This was merely a prelude to a war of gods. Loki had envisioned many possibilities, but this Midgardian continued to exceed his expectations.
Even now, despite being consumed by unprecedented rage due to Thor's dire situation, the Evil God was still an Evil God. Even on the verge of losing his mind, he retained his inherent cunning.
When he attacked Duval, he instinctively considered what Duval's reliance was for such madness. Then, combining it with Duval's Xenomorph army, he assessed Duval's strength.
The truly formidable Xenomorphs were, at most, the Queen, Abomination Xenomorph, and Enhanced Xenomorph. Dealing with these creatures would only be a minor inconvenience for Loki, not altering his ultimate goal of eliminating Duval.
Duval himself had not displayed any remarkable power.
Especially since he sensed Thor's condition up close, confirming that his brother was merely parasitized by that creature, falling into a brief coma. The gash in his chest was horrific, seemingly costing him some internal organs? But with an Asgardian's terrifying vitality, as long as Thor didn't die on the spot, he could still be saved.
Don't forget, even the lowest-ranking commoners among the Asgardians possessed three times the physical capabilities of Earth humans, practically a small Captain America on average. And that was just the commoners.
Let alone Thor, the son of a God-King.
Loki remained both furious and confident, but when he saw Duval raise his hand in a certain direction, he became uneasy, his face filled with anxiety.
In an instant, Loki understood. But it was precisely because he guessed the card Duval was about to play that he was even more shocked and incredulous. Reason told him it was nonsense, an absurd, whimsical act of suicide. But instinct told him that Duval wasn't crazy, expending so much effort only to target the Thunder God's Hammer in the end.
"Xenomorph, parasitism, genes..."
Loki instantly connected a series of keywords. His powerful mind, in less than 0.01 seconds, meticulously filtered through the images of all the Xenomorphs he had seen.
The same species, but different appearances, varying degrees of strength, and that new Xenomorph that had Chestbursted from the Enhanced Deviant in Loki's view...
Loki subconsciously glanced at it. Hmm, just a moment, and this newly Chestbursted Xenomorph has already expanded five times in size. This exaggerated growth rate is truly astonishing.
"I see, this guy actually harbors such thoughts, this madman..." Loki, in addition to shock and anger, felt a sense of sudden clarity, a feeling of having a blind spot in his thinking opened up.
So that's how it could be done. The parasitic Xenomorphs could actually be used like this!
"You absolutely cannot lift Mjolnir. That is a divine artifact that even I am not qualified to touch. Don't be so presumptuous!" Loki said, his eyes bloodshot, murderous intent filling the air. Powerful Godly Power flowed across his body, and terrifying magic was brewing.
Just give him a little more time, and he could erase this human from Midgard.
*Boom!* In that instant, the wind stopped, the rain stilled, and the swirling dark clouds seemed to be frozen by an invisible force.
Buzz!
A faint sound of electricity crackled from the Thunder God's Hammer. This weapon, which had been like a dead object in Magneto's hands, without any Godly Power, now began to show faint traces of electricity.
Buzz! The Thunder God's Hammer suddenly erupted with a powerful electric current and abruptly reversed direction, breaking free from Magneto's control and flying rapidly towards Duval!
Everything happened so suddenly, and so quickly. All of Duval's actions, from start to finish, were fluid and without any hesitation, as if he had known all along what to do.
Loki watched with bloodshot eyes as the unattainable Mjolnir flew past him, finally being reached by Duval, who firmly grasped it.
Duval felt the weight of the Thunder God's Hammer, slowly raising his head: "Then, now, we can begin the second round of the contest, Evil God Loki. You should now address me as... Thunder God."
The countless electric currents paused briefly, then began to frantically cover and spread across Duval's body.
Dense, visible, and even larger lightning bolts emerged from the hammer, surging like living things, carrying extremely astonishing Godly Power, controlled by Duval.
This Godly Power was so obedient that Duval had prepared to spend a few seconds adapting, but he was surprised to find that he wielded this power as easily as his own limbs.
Godly Power filled his body, rapidly activating and enriching every cell, using the Xenomorph larva in his chest as a central hub, quickly elevating Duval's life level.
The massive dark clouds coalesced into a terrifying tornado, rotating around Mjolnir, looking from afar like a newborn black hole.
"How is this, possible..."
Loki was stunned, his mind blank, his face filled with confusion.
Kaecilius was also dumbfounded, and Magneto seized the opportunity to blast him with an energy wave, sending him tumbling several times, but he still widened his eyes, his gaze fiery.
Magneto was the most composed. After the initial surprise, he expressionlessly withdrew his gaze. It was just picking up the Thunder God's Hammer that he could also use. This fully proved Duval's excellence—or the Xenomorph's excellence? Other than that, nothing else mattered.
As for strength, even if the Thunder God in his prime came, Magneto was confident that he could win!
This extremely chaotic, massive battlefield, where everyone was fighting each other, caused global tremors. Even Black Bolt on the moon noticed the commotion, unable to resist standing up and observing the changes on Earth.
Duval, steadily wielding the Thunder God's Hammer, bathed in endless lightning and thunder, transformed into a god, becoming the focus of everyone's attention.
Under the lightning, the darkness was torn apart, stretching Duval's shadow long and long in the flickering light, as if it were about to cover the entire planet.
A deep satisfaction also emerged in Duval's eyes. As he had predicted, he was just taking a gamble. If it didn't work, he would retreat with the Xenomorph army, but fortunately, he succeeded in the end.
"Come to think of it, there are many people who can lift the Thunder God's Hammer: Thor, Hela, Vision, Captain America, Jane Foster, Black Widow, Deadpool, Magneto, Loki, Frog Thor, Beta Ray Bill, Bor, Hydra Captain America, Wonder Woman, Superman..."
The standard for lifting Mjolnir is often thought to be a "righteous heart," which is undoubtedly wrong, because Hela was not righteous at all, but rather filled with desire and bloodlust.
Therefore, Duval tends to believe that only those with the "pure" quality of a "Godly Power" can lift the Thunder God's Hammer.
Of course, this is just the normal way to lift the hammer, not to mention the sly operations like actively modifying the spell that Odin left on the Thunder God's Hammer and then having someone lift it.
"So, did this hammer previously dislike that I wasn't pure enough, or did it dislike that my capacity wasn't enough?" Duval looked at the hammer in his hand, finding it very interesting.
The hammer's judgment of the same person will constantly change due to the evolution of the situation and the mind.
Obviously, in this kind of crisis situation, Loki is not to its liking, but Duval, who has seized Thor's genes and bloodline, has obtained the key to advancing to "Godly Power" and can control the Thunder God's Hammer.
Duval even suspects that the Thunder God's Hammer's intelligence level is too low and that it was deceived by the Xenomorph Chestburster in his chest, thinking that he was Thor after a change of heart, a "great enlightenment."
But in any case, Duval's leap to becoming the Thunder God by replacing the Xenomorph Chestburster is a solid result.
Duval truly grasped the Godly Power, and at this moment, he raised the Thunder God's Hammer high. Beside him, numerous Xenomorphs bathed in lightning surrounded him. This is destined to become a timeless masterpiece imprinted on the world.
Even after countless years, as long as Earth still exists and as long as history is still passed down, people will always know that there was a man who led a powerful race, lifted Mjolnir, and mastered the power of the Thunder God.
This scene exists not only on Earth.
Asgard's Divine Palace.
Odin, who was sleeping but actually observing Earth with his powerful Godly Power, was alarmed by this scene.
When the Eternals appeared, he was wary of Arishem and forcibly restrained himself from making a move; when Thor was lured by Duval into accepting the Facehugger, he was confident that he could strip this creature away, as long as Thor wasn't killed in one go, so he didn't make a move; but when he realized that Duval could lift the Thunder God's Hammer after seizing the Chestburster in Thor's body, he was immediately shocked.
"Where exactly did this creature come from? It can bypass my spell, even if it's in a rogue-like way, it's very extraordinary. This race shouldn't be unknown."
Odin was thinking about the Xenomorph that parasitized Thor, and then explored the origin of the entire Xenomorph race, and finally locked his gaze on Duval.
Honestly, this God-King had never taken Duval seriously. Having lived for millions of years, he had already witnessed countless rises and falls, and killed so-called powerhouses from various worlds.
But at this moment, when he was about to die, he finally became interested and developed a strong interest in a "mortal" in the mortal world.
Odin was considering whether to extend his vision and trace back the timeline. This was not difficult for him. A Skyfather-level existence, if it really wanted to explode with all its strength regardless of the cost, would be enough to interfere with the operation of the entire galaxy, and even completely destroy the galaxy.
What's more, it was just a brief observation of what happened in the past, not reversing time—that was the domain of the Time Stone.
But Odin gave up. He didn't have much time left, and his aging body was not enough to bear the terrifying Godly Power accumulated throughout his life. Even using only a portion of his Godly Power would greatly accelerate his time of death.
"Originally, according to the results of my consultation with the Ancient One, the future was dark. I originally guessed that the problem was with the Eternals and the Celestials. They would attack Thor, but I didn't expect this result. Arishem didn't appear, and Thor only suffered some losses..."
Honestly, if that was all, it would be the best result.
Thor was still alive, even if he lost the Thunder God's Hammer, he was still alive, but the worries that the Ancient One conveyed when she talked to him were not fake... What kind of future did the Ancient One see with the Time Stone? Because of Duval? This young man is indeed good, and he has a unique race with amazing potential under his command to be loyal to him, although the origin of this race is unknown.
Now, he has even lifted the Thunder God's Hammer with a wonderful operation and mastered a part of the Thunder God's Power.
But only this level is far from enough to make the Ancient One worried.
Odin had no clue and decided to continue observing. His body could still support him for some years and had at least one ability to make a move. He needed to wait for the enemy that even the Ancient One was worried about to appear.
At that time, if Thor was still alive, he could safely pass the Odin Force to Thor and let Thor ascend the throne as king.
If Thor died... Facing a powerful enemy that even the Ancient One could not describe, it was normal to die in battle. Even if he survived this level, there would still be the inevitable Ragnarok.
Hopefully, he can still be alive. On Earth, with the Ancient One's protection, and being involved with Duval, who can lift Mjolnir, is already the result that can increase the probability of survival the most, although it is very damaging to Thor's self-esteem.
...
Duval officially engaged with Loki, and as he said, launched the second round of battle.
He guessed that Odin and others would be staring at the changes on Earth, and also guessed that Thor's state was greatly involved, but he was not worried.
Even in Universe 199999, when Thor was beaten by Loki to the point of almost dying, Odin was just lying in Asgard sleeping, without making a move, until Thor himself suddenly woke up, suddenly lifted the Thunder God's Hammer again, and was resurrected with full health.
As long as Thor is not killed in one go, without leaving any room for recovery, Odin will not make a move, even if Thor is almost dead.
The Allfather, who has fought countless battles, has a heart that is far more ruthless than ordinary people imagine.
Not to mention now, Thor is still some time away from truly dying.
Duval, like a true Thunder God, wielded the Thunder God's Hammer, flying into the sky and diving into the earth, unscrupulously venting his Godly Power, and freely controlling the weather. Looking from space to Earth, one could see that in the New Mexico desert, terrifying thunder was gathering from all over the world, gathering more and more.
The Queen has also gone all out. Under Duval's command, she led the Xenomorph troops to charge towards...
The Eternals! In this kind of situation, it is not realistic to kill Loki or Kaecilius. If these two great mages who rank among the best in the Nine Realms really want to escape with all their heart, Duval can't stop them.
On the contrary, seizing the opportunity to capture a batch of Eternals would be the most cost-effective move, preparing for the inevitable Jotunheim versus Asgard war in the near future.
That would be a war where even the Skyfathers would personally participate. Duval, being inclined towards adventure, estimated that if he didn't have a few powerful subordinates in his hands, he wouldn't be able to gain any benefits.
*Boom!* The Abomination Xenomorph leaped, crossing hundreds of meters, falling like a cannonball, attempting to stomp on Makkari. Among all the Eternals, the most troublesome ones were not Ikaris and Gilgamesh, but Makkari, who possessed super speed.
But unfortunately, Makkari always prioritized Ajak's safety and didn't focus on the battle itself. Instead, she would spend more energy paying attention to her own condition. The moment she noticed the Abomination Xenomorph's sudden attack, she abandoned Magneto and quickly retreated, trying to return to Ajak's side.
"What are you doing! How dare you send your people to attack us at this time?" Ajak couldn't help but shout.
Duval ignored Ajak, bathed in the sky full of lightning, Godly Power vibrated, clashing with Loki, while simultaneously using the vision of numerous Xenomorphs to quickly calculate. Then, with an order, more than a dozen Xenomorphs acted together, blocking all of Makkari's running routes.
If it were at another time, this would be useless, but in this area where space was chaotic, with all kinds of rampant energy escaping wildly, it was the best place to restrict Makkari.
Pa! A Xenomorph suddenly stretched out its claws. After countless calculations by Duval, it received Duval's order to attack, seemingly just reaching out casually, but blocking Makkari's only path forward.
With a loud bang, Makkari was like an out-of-control vehicle, tumbling forward, torn and injured by several surging chaotic energies.
Ajak and Gilgamesh were shocked and turned to protect Makkari.
But it was too late.
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