Before the floor-to-ceiling windows of Arkham Asylum, Schiller put on his goggles and looked at the star that had suddenly begun to shine in the sky. Strange narrowed his eyes, looked up as well, and said, "He ascended?"
Schiller shook his head. "Not necessarily. That depends on his own choice."
"This is a kind of shortcut. He has the status, but no authority. If there's any special ability involved, it's probably that he won't die."
"I honestly didn't understand the principle behind any of this..."
"You don't need to understand. You only need to know that this state can last only for a while. Once one of those connections disappears, his status will naturally decline."
"Then why did you let him ascend for that instant?"
"When you can't finish your homework, don't you want to take a peek at the answers?"
Strange had no rebuttal. Schiller sighed and said, "If we can't take a look at the answers, Asgard's predicament is nearly impossible to solve. Even if we do look, figuring out how to copy them—and whether we can do so without leaving any flaws—is another problem."
"Odin has too many concerns, Thor bears a mission, and the only one with both the ability and the spare capacity to answer is Loki. How much he can accomplish, whether he can overturn Asgard's unavoidable fate—we'll know when it's time to hand in the paper..."
In the square before the gates of Asgard Palace, Thor stood among the people of Asgard. Beautiful motes of magic drifted around the fountains, while brightly colored flowers and sweet, clear spring water were brought before him.
Odin stood at his side and raised the hand holding his spear. Amid a bolt of lightning, a crown descended and slowly settled upon Thor's head. The crowd below erupted