Seeing Loki obediently stretch out his hands, waiting to be restrained, William gave a mental command.
A sentry robot stepped forward, its cold metallic hands gripping Loki's wrists before morphing into thick cuffs.
The restraints quickly transformed into nanomaterials, spreading along Loki's arms and enveloping his entire body in seconds, completely immobilizing him.
If even the powerful Thor had been subdued by four sentries, there was no way Loki could escape from these energy-absorbing machines.
Meanwhile, Mjolnir had been summoning vast amounts of lightning from the sky, naturally drawing the attention of Odin and Christine within the town.
Seeing his two sons so easily restrained, Odin's face twitched, a flicker of anger flashing across his expression.
Thankfully, William knew better than to push his luck in front of their father.
More importantly, he still needed Odin to share his knowledge about the Infinity Stones.
With a snap of his fingers, the sentries released Thor and Loki.
Suddenly freed, Thor—who had been using all his strength to wrestle against the four sentries—lost control of his momentum and accidentally smashed Mjolnir into a retreating sentry.
"Boom!"
The sentry was knocked backward more than ten meters before stabilizing itself mid-air.
William rolled his eyes at Thor's awkward expression but was more interested in the condition of the sentry.
Seeing that it was completely unscathed, William was both pleased and unsurprised.
He recalled Thor's first encounter with Tony Stark—Mjolnir had struck Iron Man's suit multiple times without breaking it.
It was only when Thor physically grabbed the suit that he managed to dent the metal.
Compared to Stark's suit, William's sentries were significantly stronger, boasting exceptional physical durability.
Mjolnir being unable to damage them was expected.
With another thought, the sentry began merging into William's battlesuit, transferring the absorbed lightning energy before being stored away in his inventory.
The remaining three sentries, having also absorbed lightning, abandoned Thor and flew toward William, recharging his suit before vanishing into storage.
But from Thor and Loki's perspective, this scene carried a completely different meaning.
They watched in shock as the sentries seamlessly integrated into William's armor.
Didn't that mean that anyone fighting William would have to deal with at least four of these machines first?
Moreover, after absorbing the sentries' energy, the golden armor covering William's body shimmered with even more vibrant and intense blue lightning arcs.
Thor felt incredibly frustrated.
Not only had all the lightning he summoned failed to harm his opponent, but it had also strengthened him instead.
Did this mean that the more he fought William, the stronger William would become?
The feeling of being completely countered was unbearable.
With a sigh, Thor lowered his hammer, rubbed his sore wrists, and exchanged a glance with the equally troubled Loki.
Seeing that Loki was unharmed despite being surrounded by sentries, Thor finally turned to William with a serious expression.
"Midgardian, though your victory doesn't resemble that of a warrior's, for a mortal to reach your level, you have earned my respect."
William was caught off guard.
He hadn't expected Thor to be capable of assessing the situation logically.
It seemed that now that brute force had failed, he was finally resorting to using his brain.
However, William wasn't particularly pleased with Thor's wording.
"A mortal?"
"Hmm?"
Sensing something was off, Thor's instincts flared—
But before he could react, William raised a hand and casually flicked his fingers.
A powerful force enveloped Thor, sending him soaring dozens of meters into the air.
Since Thor's ability to fly was entirely reliant on Mjolnir, he wasn't particularly worried.
Extending his hand, he called for his hammer.
But just as Mjolnir was about to lift off the ground, a portal appeared above it, instantly teleporting it a hundred kilometers away.
The moment Thor sensed his hammer vanish into the distance, he frowned.
Glancing at William, who was now casually walking toward the elven town, Thor felt a wave of frustration.
"Did I say something wrong? He is a mortal, isn't he?"
Still, there was no time for contemplation.
Thor adjusted his posture to prepare for landing.
At worst, the impact would leave him with sore feet.
If he landed properly, he could even escape unscathed.
Meanwhile, William silently counted the seconds, calculating how long it would take for Mjolnir to return from a hundred kilometers away.
But even after walking several steps into the magical town, he still hadn't sensed Mjolnir's return.
This confirmed it—Mjolnir's flight speed was nowhere near that of the sentry battlesuit.
It wasn't even a tenth as fast.
Inside the Magic Town
Only after seeing Thor land safely did Odin shift his gaze to William as he entered.
Truthfully, learning that the Tesseract, which had been under Asgard's control for untold millennia, was now in the hands of a Midgardian was a bitter pill to swallow.
But there was nothing he could do about it.
The Tesseract had never acknowledged Odin, not even after centuries of study.
Yet, in just a year, William had not only gained control over its power but had become so proficient in space manipulation that Odin couldn't even sense its presence anymore.
He could only deduce that William possessed the Space Stone based on his teleportation abilities and residual spatial energy.
This forced Odin to reevaluate William—not just as a Midgardian, but as a formidable being who had mastered space itself.
After all, in Asgard, respect was earned through power.
Since William had easily suppressed both Thor and Loki—
And since even Odin himself wasn't confident he could eliminate him—
It was better to consider him as a potential ally.
As a seasoned ruler, Odin knew how to play the long game.
Even though watching his sons being toyed with made him uncomfortable, he chose to overlook it.
Instead, he smiled warmly and personally stepped forward to welcome William.
Seeing Odin waiting at the entrance, William smiled brightly.
"It's an honor to meet you, Allfather Odin, King of Asgard and Guardian of the Nine Realms.
I am William Devonshire."
"I am also pleased to meet you, child of Midgard."
Odin showed no signs of displeasure at William's casual greeting.
Instead, he amiably patted William on the arm.
"In just a thousand years, Midgard has produced someone capable of crossing the stars through his own power.
With you here, Asgard can finally ease its protection over Midgard and focus its strength elsewhere.
Our efforts have not been in vain, have they, my child?"
"Of course," William replied without hesitation.
Even though he knew that Odin's past intervention wasn't truly for the sake of humanity—
But rather to prevent the Frost Giants from growing stronger—
The fact remained that Asgard had saved Earth.
As long as Odin didn't demand the return of the Space Stone, William had no objections to maintaining a surface-level friendship with Asgard.
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