"You know him, right?" Constantine looked at the figure in the corner and said.
"I don't know who you're talking about. Our primary goal now is to safely escort the Infinity Gem back to Apocalypse Star." Shiller's expression was somewhat grim. He said, "If nothing goes wrong, this process might not be very smooth."
The two had already boarded the spaceship. Constantine seemed a bit distracted. He said, "I'm afraid I have to confess. I made a deal with the Devil. I attacked the Supreme Magician and took the Time Gem from him, but you know how incredible that is. I'm just wondering why the Supreme Magician would do that."
While starting the spaceship, Shiller knowingly asked, "What do you mean?"
"It's a betrayal, isn't it? The Supreme Magician is from this world. He should understand the importance of the Infinity Gem better than I do, yet he gave the gem to me. He knows I will take it to Batman. Why would he do that?"
After a pause, Constantine continued, "I don't think he's under the control of the Devil or that they're in a partnership. But what's the benefit of collaborating with the Devil and handing over the treasure of your own universe? What did the Devil promise him?"
"Maybe they just get along well."
Constantine felt he was being fobbed off, so he didn't pursue the topic further and instead fiddled with the Eye of Agomoto in his hand. Just then, Shiller said, "Do you think the treasure of the Supreme Magician can be used by anyone?"
Constantine's hand paused. He thought of his own box of things. Don't be fooled by how shabby these things look; most of them have a significant background. Many even appear in the Bible. These aren't things just anyone can use, even other Constantines can't figure them out.
However, he could use Strange's Eye of Agomoto to heal his body, even if only to gain a moment of comfort. At least it's usable, and he doesn't even need to expend his own energy; the Eye of Agomoto comes with its own energy source.
What does this mean? Is the Supreme Magician trying to show goodwill to him? But what does he have that makes it worth doing?
Shiller seemed to hear his thoughts and said, "Maybe he's just afraid you'll die."
"What benefit does my being alive have for him?"
Shiller remained silent.
Constantine really found it strange, so he glanced toward the cabin, using silence to question. Shiller focused on piloting the spaceship. Feeling Constantine's gaze, he said, "Based on your stereotypical impressions of Satan, you might find it difficult to understand. In this world, there is a type of Devil who doesn't do evil to obtain souls, nor to rule Earth, nor to compete with God, but simply to watch the world burn."
Constantine showed a bewildered expression.
He indeed had some stereotypical impressions of the Devil, but it's not really a stereotype; in fact, the Devils in his universe are like that. Despite the strong religious atmosphere in his universe, there is actually a very rigorous system of power ascent.
At the lowest level are ordinary humans, who can't see angels and demons and don't know of their existence. They could be influenced by mysterious powers anytime and anywhere, leading to a radically different path.
Next are psychics like Constantine. They can see angels and demons and know roughly what the conflict between Heaven and Hell is about. But such people's souls are very delicious, making them particularly easy targets for angels and demons, and they're basically struggling to survive.
Above them are half-angels and half-demons. They are the offspring of angels and demons left in the world, possessing some mysterious power but not very strong. Because the disparity in the powers they inherit is too great, their souls are not very coordinated, and their mental states aren't good, often muddling through life, drinking, and clubbing every day, doing nothing serious.
Then there are the real angels and demons. However, there are many types of angels and demons, some easy to bully, others not so much.
The highest level, of course, is Satan and God. Because of a bet between them, angels and demons can't directly act against the world, but they constantly harass it.
This system is actually more hierarchical than most cartoon worlds because in most cartoon worlds, various mysterious entities form large factions overlooked even by seasoned fans, but Constantine's world is clear-cut; crossing class lines is almost impossible.
Because of this, his universe is more accurately called a mysticism company rather than a mystic world. Hell is a company, Heaven is another one, with a clear hierarchy, layer after layer, and everyone has their own job to do.
For the sake of the bosses' bet, every demon must work hard to achieve success by luring and intimidating the human race, leading them astray so that their souls end up in Hell.
At least the Devils Constantine has seen have a purpose when coming to Earth. Also, because of the bet's limitations, angels and demons can't really intervene in the world. Their appearances are brief, so every visit is a hasty affair.
Not every day is suited for a demon's appearance. Some demons insist on coming even on bad days, pushing through to complete their work, then rushing back, much like overworked office workers catching red-eye flights for business trips.
Even the Satan who often troubles him does so because he has his eye on Constantine's soul, always appearing with strong intent.
So in Constantine's eyes, Devils always have a proper task at hand. Mephisto stirring up trouble in the background must be for profit. He couldn't comprehend the mindset Shiller described of "creating chaos for no reason."
But actually, Shiller didn't mean that. He probably knew what Greed was up to, stirring trouble behind the scenes.
As everyone knows, this war actually started because two worlds were looking for trouble. There is no deep hatred between them; even Ultron is merely a catalyst.
They are fighting this war just for military training. The leaders on both sides basically understand this point. But because of it, the subjective initiative of both parties is not very strong, and the fighting has turned out to be turn-based—you poke me, I poke you—too formulaic.
However, a real battlefield is not like playing chess. You move one step, I move one step, either kill all the people on the other side or kill the opposing King. The real situation is far more complicated than this, so fighting like this clearly won't work.
Greed is actually about creating incidents, or you could say causing conflicts, pulling both sides out from the turn-based tower-pushing game and into some unconventional battles.
And these unconventional battles are very particular. It's not like you can just notify both sides to go to some place for an encounter battle; such prior notification still counts as a drill, completely failing to create the intended surprise effect.
So, Greed turned into Mephisto to fan the flames on both sides. If the agent's intuition is correct, Doctor Strange might also have been deceived by him.
The agent also saw signs of the shield being damaged over the Collector's museum planet. Although it was indeed Doctor Strange who made the move, the fact that he resorted to violence suggests he had clearly lost his mind. It's impossible to say Greed wasn't involved.
The key to creating conflicting situations lies in ensuring it's not a one-sided crushing situation. Robbing an Infinity Gem, a Marvel native treasure, gives too much advantage to the local natives. The Central Universe already has several Gems, and without a balance, what's the point of the conflict?
So he teamed up with Strange to create the situation where the Time Gem was stolen, then persuaded Star-Lord to find the High Lord and directly attacked the High Lord. Out of resentment, the High Lord handed over his Gem to the DC side.
In this way, Marvel has three Gems and DC has two, making it a contest worth fighting for.
The agent also feels that, barring unexpected developments, the final Soul Gem will likely end up on their side. Three Infinity Gems on each side—and let the contest begin. That would create a conflict intense enough to bring out the combativeness in both sides.
While everyone claims they're just training the troops, actually, they all want to win. The Infinity Gems are indeed extraordinary. Although both sides believe the war shouldn't end in such a hasty manner, they can't guarantee the other side won't choose to end it this way. Even if not to win, merely to avoid losing, it is necessary to fight hard to seize them.
Though it is said so, the agent still thinks that Greed's primary goal is to see both sides fighting over the Gems in a bloody battle, and the secondary goal is to find some way to make use of these seemingly useless Gems.
For Earth in the Central Universe, Infinity Gems are indeed not very useful. To put it this way, if Thanos snaps his fingers to throw half of the people in the Central Universe into the Realm of Death, Death would immediately render him paralyzed.
Because that means, in the coming days, Shiller will have legitimate reasons to wander the Realm of Death. Actually, it wouldn't take that long; even on his first day, Death would definitely throw him and his house out together, changing the name to Shiller Realm thereafter.
So even if Thanos knows how his counterparts in other universes act, he has no interest in Infinity Gems at all. Since Thanos isn't strong, they are useless for Earth.
Let one person snap their fingers brings joy only to that person. Let the entire Earth go play bumper cars in the cosmos brings joy to the whole human race. This is what is called sharing happiness over enjoying it alone.
Therefore, this thing is either embedded into a scepter or a crown, merely serving as decoration rather than having practical effect. Even Strange's Eye of Agomoto, though slightly functional, wasn't used much. The only instance of frequent use led to Loki and Helen being captured by the Time Management Bureau.
Yet, Greed cannot stand idleness. Similarly, it cannot tolerate thorough waste. If no conditions exist, conditions must be created to use it.
It's like holding a storage full of strong human rights cards, stubbornly not accepting it, preferring to put effort into challenging some rare quests just to find a work position for those storage cards.
Though aware of Greed's intentions, the agent has already been swept along and can only resist incoming forces accordingly. Right now, their squad has two Infinity Gems. Since Greed aims to spark the war, these two Infinity Gems will definitely be focal points of contention.
After considering for a while, Shiller still pressed the communication button and said, "Batman, mission accomplished. I've found the Infinity Gems."
"…I don't recall sending you to find the Infinity Gems, did I?"
"Let's not worry about that now. I have two Infinity Gems in my hands, but only one small spaceship and two guns."
"Isn't Constantine with you?"
"He doesn't even have lungs."
"Forget it. Head towards Apocalypse Star. I'll find someone to meet you. Don't disclose your coordinates to anyone, remember"
"Zzzz—Zzz—"
"Boom!!!"
"Hello?! Zzzz—Zzzz—Hello?! Shiller?!!"