Cold and deathly silence were the eternal themes of Jotunheim.
That was even more true inside the Frost Giants' royal palace.
The place was like an endless frozen abyss, as if even the air itself could freeze solid.
The Frost Giant King Laufey sat upon his cold throne. This king seemed to spend all his time sitting there.
It was as if he had no other hobbies or activities.
As though the frost had frozen away his passion and vitality, leaving him with nothing to do except sit there.
And while seated on the throne, he was not daydreaming, but sleeping deeply.
He embraced the darkness, sitting on the throne with his eyes shut, no one knowing how many years he had slept.
Around him, the giants of the frozen kingdom also had their eyes closed, motionless like statues.
Because they had gone so long without moving, their bodies had frozen over. From afar, they looked like ice sculptures.
At that moment, the body of the Frost Giant King Laufey suddenly shook. The layer of ice covering him began to crack apart from the movement.
Large chunks of ice fell to the ground one after another, shattering into glittering fragments.
In the darkness, Laufey opened his eyes.
The Frost Giant's eyes were blood-red, giving off a frightening crimson glow in the darkness, piercing through the blackness as if turning the palace scarlet.
Laufey woke from his slumber and rose from the throne. He opened his mouth and exhaled a stream of freezing air.
"Odin..."
"You've come again!"
Of course Laufey had not forgotten that not long ago, the people of Asgard had visited Jotunheim.
The little prince of Asgard ignored the agreement between the two realms and barged directly into the palace.
When Laufey sent a large number of Frost Giants to kill him, Odin descended from the sky and brought Thor back.
Laufey had not expected that before much time had passed, Odin would come again.
Soon after, Laufey sensed that Odin's aura was different from before.
The aura Odin released now was making Jotunheim itself tremble slightly.
'Such divine power.'
Only when the Allfather had still been young had Laufey ever felt this from him.
"What happened?"
Right then, a voice rang out, "He came after me."
Laufey suddenly turned his head and saw a figure drift out from the darkness near his throne.
Jotunheim's dim light fell across him, allowing Laufey to see golden hair and blue eyes.
He wore black armor with a metallic texture, and a red cape spread behind him.
But what caught Laufey's attention most was the pair of white-gold bracers on the man's wrists, covered in intricate patterns.
The bracers gave him a stinging sensation.
Just like when facing Odin's Gungnir.
"An Asgardian?"
Laufey voiced his doubt. He could sense enormous energy inside this figure.
The man was not releasing it, not overflowing with pressure like Odin.
But if he fully unleashed it, he probably would not be much weaker than Odin.
But that was Odin, the guardian of the Nine Realms, the Allfather.
Who in the Nine Realms could stand alongside Odin?
"Of course not."
Alex, who had arrived in the palace through "Mind Transfer," curled his lips into a smile.
"Strictly speaking, I'm an Earthling."
As someone who had once invaded Earth, Laufey naturally knew what Earthlings were.
He stared blankly, "Impossible. That's a primitive world. No race from that world could possibly produce a lifeform with your level of energy."
Alex laughed, "Looks like your information is badly outdated."
"Although for now, among fellow Earthlings, there's probably only one woman who can match me."
"But that place really has produced quite a few powerful beings already," As he spoke, Alex looked around, his gaze sweeping over the giants that looked like frozen statues.
If he had not expanded his "Mental Domain" and clearly sensed their minds, just from appearances alone, he would have thought they really were ice sculptures and statues.
"I'm saying, Odin is about to arrive. Are you planning to keep sleeping?", Alex looked toward Laufey.
Laufey exhaled cold air, "Since Odin came for you, then all I need to do is hand you over to him. Wouldn't that solve everything?"
Alex touched his nose and laughed, "Since when did Frost Giants become watchdogs for Asgard?"
"Has the Laufey who dared challenge Asgard already died?"
Laufey narrowed his eyes slightly, "Provoking me will not benefit you."
Alex shrugged carelessly, "I'm just stating a fact."
"Besides, even though Odin came for me, don't you think his aura is too strong right now?"
"He might wipe you out while he's at it."
Laufey glanced at him, then his eyes suddenly lit up.
At once, the entire palace rumbled loudly.
The sleeping Frost Giants all woke up. Their gray-blue bodies shook off layers of ice as they stepped out and gathered inside the palace.
Laufey said quietly, "We have the strength to protect ourselves. We don't need your concern."
"Is that so?"
"Then let's change how we deal with each other," Alex smiled.
"You help me stop Odin, and I'll give you something."
"The Casket of Ancient Winters."
Red light surged in Laufey's eyes, "The Casket of Ancient Winters is with you?"
He sized Alex up from head to toe, then said, "You really do carry its aura."
"Where is it!"
Alex chuckled, "Do I look like the kind of person who carries something that important around with me?"
"As long as you help me stop Odin, afterward I'll naturally have the Dark Elves deliver the 'Casket of Ancient Winters' to you."
Laufey remained silent, seemingly considering it.
Alex turned his head and looked into the distance, "He's here."
———
Far away, within Jotunheim's dark and frozen sky, a brilliant point of light appeared.
That light rapidly approached. As it grew larger, Alex and the Frost Giants could finally see it clearly.
It was a spear of light.
It was enormous, like a mountain.
It split the air apart and roared forward with overwhelming force.
Then it landed before the Frost Giants' palace.
With booming sounds, an unknown amount of ice and snow outside the palace melted away.
Then, from within the spear of light that seemed embedded into the earth, Odin walked out holding the Gungnir.
Odin's golden hair flowed behind him. Many of the wrinkles on his face had vanished. His armor gave off golden light, illuminating this frozen world like a sun.
"Laufey."
Odin's voice boomed into the palace.
Laufey snorted. Ice rose beneath his feet and stretched outward from the palace, carrying Laufey outside to stand before Odin.
The other Frost Giants also rushed outside the palace, gathering beside Laufey and surrounding their king.
Alex took the chance to drift deeper into the palace. Hidden in the darkness, he prepared to awaken the power of the "Reality Stone" and transform himself.
Just in case, Alex used "Self-Replication." His figure immediately blurred.
Then another figure separated from him.
It had no cape and no Hercules Bracers.
Alex gave the duplicate the command to protect him, then expanded his biological force field, forming a sealed spherical space.
———
[Outside the Palace]
The Frost Giant King Laufey looked down at Odin.
"Well, if it isn't the great Allfather, the respected guardian of the Nine Realms, King Odin of Asgard."
"What wind blew you here?"
"You haven't forgotten what you promised me not long ago, have you?"
"I remember when you came to pick up your two 'little princesses,' you said Asgardians would never set foot in Jotunheim again."
"What, does Odin suffer from poor memory too?"
Odin raised the Gungnir and slammed it heavily against the ground, releasing a wave that stirred fierce winds.
Then, the Allfather's voice spread outward.
"Laufey, I have never forgotten my promises."
"But right now, I'm pursuing an Earthling."
"And as far as I know, he's inside your palace."
Laufey looked back at his palace.
"I just came out from inside. I can responsibly tell you there are no Earthlings in there. No Earth rats. No Earth cats or dogs. Nothing from Earth at all," He was openly lying.
Of course Odin knew that.
"Then let me go inside and take a look," Odin said deeply.
Laufey burst into laughter.
All the Frost Giants burst into laughter.
Suddenly, Laufey roared, "Odin, I lost. I didn't die!"
"Your Asgardians barged into Jotunheim whenever they pleased, and now you want to search my palace!"
"What do you take us Frost Giants for!"
"You are insulting us!"
"Frost Giants may die, but we will not accept humiliation!"
All the Frost Giants roared together.
At that moment, a seven-colored beam descended from the sky.
The Bifrost!
Within the light, Thor holding Mjolnir and Loki holding daggers ran out.
Rage churned in Laufey's eyes as he roared, "Look, the two 'little princesses' are back again."
"Odin, you're the one tearing up our agreement!"
Odin closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Then he looked at his two sons who had arrived beside him.
"What are you doing here?"
Thor looked toward the Frost Giant King and tightened his grip on the hammer.
"Of course we came to help, Father."
Odin snorted, "I don't need your help."
"Where is your mother?"
Loki gave a sly smile, "Queen Frigga has already returned to her chambers."
Only then did Odin relax slightly.
At that moment, Laufey pointed at the three of them, "Odin, I demand that you leave. Leave Jotunheim. Otherwise, this means war against the Frost Giants!"
Odin exhaled slowly, "Laufey, I'll say this one more time."
"I only want that Earthling. Hand him over, and we'll leave immediately."
After a moment of silence, Laufey said, "Again."
"Odin, what do you think Jotunheim is?"
"Your Asgardians' backyard?"
"You come whenever you want, leave whenever you want."
"And even expect me to work for you."
"You really think us Frost Giants are dogs for Asgard?"
As he roared, frost gathered in Laufey's hand and formed a giant ice blade.
There was no need for more words.
The conflict between the two sides had existed for a long time.
And Odin's insistence completely enraged the Frost Giants.
Laufey swung his sword down. Before the blade even arrived, a thin layer of ice had already formed over Odin's body.
The Allfather roared. Energy erupted from him, and dazzling sacred light exploded from his body.
The burst of light knocked away Laufey's sword and also sent the other charging Frost Giants flying.
After releasing the energy shockwave, Odin shouted, "The Frost Giants are yours."
He did not want to waste time fighting Laufey. The Gungnir pointed toward the palace, and Odin transformed into a streak of light and shot inside.
"Odin!"
Laufey let out an angry snort. Odin's attitude of completely disregarding him enraged the Frost Giant King.
He opened his mouth and blasted out a freezing wind mixed with snow and ice.
The wind swept toward Odin. Everything it passed became frozen solid.
Just as it was about to catch Odin, endless lightning suddenly lit up Laufey's vision.
Thor leaped high into the air and smashed down his hammer. The hammer glowed as massive amounts of lightning burst out.
The lightning crossed the space and slammed into Laufey's face, knocking the Frost Giant King's head aside and sending the freezing wind elsewhere, freezing several Frost Giants into ice statues.
Only then did Thor land.
But Laufey punched him away. Then Laufey leaped forward and stabbed the ice blade into the ground.
At once, rows of ice spikes erupted from the earth.
Thor had just stood back up when ice spikes shot upward beneath his feet.
He quickly smashed them apart with his hammer.
At that moment, Laufey raised a hand. Hundreds upon thousands of ice spears appeared around the Frost Giant King.
Laufey pointed at Thor, and the ice spears instantly shot out like machine-gun fire, dragging gray-blue trails behind them as they screamed toward Thor.
Thor immediately spun his hammer and continuously knocked the spears away before hurling the hammer at Laufey.
The hammer crackling with electricity struck Laufey, exploding with lightning and sending him flying backward. Then the hammer returned to Thor's hand.
On the other side, Loki handled all the Frost Giant warriors alone.
The warriors attacked him wildly. Loki seemed unable to withstand them and was steadily forced backward.
In the blink of an eye, Loki reached the edge of a cliff and seemed to be in grave danger.
More than ten Frost Giants charged over. Ice blades formed in their hands as they thrust all their weapons toward Loki at once.
Loki looked hopeless.
The next second, the ice blades pierced through him.
But his figure flickered and vanished.
The ten Frost Giants had stabbed empty air. Their momentum was wrong, and they could not stop in time.
One after another, they fell off the cliff, screaming as they dropped into the bottomless abyss below.
The real Loki appeared on an open patch of ground not far away and shrugged helplessly.
———
On the other side, Odin had already flown into the palace.
The moment he entered, a vague figure suddenly appeared within the darkness deep inside the palace. Golden light erupted at once.
Then a golden stream of ultra-high-temperature energy surged forward like a massive river.
Odin immediately stopped and raised the Gungnir high. A magnificent torrent of energy shot from the spear tip as well, colliding head-on.
The two streams of energy met and crashed together inside the palace. The entire palace immediately began shaking as fragments and dust continuously fell from the ceiling.
After a brief stalemate, Odin roared and pointed the spear upward, sending both the opposing golden river and his own torrent toward the sky.
———
[Outside the Palace]
Laufey suddenly saw his palace blasted apart by two pillars of light. After the pillars rose into the air together, they suddenly exploded, creating expanding ripples.
Then tens of thousands of energy streams blasted outward like artillery fire.
Some of the streams landed among Jotunheim's mountains, instantly creating thousands of fireballs atop the peaks and causing countless mountains to collapse.
Some streams struck Jotunheim's eternal frozen earth, causing pillars of fire to continuously erupt across the silent, empty ice plains.
The streams flew in every direction, landing throughout Jotunheim and creating explosions and pillars of fire everywhere.
Seeing this, Laufey was furious.
"ASGARDIANS!"
Thor also looked up at the magnificent "fireworks" exploding above the Frost Giant palace. He stared blankly.
Then he saw a figure tearing through the sky and vanishing into the distance.
Another streak of light shaped like a spear chased after it.
It looked like Father Odin was pursuing the Conqueror.
Laufey also saw the two figures disappear into the distance. Knowing he could not catch up, he dumped all his anger onto Thor.
While blocking the Giant King's attacks, Thor tried to explain.
"Calm down."
"Listen to me."
"We didn't do it on purpose."
"How about this? We'll repair the damaged palace for you."
Laufey roared, "Shut up! I don't want compensation from you. I want your life!"
Thor smashed apart his ice blade and said seriously, "That won't work."
The one who broke through the palace and lured Odin away was not Alex, but the duplicate.
Alex was still inside the palace.
He used his biological force field to create a sealed spherical space, trapping himself and the "Aether Particles" inside.
Even his aura was sealed within.
And because the duplicate possessed eighty percent of his power, Odin failed to see through it.
At that moment, inside the sealed sphere, blazing streams of light burst from Alex's eyes and landed on the extractor created by the Dark Elves.
The extractor instantly shattered. The light streams immediately struck the "Aether Particles."
The "Aether Particles" immediately boiled violently. As if activated, they transformed into howling dark-red clouds and formed a particle storm inside the sphere.
Standing within the particle storm, Alex continued increasing the solar radiation output of his "Heat Vision," raising the temperature nonstop.
6000 degrees, 10000 degrees, 30000 degrees, 1000000 degrees!
The terrifying heat caused flames to ignite inside the spherical space, making the entire interior seem like a miniature sun.
The "Aether Particles" danced wildly and resisted, then suddenly rushed toward Alex.
They drilled into him through his mouth, through his nostrils, through every pore on his body.
In an instant, the "Aether Particles" entered Alex's body, and his skin immediately turned black.
Alex instantly realized that the "Aether Particles" wanted to parasitize his body and absorb his energy to sustain themselves.
This situation was already within Alex's calculations. His figure immediately became blurry as he transformed into a spiritual form.
Without a physical body, the "Aether Particles" instantly lost the ground they needed to root themselves.
They immediately tried to escape.
But Alex drew his biological force field inward, pressing it tightly around the surface of his spiritual body and trapping the "Aether Particles" inside.
Then he mobilized the energy within his body. This energy came from the Mind Stone's modifications, and it crashed against the "Aether Particles" inside the biological force field.
Energy from another Infinity Stone seemed more effective at awakening the "Aether Particles'" power. At once, dark-red light spread throughout the biological force field.
Wherever the red light shone, the previously indestructible "biological force field" actually developed gaps.
Some areas of the force field suddenly turned into mosaics, creating openings.
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