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Chapter 88
Technomancer in MCU
Asgard
–Ed–
“Well, that went well,” He groaned internally when he heard Toby say that to the Queen of Asgard. It did actually go better than he was expecting. He had half-expected Odin to just flip out and try to smite Toby on the spot, considering that Toby made no effort whatsoever to try and hide his true nature, not that it would have made any difference since it was Odin they were trying to hide from, the all-seeing yet ironically, one-eyed King of Asgard.
“I don’t know what I was expecting from a demon host, especially since they have been nearly non-existent on this side of the universe. Last I heard all of them died in droves fighting each other fighting for a reason nobody knows or at least no one that is alive.” Frigga said as she dismissed Thor and Loki and turned towards them.
Toby just smirked at her, not replying at all.
He tried to step in before Toby could do any more damage but Frigga looked at me and that one look somehow stopped me mid-way. It was honestly terrifying how she could command someone with just a look, even without using any of her witch-specific magic.
“Hmm”, she then turned to him and extended an arm towards him lit up with a magic circle that stopped just shy of touching him. She looked at him as if asking for his consent.
Well, what did he have to lose anyway? So, he nodded.
She nodded and then cast the spell on him, not even flinching under the hawkish gaze of Toby.
The magic circle turned a shade of green and then that light waved over his body before stopping at his head and then following the link with his soul, went back to his body, all the while she had another magic circle in front of her, probably feeding her the information on the diagnostics of the spell.
“Hmm, I see,” She turned to Toby and said, “Very creative curse work. If this is what you are capable of then maybe you can be of help too.”
Then she went back to work as Alfred arrived after talking with Odin privately. He didn’t know what they were talking about but judging from the fact that they were not running away immediately, things should be okay.
“I hope he agreed to whatever crazy plan you have cooked up in your brain, Alfred?” Frigga asked Alfred as she continued to circle his body, intensely studying the resulting output from using her diagnostic magic.
“Maybe? I don’t know for sure. He’ll inform me after the feast. Speaking of which, I know it is customary but is the feast really necessary? Can't we just skip to the task at hand?” Alfred asked her while manifesting another magic circle and handing it to Frigga whose eyes took a vacant look in them when she started receiving the metric ton of data that Alfred must have had in that magic circle.
After all, he must have been researching the problem and its possible solutions for decades in his time-accelerated servers.
Frigga shook her head and replied, “Oh my! That really is a crazy idea and as much as it pains me to say this, it might just work. We'll be talking about the shoddy spellwork later on, though. With the spell you put together, Ed will be lucky to survive his full mortal lifespan, let alone use his powers to their full potential. And as for the feast, let’s just say that anything and everything you have to do can be done after the Feast. Asgardians are like that. Even my husband is no exception.”
She then turned to Ed, “I would suggest freshening up in your quarters. I don’t see any clothing being packed with you but I have a feeling that abusing spatial magic is something that you guys do every day. In case you don’t, tell one of the handmaids and they’ll be sure to give it to you.”
“Now,” Frigga turned to Alfred and gave him another magic circle, “You have given me a lot to think of. This is something that was written in one of the ancient books I have access to. Use that brain of yours and see if any improvement can be done to personalise it for Ed since you know his physiology and soul better than anyone here. We'll be having a lengthy discussion about your risk-taking appetite, especially when the entity at risk is the entire universe, after the feast.”
After giving all of them their orders, the figure of Frigga shimmered as the illusion faded away.
He mechanically turned his neck towards Alfred and then Toby, both of whom seemed to be rooted on their spot as they looked at the spot where Frigga disappeared from with laser focus.
He then chuckled and turned around, heading to their room, “Heh, looks like you met your match then, Alfred?”
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Good thing too, since he needed someone to show him that he might be the strongest on Earth but the wider cosmos was a whole different ball game altogether.
Xxxxxxxx
It was later that day.
The day cycle worked differently on Asgard. The sun never truly set on Asgard since it was a fixed island with neither the sun nor the body moving at all. The sun was actually an ancient magic construct that was a work of art made with what Ed suspected to be Sun divinities or at least by a person who had the Sun divinity.
But as far as he remembered, there was no utterance of a Sun Asgardian God during the MCU. Of course, not all of Asgard’s Myth was shown anyway so he might be wrong there as well.
The way evenings or nights worked in Asgard was also by a clever application of light magic. The Sun, during the day, behaved similarly to a standard Yellow star, giving off both heat and light by fusion, but during the night, both the amount of light and heat given by the Sun changes to something that would be more commonly done by the Moon on Earth.
At least, that was what Alfred was going on and on about ever since he had arrived in his room to wake him up.
Yes, he was grumpy after being woken up from the most relaxing sleep he had ever had in years, especially in recent years since he almost always had to be put to sleep using external influences like CHI or in some extreme cases, concentrated sleeping pills.
“Alright, just get to the point, will you, Alfred? We have to go to the stupid feast after this and I just want to get some sleep before that,” he finally snapped at Alfred after listening to him go on and on about the fascinating magic that Asgard had.
Alfred actually pouted this time, “Well, I was about to tell you about the magic of the ocean surrounding this landmass but you just lost that privilege. Anyway, the reason I came here, not that I need one, is to discuss the Toby situation.” He said the last words in a serious tone as an anti-surveillance curtain was raised around his room.
So, that was what he was doing while trying to talk his ears off, clever bastard.
“What about him? He said while diving back under the covers.
The absolutely mind-bogglingly comfortable covers that were ripped off of him despite his best tries by Alfred.
“Don’t ignore the issue. You know what I have been talking about. Now that Toby is out of the contract that the Ancient One had imposed on him, what is going to stop him from trying to rule Earth or destroy all the major players in a bid to establish his supremacy?” Alfred asked as he kept on running the probability of that happening and showing it to him.
He sighed and sat up on the bed, facing Alfred who was pacing furiously, “Look, if it was the Old Toby, I might have agreed with you on principle but this version of him seems calm. Now that’s a sentence I never thought I would say again.”
“The probability of him doing something incredibly rash and ruining all of our work keeps on increasing day by day. He only has to see something bad happening on the planet that he absolutely has to intervene in and boom, we're done.”
“If he does anything, we will be there. The Avengers will be there. The Inhumans, Atlantians, Wakandans, everybody will be there to rise up against him, Alfred. You are worrying too much.”
“No! You are not taking this seriously enough. The sheer power he has at his disposal is not something that can be fought against simply by drowning him in quantities. Maybe Thor when he becomes older or Dr.Banner if he reaches his full potential but aside from them? Nobody comes even close to him in terms of strength who are also Earth’s allies. Not even I could defeat him without using one of the Infinity Stones.”
“Okay, first of all, you are seriously underestimating everybody on Earth. Hell, Daisy, Jake, Eric, Bruce, and Namor together could probably beat anyone in the universe, probably even the weaker celestials. Add in Thor, Stark’s mind, and then you might even have a chance against Arishem.”
Alfred looked so lost as he looked at him for guidance. It was the first day Alfred was born all over again. He had panicked so hard when he realised the limited space he had to live in.
“Look, if you want, I will go talk to him after this, alright?” he relented after seeing Alfred’s conflicted look even after explaining everything to him.
“Okay, thank you.” Alfred said and was about to leave but he stopped Aflred.
“Just out of curiosity, what are the odds of us winning against him if we pull out all the stops and he stops caring about the damage to Earth?”
Alfred looked at him and then, without warning, dozens of runic circles manifested around him as he began floating cross-legged with dimensional energy leaking around him.
Hmm, it would seem that he took it way too seriously.
For an entire minute, Alfred was in that state which was a lot because he could see Alfred visibly use Time Energy to accelerate the time his mind was working with.
Finally, after a while, the magic circles disappeared and the dimensional energy that had congregated around Alfred dispersed and then Alfred came out of it with steam coming out of his head in a comical show of how much brain power he had used, “Well, not that, that was not completely extra of you but what are the results anyway?”
Alfred’s face looked relaxed to him which he took as a good sign, “Pulling out all stops from our side results in the Planet’s destruction. Roping in all of our allies though gives us a 90% chance of killing him and a 98% chance of defeating him. Unfortunately, those odds drop down to 60% if Thor is removed from the equation.”
Realisation dawned on him as he understood what Alfred was trying to convey, “So, we have to kill Hela, then?”
Alfred nodded and said, “Not just her, destroy Asgard as well.”
He sighed and stood up, “Well, nobody said it was going to be easy all the way.”
Now, all he had to do was ask Odin and Frigga to heal his body while plotting in the background to destroy their home.
Lovely.
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Word Count - 1954
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