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Chapter 104
Technomancer in MCU
Guest Wing, Asgard
–Toby–
“I am surprised you sought me out of your own volition. So, what do you want to talk about?” He asked Alfred as soon as they floated away from the Royal Palace and landed in the forest behind it. They might not be in the palace anymore but he was sure that both Odin and Heimdall were keeping an eye on both of them since they were the only two people on Asgard who could actually cause some serious harm before they were inevitably stopped by Odin.
The mere thought made his nose crinkle. Even after a millennia of toiling away, he was still not up to Odin’s level. In his defense, not many people in the universe were, especially now that he was nearing the end of his natural lifespan. Asgardians naturally grew stronger the older they got and Odin? He was the oldest of them all.
Alfred set up a few privacy curtains around them. None that he could recognise but he could see that they would not be able to stop Odin from snooping around if he wanted to but someone like Loki?
Yeah, he was not going to hear or see a thing.
“I wanted to talk about Ed’s procedure,” Alfred said as he drew some sort of rune circle on the ground. It must have been an original of Alfred because he could not understand a single thing about it.
“What about it?” He asked in his characteristically gruff voice. He was very serious about getting Ed healed, especially since he now had no interest in ruling over Earth. Now, all he wanted to do was find some nice strong opponents and fight them. His nature as a demon host was bleeding over his personality and he found himself..not minding it that much.
Honestly, it was all confusing but at least, he was not in a mental rut like before. He could take his time and actually enjoy the things he liked to do, like ice cream.
A delicacy that Asgard did not have apparently. That was the true tragedy, not Ragnarok.
….
Ok, maybe he was overstating things a bit but his point still stood.
“What do you know about the Infinity Stones?” Alfred asked as he started pouring energy into the ritual circle, lighting it up.
“What about them? There are six of them. Possessing one of them makes you strong enough to challenge any of the superpowers of the galaxy. Wielding them is extremely hard and can only be done so by beings of immense power, like you and me. Very rarely, can someone even hold two stones, let alone wield their power. I don’t think there is anybody who can use even a single Infinity Stone with impunity. It is also rumoured that possessing all six of them can grant you omnipotence, omniscience, and even omnipresence but I don’t think there is a single being, aside from the Celestials, who could even touch all six at once, let alone use them.”
Alfred had finished powering the circle by now and was looking at him, “You would be correct. Normally, nobody should be able to hold all Stones at once unless they have a tool that could help them. A tool made from the finest smiths in the universe.”
“The Dwarves from Nidavellir,” Both of them said at the same time.
Of course, how could he forget?
Thanos forced the Dwarves to make him something that would allow him to use the powers of the Infinity Stones without instantly turning into ash. But even then, he was severely injured and almost died after killing half the universe.
But what did that have to do with..Ed?
His thoughts stuttered to a halt as the circle lit up and from the centre of the circle, with an eerie yellow glow, the Mind Stone came out.
“Why is that here, Alfred?” He asked even as he raised his mental shields to the max. He was more than aware of the insidious nature of the Mind Stone. There were tales of it, even in the hell world, about how truly powerful demons, once descended from the dimension, fell prey to the influences of the Mind Stone, ultimately resulting in their minds being completely subsumed by the stone, condemning them forever to a life of imprisonment.
Dying would be a better alternative for him.
Alfred rolled his eyes at him, “Oh, relax. Why do you think I drew this ridiculously complex ritual circle? It stops the influence of the Mind Stone from affecting beings that are native of alternate dimensions.”
He relaxed minutely at that but still did not dare lower his mental defenses. Despite what Alfred told him, the Mind Stone was the most sentient of the Six Infinity Stones. It was capable of figuring out the origin of a being and based on that, deciding if the being was worthy of wielding it or not. If it deems you unworthy, by the time you realise that the Mind Stone was not in fact, your ally or tool, your mind would be long gone, succumbing to the influence of the Mind Stone.
“I need you to wield it?” Alfred then dropped the bomb on him.
“What?” His demonic voice seeped into his tone as he snapped his gaze toward a very nonchalant-looking Alfred.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Do you have any idea what that Stone might do to the likes of me? Find someone else,” he snapped at Alfred. Was he insane or did he want him to die?
“We are going to be using multiple Infinity Stones for Ed’s procedure and for that, I need multiple people who are capable of accurately wielding the Infinity Stones without immediately dying,” Alfred said as he cast an illusion that depicted the role of the Stones in the procedure to move Ed’s unbearably heavy soul into a new body that could, hopefully, sustain the full power of his soul.
Ed’s soul was truly an anomaly. It was very heavy and very powerful, yet unlike normally powerful souls that would influence their bodies to become equally as strong, it actually broke down Ed’s body to a level that he would not be able to survive without outside intervention. His powers too, at their prime, were more akin to complete matter manipulation rather than Technomancy. Ed, with a body that can handle the full output of his soul without crumbling away, could probably have a chance of defeating Odin even now.
It frustrated him to say it but to have a good chance of dealing with Thanos and his army, they needed Ed and they needed him to be at full power. That won’t happen in his current state and he had looked for other options to save him. The problem was none existed and the one Alfred had brought up was something he had invented.
There was no precedent of someone using 3 infinity stones to just perform a medical procedure. It would probably be for the first and last time that someone would use weapons of this caliber for healing purposes.
So, Toby sighed and replied, “Very well, I will take part in the procedure but I will not touch the mind stone. Any other of the two stones will be fine for me. Who will be the other two people?”
As far as he knew, there were limited people on their side who could safely channel the power of an Infinity Stone. The Hulk came to mind but his mind would need to be far more stable than it was now for him to be eligible to wield an Infinity Stone.
Thor could do it if given enough time to grow into his powers.
As he was right now? He might be able to give it a shot but he was clearly incapable or inexperienced with energy manipulation.
Loki, on the other hand, could manipulate energy in his sleep but his physique was not strong enough to bear the strain.
That left him, Alfred, and maybe Odin.
Those weren't very good odds for them.
“Don’t worry about the other stones. They will only be needed in case of emergency. Just the space and the time stone will be enough but I have the Mind Stone just in case of an Emergency,” Alfred said as he sealed the Mind Stone in a box he conjured with runes that covered the entirety of its surface.
“We will see if Odin or Frigga have any mistakes they can point out in my work and begin tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Do you know anybody who can perform the ritual with us? Someone who is trustworthy?” Alfred asked him.
Sadly, not a single person came to mind. While he did have a lot of powerful lackeys back in the hell world, most of them only followed him out of fear of his strength and ruthlessness. Not a single one followed him out of respect or loyalty. It was not their fault, of course, it was ingrained in their blood to follow the stronger one without question but it did not leave him a lot of options for friends.
So, he shook his head, “None come to mind.”
“Very well,” Alfred said and removed the privacy curtain around them. At the same time, Alfred cast the same spell that he had seen him analyse back when Loki had arrived on the moon with Odin’s letter in hand.
Alfred then flicked his hand, causing the letter to vanish in a burst of smoke. He looked at Alfred with a raised eyebrow, his question evident.
“That was a message for my other self performing his duties as Sorcerer Supreme back on Earth. We will need the Time Stone for the ritual and he might also need it in the meantime so we will have to coordinate everything and wait for the right moment.” Alfred said as he raised his hand and created a runic circle for him to see.
It was the most sophisticated rune work he had ever seen in his life. Even more complicated than the Bi-Frost which was supposed to be so complicated that only Odin himself could get it working again. At least, the Bi-Frost that Asgard uses.
If he was right, anybody with a sufficient understanding of the Yggdrasil and the skill to actually connect to it and manipulate it would be able to use it but the list of people who can do all of that is so low that it probably only includes Odin for now. Alfred would probably become skilled enough to do that but he doesn’t have that connection to the Yggdrasil for now.
Maybe, in the future.
“Do you have any idea how many gazes of dangerous beings have shifted to Asgard just now when you brought a second Infinity Stone on Asgard without my permission,” The voice of Odin sounded right behind them, eliciting a shiver from him.
It was unthinkable for him to be surprised by someone sneaking up on him. It was supposed to be impossible and yet, as he turned around slowly, there he was, Odin, in his armoured garb, holding Gungnir with one hand and pointing his palm at them with his other hand. A palm that was glowing with some sort of sealing spell.
He heard the sound of shattering so he looked back to see that the runic spell that Alfred had cast on the box that contained the Time Stone was broken and was now covered with a thin golden glow. The box then promptly flew out of Alfred’s hands who tried to snatch it but the box became intangible before he could grab it and it became tangible again as it reached Odin’s side and began floating by his side.
“Honestly, what was she thinking? Handing over an Infinity Stone to you?” Odin muttered exasperatedly before his gaze turned sharp as he looked at both him and Alfred.
A shiver ran down his spine at that, not out of fear but out of excitement. Despite knowing that the being in front of him was one of the few people capable of tearing him apart, his body’s instincts refused to bow down in front of him. Instead, it hungered for combat where they would try and tear each other apart, proving who was stronger between them.
“We will discuss the consequences of your actions when the Singularity is present. Right now, we have more pressing matters to tend to. As I am sure you are more than aware, I am dying and before I die, I wanted to correct one of my biggest mistakes instead of just dumping her on my sons because I was too big of a coward to face my mistakes head-on.”
He looked at Alfred in confusion. Why was Odin being so forthcoming right now?
“So, Alfred?” Odin addressed Alfred, “I will agree to seeing your design for the insane procedure you have in mind, and only after I and Frigga have given our final approvals, will you even think of doing it? Are we clear?”
Alfred could only nod at that question.
He snickered internally. Alfred really was a scaredy cat. He was worried for nothing. It was not as if Odin would just attack th..e…m.
His thoughts slowed down as he felt his vision blur before the floor began racing towards his face or was it the opposite?
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Word Count - 2259
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