Chapter 415: Six Months Later, Powers Rise on All Sides
Wow. Trust that sly old fox to come up with an offer like this. I don't know whether to laugh or cry, Ethan muttered to himself, his eyes betraying how little he wanted the title of Regent of Asgard.
As he saw it, it wasn't just a symbol of honor. It was a heavy burden, a whirlpool that could drag him into endless strife.
Asgard's history read like a chronicle of disasters. The Dark Elves' invasion, Hela the Goddess of Death's rampage, Thanos's devastating blow: each time, this kingdom of myth had nearly toppled.
In the end, Asgard's very planet had been destroyed, and the few people left had all gone to Earth.
Asgard was basically a giant fire pit. Whoever jumped in, died.
Joining Asgard would mean quietly making himself several more enemies.
Odin's carrot looked nice enough, with all that talk about deciding the throne.
But Odin had calculated perfectly that Ethan would never try to take Thor's throne.
Put nicely, it was "Regent." Put bluntly, it was finding Thor a worker who wasn't afraid to take the heat.
Ethan wanted nothing to do with that kind of hassle.
"It's fine. I'll help Thor no matter what. I don't need a title for that."
Ethan declined tactfully, then turned to Loki, God of Stories. "I won't intrude on your reunion. I'm heading back to Hell's Kitchen. Don't worry, I'll take care of what you asked of me."
With that, Ethan left the end of time.
Odin never expected Ethan to refuse so flatly. Regent of Asgard had never existed before. If Ethan had accepted,
he would truly have stood above all but one.
Loki, God of Stories, wasn't too surprised. With Ethan's power, he could create another so-called Asgard any time he wanted.
Loki comforted everyone, then chatted with Thor and the others a while longer.
In the end, he kept only Loki behind. The two Lokis seemed to talk for a very long time.
Afterward, Loki was back to his old high-spirited self.
As for Ethan, what he got out of it was a rise in his Friendship Level with both Lokis.
...
Time flew by like a white colt glimpsed through a crack. Six months later, the world had changed beyond recognition.
Earth. The Illuminati.
"I've finally got this Reality Stone under control." Mister Fantastic, Reed, truly was a genius. In just under a year, he had mastered the Reality Stone's power.
The other stone, the Soul Stone, had met a very different fate. Black Bolt, leader of the Inhumans, had taken it at enormous cost.
Black Bolt had once been a calm, reserved leader. But once he gained the Soul Stone's power, he grew arrogant and ambitious.
He led the Inhumans in expanding their territory and founding a kingdom of their own.
That had been one of the conditions of their cooperation with S.H.I.E.L.D. But the Inhumans' swelling arrogance had alarmed and angered the other powers.
When they clashed with the mutants, it caused an uproar.
And that conflict ended in a way no one expected.
A mysterious woman suddenly appeared, claiming to be Magneto's sister. She utterly destroyed Black Bolt and the entire Inhuman kingdom in one overwhelming stroke.
The Soul Stone then fell into the hands of that notorious organization, Hell's Kitchen.
Every time Reed thought about it, he wanted to curse that damned Black Bolt. Fine, die if you're going to die, but why couldn't you hand over the Soul Stone first?
The Reality Stone, meanwhile, had gone through some twists of its own.
Susan had held it originally. But Reed, with his brilliance and a good deal of sweet talk and trickery, had finally managed to get the precious stone from her.
Over these six months, Reed had kept a low profile and never showed too much of his strength. He knew that in a world this full of unknowns and dangers, only caution would get you far.
Even luckier, during this time he had met another version of himself from the multiverse: another Reed.
The meeting seemed like fate's design. This lonely hero had found a kindred spirit.
With the other Reed's help, he joined the reserve ranks of the mysterious and powerful Council of Reeds and began to learn more of the universe's secrets and truths.
Now he had devised a brilliant plan.
He was convinced that, given enough time, he could use the Reality Stone's power to completely defeat that evil organization, Hell's Kitchen.
And once he defeated Ethan, Hell's Kitchen's leader, he would earn the right to formally join the Council of Reeds and become one of the key figures who could sway the fate of the universe.
On top of that, the Illuminati was now stronger than ever. After the Inhumans founded their nation, Wakanda had opened itself to the world, and Atlantis had surfaced as well.
Some of the mutants who refused to submit to Hell's Kitchen had also founded a nation in Sokovia, under the leadership of a man named Baron Zemo.
At first the world was very unhappy about mutants founding a nation, but with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help, it happened anyway.
Reed would never in his life admit that the federal government had only agreed to a mutant nation out of fear of Hell's Kitchen's reputation.
Still, Ethan of Hell's Kitchen seemed to have disappeared for a while. He hadn't shown himself.
Reed hadn't heard his name in a long time. It was as if he were deliberately hiding.
But even without Ethan in sight, Hell's Kitchen's reputation only kept growing.
Just then, the conference room door burst open. Director Pierce of HYDRA-S.H.I.E.L.D., whom no one had seen in a long while, walked in with two mysterious figures. Their arrival instantly broke the calm of the room.
"Come, come, everyone," Director Pierce said with a smile. "Allow me to introduce our two distinguished guests. This," he pointed to a tall man with an imposing face, "is Gilgamesh of the Eternals, one of the finest of his kind. And this,"
he turned to the other man, who wore a white lab coat and whose eyes shone with intelligence. Beneath the white lab coat was a body of taut, rippling muscle. "This is HYDRA's top scientist, and our mightiest hero: the Golden Sentry, Kang!"
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