There is a saying that everything in the universe is interconnected and mutually restraining.
Qin Xiao himself has probably almost forgotten that he, the god of fire of Asgard, initially triggered the fire god's original mark that Odin used to seal Hela because he unconsciously absorbed the Eternal Flame.
Therefore, Qin Xiao's Vulcan is essentially the same as the Asgard Vulcan's power source, but the fuel has been replaced with a more advanced, Eternal Flame.
Although Qin Xiao's body has not yet been able to unleash its full power, the nature of the flame itself will not change.
Alioth is said to be able to devour all energy, thanks to the fact that it is itself an irregular cloud of energy mist that can assimilate any energy.
The Eternal Flame is said to burn indefinitely, never going out, and becomes even more formidable when it encounters energy, expanding rapidly.
It can only be said that Alioth has met his nemesis.
Ordinary flames would extinguish once they enter the cloud layer, but they encountered this Eternal Flame that could burn indefinitely without fuel.
The fire raged instantly. Although Alioth was a creature with little intelligence, it still had an instinctive reaction as its body began to burn and evaporate.
He lunged fiercely at Qin Xiao, but a fire quickly spread across his body.
It could only let out a mournful cry, then suddenly turned around and fled back in the direction it had come from, its speed even slightly faster than before.
The parts of its body that were on fire were quickly falling off, preventing its entire body from being burned to ashes by Qin Xiao.
"Huh?"
Qin Xiao watched the cloud rapidly retreating, large chunks of flame falling from its body, and smiled as he reached out to stop it.
"Don't go! It's our first meeting. You just shook hands and left? Why don't you talk more?"
It's unclear whether it heard Qin Xiao's words or had already cleaned up the burning parts of its body.
Alioth quickened his pace slightly as he fled into the distance.
Qin Xiao laughed and dealt with the flames that had fallen to the ground.
I originally came to test the waters, but the result far exceeded my expectations. Next time I can just bring Groot along.
Since Alioth can no longer threaten me, I'll take Groot and study Groot properly to see if I can get out of here without the system, or rather, to see what's hidden inside the red cloud.
After figuring everything out, Qin Xiao went back and had a good night's sleep.
The next day, he took Groot and flew through the skies of the Knowhere, heading to find Alioth.
Because of the threat from Alioth, Qin Xiao had been following Groot around the ruins of the surrounding cities and had never gone to any faraway places.
But this time I went there specifically for Alioth, and that's when I discovered just how vast this so-called Knowhere really is.
With the little guy in tow, Qin Xiao flew frantically toward the place where the red clouds had receded yesterday. He could feel that he had almost circled the earth, but he still couldn't see any trace of Alioth.
Along the way, I saw many strange and unusual things, such as another dilapidated New York City, and even the Stark Tower, which had collapsed and was now only a few broken floors remaining.
They even found room signs for the original Avengers inside, I wonder which unfortunate parallel universe they came from.
After flying for nearly ten hours, we passed countless ruins of all kinds and saw many iconic buildings that are familiar to people around the world.
Finally, they spotted the rampaging Alioth in the distance.
This was a ruin that was no longer recognizable as a city. Beside the ruins, a black man stood looking at Alioth in the sky with a look of astonishment.
As before, Alioth conjured a head and lunged viciously at the black man.
"Finally found you?"
Qin Xiao cheered and sped off towards that direction.
Although Little Groot had agreed with Qin Xiao to go inside and take a look, and had also heard from Qin Xiao that he had a way to deal with Alioth.
But seeing Qin Xiao rush straight towards him, he couldn't help but grab Qin Xiao's collar, with flashes of lightning occasionally crackling across his body.
It showed that the little guy was a little nervous.
"It's okay! Trust me!"
Qin Xiao turned back and comforted the little guy, then with a whoosh, he charged towards Alioth with several streaks of flame.
As they drew closer, Qin Xiao could clearly see that the black man was an elderly man in his seventies.
He was wearing a black suit, and his attire made him look like an ordinary human.
The old man watched the red cloud rushing towards him, his face expressionless, as he closed his eyes and muttered something rapidly, probably praying for God's blessing.
Qin Xiao didn't have time for any greetings; he plunged directly into the illusory head, his flames still burning.
Just like last time, it was as if a flame had been thrown into a pile of cotton; the flames burst almost instantly, completely engulfing the conjured head.
Alioth let out a surprised thunderous sound, and then, like a wildcat whose tail had been stepped on, it swiftly retreated backward.
Seemingly having learned from his previous experience, Alioth quickly severed the burning parts of himself.
That part may look large, but it's nothing compared to the fact that Alioth is many times larger than a city.
"This guy's become more cunning than last time, but unfortunately it's too slow. You rest here for a while, I'll go and set fire to a few more spots on it, let's see if it breaks faster or I burn it faster!"
Qin Xiao gently placed Little Groot on the ground, nodded slightly to the black man who had already opened his eyes, and then his whole body burst into flames as he plunged headfirst into Alioth.
Alioth was simply too large. He didn't have the ability to manipulate people's minds to directly attack Alioth's heart, or rather, his soul. He could only use a clumsy method to burn most of him first.
Qin Xiao was like a rag on a dusty table; as soon as he swept across a patch of land, a large section of the clouds immediately cleared, and the flames he left behind continued to spread rapidly into the distance.
Qin Xiao moved around inside at an extremely fast speed without any purpose. Even if Alioth fell off at a fast speed, it could not make up for the large-scale damage caused by Qin Xiao.
Looking outside Alioth, the elderly Black man stared at Groot with curiosity and asked, "Are you an elf? A tree spirit or something?"
"I am Groot, I am... a tree person, Qin said. We Groot people all belong to the tree person race, you can think of us as a highly intelligent plant race."
"Groot said in a childish voice."
A hint of surprise flashed in the old man's eyes, but he still smiled and spoke to Groot.
"Hello, I am Mandela, a South Africa. By the way, are you a creature from Earth?"
There's no need to overthink Mandela; it's just a way to give the Mandela Effect a reasonable explanation here, much like how Marvel forcibly explained Loki as the legendary thief D. B. Cooper.