Prelude to Madness

Prelude to Madness

"He's on the move. This time, there are around forty of them, including the Abomination Xenomorph. More vampires are about to have a bad day!"

"Duva only got this far thanks to vampires! When are those bloodsuckers finally going extinct?!"

"Soon, soon. He'll kill every vampire in New York sooner or later."

Everyone knew that Duva had a particular fondness for vampires. They were numerous and relatively easy to deal with.

Even if the vampires at each stronghold fought desperately, they could at most kill off a batch of Xenomorphs. Duva could capture them to obtain even more Xenomorphs, so he did not care about such losses at all.

Naturally, everyone still believed that Duva's operation was aimed at the vampires and that he would continue expanding the Xenomorph population, which only made them more worried.

"This can't go on. We have no idea where the limit of the Xenomorph population is! If we let him keep increasing their numbers, it'll be a disaster once things spiral out of control. We have to stop him immediately, even if we have to use force!"

Having reached the end of his patience, Fury ordered Coulson to find Duva and negotiate with him. At the same time, he prepared to assemble troops. If Duva refused to obey orders, they would use military force to intimidate him.

But before long, he received word that Duva had not continued hunting vampires. Instead, he had taken his Xenomorphs aboard helicopters and flown to New Mexico.

"I must be crazy to have prepared transportation for you."

Tony Stark looked at the enormous number of Xenomorphs and regretted agreeing to Duva's request. "Jarvis, scan my brain. Has he put me under mind control?"

"No, sir. Everything is normal."

"Is that so? Maybe it's a mental suggestion? A subtler method than direct mind control. He can control dozens of Xenomorphs at once. Maybe he does it through mental suggestion." Tony felt profoundly unsafe.

"You should stop thinking about that. Did you settle the trouble with Ross? I don't want to visit you in prison." Duva spoke into his earpiece, certain Tony could hear him.

"One hundred million dollars, and they think I have issues. One billion dollars, and they think I'm blameless. Ten billion dollars, and they conclude I did the public a service. But how could I spend ten billion dollars? Those people don't care whether Ross lives or dies. They care more about whether the project he was in charge of can keep moving forward."

"Let me guess. The Super Soldier Program? Otherwise, there's no explaining why he was so determined to chase Hulk." Duva said.

"Sometimes, I suspect you read the script ahead of time. But now, more people want to contact you and incorporate your Xenomorphs into the Super Soldier Program. You must have guessed it—they asked me to approach you." Tony frowned, somewhat irritated.

Those people did not believe there was any friendship between Tony and Duva, but they believed there was a financial relationship between them. They had discovered that Tony had transferred money to Duva, and in many situations, such a relationship was more reliable than friendship.

"Plenty of people want to contact me. They always have. They're waiting for an opportunity."

"Like this time? You left, which created a window of opportunity. A lot of people with bad intentions will come for your base." Tony Stark warned him directly.

Duva might not be a superhero, but at the very least, Tony felt that dealing with someone as capable and promising as Duva was far better than associating with S.H.I.E.L.D. people.

Duva did not answer. He merely chuckled softly. The forces he had left behind were strong enough to handle most troubles, and even if someone truly powerful broke in, it did not matter.

Because the Queen had already slipped in among the more than forty Xenomorphs following him.

Asgard, a flat, round continent, lay silently across the Cosmic Starry Sky.

"Because of your recklessness, you nearly caused another World Tree War!" Odin's aged face was filled with fury and disappointment as he stared at the child in whom he had placed such high hopes.

"War is exactly what I want!"

Thor and Odin erupted into a fierce argument. Thor shouted in the hall, "Why must we hold back at every turn? I am fully capable of slaughtering those Frost Giants. Asgard absolutely has the power to conquer Jotunheim and completely end every war within the World Tree! Your finest son has more than enough strength to kill Laufey! I can't understand it. You have time to keep watch on Midgard and look into information about the Eternals, yet you refuse to offer a little more support to your outstanding son?"

Extreme worship easily bred extreme hatred.

Thor did not hate Odin, but a son who worshipped his father so intensely naturally wanted to win his father's approval and attention in the way he did best. Yet his daring actions had earned him nothing but rebukes.

The relationship between father and son worsened. Thor felt wronged, and an inexplicable, sensitive emotion began to grow within him.

Odin shot Loki a vicious glare. Loki lowered his head at once, looking utterly innocent.

"You were spying on your father?" Odin's voice turned cold.

"I was keeping an eye on my father! They're only Eternals. What's so impressive about them? That Midgardian can make one flee, and so can I!" Thor shouted.

"Heimdall told you? That makes sense. I never told him to keep such a trivial secret, just as I never expected my son to use petty tricks against me!"

Loki lowered his head even further.

Odin's expression became extremely ugly. Even though he was nearing death, he was still the God-King. Not even his own son could speak to him with such an attitude, let alone pry into his actions and openly say so! He had been closely monitoring the Eternals' movements not because of the Eternals themselves, but because of the Celestials!! More than a thousand years ago, he had united every pantheon of the World Tree and fought the Celestials who had come from afar—and suffered a crushing defeat!! And these Eternals on Earth were representatives personally created by an immensely powerful Celestial. How could Odin possibly ignore them? He had grown too old. Even bearing his own vast divine power had become painful and exhausting. If the Celestials came again, he would have no strength left to fight as he had more than a thousand years ago.

"Silence, you brute! You understand nothing at all!" Odin was utterly disappointed. Reckless Thor did not understand his painstaking concerns in the slightest.

"You cowardly old man!"

The moment Thor blurted those words out in a heated rush, he froze.

The entire hall fell silent. Everyone stared at Thor in shock. Even Loki, who had been desperately fanning the flames, widened his eyes and looked at his brother in disbelief.

What kind of joke was this? Thor had just insulted the most noble, powerful, and domineering God-King of the World Tree! "I understand now. You're jealous? Jealous that the Midgardian can accomplish what you never had the chance to accomplish, yet you want to fight violence with violence. It seems that after a thousand years of educating and raising you, I ultimately turned you into a fool who only knows how to solve problems with brute force."

Odin seemed to age by many years. At first, he had merely hesitated. Contacting Ancient One in advance had only been a precaution, but now he had made up his mind.