Sakaar's sky was still gray.
Those thick, leaden clouds looked like they were brewing a storm, but in truth, they were passages leading to different parts of the universe.
In the past, the endless trash that fell from those passages gave the Sakaarans, struggling to survive under the Red King's rule, a chance to cling on.
At the same time, it brought hope to the entire planet.
Now, Sakaar still had not fully crawled out of ruin, but the Totem Tower that once teetered on the verge of collapse was being rebuilt.
The difference was that, besides the champion totems carved into it, there was now a special emblem hanging there as well.
It was a black-and-green symbol. A black triangle and a green triangle split apart, shaped like an hourglass.
Inside the Totem Tower.
At a silver long table sat Sakaar's new leader, the King of Sakaar.
Yes. Under the shared faith of the Sakaarans across the planet, Bant had become Sakaar's new king.
However, the Eternal Power that had erupted during his battle with the Red King was now harder to ignite again.
It was the life force of Sakaar's people, in other words, Sakaar's own power. Strictly speaking, it was a bit like the "voice of the planet" concept in certain comics.
But Bant did not mind. The seed had already been planted. Sooner or later, he would fully master that ancient power.
He stood and said, "Then I hereby announce that the Celestial Craft Union is officially founded today!"
Everyone present couldn't help turning their eyes to him. A few weeks ago, no one would have believed that this seemingly fragile young man would bring such massive change to Sakaar.
"Luma, Brunnhilde, Bill, Caiera, and Loki…"
"Huh? Me too?" Loki, who was sitting there spacing out, looked up in surprise.
His sudden interruption immediately drew everyone's displeasure, and Luma even clenched her fist and glared at him with open threat.
Loki quickly raised his hands in surrender.
Bant pressed both hands downward, signaling them to quiet down, and continued, "For now, the five of you will serve as sheriffs."
"The goal of our Celestial Craft Union is to maintain peace across the universe. But Sakaar is still rebuilding from the ground up, so we don't need to rush."
"First priority is rebuilding Sakaar."
"But…" Bill hesitated.
Bant saw the reluctance immediately and knew exactly what Bill was worried about. He reassured him at once. "Bill, ensuring the Korbin people can continue to survive is also our responsibility. You can take a team and go search for your kin."
"I'm deeply grateful!" Bill's eyes turned wet, so moved he practically looked ready to kneel and kowtow.
"I believe the gladiators who stood in the same position as you back in the arena will be willing to help," Bant added.
"I can help too!" Luma said at once, afraid Bant might think she was useless. "Don't forget, the engines built by Tazdromans are the best in the whole universe!"
Then her tone shifted, and her twenty fingers intertwined shyly. "Also, I've got a little personal matter."
"Personal matter?" Bant asked.
"That thing, you know. The engagement gift still isn't complete!" Luma said. "Most of the items are easy to find, but ice-and-snow creatures, this planet doesn't have any at all. I need to leave Sakaar and look for them."
"Ice… snow creatures?" Loki's tone went slightly off. He glanced at Luma from the corner of his eye, wary.
"Living things that are cold as ice," Luma nodded, then asked, "Don't tell me you happen to know where to find some?"
"No. Not at all…" Loki shook his head like crazy, not daring to meet her gaze.
Bant sighed. "Luma, I've told you already. I'm still a minor."
"It's fine, no rush." Luma casually propped both feet on the table. "But the bride price has to be prepared first. Honestly, I don't want to just grab random stuff that looks like it fits to make up the numbers. It should be real treasure."
Broken limbs, blue objects, things like that were everywhere on junk-strewn Sakaar, but Luma didn't want to be that sloppy.
"I'm thinking I should find a shiny golden arm, and the blue thing should be a gorgeous gemstone." She thought for a moment. "And the conquest target needs to be big enough too. How about we just conquer a whole planet?"
"Did you forget the Celestial Craft Union's mission statement?" Bant pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers.
A battle maniac like Luma really did not match up with the Celestial Craft Union.
Bant turned to Brunnhilde, hoping the Valkyrie would be a bit more reliable.
Very quickly, he learned he was wrong, and not just a little.
"What are you looking at me for?" Brunnhilde's eyes were clear with empty-headed confidence. "I agreed to help fight because I wanted endless booze. And now you want me to work for you too? Dream on."
"You really can't rely on a single one of you," Bant sighed.
"Ahem." Loki cleared his throat to grab Bant's attention, puffed out his chest, and sat there like he was waiting to be called.
His eagerness was strange enough that Bant couldn't help asking, "What? You're not planning to return to Asgard and make your brother and father look at you differently?"
"Of course I'm going back, but not now." Loki put on a righteous, self-sacrificing look. "Sakaar needs talent right now, and I just happen to have studied quite a bit. Building Sakaar is my duty."
But Bant noticed that while Loki spoke, his eyes kept drifting upward unconsciously.
"You sure?"
"Fine. That old man cut my hair into a buzz cut. If I go back now, Thor will laugh himself to death…"
Hair was an Asgardian's second life.
Caiera watched the meeting like a gentle mother, smiling at the group's constant clowning. Then she spoke. "With everyone's help, I believe Sakaar will soon return to its former prosperity. No, it'll be even more glorious than before!"
"Exactly!" Loki nodded hard, then threw out a sharp question. "So, great King of Sakaar, what are you going to do?"
He spread his hands and waved them like one of those shopfront lucky-cat machines. "Stand around like a mascot for Sakaarans to worship? Give them spiritual support?"
"As if that even needs asking," Bant said as if it were obvious. "Of course I'm going back to Earth to go to school. How long do you think my vacation is? If my school hadn't been demolished, I wouldn't even have had this one month off!"
As he said that, Bant made a point of thanking Dr. Connors in his heart.
Great Dr. Connors!
For a moment, the entire meeting room fell silent.
It was hard to imagine the words "I have to go to school" coming from someone who had just conquered a planet.
The only response was: can't understand it, but deeply shocked.
"I have another question," Loki said, raising his hand.
"Do you know that Sakaar's time flow isn't actually the same as other places in the universe?"
He looked at Bant and asked a lethal question.
"You think you've been here for a few weeks, but maybe a year has already passed in Midgard."
Before Bant could answer, Caiera shook her head. "The time flow gets chaotic mainly near the Sacred Gate. Inside the planet, the time flow isn't very different from most of the universe."
Sakaar's time distortion came from the countless space wormholes. Once you were far from that region, warped spacetime slowly returned to normal.
"Good. I don't want to disappear for a year, go home, and get chewed out by Uncle Ben and Aunt May," Bant said with a sigh of relief.
"Then let's move," Bant said.
"Caiera, for now this planet is under your charge. Gather the surviving Sakaarans. As for offworlders who got stranded on Sakaar by accident, let them choose whether to stay or leave."
"Bill, organize a Korbin rescue team. Luma, go refit the ship engines."
"Loki, contact Heimdall. Have him open the Bifrost and send me back to Earth."
He hadn't been away from Earth that long, but Bant still felt like a century had passed.
The whiplash between conquering worlds and going back to school made it feel like he wasn't even living in the same universe.
"If I can contact him, I'll be a ghost," Loki said, shaking his head. Still, he closed his eyes and began calling for Heimdall.
A few seconds later, he opened them.
"Damn it. I actually reached him. And what's even crazier is that he's really willing to open the Bifrost for you, a mortal!"
He couldn't understand it. Since when had Asgard been this tolerant toward Midgardians?
But no matter what, Loki was happy.
Heimdall responding to him meant that Odin hadn't truly taken his past crimes to heart.
Once he returned to Asgard, at worst he'd just eat prison food for a couple years before being released.
Prison food? He was used to it.
Even though they were revolutionary comrades now, Bant didn't care about Loki's inner monologue.
He designed a set of suits in a utility-worker style, and also issued Celestial Craft Union badges to Loki and the others.
These badges allowed instant long-distance communication. Even separated by countless light-years, you could contact each other immediately and send a signal.
Loki and the others didn't mind wearing the badge.
"But forget the uniform," Brunnhilde said. "Ugly and inconvenient. Give it to the regular utility members."
Everyone knew what matching uniforms meant. That was background-character standard gear.
After finishing all that, Bant finally prepared to return to Earth.
"I wonder how Peter's doing…"
Meanwhile.
"I wonder how Xiao Ban's doing?" Peter sighed, shoved his phone, the screen shattered into a spiderweb of cracks, back into his backpack.
This past month, too many things had happened.
For example, Oscorp announced it had partnered with a small company called Plamos to develop a self-healing serum that would bring hope to countless people.
After that, Oscorp's stock, which had been at rock bottom, skyrocketed.
Peter was genuinely happy for Harry that Oscorp was making a comeback.
But the good times didn't last.
During one of Norman Osborn's media interviews, a supervillain wearing green armor, riding a glider, calling himself the Green Goblin, suddenly appeared and attacked Norman and Harry.
From that day on, Peter had been fighting that monster nonstop.
And Hell's Kitchen wasn't peaceful either.
"One Spider-Man, and I can't split into two," Peter sighed.
/-\
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