"Damn it, there's something wrong with that hammer." The woman looked at the figure that had broken through the base's ceiling and disappeared without a trace, her expression a mask of horror. She seemed to have realized something, rushing like a madwoman to the transport vehicle outside the base. From an iron box in the vehicle, she took out the Book of Skulls—whose real name was the Book of Yggdrasil.
She frantically searched the book for the answer she sought. Finally, she froze in place. At the top of one of the pages was a passage: "The Great Snake, the God of Fear, spreads terror throughout the Nine Realms. The Sky Hammer Venerable, the Goddess of Picture Skadi."
"So that's what it is... Sky Hammer, Sky Hammer..." she murmured in disbelief, letting the Book of Yggdrasil slip from her hands.
The record described the changes that occurred in a person after obtaining the hammer. Even a fool could realize that something in the hammer had altered Cynthia's personality, perhaps even brainwashing her.
She turned her head sharply. Zemo, Brock Rumlow, and the other HYDRA soldiers were watching her from a distance. Taking a deep breath, she suppressed her anxiety, picked up the Book of Yggdrasil, and walked over to Zemo and Rumlow. She held the open book in front of them and said coldly, "I think this is what caused Cynthia's change."
The two men looked at the page, read the passage, and remembered Cynthia's inhuman behavior after she had taken the hammer. They immediately understood. They looked at each other, but Rumlow's face remained impassive.
"It seems our deal has failed," Zemo's tone was sour. He had made a deal with Cynthia to help her find the book and what she was looking for, hoping to preserve some of his power. Now, she had found what she wanted, but she was no longer the same person. He had no interest in ghosts and gods, but now he had nothing to show for his efforts.
More importantly, the information in the book was terrifying. "Spreading terror throughout the Nine Realms," "the God of Fear," and "disaster is coming"—it meant that the Earth would be affected, and no matter where he went, he would be impacted. Zemo found the world had become an increasingly terrifying place. The more you knew, the more desperate you became. In such a world, there was no escaping.
"This has nothing to do with any of you. My only goal in life is to protect Cynthia. The hammer has changed her, and I want to find her again." The woman gritted her teeth, then turned and walked toward the transport vehicle, followed by the rest of the HYDRA soldiers.
Zemo's eyes flickered as he watched her. He suddenly shouted, "She is no longer the person you know! She has a power mortals cannot resist. Susan Scarbo, you know that all your efforts are in vain. If you want to get her back, there might be only one person in this world who can help you."
The woman, Susan Scarbo, paused. She turned around sharply, her eyes narrowed. "Who?"
"Madripoor..."
Before he could finish, a storm gathered in the sky. Heavy snow fell as a colorful beam of light descended, accompanied by lightning and thunder, interrupting Baron Zemo's words. Everyone looked on with seriousness and vigilance, not knowing what was happening, but the terrifying energy from the beam was frightening.
The colorful beam soon dissipated, and two figures emerged: a burly, blond man in medieval armor with a red cape, holding a hammer, and a black-haired man wearing a green robe, armor, and a horned helmet.
"Who are you?" Susan asked, frowning. If it were anyone else, she would have had her HYDRA soldiers shoot them, but their entrance was too extraordinary. She had to be cautious.
"Mortal, I sense the breath of Asgardian power from you," said Thor. Heimdall had felt the divine power on Midgard's Antarctic region and teleported Thor and Loki there. Seeing this group of mortals, they felt the remnants of the Asgardian divine history.
"Asgard? Are you Thor and Loki, the sons of the God-King Odin?" Zemo's eyebrows shot up.
Rumlow was completely numb. He felt that since Pierce's death, his life had become more and more absurd, completely shattering his worldview. Gods, the Great Snake, and now Asgard, Odin, Thor, and Loki from Norse mythology had all appeared. The previous fights felt like small skirmishes, completely meaningless. As for doubting their identities? The way they had arrived was impossible for ordinary humans.
"It seems some mortals still remember us, but we don't have much time. Tell me, man, why do you have the aura of Asgard, and who is that person? Is it the Great Snake?" Loki's face was serious.
"The Great Snake?" Zemo muttered, looking at Susan. Susan gritted her teeth and held up the Book of Yggdrasil. "My only family member found a hammer. I suspect it's the Sky Hammer left by the Great Snake. That thing must have some power that affected her, and she left with the hammer."
"Damn it, the Lord of the Sky Hammer?" Thor and Loki's faces changed. They finally understood how the Great Snake was being revived. It turned out that the Lord of the Sky Hammer, the spokesperson for the Great Snake, had appeared.
"Heimdall?" Thor looked up and roared at the sky.
"Thor, Loki, I've found the woman with the Sky Hammer. She's heading to the depths of the sea, likely to release the Great Snake," Heimdall's voice rang in their ears.
"Where?" Thor asked.
"I'll guide you. Go and stop her."
Thor didn't waste another word. He grabbed Loki, waved Mjolnir toward the sky, and shot upward with a sonic boom, disappearing into the endless sky.
Susan and the others were left staring at each other in shock. Susan's expression was grim. Cynthia was now involved in a crisis that went beyond humanity. Susan didn't know if there was a chance to get her back, but she wasn't giving up. She looked at Zemo. "You said the opportunity was the one in Madripoor?"
"Yes. The God of Fear, Asgard... This is no longer a war humans can participate in." Zemo's shock slowly faded, replaced by clarity. "You want Cynthia Schmidt back, and I need to find a new way to live."
"You want to abandon HYDRA?" Rumlow asked, looking at Zemo with cold suspicion.
"HYDRA?" Zemo shook his head with a silent, sarcastic laugh. "Look at what we've just experienced. What is HYDRA? What are humans? In front of those powerful gods, humans are like ants. Just look at Thor. His flight speed exceeds the speed of sound. With his body and strength, what human weapon can harm him? Not to mention all the gods in Norse mythology: Odin, Frigga, Sif, the Warriors Three... Forget HYDRA. We are like rats hiding in a sewer, and we can't even stand up to Nick Fury and the multinational alliance."
Zemo now saw things with perfect clarity. HYDRA's previous ambition to rule the Earth was nothing but a small-scale fight. In the face of these gods, they were like a group of pranksters. If these gods were angered, HYDRA and humanity would not be able to withstand the ensuing natural disaster; the result would be extinction.
"The reason humans can develop and evolve faster than other creatures is that we know how to avoid danger."
"So, choosing wisely is the most important thing."
Zemo gave a bitter smile. "Luckily, Rumlow, we still have a chance to choose. Some people don't even have that chance."
The snow was still falling across the vast ice continent. The transport vehicle that had brought them there slowly turned back the way it came. The fluttering snowflakes covered all their tracks.
On a distant iceberg, a figure silently watched the vehicle leave. The gorgeous and noble golden Holy Cloth fitted the graceful, slender body. The white cloak with a blue inner lining and her long black hair swayed in the breeze. The delicate, beautiful face was calm, and the falling snow seemed to fear her, swirling around her body before falling to the ground in a regular pattern.
"The Lord of the Sky Hammer... the Great Snake... Yin Pingyang... Bang!"
A figure fell from the sky. It was a blonde woman in a black coat with a heroic build. "Lady Salina, there's nothing left in the base except the hammer."
"In addition, the woman named Cynthia is flying toward the Pacific Ocean."
"Do we need to care?"
"This is a disaster for Asgard; it has nothing to do with us. Is Kamar-Taj not making a move either?"
Salina shook her head. "But Ophelia said this is a game of understanding."
"Odin is also waiting for the snake's revival."
"Odin is waiting too?" The woman's eyebrows shot up in confusion.
Salina smiled. "It's a game between gods. If Ophelia hadn't told me, I wouldn't have understood."
As the first Saint to be recognized by a Gold Cloth, she was different from the other Sixth Sense warriors and had a greater right to know certain secrets. She could see situations from multiple perspectives, and her perception was different. From Thor and Loki's point of view, this was a terrible disaster for Asgard that swept across the Nine Realms, and they had to stop the snake from being unsealed. For Odin and Leon, it was a telepathic test through the snake. The goal of the test was an alliance.
Asgard had its pride. Odin couldn't simply go down and offer an alliance to Leon; a king doesn't bow to a king. But Asgard's decline was an undeniable fact. While Asgard possessed a terrifying deterrent thanks to the existence of the Soul Castle, it could only be used in moments of survival. The Soul Castle also had its limitations and couldn't be used to help Asgard through every crisis indefinitely.
Before Thor and Loki matured, the best way to help Asgard through its decline was to find a powerful and suitable ally. Leon had naturally entered Odin's line of sight. Salina couldn't possibly know about the sacred timeline and Leon's unique existence. But based on what she did know, she could draw these conclusions. Odin couldn't lose face, and the prerequisite for an alliance was communication. There was no faster way to befriend someone and build trust than to fight side by side. This crisis with the Great Snake was the perfect opportunity.
So, Salina knew they just needed to stay in place. For this level of strategy, they only needed to execute and observe.
"This time, the commotion was big. I hope those high-ranking officials and rich people aren't scared."
"Hmph, those people are greedy and deserve to go to hell," the blonde female instructor scoffed. She came from the Red Room and knew those people all too well. "Pick one and you'll find four more who are just as bad. None of them are innocent."
"I'm afraid even hell won't accept those scumbags," Salina said with a laugh, then whispered, "If you really don't like it, just kill them." Her tone was full of indifference to their lives, or rather, the lives of those who had committed heinous crimes.
"There will be a chance. For now, my goal is to get a Holy Cloth," Irene said.
"Then work hard, Irene. It's lonely being the only Saint," Salina replied.
"Go to hell, Salina!" Irene's angry voice echoed across the wind and snow.
"The Great Snake?" In the town park's campground, two little babies played with two lively dogs while other children played in the square. In front of a grill, an old man wearing a white chef's scarf held grilled skewers in both hands with an expression that said, "Are you kidding me?" Who would've thought? He was just happily taking his wife and children out to play, and then his oldest son suddenly brought up a crisis that could threaten the entire world and even the Nine Realms. It was a real mood killer.
(End of Chapter)
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