Sitting in the seating area, Shiller watched as people from this universe actually began to reflect. He couldn't help but shake his head, but he didn't interrupt them either.
The rhetoric of the Main Universe's Doctor Strange wasn't particularly clever; it was rather deliberate. Anyone slightly intelligent could quickly sense something was off. But people like Stark and Doom didn't stand up to refute because they had no intention of turning this into a battleground for political debates, as that would have played right into his hands.
The silence lasted so long that the atmosphere completely cooled down. The rebuttals Doctor Strange anticipated from the Main Universe did not come; there was only some low conversation from the ordinary people's government side. Captain America also said a few words to the other Captain Americas, but no one paid him any attention.
After a long while, Captain America finally tapped the microphone again and said, "You have a point. We admit that due to the rush, the units did not coordinate well, leading to communication issues. However, we also want you to understand that disobedience in a battle is a crime that cannot be erased, no matter how good your reasons are or how successful the outcome is. What's more, your disobedience caused significant losses."
"I said, I don't trust Asgard because you haven't established a good communication channel, and the subsequent handling was too rough."
"Yes, I've said we admit that point," Captain America repeated, saying, "but right now we're discussing your act of disobedience."
Seeing that Doctor Strange still didn't seem to get it, Captain America had to say, "As long as you're going to a military court, any charges against you cannot be refuted because no rationale can outweigh human lives. The focus of the issue is not who is more wrong but who is wrong. For any issue that could lead to losses, better to overreact than let it go because any slight oversight could cost a large number of soldiers' lives. Understand?"
The Main Universe's Doctor Strange opened his mouth, looking at a loss. And Shiller just found it interesting, as this scene vividly illustrated the saying "a scholar meets a soldier."
The essence of politics is "I am wrong, but you are more wrong," whereas the essence of the military is "Better to kill incorrectly than let go."
In the political arena, everything is debatable: who holds primary responsibility? Who holds secondary responsibility? Who is the direct cause? Who is the main cause? Did environmental factors play a role? Did the development stage have any impact? These are all open to debate.
However, when the battle horn sounds, any problem that arises requires everyone to take the greatest possible responsibility because this is the only way to prevent further losses. At least in an excellent military, this is the norm.
Therefore, no matter how eloquently Doctor Strange from the Prime Universe speaks, it cannot exempt him from responsibility, nor can it even mitigate it. His pointing out issues with Central Universe command doesn't allow him to avoid accountability; it merely adds a few more unfortunate people to bear responsibility with him.
Sure enough, after a series of discussions, the retrospective meeting concluded. This battle was also concluded with several punishment notices.
First, all Doctor Stranges are to remain on Earth, not to move without orders; second, Thor is responsible for educating all the other heroes about the experiences of Asgard in this universe, ensuring that others understand the close partnership between Central Universe's Earth and Asgard; finally, the general who proposed using Doctor Strange as bait for a counter-encirclement plan was transferred from the front-line command center to the reserve think tank.
Thor was quite happy to take on this task because they learned from various Lokis how this universe resolved Ragnarök, and the process was incredibly earth-shattering, making it the best talking point, which they had been holding back on for quite some time.
The Asgardians have always been good at drinking and boasting, and given they've just won a victory, there are no rules against drinking for the superhero forces, so Thor carried several boxes of alcohol and went to boast to the superheroes.
In contrast, Doctor Stranges were feeling as if the sky had fallen. They came to compete for the leadership of the Multiverse, but now they're not even allowed on the front, so what leadership competition is there to speak of?
Before, they thought that if a Multiverse Human Alliance were to be established and it must have a single leader, it would certainly come from among the Doctor Stranges. Now, it seems that may not be the case.
The strongest competitor, of course, is Doctor Destruction. Doom is strong in that he is comprehensive, capable in scientific research, proficient in magic, and has a solid track record of ruling a country without causing any turmoil. Don't be fooled by his seemingly morally ambiguous stance; when it comes to real battles, he's quite disciplined. Although he didn't bring many people, just over a dozen, they haven't caused any trouble for quite a while, which makes his resume much sturdier than Doctor Strange's.
Of course, there's also Iron Man. Generally speaking, Iron Man's anxiety makes it difficult for him to compete for this kind of role, and many would question his ability to take on such responsibility due to his usual mental state. However, there are many Iron Men, and there are bound to be a few exceptional ones. Without even mentioning Evil Iron Man, there are a few Justice Iron Men capable of taking on significant responsibilities.
As for Captain America and the like, they're the perfect candidates for maintaining the status quo. If there were a vote, everyone unsure of whom to vote for would choose him; that's the power of good relationships.
As for Spider-Man, they've already formed their faction. The Human Alliance is far from being established, yet the Multiverse Spider Alliance has been developing for who knows how long, and there isn't a single Spider-Man missing from the entire Multiverse. Other superheroes at the Asgard Base may occupy only one floor, while the Spider-Men occupy three separate buildings, showing their large numbers. Moreover, their mobilization capability will likely far surpass that of the newly established Human Alliance in the near future.
The mutants are in a similar situation. They may not join the Multiverse Human Alliance and might form their own faction, otherwise, they wouldn't stay in the Andromeda Galaxy instead of going to the Asgard Base.
Given this, it seems the Doctor Stranges just arrived and scored themselves big deductions. This made Shiller even more convinced that competing for leadership requires strategic composure, and being overly eager will only lead to counterproductive results.
The only regret is that although Strange never broke his hand and hardly called himself Doctor Strange, he was still categorized with the Doctor Stranges, left on Earth, and not allowed to be on the front lines.
Staying on Earth isn't about doing nothing; everyone must engage in logistics. In other words, now Strange, like Shiller, is a mover.
In the warehouse of the Mercury Base, Shiller leaned against the wall watching Strange use magic to send things into the teleportation portal. Strange turned his head and couldn't help getting annoyed, he said, "Have you finished moving your goods? You're just standing here and watching?"
"I moved them a long time ago," Shiller shrugged with his arms crossed, "I have to say, you guys don't have much advantage in logistics, do you? Still moving things one by one? Unlike me, I take everything in one go, simple and fast."
Strange rolled his eyes dramatically and couldn't help but say, "That Main Universe Doctor Strange is so stubborn. If he had just given in a little, and I had offered him a way out, we wouldn't have ended up being movers together!"
"You're just as rigid," Shiller snorted, "They called you a mover, so you became a mover."
"What else can I do? If I secretly sneak off, Stark would definitely be the first to expose me, and then no one would be able to save face."
"How did I become this mover then?"
Strange hesitated for a moment, glanced at Shiller sideways, and then said, "You mean..."
"I don't mean anything," Shiller interrupted him, "When Apocalypse Star descended, I just took a glance from afar. I've heard that the blue layer outside is a shield; aren't you curious about what's inside?"
"Hiss... You're not planning to enter Apocalypse Star, are you?"
"Not necessarily to go inside, a close look will do. I've really never been to Apocalypse Star," Shiller said, "Aren't you curious about where it got such a big shield?"
Strange thought for a while and said, "How could I not be? Logically speaking, such a large shield requires a huge amount of energy, and the pillar strength isn't enough; it'd easily cause energy dispersion. How did Darkseid solve these problems?"
"So let's go and study it," Shiller suggested, "Maybe we could acquire some technology. We don't have to make it huge—The Milky Way is a bit exaggerating—but having a shield for the Solar System isn't too much, is it?"
Strange nodded thoughtfully, he said, "Earth's Magical Defense Network is adequate, but we're not just protecting Earth. The Sun's existence is crucial, and if we can protect the entire Solar System, it would be ideal."
"So are you in?"
Strange threw the goods aside and said, "Forget being a mover, how do we get there?"
"Firstly, you definitely can't go as Supreme Magician, otherwise like you said, no one would be able to save face. So you'll need a disguise identity like mine."
"Disguise identity?" Strange furrowed his brows, "Who can I disguise as? Even if the appearance can be disguised, won't it give away instantly when I perform magic?"
Strange considered that all magicians are currently grounded, so even if he disguises as someone else, using magic would clearly reveal him as a runaway magician. But unlike Shiller, he can only use magic, so how to disguise?
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Shiller chuckled, "It's not just our world that has magicians; why don't you disguise as a magician from the neighboring world?"
"Wait, you can't mean Constantine?!" Strange exclaimed in alarm.
"Someone else? Holmes perhaps?"
"No way!!" Strange nearly jumped up, he said, "How could I possibly disguise as... God, I need a word stronger than thug or freak for him!"
"There are many Constantines in the Multiverse, not all are like that," Shiller explained, "I remember there are some with milder symptoms, maybe even some serious types; it's just for appearances, no one's asking you to actually flirt with anyone. If you don't go, I'll go myself."
After much thought and hesitation, Strange ultimately gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, but once we're there, we're heading straight to Apocalypse Star; I don't want to run into any acquaintances—not even ones from the neighboring world!"
Half an hour later, Shiller and "Constantine" appeared on a small asteroid very close to the shield of Apocalypse Star. Together, they looked up, gazing at the enormous azure planet.