"Laufey… Damn you, Adam, you bastard did this on purpose!" Loki's face darkened, venomous with rage.
Judging others by his own malice, he deemed Adam a vile, unforgivable wretch.
Lady Thor or the Laufey Xenomorph, either alone outmatched him. Facing both, without Knull's aid, defeat was certain.
Worse, one was his blood father, innately resistant to the Casket of Ancient Winters' power.
Foster raised Mjolnir, aiming forward. A torrent of divine lightning coalesced into a colossal, terrifying bolt, savagely blasting through the symbiotes ahead. That single strike slew countless.
Black matter littered the vacuum, drifting in the cosmic void.
"Loki, you won't escape this time." Lady Thor declared, righteous. "Atone for your sins with your life."
Her long hair floated, charged by electric might.
Since joining Adam, her days brimmed with thrill, ascending heavens, plumbing depths, now clashing with gods.
"Don't flatter yourself." Loki sneered, masking his envy of her hammer. "Without Adam, a mundane Midgardian like you wouldn't warrant a glance from me."
He shifted his gaze to the silent Laufey Xenomorph.
Without its towering, reserved presence trailing Foster, Loki might've missed it among Earth's myriad Xenomorphs.
Too subdued, too quiet, hardly the super-Xenomorph birthed from a Skyfather's chest.
"Releasing this Xenomorph means it's amassed enough divine power for you to deploy it in combat." Loki said coldly.
His cunning had gleaned much about Xenomorph traits through repeated encounters.
Divine power wasn't genetic. Xenomorphs born from gods rarely inherited full strength, requiring grueling training to tap their bloodline's connection to Yggdrasil for power.
"Answer me, Adam." Loki demanded.
The Laufey Xenomorph offered no reply, only surging forward with astonishing speed. In silence, it wielded vast reserves of frost divine power, effortlessly freezing swarming symbiotes into ice sculptures, flung into the starry void.
Against a near-Skyfather-level Laufey Xenomorph, ordinary symbiotes stood no chance.
Only symbiote dragons could muster some resistance.
Even the many dragons guarding Loki, now lunging to besiege the Laufey Xenomorph, were intercepted by Lady Thor.
Symbiote dragons were formidable, but against Lady Thor, they were cursed, her very existence countered them.
Loki channeled his divine power, wielding the Casket of Ancient Winters against the Laufey Xenomorph. The Xenomorph countered with frost divine power, charging through the Casket's icy beams, advancing unyieldingly, unscathed by frost.
Frozen divine ice formed, only to be shattered by the Xenomorph. Lady Thor's searing lightning, assisting from the side, blasted the ice apart.
Though the Casket could freeze a world, Loki lacked the strength to unleash its full potential, especially against a Laufey Xenomorph, heir to the Frost Giants' finest bloodline.
In the extreme cold, the Laufey Xenomorph thrived, as if home.
"This feels… wrong." Loki muttered.
He couldn't discern how this creature differed from his biological father. If anything, the Laufey Xenomorph's bloodline seemed purer, nobler than the original Laufey.
A hellish tale, Mephisto would cackle at the irony.
The Laufey Xenomorph closed in, its palm lashing out, striking at Loki.
A super-symbiote, fused from several dragons, was torn open by the blow. The Xenomorph's razor claws aimed for Loki's head.
One hit, and Loki's head would be gone, no other outcome.
Loki realized Adam's patience was spent. This was a kill order.
"The situation's deteriorating faster than I expected." Loki thought, his face grim. "I haven't even exhausted Earth's war potential."
He'd planned to half-heartedly serve Knull, subtly sabotaging to maximize symbiote losses once gains were secured. But those schemes were useless now. He'd given his all, yet his foes were too strong.
Seizing Tony Stark's Celestial armor might've bought time, but Adam had preemptively countered it, as if anticipating Knull's every move.
Damn it!
No one relished facing an enemy who could read their leader's mind, especially one so formidable.
"Knull." Loki pleaded, "you don't want your only reliable servant dying at this Earthling's hands, do you? Who'd strategize for you then?"
Clutching the Casket, Loki poured his dwindling divine power into it, bitterly fending off his upgraded father's onslaught.
His divine power was finite, his use of the Casket limited. As time drained him, he'd weaken until Laufey breached the Casket's barrier.
In the next moment, hundreds of thousands of symbiotes, many powerful dragons among them, abruptly pivoted, abandoning Lady Thor to swarm the diminutive Loki.
Countless symbiotes writhed and fused, enveloping him.
"Useless…" A voice rumbled.
A consciousness deep as an ocean spanned countless dimensions, seizing control of the symbiotes. Using Loki's body as a core, it forged a vessel for its will.
A mind as dreadful as an abyss seemed to crush the star system, bending ubiquitous sunlight, creating a black void in Earth's outer orbit.
Once again, Knull projected his consciousness into his creations.
History echoed eerily. This time, too, Knull faced a Thor.
But now, he was prepared, determined not to repeat past failures.
In that moment, every symbiote on Earth shuddered, froze briefly, then surged with renewed frenzy.
Symbiotes surged, frantically seeking hosts. Countless humans and animals worldwide were parasitized, transformed into symbiote soldiers, hurling themselves into reckless slaughter against every living thing in sight.
Earth's defenders, momentarily baffled, felt an ineffable weight pressing on their chests, choking their breath.
The wrath of an incomplete god inflicted visceral torment on mortals.
The global frenzy of symbiotes deepened their dread.
"Charles, confirm for me, what just happened?" Magneto demanded, his vast magnetic field spanning kilometers without strain. With a flick of his fingers, he manipulated tons of metal, forging countless dense projectiles that pulverized symbiotes.
He, too, sensed the immense pressure from outer space.
"I tried linking to their minds." Xavier replied. "They're chanting one word, Knull! I've never heard it before. A name, perhaps? If true, it's terrifying, something capable of influencing all symbiotes simultaneously!"
Xavier was stunned. The implication of controlling millions of symbiotes at once was chilling.
He couldn't extract more from their minds. Each attempt to delve deeper met a terrifying darkness, a void devouring all life.
Instinct warned that even his peerless telepathy risked disaster if he pressed further.
Xavier hesitated, hoping to consult Destiny for temporal insights. But since her departure from Krakoa, she'd vanished, absent even now.
With her precognitive gifts, Destiny should've known he needed her, appearing at the right time and place to guide them.
Yet she hadn't.
"Old friend, I'm taking a risk." Xavier said, steeling himself. "I must. The symbiotes' erratic behavior mirrors the mental link between Xenomorphs and Adam, but this feels more dangerous, more sinister."
Gritting his teeth, Xavier extended his mind into the shared dark realm of the symbiotes.
Endless darkness enveloped him, like the universe's primordial state, boundless, silent, devoid of the Celestials' stars, gravity, light, or heat.
Xavier nearly lost himself, but he sensed a colossal entity, indistinguishable from the darkness itself.
This being, even in mental form, seemed to notice him. A casual glance, and in reality, Xavier coughed blood, crimson streaming from his eyes and ears, his body aging visibly.
"Professor!" Jean cried.
"I'm fine, Jean." Xavier rasped, clutching his mouth. "I saw a god no mortal should witness and was punished for it. Stay calm, breathe deeply. I won't let this unravel the stability you've fought to build."
A rampant Dark Phoenix would spell chaos, not for Earth, but for mutants. Though Xavier strove to remain detached from human deaths, a Phoenix-fueled catastrophe drawing Adam or Knull's attention would be ruinous.
He assumed others, including Adam, were unaware of Jean's unique potential, a trump card for Krakoa.
Xavier relayed his findings telepathically, fragmented but urgent, to the mutants fighting on the frontlines.
"A god behind the symbiotes, pulling the strings?" One gasped.
"No wonder they're so coordinated, acting on unified commands." Another said. "A god issuing orders to all symbiotes at once? Like Thor, or Dormammu?"
"Isn't this just like Adam?" A third noted. "He controls vast Xenomorph hordes the same way."
"Charles, your telepathy's faltering." Another worried. "You're so weak, and the connection's breaking. What happened?"
Krakoa's core mutants grew anxious. Xavier was their nation's brain, how had he deteriorated in seconds?
Xavier contacted Magneto directly. "Erik, listen. The mastermind isn't something we can handle. Loki, directing symbiotes from space, is just a pawn. Their true lord, a god named Knull, is here. Only the Ancient One or Adam can face him. This war won't end until he's defeated."
They had no channel to the Ancient One, and such a mystic likely cared little for mutant lives.
As for Adam…
Magneto's face soured. The name grated, yet each glance toward the horizon revealed countless Xenomorphs locked in ferocious combat with symbiotes. Some tore themselves or allies apart to maximize carnage, a ruthless, cold efficiency that mesmerized and awed.
Magneto craved such unreserved unity and sacrifice. If all mutants mirrored this, why fear humans?
But Krakoa's mutants were fractious, many villainous killers among them, hard to manage.
Sometimes, Magneto forgot the Xenomorph embryo within him. Without Xavier's telepathic relays for critical matters, he might still feel free.
"Adam, I know you're listening." Magneto said, his tone a mix of reliance and irritation. "Or are you so stretched by the global Xenomorph swarm that your feeble brain can't process the chaos? Don't disappoint me."
"Don't panic." A mental pulse from his Xenomorph embryo replied, piercing his mind. "I'm always here."
Magneto's irritation eased, though he bristled. "I thought you'd been scared off by the symbiotes' master."
"I know." Adam said. "I've always known. Why else would I go to such lengths to capture Grendel alive? It wasn't just for symbiote-Xenomorph hybrids, Knull was in Grendel then."
"What? That dragon back then was Knull? That doesn't add up. With your nature, you'd have kept him." Magneto said, stunned.
"The truth is more complex than you imagine. The enemy is a genuine cosmic deity." Adam replied.
"Compared to that billionaire's big toy, how much stronger?" Magneto pressed.
"Far stronger than that machine at its peak, several times, maybe tenfold." Adam answered.
Celestials varied greatly. The mightiest were singular universe-level entities, while weaker ones, like Tony's refurbished scrap or the three Knull controlled in Universe 616, lingered at low Skyfather-tier.
"With your personality, even against a god, you'd never be unprepared." Magneto said. "What about the Ancient One? She hasn't acted yet?"
"The Ancient One has her own agenda. She's already moving, this is the moment she's awaited. Whether she succeeds is irrelevant to us." Adam said, severing the connection to focus on Knull.
With merely his consciousness descended, Knull commanded hundreds of thousands of symbiotes on and around him, first glaring at Lady Thor with malice.
"You, lowly creature, brought me great shame last time." Knull intoned. Countless symbiotes shaped his form, a lithe figure cloaked in a vast cape, with a symbiote dragon forming his garb, radiating malevolent rhythm.
Having learned these mortals' tongue from Loki, Knull's obscure mental pulses were barely intelligible.
Foster stood fearless. "To be precise, a Thor beat you the time before last, too. This is round three. Losing to a Thor again? Par for the course."
"Hmph. You, confined to this petty world, know nothing of the cosmos' vastness or a god's true might." Knull sneered, his voice a cosmic whisper. He extended a "hand." Sprouting a symbiote longsword that slashed at Foster.
Foster countered with Mjolnir, shattering half the blade.
Unfazed, Knull summoned countless more swords from additional symbiotes, relentlessly hacking at her.
Each weapon bore Knull's will, a tangible force capable of altering molecular structures or bending reality, varying only in potency.
Against such a foe, Foster struggled. This Knull, unlike the one in Grendel, was markedly stronger, reclaiming fragments of his peak power as he neared his true form.
His will, a cosmic maelstrom, wailed like the world itself, crushing lesser beings.
Foster's face grew grave. Her divine lightning devastated symbiotes with each strike, but it was steadily eroded, her maneuvering space shrinking.
Thor countered symbiotes, but against Knull, invincibility faltered.
Knull's consciousness was divine, not symbiote.
In mere seconds, as Knull poised to crush Foster with more symbiotes, the Laufey Xenomorph stirred.
The stoic, rock-like giant erupted, channeling long-stored divine power into a honed blade. Its body became a frost spear, surging with full force, piercing Knull's head, Loki's position.
"Tch, only took off one of Loki's shoulders?" The Laufey Xenomorph hissed, its jaws and inner teeth twitching, broadcasting regret via mental waves. "A bit more, and I'd have blown his head clean off."
"Adam!" Knull roared.
"As my defeated foe, you owe your victor respect." The Xenomorph, or rather, Adam, replied, standing resolute in the cosmic void. "Call me 'His Exalted and Divine Majesty, the God of Xenomorphs.'"
"God?" Knull's symbiote form bellowed, a terrifying sound. "I've slain gods beyond count. Even my discarded Necrosword, picked up by a minor deity, could butcher gods! You're no god!"
"You're a god, yet other gods bested you, and your creations betrayed you." Adam retorted, pointing a razor claw. "Otherwise, you'd face me in your true form, not this pathetic state."
"Evil God Knull." Adam continued, "if I were you, I'd hide for eons after barely recovering, not rush to flaunt my presence. That path leads to ruin, worse than losing your body."
"No, I have a better plan." Knull countered. "I'll discard Loki, seize your shell, and claim your memories, abilities, and Xenomorphs."
Knull's maw opened, a writhing tongue lolling out before retracting, not his habit, but a symbiote's.
"So that's your game, coveting my authority to control my Xenomorphs?" Adam said slowly. "It tracks. I heard you once led countless symbiotes, conquering worlds, seeking to snuff out all prosperity and restore the universe to darkness."
He paused. "Pathetic. A primordial deity, reduced to begging me for unattainable dreams. That said, I've no interest in your symbiote control. Your body, though? That intrigues me. Shame you don't even have it anymore." Adam waved dismissively, feigning disappointment.
Knull, surely, grasped the gesture's meaning.
This stance ignited the proud, arrogant god's fury.
Knull roared, his maw gaping, that unruly tongue flailing. All nearby symbiotes, bolstered by his will, surged toward Adam.
Yet Adam, controlling the Laufey Xenomorph, remained unruffled.
"Somewhere along the line, my enemies stopped targeting my true body." He mused. "They realized killing me is pointless, another me always rises from a Xenomorph."
Foster fought ferociously nearby, her lightning carving space for Adam.
"But everyone seems to overlook something." Adam continued, "even Dormammu, who stole hundreds of my Xenomorphs and now hides in the Dark Dimension, plotting against me."
In Knull's view, the Laufey Xenomorph raised its sleek skull, nearly perpendicular to the void below.
"From the start, I've controlled many Xenomorphs simultaneously. My consciousness is omnipresent, not just me, but all of them. And at any moment, I exist within many Xenomorphs at once!"
His words, like a key to Pandora's box, unleashed an unthinkable sorcery, stirring the entire planet.
In the next instant, Xenomorph heroes worldwide received the command. They raised their heads skyward, their individual consciousnesses fading, supplanted by a singular new will.
From this moment, they shared one name, Adam!
^^^
If you'd like to read up to 50 chapters ahead, feel free to visit our patron: pat reon . com/XElenea