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*****
Flames and shockwaves rushed toward Mike, and he casually closed the portal.
Instantly, the terrifying flames vanished from sight.
Asgard was finished, just like that.
Mike turned to look at Odin and said angrily, "You're crazy!"
Odin grinned. "I'm very sober."
"Why?"
Mike looked at Odin helplessly, waiting for an answer.
Odin pondered for a few seconds before slowly saying, "The destruction of Asgard was inevitable. This is a prophecy from many years ago."
"Many years ago, we tried to stop it. I lost two brothers, but we only managed to delay Ragnarok until now."
Seeming to recall his two brothers, Odin's expression darkened.
"Even if we could stop it this time, there would be a next time, and it would be increasingly tragic until it spiraled out of my control."
In this crisis, apart from the destruction of Asgard itself, the number of casualties was far lower than imagined because of the Ancient One's help in the rescue.
If Asgard faced the threat of destruction again next time, the casualties would be unknown and uncontrollable.
Odin looked into the distance and said firmly, "Asgard has never been a place, it is a people."
If Mike hadn't seen the look of loss in Odin's eyes, he would have thought this old guy didn't care at all.
"Besides..."
Odin forced an ugly smile and said, "With Asgard destroyed, I can fake my death and disappear. This will make the enemies lower their guard, and when I'm needed, I can catch them off guard."
Mike nodded, then suddenly said, "The Ancient One took action to save people. If news gets out, won't her fake death be in vain?"
Odin smiled. "Rest assured, the Ancient One was disguised when saving people."
"What about Dormammu?"
"He shouldn't know about the Ancient One faking her death," Odin said somewhat uncertainly.
"Does Dormammu have anything to do with Ragnarok? How did Surtur come to Asgard? If it was just him alone, he shouldn't have been able to hide from Thor and the others and get the Eternal Flame, right?" Mike asked curiously.
Odin frowned.
Just then, a portal appeared, and the Ancient One emerged beside the two of them.
"While saving people, I saw Thanos and the others. They must have been the ones who helped Surtur."
The Ancient One brought them the answer.
Odin fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said angrily, "Dead and alive again! Their spirits linger!"
So, judging by your appearance, you are still somewhat unwilling to accept the destruction of Asgard...
Mike thought silently, then suddenly asked, "What about Surtur? Was he destroyed along with Asgard?"
Odin frowned. "I hope so."
That was his original intention: to let Surtur disappear along with Asgard.
"By the way, what about the other Asgardians? Where did you save them to?" Mike asked the Ancient One.
The Ancient One blinked. "The Kent Star."
Mike paused, then said, "That works too."
The Kent Star had enough space for the Asgardians to live, and their addition could also enhance the Kent Star's strength.
"Oh, there's one more thing."
As if remembering something, the Ancient One reached out and swiped, opening a portal above their heads.
A figure fell from the portal. Just as she was about to hit the ground, Odin hurriedly caught her.
"Frigga! Why are you...?"
Odin looked at his queen in surprise.
Frigga gathered her somewhat messy hair, jumped down from Odin's arms, and said, "I knew what you wanted to do, so I planned to be with you."
Odin paused, then revealed a smile.
His fake death was a spur-of-the-moment decision, and he hadn't had time to tell Frigga, but she had guessed it...
Thinking of this, he felt very warm inside.
Looking at the two of them, Mike was completely speechless.
These two didn't care whether Thor and Loki could handle the blow of suddenly losing their parents.
"What are your plans next?" Mike asked the three of them.
These three were all 'dead' people now.
The three looked at each other, then uniformly looked at Mike.
Mike: "..."
...
Minutes earlier, when Asgard was destroyed, Hela, who was with Eric, felt a pain in her heart, and her face suddenly turned pale as paper.
"My connection with Asgard has been severed."
"What?"
Eric was startled and hurriedly asked, "What's going on? Is someone interfering?"
"No!"
Hela said sorrowfully, "There's only one possibility for this situation!"
She looked at Eric, her eyes full of grief.
"Asgard has been destroyed."
Hearing this, Eric was also shocked.
"But... how is that possible? That's Asgard."
Hela said anxiously, "Something must have happened! Damn it! I need to go back and check!"
It was the first time Eric had seen Hela so flustered. "Calm down. If Asgard has been destroyed, going there now won't change anything. Instead, it will put you in danger."
"But..."
"Let's go check together."
Hearing this, Hela was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but kiss Eric forcefully.
"Okay!"
The feeling of having someone to rely on was truly great.
The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, and her flustered heart slowly calmed down.
Just as the two were about to set off, Eric's phone suddenly rang.
Eric took out his phone, looked at it, and said to Hela, "It's Fury."
He answered the call.
"Eric, a large number of people have appeared outside Kent City through portals. They are Asgardians."
Eric was shocked. Seeing Hela already rushing out, he hurriedly said, "I'm coming right away!"
Saying this, he hung up the phone and flew up. After catching up with Hela, he reached out and grabbed her hand, lifting her off the ground. Eric whispered, "Jor-El! Teleport us to where the Asgardians are!"
As his voice fell, the space in front of them tore open, and the two flew directly through.
When they appeared, they saw Charles arriving with several X-Men as well.
The two sides nodded, greeting each other, then looked at the bewildered and pained Asgardians. Seeing Thor and Loki at the very front, their eyes lit up, and they strode over.
"Thor! Loki!"
Eric shouted, but Hela had already rushed in front of the two.
She looked at them coldly, suppressing her grief and anger, and growled, "What happened?"
Thor opened his mouth. "Ragnarok. Surtur appeared."
Hela's pupils contracted.
"What about Asgard?"
Thor's lips trembled. "Destroyed by Surtur."
Hela's pupils contracted again.
"What about Odin?"
Thor's eyes turned red. "I don't know."
"Don't know? How can you not know?"
"He stayed behind to stop Surtur and didn't leave in time. I'm not sure if he..."
Hearing this, Hela fell silent for a moment, then suddenly cursed, "Trash! You are all trash! So many people, and you couldn't protect Asgard!"
Thor looked dejected, while Loki gritted his teeth and said, "What were you doing while we were fighting?"
"Do you think I wanted Asgard destroyed? If that old thing Odin hadn't stopped me from going back..."
Hela took a deep breath and said angrily, "Asgard is far more important to me than to you!"
The three had different expressions, but they were equally sorrowful.
"Hela!"
Eric walked over, gently pressed Hela's shoulder, and whispered, "Now is not the time to argue. They are still waiting for you."
Eric pointed to the other Asgardians.
At this moment, everyone's eyes were on Thor and Loki. As for Hela, because she hadn't been in Asgard for a long time, not many people recognized her, so...
Hela took a deep breath and turned to leave.
She didn't want to get involved in this.
Thor and Loki forced themselves to cheer up and began to comfort the Asgardians. Eric and Charles took a look, then began to mobilize the resources of Kent City to help.
...
Meanwhile, in space.
Asgard, which had been exploded by Surtur's sword, was now cosmic dust.
Looking at the fragments of Asgard floating around them, Thanos and his two companions, wearing transparent masks, had different expressions, but all showed a hint of joy.
"Is Odin dead?"
Faora asked coldly, kicking a fragment away, a trace of satisfaction and pleasure flashing in her eyes.
Thanos and Mephisto were silent.
"Uncertain."
Thanos shook his head.
"Uncertain?" Faora asked in confusion. "He was so close to Surtur, with that kind of power..."
"But he is Odin. He has the ability to leave, which is why I said it's uncertain."
Thanos explained.
Just then, Mephisto's eyes lit up. "I sense an aura that is slowly growing stronger. It's... Surtur!"
Saying this, Mephisto flew forward, and Thanos and Faora hurriedly followed.
A moment later, in the center of the Asgardian debris, they saw a ball of fire.
Even in space, this fire continued to burn brightly.
Looking closely, there was a figure within the fire.
"Surtur?"
Thanos whispered, his eyes lighting up, but then he frowned.
If Surtur was still alive, then Odin...
Just then, the flames vanished. Surtur, who had returned to the size of an ordinary person, looked at the three with exhaustion written all over his face, revealing a joyful smile.
Thanos tore open space and took the three away. After arriving on an unfamiliar planet, he hurriedly asked Surtur, "How was it? Is Odin dead?"
"Definitely dead!"
Surtur said with certainty.
Noticing Thanos's somewhat doubtful expression, Surtur snorted unhappily. "I only survived because of the Eternal Flame."
Hearing this, a flash of joy appeared in Faora's eyes, but Thanos and Mephisto still harbored doubts.
"What's wrong? You don't believe me?"
Surtur looked at the two angrily, and the flames on his body suddenly became hotter.
"It's not that we don't believe you, but we dare not believe it."
Thanos pondered and said, "If Odin is dead, that is certainly a good thing."
"But regardless of whether he is dead or not, we will not attack the Kent Star immediately."
He glanced at Surtur, who was in a weakened state, and said, "We still need to wait for him to recover, and go find new allies."
Faora said dissatisfiedly, "Aren't you being too cautious?"
Mephisto raised an eyebrow. "Heh, you weren't scared out of your wits by Mike Kent, were you?"
Hearing this, Thanos didn't get angry at all. Instead, he looked at the two calmly and said slowly, "Do you have absolute certainty of victory?"
Before the two could answer, Thanos continued, "When dealing with Mike Kent, one can never be too cautious, because we only have one chance."
The two fell silent, while Surtur asked curiously, "Who is Mike Kent?"
"I'll explain to you later. Right now, we need to hurry and find our next ally."
"Who?"
"Dormammu."
...
Two months later.
Ever since the destruction of Asgard, the Asgardians had been taken in by the Kent Star and had settled there.
Over the course of two months, not far from Kent City, the Asgardians built a small city that could only accommodate a few tens of thousands of people.
After the Surtur incident, the Asgardian population, which was originally only around fifty thousand, had dwindled further to less than forty thousand.
Ragnarok left them with grief and pain, but as Asgardians, they were also brave and positive.
After this period of adaptation, they had begun a new life on the Kent Star.
Odin and Frigga never appeared. Although Thor and Loki still held a sliver of hope, the other Asgardians had tacitly accepted their deaths. Because of Thor and Loki's performance over the past two months, they regarded Thor as the new king.
After the Asgardians' situation stabilized, Thor temporarily handed Asgard over to Loki and asked Eric and Charles to help look after things, then temporarily left the Kent Star.
He was going to Nidavellir to forge a new weapon.
The matters of Asgard had come to a temporary close; they now needed time to heal their wounds.
During this period, some good things also happened.
For example, Hank Pym finally found his wife. He took the time to visit Mike's family to discuss Clark and Hope's marriage, settling the engagement.
Although the exact date of the wedding hadn't been formally decided, their marriage was already a certainty.
For example, the Kent Star was developing rapidly, and Future Tech's advanced technology was influencing the world.
For example, Steve and Peggy Carter finally decided to have a child, taking a new step in their lives.
For example, Tony finally decided to marry Pepper Potts.
For example... a week ago, three special shops appeared near Mike's home.
That's right, they were the Ancient One's, Odin's, and Mike's shops.
After faking their deaths, the two suddenly found themselves idle, with plenty of personal time.
After being idle for a while, they decided to find something to do.
So, they went to Mike and asked him for suggestions.
After thinking about it, Mike told them to open shops to kill time.
As a result, these two insisted that Mike also open a shop with them to find something to do.
Thus...
The Ancient One's coffee shop, Odin's fruit shop, and Mike's cake shop opened for business together.
(End of Chapter)