Mage Shield and Epilogue

New Mexico, the third day after Thor was bailed out.

Chen Xiao was bent over the table, writing something. Then he raised his left hand, and a palm-sized blue magic circle appeared in his palm. Rings upon rings revolved around the central hexagram, while blue sparks occasionally flickered along the edges—a miniature version of Kamar-Taj's standard energy shield.

The entire magic circle trembled slightly, looking ready to shatter at the slightest touch. His gaze fixed on the light shield, his brow faintly furrowed. His right index finger tapped the circle, changing the rune arrangement. The rotating rings stopped, slowly forming a triangle around the outside. Then he lifted his right hand, and the triangular formation replicated upward into three.

Chen Xiao pushed forward, and the magic circle slowly left his hand. With a wave of his fingers, the three small triangles arranged themselves into a large triangular shield, hovering before his chest—then it collapsed with a soft pop. Blue motes drifted through the room like fireflies for a few seconds before going dark.

"Still no good," he muttered.

Kamar-Taj's energy shields were temporary defensive measures. A sorcerer had to maintain them continuously, and in battle they could only protect one side before being dismissed. What he wanted was something else—a permanent shield that did not require constant concentration and could automatically block attacks. The kind he could wear and forget about.

The principle was not difficult. The hard part was endurance and stability.

Chen Xiao sighed, picked up the cola beside the table, and took a drink. Several rubbings from ancient Kamar-Taj texts lay spread across the tabletop, covered in complicated rune diagrams. Beside them were his dense pencil notes, most of them complaints like "dead end," "already tried this," and "Teacher, could you explain this properly?"

He set down the cola and formed the magic circle again.

For the past three days, he had barely left the motel.

On the first day, he had taken a walk around town and confirmed that Thor was "learning Earth culture" at Jane's workshop. Through Observation Haki, he sensed Thor losing his temper at a coffee machine while Selvig explained, "This isn't an Asgardian wine barrel," and Jane rolled her eyes as she organized the materials Thor had thrown into disarray. Chen Xiao smiled, bought a hamburger, and returned to the motel.

On the second day, he had peeked through a blue light portal out of sheer boredom. He saw Thor standing before a whiteboard, earnestly explaining the Nine Realms to Jane and Selvig. Asgard, Jotunheim, the Rainbow Bridge, the World Tree... Thor spoke seriously, without boasting or arrogance. He simply stated the facts, like an old soldier recalling his homeland. Jane listened, utterly absorbed, while Selvig remained skeptical but attentive.

Chen Xiao closed the portal and did not peek again. He felt he had gone a little too far.

On the third day—today—he had been studying shields the whole time.

Now, he formed the magic circle once more. Blue arcs danced at his fingertips as blue runes slowly rearranged and connected under the guidance of his thoughts. The triangular shields gradually revolved around him, but their stability was still insufficient. The shield continued to tremble.

"If I raise the energy output by another order of magnitude..." he muttered, drawing an arc along the edge of the magic circle with his finger. The energy intensity abruptly surged.

The formation brightened, and the trembling seemed to lessen. Chen Xiao's eyes lit up. This might work. The magic circle gradually stabilized, on the verge of holding—

Boom.

A dull, thunderous sound came from afar, and the ground jolted violently. The cola bottle on the table shook, toppled over, and the remaining half bottle of cola gurgled across the table, soaking the ancient text rubbings.

The magic circle shuddered violently and shattered into motes of light, like glass struck by a stone. Chen Xiao had no time to stabilize it. The energy output broke for an instant, and the formation completely collapsed.

"My rubbings!" Chen Xiao's eyes widened. He grabbed the cola-soaked ancient text rubbings and shook them, but most of his notes had already blurred into an unreadable mess. He stared at the smeared writing in silence for two seconds, then slowly turned to look out the window.

A second tremor came, even more violent. The windowpanes buzzed and rattled. In the distance came faint, heavy sounds of metal striking the ground, as though something enormous was smashing into the earth.

Chen Xiao stood and walked to the window, pulling back the curtains and opening it.

Panicked cries for help came from outside. People were running everywhere, along with Black people looting???

Chen Xiao's Observation Haki instantly spread outward.

Three kilometers away, at the edge of town, four powerful energy sources were moving rapidly. Their energy signatures differed from ordinary humans, but resembled Thor's. They were Asgardians.

Four people, three men and one woman.

Then he sensed a fifth. No, not a "person." It was a humanoid metal object over three meters tall, devoid of any sign of life, attacking as though swatting mosquitoes.

It was the Destroyer.

Thor's story had seemed to take a long time, yet it had reached its end in only a few short days. Chen Xiao shook his head and cast aside his jumbled thoughts. Right now, he was interested in what the Destroyer was made of.

Because his Observation Haki had penetrated that metal object's outer shell, allowing him to sense an ancient incantation floating where its heart should be. The energy it gathered was stored in the magic circle, then amplified by the metal body into devastating beams of destruction. Energy flowed through it with remarkable smoothness, without any blockage or loss, and it provided an enormous boost to energy.

Good stuff. I want it!

"Uru Metal..." he murmured, the corners of his mouth slowly rising. An Asgardian specialty, the finest magical conductive material in the Nine Realms. Odin's Eternal Spear and Thor's Mjolnir were both forged from Uru.

He looked at the cola-soaked rubbings, then at the dark-red pillar of light fading outside the window.

"Consider it payment for all my hard work these past few days."

He changed into his sorcerer's robes, then—

Crackle—

A bolt of brilliant blue lightning shot out the window and vanished into the night sky.

Forty minutes earlier.

Above the desert, a multicolored pillar of light tore through the night sky, shooting from the clouds to the ground. It lasted around three seconds before fading away. When it vanished, it left behind a huge circular scorch mark on the ground, its intricate patterns emitting a faint golden afterglow.

Four figures rose from the center of the scorched mark.

Sif was the first to straighten up, her black hair fluttering lightly in the night wind. She wore silver-gray armor, with a longsword at her waist. Her expression was stern, but there was a hint of a smile on her lips. She glanced back at the three people behind her.

Volstagg climbed to his feet, patted the sand off his backside, and grinned broadly. Fandral adjusted his windblown golden hair, his smile as dashing as ever. Hogan silently rose to his feet, a spiked mace hanging from his belt. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly; for him, that counted as a smile.

Sif pulled a palm-sized golden rune stone from the leather pouch at her waist. A faint glow flowed across its surface, pointing toward the town.

"Heimdall said Thor is here." Sif put away the rune stone, her smile widening. "Come on. Let's go see our prince."

The four rushed toward the town, their strides light, as though heading to a long-awaited reunion.

In Jane's workshop, Thor was still battling the coffee machine.

Jane sat on the sofa across from him, holding a notebook crammed with writing.

Over the past two days, Thor had told them far too many things.

The structure of the Nine Realms. The nine kingdoms of the World Tree. The thousand-year grudge between Asgard and Jotunheim. How the Rainbow Bridge worked. Odin's Eternal Spear. Jane's notebook was nearly full.

"So," Jane said, flipping a page in her notebook and looking up at Thor, "the Rainbow Bridge's energy output is based on some kind of... spatial folding? Or dimensional travel?"

"Both," Thor said. "The Rainbow Bridge is not merely transportation. It punches a hole between the branches of the World Tree. Asgard's energy core controls whether that hole opens or closes. I don't understand the principle. That's Heimdall's business."

Selvig walked over from the window and sat opposite Thor. "You don't understand the principle, but you've used it."

"I have used it. That doesn't mean I understand it." Thor lifted the freshly brewed coffee and took a sip. "Just like you Midgardians drive cars without necessarily knowing how the engine works."

Selvig fell silent for a moment, then laughed. "That analogy is surprisingly down-to-earth."

The corner of Thor's mouth twitched. Just as he was about to say something, a tapping sound came from the glass, and he turned toward the window.

As familiar faces appeared before him, overwhelming joy surged through Thor's heart. Like a child who had found his way home, he let out a loud cheer.