After the Dwarves got a firsthand look at the weapons the Kryptonian Empire's Hulk soldiers wanted custom-made, they were stunned by these warriors — beings who could transform into giants, each capable of lifting a hundred tons with a single arm.
Even in all of Asgard, you'd be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of warriors that powerful.
Aside from the now-extinct Valkyrie corps, there was probably no one left who could stand against them.
And yet warriors this powerful numbered a hundred thousand in the Kryptonian Empire — a fully formed, organized military legion.
This gave the Dwarf King and the entire Dwarven race a completely new understanding of their new master's strength.
Holy shit. These guys make Asgard look soft.
Word was that the Empire's two great generals and its commander were all ruthless figures capable of beating Asgard's Thor himself into the ground.
Of course, that was just what they'd heard — they hadn't seen it with their own eyes — so Dwarf King Eitri and his people took it with a grain of salt.
If it were true, though, the Kryptonian Empire's power would be genuinely terrifying.
Asgard had one Thor and one Odin, and that alone was enough to sweep across the universe, keeping even Thanos from setting foot on Earth. And the Kryptonian Empire supposedly had three powerhouses who could throw down with the God of Thunder?
Well, four now, technically.
Because Zod-Sith had transferred Heracles, the God of Strength, from Earth to the Kryptonian Empire to serve as the vanguard commander of the Imperial Expeditionary Force.
Berserker wasn't genetically modified with Kryptonian DNA, but after the enhancements Zod-Sith gave him, he'd have no trouble trading blows with Thor or a baseline Green Hulk. More than qualified to lead the vanguard.
In fact, Berserker alone could probably hold his own against all five members of Thanos' Black Order.
Of course, what the Dwarves didn't know was that Krypton had an entire Angel Legion — every last one of them configured with Kryptonian military-grade genetics, supercharged by the Plasma Spark Tower. On Krypton, they were an unstoppable force that swept everything before them.
Still, now that the whole universe knew Gladiator had become Supreme General of the Kryptonian Imperial Guard and a Royal Knight, anyone who understood what Gladiator was capable of had grown deeply wary of the Empire.
Before, the fear was centered on Esdeath the war maniac. Now, with Gladiator added to the mix — two titans serving the Kryptonian Empire — the Empire finally had the prestige and presence befitting the Fourth Great Power.
That said, individual powerhouses capable of shifting the balance of interstellar conflict and altering the course of an entire war were rare — and even when they existed, they could usually only influence localized theaters of battle.
After all, on the boundless battlefields of space, any civilization capable of stepping beyond its own star system could field combat units numbering in the hundreds of millions — and each combat unit consisted of at least ten thousand soldiers, or quite simply, a single interstellar warship.
No matter how powerful you are, can you really annihilate hundreds of millions of combat units single-handedly?
Even the Chitauri, who looked like the most laughable joke in the galaxy, actually had a decent reputation in the cosmos. That was precisely why Thanos had his eye on them — he destroyed their homeworld and forced them into the Dark Order.
And the Chitauri could easily field combat units numbering in the hundreds of millions themselves.
The Kryptonian Empire's Burning Legion and Cosmo Knight Corps were formidable, yes, but they could only serve as the tip of the spear. That was why the Empire had begun conscripting soldiers from the territories and planets it had conquered.
Without the manpower, there'd be no way to govern or wage war.
"When I was back on Krypton, stepping onto a battlefield as a researcher was honestly nerve-wracking. Sure, Krypton's technology was so overwhelming that even the Green Lantern Corps had to compromise, but researchers were still way too exposed to danger."
Zod murmured to himself.
With his superhuman brain, Zod could now recall his days on Krypton with crystal clarity, as if they'd happened just yesterday.
Both his parents had been cold and devoid of emotion. They felt no familial warmth toward him. Even when Zod repeatedly broke protocol to steal the Life Codex and got caught, his father merely used his influence to shield him — face blank, expressionless.
Otherwise, Zod would've been exiled to the Phantom Zone long ago.
Later, Zod was reassigned to several research outposts to conduct his own studies. He'd breathed a sigh of relief at the time. He hadn't gotten the Codex, but at least he'd gotten off Krypton.
Then, later, Krypton forcibly recalled all off-world Kryptonians. Just as Zod was preparing to flee, his father — who'd long anticipated exactly what he'd do — sent the military to drag him back.
But on that final, desperate attempt to steal the Life Codex, Zod discovered the guards were gone. He made off with the Codex without a hitch. As for what would happen to Kal-El... Zod couldn't afford to care about any of that. His own survival came first.
"What are you thinking about, Zod?"
Zod snapped out of his reverie and found Tifa standing before him.
He'd brought her and the others along when he came to the Kryptonian Empire — let them treat it as a vacation.
Tifa looked at him with concern. The expression on Zod's face just now had carried a sorrow that tugged at the heart. She didn't know what he'd been dwelling on.
"Why aren't you out exploring the sights on the other planets with them?"
Zod smiled and pulled Tifa into his arms.
Every civilization had its own dramatic differences — that was what made traveling meaningful. Zod knew full well that his views on love were deeply flawed, so all he could do was give them the best of what he had.
"I still can't quite get used to it."
Tifa said it a little awkwardly. The main issue was that aliens came in every conceivable shape and form. Unlike Flame Spirit, who found everything fascinating, Tifa simply couldn't adjust.
"Mm."
Zod nodded, then held Tifa still, not moving.
The two of them savored the quiet intimacy of leaning against each other, close enough to hear each other's heartbeat, feeling the distance between them shrink to nothing.
In a dark corner of the universe, aboard the flagship Sanctuary I, sat a man. An Eternal Titan by blood, though outwardly he stood only somewhat taller than a hairless, upright ape. His skin was purple. His name was Thanos.
He sat motionless upon his throne. His expression betrayed nothing, but the veins bulging along his clenched fists said everything.
The invasion of Earth had failed. The entire fleet stationed in that region had been annihilated. The modified human Hive had been completely destroyed. The last transmission before the silence had been: the portal was closed.
Go fuck yourself, you worthless dog, Loki.
Months earlier, while passing through a region of spatial turbulence, Thanos had crossed paths with Loki — a wretch discarded like a stray, half-dead in the void.
To be honest, Thanos could see it in the man's eyes: the obsession, the hatred, and even at the brink of utter ruin, the ambition still burning. There was something fascinating about a creature so utterly loyal to its own desires. Loki being a Frost Giant yet a Prince of Asgard only made the prospect more intriguing — it gave Thanos the faintest notion of reaching a hand, ever so slightly, toward Asgard itself.
Still, Thanos would not halt his advance. This matter could be set aside for now, but that didn't stop him from cultivating Loki — this ambitious, hate-fueled creature — as an asset. After all, that barbaric backwater called Earth genuinely had quite a few things worth paying attention to.
Since he'd already decided he would return sooner or later, why not let Loki go stir the pot first? So Thanos left him an entire detached fleet and, as a bonus, handed over the Mind Stone disguised as a scepter. His only purpose was to see just how far this hatred-driven creature could go.
And then...
/-\
Enjoying the story? Want to read ahead?
Support the novel and unlock early access to unreleased chapters!
~ +20 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon! (+1 Chapter daily)
https://p-atreon.com/Its_Zack
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access Patreon normally)