Chapter Summaries

Su Ming planned to establish a space-trade and shipbuilding operation on Vanaheim, using his influence with Gullveig and the Vanir to secure resources and autonomy. He arrived in Noatun with Gin and Monark, and they headed toward the artisan district to find Zemo.

• Su Ming chose Vanaheim for a branch company, spaceport, and orbital shipyard, intending to trade Earth goods for energy, Magic Items, and technology.
• Su Ming planned to leverage his aid to Vanaheim and Heimdall's account of his deeds to strengthen Gullveig's trust and gain special privileges.
• Su Ming reconsidered his original plan to use Contraxia as a base, noting its future recovery and importance as a hub for mercenaries and information.
• Su Ming, Gin, and Monark reached Noatun, Vanaheim's coastal capital, where Gin identified the market district as the artisan quarter.
• Su Ming gripped Godslayer, transformed into Gungnir, and led the group down toward the artisan district.

Su Ming and his companions searched Vanaheim for Zemo and learned that he had left the city’s craftsmen unharmed. When the star vanished and darkness fell over Vanaheim, Monark pointed out the direction it had gone, and the group rushed after it as Frost Giants flooded the streets.

• Su Ming, Gin, and Monark searched the empty streets for Zemo, while Monark killed his summoned rabbits to strengthen his magic.
• Gin led Su Ming to an old goldsmith’s shop, where Strangle found a secret room and they questioned the frightened craftsman.
• The craftsman revealed that Zemo had not harmed any of the city’s craftsmen, so Su Ming left the shop unsure of Zemo’s target.
• Monark noticed the star forming a golden stream toward the ground before it disappeared, plunging all of Vanaheim into darkness.
• Su Ming ordered the group to pursue the vanished star, while Frost Giants emerged into the panicked city streets.

Su Ming ordered Heimdall to evacuate Vanaheim’s civilians while he pursued Zemo, who had apparently used the Heart of the Sun to steal a star. He left the city’s defense to the Asgardians and focused on preventing Zemo from keeping the artifact.

• Gin asked Su Ming whether they should save the people in the streets, and he ordered Heimdall to bring the civilians back to Asgard.
• Heimdall used the Bifrost to rescue civilians from the Frost Giants, though some were killed before he could reach them.
• Su Ming decided not to join the fight, reasoning that he needed to catch Zemo before the Zemo Family escaped with the Heart of the Sun.
• Su Ming reflected on his limited knowledge of forging and on his investments in Steve, Bucky, and Peter.
• Su Ming led the way toward the horizon in pursuit of Zemo.

Su Ming attacked Zemo’s group on the dark shoreline, where the Super Axis protected their escape through a portal. Zemo escaped, but Su Ming pulled Iron Cross back through the closing portal and captured him.

• Su Ming used his helmet’s night vision to locate Zemo and the Super Axis, then went ahead alone because Madame Lotus could control Gin and Mage.
• Zemo mistook Su Ming for Odin and ordered Ge Zhe to arrange the Destiny Stones for teleportation, while Blindspot corrected the Frost Giant’s mistakes.
• Su Ming landed among the Hydra soldiers and cut through their attack, then retreated behind his cloak as they detonated themselves with Cosmic Cube energy.
• Zemo and the others escaped through the portal, but Su Ming hooked Iron Cross with Godslayer and dragged him back before the portal closed.
• Su Ming knocked Iron Cross unconscious and left him alive.

Su Ming captured Iron Cross and confirmed that Zemo was avoiding Odin rather than acting with The Serpent, clearing the remaining suspects except Mephisto. He decided not to pursue Zemo, expecting him to return Vanaheim’s star and eventually seek a way to appease Odin.

• Su Ming stripped Iron Cross from his armor and sent the scientist back to Germany through Heimdall’s Bifrost.
• Su Ming explained that Madame Lotus had escaped by manipulating what Heimdall could perceive, while Gin asked whether they should recover the star Zemo had stolen.
• Su Ming concluded that Zemo’s retreat showed he lacked The Serpent’s power and reviewed how he had secretly tested and cleared the other suspects, leaving Mephisto uninvestigated.
• Su Ming explained that he had brought Monark because Dark Magic could help him contact Mephisto, while Hamill was unsuitable for that task.
• Su Ming predicted that Zemo would return Vanaheim’s star after using the Heart of the Sun, and decided not to chase him.
• Monark realized Su Ming had expected the group to abandon the pursuit, then quietly mourned the rabbits he had killed while casting his tracking spell.

Su Ming entered Mephisto’s Hell through a Teleportation Array cast by the grieving Monark, intending to speak with Mephisto and gather information. After crossing a landscape of tortured souls, Su Ming reached a group of demons and the Handmaidens of Destruction, where Mephisto appeared to be preparing a test for him.

• Su Ming comforted Monark over the rabbits he had lost and asked him to create a Teleportation Array to Mephisto’s Hell.
• Monark cut his palm and drew the blood Magic Circle, while Su Ming ordered him to maintain the portal and entered alone.
• Su Ming arrived in Mephisto’s Hell, where Felhounds tormented souls bound to piles of bones.
• Su Ming ignored the Felhounds and walked toward the distant mountain where Mephisto was located.
• Su Ming reached a group of demons and the Handmaidens of Destruction, and suspected Mephisto was testing his worth.

Su Ming defeated the Handmaidens of Destruction after clearing away Mephisto’s demon minions, then tried to learn who had traded them as bargaining chips. The surviving Handmaiden claimed she knew nothing, leaving Su Ming without an answer as he faced the prospect of their promised revenge.

• Su Ming drew the demons and Handmaidens of Destruction apart, destroyed the demons with ranged weapons, and prepared to fight the thirteen Handmaidens at close range.
• Su Ming used Godslayer and the Nightfall Greatsword against the Handmaidens’ coordinated attacks, then adapted Godslayer into a Wolf Brush to exploit their exposed faces.
• Su Ming endured serious wounds and focused on eliminating the Handmaidens one by one, breaking their formation until he overcame them.
• Su Ming incapacitated a surviving Handmaiden and questioned her about who had used the Handmaidens as bargaining chips in a deal with Mephisto.
• Su Ming offered to explain how Bor’s curse could be lifted, but the Handmaiden said she did not know, and he kicked her head away.

Su Ming questioned Mephisto about his involvement in the war against Asgard, then escaped Hell after refusing a deal. Back in Asgard, Loki struggled with Thor and the goat pen before a talking magpie appeared and referred to their interrupted conversation.

• Su Ming confronted Mephisto, deduced that he had not helped The Serpent destroy the Nine Realms, and refused his offer to find the Contract of Saint Gonza.
• Su Ming cut his arm with a dagger and vanished from Hell, prompting Mephisto to credit the Ancient One.
• Loki finished cleaning Thor's goat pen while Thor tried to get him to drink, then Loki left using an illusion as Thor chased him.
• The real Loki stayed behind, heard laughter, and secretly poisoned the goats' feed.
• A magpie spoke to Loki from a distant tree and asked whether he would tell it another joke and continue their interrupted conversation.

Zemo used Madame Lotus to make nearly a hundred thousand German soldiers willingly tear out their hearts, intending to use them in a ritual involving the Heart of the Sun. As Blindspot and Baron Blood gathered the hearts and the Frost Giants feasted on the corpses, Zemo considered how to use the newly forged Destiny Stone and escape without consequences.

• Zemo rallied the German troops with a speech about serving the fatherland, then let Madame Lotus address them.
• Madame Lotus commanded the soldiers to offer their hearts, and nearly all of them obeyed; Axis Agents shot the few who resisted.
• Blindspot told Zemo the hearts had to be given willingly, then prepared to combine Alien technology and Asgardian magic to use them.
• Zemo assigned Blindspot the ritual and Baron Blood the task of collecting the hearts, while Ge Zhe received permission from Master Man to feed the Frost Giants with the corpses.
• Warrior Woman questioned Zemo's youth, but Master Man declared that Hydra would replace the Nazi Party as they watched the heart-gathering continue.

Su Ming returned from Hell after outmaneuvering Mephisto, then considered how to investigate The Serpent and prepare to counter him. He decided to look for Balder, whose soul had been passed among Hell planes and who had escaped into Limbo, ruled by Belasco.

• Su Ming regrouped with Mage and Gin after Mephisto had shut down the Teleportation Portal, and explained why he had avoided fighting Mephisto in Hell.
• Su Ming reasoned that Mephisto had tested his knowledge of the Magic World and that attacking a Hell Lord could have united Hell's rulers against Earth.
• Su Ming considered the unresolved questions about The Serpent's escape, whereabouts, and plans, and suspected one of his followers held the Winter Hammer.
• Su Ming recalled that Balder, Odin's son, had been cast out of the Underworld and passed among Hell planes before escaping Belasco's prison.
• Su Ming identified Balder's current location as Limbo, where Belasco ruled and where Illyana Rasputin would later become its lord.

Su Ming learned about Belasco and Limbo, then traveled there with Mage and Gin to find Balder. As they arrived in the wasteland, Su Ming worried that centuries of hiding might have driven the God of Light insane.

• Su Ming reviewed Belasco’s origins, his creation of Limbo and the Bloodstone, and his repeated failed invasions of Earth.
• Su Ming suspected that someone in Asgard had altered the timeline and that one of the All-Mothers had lied about recalling the Valkyrie.
• Su Ming asked Mage to open a portal to Limbo, and Mage cast the spell while Gin worried about his bloated stomach.
• Su Ming brought Mage, Gin, and the reluctant Pegasus Little Eight through the portal into Limbo.
• Su Ming considered the tunnels, monsters, and starvation Balder had endured and wondered whether the God of Light had gone mad.

Su Ming led Monark, Gin, and Little Eight into the insect tunnels to search for Balder, following traces of slime toward a nest of Tentacle Creatures. They found the monsters and fought their way into the cavern, where Strangle discovered that eating them could help it grow.

• Su Ming assigned the group their positions and used Little Eight's hearing and Strangle's sense of smell to help navigate the tunnels.
• At a cavern full of passages, Su Ming followed dried slime trails left by Tentacle Creatures to choose a route downward.
• After more than an hour, the group reached a cavern packed with Tentacle Creatures, and the monsters spotted them.
• Su Ming attacked the swarm while Gin and Little Eight protected Monark as he struggled to cast spells.
• Su Ming ordered Strangle to taste a Tentacle Creature, and Strangle reported that the monsters were delicious and beneficial to it.
• Su Ming switched Godslayer into twin blades and cut through the swarm while Cloak carried him above the fight and Strangle devoured the fallen creatures.

Su Ming assessed Strangle’s new abilities after it devoured an enormous creature in the underground tunnels, while Monark endured the psychic assault of the monsters through his astral sight. Strangle gained the power to digest inorganic matter and imitate its material composition, and Su Ming promised it demon heads as they prepared to continue.

• Monark vomited from the monsters’ psychic noise while keeping his astral sight open, and Su Ming judged that he had not gone mad.
• Su Ming asked Strangle to demonstrate what it had gained from devouring the creature.
• Strangle showed that it could coat Su Ming’s hand in armor and secrete a viscous fluid, but Su Ming dismissed the defensive boost as unimpressive.
• Strangle digested a stone and then changed a tentacle’s composition to imitate stone, which Su Ming recognized as a useful new ability.
• Strangle failed to digest Tenth Metal, and Su Ming praised it and promised demon heads after they caught up with the demon army.

Su Ming fed Strangle a variety of materials and transformed his armor into a living, adaptable suit as the group tracked the demon army underground. When a giant worm ambushed them, Strangle held its jaws open while Su Ming entered its body to search for clues.

• Su Ming tested Strangle's ability to imitate metals, cloth, glass, and plastic, confirming that the new forms were reliable and reduced its vulnerability to fire.
• Su Ming fed Strangle his Promethium-and-Nth-Metal armor, creating Strangle's Icon Form, and recovered the Eye of Ra that Strangle expelled.
• Su Ming, Gin, Mage, and Monark followed the demon army's footprints through the tunnels, and Gin warned the group when Pegasus sensed an enemy behind them.
• A giant, many-legged worm burst through the tunnel floor and lunged at Su Ming.
• Strangle stretched into tentacles that braced the worm's jaws open, and Su Ming entered its digestive tract to search the corpses inside for clues.

Loki followed a black magpie to a hidden chamber, where he met an older version of himself, who revealed that he had scattered seven birds to carry out a concealed plan. The chapter showed the first bird delivering Loki’s instructions to The Revealer and ended with the bird returning to repeat its message.

• Loki followed a black magpie through an illusory pond into a dark chamber, where green flames revealed an older version of himself.
• Old Loki explained that seven black magpies had carried pieces of his plan and said the last bird had come to find Loki.
• Old Loki’s account described how he used stories to conceal changes across the Nine Realms and evade Deathstroke’s notice.
• The first magpie instructed The Revealer to watch Loki, prepare for the next war, and make a contract with Mephisto using news of an artifact that could destroy the multiverse.
• The Revealer received Loki’s unfinished story about Deathstroke, stored it, and recited a contract to a Hell Lord.
• A black magpie returned to The Revealer and repeated its opening question and message.

Aged Loki revealed how he had sent black magpies to manipulate Mephisto, Zemo, Surtur, Kang, and Frigga as part of a long-running plan. He began recruiting his younger self by offering a chance to avert Ragnarök and save their family, while pursuing a way to draw Deathstroke toward the Magic World.

• A black magpie delivered Loki’s deal to Mephisto, offering the Handmaidens of Destruction as a deposit in exchange for help becoming Satan in the Future.
• Another black magpie manipulated young Zemo into leading an army to Asgard and releasing The Serpent, then left him to realize he had acted without control.
• Loki’s agents persuaded Surtur to help provoke Ragnarök, gave Kang a temporal coordinate, and kept a black magpie near Frigga so aged Loki could watch his mother.
• Aged Loki explained that Deathstroke resisted having his story rewritten, so he needed to enter the story himself to approach him.
• Aged Loki told young Loki that Balder was alive and that Ragnarök could be avoided, then asked whether he wanted to save his mother and Thor, remove Odin, and take the throne.

Loki learned that Mephisto would use the Crown of Fear to seize Satan’s throne, and that erasing Loki’s thoughts was the only way to destroy the crown. He agreed to let his future self overwrite him, then left to say farewell to Thor while hiding his true plan.

• The older Loki told the younger Loki that Mephisto would claim Satan’s throne that night and that the Crown of Fear could only be destroyed by erasing the thoughts from which it was made.
• The younger Loki resisted sacrificing himself but agreed to let his future self overwrite his soul, in exchange for private conversations with three people and silence about the future.
• Loki found Thor in a burning garden, hugged him, and asked him to kill Loki if he ever became evil.
• Thor promised to protect Loki and reject the fate of Ragnarök, while Loki cried and called him a fool.
• Loki tricked Thor with his Cloak and water magic, then watched him chase the decoy and said goodbye to his brother.

Loki said goodbye to Frigga and Odin before returning to the sinkhole, where he accepted his future self’s final deception and took up the mantle of the God of Stories. Odin and Ancient One revealed that they had secretly arranged events to protect Asgard and the universe, while the newly crowned Loki left the flames knowing he needed help to write an ending.

• Loki visited Frigga and Odin’s Slumber, then used invisibility to leave the Golden Palace and return to the sinkhole.
• Odin and Ancient One revealed that they had coordinated events, allowing Loki and Deathstroke to act in their larger plan to protect Asgard and the universe.
• Old Loki told young Loki of a hopeful ending, but Loki recognized it as a lie and asked about the true conclusion.
• Old Loki offered Loki the black magpie, and Loki swallowed it as his future self merged into him.
• Loki put on the helmet from the stone platform, declared that he had deceived himself, and emerged from the flames as the new king.

After sensing a mysterious resonance in the Tenth Metal, Su Ming reconsidered the strange behavior surrounding Asgard and realized he might have been pursuing a false mission. He withdrew from the search for Baldr and began planning how to resist Loki, the God of Stories, and his control over events.

• Su Ming sensed a universe-wide disturbance through the Tenth Metal, though Strangle and Monark had felt nothing.
• Su Ming recalled the suspicious behavior of Odin, Zemo, and Heimdall, then asked Gin whether Asgard had experienced inexplicable incidents.
• Gin mentioned Loki and Amora, prompting Su Ming to suspect that Ancient One had deliberately guided him toward becoming the Sorcerer Supreme after studying timelines.
• Su Ming abandoned the search for Baldr, dug upward, and concluded that the Serpent mission had been an illusion.
• Su Ming considered how Loki and Kang might have shaped his experiences and resolved to interfere with the story's fundamental elements rather than keep following Loki's script.

Ciri retrieved Loki’s unfinished book from the Revealer of Stories, disrupting the future written within it. Back in Limbo, Su Ming examined the book and began choosing people outside Loki’s story who could help derail his plan.

• Ciri decapitated the Revealer of Stories, took Loki’s book, and returned with it to Slade.
• Ciri told Su Ming that the Revealer could not be killed, and Su Ming accepted the book and arranged for her promised car.
• Su Ming explained that taking the book had made the future uncertain and might buy him time against Loki’s plan.
• Su Ming searched the book for names and considered Ciri a suitable person to disrupt the story because she came from another world.
• Su Ming ruled out Deadpool after finding Loki’s symbol for him in the book.