Chapter 457: Despicable Devil
It was just that some of the coating on the ceiling had peeled off, revealing some murals beneath the coating. It was a Goddess straddling a giant wolf, holding a black blade, leading countless death warriors in a slaughter amidst a legion of orcs.
Hela was held in Tang Song's arms, looking up at the familiar figure. Memories flashed through her mind, only to be erased by her in her Sea of Consciousness. During this process, Hela was also constantly absorbing everything from the Goddess of Death (Hela) of this Universe – her soul, strength, and divinity. Her strength was also rapidly increasing, gradually reaching the peak True Immortal level. In her Sea of Consciousness, three blood-red flower buds gradually took shape.
Allfather Odin, sitting high upon the throne, was dressed in white robes after washing up, completely devoid of his previous dishevelment. Sitting high upon the throne, he slightly lowered his gaze and acutely sensed the change in Hela's aura.
Odin looked over and saw Tang Song playing with Hela's fingers there. At that moment, Odin felt as uncomfortable as if he had swallowed a live fly.
Imagine a ghost fire youth bringing a Rebellious Daughter and a large group of people to your house, beating you up, and then holding your daughter and telling you that all of this is a misunderstanding! The group of enforcers next to them are grinning, holding baseball bats, facing your television, computer, home appliances, and furniture, waiting for your answer.
You have to hold your nose and admit that all of this is a misunderstanding. What do you feel inside?
"As you can see, Asgard has just suffered an incident. I'm afraid I have to break my promise regarding the five thousand reinforcements I promised you!"
Odin naturally couldn't swallow this anger either. He was indeed worthy of being the King of the Gods of Asgard. After being dejected for a moment, he planned to cause Tang Song some trouble. He sighed and turned his head to look at the Avengers and others.
"Lord Odin, but this was something we had agreed upon before!" Captain America looked at Odin in disbelief, stood up, stepped forward, and said:
"Without Asgard's reinforcements, our original plan will definitely have flaws. If the plan fails and Thanos gathers the five Infinity Stones, Asgard will also suffer."
Facing Captain America's appeal to emotion and reason, Odin sighed and waved his hand, saying, "Of course I know this, but as you can see, my soldiers are all injured now. Even if I wanted to help you, I couldn't. Unless you wait two more months and let them recover from their injuries!"
"But our soldiers are still fighting the enemies on Titan! If we wait two months, by then Earth will have fallen!" Tony Stark furrowed his brow, glaring at Odin.
Odin slapped the armrest of the throne, like a roaring male lion, "That's your Earthlings' business! Asgard has protected you for thousands of years. You should know, this is not our obligation!"
Looking at Odin, whose beard and hair were bristling, everyone in the Avengers fell into silence. The people present weren't the type of bleeding hearts who would use moral blackmail. Odin was right; Asgard had no obligation to help Earth.
But without Asgard's reinforcements, what about the decapitation plan against Thanos? No obligation?
Just as everyone fell silent, on a chair beside the Great Hall, Tang Song, who was holding Hela's little hand and stroking it there, looked up at Odin, this Old Fox.
Listing the famous Divine Pantheons on Earth, Heaven and Hell were sealed outside the Reality Dimension, the Olympian Pantheon fled far away with many other Divine Pantheons to the Milky Way Galaxy, creating the Pantheon. The entire Earth, and even the entire Nine Realms, became the Territory of the Aesir.
Why? Was it because Odin had a big head and one eye? Of course not. Wasn't it relying on Hela, this daughter who could fight and kill, in the early stages, and later having the support of a certain yellow-robed Mage? The two of them joining forces, it can be said that they directly treated the Nine Realms as their exclusive territory.
It was just that Ancient One wanted the stability of the Earth's Reality Dimension, and Odin wanted the status of the King of the Nine Realms. This was also one of the reasons why Odin led Asgard's soldiers to provide aid when the Frost Giants of Jotunheim attacked Earth during the Anomaly of the Alignment of Nine Stars back then.
Earth could be seen as his nominal vassal state, and with Master Ancient One present, Earth was also an ally of Asgard.
"It's not that I don't want to help Earth! But you also saw what happened to Asgard. Now Asgard really can't spare any manpower!" Odin sighed, his eyes seemingly glancing at Tang Song inadvertently.
Everyone's gaze also followed and turned towards Tang Song.
Tang Song looked up at the Avengers, "Why are you looking at me? I already said this was a misunderstanding, and now the misunderstanding is resolved! Do you want to settle accounts with me?! Hmm?!"
"Ah!" The Old Demon Dragon's miserable screams rang out at the right time from outside the door. The screams were so miserable that the entire Palace was trembling and shaking down dust.
Everyone was startled by the screams. Everyone had just seen the scene of the Old Demon Dragon showing off his divine might outside, but now he was honestly lying outside taking a beating.
Intimidated by Tang Song's intimidating power, everyone didn't speak for a moment.
"Cough cough! Mr. Tang, this matter was, after all, caused by your Subordinate..." Tony Stark looked left and right, stepped forward, faced Tang Song, and said.
"So what?" Tang Song stood up from the chair, stroking his cane, and looked at Tony Stark, "Leaving aside that the cause of the matter was Lord Odin making the first move, which caused this misunderstanding, even if it was the Old Demon Dragon and their fault, so what?!"
"You can't afford to provoke Asgard, you can't afford to provoke Thanos, do you think you can provoke me? I possess strength that is hundreds or thousands of times greater than the two of them combined. Do you want me to lose my temper?"
Tang Song walked in front of Tony Stark and patted his shoulder.
Tony Stark looked at Tang Song's clear eyes without the slightest impurity, feeling wronged, just like one time, lying on a lounge chair in the rooftop garden of his Villa, looking up at the boundless starry sky above.
Superman Clark had been staring at Tang Song. His eyes, possessing super vision, carefully observed Tang Song's expression. His super brain, comparable to a supercomputer, quickly analyzed the various information contained in Tang Song's expression, actions, and tone.
After complex calculation and analysis, Clark Kent helplessly discovered that what Tang Song said was very likely true. His words had at least ninety-nine percent credibility!
But, how is that possible?! As a Son of Krypton, the God Among Men in the DC Universe, Superman was very confident in his own strength.
But ever since following Bruce Wayne and leaving the DC Universe, he had repeatedly encountered powerful ones who could rival him.
Whether it was the Old Demon Dragon or Odin, the strength they displayed was completely not inferior to his own, strength that surpassed them by hundreds or thousands of times!
Unconsciously, Superman's confidence was greatly frustrated. He habitually looked towards Bruce Wayne and discovered that this man who had once killed him was calmly observing his surroundings, like a bat in the quiet night, hanging upside down from a treetop, searching for its prey's weakness.
Clark Kent remembered that when they first met, this guy looked at him with this kind of gaze, and then the second time they met, he brought Kryptonite Bombs.
"Mr. Tang! Earth and even the entire Universe are facing a crisis of destruction!" Captain America hesitated for a moment and said, "We need help!"
Tang Song comfortably stretched out his hand, and a lit cigar appeared out of thin air between his fingers, "I remember I promised you before not to casually initiate god wars. You're making me break my promise, this makes things very difficult for me!"
Tang Song smoked the cigar, exhaled a puff of smoke, raised his cane and pointed at Tony Stark, Captain America, the Avengers, and the few Justice League members before him, and sneered, "You few ran to my Territory and caused a big scene. I gave Thor face and promised not to initiate a god war against your Universe, but now you're pushing your luck. What do you take Tang Someone for?"
"But if it wasn't for your people causing this conflict, Asgard wouldn't refuse us reinforcements!" Natasha Romanoff couldn't help but mock Tang Song.
"Is that so?!" Tang Song smoked the cigar and looked at Odin, "Lord Odin, was this conflict caused by me?!"
Facing Tang Song's peaceful gaze, Odin's heart inexplicably skipped a beat. Even if Asgard had manpower available, sending out five thousand reinforcements would still be no problem at all. The reason he made things difficult for these few humans was because he saw that Tang Song knew them and wanted to stir up their relationship with Tang Song. Tang Song's gaze clearly saw through his intention.
"Hiss! Frigga! My head hurts a bit!" Odin suddenly reached out and covered his forehead, half-fainting on the throne.
Queen Frigga was startled and quickly called for the maidservants and helped Odin up with a group of guards and walked towards the Palace Quarters.
Inside the Golden Palace Great Hall, only the Avengers, Justice League, and others were left, looking at Tang Song and exchanging glances.
"It seems Odin has no opinion!" Tang Song looked at Natasha Romanoff, "Madam! What is your name?"
"Natasha Romanoff!" Natasha Romanoff looked at Tang Song, a trace of annoyance flashing in her eyes. When she was at Lake Heart Island Manor, she had clearly told Tang Song her name. Could it be that a great beauty like her was so unattractive that the man before her couldn't even remember her name? However, thinking that the handsome man opposite her might not be human, but some Evil God with strange tentacles, the annoyance in her eyes was quickly concealed by her.
"Mm, Miss Natasha, I am not an unreasonable person. My Subordinate was indeed wrong in this matter, and he is currently being punished for the mistake he made!" Tang Song took a puff of the cigar and pointed to the Old Demon Dragon outside the hall who was receiving eight hundred military staff blows, "A principle is a principle, it cannot be easily broken! Unless there are enough benefits, perhaps I can find a way to be flexible."
Natasha Romanoff was stunned for a moment, "benefits? Flexible?"
Tang Song spread his hands, "Gods and Buddhas also need to receive incense offerings, oh, which is what you Westerners understand as faith. Didn't you see that Sakyamuni's Buddha statues also need golden body decoration?"
"Do you want us to build Temples for you?" Tony Stark said, "This is very simple. After I return to our Universe, I will have people build a hundred churches and Temples!"
"Mr. Stark!" Bruce Wayne instead shouted towards Tony Stark, quietly shaking his head at him.
Tang Song saw the wariness in Bruce Wayne's eyes and laughed, "Mr. Wayne, what are you worried about? Are you perhaps worried that I will invade their broken Universe?"
Bruce Wayne didn't speak. He was indeed worried that Tang Song would extend his tentacles into Tony Stark's Universe. As far as he knew, many Evil Gods and Demons descending upon the Reality Dimension all needed coordinates. Who knows if those Temples were signal towers for this Deity before him to descend.
"I didn't say I wanted you to build any Temples, this is all you talking to yourselves! What I want are benefits that can move me!" Tang Song laughed, "Moreover, I am not asking you to do anything for me. You need to understand clearly, you are the ones asking me, I am not asking you!"
"Don't you claim to be a Deity? Shouldn't a god save their Believers?!" Diana suddenly stood out and questioned Tang Song.
Diana looked at Tang Song and remembered the scene when she went to the Pantheon to seek aid. Those Gods in the Pantheon were all immersed in the pleasures of song, dance, wine, and sex, completely indifferent to the life and death of Ordinary People. Even the Zeus of this Universe was the same.
"Of course I will protect my Believers, but are there any Believers of mine in this Universe?"
Tang Song's words made Diana pause for a moment, "But, but, shouldn't a god have compassion?!"
Tang Song laughed, "Sorry, I never considered myself a righteous god." He said very frankly:
"I am a selfish god. I will not bestow my compassion upon anyone outside my Believers. On the contrary, whoever provokes me, I will deal with them. It's that simple!"
Diana's bright eyes instantly dimmed. This man before her was no different from Zeus and that group of people in the Pantheon. They were all selfish and self-serving fellows. Ridiculous, can such a person be called a god?!
"However, since you are my Agents, I can make an exception for you and help you once. But as a condition, you need to complete a few missions for me?" Tang Song sized up the many Superheroes present, like a starving wolf with a knife and fork and an apron, looking at a flock of little lambs.
"What missions?" Captain America spoke first.
"In many Parallel Universes, there are many inhumane Evil Gods and Demons. They slaughter countless living beings, causing many worlds to be unstable!" Tang Song said, picking up his cane and pointing. Inside the Golden Palace Great Hall, scene after scene of utter misery appeared.
In these image frames, there were Apocalypse Worlds filled with walking dead.
There were also scenes of giant alien monsters opening their huge mouths full of fangs and devouring an entire planet.
And even giant alien spaceships that had shattered half of the entire Earth.
In these fleeting glimpses, there were Evildoers shouting for everyone to dance for their own selfish desires, wanting to plunge everyone in the entire world into an illusion.
There were also people who broke virus test tubes, turning the entire world into a Living Hell.
In the vast Star Zone, some objects shrouded in black mist descended upon planets one by one, turning the life on those planets into piles of white bones.
In some worlds, humanity was raised by Vampires, by aliens, or even by the artificial intelligence they themselves developed, completely reduced to Slaves.
In some worlds suspected to be covered in Islands, aliens wearing spacesuits and oxygen masks used some tall and burly "humans" as Slaves, shooting civilians in the street, forcibly seizing others' wives and daughters. That ugly face with a crazy laugh made the fists of Captain America and the others harden.
"As you can see, in many Parallel Universes, there is no lack of Evildoers like Thanos. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. Heaven has given you the ability to travel through Parallel Universes, perhaps it is for you to save these poor Ordinary People!"
Tang Song sighed, "I originally wanted to initiate a god war to resolve these worlds ruled by Demons, but you misunderstood it as having ill intentions. Then let's make a business deal now. You, as my Agents, help me rescue twenty worlds. As a return, I can help you resolve this trouble!"
Facing Tang Song's words, everyone exchanged glances! Reason told them that one Thanos was enough to give them a headache. Saving twenty worlds, maybe they would have to face twenty enemies like Thanos.
But letting them watch the Ordinary People in those worlds fall under the rule of Demons, watching them fall into deep suffering, standing by and doing nothing, they also couldn't do it.
Conflicted emotions spread in everyone's hearts! And hearing that phrase, "with great power comes great responsibility," what's with their hearts inexplicably burning up?
"Mr. Tang, each of us has limited energy. We haven't even cleared the evil in our own Universe; we probably can't help with other Universes for now!" Bruce Wayne was the first to let go of the conflict in his heart.
Although Barry and Arthur and others were helping him take care of Gotham City, he knew that clearing the evil from this city might require his lifelong effort! He didn't have more energy to care about matters in other Universes.
"Mr. Wayne, are you worried about Gotham City? That's fine. The flow of time is different in each Universe! And I possess some small techniques for controlling time. If Mr. Wayne is worried about not having enough energy, I also have various medicinal pills here, enough to extend your lifespan to be as long as this Universe's!"
"Why don't you go yourself?" Dr. Banner couldn't help but raise his hand and ask.
"As a Deity, since I promised you I wouldn't initiate a god war, naturally I must keep my word!" Tang Song looked at the green giant, a trace of helplessness appearing on his face.
"But if that's the case, how will you help us?" Dr. Banner continued to press the question.
"I am a Deity, that's right, but I also opened a few Companies. Kane and the others outside, you all know them too. They are all executives of my Security Company under my name. Although I cannot directly intervene, there's no rule saying I can't send mercenaries to help, is there?"
Everyone looked at the smiling Tang Song. Captain America, Tony Stark, and others suddenly realized that the agreement they signed might just be a piece of waste paper.
Where was this a god? Clearly a cunning devil.
Half an hour later, Tang Song, smoking a cigar and holding Hela, walked out of the Golden Palace Great Hall of Asgard, leaving behind a crowd of sweating Superheroes.
After their intense bargaining with Tang Song, they reduced the mission of saving twenty Universes to five. But accordingly, Tang Song also refused the condition of directly helping them kill Thanos.
However, as the price for them saving five Universes, he could help resolve the enemies on Titan and give them a batch of reinforcements to replace the Asgardian Berserkers.
"I always feel like we've been tricked!" Tony Stark looked at the golden crown in the Captain's hand, "Captain, why don't we try the strength of the golden warrior he mentioned!"
Captain America heard this, holding the golden crown with both hands, and put it on his head. When the cold metal touched his forehead, Captain America's consciousness connected to a Dark Space. Row after row of golden warriors, holding golden greatswords, round and stout, stood like sculptures in this Space.
With a thought, a golden warrior directly appeared inside the Golden Palace Great Hall. This golden warrior performed a sword-holding salute towards Captain America, then stood still in place.
"Can you command this golden warrior? Let it attack me and see!" Tony Stark pointed at the Arc Reactor on his chest. Instantly, the nanotech armor spread over his entire body, covering him.
"Come on!" Tony Stark beckoned to this golden warrior with his finger, but the golden warrior remained motionless like a real sculpture.
Captain America tried to command the golden warrior. As his mind moved, this golden warrior directly raised the greatsword in its hand and charged straight towards Tony Stark.
"Whoosh!"
Tony Stark raised his arm, and a pulse energy beam condensed in his palm, instantly hitting the center of the golden warrior's body, directly sending it flying.
"What a joke! Is that all it can do?" Tony Stark looked at the golden warrior that he had blasted four or five meters away, couldn't help but spread his arms, and complained.
"Tony! Be careful!"
A golden greatsword flew out, almost grazing Tony Stark's face. After throwing the weapon in its hand, the golden warrior got up and charged towards Tony Stark.
"You've angered me, little guy!"
The nanotech armor on Tony Stark's body separated into several spider-like tentacles. The spikes at the end of the tentacles aimed at the charging golden warrior. Streaks of blinding white laser shot out from the ends of these spider tentacles, converging towards this golden warrior.
Eight streaks of blinding white laser simultaneously shot towards the golden warrior's chest, blasting it away again. This time, this round and stout golden warrior, as if it had no head, directly exploded into a pile of gears and spring parts.
"I think we might have been tricked by that guy!" Seeing the golden warrior turn into a pile of parts, Tony Stark simply deactivated the nanotech armor on his body and shrugged towards everyone, "It seems he just sent us away with a pile of junk. I could manufacture a pile of these robots over ten years ago."
Suddenly, Tony Stark's neck tightened, and he was directly lifted into the air. Looking closely, Superman Clark somehow appeared behind him, was holding him by the collar, and dragging him flying in mid-air.
"FRIDAY, what just happened!"
"Sir! That weapon flew back from behind you. If Mr. Clark Kent hadn't saved you, your body would have been pierced by that sword by now!" The artificial intelligence FRIDAY's voice rang out in Tony Stark's ear.
And released a virtual image, projected in front of Tony Stark.
At this moment on the Ground, that pile of golden warrior's parts seemed to be attracted by some kind of gravity, quickly gathered together, and recombined into a golden warrior, once again holding a golden greatsword, charging towards Tony Stark to kill.
Captain America quickly issued a stop command in his mind. The golden warrior immediately stopped moving, and holding the sword, it turned back into a sculpture.
"Alright! I take back what I said. This thing isn't junk! I say, thanks just now, can you let me down now!" Tony Stark turned his head to look at Clark Kent who was holding him by the collar behind him.
Clark Kent released his hand, and Tony Stark fell directly from a height of three or four meters. However, within just a few tenths of a second, the nanotech Iron Suit on his body had already covered his entire body.
However, this short distance was not enough for him to activate the engine on his armor, the result was that Iron Man, wearing the Iron Suit, solidly crashed onto the Ground.
"How many of these golden warriors did he give us?" Natasha Romanoff looked at the Captain and asked.
"There should be a few thousand!" Captain America slightly glanced at that Dark Space filled with golden warriors, and tried to put away that golden warrior in the Great Hall.
That golden warrior directly turned into a golden light and disappeared from its spot.
"A very strange feeling, like there is a vast space inside this crown!" Captain America said, taking off the golden crown on his head and handing it to Natasha Romanoff beside him, letting her experience it.
Everyone was taking turns passing around the golden crown. Tony Stark, who fell on the Ground, became an existence no one paid attention to for a while.
"Sir, there's a communication projection, from Earth! Connect?" Tony Stark had just climbed up when he received FRIDAY's prompt.
"Connect!"
A virtual projection projected from the Arc Reactor on Tony Stark's chest.
The holographic screen of the virtual projection flickered, and Nick Fury, wearing a black windbreaker, wearing an eyepatch, and with a serious expression, appeared on the holographic screen.
"Everyone! There's a big problem on Earth! A Deity has descended upon Earth! He persuaded the leaders. He promised to help us resist the aliens on Titan, and as a condition, he took the Cosmic Cube and Loki's Scepter!"
Everyone inside the Golden Palace Great Hall quieted down.
Diana strangely glanced towards the door outside, vaguely guessing who that Deity was. It's just that this guy is really a bit too wicked.
Playing both sides!
Tony Stark's mouth opened and closed in exasperation, but he couldn't speak for a long time.
(end of chapter)