Nine Refinements, Nine Restorations

"Mm..." Sif lowered her head, not daring to meet his eyes.

But the place she was looking at with her head lowered seemed even less appropriate, so she quickly raised her head again, only to see Apocalypse's wicked smile.

She flushed with anger. "Let me go..."

Then she clutched her clothes and hurried away, turning her back to him.

Apocalypse laughed heartily. There was plenty of time ahead; no need to rush.

"God King, I'm preparing to continue tempering my body."

"Prince Tang's potion truly is miraculous. But each round of body tempering is more violent than the last. It may require increasingly more potions."

Apocalypse nodded. "I know my limits!"

Back in the western town, he had stopped the Destroyer and saved most of the townspeople, earning quite a few Recovery Potions. He had already accumulated several thousand bottles.

The first refinement just now had consumed over three hundred bottles. He still had plenty left, though he had no idea whether he would need more and more later.

The second refinement began!

This time, the flames were clearly larger than during the first refinement. Otherwise, they would not have been able to melt his flesh and blood. The Recovery Potions' effects had also noticeably weakened.

Clearly, higher-grade flesh and blood required more Recovery Potions.

By that logic, once he became powerful enough, Recovery Potions would no longer have any effect.

But Apocalypse had no time to think about such minor details now.

Once the second refinement and second restoration were complete, a faint sheen glimmered beneath Apocalypse's flesh and blood.

Third refinement, third restoration...

Fourth refinement, fourth restoration...

Fifth refinement, fifth restoration...

The God King Odin and Thor had gone numb. They were shocked every time he advanced another refinement, until they were stunned beyond feeling.

What the hell kind of monster was this? Hadn't they said Earthlings might not even make it through a single refinement?

And he was already at the ninth refinement!

The further it went, the more Eternal Flame it required.

The flames of the ninth refinement swept through more than half the treasury. Countless treasures were burned into nothingness.

In the end, the flames even burned through the treasury and shot hundreds of meters up to the surface.

Fortunately, the flames had risen gradually between each refinement and restoration. Sif had long since moved far away, while Thor and the God King had taken precautions in advance. Otherwise, no one knew how many people passing overhead would have suffered.

Suddenly, the flames drew back. The ninth refinement was complete!

The Eternal Flame had visibly shrunk by an entire circle.

A pure, incomparable white radiance spilled uncontrollably from Apocalypse's entire body, as though an angel had descended.

It was the outward manifestation of his physical vitality reaching an extreme level. His skin could no longer contain it, and it transformed into light that escaped outward.

Apocalypse slowly regulated his breathing and drew back the overflowing light. In the end, only a thin layer of radiance remained on his surface, refusing to be absorbed any further.

"Sif... where are my clothes?" Apocalypse called.

Sif entered at his call. At first, she was still bashful and did not dare look directly at him, but once she saw the glow around Apocalypse's body, she could no longer look away.

That radiance possessed a natural attraction. Its purity and abundant vitality made every living being yearn for it.

They walked out of the treasury.

The instant Apocalypse appeared, the aura around them all suddenly changed. It seemed as though the center of heaven and earth was tilting, and the stars were making way.

Apocalypse merely stood casually in the square, yet it felt as if this were the center of Asgard, the center of the universe.

The faint radiance emanating from him made people unable to look away.

It was the instinctive worship that living beings held for the origin of life itself. It had nothing to do with race. Looking at that light was like seeing the source of one's own life.

As Apocalypse walked forward, many subjects, influenced by the radiance around him, fell to the ground and prostrated themselves in salute.

As he passed, he left behind a corridor of kneeling people.

Apocalypse asked quietly, "Sif, Asgard doesn't have any foot-kissing ritual, does it? I'm not wearing shoes right now."

That one sentence pulled Sif out of her worshipful state. She snapped, "Pah! Who would have such a disgusting ritual!"

Over on Odin and Frigga's side, they looked at the treasury, more than half of which had been burned away. Their expressions were conflicted, and they did not know whether to be sad or happy.

Asgard ruled the Nine Realms. How precious were the treasures in its treasury? Any one of them, placed among other races, would have been a heaven-defying artifact.

Yet Apocalypse had burned most of them away with a few flames from his body tempering. It was impossible not to feel heartbroken.

Even the Infinity Gauntlet on the right hand had been scorched black. Still, as a treasure capable of bearing the power of the Infinity Stones, it had ultimately withstood the Eternal Flame.

But seeing their Prince of Asgard achieve something so heaven-defying—Nine Refinements, Nine Restorations, something unheard of—they no longer needed to worry about Asgard's future fate.

Now, they were instead worried that their current methods of winning him over did not seem sufficient.

Yet for the moment, they could not think of anything better.

Only when they saw Thor and Apocalypse fighting together did they relax slightly.

Mm... they really were fighting together.

Apocalypse had just finished tempering his body, so naturally he needed to test the results. The only person he could beat up without worry, and who could take the beating, was Thor.

Thor was not afraid either. He swung his hammer and started fighting.

The effects of the body tempering quickly revealed themselves. After fighting Thor for only a short while, his strength had already increased by twice the Hulk's power. He could now strike with five times the Hulk's strength.

Even Apocalypse himself was looking forward to seeing just how far his power would grow if he continued cultivating diligently!

"Hold on. Sif, help me wipe off my sweat."

"Okay!" Sif ran over obediently, with none of the bearing of the warrior goddess she once had, diligently searching Apocalypse's body for sweat and dust.

After she finished wiping him down, they exchanged only a few moves before Apocalypse called another halt. "Sif, come massage my shoulders. I think I strained them just now."

Thor immediately flew into a rage when he heard that. Strained them, my ass! No one even knew how ridiculously powerful his physique had become. He had only casually dealt with a few moves just now, and he claimed he had strained himself?

After being tormented like this several times, Thor finally understood. Retribution had come.

A while ago, when he had fought Apocalypse at the bar, Jane had treated his wounds. He had kept flaunting their affection, silently mocking Apocalypse for being single.

Now Jane was not by his side, and it was Apocalypse's turn to show off.

And Sif, who had once been his subordinate, had no dignity as a warrior goddess at all. He told her to wipe away sweat, but with his physique, where would any sweat come from?

And so, Apocalypse practiced martial arts, teased Thor—yes, Thor was the target—and admired the scenery with Sif. The days passed one after another.

Asgard had no spring or autumn, and no one knew how much time had passed.

One day, Heimdall suddenly came to find the God King and reported a very troublesome matter.

Loki had appeared on Earth!

The God King was startled. He did not care about the lives of Earthlings, but his son's girlfriend and Prince Tang's wife were both on Earth.

Given Loki's vicious nature, there was a high chance he would target them.

They already felt that their efforts to win over Prince Tang were insufficient. They could not let Loki turn Prince Tang into an enemy.

Unfortunately, the Rainbow Bridge had not yet been repaired. Traveling by spaceship was far too slow; by the time they arrived, Earth would be finished.

God King Odin summoned Thor and Apocalypse and explained the situation in detail.

Thor immediately grew anxious and shouted that he wanted to go to Earth.

Apocalypse knew that Loki had still found Thanos, obtained command over an army, and come to Earth to cause trouble.

The plot of Avengers had begun!

The God King sighed. "Since things have come to this, we can only use Dark Energy to send you to Earth. But sending two people requires an enormous amount of Dark Energy. I will need several days to prepare with the Council of Elders."

Apocalypse did not know exactly what Dark Energy was.

In the original story, Thor had seen Loki causing trouble on Earth and, in his desperation, used Dark Energy to teleport over.

Even Loki had said, "Father must have paid a high price. How much Dark Energy did it take to send you here?"

From that, it was clear that Dark Energy was either extremely scarce or extremely expensive.

Earth.

An abandoned factory somewhere.

Black Widow had tied several arms dealers to chairs and viciously whipped them. Their mouths were taped shut, and they could only whimper continuously.

In the original story, Black Widow had deliberately pretended to be captured and tied to a chair, using a woman's apparent weakness to pry information out of them.

But Apocalypse's arrival had forbidden her from using her seduction skills, so her style of carrying out missions over the past two years had changed completely.

She used to at least disguise herself as an innocent little rabbit. Now, she did not even bother pretending, charging in to fight and kill directly. Her style terrified her colleagues.

Moreover, Apocalypse had been gone for two years, and she had been terribly worried.

After all, he had gone to Asgard, a legendary realm, to fight legendary gods.

Apocalypse was strong, but no one could say for certain that he would win.

Everyone had seen the two Destroyers in that town. One alone could fight Apocalypse to a draw, while two had nearly killed him.

Now there had been no news for two years. No one knew whether he was alive or dead.

Iron Man, Black Widow, and the others all hoped to hear news of him, while also fearing what that news might be.

Now, Black Widow vented her anger on these unlucky arms dealers.

The arms dealers felt ten thousand mud horses stampeding through their hearts.

Ma'am, beautiful lady, please, if you want information, at least ask!

You tied us up, taped our mouths shut, and just keep whipping us. Could you be some perverted agent who enjoys torture?

Just then, a call came in.

Black Widow picked it up and immediately asked, "Has Apocalypse returned?"

On the other end of the line, Nick Fury was helpless. "Natasha, I told you, if Tang returned, I would notify you immediately. Besides, you're his wife. If he came back, he would definitely look for you first."

"Mm. Since it isn't news about him, don't call me unless it's important."

Nick Fury cursed inwardly. I'm your director. Am I not even allowed to call you?

Still, he knew this was not the time to provoke her, so he said, "I have a new mission for you."

"My current mission isn't finished yet."

The arms dealers beside her cried out in despair. "Mmph, mmph!" Did she mean she had not beaten them enough yet?

Nick Fury sighed. "Barton has betrayed us."

Black Widow immediately realized how serious this was!

Hawkeye Barton could die, but the chance of him betraying them was infinitely close to zero.

But since Director Nick Fury had said so, something earth-shattering must have happened.

She put aside her temper and asked, "Do you want me to hunt him down?"

"No! I want you to bring someone in."

A photo came through. Black Widow opened it and saw a name written on it:

Doctor Bruce Banner!