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Mephisto sat upon his blood-red throne, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the armrest.
He felt inexplicably excited, believing he had found the perfect opportunity for revenge.
During that battle on Earth, Peter had nearly dispersed his true form with that move called the 'Spirit Bomb'.
After that battle, he had no choice but to retreat to this pocket Universe, spending a considerable amount of time repairing his soul.
But so what?
Him here and him on Earth were completely different concepts.
As one of the primordial demons condensed from the pure evil energy overflowed after the destruction of the previous Universe,
it wasn't this Universe that created Mephisto.
Rather, Mephisto had created this Universe!
This pocket Universe operated entirely on his origin energy, and its rules were defined by him alone.
Here, he was God.
Every inch of this land, every pool of lava, and every wandering demon was an extension of his will. Simply put, he was omnipotent here!
Even Peter, without being able to borrow any 'vital energy', could forget about destroying him.
As for the Phoenix Force inside him... that thing was indeed a bit troublesome, but here, it could only wound him at best, and could never completely destroy him!
On the contrary, as long as he trapped Peter, he could wear Peter down to death bit by bit!
To put it bluntly, it came down to one sentence—he, Mephisto, couldn't see how he could possibly lose!
Thinking of this, Mephisto couldn't help but curl his lips upward.
"The soul of a powerful expert, delivered right to my doorstep..."
He muttered to himself, a greedy light reflecting in his red pupils.
Peter's soul.
That was one of the most unique souls he had ever seen.
If he could devour it, not only would his previous injuries heal instantly, but he might even obtain further power.
When that time came, what would another invasion of Earth even matter?
The entire Universe would grovel at his feet.
Just as Mephisto was lost in his beautiful daydream, a massive flying slash blasted a huge gap in his blood-red palace.
Immediately after, three figures stepped through the gap and appeared before Mephisto.
Leading them was Peter.
Behind him followed a man and a woman.
The man was blond and blue-eyed, holding stormbreaker, with blinding lightning crackling across his body.
Mephisto recognized him—Odin's foolish son.
The woman, however, was a new face. She had black hair, wore dark green armor, and exuded an aura... similar yet different to his own.
This was...
Having survived for hundreds of millions of years, Mephisto quickly ran through his information.
He quickly locked onto a name—Hela.
Odin's eldest daughter... Interesting. He hadn't expected even this little girl to come.
She was an even better feast delivered right to his doorstep.
If he could devour her authority, he might be able to seamlessly invade Asgard!
Thinking of this, Mephisto immediately began to gloat:
"Human, I truly envy your naive ignorance."
"To dare challenge me in my own Universe with only two helpers, it seems you know absolutely nothing about the authority of the Lord of the Underworld."
The moment his words fell, Mephisto's body began to swell rapidly.
The dome of the palace shattered as he grew, and massive chunks of blood-red rock fell in all directions. The energy of the entire Universe began to gather frantically.
The lava visible everywhere suddenly changed its flow, rushing toward Mephisto's body like rivers flowing into the sea.
Scorching lava covered his body, stacking layer upon layer, causing his size to expand to a terrifying degree within a few short seconds.
Ten meters, fifty meters, a hundred meters... a thousand meters!
In the blink of an eye, Mephisto had expanded into a thousand-meter-tall giant.
Looking down at the three tiny figures beneath his feet, his muffled voice shook the very ground:
"Let me see, what abilities do you have left to show now?"
Seeing the changes in Mephisto, the three below had different reactions.
Thor gripped stormbreaker tightly, a fighting spirit surging in his eyes.
The power Mephisto displayed at this moment was indeed terrifying, but for revenge, he was fearless!
Unlike Thor, who was on high alert, Peter and Hela beside him looked completely relaxed, as if they were a tour group visiting the area.
Peter glanced up at Mephisto, then turned his head to Hela and asked,
"Any thoughts?"
Hela sized Mephisto up, and after a moment, spoke with utmost seriousness:
"He is indeed an existence older than me, perhaps even older than the old man's old man."
"But..."
At this point, a smile appeared on Hela's lips:
"He doesn't seem to be very bright."
"However, his authority is quite interesting. If I were to devour it, it would surely be delicious."
Mephisto: ???
"When I type a question mark, it's not because I have a problem, but because I think you have a problem."
"You, a mere Asgardian Goddess of Death, come to my pocket Universe to act all high and mighty, and you even dare to mock me for not being bright? Who's the crazy one here?"
At this thought, Mephisto burst into laughter, just like Sprite from Tom and Jerry.
He instinctively picked his ear, then looked down at Hela, his expression suddenly turning fierce:
"You, devour me? What boasting!"
As he spoke, he raised his giant hand formed of lava and slammed it hard against the ground.
Boom!
This was not as simple as a mere earthquake.
With his strike, the entire Earth instantly shattered into pieces.
Countless chasms over a hundred meters wide exploded beneath the feet of the three, and boiling lava geysers erupted from the bottomless cracks.
The moment these lava geysers appeared, the temperature in the pocket dimension instantly soared to an absurd level.
If the previous temperature was sixty degrees at most, it was now at least two to three hundred degrees!
Feeling the heatwave rushing over him, Thor's expression changed.
He could feel his skin burning, his blood heating up, and even his breath becoming scorching.
This feeling was even more intense than fighting Surtur in Muspelheim.
Surtur was merely a fire giant.
But the lava here carried the death power of the underworld; that scorching heat was not only burning his physical body, but also eroding his soul.
Silently weakening the divine power of lightning within him.
This was Mephisto's true strength on his own turf.
Absurdly powerful!
Thor had to admit a painful truth.
If he had come alone, he probably wouldn't have lasted even three seconds.
But he did not retreat.
Thor gripped stormbreaker tightly, pouring out all his thunderous power to form a barrier of lightning on his body, stubbornly resisting the erosion of the lava and heatwave.
The veins on his forehead bulged, and his teeth clenched so hard they made a creaking sound.
But he refused to take even a single step back.
In this war to avenge his father, he didn't have to be the key figure deciding victory, but at the very least, he couldn't be a useless drag.
With this in mind, Thor couldn't help but look at Peter and Hela beside him to see how they were doing.
As a result, when he turned his head, he found that both of them were looking at him with extremely strange expressions.
Their expressions seemed to ask:
"My foolish brother/brother-in-law, why must you choose to suffer for no reason?"