Loki felt a chill in his heart and took a few steps back. Odin summoned a Thunder Strike, striking down the other one as well. Looking at the ashes spread across the ground, Loki pressed his lips tightly.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
"The Eye Demon," Odin said, suddenly thoughtful, "About 700 years ago, before you were around, I led an army past Libra and saw a planet invaded by the Eye Demon. The creatures there all went mad; their minds were destroyed, and their bodies mutated, turning into monsters with tentacles and huge eyeballs."
"The only prophet who held on within pleaded for me to destroy their planet, so this madness wouldn't spread further. From him, I learned that the Eye Demon differs from other Demon Gods, as they have an entire race, usually referred to as the 'Outer Gods.'
"Some races call them the 'Will of the Stars,' while others see them as Devils from the depths of the cosmos. Many planets have inexplicable ties with this race. Every few eras, the Outer Gods descend, appearing suddenly and disappearing just as suddenly. No one knows what is really going on."
Loki almost immediately recalled the legends on Earth and then said, "Is Earth one of them too?"
"Earth has an especially deep connection with them. According to legend, the Supreme Magician The Ancient One will die at the hands of the Eye Demon, and the Eye Demon will meet its end at the hands of his student, Stephen Strange."
"I heard the Eye Demon is already dead, recently, precisely at the hands of Strange. So is this a kin of his?"
Odin gently shook his head and said, "Every Eye Demon in an Individual Universe is merely a projection of the main entity, and the Eye Demon is not the strongest. This one, I'm afraid, will be harder to deal with."
Loki deeply frowned and said, "Coming to cause trouble at this time, could it be the two Empires... Aren't they afraid of shooting themselves in the foot?"
But he quickly reacted, then said, "They indeed are not afraid, because most of them are Robots, especially the Kree Empire, entirely controlled by a race of Electronic Life Robots, who aren't afraid of this kind of Psyshock."
"But they wouldn't resort to this," Odin said, "If I'm not wrong, it should be the work of those Superheroes from other worlds."
"Batman?" Loki's frown deepened, and he said, "Why isn't he focusing all his efforts on dealing with humans, but instead, he's bothering us? Oh, wait, he wants us to seek Human Support."
Loki almost immediately figured out all the key points. Asgard and Earth are deeply linked and need to remain so in the future; they can't part ways because of a war. Therefore, they must support each other, just like at the start of the war when Asgard helped humans establish bases, and the Thunder Gods helped them win the battle at the outpost.
When Asgard is in trouble, humans must help them too, and do so with all their might. But doing so would greatly weaken the fighting strength of humans, giving Batman and the others an opportunity to exploit.
Loki clenched his fist. Batman was indeed impressive; the strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao was skillfully executed.
Now he has brought in a monster that can cause spiritual pollution, affecting only the Wisdom beings of the Aesir, while the other two Empires rely on mechanical technology, barely affected. Even if the other side attacks indiscriminately, the most injured would still be the God Clan, worsening the battlefield situation.
"Contact Earth," Odin finally said, "Provide them a detailed description of our attack. They should have a solution."
Loki nodded, understanding that expertise in dealing with things matters. The Outer Gods have a strong connection with Earth, so humans surely know something about them and should have a way to deal with it. The God Clan has never encountered such things; if they attempt to solve it on their own, they might suffer greatly without needing to take such a risk.
Moreover, solving the Outer Gods likely won't require much Strength. With this in mind, Loki prepared to contact Earth's command center. But at this moment, Odin's expression changed again.
"This thing is continuously destroying the Dimensional Barrier." His voice had sunk to the bottom, "The Dimensional Barrier has been breached with a big hole; the main forces of the Kree Empire have come in!"
Odin didn't bother with anything else, grabbing his long spear and walking out, running into Thor. Thor looked serious too, saying, "What's going on, where did the two Empires get the device to break through dimensions? Isn't that supposed to be unbreakable by the Dimensional Barrier of the Nine Major Kingdoms?"
"It's not the two Empires," Odin said, "It's the Outer Gods."
"Outer Gods? Eye Demon? But isn't that fellow dead? Besides, while they pollute the God Clan, their true power isn't strong; I've never heard they could break through the Dimensional Barrier so swiftly."
Just then, more battle reports were delivered, with information about the continued destruction of the Dimensional Barrier and more detailed information. Loki glanced through it and cried out.
"The power of Scarlet?! How is this possible?!"
Thor also looked at it; some of the power data was familiar to him, seeming akin to the chaos power of the Cosmic Origin, but with some different data, it was evidently the Scarlet Power of the Scarlet Witch.
"I understand," Loki already reacted, he said, "They've been spiritually polluted, went into an out-of-control state, then were lured here to destroy the Dimensional Barrier of the Nine Major Kingdoms..."
Loki realized that it's no longer about solving the issue of the Outer Gods since the one who caused the pollution might have left, but the pollution remained. Considering their enormous power, no one could get close, and clearing the pollution would be difficult.
This is much more troublesome than a direct invasion by the Outer Gods. After all, if the Outer Gods came directly, there would surely be a way to repel them, but this time, it's the humans polluted by the Outer Gods, whose spiritual destructive power doesn't match the main force of the Outer Gods, but whose physical destructive power is strong.
Once the barrier of the Nine Major Kingdoms is breached, the two Empires won't hesitate to act as if they're celebrating a festival, rushing their forces inside. With Asgard's limited populace, there's no way to hold back the outburst of troops from the two Empires.
To fight on the frontal battlefield, they must not just call a few to deal with the Outer Gods, but they must mobilize a large human force to provide support. This besieging of Wei to rescue Zhao, like it or not, must be addressed.