.. office, Schiller took the cigarette Nick lit and said to him with a smile.

"Strange's call was timely, but you should have guessed something beforehand, right?" Nick asked him.

"Indeed."

"Are you planning to go with the flow?"

"No, I plan to add an engine to the boat."