Chapter Summaries

Salomon prepared Yugoslavia’s forces and allies for the coming war in Asgard while repairing the veil in the Faroe Islands. Tony Stark arrived to question him about the disaster, accepted an invitation to join the project involving Asgardian technology, and reminded Salomon that they still had a score to settle over Halle Airport.

• Victor von Doom contacted the Emperor about government affairs and the Yugoslav frigates approaching Spanish waters, while they discussed preparations for the expedition to Asgard.
• The Emperor and Victor von Doom coordinated supplies, repairs to the Attila base, Wakandan support, and the reactivation and gene-modification of the Brotherhood of the Shield’s stored warriors.
• Victoria Hand told the Emperor that Tony Stark wanted to speak with him and was flying toward the Faroe Islands; the Emperor told her to refuse the call and let Stark come to him.
• Tony Stark landed on the ice and asked Salomon about the vanished islands, Odin’s death, and the casualties from Odin’s power.
• Salomon explained his wager with Odin and invited Stark to join a project involving Asgardian science and technology; Stark accepted but brought up their unresolved dispute over Halle Airport.

Tony Stark confronted Salomon over Bruce Banner and Thaddeus Ross, while Salomon explained that Banner’s soul was being consumed by Hulk and warned that the sea would soon reopen. Salomon agreed to take Stark to Banner after Stark offered to help resolve the crisis over Ross’s disappearance.

• Tony Stark arrived to demand that Salomon hand over Bruce Banner and reveal Thaddeus Ross’s whereabouts, offering political and economic concessions.
• Tony Stark learned that the US government had secretly tasked him with finding Ross and hoped a confrontation with Salomon’s allies might eliminate political problems.
• Salomon told Tony Stark that Banner was undergoing an exorcism because Hulk was a parasitic being that would eventually drain Banner’s soul.
• Salomon warned Tony Stark to leave before rescue teams arrived and invited him to join an interstellar war seven days later aboard a prepared Quinjet.
• Tony Stark offered to help settle the US government’s concerns about Ross in exchange for seeing Banner, and Salomon agreed to take him along.

Salomon took Tony Stark to the City of Immortals, revealed that he had founded the Brotherhood of the Shield eight thousand years earlier, and removed an Outer Dimensional Entity from Stark. Stark then visited Bruce Banner, who remained in the institute and worried about Hulk and Betty.

• Salomon warned Tony Stark that the fragile Veil of Reality prevented him from using Teleportation Magic, then silenced Stark when his questions became too disruptive.
• Salomon and Dinah brought Stark by helicopter to the City of Immortals, where Salomon revealed that he had founded the Brotherhood of the Shield and explained his time travel and its eight-thousand-year history.
• Salomon performed a purification ritual on Stark, removed an Outer Dimensional Entity from his mind, and crushed it beneath his foot.
• Stark followed Christina to Bruce Banner's room and learned that Banner felt safer in the institute but feared Hulk was part of his soul.
• Stark asked Banner about Secretary of State Ross and Betty, then considered finding a way to confirm Ross's condition.

Tony Stark visited Bruce Banner and examined the research facility’s Red Hulk specimens while trying to investigate his own experiences. Meanwhile, Salomon arranged wartime industrial resources and helped Laura Croft continue excavating the City of Immortals, where she sought answers about the Emperor and a promised dragon.

• Bruce Banner told Tony Stark that the researchers had treated him carefully and that he had received sedatives during examinations, while Stark continued questioning whether the incense he had inhaled had caused hallucinations.
• Christina approved Stark’s request to take one Thaddeus E. Ross and led him to a room where he saw a living Red Hulk and several severed, regenerating heads that retained their memories.
• Salomon negotiated technology transfers and production lines with Stark Industries to support the coming war, then arranged for trained soldiers to help Laura Croft excavate more than a thousand stasis pods.
• Laura told Salomon that her research connected the Croft family to the Emperor and that she had written papers about Eridu and the flood using his testimony.
• Laura demanded to know when she would see the dragon, and Salomon told her to keep digging.

Laura Croft learned that the Brotherhood of the Shield’s records concealed dangerous knowledge about an ancient dragon, while Salomon prepared to leave Earth for an interstellar war. He recruited Tony Stark as a military observer and offered him intelligence on the approaching Alien Fleet in exchange for support, leaving Stark to prepare for their departure in seven days.

• Laura Croft questioned Salomon about the dragon in the Euphrates Blood Pact, and he warned her that some knowledge could not be refused once encountered.
• Laura Croft invited Salomon to join her in the bath, and he said he would soon leave for Asgard to take part in an interstellar war.
• Salomon met Tony Stark in the City of Immortals, where Stark had delivered a captured portion of the Secretary of State for processing.
• Salomon told Stark that an Alien Fleet would reach Earth within at most half a year and offered real-time intelligence in return for a low-interest loan and rare metals for Yugoslavia.
• Tony Stark agreed to join Salomon’s Interstellar War Military Observer Group, and Salomon said they would leave in seven days.

Tony Stark returned to Iowa after Salomon sent him away from the City of Immortals, and he tried to investigate where he had been. Salomon then met awakened candidates to assign them roles and found Laura Croft asleep after her long excavation work.

• Salomon promised Tony Stark support for Pepper Potts, including an Artificial Human assistant, as Tony prepared to become Secretary of Defense.
• Tony Stark discovered Yugoslavia’s steel supply exceeded what its reported mills and imports could provide, while Salomon kept the portal and off-world mining operation secret.
• Tony Stark appeared in front of a truck in Iowa, paid the driver for an account of what happened, and ordered tools to search for trace evidence.
• Salomon welcomed the first awakened candidate and discussed benevolence and Great Harmony under Heaven with him.
• Salomon reunited with Louis, who asked to fight beside him again, and assigned another guest to deal with prisoners who had harmed innocents.
• After meeting candidates for three hours, Salomon returned to find Laura Croft asleep on the sofa and carried her to bed.

After reuniting with Bayonetta and Jeanne, Salomon spent a week at Oxfordshire Manor before Victor von Doom asked him to protect the Rejuvenation Drug company from an attempted takeover. Salomon agreed to resolve the threat in the United States and prepared for a covert armed operation.

• Bayonetta confronted Salomon about his other relationships and demanded he stay at Oxfordshire Manor for two weeks, while she revealed that her dreams had shown her and Jeanne memories of his eight-thousand-year-old experiment with Inanna.
• Bayonetta and Jeanne spent a week with Salomon at the manor, while Wanda Maximoff, Laura Croft, and Athena visited.
• Victor von Doom told Salomon that the Rejuvenation Drug company was being targeted for acquisition and that Salomon’s false identity as its CEO needed to protect its interests.
• Salomon rejected involving supernatural power and agreed to handle the threat discreetly, while criticizing Victor von Doom for being too cautious about their political and financial rivals.
• Salomon armed himself and Dinah, prepared a pistol for Lorna Dane, and planned to identify the conspirators at a cocktail party before killing them that night.

Victor von Doom managed preparations for the Asgard expedition and the coming war with Turkey while Salomon traveled to the United States to take control of Hydra’s affairs. After a dinner with Gideon Malick’s associates, Salomon set out with Dinah and Lorna Dane to attack a New Jersey estate, where Lorna disabled the security systems and waited at the extraction point.

• Victor von Doom signed measures addressing military resistance, the Tatooine Plan, and preparations for the expedition and the coming war against Turkey.
• Salomon arrived at the Malik family villa with weapons, and Gideon Malick persuaded him to discuss Hydra’s demands rather than immediately retaliate against the families behind the attack on Whitehall Pharmaceutical Company.
• Salomon offered Hydra’s bodyguards modifications and Super Soldiers through the City of Immortals, explained his knowledge of Erskine and Howard Stark, and asked Gideon to arrange a dinner.
• At the dinner, Salomon received offers of cooperation, while Gideon was pleased that Salomon planned for Stephanie Malik to join the expedition and its aftermath.
• Afterward, Salomon left with Dinah, met Lorna Dane, and drove with her to the New Jersey estate where she had scouted the security arrangements.
• Lorna used an electromagnetic blast to disable the estate’s lights and radio equipment, then went to the extraction point as Salomon and Dinah prepared to enter.

The Emperor assembled a small Yugoslav expedition and launched three Helicarriers toward Asgard to assess the Dark Order and Thanos, while Steve Rogers and Tony Stark joined the mission. A week into the voyage, the fleet headed into deep space as the Emperor remained troubled by Odin’s missing Valhalla.

• Diana List saw the Emperor appear unexpectedly in Victor von Doom’s office, where he discussed Hydra and Gideon Malick before leaving with Dinah.
• Five days later, Salomon collected Tony Stark near Hawaii and brought him aboard Sky Sword Space Station, where Stark confronted Steve Rogers over the Avengers’ past.
• The Emperor prepared an expedition of twenty thousand Mortal Soldiers, three thousand Gene-modded Warriors, and fifty Imperial Guards, while confirming that Hela’s rebellion was fighting Thor in Asgard and Valhalla had not appeared.
• The Emperor boarded the Cross Rose with his commanders and ordered the three Helicarriers to depart; Sophia warned Tony Stark that the fleet was entering uncharted deep space and restricted his access to the ship’s systems.
• During the first week aboard the Cross Rose, Sophia caught Tony Stark attempting to breach the ship’s firewall and confined him for three days, while Steve Rogers befriended the soldiers and discussed their mission with Stark.
• The Emperor continued working aboard the fleet and began another prophecy to check Asgard, still uneasy that Odin’s Valhalla had not appeared.

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers learned that superpowers came from ancient Wild Gods, while the Emperor led the fleet through hyperspace to Asgard. They arrived to find the island devastated and under Hela’s control, and the Emperor allied with Thor to prepare for the coming attack and evacuate civilians.

• Tony Stark showed Steve Rogers files linking superpowers to the Wild Gods, Peter Parker’s abilities to the Spider Goddess, and the Super Soldier Serum to forces beyond science.
• The three Helicarries crossed the Outer Dimensions under the Emperor’s protection and emerged near Asgard’s floating island.
• The Emperor’s soldiers landed at a ruined Asgardian spaceport, where Lorelei approached the group and Thor soon arrived.
• The Emperor agreed to help Thor fight the Dark Order and evacuate Asgardians in exchange for Odin’s throne technology and prototype.
• Thor assigned Tony Stark and Steve Rogers to help Heimdall evacuate civilians while he and the Emperor prepared to confront Hela.

The Emperor’s forces fought their way through Asgard and launched an assault on Hela’s defenses, while Thor and Loki struggled to protect the refugees and secure food. The Emperor’s troops infiltrated the Golden Palace and discovered a landing field containing fifty assault craft, which he recognized as a likely trap before preparing to face Hela himself.

• Thor met Loki among the refugees, learned they had almost no food, and planned to reach a supply warehouse with his help.
• The Emperor’s army bombarded Hela’s undead forces and Asgard’s defenses for six hours, then shifted to a rapid assault toward the Golden Palace.
• The First Knight Order exploited a brief gap in the palace shield and sent three strike teams inside to disable its generators.
• The Emperor’s forces attacked a hidden landing field beneath a noble estate and destroyed the Asgardian assault craft stored there.
• After finding fifty assault craft and suspecting a trap, the Emperor ordered Aparajita to prepare for battle and said he would face Hela himself.

The Emperor’s forces fought through Asgardian troops and undead toward the Golden Palace, drawing Hela into battle. The Emperor confronted Hela amid Ragnarok’s summoned warriors and declared that Asgard would repay humanity for the power Borr had stolen.

• Constantine led the assault toward hidden landing fields, where Imperial bombardments and hover-bike attacks devastated Asgardian soldiers and transports.
• Asgardian noble private soldiers and rune wizards counterattacked, but Aparajita and the Knights broke through their defenses and killed a rune wizard.
• Hela attacked the landing zone, regenerated after a rocket strike, and commanded undead warriors while Asgard’s heroic spirits gathered around her.
• The Emperor used the Sacred Sword’s flames to destroy the ordinary Dark Magic walking corpses, then led the Imperial Guard and armored forces against Hela’s line.
• The Emperor and Hela fought as Pegasus struck Fenrir and the Emperor cut the giant wolf down; the Emperor then faced Hela and demanded that Asgard repay humanity’s debt.

The Emperor’s forces captured the Golden Palace and seized its library while he fought Hela, then he explained to her why Asgard’s expansion and her rule were doomed. The Emperor left Hela wounded and under pressure as his troops prepared to take Hliskjálf and the information needed to build a version on Earth.

• The Emperor fought Hela until the Golden Palace’s shield fell, allowing Constantine, Hammurabi, and the knights to break through Asgard’s defenses and capture the palace entrance.
• Hela tried to escape the battle, but the Emperor disarmed and wounded her; she fled into the artillery smoke as Asgardian forces retreated and the knights secured the Throne Zone and library.
• The Emperor ordered Constantine to prepare the seizure of Hliskjálf and inspected the library, where the diviners’ records showed that Hela had killed them after they studied the Níðhöggr phenomenon.
• The Emperor assigned Tita to garrison duty and entered a reception room, where he found Hela recovering on a couch.
• The Emperor told Hela that Odin had halted expansion because its costs threatened Asgard, and that Asgard’s low population and looming destruction left her no viable path to victory.
• Hela accused the Emperor of deliberately weakening Asgard and using Thor’s refugees as experimental subjects, while the Emperor argued that Borr’s attempt to create a superior race had ignored the need for wisdom and reproduction.

Salomon negotiated with Hela for Asgard’s ships and artifacts in exchange for leaving her the kingdom and helping her face the Dark Order. He began evacuating Asgard’s survivors and dismantling its technology while Hela prepared to delay Thanos.

• The Emperor explained to Hela how the Asgardians’ failed attempt to rebuild the Earth Machine’s Rebirth Chamber had produced Valhalla and Niflheim, and warned that the Dark Order was approaching with the Power Stone.
• The Emperor offered Hela ships and freedom to rule Asgard if she delayed Thanos, while he took the Infinity Gem-related artifacts and left her equipment to fight with.
• Hela agreed to the deal, and the humans organized the evacuation of Asgard’s living people while setting explosives and traps for the Dark Order.
• Salomon and his forces entered the treasury and took the Tesseract, while the Eternal Flame and Surtur’s skull were assigned to Hela for use against the invaders.
• Martian Technicians dismantled the Supreme Throne and removed its valuable conduits for study as the Emperor prepared to leave Asgard.

The Emperor evacuated Asgard’s survivors and valuable equipment while preparing to observe the Dark Order’s invasion. After his fleet escaped through the Bifrost route, it launched missiles at the approaching enemy and left Hela to face the invasion with her undead army.

• The Emperor’s forces loaded the Supreme Throne and other equipment onto their ships, while Mars Foundry prepared explosives to destroy abandoned machinery.
• The Emperor and Heimdall agreed that Heimdall would provide Bifrost activation runes in exchange for the safe evacuation of Asgardians, and Heimdall insisted Loki join future negotiations.
• The Emperor’s fleet left Asgard, spotted Chitauri scouts, and accelerated toward a Bifrost entrance as the Dark Order discovered their presence.
• Hela led her undead army against the Chitauri and the Dark Order’s bioengineered war beasts while the Emperor prepared to support her from his fleet.
• The Emperor fired five interstellar missiles at the Dark Order fleet, ordered his forces to record the damage, and began their return journey.

The Emperor evacuated the human and Asgardian refugee fleet to Earth, then returned to Latveria to plan the coming war against Thanos and the Dark Order. He recruited Steve Rogers to build a resistance force in Australia while preparing humanity for an invasion.

• The Emperor and Heimdall opened the Bifrost after a nuclear missile strike revealed the Dark Order fleet's defenses, and the refugee fleet escaped to Earth.
• The Emperor returned to Latveria, where Victor von Doom pressed him to resume work on the coming campaigns and officials debated plans for Greece, Turkey, and settling the Asgardians.
• Natasha Romanoff arrived with Yelena Belova and rescued Black Widows, and the Emperor told Natasha that Asgard had been destroyed and the Dark Order was approaching Earth.
• The Emperor explained to Steve Rogers that he planned to lure the Dark Order into a ground war in Australia's Victoria Desert and asked Rogers to organize an armed force there.
• Steve Rogers accepted the mission, and the Emperor said he also wanted to contact Tony Stark to enlist him personally in the war.

Salomon recruited Tony Stark to help build a solar-system defense network and explained his plan to draw Thanos into a limited war on Earth. He revealed the supernatural threats behind humanity’s contingency plans to Steve Rogers, who left shaken, while Natasha learned that mysticism underlay the Super Soldier Serum.

• Salomon asked Natasha Romanoff to contact Nick Fury and invited Tony Stark to lead a space-minefield project, then showed Stark evidence of the Dark Order fleet.
• Salomon outlined a defense strategy that included striking the fleet, preserving satellites, and luring Thanos into a limited ground war in Australia; Stark agreed to help with the raid and minefield.
• Tony Stark reviewed the space-mine plans, improved their communications system, and arranged to build an Australian wildlife park in California while checking on Peter Parker.
• Salomon showed Steve Rogers a reorganization plan for mortal forces and a last-resort protocol allowing catastrophic measures if supernatural threats overwhelmed Earth.
• Salomon demonstrated how a cursed sequence of numbers could summon an Outer Dimension entity, then erased Steve’s memory of the numbers; Steve left exhausted and frightened.
• Natasha asked about the Super Soldier Serum, and Salomon revealed that mysticism, rather than science, had truly made it work.