The azure sea gently lapped against the white sand, churning up fine foam.
Sunlight filters through the swaying palm leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
The air was filled with the salty, fishy smell of sea salt and the smoky aroma of grilled fish.
Thor casually poked at the sizzling, oily grouper roasting over the campfire with a sharpened twig.
Beneath the golden-yellow fish skin, the snow-white fish meat exudes an enticing aroma.
Galatea sat on a smooth rock, its surface polished by the sea, her arms wrapped around her knees, silently gazing at the horizon where the sea met the sky.
She had changed out of her combat uniform into a simple T-shirt and shorts, but her cold, aura that kept strangers at bay remained unchanged.
The Kryptonite within her body was slowly eroding her power, and the long-lost feeling of weakness made her feel unfamiliar and irritable.
Finally, she broke the silence, and for the first time, pure confusion appeared on her usually expressionless face.
What exactly is your purpose in doing this?
Thor paused for a moment, seemingly surprised that this taciturn artificial weapon would speak on its own initiative.
He looked up, glanced at Galatea, and then poked the fattest part of the grilled fish's back with a twig.
"To be honest," he mumbled, blowing on the fish meat on the branch and stuffing it into his mouth, "There was no purpose behind it."
He chewed and swallowed the fish before slowly adding, "I just wanted to give that dark bat something to do. Those so-called magical artifacts were just things I suddenly thought of and casually made up. I didn't think much about it at all."
These casual words froze Galatea's body.
The strongest beings on Earth in the Watchtower are racking their brains over this, even going so far as to mobilize global resources for a thorough search. And the culprit behind all this is just a trivial thought?
Beside her, Hawkgirl Shayera who was polishing her Nth Metal warhammer with a piece of metal, also stopped what she was doing.
She looked up at Thor.
"Then you said at the press conference that whoever collects all seven artifacts can have any wish granted."
Shayera's voice carried the questioning quality characteristic of a soldier, "However, those conditions for recognition are fundamentally contradictory. Someone might meet a single condition, but to get all the artifacts to recognize the same person is simply impossible."
"Indeed," Thor readily admitted, tearing off another piece of fish, "It's basically impossible. Because I never even considered that anyone could actually put them all together."
He found it somewhat amusing to look at the mixture of absurdity and shock on the two women's faces.
Isn't this the same tactic used by game companies in my past life?
By setting up an impossible goal, they lure countless players into a frenzied competition for that Void reward.
Oh, he forgot, these two women probably don't even know what a game is, and even if they do, they might not have played it. It's normal for them to be confused.
Galatea pressed on, her voice soft yet unusually persistent. "What if... someone could truly meet all seven conditions simultaneously and gain the approval of all the divine artifacts?"
This question seemed to finally make Thor take it seriously for a brief moment.
He stopped eating the fish, looked up at the boundless sky, and unconsciously drew circles in the sand with his fingers.
"Then let's grant his wish." He shrugged, speaking as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"It's not that difficult anyway. Unless that guy is a complete lunatic who wishes to destroy the entire multiverse. In that case, I might have to kill him first."
A sea breeze blew by, carrying the warmth of the campfire, Galatea and Shayera both fell silent.
They couldn't understand the way this man thought.
He possesses power enough to overturn the world, yet he acts entirely on whim, devoid of any logic.
This unpredictable power is more chilling than Darkseid's pure desire for conquest.
Just then, Shayera's body tensed up suddenly.
Her knuckles tightened around the warhammer, and she instantly entered battle mode, her gaze fixed on the open ground behind Thor, past his shoulder.
"What's wrong?" Thor noticed the change in the atmosphere and asked casually.
He turned his head, following Shayera's gaze.
Less than ten meters behind him, at the edge of the flickering campfire, another person had appeared.
He was an ordinary middle-aged man, dressed in a suit and tie, wearing a black bowler hat, and with a meticulously trimmed gray mustache.
He was wearing a long, dark suit coat over a crisp white shirt and a thin black tie, and he was holding a folded black long-handled umbrella.
Everything seemed so ordinary, like an old-fashioned gentleman who had just stepped out of the streets of London in the last century.
Except for the thing he was holding in his palm.
It was a sphere of light, not large, yet it seemed to contain the entire starry sky.
Countless galaxies are born and die within it, and time and space are twisted into a magnificent tangled thread.
The moment Thor saw that man, all his muscles bulged.
An irresistible shiver, stemming from an innate life force, shot up his spine to the top of his head.
He didn't even have time to think; his body had already made its most primal reaction.
"Boom!"
The Stormbreaker instantly appeared in his hand, and he took a step forward, shielding Galatea and Shayera behind him.
The violent power of lightning surged within him, but it was suppressed by an invisible force, preventing even a single arc of electricity from escaping his body.
Shayera immediately raised her warhammer, and her wings suddenly unfurled, protecting Galatea on the other side.
Only Galatea, whose power was sealed by Kryptonite, could only lean helplessly against Shayera's wings, warily watching the man who had suddenly appeared.
"Who... is this guy?" she asked in a low voice.
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
The sounds of waves, wind, and the crackling of the campfire all vanished, and the whole world transformed into a silent oil painting.
Thor stared intently at the man.
There were no energy fluctuations, no traces of laws, and not even the slightest hint of killing intent.
He just stood there, as if he had been there since the beginning of the universe, naturally and eternally unchanged.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Thor's forehead.
He had seen dimensional demons, met the Celestials, and even felt the oppressive aura of "death" on an outer planet.
But no feeling can compare to the sight before my eyes.
Franklin and even Loki are far inferior to the man before them.
That is an absolute, incomprehensible "existence" that transcends dimensions and concepts.
Fight or flee?
These thoughts flashed through his mind for only a moment before he extinguished them.
Thor knew very well that in the face of such an existence, his proud power and laws were no different from an ant waving its antennae.
If the other party wanted to, with just a thought, they could instantly reduce themselves, along with this island, this ocean, this planet, and even the entire universe, to Void, leaving not a trace.
Having figured this out, Thor calmed down.
He slowly, bit by bit, lowered the Stormbreaker from his hand.
The invisible pressure that almost crushed him also dissipated.
He turned his head to the two women behind him who were still highly tense, and spoke in an unusually calm tone.
"You've all probably heard of this guy."
He is God, Jehovah.
His voice wasn't loud, but it reached both of their ears clearly.
"Also, the Creator of your universe..."